Fallen Mate

2 Were they going to fight over her?

Were they going to fight over her?

This shouldn’t be happening. Fallen watched as the two of the strongest beings faced off. Kelani was fully turned into his hybrid beast, staring Triam down. And Triam was slowly turning into his wolf too.

They were really going to fight. She had to stop them.

Fallen tried to wrench her hand out of Triam’s grip but he held on. He wouldn’t let her go.

“Let go,” she told him. But he snarled at her, giving her a lethal look over his shoulder. Kelani stepped close to him.

“She said let her go,” he said menacingly.

Fallen stared at them shocked that they were doing this. Why would they fight over her? She froze when she remembered what Kelani had said when he reached them. Her eyes flew to him.

He called her his mate.

She staggered, her knees suddenly feeling weak. There was no way. She’d known him…actually she’d known both of them all her life, they had never reacted to her like that before. Now, they were going to fight each other.

Fallen stepped between them. Triam tried to pull her behind him, but she used all her strength to wrench her arm out of his grip. It slipped from his fingers, and she realized that he had let her go. He would have held on to her if he wanted to. He was that strong.

She stared at him for a few seconds before she turned to Kelani. His black eyes narrowed on her, taking on a look she’d never seen before. He stepped closer, reaching for him.

“Mate,” he whispered.

A shiver went through her. Fallen stepped back, not sure what was going on. Her back hit something hard. Triam groaned behind her as she came in contact with him. She froze, standing there between them.

A strange tension came over them. She closed her eyes for a few seconds as she felt weird inside. What was happening? She’d never felt this way about any of them. Did it have something to do with the human girl? Fallen’s eyes fell on the still body on the ground.

She’d heard her cries from miles away as if she was calling to her. But she died. Fallen stared at her, feeling bad because she couldn’t save her.

The sound of sirens sounded in the distance. Someone probably called the accident in. She quickly opened her eyes, and moved away from the two, but they both reached for her. She jumped away and gave them both a look.

“Don’t,” she said, taking another step away from them. Their eyes turned predatory as if they were ready to chase. “You,” she pointed to Kelani, “I’m stop saying i'm your mate. And you…” she pointed to Triam next. She swallowed the surge of emotions that filled her. She’d always felt somehow about him. She didn’t even understand her feelings when it came to him, because they were so strong. Every time she saw him, she felt like she was drowning, like she was coming apart.

She… liked him. And she knew she shouldn’t feel like that about him. He was family – well, not really family because she was adopted, but they were technically cousins. And cousins shouldn’t feel like that about each other. It was gross.

I’m gross, Fallen thought, staring down at her feet feeling embarrassed. She’d tried to hide her feelings by not talking to him, staying away from him, and refusing to visit his house. It was better when she didn’t see him. She didn’t have to see his handsome face, his intense mismatched eyes – one was green while the other was red. He was devastatingly handsome, more now with his long hair cut on the sides and pulled up in a bun. There was something dangerous and thrilling about him, she couldn’t help it but want to stare at him. But she stopped herself every time.

He was family. She told herself that ever since she discovered her feelings for him.

Triam is my family, she would say to herself over and over. But her feelings for him remained. s**t. It was embarrassing and she got angry at herself every time she thought of it. She held on to that anger and looked at him. It was hard, but she had to pretend that nothing was going on. That her heart didn’t feel like it was about to explode from her chest, and her breathing was normal. Sometimes she feared that he could hear it. Fallen wanted to take another step away from him, but she stood her ground.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she shouted at him. He took a step towards her. She raised her hand to stop him. Her heart racing. Surely, he could hear it. It pounded hard, filling her ears. She’d been in his presence for too long. Her whole body burned hot and needy. She wanted him. “Don’t come any closer.”

He stopped and stared at her. She could feel the anger coming off him in waves.

“What did you do to her?” he asked, his eyes turning murderous.

Her? Fallen’s eyes fell on the human girl again. Why was he asking about the human girl? Did he know her? Her heart squeezed in her chest painfully as she thought of them together. It wasn’t unheard of that a supernatural being would fall in love with a human. Did he fall for her? Tears prickled her eyes. She shoved them away. “I didn’t do anything to her. I tried to help her. And she died.”

Why won’t he believe her?

Triam growled and moved towards her. Kaleni was before her in seconds. Fallen stared at his massive back, as he stood between her and Triam.

“Touch my mate again and I’m going to kill you. I don’t care that we are cousins. No one touches her,” the beast bit out. Fallen shivered slightly at his hard voice. She wasn’t sure whether it was because she was his mate, or if he claimed her like that. She’d waited for Triam to feel the same way about her, but he never did. He barely looked at her. Kelani had been kind to her every time they went to the fairy lands, since her other adoptive father was a fairy. She liked him. He was handsome, with his long white hair and kind smile.

But was she truly his mate?

