9 The Collapse

♔ Flynn (P.O.V)

Thud! The door sounds as if it had been slammed opened and it drastically scares Flynn to the point he almost rockets through the roof. In the process of Flynn jumping out of his seat and sending it rolling backward he flung the table his papers once sat on causing it to splinter and create a very big mess of broken wood and paper. He flings his attention to the intruder who entered the room so casually, ready to tear them a new one. The first thing that registers is a look of concern as it crosses the face of the intruder, who he now recognizes as Gedeon.

"You okay man?" Gideon's concern is clear in his voice. Making Flynns startled look quickly fade off of his face.

"Yeah, all's good." Flynn states.

Gedeon enters a state of thinking, clearly trying to figure out what is the best way to put what he was about to say. " You should have heard me coming from a mile away, I clearly drag my feet and not to mention you have the Alpha hearing. Is everything okay with you and your wolf Flynn?" Gedeon asks, clearly concerned.

"Ash is complaining because I'm taking Emma as my mate. So now he's pouting." Gedeon simply nods as he understands what Flynn is talking about. Flynn lays his head back on the desk with a loud thud. Sighing he continues curiosity finally setting in as to why he came back to his office, "why'd you come back?"

Immediately Gedeon answers, "It's my job as your Beta, to report how things go.."

Flynn lifts his head only to see Gedeon's tall figure bowing. He faintly flinched at the sight of his Beta bowing.

Gedeon who had been bowing to his 'alpha' hadn't realized it. How could Flynn have forgotten he doesn't have any friends?

Shrugging the emotions off of his body Flynn lets out a soft oh and nods in response.

"Everything will be ready for the party tomorrow, so don't worry over it." Gedeon pauses before continuing, " you want to go for a run? Might do your wolf some good to get out there and cool off." Flynn simply nods his head. Leaving his normal headwear in the office, Flynn leaves the room first ready to hopefully somewhat get Ashton to calm down and at least start talking to him again

However, as he steps down from the very last step, lost in his thoughts, he bumps into a small black-haired woman dressed in pieced together clothing. Her hands had been bandaged, in what appeared to be red cloth. He could hear the loud gasp as it escaped her lips.

Anger flares through Flynn's body. Pushing the assailant backward he huffs. Who would dare bump into their Alpha? Let alone him? The growl that was rising in his throat instantly stops as their eyes meet.

The room came to a standstill frozen. although only apparent to them.

His wolf started to stir and yip in happiness. Allowing his heightened senses to return. He smells blood but pushes it out of his mind. Other matters are more important right now.

"Flynn!" Ashton barks in his head. "Flynn! Flynn! It's her!"

Helplessly trapped, with no way out of the predicament this time he almost accepts his fate.

Until he sees a pained expression flash across her petite face, as her bright blue eyes tear up. The warm bubbly feeling he had for a slight second was ripped away as anger dashed through the threads.

He knew what this feeling was, but it wasn't supposed to happen like this. If she hadn't reacted the way she did he almost would've accepted her. He knew it wouldn't work. She's his daughter. That's why he put her where she is. Why he avoids her. She was raised by Him.

His stomach churns at the words that escape both their mouths.

"Mate."

♔ Eustacia (P.O.V)

"Oof," a small pain-filled sigh escaped my lips. Rubbing my nose at the impact of what seemed like an immovable wall. The wall, no a human, shoved me forcibly back. Swiftly losing my balance my ass hits the floor. The brand new pain to my rear end breaks any self-control I had. Irritation slowly begins to creep through my body as my back starts to burn in rage.

First I was told to help Emma and her royal ass to plan her ceremony. That went swimmingly well. Ended up with me having my blood spilled everywhere. With a pinch of glass shards decorating my palms like it was some cheap holiday lighting. Now my hands are wrapped in a lovely white bandage that is now stained red from all the blood.

Now on my last few minutes of alone time, when all I wanted to do was go to the bathroom I run into a wall like human. Who not only breaks my impact but shoves me down to the floor. Today has been at least the worst day I have had in years.

