A Howling Heart
Chapter sixteen

He intrudes on my thoughts, demanding I obey, but I continue to fight back.

"I will not."

He shakes his head, turning down a dark road. I take this chance to glance at him, eyes moving quickly over his muscular frame and gorgeous features.

I'm morphing into someone obsessed with appearances, aren't I...

"Think whatever you want, Fae. When the time comes, you will willingly spread your legs for me and offer me that sweet flower."

The only flower you're getting is a wildflower somewhere in the woods, away from me, if you think I'm going to lose my virginity on a bed of dirt surrounded by trees and the hungry eyes of dogs. "Enough!"

He slams his hand on the steering wheel.

I frown, wrapping my arms around myself.

"Vos postulo discere: your naivety is exhausting."

His words are a slap in the face. I nibble angrily on my lip and glare out of the car.

"Sorry to frustrate you with my immaturity..."

He doesn't respond. Instead, he pulls off toward a group of trees, and that's when I finally realize I've gone farther out from civilization. I panic, glancing around rapidly. "Matias, where are we?"

He doesn't answer as he parks and turns the key to shut off the ignition.

"Matias! Where the hell are we?"

He opens his door, climbing out of the jeep before moving to the back door and opening it. I scramble to open the door and hop out.

"Matias! Stop!"

I run over to him, shoving a finger against his chest. What the hell are you doing?"

I plant myself in front of him, and he growls. Actually growls. And despite the fact I know he's a wolf, too, I'm still startled by the sound, like my brain is trying to comprehend the sight before me. "You need to trust me. Move out of my way."

"No! I won't let you do it. You're going to kill her!" I wave my hands dramatically, unable to control myself as fear heightens within me.

His jaw ticks. "You are going to kill her! Do you not understand that? She doesn't have some human-contracted disease! She is one of us! And if you don't step out of my damn way, she isn't going to last very long!"

I wince at the sound of him yelling, the vein in his forehead protruding as he stares at me with fury in his faze.

I mull over his words, and my mouth falls open. "Wait, what? She's one of you?"

I shake my head, refusing to come to terms with it.

My mother isn't one of them. She's not. If she were, she would not have kept something so huge from me, right?

Matias's eyes scan my face, his expression softening momentarily when he realizes my hurt. "I know this is hard to deal with, Fae, but it's true. She's a chosen. A mate for an alpha." He lowers his voice, but it's still gravely from screaming. Chosen...

For an Alpha...

This is a dream. None of this is real. It can't be! I feel like I'm swept up into some twisted version of Twilight where the werewolves are running the show. This is insanity. I know it is. But the accompanying feelings of trust and hope accompany my mental breakdown, so I step aside.

"Your mother is sick. Egestas."

"What?"

"A curse."

My eyes bulge at his words as he moves to carry her from the car. I spot his house, the one his uncle was in, and swallow nervously.

"We-we have to go in there," I ask, my voice quivering to reveal my unease. Flashbacks from being attacked return with a vengeance. I swallow, hating the nausea, forcing me almost to my knees. With a few deep breaths and Matias's voice, I feel myself calm.

"Calm yourself, Fae. I won't let anything happen to you. I can hear your heart pounding. I can assure you nothing will happen."

I don't want to go in there.... I almost died last time, and I'm supposed to take his word for it.

I'm surprised when Matias moves back from the car, grabs my mother, and wraps his fingers around my wrist, bringing my hand to his chest. He presses his forehead against mine. "Feel. I'm not lying to you."

I gasp when he spreads my fingers over his chest, and I feel the steady rhythm of his heart.

"We are bound," he says.

But what about before?

He 'tsks' his tongue and licks his bottom lip.

"You did lie to me. You told me your uncle didn't attack me," I remind him.

He sighs. "Once. And only once. And you saw right through... because we are connected. It physically pains me to lie."

Is that why he just stays quiet when I ask him certain things?

He nods. "It's better to remain silent."

I nod slowly, unsure of what else to say, before he steps back and turns back to the jeep to grab my mother.

"And how will this help her?"

"Because-" He grunts, lifting her out of the jeep. "She needs to be near my uncle."

"Your uncle?"

He nods, but the tension in his back is prominent. "Her intended mate."

Confusion twists my facial expression. I could not have heard that right.

I stare after him as he moves towards the house with my mom in his arms. Her intended mate?

I cannot even believe any of this....

If she's one of them, how come I haven't seen her shift?

She's never even remotely given me the impression that she had an inner dog just waiting to be free.

I hurry after them, arms wrapping around my body and I shake my head in disbelief. The closer I get to the front door, the more alarm bells go off in my head, but Matias's presence is still in my head, and for some reason as soon as I get to the door, a strange sense of calm settles on me. My heart calms and my breathing too.

Matias's voice is in my head again. "Just breathe, anima mea. Breathe."

I obey, taking slow breaths until they're steady and I feel comfortable enough to enter the house. I follow him to the living room, where he lays my mother on the couch.

"Watch her."

He instructs before he disappears.

I move toward my mom, watching as her chest rises and falls. I'm afraid if I take my eyes off it, she'll stop breathing altogether. It's a ludicrous thought, but I remain by her side, making sure she's breathing until Matias arrives. "How can you help her?"

He moves next to me, something clutched in his hands.

I quirk a questioning brow. "What the hell is that?"

Matias grunts, leaning over my mother to offer a cup with thick liquid in it.

I grab his arm, stopping him from bringing it to her lips. "Matias, don't ignore me. What the hell is that?"

By his apprehension, I'm afraid of what he's going to say.

"Blood."

I'm utterly mortified.

He's trying to feed my mother's blood.