Fated to Her (Forbidden Love #2)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Adeline

I feel dazed waking up, my mother frantically fussing over me. I groan, sitting up off the floor and looking around. Maya is no longer in the living room, and the TV is now off.

“Mom, I’m fine. I just stood up too fast,” I tell her.

Taylor isn’t in the room but returns with a phone in her hand.

“Who are you ringing?”

She seems to jump, not realizing I am awake, before looking at my mother and the phone in her hand.

“I was about to ring an ambulance,” Taylor says, and I shake my head.

“I’m fine. I just stood up too fast. Really, I’m fine. I just need to have a shower and get some sleep,” I tell her as she looks at my mother, who is kneeling beside me.

“She said she is fine. We can just keep an eye on her,” my mother says, touching my face with the back of her hand before gripping my arm and helping me to stand. My mother helps me to the bathroom, and I strip off before starting the shower and stepping in.

“I will get you a towel,” my mother tells me, and I nod, stepping under the water.

Great, the last thing I need is my mother worrying about me; she has enough stress already.

I wash myself. The wave of heat has diminished slightly but is still present. My mother brings in a towel after a few minutes before walking out of the room, and I stand with my head under the water, letting it run down my back. Taylor walks in, sitting on the sink basin, staring at me.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You were burning up,” she says, chewing her thumbnail as she stares at me.

“I am fine, just working too much,” I tell her, and she seems to think.

“Maybe you should cut your hours back. You are always working. Maybe you need some time off,” she says, and I sigh.

“I am fine, Taylor, I promise. Just a bit of vertigo,” I tell her when I hear Maya sing out from her bedroom.

“You should go check on her. I hope I didn’t scare her.”

“No, she was actually asleep on the floor when it happened, and I was engrossed in the movie. I didn’t realize how late it was. It’s after midnight,” she says, walking out.

I finish my shower when I hear talking in the hallway. My mother’s voice reaches my ears, but I cannot hear what she is saying.

“Mom, who are you talking to? It’s late,” I call through the door. I get no answer, so I wrap the towel around myself before opening the door. My mother walks out of her bedroom.

“Just my doctor friend,” she says, placing her mobile in her pocket.

“Mom, I’m fine, really. See?” I tell her, walking to my room.

I grab my pajamas and chuck them on before taking some Panadeine Forte. I panic slightly when I realize I am taking the last one before climbing into bed. Now I will have to get more somehow. I climb into bed, turn off my lamp, and try to go to sleep.

#

The morning starts like any other as I force myself out of bed to get ready for work.

I can hear Maya and Taylor already up as they move about the house.

Grabbing my clothes, I throw them on before rushing into the bathroom to do my hair and make-up.

Taylor comes in a few seconds later and does a rush job of hers before racing back down to make Maya’s lunch.

When I am done, I straighten my hair before walking downstairs. My mother has already left for work, and I help Taylor by doing Maya’s hair, pulling it into two pigtails while she eats her Coco Pops.

“Have you seen my phone?” Taylor asks frantically, looking for it, lifting the cushions on the lounge.

I look around the room before spotting it on the TV unit. I pick it up and see her screen saver is a photo of her and Maya, and her battery is on 3%.

“Here it is, but you might want to take your charger,” I tell her, handing it to her.

She takes it before groaning when she sees it is almost flat.

“Grab your bag, Maya. We gotta go,” Taylor sings out to her while she unplugs the charger from the wall in the kitchen. Maya hops off her stool before grabbing her bag off the dining room table. We all hop in the car and leave, dropping Maya to school on the way before going to work.

“I have to grab Maya on my lunch break today. Make sure you eat,” my sister says, walking toward the foyer desk as we enter the building.

“Yep, will do,” I tell her as I walk to the elevator.

I notice Troy is leaning on the counter, and I see my sister’s face fall. I stop, but he just starts rambling about Bella being late. I shake my head and get in the elevator.

I spend most of the morning refiling, pulling the filing cabinet apart, sitting on the floor, placing everything in alphabetical order, and sorting everything by dates.

Paper piles are everywhere as I sort through the documents and contracts.

Hearing the elevator ding, I look at my watch; it is lunchtime.

“I thought you said you had to get Maya on your lunch break?” I tell her, turning slightly so I can see her. Only it isn’t her. My breath lodges in my throat, and my heart skips a beat when I see them step out of the elevator. Cyrus and Eli step out and stare at me on the floor surrounded by files.

Just the sight of them makes my heat flare to life along with fear. Are they here to force me back with them?

I drop my head and start frantically picking up the files and dropping them into their allocated areas. I see black shoes come into my line of vision before Cyrus crouches beside me, handing me a file. I snatch it off him, and he grabs my wrist before his hand moves, tilting my face to look at him.

“Hello, love,” he says, turning my face from side to side.

I fight the urge that suddenly floods me to touch them, balling my hands into fists. The burning sensation only gets worse while he is touching me.

“You’re in heat,” he says, and he almost seems angry about it.

“Why are you here?” I ask, ignoring his statement, and he lets my face go.

“You won’t answer our calls, and your mother rang us last night worried about you,” Eli says, stepping closer.

