Chapter 18: Chapter 18

"How did you know that?"

My question falls into his deaf ears. He is ignoring me for no reason at all. After what he just said, I am puzzled on how he knows that.

He refuses to talk, all he does is stare at me with a strange look in his eyes. At that moment, I forget that what he said and I fall into his dark abyss. It's almost too late when I find a way to look away, pulling myself out at the same time.

Something in my head tells me that is his power, at least, one of them but I don't even know what happened.

"You said that my plan is to seduce you, Nathan." I look down, biting my lips in thought. I don't know what brings about the action. "How did you know that? Is it one of your powers?"

For some odd reason, I am been timid and gentle. It shocks and annoys me at the same time. I shouldn't be looking at my feet like a scared cat, I should be staring him on even if he is a god.

The harder I try to raise my head up, the harder it is for me to move my head. It's not a great situation to be in.

With my eyes still downcast, I sense him walking past me slowly and I watch his foot movement beside me.

"Yes and no. It's one of my many powers but I like to think that it's just an advantage of being a god." He stops close to me. "And on my trip, I use some of my powers to know something about you."

The tone of his voice sends shivers down my spine but I try not to react to it. It's obvious that he is doing this consciously and he has an objective in mind.

Even though I can't raise my head to stare at him, I can narrow my eyes at the ground in suspicion. "And what exactly did you find out?"

"Oh look at you, so excited to hear what I have to say." He pats my head softly. I sense it before I feel his hand on me. "If you're so eager then you should know that I share that same eagerness too. Now, tell me who Romeo is?"

My eyes widen and beads of sweat rolls down my face. The next thing I do shocks both him and I.

With a sudden burst of wind, laughter flows out of my lips and into my surrounding. The sound is a bit strange to my ears but it doesn't stop me from laughing till my throat hurts.

When I stop, I am staring at him. I managed to stand straighter when I started laughing. He might has stopped what he was doing on me or I just overcame it.

"So you talked to little Summer. It's a surprise she said a word." Cleaning the tears that slipped out of my eyes, I exhale. "I am not disappointed because I expected that. Summer would never say a word to you unless you actually used something on her. Your god skills are very handy, please teach me."

His expression remains blank. Except for the little narrowing of his eyes, he doesn't make another move.

"I could use it on her." I chirp. He doesn't want to talk so it's up to me to fill in the air around here, right? "She has hidden so much from me so I can use it to my advantage. So tell, if I mate with you, will I have these powers too?"

"I know what you're doing."

"Ooh." I feign innocent. "What am I doing? Is it something bad?"

"Stop acting like a child. You've spent too much time with children that their attitudes are rubbing off on you." He grabs my arm before he can complete his words. His fingers threaten to dig into my skin but I hold my own and peer at him through my eyelashes with a small pout on my face.

"Don't lecture me about the 'change' I have gone through because what I see in front of me is a changed man too." I poke my tongue out, slowly licking my lower lip and his eyes follows the movement. Got ya! "You've never been one to get agitated so quickly. You've changed so much."

Slowly, I rub my palm on his chest and his eyes darken.

"You're almost like a newly turned werewolf."

In response to my words, he grabs my other hand and pulls it away from his chest.

"You're acting." He tries to search my eyes and I stare him down, not letting any emotion I don't want him to see slip out. "The woman I know wou-"

"Shut up and kiss me." I push my chest to his body and lean into him. But before my lips can land on him, he turns his face away and I kiss his cheek instead.

My mood turns soars immediately and I roll my eyes. "Why did I say that out loud."

He leans back in an instant with a skeptical look on his face. "Did you touch any poisonous leaves on your way back? Those people did something to you didn't they?"

"I touched a bunch of random leaves while I stayed with dear handsome Andrew."

I smirk when he looks disorganized by this and I use this chance to try to kiss him again but this time he holds me back and looks away, dejected.

"You are clearly not thinking straight."

"Look who's talking. You are the one that's not giving into his primative needs." I struggle against him as his grip tightens on his wrists and for some reason, I can't break free even with my werewolf strength. "Just a kiss, I promise that I won't bite your tongue in the process."

I hear a sigh come from him before the dispirited look on his face disappears, then he turns to me with determination in his eyes.

I smile at him, leaning closer. "Are you ready to kiss me now? I take back what I said then, I want to bite your tongue."

"I'm sorry. I really am."

With his face full of sadness and mine filled with confusion, he uses one of his hands to hold two of mine. I'll put on with this as long as I get to taste his lips.

"Sorry for what? You haven't kissed me yet and don't worry, you can't bite me too, wherever you want to..."

He looks away again and this time I don't get to see his face. My vision turns blurring in an instant and my legs feel jelly, the only thing holding me up is his grip on my hands.

