My anger reignites at her. I know I should control my temper and calm down. It isn't my mate's fault she wasn't taught about her mate and mate's bond but I couldn't. The dream I had about another wolf-man kissing the hell out of her kept playing in my head and fuelling my anger the more
I should find her real parents and direct my anger at them for being careless. They are both Alpha for goodness sake, how did they manage to lose their child knowing she has a special mate bond and would be lost without her parents to guide her right?
And the wicked adoptive parents that raised her to be clueless about me and made her a slave to others, I'm certainly going to look for them. I'm going to enjoy torturing them for why they hated my mate so much. I'm going to make them regret the day they set their eyes on my mate.
As furious as I am, I know that the only person that can help me calm down is Ash herself. I need to hear from her what happened between her and the wolf-man she was with. Why they were fighting her because of him? I need her to assure me that my dream was nothing, that the bastard means nothing to her.
'Thor?...' I hear Eric through our mind link but I ignore him.
'Thor?...' He calls again.
'Oh, Moon goddess! What the fuck Eric, lay off my case!' I know he will never give up unless I answer him 'I'm going to shut down my end of the link between us if you don't shut up and let me think!' I say again
'Okay but before you do that, I want you to know that you're scaring poor Martha with the way you're glaring at Ash...'
I direct my gaze back to the rearview mirror where I see Martha indeed looking at me with a scared expression on her face.
'Did you see the fear in her eyes? I'm sure she's thinking you're about to beat her daughter to death out of jealousy.'
'Shut up please!' I tell him before giving Martha an assuring smile. Since I don't have anything else to talk to her about, I turn my head towards the window to watch the passing scenery while Eric keeps her engaged as they chat with each other.
Eric finally slows the car to a stop in front of a beautiful cottage that looks like it belongs in a fairy tale cartoon. I nearly laugh out loud at seeing how cute it is. Martha is out of the car even before Eric, immediately helping me to get the door
"Welcome to our home..." She says as she holds the car door widely open for me
"Thank you..." I reply her
"This way please," She says, indicating towards the entrance of the white picket fence that surrounds her land
"You have a beautiful place here" Eric comments as she leads us through a beautiful and colorful garden, down a narrow lane till we arrive at the cottage's main entrance
"Please make yourself comfortable" She points to a chair for Eric to sit on while she gestures for me to follow her
"When is she going to wake up?" She asks with worry
"She will wake up as soon as she recovers her lost energy. She's going to be fine, don't worry about it." I say and she briefly turns to smile at me.
We arrive at Ash's room and she opens the door, going in ahead of me to pull the bed cover back.
"Hope you're going to stay for lunch since you weren't able to eat at the Alpha's office?" She ask as I'm tucking Ash in
"Sure, why not," I reply to her. I have no intention of going anywhere until I talk to Ash anyway
"Oh, you can go ahead. I'll wait here with her in the meantime. You just call me when the food is ready." I added when I see she's waiting for us to leave the room together.
I smile in understanding when she hesitate. Reluctant to leave me alone with Ash. I don't blame her. Not after seeing how jealous and angry I was just minutes earlier.
"I understand your fear Martha, but I'm not going to hurt her, I promise. She's my mate and I've fallen in love with her. If you know anything about werewolves and mate bonds you'll know I'll also be hurting myself greatly if I hurt her."
I know I've finally managed to gain her trust when a huge smile appears on her face. She rushes forward and hugs me. Her arms tightly wrap around my waist while her head rests somewhere around the bottom of my rib cage.
I am shocked and embarrassed by her actions. Her show of affection confuses and freezes me in place while my arms just hang loosely by my side. I don't know how to reply to her show of affection.
'Oh, Moon goddess! This is so fucking awkward! So, so fucking awkward! Awkward! Awkward!' My mind keeps repeating over and over again as she stays glued to me
'What is so fucking awkward? Do you need me to come?...' I didn't realize I was talking through the mind link until I heard Eric's voice.
'Don't you dare!' I unknowingly shout in reply
'But why are you sounding...' I don't allow him to finish his statement before I shut down my end of the mind link so he won't be able to communicate with me. I will never hear the end of this if I let him see how embarrassed I am by Martha's show of affection.
I was raised to be strong. My mother, when she was alive, never ceased to let me know how much she loved me. Thinking back, apart from when she ruffled my hair to further show how pleased she was with me, I can't remember her ever hugging me that way.
"Thank you." She says and finally releases me. I feel my face heat up when she briefly looks into my eyes, making me clear my throat out of embarrassment.
I breathe a sigh of relief when she finally limps out of the room. I turn to Ash's bed and I see her watching me. When did she wake up, I wonder.
"If I don't know Martha and she isn't so old, I would say she has a thing for you." She says and removes the duvet that I just tucked her into.
"I didn't hug her! She hugged me!" I sound defensive and eager to convince, making me more embarrassed. Martha is an old woman and she's just acting maternal for goodness sake! What is wrong with me!?
"Are you blushing?" She says with a smile as she sits up in bed. "Awwnn... You're certainly blushing. You look so cute, even though it doesn't suit you."
"Cute? I don't like being referred to as cute.Puppies are cute. Do I look like a puppy to you?"
"No, you don't! I was just trying to..."
"Just shut up!" I snap, not letting her finish her statement. There's no excuse she will give that I will believe. Not when I see she's trying to stifle a laugh. She's certainly making fun of me
"Okay!" She replies and makes a show of zipping her mouth shut. This is great! Apparently, my mate is no better than Eric when it comes to being a pain in the ass.
"What are you doing here anyway? I'm still not eighteen yet so why am I in bed? Why is Martha and I not at work?" She asks in confusion
"You don't remember?" I ask with surprise. I can clearly see she's indeed confused from her facial expression.
"You don't remember fighting the Alpha's daughter over a man?" I ask again, making sure to emphasize on the 'man'.
"What? That's not funny! Why would I fight over..." She suddenly stops talking.
I raise a brow at her making her squirm nervously where she's sitting on the bed. I know then that she remembers. But instead of telling me what I want to hear she looks down at her obviously clean fingernails, picking out imaginary dirt from them.
She looks guilty and I'm starting to get annoyed all over again.
"Don't you have anything to say for yourself!?" I ask in anger
"I wasn't fighting over a man!"
"Oh, you weren't!?... But I saw and heard every conversation between the four of you. Unless of course if you're telling me I'm blind and deaf!"
"I'm telling you the truth. I wasn't fighting with them over a man, they came looking for trouble and it was all a misunderstanding!" She still insists and I finally lose my shit
"It was all a misunderstanding!" I shout. "Do I fucking look stupid to you when I know for a fact that you and the son of a bitch they were fighting you over kissed each other!"
She turns white as her head sharply turns toward me. Guilt, clearly written on her face.
"Who is he?.." I ask coldly
"It's not what it seems like and..."
"I don't care about what it seems and doesn't seem like! I just want to know who the fuck is he!?" I growl so loud she jumps and flinches away from me."
A knock sounds on the door seconds after. The door pushes open and Eric walks in, looking worried.
"I can hear you both from the living room, what's going on?... Hey, Thor, back off!" He says, pulling me away from her bed.
"Yeah, let's get out of here. I already know what I wanted to find out..." I tell Eric before walking out of her room
★***★***★
Author's POV
Watching from inside her dilapidated car, Celine saw Thor walk out of the cottage closely followed by Eric. She saw he looked very angry. They paused to talk and she laughed when her werewolves super hearing picked some words out of their conversation.
After they drove off she picked up her phone and spoke briefly into it...
"This is the right time to do it. I'm coming with her."