Heiress or Mate?

Chapter 3 - Afraid

...........

Linton

...........

“What’s wrong?” The guy, introduced as Alec, asks, getting up and rushing toward her sister, who looks like she’s struggling to breathe. I get to my feet, our eyes still locked together, and all the voices start to fade to the background as the world comes to a standstill, held hostage by my soulmate's eyes. She’s the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, and Calyx is going crazy inside my head, desperate to hold her.

I swallow hard, struggling to keep still as everything pulls me toward her, forcing me to walk up to her and take her in my arms, but just then, I’m hit by a cold wave of fear emanating from her before she runs out of the room. I fall on the chair, my hand flying to my chest, still hearing her frightened heartbeat as she runs away, and I feel Calyx's turmoil and know he felt it too.

She’s afraid. Why is she afraid of us?

He whispers with a shaky voice, and tears pool in my eyes, not knowing what to say to him. He tells me to follow her and show her she doesn’t have to be scared of us. He wants me to tell her she’s our heart and we would never hurt her, and I want that more than anything, but the human part of me knows to be careful. I’m a stranger here and can’t just burst into her bedroom and start going off about us being soul mates.

Go to her! She’s our mate! She needs us!

He growls at me, causing me to sit upright in the chair, growing more frustrated. “Don’t!” I warn him, and he immediately goes to the back of my mind, whining. I can feel his anxiety, but he’s not the only one who needs her and wishes they could hold her; I do too. Seeing her like that hurts me, too. But her family are humans. I don’t even know if they know what she is. They’re not going to like me barging into her room or wherever she ran to. So we have to control ourselves. I explain that to him, feeling his sadness, but he doesn’t respond, causing me to call him, but just then, Cas walks inside with a concerned frown.

I get up and rush to him, causing his frown to deepen as he takes in my state, but I can't even pretend. He opens his mouth to speak, but I cut him off, asking if my mate's okay, and he says he’s not sure, adding he’s never seen her like that before.

“She looked spooked, like she just saw a ghost,” he continues, and my heart sinks very low at his words. Just then, Alec and the girl, who I assume is her sibling too, also enter, causing Cas to stop talking. However, they don’t sit down, seeming to have lost their appetite, while concerned frowns remain apparent. The girl informs Cas that they are leaving for university and will see him later. She hugs him and asks if Cas will still be around when they return, and he says yes. She bids me a good day and follows her brother out of the room.

“We should probably start working,” Cas says before asking me to follow him if I’m done eating, and I tell him I am.

“Are you feeling okay? You look a little pale,” he asks, stopping in front of me when we exit the house, and I tell him I am, looking everywhere but at him before asking the question I've wanted to ask since he returned from her room.

“What’s her name?”

“Who?”

“Your cousin, the one who-”

“-Veil,” he says, and I feel Calyx come out of the dark corner he crawled into at the mention of our mate.

“Veil,” I softly repeat, feeling a warm feeling spread across my chest before saying it's a beautiful name. But the feeling doesn’t last long, as an overbearing sense of fear washes over me, recalling her expression and what he said. He said she looked like she had just seen a ghost. I start remembering my strange dream about her, wondering if it’s somehow connected to her reaction.

I know how overwhelming the bond is the first time you see your mate because I was overwhelmed too when we locked eyes, but that doesn’t pull you away from your mate. Instead, it pulls you toward them. It took everything in me not to rush up to her and take her in my arms in front of her family, but she ran away from us.

I clench my fist to stop my hand from shaking as crazy scenarios start playing in my head, and Calyx lets out a painful whine at the last thought that lingers. I’m terrified just thinking about it, but I can’t help myself. What if she doesn’t want us?

No, please don’t think like that.

Calyx begs with a tremulous voice, just as scared as I am, and I take a deep breath, trying to calm my heart as the thought starts to turn it cold.

We get to the car and offload our equipment, and head to the site. I remind Cas on our way that he doesn’t have to help me. He got me the job; it’s enough. He can go be with his family, but he tells me to shut up, playfully punching me on the shoulder.

Cas is in his last year of university. He’s doing a bachelor's degree in architecture. I was too, but I dropped out in the first year. I had to take over my father’s painting business when he died in a mining accident. He had just used his savings to start the business, which had yet to take off and make enough money to hire people to help him. He worked mostly at night, and I used to help him, so it became impossible for me to focus on my studies and keep the business afloat when he died.