“Get out of the way,” Triam said through clenched teeth. He wasn’t going to back down. The sirens got closer. They both turned to the swirling red light. Kelani grasped her arm and started walking away. Fallen let him drag her away. She heard Triam scream. The sound caused her heart to skip a beat.

“Hold on,” Kelani said, and easily picked her up. He moved at super speed. She’d heard that fairies were fast, but it felt like they were flying. But Triam was close behind them, chasing them down. Fallen closed her eyes, not understanding what was going on. He was behaving in a strange way. Was it because the human died? Maybe he loved her. Did they have a secret relationship? Were they supposed to meet when the accident happened? Was that why he came to the spot? Fallen shook his head as a million questions ran through her mind, her heart started to ache. She hadn’t known he was seeing anyone. She hadn’t thought it would hurt this badly, even though there was no way they could be together.

“Are you alright?” Kelani asked, loosening his arms around her a little. His caring voice soothed her.

“I’m fine,” she said, swallowing her tears. “Where are you taking me?”

“Home,” he said, jumping through the trees, running deeper into the forest. Fallen lived with her two adoptive fathers in a vampire stronghold. Her vampire father was the leader of the vampire army, and her fairy father was the second in commander to the fairy king, Kelani’s father. They adopted her when she was a few minutes old. Right after, her mother died after giving birth to her on their floor. They’d told her the story of how she’d come to them. They said her mother had appeared out of nowhere, right into their living room. She was burnt all over and gasping as she clutched her belly, crying for them to help her. Her fairy father had helped her mother give birth to her, and her vampire father had saved her by giving her his blood. Even though they loved her and raised her with so much care. Fallen couldn’t help but wonder who she was, and where she’d come from.

Sometimes she felt lonely because no one was like her. She was part of the family, but then again, she wasn’t. She felt like an outsider. Sometimes she wanted to run away, but she had nowhere to go. The world was a big place, and it was scary. And she didn’t want to leave her fathers. She loved them – she owed them her life. But sometimes it was hard to be around them. To be around Triam.

Kelani slowed down as he reached her home. The vampires who stood guard in the forest appeared in front of them, menacingly. Kelani dropped her down on her feet.

“Its me,” Fallen said. They nodded and stepped aside. Kelani took her hand and walked her down the path that led to the house. Lights shone around them, illuminating the forest. Fallen breathed in the night air, relaxing just a little.

But it wasn’t for long as Triam appeared in front of them a few seconds later.

“We need to talk,” he bit out, staring down at her. He stared at their joined hands and his face pulled into a mask of rage. s**t. He wasn’t going to fight Kelani here, was he?

“Okay,” Fallen said, pulling away from Kelani. But he tightened his grip.

“Anything he has to say, he can say in front of me. You are my mate, remember?” he said, pulling her to his side.

“She’s not,” Triam said.

“She is. I scented her from miles away. And my beast says that she is. You know what that means,” he said, staring at Triam. A tense moment passed between them. Fallen was sure he was going to attack him, but Triam turned to her.

“Are you?” he asked.

Was she? She wasn’t sure. She felt something when Kelani touched her. Since she was a different species, she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to react when she met her mate. She wasn’t even sure if her kind had a mate. What was her kind? She didn’t know. She didn’t know anything. She could be his mate, it was possible. His hand felt nice against hers, and his warmth comforted her, he made her feel wanted and claimed – not wretched, confused and unwanted. She didn’t want to feel like that anymore.

“Yes,” Fallen heard herself say. Kelani hissed next to her.

“I didn’t sense it in the past. I guess you had to grow up for me to see you,” he said, pulling her closer. Her heart skipped a beat at the look in his eyes. Maybe she was his mate.

Fallen turned to Triam. “He’s my mate. So, leave us alone. I have nothing to say to you.” Fallen shoved past him and walked to the house, with Kelani following closely behind. He opened the door for her and helped her inside.

“Its late. You should go to sleep, and we’ll talk tomorrow. We have so much to talk about. I can’t believe you’re my mate and you’ve been there all along.” He said, smiling.

Fallen smiled too. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said. She closed the door and rushed to her room, not wanting to talk to her fathers. They were overly protective. They would have a problem with her walking around at night.

She took the stairs two at a time and sneaked into her room. She closed the door as silently as possible before she moved to the window. It overlooked the front of the house, and the rest of the forest below.

She gasped when she found Triam still where they left him, staring up at her window…at her. Her heart slammed hard against her ribs, taking her breath away. Fallen stumbled back feeling like she’d just been burnt by his stare. He looked like he hated her – like he wanted to murder her.

She stared down at her arms, but there were no marks there.

What was going on? What was wrong with him? Did he think she had killed his girlfriend or something? She wasn’t even that pretty, Fallen thought, wiping the tears that suddenly sprang to her eyes. And then she felt guilty for thinking like that about a poor dead girl.

Shit. She hated him for making her feel like that.