Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Dylan spent a whole five minutes staring at the phone on the nightstand, trying to figure out why Isabel had a sudden change of mind. No matter how hard he tried to solve the puzzle, his thoughts kept settling for one answer, which was the fact that deep down Isabel’s façade of indifference, she actually cared about him. Although she used his family sending out a search party as a good excuse, he has come to the realization that she does feel his worries about being far away from his family and was only giving him a hand in reaching them. He wasn’t aware that he was smiling to himself all this time until he looked at the mirror in his bathroom.

‘Don’t get overly excited, Dylan. This may be her own way of asking you to leave’

At the thought of that his smile dropped, turning into a hurt expression. His forehead creased into a frown, to show how displeased he was at himself to think that his mate wanted to make him feel happy.

Dylan took a quick shower, ridding himself of the day’s sweat before grabbing the phone from the nightstand to call his family. He had wanted to make the phone call the next morning, but decided against it when he concluded that Isabel wanted him out of her life. After contemplating who to call, he decided to call his elder brother, so as not to make the issue complicated.

“Hello?” Daniel picked the call after two rings. He sounded agitated and cranky, like he hasn’t had a good sleep.

“Daniel. It’s me.” Dylan said gently, feeling sorry for his brother who must’ve been under a lot of pressure in the past couple days.

“Dylan? Is it really you?” His elder brother cautiously asked.

“Oh my God, Dylan. What happened? Where are you? Did someone take you prisoner? Are you alright?” Daniel bombarded him with questions, sounding anxious, but yet, ready to attack the culprit behind his disappearance.

Dylan, rather than answering his brother’s question let his thoughts ponder on Daniel’s third question. Was he Isabel’s mate as she claimed or was he her prisoner, given that their relationship wasn’t all like every other mated werewolves.

“Dylan, are you still there? Hello!...” Daniel’s panicked voice brought Dylan back to earth, but he wasn’t able to answer any of his brother’s questions as he heard noises in the background and all of a sudden his mom was on the phone.

“Dylan. My baby. What is going on? Where are you?” She sounded like she had been crying, but he could hardly believe that were the case since she was also fed up with his presence.

“Mom, I’m fine.” He replied calmly, pushing aside the ugly memories he shared with his family before now.

From the other end he could hear sighs of relief, which meant that his dad was also in the room.

“Thank goodness you’re okay. But honey, we need to know where you are.” His mom pressed.

He couldn’t give out such information just like that because his parents would misinterpret the whole thing. He has to explain everything bit by bit.

Inhaling deeply, he said “I found my mate.”

“That’s great news! You’ll have to introduce her to the family, don’t you think?”

“I can’t.”

“I know you’re mad at us, but honey, please come home… We’re sorry for upsetting you. Just come home.”

“I’m mated to alpha Martinez.” He blurted out without giving it much thought, making the room at the other end fall silent.

He couldn’t take back his words now, so he gave them a minute to take in the information. Better late than never.

“Which alpha Martinez are you referring to?”

“Currently, there’s only one in the world, mom.”

“That’s impossible! He has a mate and a family. This must be some sort of mistake.”

“The present alpha is a she. She’s the daughter of alpha Rodrigo.” Dylan clarified what he meant.

“You can’t be mated to someone from the Pride pack. That’s outrageous!” His mom yelled, to his surprise.

How could she still be in denial after all he just explained?

“And why is that, mom?”

“Because those people are extremely dangerous. They are known for practicing magic. Dylan, they have casted a spell on you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

He was biting the inside of his cheek to hold himself back from cursing at his mom for saying such nonsense about his mate and her pack.

“Exactly what you heard, Dylan… You’re not mated to any of those monsters. They’re only using you as a bait.”

His mom’s anger was rubbing off on him from having listened to her garbage for too long, but unlike his mom, his anger wasn’t directed at Isabel or her pack, but his family.

“When you and every other werewolf found your mates, it was nothing out of the ordinary, but when I finally find mine, it becomes a taboo… I’ve heard enough, mom. Let’s stop here.”

His day was stressful, now his family was turning it into hell.

“Is this your way of repaying your parents and pack for all the years we sheltered you, by running into enemy arms the first chance you get?!” His dad’s authoritative voice exclaimed in anger.

“Dad, please. You guys are getting it all wrong. The Pride pack means no harm.” He tried to explain to his dad, but alpha Dwight wouldn’t hear any of it.

“You’ll regret choosing those animals over your true family.” His dad threatened instead.

“Is that a threat?” His wolf was slowly gaining control of his emotions as he clenched his teeth in anger.

He probably would’ve gotten into a fight with his dad by now had he been back at home.

“I’m glad you’re not as dumb as I thought.” Alpha Dwight replied.

“You’ll only be sending your warriors to their early graves.”

With that Dylan hung up.

He couldn’t believe it. The people he called family, who he thought would be happy for him and be in support of whoever he was mated to against all odds ended up turning against him. He slammed the phone on the floor to let off some steam. At the moment, he could only think of no one else but his mate. He needed her to comfort him, to convince him that everything was going to be alright. Every fibre in him was telling him that he made the right decision, but his head was telling him he made the wrong one. Too upset to go to bed, he decided to give in to his craving. As if on cue, he heard the sound of a door being shut. She was probably about going to bed. This motivated him to take his chances. He knocked on Isabel’s bedroom door several times, but there was no response each time he knocked.

‘She can’t possibly fall asleep so soon’ He thought to himself, gently opening the door. He was confused to find the room empty with the bed neatly made. Has she left the house again? Was that the sound he heard? He doubted that because if she didn’t plan on spending the night here, she wouldn’t have shown herself to him. He closed the bedroom door behind him and let his nostril trace her scent. It kept leading to the master bedroom, making him wonder, why? This isn’t right. She promised they’d move into the master bedroom as soon as he was comfortable, so why would she go ahead and do the opposite. Does this mean everyone around him has given up on him?

With each slow stride he took towards the room, he thought of the worse case scenario. Whatever the outcome of tonight’s meeting, he was prepared to live with the consequences. That being that, if his mate gave him the cold shoulder, he wouldn’t think twice about rejecting her as his mate and becoming a rogue since he doesn’t plan on returning to his pack. He knows that would be the greatest mistake of his life, as they would both be dead within a year or two, due to the pain that came with rejection, but that would be for the best as he would rather they both died from being apart than live together as total strangers.

The closer he got to the room, the heavier his heart. Fear clutched at his heart as he braced himself for the worst. Knocking softly on the door, he waited for Isabel to open the door, which she did in less than a minute. A look of surprise was evident on Isabel’s face, but she quickly concealed it by wearing her signature straight face.

“Why are you here?” She then asked with her arms crossed under her breasts, making her cleavage noticeable.

He tore his eyes away from her pointed nipples to her gorgeous face.

“I’m sorry."