Destined Mate

CHAPTER SEVEN

Emily's POV

“Come on, try them on” Mother urged, her hands clasped together in a cherry excitement that I had never seen before. As usual, I looked at them for an answer first as to what they were for. It wasn’t often I got a surprise gift from someone, I almost- rarely - never did.

I stared at the mini-black dress with the glitter of fake diamonds and sequins adorning it. It seemed very perfect to me. A small part of my mind screamed that this is not a good idea, that something bad would happen if I wore this dress. The other parts were cheering that I could finally get away with wearing a dress like this.

But I stripped from the worn-out grey

T-shirt to the plain white button-up skirt I was previously wearing. The dress fit perfectly, hugging my figure nicely. The long sleeves covered up the marks from all of my abuse.

Mother smiled widely, “Good girl, now let’s see you change. I'll fix your makeup”

She said, leaving the room for a moment. When she returned, she put a few things into my hand; a brush and some concealer, and many things I was unfamiliar with.

But that was the least of my problems. I couldn't understand if an alien had truly taken over my mother 's body or if I was just dreaming about it. But I had never experienced such an intense hallucination nor felt such overwhelming emotions before. This was definitely not a dream.

“Are…” I thought of asking. I should have asked but I decided against it.

I listened to Mother hum a terrible lullaby that was supposed to be a soul-soothing one, it made me cringe whenever she sang it. I tried to focus on my breathing, trying to regulate it, but it was impossible. Every sound around me seemed so loud and horrible.

“Are we going somewhere, Mother?” I finally asked. I needed her to stop humming that tone and singing it in between.

She looked down at me, “We are going to the fair, my dear. Just relax! You'll do great there! Trust me” She reassured me with confidence that I didn’t even have.

When I saw the way she looked and sounded, I knew I shouldn't question anything anymore.

Are we going to a fair? What fair? And why did I have to do my make-up and wear this dress? Was it possible she wanted me to look presentable to their friends?

But why was my wolf whispering those words of doubt to me? I was supposed to trust my instincts to not lead me astray, right?

I sighed heavily, letting my thoughts drift away as I watched her prepare my face for the night.

As I sat behind Father’s car, my anxiety had caused beads of sweat to form in my palms. I could barely take a full breath without having a heart attack. The only thing keeping me sane was my wolf, who kept saying everything would be alright. Even though the whole ordeal was stressing me out, she still managed to keep me calm and collected.

It was strange because I could feel her emotions.

Father drove into what seemed like a brothel and I followed behind them.

Immediately we stepped in, it seemed like I had entered a different universe than the outside one. There were all types of people everywhere. Some were dancing and laughing. Others were sitting and drinking but in the midst of all of that, I could feel eyes on me, different eyes that held no warmth. They glared, hungry and thirsty, waiting to devour whoever - waiting to devour me.

My wolf tensed at the same time I did. Her hackles started to rise and I could tell that she was growling lowly beneath her voice. For some reason, my wolf reacted to those feelings and that made me more nervous.

All at once, a man approached us. He wore a red shirt, his hair short except for a fringe above his forehead, it was dark, but I could see traces of a pale golden color underneath.

Herschel Liamsworth! The man of the day,” the man said with a certain amount of smugness as he approached Father and Father seemed like he wanted to take off his head.

“Or is it the woman of the evening?” He added, smiling wickedly and looking towards Mother who was currently being hugged by another woman who was shorter and slimmer than her companion. The woman also wore a dress similar to what Mother was wearing but her dress was a darker shade than Mother’s and looked more expensive.

“Well, how about both at once?” The man continued. Then he turned to me and I could feel his eyes burning holes through me. “Hello little girl” he smirked.

His eyes were dark and full of lust, and his teeth showed slightly in a predatory grin. I tried to ignore the strange feeling his presence caused in my stomach.

I forced myself to meet his gaze. His eyes were like dark pools of ink, they held nothing but malice and danger. I could sense the darkness swirling within him.

“Jameson, nice to see you” Father's words lacked any joy. I could hear how strained they were.

The man in front of me chuckled, “I can't wait to start this,” he said, looking down at my dress. My wolf growled under my skin. “So… You want me to call the rest or do you have our money?” he asked. Jameson looked over me briefly again, then looked at Father.

I felt like I could breathe again when Jameson stopped staring at me. I looked down, not wanting to see his reaction to whatever he was looking at.

I heard Father sigh deeply before responding. “My wife will take care of it.”

I didn't know what that meant, but apparently, it was important to him, I guessed.

“That's all I need to hear, I've been expecting her, anyway,” Jameson said, walking past us.

I looked back at Father as he walked away, leaving me with Mother and those thirsty-looking men.