*Omario POV*
I am pacing up and down, fuming. I summoned Terrence three minutes ago, yet he is still not here. Some people have death wishes.
He better not be busy claiming Abi because I will crush his neck. Just the thought of it gets my blood pumping. Mate or no mate, I have publicly claimed Abi, for him to do anything with her would be disrespectful and right now, I can’t tolerate that.
“You are jealous,” my stupid wolf says.
“Shut up, Titan.”
“Your Majesty.”
I have been lost in my head I did not even see Terrence approaching.
“You are damn ….” I am ready to tear him apart but when I turn around and…I can’t. “What happened to you?” I ask. Anger completely replaced by concern.
Terrence looks like shit, nothing like a man who just found his mate.
“Abi is my mate.”
I can’t quite read his tone when he says this.
“I heard.”
“She rejected me.”
I hate myself for being relieved while he is so crushed. What the fuck?
I recollect myself. Something does not make sense here. Abi would never reject and hurt her best friend.
“Did she?” I ask my dejected Gamma and he hesitates.
“She will.”
I raise my eyebrows. I don’t get it.
“She does not believe Frode,”he explains.
“Frode has been announcing mates for this kingdom for years now. Surely he can’t lie about something so important.”
Terrence flashes me a weak smile before explaining further.
“She said Rufus lied to your father today, which means prophets don’t always tell the truth.”
“I see.”
That is true. I still don’t know why Rufus risked his life and lied to dad but I am grateful for it.
Terrence frowns before looking me directly in the eyes, like he is reading my soul.
“You feel her too, don’t you?”
His question catches me by surprise. I look away, suddenly uncomfortable. “What?”
“You claimed her to protect her but you did not have to take care of her yourself. You did not have to insist on her staying in your chambers. You feel her too,” Terrence continues. I don’t like this.
“Yes.”
My admission shocks me more than it does Terrence.
“Then Abi is right,” he says and I shake my head. I understand why he and even Abi would reach that conclusion, but it’s not real.
“No, she is not.”
“Okay?”
Terrence does not buy it. I sigh and let him in on what I have been battling with.
“Abi has a wolf, the most powerful thing I have ever heard. All I know so far is that it will definitely kill dad and me.”
Terrence shakes his head frantically. “Abi will never…”
“She will not have control of it,” I interject.
“What?”
“When Abi is at her weakest, Nina rises and so far what I have experienced is that she is nothing like Abi.”
“Experienced?”
“When the servants tried to drown her, she shocked me so bad, my heart almost stopped.”
“What?”
“When those idiots tried cutting off her hand, the same thing happened. When she slit her wrist, I was thrown across the room and when you got hunted, the room was on fire, but I was smart enough not to touch her. Each time she is at her weakest or terrified, Nina takes over and she is getting stronger each time.”
“Yet, you keep her with you? Where she can kill you anytime?”
“I am drawn to her. I think Nina is the reason why I feel her and she feels me. I am being lured into a slaughter.”
Terrence is the only person I can trust with all this mess, I might had well tell him everything.
“That leaves me wondering if Frode is not actually fraud. Does Abi know about this?”
I nod my head. “Except the last part. I am telling you to understand why she might not believe Frode. Oli and I have been friends for years, so have you and Abi. She is your mate. I just need to figure out a way to deal with Nina.”
I don’t know if I am reassuring myself or him, but this makes sense right?
Terrence sighs and starts pacing. “Abi is stubborn and resilient, but she is physically weak and malnourished. We all need to be physically stronger to keep our wolfs in check, she’s not.”
“That’s true. We need to get her out of here.”
I can’t believe that Titan was right all along.
“Your dad will definitely kill you!” Terrence exclaims. “And me,” he adds but I suddenly feel weird and the hairs on the back of my neck lift up.
“Are you okay?”
“Abi. We need to find Abi.” I start running back. This is the same feeling I had when she was in trouble before.
Terrence runs to catch up with me. “Why?”
“She is in trouble.”
“You can sense when she is in trouble?”
“I can’t explain it, let’s just find her.”
Terrence asks no more questions and we rush back to the castle. Terrence leads me to the Abi’s room. We knock and shout out her name with no response.
“Maybe she went out,” Terrence suggest but I know that she is in there.
I kick the door open despite his objections and there she is on the floor.
“Don’t touch her!” Terrence shouts behind me as I rush to her side.
“It’s really hot in here. Let me do it,” he suggests and that’s when it hits me that it’s really cold outside, yet I am already sweating in here. I don’t know what happened to Abi but Nina is taking over. I let Terrence go ahead of me and in a split second he is tossed across the room.
Shit! This can’t be happening! Warning bells are going off in my head. I should get out of here, but I can’t. Not with Terrence blacked out and Abi lying on the floor like this. I run to check on Terrence first.
“Fuck!” Terrence curses after a few minutes and I can’t be happier to hear his voice.
“You are still here? Do you have a death wish?” he shouts, perplexed and then starts laughing.
“You love her, man. I don’t care what Frode says, yo….”
“Can we focus on helping Abi?” I cut him short. I can’t deal with this right now. I need to get Abi awake while avoiding being killed by her scary wolf.
“I am not touching her. No fucken’ way! I almost died!” Terrence exclaims. “I can’t believe you. You stuck around after experiencing three of these,” Terrence continues mumbling.
I don’t bother responding to him. Maybe his head was hit very hard.
“Titan.” I link the only person I know who can safely get to Abi.
“On it.”
“Of course you are,” I sneer and let him take over.