Remember the last time I said my life wasn't boring? Well, that's an understatement. A very huge understatement. You want to know - why? Because. Imagine yourself in a room full of werewolf's and you being the only human severely limited in movement? That's right, there's no way out. Here I was surrounded by my new family, but in the end of the day him, and I figured it was Nick, is their real child, their brother, cousin, etc. And I had no doubts, that if he were mad at me, than he had a reason, and that reason would be enough for all other people in the room to turn against me. What happened with thinking positive thoughts? My subconscious me wondered. Well, my fear overruled all rational thought and clouded my judgment completely. So no wonder that my heartbeat increased, breaths came out in short pants, beads of cold sweat formed on my forehead and hands became clammy and gripped the kitchen table so hard, that my knuckles turned white. There was a ringing in my ears, I was hypnotised. Soon enough my panic attack became so severe that I started seeing black dots in the corners of my vision and I swayed a bit in my chair. My breath got caught somewhere on the way in or out of my lungs and then I lost it. I felt the movement of my body, I was falling and I could do nothing about it. Somewhere on the verge of a total blackout I heard a vicious growl and that warm hands caught me, and it felt good, way better than what I was feeling before, but I was too far gone to register that feeling fully and then everything went first silent and then black.
I don't know for how long I was out of it, but at some point everything in my body started turning on again. First was the headache. It was dull and annoying, so I moaned. Then there was the pain in my leg, it was sharper and even more annoying, so I whimpered. Then I started hearing things, and it was also annoying, so I furrowed my brows.
"Come on, Lena, quickly, bring a glass of water, she must be dehydrated!" - Shirley, that's for sure, only she has that whisper yell full with so much color, that a regular whisper just can't obtain. Then there was the shuffling of feet, I figured it was Lena who went to grab me said glass. Then something cold touched my forehead, and it felt good, so I moaned again. A wet towel, perhaps?
"Sweetheart, open your eyes." Shirley again. Her tone was soft and soothing. She sounded worried. Why would she be worried? What the hell happened? I furrowed my brows again, this time in concentration. Couple more seconds and... BAM! Everything came back to me - the ice cream banter, than the door, than him. The livid wolf. At that memory my eyes shot open right away, but the light, oh, how bright it was, my head instantly felt it burning my eyeballs out, so guess what I did? Yeah, I moaned again, and then whimpered. Pathetic...
"Sweetheart, calm down, there is no need to worry, you are ok, you are safe, no one is going to hurt you, you and the baby are totally fine." She was trying to calm me with her words and the towel, and it helped a bit. I was safe, no one was going to harm me. Well, except for the stalker, but he wasn't here, everything good. Oh, my baby! I tried reaching for my belly, but my hands were weak. Hell, I was weak.
"Shhh, don't make any rapid movements, let me help you sit up" said the ever caring Shirley. God, I realised, how I love her...
She gently placed her arm under my shoulder and helped me sit up, putting a pillow behind my back. I looked around and realised I was on the couch in the living room. It was only me and Shirley there, oh, and Lena that just walked in with a glass of water.
"How long was I out?" I wheezed out, my throat dry.
"Here" Lena handed me a glass of water and plopped on the floor before the couch, while Shirley sat next to me, stoll hugging me around my shoulders. I hungrily gulped down the water and turned to Shirley again.
"So? What happened?"
She caressed my hair again in a motherly fashion.
"You had a panic attack and fainted. I think Nick scared you a bit..." at that she turned her eyes away and hummed uncomfortably.
"What's wrong?" I asked, starting to worry again. That's it, she is going to ask me to leave...
"Wrong? Aaaaa, nooo, sweetheart, nothing's wrong, why would you think so?" She answered not looking at me. My heart dropped. Why was she lying to me? With a heavy sigh I looked at my lap, my eyes watering, and said:
"Can I at least stay till the morning? I'll get out of your way tomorrow. Thank you for your hospitality..."
