Chapter 26

The Only One
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"Mates are like a wolf's other half. They're their soul mate and the only person they'd want to be with for the rest of their life. When a wolf meets its mate, it's like the whole world disappears and all they see is their mate. Mates have the ability to tame each other and help them control their shifting power and their strength with their ability to balance each other out. They're tied together by the universe and their stars are crossed in the sky."

Areum frowned, "Okay, but what does this have to do with anything that just happened?"

This was going to be the hard part. This was the thing that he wanted to avoid for a long time.

"I'm the prince of wolves. I hold royal blood, making me the strongest wolf of my generation. I-I didn't want to find my mate, but I stumbled upon her on accident and now I can't let her go."

Areum's eyes widened and she felt the air escape her lungs as Mino's words rang loudly in her mind.

"As long as you're the prince's mate. I can't."

"N-No. Wa-wait. Stop." She whimpered as she moved across the bed, pressing her back to the wall, as far away from him as she could get.

"It's only happened once in the history of wolves. But you're my mate, Areum. You're my human mate."

-----

"W-What?" Areum whispered, her heart sinking to the depths of her stomach.

Jackson gulped and watched her careful eyes, "You're my mate, gongzhu."

"No. No. No. No. Don't call me that." She hated the way he called her that. His voice sounded so weak and soft whenever he did. Like he was giving her permission to hurt  him.  

She covered her ears. Her body was racked with shivers as she curled into a ball.

Jackson was trying to read her and figure out what was going through her mind, but all he could do was stare at her.

"G-gongzhu, please tell me what you're thinking."

Areum flinched and picked up her left slipper and whipped it at him. He figured that she threw the right one at the door.

Jackson let it bounce of his chest as she stared at him with eyes filled with the one emotion that he never wanted to see her direct at him.

Fear.

She was scared of him.

"Did you know?"

"Know what?"

"Did you know that I was your mate when you came to me at the bookstore?" She croaked.

Jackson looked away, feeling guilt for the first time, "Yes."

"S-So, everything between us, everything you did, everything you said was all because I'm your mate and not because you meant it. You just wanted me to…what? Give you an heir? Isn't that what happens with princes in the human world? They're expected to create a baby to take over the crown. You just need me to pop out a baby for you?"

"Go-"

"I don't understand. You faked everything between us just because you wanted to trick me into being your mate. You didn’t mean any of it. You just wanted me so that I could tame you and give you an heir. I'm just a tool for you. Something for you to use. Nothing was real."

Jackson snapped his head towards her and felt his eye twitched as his eyes flashed purple, "Everything was real."

Areum laughed as she stood up and walked towards him, "What are you talking about? You would have never put any effort into getting to know me if I wasn't your mate.  You never would have applied to be a TA, you never would have visited the bookstore and tried to talk to me and you would never have put up with me.  You did this all because you had to not because you wanted to."

Jackson stared at her, at a loss for words as she stood chest to chest, her hands shoving him back with each word.

Tears filled her eyes and she looked so weak and so confused that he was almost on his knees, "You're just like everyone else. You don't care about me, you just want something from me. You just want me for your own selfish needs. I trusted you. I thought you really cared about me. That you really liked me. I thought it was all real, but it wasn't. I was tricked."

What was he supposed to say? She was right. The only reason he started out with her was because Mason told him that he'd die if he didn't.

But the way he started wasn't the way he ended.

"Everything I felt for you was fake because some out worldly force made me feel that way, not because I actually did." She snapped, tears filled her eyes.

Jackson felt his blood run cold, "Everything you felt for me?"

"I like you. I liked you so much, but it doesn't matter, does it? It's not like it was real. It was all fake!" She screamed.

I like you.

"It's not fake!" He said quickly, reaching for her, but she stepped quickly out of his grasp, "Human mates don't feel the pull as strongly. They have the ability to fall for anyone they want, mate or not."

Areum snorted, "Does that make me feel better? Now I know that it was all one sided. That still means that everything you did to make me like you was fake. It was like a ruse to convince me to like you so that you could be strong or whatever wolves do. Was anything you did the truth? Or did you just do whatever you thought would make me accept you easier?"

Jackson felt drained as he pleaded at her, "It wasn't fake. At first, yes, I was just trying to get to know who my mate was, but af--"

"So everything was hormonal? It was our chemistry pulling you closer to me. Not because you actually liked me, it was all a set up. We were destined for each other but not through mutual like. It was all planned out by some high force. Do you know how ed up that is?"

"Give me a chance."

"A chance to do what? Tell me that you and your friends are all wolves? That you'll blindly love me just because the world told you to? That you just chased me because you needed me to extend your family tree?"

"That's not true!" He boomed, his voice slamming against the walls as a silence claimed her.

Jackson panted, "Everything about you, I hated. I hated that you were human. I hated that you were snappish and mouthy. I hated that you would always say something mean and didn't have a single pleasant bone in your body. I hated how I had to follow you around and I hated that, I wanted to touch you because of the pull."

