Chapter 3

Diana's POV

Unfortunately for me, it wasn't a bad dream.

It was happening in real life, and each slide of creepy fingers against my arms was indication enough. I wasn't strong enough to fight the men off, and even if I was, they all outnumbered me drastically, to begin with. I was sobbing nonstop as I tried to once again quietly ask myself if I did something wrong when the ritual had started some time ago.

Could it be because I had opened my eyes at a point to stare at Jeremy for a few seconds, could that be why my wolf had refused to come awake? Because it still sounded absurd to me that I do not have a wolf.

I was a werewolf, like every other person gathered here, I was supposed to have a wolf inside of me, or somewhere…

And what the hell was a stealer? I've never stolen a thing in my entire life, and do not understand why everyone is tagging me as a stealer. A stealer was a thief, something I most definitely wasn't… and what had that got to do with my not having a wolf inside of me? I thought to myself as I tried to tune out the fact that I was being currently manhandled by a lot of men in front of a crowd, and none of them was saying a thing.

When everything started to feel too much, and my chest had started to hurt badly with my head spinning from the amount of rotten smell that I had helplessly taken into my lungs, courtesy of the men around me at the moment— a loud voice echoed around, piercing through the whole noise of the crowd and the buzzing sound inside my head.

I recognized the voice immediately, it was Jeremy's, and I couldn't help it, my heart fluttered a little as his voice echoed around the open arena loudly.

"Let go of her this instant." He ordered as he began to make his way towards where I was situated, referring to the men still holding and sniffing me like I was some helpless animal they were about to eat up. Something akin to love and relief started to swell inside of my chest as soon as the men holding me up all started to let go of me.

Jeremy was finally coming to my rescue, I thought to myself as I weakly sank to the ground when my legs gave out beneath me.

I was barely done with catching my breath and trying to suck in air that wasn't tinged with the rotten smell of those werewolves that had held me against my will, moments ago– when Jeremy's voice started to boom around loudly.

It was the loudest I've ever heard him, and even in my helpless and weakened state, I couldn't help but notice that his deep voice was mouth-watering.

The next words that left his mouth made my mouth slacken in shock, and I remained frozen for a few seconds before gasping frightening. It felt like I suddenly got doused with ice water, and I began to sob in the next moment.

Jeremy had asked his guards to come to lock me up– when I had thought he was finally coming to my rescue.

I honestly thought he was in love with me like he has claimed, I thought to myself as I got dragged off by a couple of Jeremy's guards, past the crowd, my parents, and Lucy who didn't bother to hide the disgust on their faces, and Jeremy who wouldn't even look at me.

Just yesterday, I had thought today was going to be the complete end of my sufferings and the beginning of a completely different chapter of my life, not knowing that life already had something so much worse than my normal life, in store for me.

******

I curled up into a small ball in a corner of the cell I was thrown into, as I quietly sobbed to myself. It's been hours since I got locked in here and no one had come to see me or check up on me. The only person who had come around was a guard and I had tried to reassure him that I was harmless and wasn't with a disease that I could pass on to him, but he barely paid any attention to all that I was saying and was gone in a few seconds, leaving me to my unfortunate fate.

There was nothing I could do.

Nothing. I couldn't run away because the gates around the cell were way too thick for me to even think about trying to break out of it.

The sound of forthcoming footsteps made me stop sobbing in an instant and I held my breath and stared at the door until a large presence stood at the other side of the cell. I was on my feet in an instant, flinging myself to the gate of the cell and clasping the irons in my hands as I stared up into Jeremy's face through tears-soaked eyes.

Jeremy was finally here, I said to myself. He was going to get me out of here.

Hopefully ~

A tiny part of my mind added after a fleeting moment as I sniffed back tears in the next instant.

"What's happening, Jeremy?" I demanded in a shaky voice, my voice cracking pathetically due to how much I had shed tears today.

"Why did you order me to be locked up? What did I do? I didn't do a thing!" I cried out as I shook the gate of the cell with all my strength for emphasis, but Jeremy remained silent and watched me although the whole thing.

When I burst into frustrated tears after a minute, that was when he finally started to speak.

"Diana… you're a stealer." He murmured, voice quiet and low. It was this same voice that had made me fall for him in the first place, the one with the low, husky hint filled with rumbles and vibrations that always make my insides tingle with so many feelings at once.

At this very moment, his words managed to do nothing but make a frightened shiver slide down my spine.

"What do you mean by that? Why does everyone keep saying that?" I demanded in the next moment, gripping onto the irons of the gates like it was the only lifeline I had left at the moment.

"I'm not a damn stealer! Why does everyone keep saying that? Including you?" I continued, voice loud and accusing because I was in love with him and thought he did the same, but it was all starting to look like I had thought wrong.

"Relax, Diana. It has a completely different meaning." He murmured in response after a few moments and I pushed away from the gates of the cell and gripped my hair harshly, not believing my ears one bit.

"What do you mean by 'relax'? How can I relax in a situation like this? I didn't do a thing and everyone is acting like I have some sort of contagious illness and I do not have a wolf and after ordering for me to be imprisoned, you are telling me to relax—" I was completely yelling at this point, feeling every bit of anger and frustration I was feeling getting poured out into my outburst, and I went on and on until Jeremy cut into it all at a certain point.

"Technically, you do not have a wolf, which is why you're a stealer. I asked you to relax because you need to understand what is happening to you." He paused at the end of his sentence and I felt my eyes widen in horror. I was plastered against the gate in the next moment, gripping the irons tightly as I stared up at him, tears slightly blurring my vision.

"What's happening to me? Am I dying? Is that it?"

