Heiress or Mate?

Chapter 9 - Werewolves

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Linton

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"Mm!" I groan, waking up to someone calling my name, and I open my eyes, but there’s no one here. Just then, the voice calls me again, and I realize it’s in my head. I reply, rubbing my eyes, still feeling like they have sand in them, and my sister asks me to hurry over to Cas’s house, freaking out. I ask her what’s wrong, but she doesn't tell me and says I must hurry and cut the link.

"What the hell?" I mutter, getting off the bed, and I throw on a shirt since I'm sleeping only in my pajama bottoms. I look at the time, and it’s 4:30 am—no wonder I’m still tired. I just closed my eyes.

Cas and I arrived just after midnight, and I only went to sleep around 2 am. I broke down and cried the moment I got into my room. These five days have been the most difficult of my life. I couldn’t get that guy out of my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about why my mate chose him, and my heart couldn’t stop breaking, and I didn’t even have Calyx to make me feel better.

He’s still mad at me, and after Cas heard me in the car, Calyx finally stopped and didn’t speak again. It was a relief at first because he wasn’t making me feel any better, but after a few hours, I needed him. I’ve never gone a day without talking to him, hell, I don’t even think I’ve ever gone an hour. I thought about what he said. He said I was giving up — that I owed it to us to speak with Veil—to know that I had done everything possible. He said I was letting my pride get in the way. But I’m scared that talking to her won’t achieve anything but more pain. I looked into Veil’s eyes when she said she was glad I was okay and saw nothing. There was no emotion that indicated she felt anything for us—nothing that meant she was a wolf. I can’t explain that, and it scares me.

I have never known anyone who can hide or kill their wolf or whatever she did with her. The only way I know someone can hide their wolf is by forcing it to stay dormant with a collar, but I looked at her neck, and I didn’t see one. What did she do? Why did her wolves call out to us? What was she going to do? I felt her wolf’s pain, and anyone who can hurt her wolf like that is heartless, and I don’t want to confirm that. I’d rather not be sure.

I link my sister and ask her to open, walking up to Cas’s doorstep, and the door opens just as I get to it.

What is going on? I ask via mind link since I’m unsure what’s happened, and she says it’s Cas. What happened to him? I ask alarmedly, rushing after her, and my eyes widen when we enter to find Cas sprawled out on the bed.

“He fainted when I shifted, and that was over thirty minutes ago,” she says as I feel his pulse even though I can hear his heartbeat.

"You told him now?"

"Don’t act surprised. You are the one who did this. You are the one who acted recklessly and then threw me under the bus. Why tell him I knew what was going on with you? Why did you put me in the middle of your mess? You knew I wasn’t ready to tell him, and you said you wouldn’t mess up, but now you’ve forced my hand," she says, and I tell her I’m sorry.

She’s right; I f****d up. After Cas heard me talking in the car and asked me what I was talking about, I said I would tell him everything when we got home. But he had enough. He didn’t want to wait. Enough crazy s**t happened in the past few days, and he wanted answers. I tried to tell him but couldn’t do it on the road. So, I told him my sister knew everything, and I couldn’t tell him anything without her. It was a shitty move, but I didn’t know what else to do.

"I’m sorry. You are right. It was a d**k move. I-I she f****d with my head, I-"

“Who?"

“Veil."

"What happened, Linton? Cas mentioned Veil too. What’s the deal with her?"

"She’s my mate.”

"What?! You found your mate, and you are only telling me now when I ask?"

"I was-" I start to tell her I was going to tell her when I got home, but she cuts me off, hugging me.

"I’m so happy for you. Congratulations, brother. Wait… Isn’t Veil one of Castiel’s cousins?" She asks, pulling back with a big grin on her face, and I try to match it, not wanting to dump my problems on her right now, but I fail, and she sees something is wrong.

"What’s wrong?"

"It’s nothing. I-" I try to dismiss her, but she doesn’t let it go.

"No, talk to me. You found your mate? No wolf is happier than you right now, or at least that’s what it’s supposed to be. Why are you sad?" she asks, and I open my mouth and close it again. This is really not a good time. "Linton," she says with a shaky voice, and I glance over at Cas as tears gleam in my eyes, hoping he wakes up. I can only deal with one problem at a time, and as if he felt my anxiety, his eyes snap open.

