Chapter 25

Izabella’s POV

"What?" I asked Sean, a little confused. What did he mean he hadn't marked me? He had, that I knew for sure. I felt him bite me!

"If I wasn't just me, and there were two beings in my body at the time I marked you, could it be possible that we both marked you, and that's why it feels incomplete? Because the traveller marked you too." He clenched his jaw as he ran his finger along the mark on my neck.

I stared at him shocked.

"That's not possible," I said.

"Yeah? Well, I didn't think that someone putting their hand on my skin and ripping into my body was possible, but you saw that happen, didn't you?" He said before clenching his fist and muttering something about why everything was always so complicated.

"Dad!" I didn't bother trying to argue that it was impossible any further.

"What's going on?" My father looked highly alert as he slammed the door open.

"Nothing dangerous, Alpha. If the traveller marked Izabella while he was inside my body, wouldn't we both have marked her? The mark just doesn't look right." Sean said.

My dad walked over to us and looked at my neck before mumbling, “I don't know why I didn't notice this before,” as he poked at my skin. "That's not right." He muttered, "The mark should be symmetrical but they're two completely different halves." He said.

"So... It isn't just my mark? The traveller marked her too?" Sean said.

"It wouldn't be possible for travellers to mark, but given that he was in a werewolf’s body, it must be that it was. This isn't just your mark, so she doesn't belong to just you. Someone else has half claimed your mate, Sean." Dad said.

"I don't 'belong' to anyone." I frowned.

"Right, Sweetheart," Dad didn't even glance my way as he patted my head, I frowned as Sean smirked my way, "We have to fix this," Dad said to Sean.

"How? Do I mark her again?" I got up and turned to leave the room when Sean said that but he caught my hand to prevent me from walking away. "Oh. Come on, Izabella," he rolled his eyes.

"I doubt that would work. Besides, I would advise that you don't bite or fight anyone until you get used to the amount of power you have now. You could seriously hurt someone if you’re not careful," Dad said.

"The amount of power I have now?" Sean asked looking up at him confused.

"You bit her, so you drank a little of her blood," Dad said.

"You mean he's stronger?" I asked. Dad nodded.

"Whoa, cool." Sean clenched his fist smiling.

"Don't get used to it, Sean. You bite her again and I'll kill you." Dad frowned at him. I laughed as Sean gave a sheepish smile.

"You mean if I bite her against her will." He said.

"Boundaries, Sean. Remember who you're talking to." Dad frowned as I did too while my cheeks heated in embarrassment. Sean chuckled.

"Sorry, Alpha. Hey, my cold is gone." He said suddenly.

"So… what do we do now?" I asked.

"We find someone that knows about Travellers," Dad said.

"Where?" I asked.

"Asia," Dad answered casually. What?

-----

When my father said 'Asia' I didn't think he would hop on a plane and fly across the ocean to Thailand to look for a warlock-werewolf who he had not seen since him and my mother were teenagers and take Sean with him. The guy was my mother's friend, and apparently, he knew a lot about Travellers. He knew a lot about magic too. So now, while I was stuck in class 'listening' to Kevin - I mean Mr Taylor - talk about some noble historical figure, I was thinking about where they were because I was worried about my dad. Not that an Alpha as powerful and skilled as he was couldn't take care of himself, but he was alone... with Sean. What kind of backup is Sean? Okay, maybe Sean was very good backup since he was going to be Alpha and had trained incredibly hard all his life; but still, it's Sean. I couldn't stop thinking about Sean either because the pull was suddenly so strong due to the mark. I also noticed that there was another pull but I refused to even think about it because it scared me. Yes, I was scared of a stupid guy. A guy that could turn into fire and rip into people's bodies. I had reason to be afraid.

"Izabella, the bell rang." I looked up at Mr Taylor and frowned as my eyes searched the empty seats. I had been so caught up in my thoughts, I somehow had not even heard the commotion of everyone leaving.

"Oh," I said. Where were Corey and Hayley? They ditched me?!

"Sean marked you?" Mr Taylor's eyes widened. I lifted my hand to hide the mark.

"No, I got inked. For real, at a tattoo parlour." I said. He chuckled.

"Werewolves can't 'get inked'. Why does your mark look weird?" He asked.

"Where have you been?" I asked instead of answering his question because I was genuinely curious as to why I had not seen him around Joe’s house at all.

"I've been supervising the building. We're almost done." He said.

"Oh... Well, some Traveller took over Sean's body and did this so now it's incomplete..." I mumbled. I would have been happy about it not being complete if the mark didn't intensify my need to have Sean close. If the pull was this strong with only one half, I wasn't sure if I wanted Dad to find a way to fix it. It scared me how much I wanted to be with him now, how much I wanted to be close to him, when a few weeks ago, I couldn't stand the sight of him.

And now I felt myself liking someone that I didn't even know – not that I really knew Sean that deeply either, but this was someone that I had only ever seen once and his physical appearance scared me. I mean, had he no iron in his body? How was anyone that pale? He looked like he had been dead… for a while.

"Izabella, are you listening?" I looked up at Mr Taylor.

"Um…" I mumbled giving him an apologetic face as I lifted my shoulders. He sighed.

"I read something like this before."

"You have? Then why didn't you tell my dad before he went to Asia?" I asked.

"Because I didn't exactly know about any of this. Besides, I'm an expert in history, not marking mishaps." He said. I frowned at him.

"What did you read?" I asked.

"That the 'mate' closer to you will have a stronger pull, so you're more likely to end up with them." He said.

"But Sean's in Asia," I said.

