The Intruder

Chapter 3

Zach’s POV

We were on our way to my house without saying anything. I checked on Emily once in a while to make sure she was okay. I was sure she still had many questions. Some of them I did not want to answer just yet so I was glad she was not talking. However, I wanted to comfort her. Whatever her relations with her parents were, she most certainly wasn’t sure if she wanted to leave them or, what was to come in the future if she stayed on our side, to fight them.

‘We are almost there.’ I broke the silence and looked at her to see if she heard me. She turned to me and smiled slightly. I could see she was not feeling great and it was breaking my heart. Ever since I saw her I wanted to make sure she was fine. The original plan my brother Abel and I had was to meet her, ask for help and wait to see what happens next.

We thought her father somehow managed to make sure she was human. But after I met her I knew she wasn’t. And I knew her parents could not provide her safety. Did they plan to kill her to gain the trust of humans? I cared about Emily too much to leave her with them. But I felt that I knew too little to be at peace with myself at that moment. She trusted me and now we were going to my house where she could safely shift. But her parents completely ignoring the possibility of her being a werewolf on her 17th birthday was off…

‘Okay, Emily, we’re here.’ I said as we approached a tall building designed in Victorian style that I lived in.

I parked the car at the garage and went to open Emily’s door.

‘Thanks’ she said while getting out of the car.

‘Let’s go, I have a lot to show you’ I said, leading her in through the small door connecting the garage with the hall.

I was genuinely excited to show her the house I grew up in. It made me worry less about her shifting, the upcoming war and other stuff and I was hoping it would distract her from all the information I gave her as well.

Emily stopped and looked at one of the paintings on the wall. It was a painting of a black wolf with navy blue shinings.

‘It looks so majestic…’ she exclaimed and I smiled with pride.

‘That’s my wolf,’ I said, giving off a small chuckle. ‘Do you really like him?’ I teased her and she moved to another painting.

‘That one is beautiful as well.’ she said pointing to a golden-furred wolf, belonging to my brother.

‘Nah, that one is ugly.’ I joked, grabbed her hand and pulled her to the kitchen. ‘Are you hungry?’

‘Actually yes’ Emily said and sat down at the table.

‘Then you’ll have to wait cause we have a whole house to view!’ I ran towards the door, grabbing her hand again and moving to the next room. She was giggling the entire time and for a while I believed everything was going to be okay, as long as she was with me. I managed to show her around the garden and the living room. As we moved to my room we were stopped by Abel. He was standing in the hall separating my room from his. He probably heard some noise accompanying our little tour and decided to check what was happening.

‘Zachary?’ He looked at me in surprise. ‘Is that Emily?’

As I said before, our plan did not include me taking her with me.

‘Yeah, that’s  Emily. Emily, meet my brother, soon-to-be alpha, Abel.’ I knew he was probably freaking out. Abel usually had to have everything planned. Any mistake could cause him to have his title given to me. And none of us wanted that.

‘It’s… nice to meet you, Emily.’ he managed to say while clenching his fists.

‘Likewise’ my guest responded, clearly noticing my brother’s reaction.

‘Would you mind giving us a moment?’ Abel asked Emily. 

‘No, not at all’ she shook her head and looked at me.

‘My room is over there, I’ll be there in a minute.’

We watched her walking away and closing the door.

‘Zach, this is insane.’ my brother started. ‘This is asking for a war, while we were looking for a way to avoid it.’

‘I know, I know but you don’t understand. She is a werewolf and she turns seventeen today. She didn’t know about any of this, her parents didn’t tell her anything. Her shifting on human territory…’

‘What are you even saying?’ Abel interrupted me. ‘How do you know she’s a werewolf?’

I looked up, contemplating whether I should share this.

‘She is my mate.’ I said and looked at my brother expecting some excitement. However, his eyes showed pity. ‘What?’ I asked, surprised.

‘Listen…’ Abel took a deep breath. ‘I know you haven’t found your mate yet and after two years of nothing you get impatient and start wondering why is that but that girl is not your mate.’

I took a step back.

‘Abel… what I feel towards her is crazy. I can’t stand not knowing how she’s doing, I feel complete with her by my side, there’s sparks when we touch…’

‘It’s okay.’ Abel stopped me again. ‘Keep your delusions to yourself. A human is not safe here. Make sure to bring her back before dad comes back from the hunt.’

With these words he turned around and went to his room.