Tiara opened her eyes and shut them quickly because of the bright light in her room. She opened them again and looked around, only to realize that she wasn’t in her room.
Where was she?
‘Dora? Where are we?’ She asked her, only to realize a hard slap on her face that her wolf wasn’t interested in talking to her anymore. Her headache was getting worst with each passing minute, and the part that Dora didn’t help her in dealing with it. She was having a hard time adjusting like a human.
She left the bed and gasped when she found herself in a nightgown reaching just above her thigh.
Okay!! She admitted that she had a habit of sleeping in those types of nightgowns, but she was sure that she didn’t change her clothes last night.
Did someone change her clothes when she was unconscious?
She tried to recall everything that had happened last night. A man hugging her, caressing her hair, talking to her.
“Shit!!” She cursed under her breath and was ready to smack that man’s head for changing her clothes, and who knows, he would have done more than that to blackmail her, like making a video while changing her clothes and more!!
These things were common in her industry.
Anyone could do anything for name and fame. For example, newcomer models were ready to sleep with a person double her age for raise in their career. Planning, plotting, and dirty games were common in the entertainment industry. From outside, the audience could see all glitters, but little did they know that all glitters weren’t gold.
She ignored the pain that she was feeling because of the hangover and looked for that man. It didn’t take her time to find him because it was a small, cute, and well-maintained home.
Tiara shook her head, reminding herself that it wasn’t the time to appreciate the size and design of the home. She grabbed the vase that she found on the table and reached the man who was in the kitchen. Tiara raised the vase to hit his head when Wylder turned around, holding the tray full of breakfast along with a painkiller that Tiara might need. He had sensed her, but he didn’t know that she was holding a vase in her hand.
He looked at her in amusement while she looked at him in shock. She furrowed her eyebrow and narrowed her eyes before reading his face.
‘Grey eyes. Just like Theodore.’ This was her first thought until her eyes studied every inch of his face.
“Wild?” She whispered in a low tone, unable to believe that he was here. He smiled in response, only to confirm that he was indeed him. She kept the vase on the kitchen counter and grabbed the tray from his hand only to keep it on the kitchen counter, too, and then she hugged him tightly.
Fuck! She missed him.
She missed her best friend badly. She didn’t realize when did a lone tear start rolling out of her eye? Because of the happiness that he was here.
Wylder hugged her back and kissed her hair. “I missed you too.”
“I didn’t tell you that I missed you,” Tiara said in a heavy tone.
“You don’t have to.” That was when she broke into tears without hiding it from him. Wylder tried not to feel this hug as anything else except a friendly hug, but he was having a hard time doing so. His arms wrapped around her without his realization, and he took a deep breath, inhaling her smell. Though she was stinking, he minded inhaling her scent again and again as long as it was her.
“I was feeling so lonely.” She spoke between her cries.
“I’m here.” He whispered.
Tiara couldn’t explain her happiness in having him beside her. Wylder was someone with whom she could share everything, even the truth that she had hidden deep down in her heart. She missed him. She missed him badly all these years, but she couldn’t muster the courage to speak to him as she was the one because of which he wasn’t with her.
They became a best friend from the moment they found each other. They used to do everything together, even though it meant teasing Liara in a friendly way. At the same time, he also controlled her from crossing the line when he felt that she was taking teasing to another level by bullying Liara.
That was a different thing that by the moment Tiara realized that Liara was going into depression and the damage was already done.
They were inseparable even after Wylder was adopted legally by Tiara’s aunts, as no one came looking for a boy name Wylder. Eden and Arya were no less than her second mother. After all, they helped in raising her older twins brother, and even Liara and her.
One of the reasons why Wylder didn’t want Sophia and Brandon to adopt him was because he didn’t want to become Tiara’s brother. That was when all the elders observed his liking toward Tiara.
As time passed, Wylder was over the moon in love with Tiara, and everyone in the family could see that except Tiara, who treated him no less than her best friend.
She showed her friendship in front of everyone as an example that a girl and a boy could be best friends as well.
As time passed, Tiara started exploring her world and career as a child actor while Wylder just stayed behind her, cheering and motiving for her, stating him as her number one fan.
At the same time, Wylder couldn’t muster the courage to lose Tiara by expressing his feelings for her. The last thing that he wanted to lose was her friendship. He could feel that his mothers were upset with him for ignoring his career and his goal by running behind Tiara.
All this time, he prayed to Moon Goddess to bless Tiara as his fated mate. But looked like Moon Goddess wasn’t in the listen to his prayers. So, when he turned eighteen, his wolf came out even though he knew that he had already shifted when he was just eight.
Both Eden and Arya took him to Oracle to check what was wrong with his wolf. And that was they came to know that something was blocking his wolf from reaching him.
After consulting with everyone, Eden and Arya decided to send Wylder to Elite Academy, an academy that was in another realm, run by God themselves. They felt the highly educated professors and the God and Goddess in the academy could help him to bring his wolf out. But Wylder didn’t want to leave Tiara. He better wanted to stay without wolf as a human, but he didn’t want to be away from Tiara.
Wylder’s decision forced Eden and Arya to talk with Tiara. So that she could push Wylder away from her if he didn’t want to do it on his own.
Tiara didn’t want to stay away from Wylder too, but she knew she had to do this for his better future, and that day, she did something that she never thought to do him.
She insulted him and made fun of him in front of everyone by breaking their friendship by telling him that she wanted to stay in connection with those friends who were of her level or status, not a beggar and loser like him who had no career goal, no future and not a single penny in his pocket.
And it worked.
Wylder left for the Elite Academy to focus on his career, just like his mothers wanted.
Recalling the past, Tiara cried bitterly. “I’m sorry for insulting you at my success party in front of everyone.” She apologized between her cries. She knew she was too late to apologize for what she did in the past, but then, they lost their connection once he left.
She recalled how much she got scolded by her parents and her older sibling for insulting Wylder. They called her that she had lost her mind after tasting success and gave a lecture on the importance of having a true friend.
The only person who didn’t open her mouth that night was her, a couple of minutes younger sister, Liara. But Tiara was positive that she would have also drawn an image in her mind by thinking of her as someone who gave more importance to money, power, and career instead of feelings and emotions.
Tiara didn’t explain herself to her family members and let them think what they were thinking so that Wylder could sense that she had been really changed.
“It’s okay!” Wylder spoke, on which Tiara broke the hug and looked at him as if he was some sort of alien. “Remember what I said when I was leaving for the Academy?”
Tiara nodded her head and let Wylder wipe her tears.
*
‘You and your friendship are everything to me, Ara. I don’t know how you changed so much, but money, power, and status meant a lot to you then... then, One day, I will be back. I will be back with everything that is on the requirement list to become your friend and to hold your hand AGAIN.’ Tiara shivered, hearing his words. She wasn’t expecting such nice behavior from him, not after what she had done to him.
*
“Why?” Tiara whispered in a broken tone. How could he be so understanding? How could he? That was when she recalled her mother’s words. ‘Wylder is your one true friend in the world full of masks. Don’t lose him over materialistic things or for status.’
“Because…”
“You’re my TRUE FRIEND,” Tiara said with a smile and hugged him again.
“R-I-G-H-T,” He admitted unwillingly. He didn’t want just her friendship. He wanted more. He wanted more. But he couldn’t speak that to her all of a sudden. ‘You didn’t hear my prayer when I asked Ara as my fated but don’t send her EX-Mate into her life.’ He talked to Moon Goddess.
‘MINE.’ Night, His Lycan growled in his mind, holding Tiara in his arms tightly.
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#TBC
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A/N: Thank you for reading.