Fated | The Heir of the She-Wolf

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

|ELEANOR|

A hand touched my back and startled me. I looked up but my vision was blurry with the tears.

“Austin?”, I whispered and trembled, my body shaking with my sobs and the cry of my wolf inside of me.

“Eleanor? Can you stand on your feet?”, Austin’s concerned voice reached my ears and feeling a bit calmer now that I was not alone, I rubbed the tears off my face.

“I… I think so.” I looked him in the face. Should I tell him I felt my wolf? Now was not the time.

He put his arm around my waist and tried to pull me off the floor but the effort just reminded me why I was sitting there helpless in the first place. New sobs formed in my throat, threatening to escape my lips.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.”, Austin whispered and sat down next to me, his arm moving from my waist to hug my shoulders. “It’s okay, it will pass. It’s okay.”, he kept talking to me while I sobbed with my head buried in his chest. I pulled to look him in the eyes, trying to formulate the question I had been asking myself the past nine years.

“Am I that worthless that they did not want to come back for me?”, the words came out my mouth and more tears followed down my cheek.

“You are not worthless. You are perfect, and you are strong. You kick ass in trainings and you will become even more powerful and more beautiful once you find your wolf.”, Austin said while removing his arm from my shoulders and getting up. Did he just call me beautiful?

“Come on, let’s raid the kitchen.”, he said while extending his hand to me. “How about popcorn and ice cream?”, he smiled. I giggled at his suggestion and before I knew it, my giggle turned into a laughter.

“Only if we play a movie to give ourselves the excuse to have such a calorie bomb.”, I laughed and followed him.

“Deal. Come, this way.”

Austin led the way towards the kitchen which was two hallways from where we were. Every floor had one but all I could do the past few days was have dinner in the canteen and fall asleep like a zombie so I had never actually been to the kitchen on my floor.

Looking at Austin while walking, I realized he was one of the most handsome guys I had ever seen, especially now wearing nothing but a t-shirt and trousers, with his black hair falling on his forehead. Yep, he was awful, irritating and commanding during our trainings, so much so I threw a swear or two in his direction every now and then. But whenever I saw him outside of the training room, he was a normal and kind guy.

We walked in the kitchen and he searched for the light switch.

“Let me.”, I put my hand on his arm to stop him. I hadn’t used magic since that night on Valerio’s balcony, performing the Truth spell, and I was eager to let some of my sorcerer side out.

“Lux.”, I whispered and a beam of light formed between my hands, warming me up. I looked up to see Austin’s face as he was admiring my little spell while I played with the seed of light between my fingers.

“Incrementum.”, I whispered and released the light which grew in front of our eyes and filled up the whole room.

The kitchen lit before me and I gasped as I realised how beautiful it actually was.

The floor was in glossy red wood and so were the shelves on the right. On the left there was a long dark wood countertop and two sinks, and between them, a large dining table which could suit twelve people easy. Large windows overlooked the park behind the tower and with a gesture of my hand I pulled the curtains together, still not feeling fully comfortable with the height.

“That’s cool.”, Austin said and smiled while heading for the tall fridge in the corner by the cabinets while I opened the shelves to explore. Finally finding the popcorn, I turned on the microwave and put them in, the smell of butter quickly filling the room. I turned my back and leaned on the shelf behind me while looking at Austin.

“How did you know to come?”, I asked with curiosity.

“I heard you. I’m doing renovations in my room three floors down and I am staying on this floor for a couple of weeks.”, he replied genuinely while picking small spoons from the shelf next to me.

“Thank you for coming.”, I whispered with embarrassment at the fact he had seen me bowling my eyes out like a little baby.

“You are very welcome.”, he smiled and at that moment, the microwave beeped. Taking the popcorn out, I turned to Austin, who was staring at me.

“What?”, I giggled at him, my cheeks flushing red.

“Nothing.”, Austin said but I could see a smile forming in the corner of his lips. “Movie. My room or your room?”, he asked me while we were exiting the kitchen, leaving the magical light swirling the air behind us. It was not tethered to anything so it was going to disappear in a few minutes anyway.

“I have a cat in my room, and as far as I’ve learnt, he will most probably crawl you alive because you are a Triad.”

“Interesting.”, Austin laughed.

“Yeah, everyone keeps saying that.”

We reached his room and he opened the door. I stepped in and noticed it was smaller than mine. My room had a large bed, a coffee table, a small couch and an armchair overlooking the windows (which I always had covered by pulling in the curtains). Austin’s room had only a bed and two nightstands.

“What do you feel like watching?”, Austin asked while turning his laptop on and sitting on the edge of the bed.

“A horror.”, I replied while lying on the other side of the bed, already mooching on the popcorn.

“Hey, leave some for me!”, Austin turned and attacked my hands trying to get hold of the package.

“Piss off, you have your ice cream!”, I giggled but still allowed him to take some. “You got anything to drink?”

“Yeah.”, Austin opened the night stand and took out a bottle of expensive rum. “I have been keeping it for emergencies, but it seems like you could use it tonight.”

“Thank you.”, I replied.

“You thank me for the second time tonight and I still don’t understand why. I found a movie, by the way.”

“Perfect, play it. And I thank you for not asking me any questions but just letting me be.”, I replied while settling next to him on the bed after getting two glasses from the TV stand.

Austin smiled at me and we drank rum, eating popcorn and ice cream while watching a surprisingly good horror that actually made me jump and scream like a girl.

[Valerio]

I woke up on the next morning feeling guilt in my chest for my behaviour towards Eleanor the previous evening.

Carla was sleeping in my bed, naked, so I got up as quiet as I could and went to the washroom. I should apologize to Eleanor, I told myself and returned to my bedroom to get dressed. Even though my ego was telling me that I did not want to settle with one woman, something else inside me was stubborn that I should at least treat my She-wolf with respect and not hurt her.

Leaving Carla to sleep as it was just after seven in the morning, I went through the living room and then through my office to the elevator. I was determined to go downstairs and see if Eleanor was awake. Knocking on her door, I waited patiently but there was no response. Being the King had its perks and one of them was being able to unlock every door in the Tower with a single key. I pressed it firmly into the knob, determined to check if Eleanor was asleep. If she was, I would return at another time. But if she was awake and just ignoring me, she was going to hear my apology whether she wanted to, or not.

I opened the door and peeked inside only to be surprised at the sight of her bed empty, except for the tiny cat sleeping on it. Did Eleanor run off? Again?!

Maybe she just had an early training session with Austin but just to be sure, I had to check. I wondered which room he was in as he had informed me he was moving out of his suite for a couple of weeks while refurnishing.

I knocked on the door I believed was his and a few seconds later, I heard the bed cover being pulled and steps approaching the door.

“Sir? Has something happened?”, Austin asked as his sleepy gaze met mine.

Behind him, Eleanor was sleeping in his bed.