*Abi POV*
It’s early hours of the morning by the time Terrence comes over and Omario leaves. I feel sick the moment he is out of the door. This can’t be right.
For a full hour, Terrence is just staring at me and it’s making me uncomfortable. Him and I are usually open with each other but right now it feels like we are strangers.
“Say something, please,” I finally break the ice.
He smiles when our eyes meet.
“I am curious. How did you get him to finally leave your side?” he asks.
“His fiancée is injured. I did not have to do anything.”
Terrence chuckles, the way he usually does when he does not believe me.
“You are a lot of things Abi, a good liar is not one of them.”
I look at him and swallow my saliva. He is my best friend, I want to be honest with him but I don’t understand what’s happening to me right now. Maybe it’s gratitude. That happens to a lot of people, right?
“How did you get him to go and see her?” Terrence asks again.
“How did you get the horses to fight for you?”
I have been wondering about this but it’s also a good way of avoiding the current topic.
He sighs. “Are you going to preach to me about lost lives?”
I nod my head. He knows me too well.
“So predictable,” he says, amused. Now that’s my friend.
“I don’t know how, but I can communicate with the horses. It is not as effective with the other animals but I am exploring more. Maybe I spent too much time with the horses, I don’t know,” he says, sincerely.
“That’s amazing. It’s not only the healing powers, you are gifted and should join the prophets.”
Terrence shakes his head frantically. Him and I have had this conversation at length before. He will definitely have a better life and future if he does.
“I told you before that I would rather remain a slave than serve the evil Alpha.”
So stubborn and noble this friend of mine, but I still feel terrible about deaths. I have been meaning to talk to him about that and now is the right time.
“I am grateful for what you always do for me but they were young and stupid, Terrence. They did not deserve to die.”
Terrence knows exactly whom I am referring to. His breathing picks up and nostrils flare. He is angry.
“They were hunting me. You can’t stick to your righteous crap here, Abi. It was either me or them!”
I sigh. My intentions are not to hurt or make him angry, but I need him to understand that we can’t fight evil with evil.
“They would have never caught you.” I say cautiously.
“But they would have caught you, next week or the week after that. I had the opportunity to take them out and I did. I don’t regret it.”
My heart sinks. No matter how I look at it, these deaths are also on me. Terrence did this for me.
“I don’t want you turning into this, Terrence. This is my war, my responsibility. Alpha Theo could have killed you.”
“For the thousand times, Abi. You need to stop worrying about everyone else. He did not kill me. Weather you like it or not, we are at war and there are sides. I am in yours and I will not standby and watch you getting persecuted. No more!”
“Terrence.”
I really appreciate his loyalty but I don’t want him turning into them.
“I have powers, there is no way in hell that I am standing by, Abi,” he adds.
“Terrence,” I call him again.
“Have you told your lover to also stand by?”
“He is not my lover.”
“The fact that you even know whom I am referring to proves my point.”
I shake my head. Terrence has changed the conversation back to what I was avoiding.
“He is just being kind, okay?”
“So kind that he is ignoring his injured fiancée and watching you instead?” he asks. I look away to avoid making eye contact with him. I am not ready to have this conversation.
“How did you get him to go?” he asks again. I guess I can’t avoid it.
“Promise me that you won’t blow it out of proportion.”
“Because there is something to blow out of proportion?” he asks.
Terrence can be a pain sometimes and this is one of those times.
“Terrence.”
“Fine, I promise.”
“I promised him to never slit my wrist,” I confess and hold my breath.
“Hah!”
I roll my eyes at his dramatic response and interject when I see his mouth opening. “Keep it to yourself, I don’t want to know.”
He laughs, proof to me that whatever he was about to say was mischievous. He stops laughing and immediately becomes serious.
“Know this then, Abigail. Those dead idiots are were not young and stupid as you put it. When you slit your wrist, mother nature responded. That proved to everyone that the prophecy is true. Everyone and I mean everyone, has chosen a side. That’s why they were there to hunt you. You don’t get to tell me to standby.”
I don’t bother arguing with him on this. When Terrence has made up his mind, it’s useless to try convincing him otherwise.
“Fine. Please, take me to the servants quarters.”
“Are you insane? Your lover wants you here.”
I wish he would stop calling him that.
“He is not my lover and if you care about him, you will get me out of here.”
“He wants you here.”