"What?!" screamed Shirley jumping off of the couch, "Nonsense! You ain't goin nowhere, young lady!" My head snapped her way.
"I'm not?" I asked confused.
"Ems, why would you think that we don't want you here anymore?" asked a shocked Lena. My cheeks reddened, I didn't like upsetting my friend.
"Well, Nick was mad at me for some reason, and he is closer to you than I am, I figured if he didn't want me here, you wouldn't as well..."
"Oooooh..." Was all that Lena said and she started squirming in her spot. I looked to Shirley, and she also appeared pretty sketchy, twisting her hands. Ok, well that's just plain weird.
"What's going on?" I asked now full of suspicions. My mind was swirling with different scenarios, but I tried not to listen, only Goddess knows what kind of rubbish I can come up with. I waited, and waited, and then some, glaring at both of them, but they just kept silent and never meeting my eyes.
"Can someone please tell me what's wrong?!" I exclaimed on the verge of tears.
"Now look what you've done!" Shirley turned to Lena pointing a finger her way.
"Me?!" She yelled back. "I'm not the one who said not to utter a single word to her!"
O, now I was close to giving in to one of my scenarios, while both women continued accusing each other of all deadly sins and global warming. I rubbed my temples tiredly and leaned back on the pillows waiting for them to calm down. It took them a while I must say, but finally they both went quiet again. I opened one of my eyes (the right one, if you must know) and looked their way not turning my head. Just checkin' if the coast was clear. It was. Lena was staring at the ceiling tiredly, Shirley out of the window.
"So. No one is going to tell me what's going on, but ok. What's next?" I said feeling like one of those turtles that carried the planet on her back. Poetic, no?
"I think it's best if you spoke to doc Evans..." Said Shirley, still avoiding my eyes, and they both left the room in record time. A moment later a grimmly looking doc Evans came in and silently sat next to me on the couch.
"Hey, sweety, how ya feeling?" He asked gently. Doc Evans being gentle? Something is definitely wrong.
"I'm fine, doc, a bit dizzy, but I'll be ok. Will you tell me what's going on?" I asked and looked him straight in the eyes. I tried putting all my desperation into my gaze, because, well, I was desperate at this point. I hate not knowing. Especially if I'm in the middle. And I definitely was in the middle of this mess with no way out...
"Yeah..." He said and sighed.
"Look, Emily, all I ask for you is to keep an opened mind and be patient, ok?"
"Sure" I said unsurely, but I took a deep breath and nodded to doc, giving him the permission to blow me away with whatever news he had.
"Emily... You are Nick's mate..." he said quietly. The world stilled. I had a mate. I had a mate? Oh shit! Oh my god! Goddess! I didn't know how to react to this. I was stunned. I knew it was a possibility for me to be mated to someone, but I sure as hell never expected to find my mate so soon, if ever, and for him to be Shirley's son. And also a swore that no man would touch me ever again, there's that thing as well. But I also was a bit excited, because a mate was supposed to love you unconditionally, scars and all, right? So maybe I did have a chance of happiness? Maybe if we talked everything out, he would agree to take it turtle slow? And then maybe all parties involved would be satisfied? Still, this perspective scared me, although I tried not showing it. I looked at doc again and saw that he wasn't happy for me, he wasn't happy at all. He was close to tears, and that had put me on edge even more.
"Doc, but it is supposed to be a good thing, no? Nick was looking for his mate, so he found her... me... you know? Isn't it good?"
Doc Evans rubbed his forehead tiredly and looked me deep in the eyes. All I saw there was regret.
"It is supposed to be a good thing. But not in this case..."
Wow, thanks for the support, doc... As upset as I was, I knew I had to ask the next question, although I knew that the answer would probably destroy me.
"But why, doc?"
"Because... Goddess, there is no easy way to say this, but... Emily, you are carrying another wolf's pup. In our world it is unacceptable, so most likely Nick is going to... reject you."
A/N Hey there! A new chapter, as promised! What do you think?
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