The Game Of Quadruplet Mates
(Bk 2) Chapter 31

My guard and I swayed to the imaginary music until my stomach growled, bringing us apart.

He

laughed

I blushed

He helped me down the bed, like nothing happened, like we didn't just dance in my room for an hour or so and pushed muffins my way.

With me in bed and my guard on his seat that was close enough that it felt like he was still in bed with me, we stayed like that for hours and hours.

Way after the sun went down and the stars replaced it, with every beautiful thing in the world within my finger tips, I chose to stay in bed with my knees to my chest as I ate and drank with my guard who did the same. He doesn't say much, but he also doesn't leave me or looks bored of being here.

And right now, it is more than what 0 has ever done for me.

But unlike 0, who I could happily be with and feel comfortable like I was home, my guard's presence is one that I'm both nervous of and strangely calm about.

There was a comfortable silence between us. Neither really talking with our attention more in our heads than anything else

But the thrill still hummed in the air, testing us silently.

At least until the clock in my room alarmed, letting me know it was almost time.

He stands up for the first time in hours, even if it didn't feel like hours. "TIl leave you to get ready."

I scrunched up my nose. "What if I don't want to get ready?

What if I want to stay in this room until the Choosing?"

The ever supportive guard that he is doesn't even think about it.

"Then I'll make sure you're not disturbed."

1 blew out a breath, crawling to the edge of my bed and standing up as well. "But that would be cowardly of me...

I've already locked myself in this room for far too long. My Alpha, I owe it to him to give this week a chance. Whatever is left of it, anyway."

He looked ready to question me about this but didn't.

With one last look around my room, he walks out the door and closes it behind him. I know I shouldn't and that this is just another heartbreak waiting to happen, but I stared at the door, thinking about my guard and how easier it would have been if he was just an attendee like me. I was completely aware that time was ticking, yet I continued to stare, my heart in my throat.

I only move when the alarm goes off again, reminding me that I was now officially late.

But I still take my time, drinking champagne directly from the bottle as I washed away the remnants of the garden shack from my hair and my skin. I was thoroughly tipsy as I was slipping into another beautiful dress. Black this time and made completely out of lace. Doing my makeup quickly and pulling my hair in a tight bun, I take off Mister W's leather bracelet. I was feeling a little drunk out of my mind as I cursed every male in the Games.

For the first one scared me- Mister F.

The one I wanted replaced me- Mister O.

And the last one, I didn't even know what was happening half the time- Mister W.

When I stumbled out of the room an hour later, my guard smirked at the sight of me, his eyes dark and wanting." You look like you're ready to break hearts tonight."

"I'm certainly not getting my heart broken." I chirped, trying my best not to stare too long at him.

It might just be the drinks, but he looked mouthwatering.

Too mouthwatering.

Just as I'm about to walk towards the staircase, he takes my wrist. "You're not wearing his bracelet."

Liquid courage fueled my erratic beating heart when ! leaned close and said; "I'd wear yours if you had one to give."

The breath is knocked out of my lungs as well as all the courage that the champagne brought when I'm shoved into a wall, a hand catching the back of my head to stop the impact on the marble.

My guard was upon me before I could think, his other hand was on my waist, clutching me tight.

His mouth was so close and when he spoke, his lips touched mine with every word he said. "You should be very careful with the way you speak to me. You have already pushed my limits well enough today."

I could only swallow, speechless by the deliciousness of our bodies pressed together and the way his lips seemed to touch mine, but not enough to give me the pressure that I wanted.

"You're late." He whispered, his leg shoved between my own before pushing himself off the wall and taking me along with him. "Again."

He steadies me by putt ing his hands on my back, but this only further pushes my mind down the gutter.

Hurriedly, as if I could escape him and the feeling he was eliciting from me, I walked quickly out the hallway, heading towards the staircase where multiple people were already making out. Maybe that's what I needed to shake this feeling off me.

The thought of this makes me think of my guard almost instantly and I curse myself as I feel his warmth on my back, his breath fanning my bare shoulders.

Oh.

I almost ran down the stairs at full speed, trying to get distance between us, but of course, he was there, always ten steps behind or closer- sometimes too close.

Miss A was a breath of fresh air when I saw her downing shots by the entrance. She was in a red dress that hugged her well and the moment she saw me, she already had a drink ready for me.

"Hey, girl!" She s cre a ms, already sounding drunk and extra happy like they promised this night would be. "Are you ready to party?"

I didn't have to be told twice, taking the drink and tipping my head back to swallow it one go. "Yes!"

Her eyes flicker at my guard as she wags her finger at him.

"No boys tonight. Sorry not sorry. You're waiting out here with the rest of them."

Sure enough, guards were lined along the walls waiting for their attendees. "What kind of party is this?"

She smiles at me widely, before taking my hand and dragging me inside. "It's a hen party! Get ready to see a lot of dicks."

"Wait, what?" I almost fell on my face but her hand on mine kept me up.

I didn't need an explanation anymore as we walked through the doors because the decoration alone was enough of an answer.

The room is a smaller version of the grand ballroom from yesterday, having an entire wall made completely of glass that overlooked the gardens with the thick red curtains open to let us see the moon and the stars.

It was dark with only neon lights in the room, but it was bright enough that I could see everything was decorated in these cartoon like di c ks. From balloons to banners to candles and even cakes, everything was of the male body part. And we were all girls.