"Exactly." He said. I opened my mouth but shut it again. Does that mean I'll be forced to like... or love the creepy guy?

"This is stupid," I said. Mating was stupid. This one was of those moments I wished I was a weak, vulnerable human. At least they got to choose their own life partners.

"I have to go." Mr Taylor said standing up suddenly.

"Why?" I asked.

"Pack... Stuff." He shrugged.

"What 'stuff'?" I asked.

"Stuff that doesn't concern you." He replied.

"Actually, since I'm mated to... Yeah, I'm going to be Luna, so Kevin, EVERYTHING about the pack concerns me." I said.

"Oh, now you want to play the 'I'm going to be Luna' card? Well, Izzy, since you're NOT Luna yet, and, besides being marked, you HAVEN'T officially accepted the young Alpha as your mate," he smirked seeing me glare at him, "I don't need to tell you anything. Lock up." He threw me his class keys and I caught them as he walked out. I narrowed my eyes at the door he just left through. Sometimes I hated him... Or strongly despised since I couldn't hate him.

I got up walking over to the door. What didn't he tell me? What was going on? I shook my head. It couldn't have been that important if the rest of the pack didn't know. I locked his classroom and left to the cafeteria.

-----

Sean’s POV

"Not trying to be rude or anything, Alpha, but do you even know where this man is?" I asked as we walked across the busy street. We were in Bangkok and had not even taken time to rest at the hotel before we began to look for his friend. I smirked slightly at a group of girls as we passed by them and heard them giggle and talk about how good looking I was once they passed by us.

"Yes, Sean. Now stop flirting with other females before I rip your heart from your chest." He said.

I smiled at him. "But Alpha, we aren't even together," I said. I respected him, but he was laid back around me when we were alone, save for when he was training me or something, and that made me feel like I could talk to him and joke around him.

"Well, you aren't ever going to be if you keep flirting with other girls while your mark is on my daughter." He said seriously before he smiled, "They are pretty though, maybe we should hook Eric up."

I laughed. Eric wasn't doing too well in the girl department, even Ian knew that. He was fine when talking to them, but if he liked someone or thought they liked him he became extremely shy and could not even get words out of his mouth.

"Here we are," my eyes followed his to a building. "Hello, Marcus." He said. I was confused for a few seconds because he had not even pulled his phone out to make a call and Marcus might not be paying enough attention to hear him. I was a little surprised when a man stepped out of the building and ran his eyes around until they landed on us.

He looked quite good, wore one of the most expensive-looking suits I had seen in my life, and on his left wrist he had a golden Rolex. This guy was obviously loaded.

"Ian," he smiled.

"Wow, you kept to your word and bought those hotels, I see?" Alpha smiled as he shook the man's hand and they hugged.

"Casinos too, Ian. I mean, what's the point of living for as long as we do if you're not going to do it in style?" He said.

Ian chuckled. "Well, you haven't changed at all."

"And I take it neither have you, Alpha. How's the family? Three sons, right? I heard you adopted a girl. Hillary still good?"

I saw Ian's mood drop at the mention of his mate and felt my own mood drop too. She was supposed to be with us. When I lost my mother, Hillary comforted me, and then I lost her too. It was incredibly hard for all of us losing both the Luna and Beta female in weeks…

"She... Uh... She… passed." Ian cleared his throat, "Not too long ago. Our pack was attacked, they… they killed her." He sounded like he was trying to control his voice, hide the pain and the anger that was clearly in his chest.

Marcus was visibly stunned. "Hillary? But... Why didn't you call me?" He looked a little angry.

"It was sudden, I couldn't call anyone, I barely spoke to anyone after it happened, and then fixing the pack and things just kept happening after that.” He paused to take in a breath, “That's not the reason I'm here though, Marc. This is Sean. He's going to be Alpha. He's my daughter's mate." Ian motioned to me.

Marcus looked at me and smiled. "Cole's son?" He said.

"Yes, Sir," I replied, I saw Ian roll his eyes.

"He's only like this for the first day; after that, don't expect him to be too respectful," Ian said. My head fell as Marcus chuckled. "Marc, the reason I'm here is because he marked my daughter –” Ian was saying.

"Oh, come on, Ian. Still not over all the protective madness? I'm telling you, kid, when we were in high school, he had a pet fish. If you so much looked at it, he would try to kill you. I'm not removing the mark, not even I'm strong enough to do that, Ian." Marcus said. I laughed as Ian frowned.

"You're exaggerating, Marcus. I just did not want you guys touching the glass... or getting anywhere close to him. Forget that.” I chuckled, “I'm not here to have you remove the mark either. The point of us being here is actually because when he marked my daughter, he was housing a traveller." Ian said.

Marcus's jaw dropped. "What? But that means... Her mark is incomplete?" He asked. Ian nodded. How did he even know that? "And you're here to find out how to fix it..." He mumbled, "The only way to fix that is –”

He was cut off by Ian's phone ringing. It must have been from back home, they would not be able to link to us from so far away.

"Excuse me, Marc, this is Cole," Ian answered the phone. "Cole, what is it?" Ian asked.

"We were attacked, Ian. You have to come home right now." I heard my father speak. He sounded beyond stressed and I bit my lip. We could not seem to catch a break, could we?

"Calm down, Cole. What happened?" Ian asked.

"I told you, we were attacked. Even with Inferno's help, they almost took us out." Dad said frantically.

"The pack's okay though? The pups?" Ian asked.

"The pups are fine," Dad answered.

"My kids?" Ian asked.

My father paused. "Just come back." He hung up.