I’m still trying to get myself out there to get more jobs and grow, but it keeps a roof over my family’s head and pays for my sister’s education, so it's not that bad. Cas sometimes helps me when I get big gigs, and he’s free. Otherwise, I sometimes go on for nights without sleeping if the job is too big. I try not to say no to any job that comes my way, and my werewolf strength helps me handle the workload, so again, it’s not so bad. I must omit the truth when speaking to Cas, though; otherwise, he asks me many questions.

Finally, we get to the site, and he shows me the paints. After that, we grab our overalls and start changing, but just then, his phone rings. He answers, and I see him frown before he ends the call and turns to look at me.

“Aunt Liora wants to have a word. I’ll be back now,” he says, and I don’t know why but my heartbeat accelerates again as I nod for him to go ahead.

I’m sorry I was an ass to you just now. I didn't mean to. I’m just afraid, Linton. Please don’t let her reject us.

Calyx says, and the fear in his voice makes my stomach churn, and before I know it, I promise him I won’t, even though I don’t know what I’ll do if she does. I finish getting dressed and grab the sanding block to smoothen the walls since they were previously painted, but it slips out of my grasp, and I stagger as Calyx lets out the loudest howl before the girl from my dreams flashes in front of my eyes. Her cries for help ring in my ears, and I clutch my head, but a sharp pain in my chest has me leaning on my knees, breathless.

“Stop,” I whisper as Calyx starts losing it, saying she’s in danger.

“What danger? What are you talking about?” I ask, my breathing still uneven, and just then, another sharp pain knocks the air out of my lungs, and before I know it, I’m running out of the door and heading inside the house. I don’t know what’s happening, but I can feel it too. Calyx is making me feel her wolf’s pain, making me feel like I'm about to lose my mind.

I run up the stairs, her scent guiding me, and it takes everything in me not to bust through the door when I finally get to her room. I knock, taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart as I do, realizing the rooms are soundproof since I can’t hear anything happening on the other side, even though her scent says she’s here. There’s no answer the first time, so I knock again, a little louder this time, and the door opens, but instead of letting me in, Castiel comes out.

“What’s up? What are you doing here?” he asks, frowning, taking in my trembling state as I fail to control myself on being denied entry.

“I need to see her. I need to make sure she’s okay,” I tell him, trying to walk past him, but he grabs me by the shoulders, and just then, I feel the door lock. I twist the handle, my hands no longer my own, and I hear him call me, but his voice fades away. The more I turn the handle and knock, the more I lose it, and just then, I get grabbed from behind. The white in my eyes disappears as I quickly turn around to find Cas holding me. I rip his hands off of me and throw him across the corridor. His eyes widen, and he groans, colliding with a door before landing miserably on the side, and it’s only when he hits the ground that I realize what I’ve done and snap out of it.

"Oh, goddess," I exclaim, running over to him, leaning down to help him up as he continues groaning in pain with one hand on his waist, but he won't let me.

“What the f**k, man?” he exclaims, getting up, and my heart clenches at the shocked and confused look on his face. I apologize, telling him I don’t know what came over me while trying to quickly think of what to say, but I can’t think of anything.

“I’m sorry.” I apologize again before rushing out of the house, needing some air before I make things worse.

“Please, don’t do that again. Please," I whisper to Calyx, and he tries to apologize, saying she needed us, but I cut him off and tell him to get a grip.

He and I have an agreement that he never takes control without my consent unless it’s saving my life or my family’s lives. He reminds me of that, saying our mate is in danger, but I shake my head, asking him to look around. She’s with her family. What could she be in danger from?

I sit on top of the paint bucket and take my face in my hands as a frightening theory about what just happened comes into my mind. Wolves go into distress mode at the possibility of a rejection. Rejections break us, but they crush them since everything we feel is multiplied by ten for them. The human side will try to pick up the pieces, but the wolf never recovers.

“She’s going to reject us,” I whisper, feeling all the strength in my body draining.

.

.

.

.......

Veil

.......

“Ahh!” I cry, clutching my mother’s hand, feeling the familiar burning pain from hearing him violently twisting the door handle, desperate to get inside. My body starts to tremble, and I roll and fall out of bed, feeling the beast forcing its way out. My vision gets blurry, feeling my bones melt, and I let out another scream, my voice inhumane, as my bones start to shift. I try to crawl away, continuing to scream, before feeling a stinging sensation on my neck, and my shirt rips open. A loud growl vibrates across my chest, the serum feeling like fire as it makes its way into my bloodstream, but just then, I'm pushed flat on my stomach.

