Heiress or Mate?

Chapter 4 - Beast

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Castiel

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“Aunt Liora?” I mutter, turning around, and she proceeds inside the room, glancing at Linton as she does, and I don’t miss the tinge of sadness in her eyes that goes as quickly as it came.

More questions flood my mind, like, why is she looking at him like that? Why didn’t she address what he did? I know she heard the commotion and know it was him trying to get into Veil’s room. I was afraid she was going to be mad, but she wasn't. She pretended as if it never happened.

“Carry on with what you came to do. There’s more paint and other things you might need in the garage,” she says, stopping in front of me, and I nod. I’m more confused than ever, but I’m glad she’s letting us do what we came to do because, even though she offered to pay Linton, I know he was not going to take the money without having done the job. That’s why I didn’t even know how to tell him what she said. She says the garage is not locked, and I nod, not missing how she looks behind me at Linton again.

“I will leave you to it. If there’s anything you need, let me know,” she continues, and I say we will. She heads out after that, and I stand and look at her for a moment, trying to make sense of everything before I hear Linton speak.

“She wanted us to leave?” he asks, and I turn around and find him looking at me with lots of emotions I can’t decipher except one, pain.

“Yes, she was leaving and was going to pay us for the job,” I reply, stopping in front of him, and he nods before telling me again he’s sorry for what happened earlier, but I cut him off and ask what’s happening. “Please, don’t say it’s nothing because I can tell it isn’t. Please talk to me. I'm worried about you,” I add, stepping up to him again as he takes a step back, and his body tenses up when I place my hand on his shoulder. He opens his mouth to reply but closes it again and turns away from me before sighing.

“You are right. I’m not okay, but I can’t talk about it."

“-Lin-“

“-Please don’t push. I know you need answers, and I want more than anything to give them to you, but I can’t —at least not right now. Just know that I’m sorry for what happened,” he says, and I pull him into a quick hug.

“It’s okay; I won’t push. But you have to tell me how the hell you were that strong. What have you been doing, lifting trucks?” I ask, pulling back from the hug, and he laughs, but the sadness hasn’t gone away in his eyes.

“You are not ready for it yet,” he says, patting me on the shoulder before picking up the sanding block lying next to his feet.

“Try me.”

“Later.”

“Bro, I’m 6’0” and weigh 165 lbs; you can not just manhandle me like that! I need answers.” I complain, following behind him, and he laughs.

“Come on, come help me here,” he disregards what I just said with a smirk, starting to sand the wall, and I walk over and help him.

“Okay, I’ll let it slide for now, but you will never mention what happened here to your sister, or I swear. I-”

“-I won’t. I won't mention it,” he says, raising his hands and starting to laugh again, and I playfully stab the back of his head with a paintbrush, causing him to chase me. I still need my answers because now I'm sure they are hiding something from me. But I'm glad to see him smile.

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Liora (Veil's mother)

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I lean on the wall, taking a deep breath after entering the house, my heart broken for my baby and the boy, but there’s nothing I can do. I tried to educate Veil about wolves, but she hates them and never wanted to know anything about them.

I was devastated when I found out the man I slept with was not human—when I found out the monsters from stories are real and living among us, and I don’t know what I would have done without my sister.

I didn't believe it when the doctor told me how far along I was. It was impossible since only one month had passed since the one-night stand with the stranger. I hadn’t slept with anyone before that. I asked him to check again, and he was sure, but I still didn't believe it even though the evidence was staring me in the face. So I went and got a second opinion, but they all said the same thing.

When I got home, my late sister, Leatrice, had come to visit, and when her eyes trailed to my stomach, I broke down and cried. It had been two months since she’d seen me, and she was confused. The man who had done this to me had vanished. I went back to his hotel after finding out I was pregnant and how far along I was, scared he would reject me since it made no sense, but he wasn’t there.

I was told he checked out a month ago, and I realized he left that morning. His brother had come to pick him up from my place, and he told me they were picking up his older brother at the airport and that I would see him again, but he was gone. I became a mess; I didn’t know what to do. The only thing I knew was his name and his brothers’ names. I fell apart in my sister’s arms and told her everything, including that I was somehow three months pregnant, and I will never forget the horrified look on her face before she took my hand and pulled me to my bedroom, and locked the door. She started asking me weird questions about Weston, which scared me.

