Chapter 18

Killian:

I frowned as I walked out of the bathroom, my chest aching as I shook my head, feeling my mate.

I took a deep breath as I tried processing how the fuck that happened before my phone rang, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I opened the closet to pick out my suit and I couldn’t help but feel somewhat amazed that Eleanor managed to finish all of them yesterday. Usually the girls would take a while and I would find a few missing. Now, all of them were ready and done.

“Boss,”

“What’s going on, Vladimir?” I asked, knowing that he wouldn’t be calling me this early in the morning unless it was important. 

“I just finished the search that you asked me to do about the new girl, Eleanor.” He said, and I hummed in response as I waited for what he was going to tell me. 

I put him on speaker as I got ready for us to go to the office.

“There is no Eleanor De Luca, boss.” He said, and I frowned. The fact that a feeling told me that she was lying was something that I couldn’t ignore, but the fact that it was proven to be right, now that was something that I didn’t like.

“Meet me at the basement,” I said, my tone hardening as I got dressed, hearing her approaching the suite. This was the last thing that I needed to deal with right now.

I put on my shirt and walked out just as she entered the suite. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw me walking out, and I glared at her, watching as she looked down at her feet, avoiding my eyes. 

I walked toward her without saying a word and she flinched, making me let out a low growl. I grabbed her arm and pinned her against the wall, her heart racing against her ribcage as I did before I pinned her against it. “Who the fucking hell are you?” 

“What?” She asked, frowning in confusion before I growled in warning. Her eyes widened in surprise and a low whimper escaped her chest making my chest ache. I clenched my fist for a second, glaring daggers at the woman who dared to think of lying to me.

“I asked a fucking question and I will have you fucking know that I hate repeating myself twice.” I said, keeping my eyes on hers. She shook her head and I couldn’t help but notice that she flinched as I tightened my grip around her arm. However, she didn’t open her lips to respond.

I growled and threw my punch at the wall beside her head. A scream tore from her lips and tears fell from her eyes as she flinched before hiding her face with her left hand. I frowned in confusion and let her hand go, watching as she slid down the wall as tears fell from her eyes. 

I removed my hand from the wall and frowned when I saw her state before getting down on my knee in front of her. She cried out and curled up, fearing that I would hurt her, and I frowned and raised my hands in surrender. Her heart raced against her chest and her hands shook as she closed her eyes as tears fell from her eyes. 

My phone rang, and I knew that it was Vladimir, but judging by this state, I knew that I couldn’t take her to the basement. Investigating with her in this state was not going to get me anywhere, and judging by what I was seeing, regardless of what I could be thinking, I doubted that she would be here to harm anyone. If anything, the most that I could think of is her hiding, but what she was hiding from, that I did not know.

I hung up on Vladimir, not wanting her to panic as my own wolf grew cautious. 

I kept my eyes on hers, watching her reaction, studying her body language for a second too long before the door to the suite opened and I didn’t need to catch his scent to know that it was Vladimir. I looked at him and he frowned when he saw her in the state that she was in. 

“Cancel all our meetings for today. We’ll see about tending to them later tonight or tomorrow.” I said, looking at Vladimir over my shoulder. He shook his head in question and I nodded at him to leave. Whatever it was, the two of us were going to talk about this later, but the last thing that I expected was for her to have this reaction. If anything, the doubt that I had toward her was one that I wouldn’t deny, and seeing her expression and the way she looked at me, I couldn’t help but feel more confused than I ever have been.

I watched as he closed the door before extending my hand toward Eleanor who flinched and covered her head more than she already was. But I didn’t bother stopping as I slowly wrapped my arms around her and lifted her in my arms. 

Her wolf calmed down almost instantly and her body forced her to relax despite her fear and racing heartbeat. Her hand gripped on my shirt for a few seconds and looking down at her, my eyes softened as I saw her closing her eyes to lay her head on my chest, listening to my heartbeat. 

My body felt like fire as sparks coursed through it, and looking down at her, I couldn’t help but shake my head as I realized and understood the scent and its reason.

SHE was my fucking mate…

Great…

Just fucking GREAT!

************************************** 

“What happened back there?” Vladimir asked, frowning in confusion as he saw me walking out of the suite.

Eleanor was asleep in my bedroom after the encounter, and I couldn’t help but find myself thinking of what happened earlier. 

“I’m not sure,” I said, not wanting to get into details. “But we are going to need a different approach if we are going to find out who this woman is.” 

“What do you mean?” He asked, frowning in confusion.

“She is my mate,” I said, knowing that I didn’t need to hide anything from Vladimir. The man and I were brothers by choice. Having grown up together, we both knew that we didn’t have any secrets from one another. There were things that were private that we chose not to discuss, but none of them would include secrets when it came to our friendship.

“How the fuck is she your mate if you didn’t…?”

“That is what I intend to find out,” I said, stopping him. The fact that I couldn’t feel her wolf was something that I couldn’t understand, but judging by her reaction, I could tell that there was more to this than what I knew. Therefore, I knew to choose a different approach. Though what that approach would be, I don’t really know. I just know that we had to get to the bottom of what was going on. “I’ll need to earn her trust to understand what is going on. Something is scaring her, maybe she’s hiding from someone, or maybe she did something that she doesn’t want anyone to find out…”

“Won’t that be too dangerous if that was the case?” He asked, stopping me and I shook my head.

“I doubt it,” I said, taking in the situation that I saw. No matter how good an actor was, I knew that her racing heartbeat, her shaking hands, and her wide frightened eyes were not an act. Something was wrong, I just didn’t know what it was. “But regardless, we will be keeping a close eye on her. I don’t want us to end up with a mess that neither one of us wants to handle, nor do I want us dealing with an unnecessary mess. The two of us will be the only ones who know of this and we will be keeping close eye on her. And that means her phone, her card, and where she spends any of her money, who she sends them to, whether or not she has family. We will be knowing about all of this,”

“But what if she gives out any information to anyone? You and I both know that things can be dangerous and she’s in charge of cleaning your things.” Vladimir said and I nodded knowing that he was right. The woman spent most of her day here in the room and away from anyone’s eyes. Therefore, it could be risky to actually take the chance of blindly trusting her.

“We’ll assign Natasha to help her.” I said, and he raised an amused eyebrow, knowing why I chose Natasha in specific. “If anyone knows how to get all the secrets of this house, it is her…”