Fated

Chapter Eighteen: Concern

1 Day Earlier... 

Isaac’s P.O.V.

“Sophia?” I attempt to wake her, her naked body draped over my own in the evening light. “Sophia...” I play with her hair, trying to gently rouse her.  

“Mm...” She grumbles, pulling me tighter. 

“Sophia, I need to go. I’ll be back soon though, okay?” I start to pry her body off of my own, trying to be gentle so she can continue to rest. We’ve had a pretty tiring day – some pretty tiring days, actually, if you know what I mean... 

I grin as think on the last couple of days – being with Sophia is more amazing than I could have imagined. Yeah, I’ve had s*x before, and it’s been amazing too, but this is totally different. The mate bond adds so much extra to the attraction, to the passion.  

Last night, we spent all night together. The entire night went by and we could barely keep our hands off of each other. 

It was raining heavily the whole night, thunder and lightning as well, while the lit fireplace roared in our bedroom at the lake-house – the ambience was so strong – it was probably the best s*x I’ve ever had. 

I would stay with her like this all day if I could, but unfortunately, I have other duties to attend to. 

Sophia nods her head slowly, her eyes still closed in her sleepy state. She curls further into the bed, dragging the duvet over her body – the midday light casts a warm, subdued glow on her. My breath catches in my throat as I gaze at her form, before I leave the room. 

As I shower and get dressed, I think back to that night; my birthday, when I first really saw her. No one had ever looked more beautiful to me. No one could ever compare to her.  

Before my birthday I had hoped, really hoped, that Claire would be my mate – a thought that now, seems so stupid. But back then, it just seemed so... convenient. 

I lied to Claire and told her she was my mate – I thought I could keep up that lie until her 19th birthday; until she found her own mate. But the minute I turned around and saw Sophia... I knew it would be difficult. I don’t know how to act around Claire anymore. 

I’ve pretty much just been trying to avoid her because of it.  

To be honest, there’s something else that makes it so difficult to be around Claire. Obviously, there’s no mate bond with Claire, but there’s something about her... I still feel attracted to her, I guess. 

I think it’s probably because she’s growing and carrying my cub – I feel a need to protect her. That’s the only thing that makes sense, anyway, and Alex agrees.  

I can’t let myself give into that desire – Sophia would know immediately, and she would be so hurt. She would be broken. I could never do that to her. 

She has told me before about how much it hurt her when Claire and I had s*x prior to my birthday, even before we were full mates. I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for her; I don’t know how she managed so well despite it, even in school. 

But now that we’re mated and marked, that pain would be so much more intense for her. I don’t even know if it would be enjoyable for me, either.  

I have to resist that urge no matter what, so my time with Claire is growing less and less. She doesn’t seem to suspect anything though. She’s so trusting, I feel bad lying so blatantly to her, but it’s the only thing I can do right now. The only way I can protect everyone. 

Once she experiences the mate bond herself, she probably won’t even care that I lied to her.  

Or, so I hope, anyway. 

Though, I don’t know what any of us will do during school.  

Sophia and Claire are in so many classes together... 

I should talk to Claire today... Maybe we can figure something out – she is pregnant, so maybe she can stop going to school because of it... 

I can feel my body tensing up at the idea of seeing her today.  

Maybe I shouldn’t... 

No, I need to. We have to keep this pregnancy hidden for a while, as well as my mate. I can try to arrange something with my dad, he could convince the school, if Claire agrees to it. 

First though, I have training. I’ll have to take over Curadh as the new alpha soon enough, and I need to be strong before then. 

I’ll figure this out after. 

 --

Sophia’s P.O.V. 

I let out a yawn as I prop myself up in the bed. It’s getting dark outside already – have I been asleep that long? 

I reach out and grab my phone to check the time – 7pm. 

Isaac still isn’t back yet?  

He said he would be back soon... It wasn’t that late when he left, was it? 

Well, we might have slept in late, I mean, we didn’t get much sleep last night, after all... 

A coy smile plays on my lips as I think back, closing my eyes and letting myself re-live some of last night. 

I can feel the heat rising inside me as I remember, vividly feeling what I felt last night... My body starts to get carried away, before another memory suddenly hits me.  

In between rounds with Isaac, as I lay naked in bed with him last night, I glanced out of the window, trying to enjoy the rain and the atmosphere... And I saw a wolf, looking in at us. 

It was only for a split second, but that wolf, I am almost certain, was Claire’s.  

When it happened last night, it only encouraged me – I threw the duvet off of the bed and turned my body slightly, to kiss Isaac. To show that he is mine. I don’t know how much she saw, but it was enough, I’m sure. 

A small smirk spreads on my mouth.  

She knows. 

Finally, some of this drama should die down. If Claire knows, then we don’t have to hide it anymore, and Isaac and I can get on with becoming Alpha and Luna of Curadh. She might even get rid of the cub.  