After I had told her everything, she gave me the soul-wrecking news that my baby’s father was not human but a beast. I was confused at first; I thought it was a sick joke, and I cried, gutted that she was making fun of my misery. But I soon realized she was dead serious.

The hair at the back of my neck stood as I gazed down at my stomach, and I started screaming. I had never been so scared in my life, and I asked my sister to help me get rid of the baby even though I had already seen the scans and she looked normal. I was terrified to the point where I started to feel like she was clawing at me. Our older sister, La Reina, Castiel’s mother, had gone to town with our parents.

Leatrice packed my clothes and took me with her to her home. She was staying at a farm with her husband and two children. It was too risky to do an abortion because of my condition, and she was scared I would harm myself or get my whole family killed. She asked me to keep the baby's father being a beast a secret from our family after calming me down and explaining how the werewolf thing worked.

I was shocked by how much she knew —that all this time, she had known about their existence, so I asked her why she never warned us, and that’s when she dropped another bomb on me. She told me not to tell Gunner, her husband, about the baby’s father, and I was still confused when she took my hand and asked me to follow her to their basement. I did, and I was shocked when we got there. There were weapons, some of which looked like they were from medieval times. There were also wolf heads and books that were lying open on tables. I picked one up, and it was the anatomy of a wolf.

I was so shocked by everything I saw that the book slipped from my hand and went into an oily bucket. When I asked Leatrice what all that was, she told me something that knocked the air out of my lungs. Both her husband and she were beast hunters. I took off and ran, but she chased me and held me down, and that’s when I realized I loved my baby regardless of what she was. I was willing to run to the ends of the earth with her when I found out what they were.

She told me I would have to move before the baby turned eighteen and got her wolf; she said she’d be a normal human child until then, but now I needed her. She was the only one who knew my secret and could help me, so I agreed to stay with her and learn about wolves since I was carrying one. It was dangerous to try to learn any other way.

Gunner was out of the country at the time, and he was supposed to return the following week, which is why she was telling me everything. I stayed with them until Veil was born, and she taught me everything about wolves. I was afraid when the time to give birth came, even though she had assured me she would be human and I had seen scans. But she was right—my baby was perfect, and I loved her more than anything in this world. The fear of moving away that was constantly nagging at the back of my mind disappeared when she was born. I was ready to do whatever it took to keep her safe.

My parents worked in town, and one day, a storm reaped havoc. The car they were traveling in got swept away by a flood, and they were found dead six days later. La Reina was alone, so I moved back home. I no longer needed Leatrice. I had learned everything I needed and was in a better emotional state. She was worried when I left, but she understood our sister needed me. She spent three weeks with us before returning to the farm, and I told her I would visit her the following weekend to see my niece. She had just had a child. I never got the chance to. She was killed in her home, and even though Gunner made up some story since no one knew what they were, I knew what killed her had something to do with who he was and what they did.

Seeing how they couldn’t spare the children sent bloodcurdling chills down my spine and made me question everything. Two weeks after her death, I went to check on Gunner. There was no one in the house, and his car was not in front like it always was, so I thought he had gone to town, and I decided to use the opportunity to take the midnight pearl since my sister had told me before her death she had secured it for me.

The basement was always dark, and I quickly made my way to the small cabinet where I knew it would be. But just as I closed the cabinet after taking some, I heard a groan in the far corner. When I turned on the lights, I saw a man tied up, bleeding, with a collar around his neck. He asked me to help him, but I didn’t. I wanted to, but I was too shocked and scared, so I ran out of there. I knew what Gunner did, but I had never seen him do it the entire time I lived there.

I never told him I had gone to see him, and I never went to see him again. I spent weeks haunted by that man’s eyes, and the fear that that could be Veil’s fate if ever discovered kept me awake every night until it became clear I couldn’t stay there anymore. I was too close. So my sister found me packing the following day.

We were still grieving the loss of our parents and sister, and she didn’t understand why I was leaving. She needed me and begged me not to leave her, but I had no choice. She wanted answers I couldn’t give, and it tore me apart, leaving her like that, but I was doing it for my baby. I had to choose her, and she wasn't safe there. So I moved to our parents’ place in town and looked for a job.

