Chapter 6 Sophia's POV
"Well, yes, of course." Catherine sat down beside the bed and asked, "Who else did you expect? Your sadistic, stonewalling, cold-blooded mate?"
I was like a stiff puppet with empty eyes. "Catherine, don't say that about him, he's the Alpha of our pack. He's actually—"
"Actually what?" Catherine sneered. "Treats you with nothing but kindness? Sophia, let's be honest with yourself, do you really believe that? So, he's the Alpha, big deal. But what kind of Alpha failed to protect his mate?"
Mate. I repeated the word silently in my heart. Guilt was pricking.
I was not really Vincent's mate. Normally, a werewolf who had reached the age of eighteen would meet their mate under the guidance of the Moon Goddess, but unfortunately I was incapable of shifting into a wolf let alone finding my mate.
Without this ability, I felt weak, I felt… human.
And for some unknown reason, Vincent's mate had been slow to show up and had never come to him. Or maybe he actually had found her but had rejected the girl for Marianne's sake.
As for Marianne, I didn't care about who her mate was, nor would she ever disclose it to me. She firmly believed that she and Vincent were meant to be. Said who? Said the Moon Goddess doomed? But the two of them were not even each other's mates.
"Hello? Earth to Sophia?" Catherine waved her hand before my eyes, breaking me out of my reverie. "Tell me, when was the last time you smiled? Your marriage is a living hell. It's only going to suck the life out of you. "
"It's not!" I refuted her, but my pale and haggard face was not convincing enough.
Catherine looked into my eyes. "What kind of spell did Vincent put you under for you to deceive yourself like this? Sophia, I often see him with Marianne. They only have eyes for each other, and they don't make a secret of it. He doesn't love you. Why are you still pining for him, hoping he will come back to you?"
I knew she meant well, but that didn't stop me from feeling a tingling in my heart when I heard what she said.
"But I can't leave him," I whispered. I couldn't leave Vincent.
Eight years ago his figure had been deeply etched onto my heart and I had nurtured the love for as long. I had not only saved him that night; I had surrendered my heart.
Catherine knew there was nothing she could say to make me change my mind.
It was then that there was a knock on the door.
"Who's there?" Catherine asked for me.
The door slowly opened, and Marianne's figure appeared behind it.
"I'm here to see you," Marianne smiled sweetly with her hands behind her back, "my dear sister."
"For what?" I asked.
"Oh, I need to have a word with you."
"Get the hell out of here!" Catherine was enraged. "You don't deserve to talk to Sophia."
"It has nothing to do with you, has it? I'm here for my sister." Marianne smiled, but it was cold.
"Your sister? Don't make me laugh! A sister doesn't steal her sister's man!"
Catherine looked as if she was about to get into a blazing row with Marianne. I tried to intervene, "I'm kind of hungry, Catherine. Could you grab some food for me?"
Realizing that I was trying to divert her from here, she rolled her eyes at me before opening the door and leaving.
"I see you have a ride-or-die friend," Marianne said. She came over, bringing with her the smell of Vincent.
"Oh?" Marianne looked utterly pleased. "Did you pick that up?"
A piercing pain spread from my heart, and my voice trembled: "Why do you smell like Vincent?"
"Why don't you tell me, my dear sister?" Marianne's hand touched the back of her own neck. "You may not be a pure werewolf, but you do have a keen sense of smell. Why do I smell like Vincent? Because I have been marked by him. Does that answer your question?" she drawled.
My breathing stopped for a moment, my face blanching. "Marked? Wh-why did he mark you?"
But that was a privilege for mates only.
"I'm surprised you feel the need to ask. Vincent cares about me and the baby in my belly, and you need your mate's mark to soothe when you're pregnant. Please don't tell me you know that. Or…"—Marianne pretended to be surprised—"Vincent has yet to mark you?"
I looked at Marianne. She had the face of a doll but the tongue of a devil, and every word she said was like a knife, ramming into me over and over again.
Because she was right. I had yet to be marked by Vincent.
This realization sent my lower abdomen convulsing with pain. I pieced together my broken heart and said to Marianne, "So what? At least the baby in my womb is Vincent's, what about yours?"
I recalled what I had heard that night about Marianne sleeping with another man by mistake; if she was pregnant, it remained a question who the father of this child was.
Marianne's face twisted in rage for a moment, but she soon regained her composure. "My baby is Vincent's, without a shadow of doubt. Have you ever wondered why you were always alone at home? Vincent has been with me every night for this month; he can never have enough of me. Can you imagine the heavenly pleasure he brought me? Oh wait, you can't. One night and you're out."
Her words were thorny. She threw a document in front of me. "I have been asked by Vincent to give this agreement to you. Sign it as soon as possible. A poor commoner like you will only embarrass him as his mate."
My dignity, which had I managed to hold up, came crashing down when I had the sheaf of papers.
Vincent was going to reject me.
My whole body seemed to have fallen into an ice cellar, freezing me to my blood.
Despite having been warned that he was going to dissolve the relationship with me, I still felt my hands and feet go numb when the reality was presented to me.
Vincent wanted me to sign this and make it so his parents would believe that I was the one who proposed leaving. His parents were fond of me, after all. They would definitely not agree if Vincent said it, but if I took the initiative they might consider whether my union with Vincent should continue.
Marianne was as delighted as I was dejected.
"Sign it. Sign it and leave here and don't appear in our world again. What is the point of you clinging to a man who doesn't even like you—"
Hearing these words, I couldn't help but sneer.
The next second, I picked up the agreement and tore the paper to shreds, chucking them in Marianne's face.
"Over my dead body will I sign this agreement! If you think I will just allow you, a maneater, to walk all over me, then you obviously don't know me very well. Get out of here!"
Marianne had a flair for bringing out the worst in me.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" I hadn't realized Vincent was boring his raging gaze into me from the door until he spoke.