With a sloppy glare, I move my hands with so much weakness that I am shocked. "What did you do t-to me?"

"I call this a passing out spell, I picked it up from a witch. I'm sorry but I couldn't strike you, never." My eyes closes slowly and I feel his hands wrapping around my waist. "You'll be alright when you wake up and hopefully, you won't remember a thing."

Nathan. How dare you...

The world zooms out of my sight and I end up falling asleep in a second. I don't know what I dreamt about, I don't think I even dreamt anything but when I wake up, I feel like I have been run over by a huge truck.

My body cries out at me as I jump out of the bed with full force. It almost brings tears to my eyes and I walk into the bathroom painfully.

The scent in the room tells me that Nathan was here. It's still fresh and my lungs can't get enough of it. I inhale it until my wolf feels satisfied.

My wolf. It's been a while since I heard her talk in my head...

Immediately, the memories start coming to me with full force and my eyes widen with sudden effect.

I passed out? After that hideous act of mine?

With heavy breaths, I try to calm myself and focus on calling out to my wolf. She turns her tail in my direction before she looks at me. I can see her in my mind, mentally.

I settle to not speak aloud, I don't know who might be listening behind that door. So I'll talk to her mentally.

'Stop whining and tell me what you want, little girl?'

I narrow my eyes at the wall in front of me. I don't like her insults.

'You took control yesterday, didn't you.'

She scoffs in my head, her wolf head moving around. 'Maybe I did or maybe I didn't. You won't believe me even if I said no.'

'That is because you have given me no reason to.' I grit my teeth. Talking to her can be a pain. 'Did you take control or not?'

'Yes, I do. Now leave me alone.' She shuts me out as soon as she turns her tail in my line of sight.

I exhale with a clenched fist.

Now I have to face the consequences of her actions. The recklessness she shows makes me want to strangle myself. She made me say awful things to him.

I can't go out of this room. I just can't, this is too much.

I shake my head and slap myself on the face. I immediately regret it when it stings a lot. Holding my cheek in my palm, I whine. "Ouch!"

What is wrong with me?

Before I know what is happening, I hear his voice. "Hey, is everything okay in there?"

It's so loud, that I jump and turn swiftly in shock. I expect his to be behind me but when he isn't there my heard comes down from it's race. I don't even know what it started it's silly race and who it is racing with.

My ears picks up footsteps moving in this direction. It's not far away and it's not that close either.

"Yeah, everything is fine." I yell back, hoping that he won't come to my doorstep. The footsteps pauses for a while.

"Alright then. Can you come to breakfast, we have a lot of things to discuss."

A lot of things to discuss...

My eyes widen and I begin to freak out. Before I know it, I am dragging on my hair and parading the room I have been given.

"This is not good, this is not good at all." I retort to biting my fingernails absentmindedly. When I notice this, I am shocked to the core.

I do not bite my fingers. Never!

I have to calm down and get myself together. What I also need to do is apologize for what happened yesterday. I'll just explain what happened yesterday to him. It was my wolf who took over, I'm sure that he will understand.

Yeah, he will.

With that in mind as a great resolve, I manage to get myself clean and ready for breakfast.

My hands hover around the doorknob as I exhale and inhale repeatedly. I give myself another form of reassurance before I step outside.

-----------

"Hey." A blush finds its way to my cheeks. I can feel it and I know that it's there. It appears immediately Nathan's eyes moves to my face.

In a way, I feel like something is different about him. I can sense a different kind of presence coming from him. I wonder what has changed?

"Hey, you look cheerful. I hope that you had a good night rest." He avoids my eyes after the first time we stare down but it's only for a while. His eyes are back on me after a few seconds. "Care to take a bite?"

He motions to something in front of him. My mind is a bit in a daze so it takes a while before I understand that he is telling me to join him, to eat.

Normally, we eat on the counter in the small living room but this place is different. I haven't done much exploring so I can't say that I have seen this room before. I had to track his scent for me to come here and I mostly had help from Jasmine. She led me here.

I look down at the small neatly arranged table in front of me. There are a few dishes on the table and some empty plates and clean utensils. It seems to me like he hasn't started eating.

Immediately, a sudden gush of wind pulls my hair to the side. Puzzled, I search for where the wind came from and I see a small balcony, just some few meters away where we are located.

The scenery that the balcony doors uncovers is a bit startling. The sun is not fully up so the lighting of this room is properly set and from here, I can see the sun on it's way to peak.

"Once, I heard that the people who lives in the mountains have seen the most beautiful view of the rising sun. I didn't believe but when I saw it myself, I was almost swayed." Nathan talks and when I turn to him, I see him watching me with caution but a strange sense is added to that. "The fact is that, there isn't anything like the most beautiful view of the rising sun, I am dared to say that it is just a myth, there's nothing like that. All the sceneries are unique in their own way."