Terrence is so stubborn.
“This is going to mess up his relationship with Olivia.”
That’s the main reason I am doing this and I hope Omario understands too and let me be.
“And you care? I thought I sensed some jealousy vibes when he left.”
Terrence can be too direct sometimes. My mouth opens and closes, speechless.
“Another reason why I should not be here. Terrence, please.”
“I am his Gamma, Abi. He asked me to look after you, not move you.”
“You are my best friend, you will tell him that I gave you no choice.”
“Are you trying to save his relationship or are you running away from your feelings for him?”
“Terrence!” I exclaim. He is being too pushy when I don’t quite understand what I am feeling.
“Fine, let’s go.”
I get out of bed and slowly walk towards the door but Terrence does not move.
“You are wearing his shirt,” he says mischievously and winks at me, making me blush.
“Shut up and carry me to the servants quarters,” I say firmly with a straight face.
“Yes, Ma’am,” he laughs before picking me up like I was a feather, and heads out.
“You are really thin, you need to stop this self-sacrificing crap you do with the food we get.”
Terrence knows that I can never eat until everyone is full. He knows my reasons but he in the mood of messing with me today.
“Shut up and hurry!”
Its just after five o’clock in the morning, most people are waking up, my fellow servants will be starting with their daily chores anytime now. I don’t want anyone seeing us flea Omario’s chambers or him meeting us on the way.
Terrence picks up his pace and soon we are in the courtyard, a few more turns, we will be at the servants quarters.
“Even Teresa is not this light,” he teases, picking up from where he stopped.
“And how would you know that?” I ask, looking suspiciously at him. Teresa is a fellow servant, who happens to have a huge crush on Terrence.
He coughs and curses under his breath. There’s definitely something there.
“Never mind, for….”
“Mate! Mate!” A rough deep voice shouts right behind us.
Terrence stops, his body tenses. I turn my head to look at what’s happening and see Frode, prophet Rufus’ apprentice, clapping his hands excitedly.
“You two are mates, how amazing!” he exclaims and sprinkle some liquid at us.
Terrence and I exchange looks before looking back at the excited man.
“What?” we ask in unison.
Frode is the one who tells everyone who their mates are, but I did not expect this.
“Oh! Look at that! Not only did he get hunted for you, he is carrying you and you even speak in unison. Mate bond is amazing, I tell you.” Frode babbles and my head starts spinning. Terrence is handsome, brave, kind and my best friend, but I never thought of him as a potential mate. My head is now heavy and hurts like hell. What the hell is this?
“Please get me out of here.” I whisper to Terrence who quietly complies.
Frode continues rambling about how we should accept the bond before it’s too late but I can’t make out every word.
I can feel Terrence’s tense body as he rushed towards the servants quarters, where kicks the door to my room, matches in and puts me on the bed. I look up at him and he backs away, heartache written all over his face.
“Terrence,” I call him softly.
“It’s okay, you love him and I am nothing.”
His words and tone break my heart but he is not being fair.
“It’s not like you love me either.”
I hope he understands that this is really unexpected and confusing to me.
“That’s probably because of the mutations, but it does not change the fact that we are mates.”
“Then I should feel nothing at all, not for anyone.”
If the mutations made us to not feel the mate bond, then I should not feel what I am feeling for Omario.
“And you feel something for him,”he sneers.
I swallow my saliva. This can’t be happening!
“He is engaged.”
“I know that!” I snap. He is making it sound like I chose this.
“To his mate,” he adds.
“Do you know why I don’t have the usual bruises after the Friday night?”I ask and Terrence looks at me like I am insane.
“Prophet Rufus told Alpha Theo that I never thought of killing him in the past week. That I only thought of Omario,” I continue.
“Omario? Sorry, I am not used to the first name bases with the royals,” he sneers.
I have never seen Terrence like this before. He is making impossible for me to speak freely.
“You are being an idiot.”
“Forgive me, I just found out that my best friend is my mate and she is about to reject me for an engaged guy!” he yells, angrily.
I understand his anger, we were both looking forward to meeting our mates ever since we turned eighteen and it’s finally happened. Except, it’s nothing like what we imagined.
“I need time to think, please leave.”
My head is still spinning and his sarcastic responses are not helping.
“With pleasure!” he storms out and tears roll down my cheeks. I have crushed my best friend.