I can only hope. 

I stretch my body fully before moving out of bed, moving to look at myself in the mirror. Love bites cover my body, and my hair is a mess. Seeing myself like this, and remembering last night, my body heats up once again, and I pray Isaac will be home soon to relieve me. 

Until then though... 

 --

Isaac’s P.O.V. 

It’s 8pm now and training has finally finished – it took all day, and I am exhausted now.  

But training was different today. My father was busy with something, so Claire’s father (our Beta), trained me instead. It was horrible. He doesn’t know anything about Claire’s pregnancy, about Sophia and I, nothing. It felt like I was lying to him.  

At least I’ll become alpha soon. Once I do, he can’t be mad at me for withholding any of this from him. 

I’m worried though. Usually, my dad insists on training me himself – says it's some kind of rite of passage for an alpha to train the future alpha themselves. He must be busy with something really important to have missed it. I’ll ask him about it later... 

For now, though...  

I check the messages from Sophia again. Pictures and messages from her telling me what she wants to do to me, what she wants me to do to her. 

Looking at any of this in public is impossible – I can feel myself growing with each line I read and each picture I check. 

A blush forming on my face, I throw my phone in my pocket, get in my car, and race back to the lake house to my mate. 

I almost break down the door as I rush to see her, slamming it shut again behind me. Before I even get a chance to move to the bedroom, I catch sight of Sophia sprawled sensually on the large sofa, almost entirely naked, spare for her underwear.  

She touches herself with one hand, while the other gently caresses up and down her body, eliciting small, soft moans from her mouth,  

At the sight, I lose all thinking capabilities and charge over to her, ripping my shirt off as I reach her.  

She gasps at the action, before smiling coyly at me. 

She moves to get up, but I don’t give her the opportunity, pinning her down on the sofa. 

She lets out a moan as she feels me between her legs. 

“Isaac... Isaac, don’t tease me...” 

Her frustration only encourages me, as I move down to suck on her neck, licking and nibling her mark site, eliciting a series of soft moans from her.  

“Isaac...” 

I lick down from her neck, to her chest. She shivers at the action. 

Just as I begin to move down further, the sound of my phone ringing cuts loudly through the air. 

We both stop momentarily, before continuing. 

“Get it later,” Sophia commands. 

But the phone keeps ringing. Every time it stops, it starts again.  

I drop my head onto Sophia’s chest. “I should get it – check in case something is wrong...” 

“Ugh,” Sophia grunts, her body softening under me, “Fine.” 

“Don’t worry, babe, I’ll be right back,” I wink at her, before grabbing my phone from the floor. 

It’s Claire’s mother...  

Worry suddenly grips my heart – Claire's mother isn’t one to panic so easily. Something must be wrong. 

“Hello?” I ask down the line, tension tight in my throat. 

“Hello, Isaac – are you with Claire at the minute?” Her voice carries even more tension than mine, so tight and so wound up that it almost hurts to hear. 

“No, no I haven’t. I haven’t seen or talked to her today. Why?”  

“Well...” Her voice becomes panicked now, “She’s not home, and... Her stuff is gone from her room – including her suitcase. I thought maybe she had said something to you...?” 

Claire’s missing?? My cub is... missing?? The panic in Claire’s mother has transferred itself to me. Every part of me feels consumed with this primal stress at the idea that my cub is missing.  

“Okay.” I take control of my emotions, determination to figure this out overwhelming me. “Don’t worry, Astrid. I will figure it out. I will talk to my father now, too. You and Theo should stay there, in case she comes back. 

I’m sure everything is fine, so don’t panic, please. I’ll keep you updated.” 

“Okay, thank you, Isaac. You’ve been wonderful to our daughter. Thank you so much.” 

With that, she hangs up, and an overwhelming sense of guilt hangs over me. 

“Sophia,” I command her attention as I get dressed again, “Sophia, I’m sorry, but I need to go. Claire is missing, my cub is missing. I need to go talk to my father, okay? I’ll be back as soon as possible.” I throw my shoes on as I speak and open the door, rushing so fast that Sophia barely gets a chance to respond. 

“O-okay,” Is all she gets an opportunity to muster out before I leave, her expression shocked and startled. 

As I get in my car, I quickly message Claire. 

“Claire, where are you?” And with that, I rush off to see my father, hoping he knows something, anything, about the whereabouts of my cub. 

---

A/N:

Hello! I hope you're enjoying the story!

I thought I should add a little A/N here to explain that currently the app won't let me reply to any comments on the story - I'm not being rude, the app just won't let me lol. I'm sorry! 

But I intend to update every couple of days - I would love to be able to update every day, but that's often not possible, sadly. At the very minimum, I can promise to always updating at least once a week! :))

Thank you for following the story, and I really hope you enjoy! 

:))