The Heir

twenty two

JACE 

Isabella was speaking to me but I couldn't hear her. My mind felt fuzzy and I felt like I couldn't breathe. Everything around me was happening in slow motion. Was I dreaming? Am I going to wake up soon? No, I'm so sure that my sister was just standing in front of me, my sister who should be taking her rightful place as Alpha of our pack.

"Jace, who was that?"

I snapped out of whatever trance I was in and looked over at Isabella, my mate. "It's no one important."

I began to walk forward but Iz let go of my hand and stayed where she was. "It had to of been someone important. You look like you've seen a ghost. Who was she?"

I turned around and sighed. "She was no one. We're going to miss the movie if we don't go inside."

Iz wasn't believing what I was saying. "Do you not trust me?"

I stopped walking and turned around to see that she still hasn't moved. "Do you trust me?"

Iz couldn't answer my question, just like I couldn't answer hers. Did she truly believe that there was trust between us? She's the daughter of a werewolf hunter, who is after my pack and my family. I'm the son of an Alpha. There is no trust between us, which is why we were going to try and pretend to be two different people today, like our backgrounds never existed.

"No, but I'm trying."

I nodded, expecting that answer from her. "I don't trust you either. Our backgrounds aren't the best. You're the daughter of a werewolf hunter and I'm the son of an Alpha. Our families hate each other. The Moon Goddess picked the worst pair."

Iz was silent. Maybe I went too far but every word I said was the truth. "I thought we were going to put that behind us, just for today."

"I want to do that, Iz, believe me. There are some things that I still cannot tell you, not yet. I'm hoping one day that I will be able to."

I extended my hand out to her, praying that she'd take it and walk beside me into the mall to catch the movie we were planning to see.

When she took my hand, everything bad around us disappeared.

***

"I told you that movie was going to be good."

Iz and I were walking out of the mall. The sun was beginning to set. From a distance, I could hear the birds chirping and cars passing on the highway, something Iz most likely couldn't hear.

"Did you want to grab some dinner? I'm starving."

"I would love that," She said, leading us to her car, "I must confess, I don't really want this night to end. I don't want the night to end and then tomorrow we wake up and we're back to being the hunter and wolf. We're mates, I want to get to know you better and know that you're more than just a wolf. I want you to know that I'm not like my father and I can't actually kill."

When we got to her car, we sat in the parking lot for a few minutes. "We can do that, Iz. We can sneak around for a bit and then once things settle down, you can meet my family."

"That's the thing, Jace, I don't want to sneak around. Maybe it's the bond pulling me closer to you but I know there's something there, more than the bond. It's why I can't tell my family about you because if I did, they would kill you and everyone you love. That girl from earlier, she's someone important to you, right? I'm going to take your silence as yes and know that I couldn't hurt her, not when she means so much to you."

"What if we start small?" I asked her, wanting this to work, wanting what my mom and dad have with each other. "What if we start with the small things, like getting to know each other. We don't have to mate, my wolf can hold off you know, but we ask questions and tell each other about our families. We keep our backgrounds in the back and just be us. I know there's more to us than this or else the Moon Goddess wouldn't have paired us together."