And everyone was just happy to be there.

I held Miss A a little tighter as we got deeper into the party, all while laughing at the top of our lungs. The entire thing was silly, decorated horribly, but it was done so playfully that the party was mood lifting in my otherwise sad week.

The staff were quick to place tiaras on top of our heads, giving us drinks and sashes over our dresses.

There was a rock band playing in front and they were all male and shirtless, which is not surprisingly where we found Miss E, shouting to take their pants off.

"If only I had money to throw at him." She tells us, forgoing the usual greetings. "Do you want to see my bo o bs instead or what?"

"Enough of boys. Tonight is about us and how this might be the week we've all been waiting for!" Miss A, the mother goose that she is, takes Miss Es hand as well, dragging us to the middle to dance. The music was loud, my heart following the beat as we cheered and laughed.

For the rest of the night, the three of us stay there, dancing and jumping and drinking from sparkling glasses that the staff always refills.

My vision blurs as 1 get drunker and drunker. And I was hot, broiling under my dress as I drank some more.

With each drink I finished, my worries slipped away

"F**k them!" Miss E shouts, equally drunk as she mumbled about her options and the boys of the Games.

"I concur!" Miss A shouts back, throwing back her head to drink some more.

"I'm going to be single forever and I'm

going to love it."

I don't know how long we've been there, dancing and drinking, but girls from all around me start s cre a min g when the partition between the walls is pushed open and the male attendees that were having their party beside ours start pouring in. I was swaying too much to bother about them, gracelessly stumbling to the other end of the room to try and catch my breath.

"Hey, you alright?"

I smiled, expecting my guard to come as always, but the smile quickly disappeared when I saw the man I was trying to forget; O. He was walking towards me, pushing against bodies that were in the way.

O is handsome as always, even in the dark, even if I couldn't see. I just know.

Having him close is all it took to reverse everything. The hair, the eyes, the face I was so familiar with.

He was home for me. He has always been that.

Home.

The comfort.

O was in another handsome suit, smelling strongly of cigars and whiskey, but he didn't look as drunk as I expected him to be or out of breath as I was.

Instead, he looked thoughtful and when he saw me stumbling, he turned worried

But I didn't want him to worry.

I didn't want him.

I shouldn't want him.

Not anymore.

Not when he was supposedly about to choose another girl.

He sees me trying to run from him but he catches me easily, bringing us to the back where it was just us.

"Please,

wait."

I wanted to fight. I wanted to curse at him but all I could do was stare at his face and feel something inside me break all over again.

"Oh, my girl, come here." He took me in his arms as he saw my eyes water, grasping me tightly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

But we both know it won't last.

We will never last.

And he will hurt me all over again.

A cycle that never ends.

"You can't keep doing this to me." I whispered into his neck, smelling more of the smoke from cigars and the drink he likes on him. "You can't keep stringing me along like this.

You say you don't mean to hurt me but you choose a girl in the contest that I'm in and then you're going to leave with her? Is that it?"

He pulls back to look at me and I am hit by this overwhelming feeling to pull him back, to hug him for as long as I can.

While I still can.

He looks at me and my whole world crumbles. "I chose someone else for the contest because I didn't want you to join in the first place. Why would I want you to be a part of a damned chicken fight against people that will no doubt try to hurt you? You hate joining contests like that anyway. You like to sit back and observe. I know you.

That's why I didn't choose you for a stupid contest that I know you didn't want. I gave you my pin thinking that was enough. That I won something for you. That I was able to give you at least one thing."

I was drunk and emotional and sad beyond words. My chest squeezed and squeezed and squeezed until breathing was painful. "But,"

He held me close, his arms around me once more as he pressed a tender kiss on my shoulder. Over and over he does this, making my heart flutter. "This week has been a torturous one. I thought that by being at the Games with you, it would be easier. It would be better. It would give me time. I could watch over you. And maybe I could be happy: if I saw that you're with someone else... someone better.

Someone that you need. Someone that can be with you forever. But I was wrong. It's hard. So hard that it's all I can think about. I sometimes wish that I had never got myself disqualified five years ago, but I know I would do it all over again because I wanted to be with you."

A tear slips from my eyes and falls on his neck but he doesn't care, continuing to press kisses on my shoulder.

Kisses that felt like good bye.

Kisses that felt like our last

His arms tightened even more, barely letting me breathe because he knew it was truly the last. "I'm not choosing anyone else in the Games. There's no one else I want to be with but you. You know this. You've always known this.

You have always been my choice and I have fought for that. Even to my parents and to yours."

When the tears wouldn't stop, he wiped them away with one hand while the other cupped my cheek with the most delicate touch that made my heart race too fast.

But then he tugs something out of his pocket. A wolf figurine. Almost identical to mine if not for the color of the fur and the color of the eyes. He pressed it to me like a sign of love- the way it should be. "You've always had my heart. You have my soul. All of me. Forever."

He was shaking, his arms around me unsteady.

But that didn't stop him from holding, keeping me close.

And when he says his next words, I know I cannot escape the truth any longer. "You know I'm dying, my illness, it's keeping us apart. It always has and I will never let you suffer because of my early death. I have less than three years left to live. If that. The only reason why I was allowed to go to the Games was purely for experience and I made sure... that I could be with you still in some way. I love you.

You know I love you. And I'm so fu c king sorry that I can't be with you forever like I hoped, like I prayed, like what we wanted."