Josephine's Secret

10. Just Tired

10. Just Tired: Archer's Pov

Chapter Goal: 400 votes

QOTC- any requests? *end of story short at the end

Watching as she slowly gets onto her crutches, I patiently wait for her to write the name of her attacker on the evidence board. But just as she presses the tip of the marker to the board, her face pales and she drops it on the floor.

"What's wrong?" I ask, looking at her trembling hands. She stays frozen in place, not moving to pick up the marker nor seeming to acknowledge that I'm sitting right beside her. "What's wrong?" I repeat, starting to worry. "Josephine?" She jumps at the sound of my voice and looks at me with wide eyes.

"Y-Yeah?" she replies, her voice shaky.

"What's wrong?" I stand up this time and move closer to her. She doesn't look at me, in fact, she just stares at the marker on the floor. "Josephine, what happened?"

'Someone mind-linked mate.' my wolf states, knowing that everything was perfectly fine until now. 'No one could've physically hurt her, we were sitting right next to her the whole time.'

"Josephine." Once again, she jumps when she hears my voice. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"I... I don't want to do this anymore." she rushes out, backing away from me. She tries to leave the room, but I swiftly grab her waist and pull her into my arms before she can do so. "Let go." she whispers, her hands moving to push me away from her. "I don't like this, let go."

"What's wrong, Josephine?" I ask again, needing to know what caused my mate to be so frightened. "Let me go!" she resists my hold even more now, her hands trying to desperately get mine off of her. "I'm serious! Please!"

"I'll carry you to your room-"

"No, I-I'm fine." she manages to wriggle out of my arms, causing her to fall onto the floor before I can catch her. "Josephine-"

"Get away." She scoots herself farther away from me and holds up her crutches like a shield. Protecting herself from me. "Don't come closer." Even though she's looking at and speaking directly to me, it's like she's seeing me as a completely different person. I can even tell from her wide, fear-filled eyes that the mate bond isn't clicking in her head.

I watch as my mate straggles out of the room, looking as if she's trying to get as far away from me as possible. 'What did we do wrong?' I ask my wolf, only to receive a whine from him. Every time I think that my relationship with my mate is going well, something always happens. This time, though, I felt like she was trying to get away from me. Technically she was, but her actions are making my wolf and I feel like we're really the ones at fault.

I wait a couple minutes in the office before following Josephine's scent to her room. I don't knock on the door or try to open it, but I know that it's locked. 'Mate's scared.' my wolf whimpers when we hear Josephine's muffled sobs. 'She won't let us comfort her.'

Dragging myself back into the office room, I frown when I see Josephine's phone on the couch. I notice it ringing and immediately pick it up when I recognize the number from earlier. "Who the hell is this?" I growl into the phone.

Once the caller realizes that I'm not Josephine, the call ends. The person stops sending messages and doesn't pick up when I try calling back. I swipe on one of the text notifications to get back , but I'm asked for a password to get in. Deciding to just track the phone number instead, I write it down and get to work.

*** (tomorrow)

"Goodmorning." I greet as I walk into the kitchen, hoping that I'll get a reply from my mate.