I got a job as a receptionist, and that’s how I met my husband. Things were going well for me, but I was miserable because of how I left my sister and feared for my baby. Six months later, I came home to a notice: my sister was selling our parents’ place, and I had to find another place to live. That’s how Milan and I started living together. I tried to send money to my sister and her kids since she was a single mother, but she wouldn’t accept it. She hated me for abandoning her when she needed me, and I couldn’t tell her why I did it, so I let things be. I’m just grateful she allows me to have a relationship with the children.

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I enter Veil’s room and find her sitting up against the headboard, still clutching the stone to her chest. She freaked out when I told her I was going to stop Castiel from leaving with her mate. But she understood when I explained my reasons.

The boy knows she’s his mate, and from what I know about the mate bond and what I just witnessed a few minutes ago, he will be back. The only way for him to leave is for the bond to disappear and make him think whatever he felt wasn't real. Veil wanted to reject him, but that would confirm she is a wolf, and I don’t want that. I don’t want to risk anyone knowing what she is.

“I love you, and I will support you through anything. But honey, I have to ask. Are you sure you want to go through with this? Are you sure you don’t want to give him—” I try to ask, but she cuts me off, saying she’s sure. I know everything I know about the mate bond and the wolf gods from research. I don’t know how true it is, but I’m still worried. It is said no one can love you more than your mate, and I don’t want her to do something and regret it, but again, I think about how her father left me, and I question everything. It’s also said wolves only mate with their soulmate and can’t live without them once they find them. After my sister told me about them, I realized he was my mate, but he left me and never looked back. So maybe Veil is correct; perhaps the bond and their gods aren’t all that they’re cracked up to be.

“Okay, come. I told David we’d be there in thirty minutes,” I say to Veil, getting to my feet, and she gets up, but I don’t miss the fear in her eyes. So I cup her face and assure her again. David is one of the top surgeons and a friend. She’s known Veil since she was a baby. Veil and his daughter are best friends; she has nothing to fear.

She nods, and we share a brief hug. I grab her coat and give it to her, and she puts it on, and we head out. We use the back entrance so we don’t have to see her mate and risk the wolf coming forward again. Maybe it’s best he came here because now Veil can finally rid herself of the burden of the serum. Once the stone is placed in her chest, she won’t have to inject herself with serum anymore.

She asks what I said to David since this is an unusual request, and I tell her. I told him it’s my family’s custom, and he thinks it’s a diamond since I had it encased in one. I said I had one too. She smiles, leaning against my shoulder as we make our way to the car. I’m glad she can’t see my heart because I’m terrified. I pray everything goes well.

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Eureka (the maid)

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“Mm!” I groan, plopping on the sofa before kicking off my shoes, ripping my bra off from underneath my top, and closing my eyes, still thinking about Castiel’s friend and Veil. Just then, my favorite scent hits my nose, and Phoebe enters with Azarios, who comes running and throws himself in my arms. I hug him tightly, telling him I missed him, and he says he missed me, too. He starts telling me about everything they did in the park, and just then, Phoebe returns with her purse. I thank her, and I ask if she cooked, inhaling the mouth-watering aroma, and she says yes, causing me to thank her again.

Cooking is not in her job description, but when I run late from work, she helps cook. I bid her good night, and she and Azarios share a hug. Phoebe has been his babysitter since he was born, and he adores her. She leaves, and I get up, taking Azarios with me, but just then, I hear the door closing, and another favorite scent hits my nose.

“Daddy!” Azarios cries out, getting off of me, and runs to Andreas, and he kneels to his level and picks him up in a hug.

“I'm sorry, I couldn't speak. I was with Hades. What problem are you talking about?” he asks, advancing to me while laying kisses on Azarios's head, making him giggle. I couldn't contain myself and mind-linked him, but he was busy, so I sent him a message.

“I think Veil is mated to a wolf.”

“What?” he asks, stopping in front of me, and I tell him everything I observed today. “I heard a commotion after I had served the Vogts breakfast this morning, and when I came to check, I saw Veil being chased by her family, and when I peeked inside the dining area, I saw Castiel’s friend, who's a wolf, frozen in his spot. His heartbeat was wild, and I knew that look.”

“That can not happen."

“I know. What are we going to do?”

“We have to get rid of him.”