I roll over to my side, clutching my stomach with hands that don’t feel like my own as I struggle to breathe, and just then, I’m turned over to my back, and something cold is placed against my chest. The fire immediately dies down, and I feel my body changing, realizing I had already begun to shift.

“It’s alright. You’re okay,” my mother says, but her voice is faint as my vision clears. “He’s gone," she adds while I tremble in her arms, returning to my senses. I move my hands to hers, which are on my chest, and realize she’s holding the stone against it. It worked.

I start crying again, thinking about what almost happened, and she holds me tighter, telling me it’s over now. The rooms are soundproof on the outside listening in. But you can hear what goes on in the corridor from the inside, and I heard the beast fighting to get inside.

I hold on to the stone as mom continues assuring me it’s safe, but just then, there’s a knock on the door, and I freeze. Cas says it’s him, and Mom tells me to get on the bed. She gets up and helps me, but I shake my head and tell her not to open the door, even though I don’t feel him on the other side anymore. I don’t want to take any chances. But she says it’s alright and takes my hands off of her.

She walks to the door and opens it, and Cas enters, his face contorted in pain, causing mom’s eyes to widen as she checks to see if he’s okay. He says he is before telling mom he’s going down to convey the changes to his friend, and they are going to hit the road before it gets dark.

There’s sadness in his eyes as he says that, and I know he has questions, but I’m glad he’s not asking them because I don’t think mom has the answers right now. He walks over to the bed and kisses me on the cheek, saying he wishes me a speedy recovery. I’m sorry to do this to him, but my life depends on it.

Mom walks out with him, telling me she’ll be back as she closes the door, and I place my head back on the pillow, still holding the stone against my chest. But a sudden lump in my throat makes me scream as an overbearing sadness paralyzes me.

.

.

.

............

Castiel

............

“Thank you, Castiel, and I’m sorry again for doing this to you,” aunt Liora says as we share a goodbye hug, and I tell her it’s okay even though it’s not. I don’t understand any of what just happened, but I can see she doesn’t want me to ask, so I won't. Plus, my mind is on Linton right now. I’ve noticed he hasn’t been okay since the dream this morning, and what he did just now—how he threw me against the door like I was a piece of paper, freaked me out. How was he able to do that, and what is going on with him? What was the dream about, and why was he so desperate for Veil? I

Why did Veil and aunt Liora freak out when he started knocking on the door? How did they know it was him? Why was she so scared of him? I recall the look she had on her face after locking eyes with him this morning before running out of the room. Do they know each other? Is he the reason she's like this? But how?

Many questions are running through my mind, and I feel like they are all keeping something from me. I ask her to let me know about Veil and to apologize to Emma since I told her I would still be here when she returned, and she says she will. I head out after that, and just then, my phone rings. I take it out, and it’s my mother. I saw a missed call from her this morning, but she didn't pick up when I called her back.

I tell her I tried returning her call, and she apologizes, saying she had to step out of the house for a bit. She called to find out if we arrived safely, and I tell her we did and apologize for not letting her know last night. It was very late when we got here, and I didn’t want to wake her. I also tell her we are on our way back, and she’s confused since I told her we were going to spend three days here. She asks me why, and I tell her I will explain when I get home, unable to think of anything to say right now. I'll spend the time on the road thinking of something to make this situation less bad.

There’s bad blood between my mother and aunt. They don’t speak; they haven’t for years, but she lets us talk to her. I don’t know what the beef between them is about since neither of them ever wants to talk about it, and it breaks my heart because they are both good people.

Even though she doesn’t speak to my mother, my aunt pays for our education. She asked us not to tell mom because she knew she would never allow it even though she needed assistance, so we told her we have a sponsor and get grunts since my aunt also gives us an allowance.

My mother works in a cotton factory, and the money we get from Aunt Liora helps us a lot. I also started doing my practical two months ago, earning a salary. It’s not the salary I will get after graduating, but I do alright. I only work twenty days a month, and I spend my free days helping Linton with his jobs.

I get to the site, and my heart clenches, seeing Linton leaning his elbows on his knees with his face in his hands. What is happening to him? I stop and look at him, not knowing how I’m going to tell him we are not doing the job anymore, but as always, he senses me standing behind him and quickly gets to his feet.

“Cas, I’m sorry about what happened back there. I don’t know what came over me,” he says, walking up to me, panicked. I open my mouth to ask him what’s going on, but I see his eyes trail toward the entrance behind me, and I follow them, also feeling someone standing behind me.

“Don’t leave."