A small growl like sound breaks through the silence, catching my attention. Our eyes meet and the realization of who I just bumped into rushes through my brain. His strong jawline was clenched, his thick brown eyebrows furrowed into an angry home. His brown eyes had a tint of yellow swirling around the outer edges. His wolf clearly coming through. His normal beanie is gone allowing his medium-length brown hair to flow in his face.

Flynn.

Pain and sparks rush through my body. An almost familiar feeling, but I'm not sure what. My face drops in anguish already thinking of the punishments I'm sure to receive for running into the Alpha.

"Eustacia," Zoe whispers in a raspy voice. "He's our mate."

My eyes instantly start burning as my face becomes hot with salty tears.

"Mate," Flynn and I almost say it at the same time.

"No!" I scream. I begin scrambling backward trying to get away from the monster I've been destined with. "You aren't my mate! He was supposed to take me away from here!" Hysteria beings to take over, my body begins to shake violently as the tears continue to come.

No longer being able to scoot away from the beast as my backs against a wall. Through the burning and cloudy vision, I could've sworn I seen that monster flinch at how I reacted.

"No," my voice no more of a wheezing sob then a scream.

"Gedeon!" Flynn yells. "Grab her and remove her away from my sight."

Almost immediately I'm yanked upwards but my left arm.

"Where to?" Gedeon questioned, his voice almost booms as he's so close to me.

"The Gray Room." Rasps Flynn.

"Yes, Alpha."

I feel Gedeon move and begin to pull be behind him. My will to live has just been shattered. I honestly welcome the Gray Room.

Maybe they'll kill me.

"Wait," Flynn calls.

Great. "Just let me go die in peace will you?" I whisper.

"You aren't my mate, and you never will be." He pauses and continues, " I, Flynn White, reject Eustacia Van as my mate. Take her away."

The words hurt more than I wanted them to, More than I thought they would. My heart instantly feels like it's being ripped to shreds. I let my body go limp with no will to move or live. The only feeling other than pain that courses through my body is the dragging of my legs against the floor as Gedeon tugs me along. The pain recedes as I feel him pick me up and almost instantly I allow the darkness to take me.

♔ Flynn (P.O.V.)

Flynn who had rushed back to his office after the debacle with that maid. The room which was once organized and carefully color-coded was now disheveled. Wood from his shattered desk decorated the floor every way possible. His floor was also covered with a colorful array of post-it notes. Most of his big paperwork that was on white regular printer paper created a large pile where they landed not far from where the desk once was.

The very sight of his well-organized room being in such a state made his skin crawl. It wasn't right and it needed to be fixed. Rubbing his hands through his hair he quickly began to feel like everything was falling apart. That everything was changing. Distress quickly started to take over.

"Calm down," Ashton, Flynn's wolf, murmurs in his head.

"Great you're still talking. I didn't expect you to after I rejected what you wanted most," Flynn snarls.

"You're right. I don't want to talk to you. You're a selfish asshole who doesn't deserve half of the things you have!" Ashton replies, now raising his voice. "However, I'm apart of you and if you go crazy, I'll have to be along for the ride. I don't want to go through that again. So if you would kindly calm your ass down and get this cleaned up you'll be fine," Ashton sighs softly.

" How can I possibly calm down? The answer is, I can't!" Flynn growls in anger. " Everything is a mess. She found out. My office is a disaster. All my papers are organized. What else could go wrong?"

Ashton instantly has a solution, "Your papers can be organized again and you can have your desk replaced. It'll be alright. Just get someone up here to clean it and leave the room." There's a pause and Ashton speaks up again, "did you just say she found out?"

"I did," Flynn shrugs at the question.

"So y-you knew?" Ashton stammers.

"Yea. What's the problem?" Flynn didn't see the problem with knowing.

"You son of a bitch! You knew! You knew this entire time, but you still chose to go with Emma's filthy ass!" Ashton furiously shouts.

