Cursed by Fate (COMPLETE)

Chapter Nineteen- Mathias's POV

Back at the house after lunch I couldn’t help the jealousy at seeing how close Nicole and Lance were. She was so comfortable around him, so unguarded as she laughed. Her eyes shined with a happiness I haven’t seen since I met her, and her face lit up whenever he entered a room. And all the same fell sullen whenever he left. It was clear she cared for him, was falling in love with him, though I knew she wouldn't admit it. 

Were it not for the glances she would cast my way every so often, a soft smile gracing her perfect lips I would think she had already chosen him as her mate. I couldn’t blame her if she had though, I did lie to her, hid things from her. At the moment it felt right, felt like I was protecting her. But after seeing her reaction I instantly knew I had made a mistake, a very big mistake. Elias also noticed his behavior might have cost him his potential mate, and neither one of us was willing to give up on her just yet. 

“Nicole, can you give me a few minutes to talk to these men please?” Malachi asked her gently. 

“Uh, sure.” She said furrowing her brow as she got up from the table. “I’ll just be outside under the old oak tree when you’re done.” 

“Thank you,” He smiled, kissing the crown of her head. 

Oddly enough it didn’t make me or my wolf jealous. We were proud. She had tamed an alpha, and got him as her protector. He was more of a father or brother figure to her than a mate and I wasn’t threatened. When Nicole was out of the room all softness was wiped from his face. 

“I don’t think she is dealing with all of this as well as she is making us think.” He said. 

“Finally.” Elias sighed. “Someone else thinks so.” 

“You don’t think she’s dealing?” I asked with an arched brow. 

“Well no. Think about it Mathias. She had never even heard of the supernatural world before a little over a month ago. And now all of a sudden everything we say is just okay? She just accepts it and moves on? No, I don’t think so. She’s either in denial, not processing, or the most accepting and open minded person on the planet.” Elias shrugged. 

“She accepts the werewolf part.” Lance chimed in. “She even asked to see my wolf. She showed no fear of him, even hugged him.”

Malachi arched his brow curiously but nodded. “Okay. What about the vampire part?”

“That may be a little more difficult. We think she may be a master vampire.” Elias breathed. “When we told her, she, I don’t know she just asked questions and accepted it. No one should be that accepting, that open minded. It’s not natural.” 

“Maybe she just realized there was nothing she could do about it, and worrying or denying it wouldn’t do any good.” Lance shrugged. 

“I don’t know.” Malachi argued. “But I guess the only way we'll know for sure is when she changes.” 

“You all are not giving her enough credit.” Lance said as he stood, his mood suddenly became darker. “She is stronger than you think. She can handle more than you are letting yourselves believe.” 

“Lance, no one is saying she isn’t strong. But she did lose control today, and her eyes somehow managed to turn. Which by the way do any of you plan to tell her?” Malachi argued. 

“Really? Then why are we even discussing this? Let her accept this her way, process this her way. Just because she isn’t acting the way you think she should act doesn’t mean she isn’t coping or accepting her situation. And no. She can find that out herself on her birthday.” Lance huffed angrily as he stormed out of the room. The stifling power that filled the room from his anger following him. 

“He’s right.” I groaned. “We don’t know her, we don’t know how she acts when faced with something like this.” 

Malachi sighed heavily leaning back in his chair. “Maybe.” He breathed. “Nicole is a very strong young woman. But she was also a wreck when she got here. She was twitchy, and jumpy. Always looking over her shoulder, her eyes darting through the shadows like someone would jump out at her. She didn’t trust anyone. Lance offered to help, but when he brought me back here to help she slammed the door and locked us out. She wouldn’t open the door until I told her I was the chief of police.” 

Guilt washed through me like ice. We did that. We made her like that. We made her scared and jumpy, made her feel unsafe and like she was being followed. I looked out the window and saw Lance outside sitting with Nicole’s head in his lap as he ran his fingers through her hazel colored hair. And Lance fixed her. He put her back together, made her smile again, made her laugh again. He is the reason her eyes shine with happiness, he is the reason her cheeks are rosy with health and the reason her melodic laughter fell from her lips. How could either of us even hope to compete with that? 

Truth is we couldn’t. All we could do is spend the next year making it up to her, making her see how much she means to us and how we plan to fix things. Show her how much we will cherish her and adore her. She has to know what she means to us. I don’t know about Elias, but I planned to show Nicole how precious she was, how truly adored she was. And if it was the last thing I did, I would show her how much I already loved her,