Areum made a face, glaring at him for his rude words. Everything he said was another kick to the gut.  

"But then I stayed around you and I noticed that things were different. You were different than everything I expected and could even imagine. Every annoying thing made me smile. I learned all the little things about you. What made you happy and what made you sad without even meaning to. I just wanted to be around you all the time. You-you were perfect." He worded out.

Areum was furious but she felt her heart wrap itself up in his words and warm up in pleasure but her heart pricked again.

She wanted to be loved.

She wanted a relationship filled with love and someone actually caring about her.

She wondered if he even meant any of what he said. How was she supposed to know that it wasn't his self preservation, telling him to say something nice to win her over so that she could tame him and have kids with him, even if there was no love? How could she tell if any of his actions were fuelled by genuine like?  

"Jackson…" She voice melted and sounded wounded and scared. "Do you even like me? If you had a choice for anyone in the world, would it be me? No pull, no mating, nothing. Would you chose me?"

"I--" It would be you. It would always be you. I just want you and no one else. No one makes me this happy. I'd fight fate to be with you.  I love you.

Jackson felt his heart numb and his body start to tremble when his thoughts screamed in his head. He took a step away from her with eyes so frightened and scared that he was speechless.

He loved her.

He was in love with his mate.

He started with hating her, fighting her with his every whim but without realizing it, he was spending every second he could find with her.

Because he wanted to.

Whatever superfluous reason he gave before, claiming that he was hanging around her because he had to was lost on him.

He was around her because he could spend every moment staring at her. He was around her because she made his chest jump. That's why he wanted to kiss her and touch her even when it wasn't the full moon.

He was around her because he loved her.

And he didn't even ing realize it.

Areum felt her heart shatter at his silence and looked away, before he saw her crying again. At the end of the day, everything was fruitless. He would never see her that way, not without the 'pull'. If anything, he probably resented her.

"Please leave."

"W-what?" He whispered out in shock.

Her tone iced over, and she looked at him with so much heart break and deceit, "I can't deal with this. You have put a huge burden on me. One that I don't want to carry. This is too much. I never asked for this. This is why those panthers are after me, right? Because I'm your mate. Why? Why are they coming after me?"

Jackson looked away riddled with guilt. Again. "My parents wiped their race near extinction. They're the only surviving ones left and they want revenge. They want to take out their son, me, the prince and the only way to do that is to go through you. If you're gone, I'll get weak."

"Again?" She asked, her face crumpled in grief, "You just need me to make you strong. You couldn't care less about me. It's just what you want and need from me."

Jackson shook his head, "That's not true."

"Well, tell them to leave me out of this, because I'm not your mate and I will never be. I don't want to be your mate."

If words could kill, Jackson would've been shot through his heart.

"Do-Don't say that." His voice cracked.

She looked at him with the same venom that she used to look at Yang with. "If I reject you, will you die?"

Jackson gulped.

Yes.

"No."

She turned her back to him. "Then, close the door when you leave."

-----

When Jackson finally backed away, his eyes unable to tear away from her and retreated through the door looking so broken and lost that Areum almost asked him to stay.

Almost.

When she heard the front door close, she grabbed her duffle and suitcase and filled it with everything she had brought with her on the trip.

Yoomi creaked the door open and gawked as she messily shoved everything into her bag. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going home."

Yoomi's mouth hung open. "What do you mean? You're just leaving?"

Areum nodded while she packed up her toiletries. "I'll take the failing grade. I'm going home."

Yoomi was speechless as Areum slung h

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cool_fire77
147 streak #1
💜
tonnettie
#2
Chapter 58: Awww! That’s nice that they change up things! But that last few chapters really made my emotions go haywire. Gosh
Frantastique #3
Chapter 24: wow! It's 2023 and I'm late to this party. I just found AFF. I love, love this story! My reward for the day is reading this before I go to bed. I keep telling myself, "One more chapter, one more chapter." But it is so darn hard to stop.
Thank you so much for writing this story 8 years ago!
Purple_Phoenix #4
Chapter 58: I've left the same comment on another one of your fics, but I can't help it. Both of the fics are so, so wholesome and complete — both emotionally and logically. And in most of the supernatural ones logic is either ignorable or just taken from the general ideas. I like how this fic keeps them believable.
Purple_Phoenix #5
Chapter 18: Insert blush emoji.
shonwanigop
#6
💙
zaraaaa #7
Chapter 2: Coming back to read this again. Thank you for writing this, youre the best <3
OnewSarang
#8
Chapter 11: <span class='smalltext text--lighter'>Comment on <a href='/story/view/817564/11'>Chapter 10</a></span>
I haven't been on AFF since mid-2018. And yesterday was the first time I logged in because I missed this fic. I wish there was a book version or a downloadable version that I could keep and read and reread. This is my comfort fic. But I want to erase AFF from my life, but keep coming back just because of this fic. T.T
Yuzu_chi
#9
The best!