Chapter 5

(Dominic’s POV)

I looked down at my phone again and groaned when I saw Liam’s name. He had been messaging me pretty constantly for the last few hours. And they were getting more frequent, too. I sighed and looked back up at Theia. 

“I’m sorry,” I shook my head. “I really do have to go,” She shrugged like it was fine, but I could see the sadness in her eyes, and it hurt that I put it there. I wanted to reach out and take her hand. I wanted to feel the sparks again. Carrying her the whole way to her apartment had been amazing. I could feel the bond running through my body and my wolf Titan was acting like a giddy puppy, bounding around inside my head. 

“It’s okay,” she said quietly, “I appreciate your help today, and sorry if we took you away from something important,” I didn’t know what was harder to hear, the words that she said or that she believed them. I could tell that she didn’t see herself as significant, and I couldn’t even comprehend how she could come to that conclusion. 

The woman acted like being carried home by a mysterious stranger wasn’t a normal occurrence. Well, okay, maybe it wasn’t. But surely she would have had many guys interested in her. She should be fighting them off with that beautiful hair spun from pure gold or the cornflower blue eyes that seemed to see way more than she knew. Or even her stunning curvy frame that I couldn’t get the image of running my hands slowly down. The very thought of it made my jeans suddenly a lot smaller. I shifted in my seat as I tried to cool down my thoughts. 

“I wouldn’t go if it wasn’t for my be-,” I caught myself, “I mean my erm… Second in command, at the office, wasn’t constantly hounding me,” I said with a sad smile, “But I would like to come back and see you again,” She narrowed her eyes at me.

“Why?” she asked bluntly.

“Because I was two seconds away from asking you out on a date when you threw yourself at me.” the words flew out of my mouth before I even thought of them. I had a feeling that Titan was trying to push to the surface a little. He was being quiet, but I could sense his annoyance that I would even think of leaving our mate in such a fragile state. 

“Why?” she asked again, clearly confused. 

“Because I think you are beautiful,” I said. This was from me and I was rewarded with a blush of pink on her porcelain skin. She looked away, embarrassed, and I smiled.

“You don’t have to charity case me,” she said, her voice held a hint of bitter. She had clearly been hurt before. I wanted to know who it was who had dared to offend my mate so that I could hunt them down and rip out their hearts and present them to her. Whoa, I stopped my thoughts. This mate bond was really strong. I mean, I had heard it could be, but I guess you could never really understand the potency of it until you experienced it. I knew from hearing about the issues my cousin was having at the moment that the bond can really do some damage as well. 

I reached out and took her hand, sparks immediately exploding all over my skin, and smiled. She looked down at our hands with a curious expression. Did she feel the bond? Could she tell that we were fated to be together? Or was she just concerned that a strange man was manhandling her in her bedroom? She pulled her hand away and into her own body like she was nursing an injury. It stung again, but then again I wasn’t going to let that stop me. My phone buzzed again, and I groaned. I didn’t even look at the screen.

“I’m sorry, I really have to go,” I said regrettably, “But I really do want to see you again. Could I take you out for dinner? Tomorrow evening, maybe?” I asked hopefully.

“No,” she said, shocking me, “Thank you, but I don’t think that would be a good idea,” 

“Why not?” I asked without even thinking,

“Because…” she floundered for a reason, “because I have just had a seizure and could be unwell from it for a while. I don’t think I am strong enough to go out right now.” She looked up at me, meeting my eyes, her face determined. I think she must have seen the disappointment because her face softened. “But thank you for the offer, and thank you once again for your assistance.” with that she turned over in the bed and laid facing away from me. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice strained, “But I am very tired and need to rest now. Can you see yourself out?” I could smell the salt of tears in the air, so I could tell that she was crying. I wanted to climb into the bed with her and pull her into my embrace. I wanted to soothe the pain that she was feeling, both physical and emotional. But I knew I couldn’t. She was human, and she didn’t understand the bond and how powerful it was. I sighed and stood up.

“I’ll see you later, Theia,” I said as I headed for the door. I was determined to not give up. I was going to show her how beautiful she was. 

“Goodbye Dominic,” she replied, her voice holding a finality to it, “It was nice to meet you.” 