"Hey, baby," Ness says, walking over to him as he slowly sits up on the bed, asking what happened, but before she can speak, he jumps to his feet and puts up his hand, asking Ness to stop just as she walks up to him. "It’s okay, baby. I will never hurt you," she says, with a hurt look in her eyes, and my heart clenches, knowing I have caused this.

"Was it real? Did you, for real, turn into a giant wolf?" he asks, looking between Ness and me, spooked. "What is this, Anessa? Please, what’s going on? Did I hallucinate this?"

"Baby-"

"No, don’t come any closer. Stand there and tell me what’s going on. Please, I'm freaking out," he begs, and Ness explains what we are, but the more she tells him, the more he freaks out, so I transform into my wolf to show him we won't hurt him. He screams and buries himself against the wall, but Ness holds him and doesn't let him as he tries to push her away and run.

"We will never hurt you. He’s still your friend," she says, telling me to walk up to him via mind link, which I do. "You see, he's just like a big dog."

What the f**k!

You did this, Linton. Come, let him pat you, so he can stop being afraid.

Like hell, I’m going to let him do that.

Linton!

No, you shift and have him pat you.

"Just come," she says loudly, pulling Calyx by the ear and ignoring his growl.

"You see, he won’t bite. We are man’s best friend," she says, placing Cas's hand on Calyx’s head, and he starts patting us. They better never tell anyone about this.

And I thought the animal shelter situation was humiliating.

Calyx growls, and it’s good to hear his voice. Okay, enough. I shift back and get to my feet while Cas keeps his gaze on me like he’s looking at a ghost.

“Please, don't ever pat a werewolf," I tell him, grabbing his shirt on the sofa, and Ness narrows her eyes on me. She's going to get him killed.

"So, you’ve been werewolves all this time. Werewolves are real?" he asks, and Ness tells him, yes, but we were only able to shift into our wolves at eighteen. She-wolves get their wolves early, but we get ours at twenty-one.

"Come, babe, sit down," she says, taking his hand and sitting him down since he still looks pale, and she hands him some water.

"So, I’m your mate?" he asks, and she says yes while informing me via mind link that she had explained mates to him."And you are Veil’s mate?" he asks, now looking at me, and I nod. There’s silence for a moment before he speaks again. "I’m sorry, Lin," he says with this sad look, and I know he’s referring to what he heard me say in the car.

"Thank you," I softly say, feeling Ness’s eyes on me, and I turn to look at her, knowing it’s just a matter of time before she asks me. "Veil doesn’t want me."

"What?"

"I’m not what she’s looking for," I tell her, and she hugs me, saying she's sorry, but she pulls back when Cas speaks behind her, and we look at him.

“You can't just give up like that.”

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Eureka

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I look at myself in the rearview mirror, stopping in front of Andreas’s place. Andreas was going to come over, but he said he would finish late, so he’ll sleep over tomorrow and asked me to take the day off, too, so we can do something. It’s risky, but we take the risk now and then and go out as a family. Andreas knows all the scouts here and other people working for Hades, so we can get around safely without Hades finding out.

Veil is also away for the weekend. She left yesterday morning and will return tomorrow. If we didn't need her, I’d wish her a terrible accident on the way home, where she watches everybody die screaming and thinks she’s going to make it until she realizes she isn’t and will die an even worse death.

I haven’t been here in a while. I used to spend some nights here, but after Veil kept showing up unannounced, I decided it was too risky, and it was better for Andreas to spend time at my place, rather. I exit the car and rush up to the front door.

Veil’s father is home, and Andreas has been very stressed since finding out he was returning before the time and that he didn’t tell him. He’s convinced now more than ever that Milan is up to something. Especially since he discovered today that Milan was selling two of his mines, he called me stressed, saying Veil's father had requested figures for the past six months from those mines behind Andreas' back. He’s never done that.