He shook his head at that. "No, Diana. You're not."

"Do I have a contagious disease then?" I demanded, feeling so many emotions swimming through my head at that moment. Once again, Jeremy shook his head in response.

"Then touch me, prove it." I dared, tears still sliding down my cheeks and I held my breath as I watched his unmoving self for a couple of seconds. I felt my heart start to completely shatter, just as he uncurled one of his hands from the iron of the gate and slid it through one of the numerous openings to graze his thumb over my cheeks, catching a teardrop that was sliding down.

I slid my eyes close and breathed out a slow sigh as the warmth of his thumb sank into the skin of my wet cheek, choking back a loud sob when he started to pull his hand away.

"You do not have a contagious disease, Diana." He echoed after a few seconds. I whip my head up in the next moment to throw an accusing look at him.

"Then why am I here? Why? Why did you order your guards to lock me up?" I demanded, and I was back to sobbing once again because it was all driving home once again that the person I was in love with had been the one to order for me to be locked up– on the same day I had stupidly thought he was going to publicly mark me and make me his Luna.

"Answer me, Jeremy. Why did you lock me up?" I demanded once again, my voice managing to get even louder this time.

"It was to protect you." He finally responded, voice still as calm and lowered as it had been since the start of our conversation, and I felt myself start to slowly calm down as I tried to get a hold of my anger, frustration, and stupid tears that just wouldn't stop coming.

"What?" I demanded as I stared up at him and also tried to blink the tears away.

"It was to protect you, Diana." He reechoed and I ducked my head and swallowed emptily, not knowing what to make of what he was currently saying.

"Didn't you see the way those wild-looking men had all gone at you back at the open arena?" He started to explain and I lifted my head and stared at him, absorbing all that he was saying.

"They were all widowed wolves and one of them was going to force you to mate with them if I hadn't stepped in when I did." He continued and I felt a disgusting feeling start to crawl up in my throat.

"Oh," I whispered after a couple of seconds, I had even almost completely forgotten about those people until this very instant.

"Yes, Diana, and I saved you from getting mated to one of them because I knew you'd never want that."

I felt my heart start to flutter at that, this was the Jeremy that I was in love with, the one that cared about me– and by the looks of things, it seems like he had ordered me to be locked up for my safety when I had thought otherwise.

"It's true, I'd never want that, thank you so much for saving me." I ended up whispering to him in a small voice after a couple of seconds had passed.

"Of course, there's no need to thank me." He responded almost immediately and paused for a couple of moments before continuing.

"You'd have to remain in here, for your utmost safety, of course."

I felt my eyes widen a little as my stomach started to curl up in dread. "I do? Why do I have to?"

"Because if you get released, one of those widowed werewolves is going to want to force you to mate with them, seeing as you're mateless, and I know you wouldn't want that to happen to you," Jeremy replied after a few moments and I parted my lips after a moment but nothing came forth. I closed my mouth and swallowed emptily before attempting to speak once again.

"But if I have a mate, if I get marked by my mate, they'd let me be, right?" I finally managed to let out, barely breathing in as I awaited his response.

"Yes, they will. They'd only be a threat to you because you do not have a mate, which would make them think you're their long lost mate." He responded after a couple of seconds.

I felt joy suddenly start to soar through my heart in the next moment, as a small glimmer of hope started to bubble in my chest.

I started to speak in the next instant, as soon as the thought had popped into my head. "You can mate with me then, since that's all it's going to take for the widowed wolves to not find me desirable anymore." I paused and dragged in a deep breath, blinking up at him to see an unreadable expression cross his face.

I continued to speak after a fleeting moment. "We planned to get mated today, after all, I don't think anything is stopping us from mating and giving each other our marks– then you can free me and we can start a family together like we use to talk about, and I'd rule beside you as your Luna—"

"What are you talking about?!" Jeremy suddenly demanded, cutting into what I was saying, and for the first time since we started the whole conversation here, his voice rose a few octaves.

I felt my eyes widen a little in confusion and I blinked a couple of times. "Uh, about the both of our mating. We've always talked about it and you said you were going to give me your mark and make me your Luna—" I began to explain in a voice that wobbled at different points due to how unsure and empty I was currently feeling. Once again, Jeremy cut into what I was saying.

"That was before I realized that you didn't have a wolf." He informed me and once again, it felt like my whole world shattered before me.

"What?" I whispered as I clutched at my chest, feeling tears start to gather in my eyes once again.

"You don't have a wolf, Diana. The pack won't appreciate me taking a stealer as a Luna, we can't mate with each other." He paused. "And besides, we're not mates, remember? Since we were never each other's mates, my bite can't stop those widowed wolves from finding you desirable and wanting to mate with you." Jeremy informed me in a voice that sounded way too foreign to my ears and my legs gave out beneath me in the next moment, and I slowly slid down as tears slid down my cheeks in floods.

"No, no… don't do this to me, Jeremy, please." I cried out as I tried to push up to my feet with the last strength I could muster.

"You can't become a pack Luna, Diana. And even if you were to be my true mate, I'd still definitely reject you because you do not have a wolf." Jeremy slowly said this time and I choked out a louder sob, not caring that I was being pathetic and shameless at the moment.

"I can make a good Luna without a wolf, I promise…" I began to speak through my tears once again but ended up trailing off when I noticed that Jeremy was gone and was no longer standing on the other side of the cell.

I slowly sank to the ground and turned around to lean my back against the cold gates, and I sobbed into my hands and knees, feeling the force of my sobs rack through my whole body.

I couldn't believe all that had happened today, and most importantly, I couldn't believe how heartless the man who had claimed to love me was.

I never knew Jeremy was this heartless.