The Intruder

Chapter 4

Before going back to Emily I went to the kitchen to get her something to eat. I was aggressively putting a sandwich together as I was frustrated after my brother’s reaction to the news that Emily was my mate. That might have been making the whole war with her father more complicated but I couldn’t change it. Him accusing me of being delusional was unbelievable.

I went upstairs to my room and saw Emily looking at my bookshelf. It was taking the whole wall from the floor to the ceiling and was about 8 metres wide.

‘Have you read all of it?’ She turned to me when I walked in.

I shook my head. 

‘It would have taken more than half of my life.’ I said and handed her a plate with her sandwich. ‘Any shifting symptoms yet?’

She bit on a sandwich and shrugged.

‘I don’t know what I am supposed to feel but there’s nothing unusual.’

I nodded and smiled but I was panicking. She should have started feeling her muscles tensing. Could it be that I was just imagining her being my mate and she wasn't a werewolf at all?

Emily’s POV

I could feel how stressed Zach was. It was past 8PM and I felt completely normal. Well, besides constantly trying to figure out what my parents’ deal was.

‘Zach?’ I tried getting his attention back on me. I didn’t know what was happening but his behaviour did not mean anything good.

‘I’m sorry.’ He snapped back to reality and faked a big smile. ‘Have you read any of those?’ He asked and pointed at the bookshelf.

‘Don’t try to act like everything is fine, please.’ I pleaded and put my sandwich aside. ‘Tell me what’s happening. Am I supposed to be shifting already?’

Zach sighed and nervously started sliding one of the books out of the bookshelf and back in.

‘Yes, you are supposed to be shifting…’ Zach started.

I grabbed his hand, stopping him from abusing the book and felt sparks again that I ignored. He immediately fell quiet and watched me.

‘You’re damaging it.’ I explained, pointing to the book.

‘Oh, true, sorry.’ He put his hand back and cleared his throat.

‘So that means I am not a werewolf?’ I asked, trying to get him to tell me exactly what was wrong.

‘You are a werewolf.’ He convinced me but nothing followed.

‘How do you know?’ I demanded getting impatient and annoyed with him for being so slow with answering.

Zach’s POV

Emily was determined to get everything I knew out of me. I should have told her she was my mate but her not shifting and the conversation I had with Abel on top of it made me doubt even this.

‘I am not sure…’ I responded frankly.

Emily walked away from me, visibly frustrated. I could understand it but her state was not helping me think more clearly. She sat down on the bed and carried on eating her sandwich.

‘What are we gonna do then?’ Emily asked in a tone giving out that she was not expecting the answer.

I started walking around the room in circles. I prayed for just a tiny bit of focus or some hint telling me what I was supposed to do. Instead of any of it I heard a knock on the door.

‘Yes?’ Emily responded probably feeling that I was in no state to even answer a knock…

Abel entered the room and quickly inspected me.

‘You look like shit.’ He stated to which I nodded.

Emily stood up and came closer to us.

‘I am not having any signs of shifting.’ She explained the situation to Abel. 

‘Okay, this is what we need to do.’ Abel nodded and grabbed my arm. ‘You gotta focus, man, everything is okay, we’re fixing it.’

I hated myself more with every second of it. She was my mate, I was sure of it. She was turning seventeen now, why wasn’t she shifting? Nothing made sense and instead of moving forward I was a mess and couldn’t think clearly.

It seems like Abel decided to give up on getting me out of my state and carried on explaining:

‘We are gonna bring you back to your parents.’ he turned to Emily. ‘We're sorry for all this. We would be grateful if you forgave us for making you wait for your shift just now. Zach explained your father’s plans to you, I believe.’

Emily nodded.

‘We are also gonna appreciate any help you might want to offer.’ Abel continued. ‘We’ll stay in contact. Hopefully we will be able to solve everything peacefully. Did you tell your parents where you were going?’

‘I told them I was going to stay with my friend Angela.’ Emily explained.

‘Angela?’ Abel seemed to have gotten lost in thoughts for a second.

‘My old friend, she disappeared after a while…’ Emily explained and waved her hand afterwards. ‘Anyway, they thought I was staying out so no problem with them worrying or anything.’

Abel watched Emily with his eyes squinted while she was saying this.

‘Alright,’ he went back to the fully focused self. ‘Our father is coming back here sometime in the early morning, I think it’s better if you are out of here by then.’

‘Of course.’ Emily confirmed. ‘Thank you for your help. You have a very nice house.’ She chuckled.

Abel smiled slightly and turned to me.

I was still tormenting myself for messing everything up and not understanding my feelings but Abel’s calmness helped me put those thoughts far enough to focus.

‘I can bring her back if you don’t feel well.’ He offered.

‘That won’t be necessary.’ I responded quickly, not feeling comfortable with the thought of Abel and Emily alone in her car.

‘Okay, then let’s go.’ Abel went out of the room.

‘Wait!’ I let Emily go through the door first and then I ran up to Abel. ‘Are you coming with?’

‘You’ll need a car, won’t you?’ he asked and gave me a side-look as he kept walking to the garage. ‘You go together, lead the way, I’ll follow you.’ He said and got into his car parked next to Emily’s.

Emily moved towards the driver’s seat but I stopped her, opened the passenger’s door, watched her getting in and sat by the wheel.

I drove out of the parking lot and started moving down the road. After making sure Abel’s car was behind us, we were on the way to Emily’s house.