Andreas checks and consolidates all the reports. Veil’s father gets the final reports. I have been stressed out since he called me, and I couldn’t get through when I tried to link him. But he called an hour ago and asked me to come over, and now I’m more stressed. I called Phoebe and asked if she could sleep over, and she came. She said I could always call her if something came up and I needed her after hours; she doesn’t mind. Plus, I pay her double when I do that. I couldn’t bring Azarios over, not knowing what was going on. I don't want my baby to see us sad and stressed. I want him to remember happy times with his father. Should anything ever happen to us.

The door is not locked, so I let myself in but stop for a moment, confused, seeing the lights dim. "Babe?" I call out, heading to the dining area, as this mouth-watering aroma hits my nose, causing me to inhale, feeling hungry suddenly, but I gasp in awe, seeing Andreas standing with a bouquet of roses in his hand.

I unconsciously tuck my lower lip between my teeth, giving him a once-over. I have the sexiest mate.

There’s soft music playing in the background, and he’s turned off the overhead lights and put on some floor lamps, making me swoon over him.

"For you," he says with a heart-melting smile and nothing but love in his eyes as he hands me the red roses.

"Thank you, babe," I swoon, as a warm feeling spreads across my chest, looking at him and this beautiful setting. I take the roses and peck him on the lips before moving to the table.

The table is beautifully decorated with candles and rose petals. He pulls my chair for me, and I sit down, watching him with a smile as he walks around the table to his seat. Goddess, I love this man.

"Thank you," I softly say as he hands me a glass of champagne. But I’m still confused as to how this is happening when he was so stressed this morning. I notice he's made my favorite dish too. He helps me sit down and takes his seat, asking how my day was. I tell them, and I ask how his was, eager to hear so I can understand why he seems to be in a good mood.

He says the Gods were smiling down at him today, and I ask him what happened. He says Milan requested a meeting with him after he spoke to me and told him about the decision to sell the mines. He said it was sudden and apologized for not letting him know sooner, adding he didn’t want to announce it until he knew for sure he was selling. He also told him he had the last six month’s figures from the mines sent to him because he didn’t want to bombard Andreas with last-minute work on top of everything he does, and that’s when Andreas jumped in and told him he would be happy to do it.

He says Milan thanked him but said the files were already sent to him and that he would do it. But just then, he received a call that he had to take and ended up asking Andreas to go through the figures and forward them to the person when done.

So my mate did his thing and made them look terrible. Now that person will reconsider. He also called his men to do the groundwork, and something big is going to hit Milan tomorrow. He is not selling those mines to anyone.

I’m so happy to hear that. I get up, walk around the table to sit on his lap and connect our lips in a passionate kiss. He pushes the dishes off the table before placing me on it and connecting our lips again. My fingers weave into his hair when he grazes my marking spot while his hands work on my buttons. He rids me of my top, and I find the helm of his shirt, too, bringing it over his head and taking it off. One by one, our clothes fall to the floor until there’s nothing left.

"Mmm!" He kisses me down to my chest, and I moan, closing my eyes, feeling his soft, warm lips wrapping around my left n****e before they move to my right one, causing my hands to find the back of his head again. Satisfied, he continues further south, past my belly button, causing my breath to hitch when he dips between my legs before his tongue flicks over my nerve bud, making me shiver.

"Mm!" I moan louder, throwing my head back as his hands keep my legs in place while he licks and sucks, driving me insane.

My body convulses as an orgasm washes over me, leaving me panting as I try to catch my breath. He comes up after helping me ride my high and connects our lips as he pulls me to the edge of the counter, deepening the kiss.

"Mmm!" I moan, wrapping my arms around his neck as he slowly slides all of him in, making me feel every inch of him before starting to move. His strokes begin torturously slow, causing me to let go of him and grip the countertop, shrieking his name. But just then, his phone rings, ruining everything.

I wrap my arms around his neck again, telling him to ignore it, but it’s not working. It’s distracting, and he apologizes, saying he will put it off. I let go of him, and he pulls out before walking over to it and taking it, but I see him frown, and I ask him what’s wrong. He says it’s security.

"Take it," I say, getting off the table, but everything stops when he says Veil’s on her way, and just then, there’s a knock on the door. What the hell?