Of course, she did. That must have been whom she was talking to on the phone.

I grab the last file before standing just as Eli steps toward me. I step back, bumping into my desk.

“Please don’t touch me,” I tell him, the file crumpling in my grip.

“You’re in pain, Addie,” he says, his jaw clenching.

“I was fine before you showed up,” I tell them.

“Fine? You think you are fine?” he says, stepping toward me again, but I move away from him.

“Addie?” he says.

“No, Cyrus, I am going on my break,” I tell him, grabbing my handbag off my desk.

“Well, that would be a first. You haven’t left this office during work hours since you came back,” Cyrus says, reaching for me, but I pull my hand to my chest as he tries to grab it.

“Addie, you can’t avoid us forever. How long have you been in heat for?” Eli asks.

I sigh, looking at them. They look perfect as always in their black suits.

“I think three weeks,” I admit, and Cyrus looks at Eli.

“And you didn’t think to tell us? Instead, you’d rather suffer with it?” Eli asks angrily.

“It will go away. It has to eventually. I am fine. I need to go.”

“Addie, heat doesn’t go away until you do something about it. With you being in heat that long, even mating you might not work straight away,” Eli says, stepping toward me again, but I move, heading to the elevator and pressing the button.

The doors are almost shut when Eli steps in. I roll my eyes, moving to the back and away from him.

“Addie, please, just let us help you,” he says.

“I don’t need your help. I just need to be left alone.”

He reaches for me, but I slap his hand away.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” I snap on the verge of tears.

Why can’t they see I just want to be left alone?

I can deal with them being here, but I can’t deal with their hands on me.

Eli growls loudly, the noise vibrating off the walls before his fist hits the metal wall, making me jump, startled at his outburst. His fist dents the panel inwards, and his breathing hastens.

“You’re not the only one struggling with your heat, Addie,” he snaps at me before stepping closer, his arms caging me in.

The doors open suddenly, and he steps back when the elevator dings. I rush out and see Maya in one of the offices off to the side of the foyer. I walk over, sticking my head in and checking on her.

“Are you hungry, Maya?” I ask her, and she looks up and nods.

Hearing movement behind me, I turn, and Eli steps past me, having been to the vending machine. He has a can of lemonade in his hand and a bag of chips. He places them on the desk for her.

“Eli!” she squeals, getting up and running around the desk to him.

“Hey, princess,” he says, kissing her head as she wraps her little arms around him. She lets go before rushing back to her seat and twirling around on it.

I walk out, closing the door before heading toward the foyer, when I see Bella arguing with Troy. Taylor comes over, trying to settle them down, and I hear the door open and close behind me but pay Eli no mind as I walk closer.

“No, I am fucking sick of it, Troy. I hate coming to work because of you!” Bella yells at him.

Some people walk in before rushing back out the sliding doors when they hear them arguing. Troy laughs.

“I’m sorry, Bella, I didn’t mean to offend you. You both just have nice plump assess,” he says, pinching my sister’s butt.

I hear Eli growl, but I see red. Taylor shoves him away and calls him a dirty old man. But before I realize what I am doing, I pick up the round glass paperweight on the foyer desk and smash him in the head.

He collapses from the knock, and Bella and Taylor scream as I drop on top of him, smashing his face repeatedly, his face bleeding, covering my hands in his filthy blood before I feel arms wrap around my waist, yanking me off him.

Troy lies bleeding on the floor, and it angers me when I see Bella and Taylor trying to help him, grabbing tissues and trying to stop his face from bleeding.

“Ada, what have you done?” Taylor shrieks. Tears are running down her face.

“He was touching you,” I stammer out, looking at my shaking hands that are saturated with his blood, his nose flat against his face, and his eye sunken in. The glass paperweight slips from my fingers and shatters on the marble floor.

Taylor frantically helps Bella. Why are they trying to save him?

“I could have handled it. You didn’t need to do that. Why would you do such a thing?” she says, trying to stop his bleeding.

I hear the fire-escape door burst open, and Cyrus walks in before stopping. He looks at the scene before him and then at Eli.

“Get her out of here. I will deal with this,” he says, and I see Taylor and Bella get this dazed look on their faces before he bites his wrist, giving Troy his blood.

“No, leave him! Fucking let him die!” I scream, angered Cyrus is helping him.

Eli starts tugging me back and toward the parking lot doors when I see Maya come rushing out of the office. I completely forgot she witnessed that. She is crying uncontrollably when Cyrus grabs her. He whispers something to her, and she dazedly walks off into the office again and sits down.

“Get her out of here, Eli!” Cyrus snaps at him, and I feel myself being ripped away before being tossed over his shoulder.

I thrash, kicking and hitting him as he walks through the underground parking lot. I manage to hit him between the legs, and he drops me with a grunt before trying to reach for me again. My entire body trembles uncontrollably as I get to my feet.

“Addie, we need to leave,” he says, but I shake my head, tears running down my face.

“No, everything was fine until you two came into my life. You need to leave. Just leave me be!” I scream at him.

They did this. None of this would have happened if they hadn’t shown up here.