Chapter 348
Clementine:
“Yorick, please. I would have chosen one person after all,” I shouted as I turned around.
I noticed all three of them stop. Yorick was the first to turn back, and the others followed.
“It was going to be among us because we were the ones who tried our best to win your heart. But you chose Ian, who had done the worst things to you,” Yorick told me.
“Well, he redeemed himself in ways you do not know,” I replied, standing up for Ian.
At that point, I guessed they realized the conversation had reached its limit.
“Let’s go, guys,” Troy told them, making it clear there was nothing more to discuss.
The three of them turned away and wandered off.
I remained standing in the same spot for a moment before I stepped forward, heading after them so I could be with everyone too.
Once I reached the road again, I noticed Joshua looking at me and then at the three alphas who had stormed out angrily.
His eyes then shifted to Ian, who had been waiting for us, and the moment he saw me, he stepped toward me.
“All okay?” he asked as he gently touched my cheek, not concerned about how the others might react to his closeness.
The moment he did it, I saw members of the red squad frowning.
“I told them,” I replied, and he began to nod.
“Well, then I understand why they looked so angry. But do not worry. Everything will be fine as long as you feel okay,” Ian remarked, and I held his hand, taking deep and steady breaths.
That was when the lurkers arrived with trays of food.
“Guys, there is a little bench and sitting area on this side of the woods. We can try here,” Mira called out, pointing toward the trees on the opposite side.
We let the lurkers follow us to the spot where we wanted them to place the food.
As soon as they set everything down, the three alphas who used to be my closest friends picked up their meals but did not wait for us.
Each grabbed their food and wandered off to different places, not even sitting together anymore.
I felt guilty, but Ian sat beside me and filled my plate with pancakes and scrambled eggs.
“You need to eat,” Ian told me, snapping me out of my thoughts. “And take no stress,” he added as he leaned back and picked up a sandwich for himself.
“I do not want to be that person, but can I ask something?” Renee questioned from across the table.
And then there were Joshua and Oriana.
Oriana took her food and went to sit under a large tree, while Joshua did not come to eat at all.
At this point, he seemed to be drifting even farther from us instead of rebuilding any kind of friendship or connection so we could convince him for the second round of voting.
“What is it?” I asked Renee.
“Please do not take it wrong. I am just curious, okay?” Renee replied, adjusting in her seat. “Is everything okay between you and Haiden? I mean, last we remembered, you two were mates.” She finally said what everyone had probably been wondering.
“Well, she is not his mate,” Ian commented, and my body stiffened.
“Wait, what do you mean? So was it a lie?” Renee asked.
“The truth is that she was my mate from the start,” Ian stated, shocking not just them but me as well.
I did not expect him to announce it so boldly, but it was necessary.
If he had not said it, the others would have thought I was the kind of mate who cheated on her partner.
We finished our breakfast, and only then did Joshua arrive.
We were about to leave when he sat down. Everyone slowed their steps.
Each of us looked at one another, waiting for someone to try convincing him or at least attempt to speak with him.
“Go away, guys. I am not going to crack,” he commented, already aware of what we were thinking.
With the way he had been acting, we had no real way to convince him, so we left him alone and wandered off.
After about an hour of us doing our own things, some of them returned to their rooms to take a nap, while Ian and I held hands and wandered into the woods.
“Do you think we will ever be able to stay here in the mainland and not go back to the north?” I asked, feeling his fingers tangled with mine.
It felt so fulfilling that I pulled myself closer and clung to his arm, almost as if reminding him not to let me go.
“We will. We have convinced them to give us a chance. Very soon, we will convince them never to send us back,” Ian replied, and I took deep breaths.
“But is it not strange?” I asked, and he suddenly stopped.
He turned around to look at me, wanting to know what had been troubling me.
“What is?” he questioned.
“Do you think others before us never complained about the same thing? Then why are they giving us opportunities? Have the others never figured anything out?” I asked.
I noticed the way he zoned out for a moment.
“What is it?” I demanded.
“Let us not talk about it for now. Soon we will have to talk about it anyway,” he said as he held my hand again and kissed the back of it.
“But Ian, soon they will send us back to kill that monster. I do not know how many people we will lose this time,” I told him, watching him take deep breaths and look around, avoiding my eyes.
“Do you know anything or suspect anything?” I asked, hoping he would tell me if something had been on his mind.
“All I know is that we will get out of here. But yes, I am not sure how many more we will lose,” he mumbled under his breath.