In a moment, I get lost in what he is saying but when he blinks I snap out of it.

"Watching it with someone you care about is what will make it the best view, not of the rising sun but the whole world."

Small talks. It is now I realize what he is doing. He is making small talks to calm my nerves and clear up the tense air and shockingly, it is working.

He stands to his feet, moving his chair back with making a single noise and then he walks over to where I stand and moves the chair back. It's not just any chair, it's my seat.

"Please have a sit."

Without saying a word, I do as he asks and he walks back to his seat.

"I want to apologise for what happened yesterday. It was my fault and that was so inappropriate to do and I can't even imagine the words I spoke." I squeeze my eyes shut as I force out the words. "My wolf was in-"

"No, she wasn't. It's not your fault and neither is it her's." I open my eyes when I hear his voice and his eyes bore holes into mine, although I know that he is staring at me without any ill will.

He continues. "I am the cause of it."

I tilt my head with the resolve to apologise flying out of the window. "I don't understand."

"Since you met me you've been acting out of character and so have I." He covers his face with his hands. "The constant urge to irritate you, the act of seduction on your part and remember when I tried to kill that guy by strangling him? Well, all that was my fault."

"If you like to say something then say it and stop beating about the bush, Nathan. What are you trying to tell me, I don't have enough patience to wait for you." I narrow my eyes and he laughs.

What throws me off guard is that this isn't a mocking laugh. It's more of a chuckle, like he is laughing at himself, at his dismay.

"I am a god and like I said, that comes with a lot of quirks. When we first met, I didn't know how to act because the prophecy was right."

"What prophecy?"

"That I'll have a mate." He blinks. "You're the prophecy that was foretold years ago. One of the gods would have a mate. For a while, I thought it was a joke, until I saw you. You were just sixteen but I felt an attachment to you and so I stayed hidden and watched you."

He watched since I was sixteen? Why don't I find that creepy?

"And when you were over eighteen, you figured me out."

"Did you always stand by the waterfall?"

"Every night you came to that waterfall, I was there." He leans towards the table with a sincere smile. "I was a bit surprised when you figured out that I was there but I was more surprised when you turned out to be my mate."

"What you are saying actually settles up some things but it still doesn't explain how yesterday was your fault."

"It's not just yesterday. I have been manipulation my feelings with my power. I wanted to see what you like in a guy but by doing this, I also affected your feelings too. That's why you've been having thoughts about...seducing me and other things." He turns away, hiding the faint red tint on his cheeks.

Wait, is he blushing? Yes, he is blushing!

"So the blame isn't on your wolf or on you. I made a decision to face the outcome and consequences alone, I didn't know that the bond was so strong that it copied my spell to your side. I deeply apologise for that. My goal was to know what you hate and love and to also break your walls and let you trust me and have faith in me but I made a huge fool of myself and ruined my chance with you. Your friend Andrew did everything I didn't."

My eyes widen when he says this but this doesn't stop him. He is not looking my way so it gives me enough time to mask my emotion.

"Andrew and his siblings managed to break the wall you built around yourself in just a week and I, who have been watching you from the sidelines for three years can't even know what you like."

"You should stop beating yourself up." I don't know when the words flow out of my lips. "I won't judge you for this and I assume that you did knew about 'Romeo' by watching me and not sorting through Summer's or my head."

"I would never sort through your head."

"Okay, watching me from the darkness for all these years sounds creepy and you need to make it up to me."

"How about telling you everything you want to know. I apologise for keeping it hidden, the characters that I was exhibiting clouded my mind and that's why I didn't tell you. I apologise for that-"

"Please stop apologizing." I hold my arms in front of me. "It's alright but you're not really off the hook. You will have to earn my trust and start being yourself, but first you'll answer my questions truthfully."

"I'll do as you ask." He nods. "But you have to apologise to your wolf, it was a mistake you made by putting the blame on her but that shouldn't stop you from trusting her too."

His eyes bore into mine as if he knows everything. Of course he does. He has been watching me for three years and it was from the age I got my wolf.

But looking at him now, his sincere eyes stares back at me and I begin to wonder if he is the person I have been living with for a while.

"Remind me to apologise to your friend and to also thank him. I always wanted to see this part of you and he made that possible. The person sitting in front of me is the real you, your walls are slowly cracking and breaking off and the sun is shining through those cracks."

It's is now that my eyes open. This man is a different person all together. He pulled my chair for me and said a bunch of sendimental things...

This makes me wonder and finally get a stronger conclusion.

He is a gentleman and he is my mate.