I left her apartment quickly before I did something that looked strange to a human. I made sure that the latch on her door was on so she wouldn’t have to get out of bed to lock it. I would be back, even if she didn’t think I would be. Titan huffed in agreement. He didn’t want to leave either, but I could imagine that any other action would have been seen as extremely invasive in a human’s eyes. So I left with a promise in my mind to come back.

I phoned Liam as I walked towards the office.

“Bloody hell, man, I was about to send out a search party,” he said when he answered the phone. I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. 

“Where are you?” I asked sharply.

“At the apartment,” he said, “I got that date with the chick from the Blue dawn pack tonight, remember?” I nodded and realised he couldn’t see it.

“Okay, give me ten minutes,” I said, changing the direction I was walking and began heading to the apartment. I cut off the phone before waiting for his response. The apartment was a short walk from here. We held quite a few property holdings in the city, but the apartment was strictly for my family, well, and Liam. I would stay here if I needed to stay late at the office or my sister Leah would stay here if she was out shopping or clubbing in the city. The building was owned by some sorcerer or something, and the security was some of the best I had ever seen. I reached the building and felt the familiar pop in my ears as I entered the lobby. I nodded to the guard on the desk and headed towards the elevator. My apartment was on the seventh floor and I shared the floor with one other apartment, which was empty at the moment. My father and I had discussed buying the second apartment as well, since Leah was keen on studying design in the city and having somewhere permanent and safe for her would be better than having to worry about the housing that the university offered. Plus, I would still be able to keep an eye on my sister when I was in town. 

I left the elevator and opened the door to my apartment. It was an open planned modern layout with floor to ceiling windows along one side. I immediately spotted Liam lounging on the large sofa. He was midway through a game on the games console and large screen. I headed to the kitchen area and poured myself a glass of water from the chiller. I heard the game music stop as he paused his game and then heard him follow me into the kitchen. 

“So survived the mission then?” he asked, and I rolled my eyes. 

“What, did you think that I couldn’t take on three human girls?” I responded, and he laughed. 

“Well, you have been gone for over five hours,” he said and I shrugged. 

“There was a slight complication,” I said and drained the glass of water, “But I handled it.” I headed towards the living room.

“What was it?”  I could tell that Liam was suddenly on full alert. “Did she make you? Did she know you were watching her?” I shook my head and waved my hand at his sudden interest. 

“No, I think I’m better than that,” I said with a scoff,

“ So what was it, because I was about ready to call in backup, when you didn’t answer your phone.” I rolled my eyes again. 

“She passed out,” I said, and he narrowed his eyes at me.

“I don’t get it,” he said, “what do you mean she passed out?”

“I was about to introduce myself to her when she just dropped unconscious,” I sat on the sofa and glanced at the screen of zombies in mid pause, “Her friends came running over straight away, I had caught her before she hit the floor and wasn’t sure what happened, but her friends explained that she had an illness that caused this to happen,” Liam was looking at me with a strange look on his face. 

“So I helped her friends get her back to her place. I thought seeing the inside of her place was a good idea at the time. Maybe I could pick up on where she was getting the information from, you know.” I shrugged again, “That was why I was so long. I was waiting for her to wake up so that I could make sure she was okay and that she wasn’t injured.”

“I don’t get it,” Liam said. “I thought you were there to watch, and see what information that you could get from observing.” I nodded, confused by what he was getting at,

“Yeah, I was but you know…” I waved my arm in the empty air. I wasn’t sure what his issue was.

“So why did you introduce yourself then?” he asked. “If she is a supe then she is going to know you now. It’s going to make investigating her a lot harder,” he said. Oh, I totally forgot that he didn’t know. Of course, now I could see why he was confused by my actions.

“Oh yeah,” I said with a big grin. I was missing out on the key information. And also one of the most exciting parts of a werewolf’s life. “She’s my mate,” Liam’s eyes widened, and he blew out a breath. 

“Your mate!” he exclaimed, and I nodded happily, waiting for the congratulations. This was a big thing, and especially since I was an Alpha in my thirties, finding my fated mate was a big deal. Liam sat on the sofa next to me and blew out another breath.

“That does complicate things,” he said, and I furrowed my brow in confusion. He looked at me with a sad expression. I didn’t understand why he would be so sad.

“So that’s why you waited for her to wake up then.” I shook my head.

“Well yes,” I said. “I obviously wanted to talk to her, and he nodded,

“Yeah that makes sense,” he said “So you rejected her then?”