"Fuck off," Flynn whispers and blocks Ashton from his head. He had more important matters to attend to. Like cleaning this room, or better yet, he'll have someone else clean it.

"Get someone in here to clean this mess!" Flynn used his alpha voice as he demanded. Flynn could hear multiple foot patterns start scurrying right after he yelled. "Don't move any of my other shit either! Just get the damn wood out of my room and sit my papers on the chair. I'll fix those later."

If he had anyone else fix his papers they would be messed up beyond belief. They had to be fixed right and he was the only one who could do so.

Rubbing his temples he left his office and went straight to his bedroom. His bedroom was relatively empty. It only consisted of a bed and a bedside table. The bed was a deep charcoal gray with a plain white headboard. The table was a soft off white adorned with a white lamp. The curtains that covered the single medium-sized window were picked out by Emma. She said they were some sort of mesh and that the light gray 'goes with the room' or some shit. Honestly, he didn't care. He just sleeps in there, nothing more. The room filled with its white and gray tones felt almost depressing.

Throwing his body onto the bed he lets out a loud sigh. How could everything fall apart so quickly? He was careful to avoid her after he found out that day. The day in the hallway almost three years ago. He'd went to see Emma as usual. They hadn't been seeing each other for long, but he knew she didn't have a mate out there waiting or looking due to her mateless mark. Even if she did he's not sure if it would've gone any different.

Instead of finding Emma he found Eustacia coming out. Clearly just getting done from cleaning Emma's room. Wasn't just the fact she's the maid that gave that answer away. She smelled of chemicals and in her hands, she carried a cleaning spray bottle and a few white towels. She must not have seen him in front of her because she immediately ran right into his chest. Just the act of his daughter touching him made his skin crawl. Made his demons wake up and start their hideous screaming.

It got worse.

The tingles that rushed through his body as she made contact utterly repulsed him. He'd never felt like that before when any woman touched him. Sexually or not. Almost instantly he understood and shoved her down to the ground. Abruptly trying to get her as far from him as possible. Her contact with her made him almost feel as if the filth he tried so hard to forget came crawling right back. Like he was here.

The anger and fear took over and he remembers screaming at her. The feeling of hopelessness and betrayal of the Moon Goddess for pairing him with her raged through his entire body. He punished her more and took more of her privileges. Maybe if he did enough she'd run away. There's one problem with that though. She runs away and his mate is gone.

Although he doesn't want her, he'll eventually have to have her reject him. If she finds out before he marks another as his mate that is. When he marks another she-wolf she'll feel pain and probably die, especially now that he knows she's his mate. There have been cases where wolves didn't know their mate on either side and eventually, someone else was marked. The other mate had a mateless wolf symbol randomly appear on their body. Same if their mate died. It's only extremely deadly if one half of the bond knows or both.

Since only he knows their pull isn't that strong. When she finds out she's his mate and only one of them rejects the other, not both they'll start feeling the mate bond. Feelings, any pain they receive and the like. It won't be as intense as if they actually marked each other, thankfully. He never plans to either.

Eventually, he left her there. Crying on the floor. Honestly, he felt for her. It doesn't mean he was going to do anything about it though, she wasn't his problem anymore. So he decided to just act as if it never happened.

After all, no one needs to find out.

Not even his wolf, Ashton. Ashton himself realize what had happened or else he would be howling in excitement like he did today. It was very brisk and if he hadn't of been aware he wouldn't have known it even happened. It's not her fault her father did what was done to him. She's only his daughter and he knows that. It's just the sick feeling won't go away every time he looks at her.

"Great fucking day," Flynn mutters to no one but himself.

He relaxes on his bed not moving, eyes closed. He hated fighting with his wolf. He's all he has in this fucked up sense of a world.

"Ashton… You know what he did to me. You know why I don't want to be with her. No, can't be with her. I just wish you would understand it from my point of view." He whispers not expecting an answer.

He was right. Complete silence, it doesn't look like his wolf will talk to him anytime soon. Sighing wishing things were different he drifts off to sleep.