Chapter 93
Clementine:
As we kept looking into each other’s eyes, I shook my head and broke the stare. He looked more shocked than upset.
“How is that possible?” I stuttered, pulling my arms free from his hands and putting as much distance between us as I could while walking backward.
Yorick scratched the back of his neck.
“Yorick, you didn’t hear it, right?” I tried to convince him it might have been a mistake on my part. Maybe I was the only one who heard it, but his expression told me otherwise.
“I heard it,” he said calmly. “I don’t know how it’s possible.” He shrugged, a smile forming on his lips.
He looked happy, but I wasn’t. How is it possible? I’d heard of alphas having many mates, but a she-wolf? That couldn’t happen.
“Yorick, you don’t understand. It’s not possible. Only men can have different mates. Alphas, betas, gammas, omegas— all men — and they have five or six mates. I’m just a she-wolf. I’m not supposed to have more than one mate,” I almost yelled, then covered my mouth so the fleshmingo wouldn’t hear us.
“Why do you look so sad?” Yorick asked, suddenly upset that my reaction was so different from his.
“Because it’s not possible, don’t you see? This has to be some mistake.” I was shaking as I spoke.
I didn’t want one mate, let alone two. And why would I have two? I wasn’t special. What was happening? I felt like I was losing my mind, but he looked so at ease.
“Do you want me to confirm if we felt it right?” he asked. I nodded quickly, stepping toward him with my hands clasped in front of my chest like I was pleading.
“Well, then we’ll have to kiss to see if we did feel it,” he said. I frowned, stepping back and letting my hands fall.
“You think this is a joke?” I asked.
He stretched his neck and grunted. “No, I’m just not as unhappy as you. My reaction is different. If you want to be stressed and upset, fine, but you can’t ruin my happiness p>
He pointed at me as he hissed the words, clearly offended by my reaction.
“It’s not just you. I reacted the same with Haiden.” I realized my reaction hadn’t been kind. I didn’t have to be kind, but it was still a mate bond, something very sacred.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to explain. I guess you already ruined the moment. You know what, Clementine? Finding a mate is special, and thank you for ruining it, for showing me my mate is disgusted by the idea of a bond with me.” He began to complain instantly.
I was calming down, but the shock wasn’t gone. I was still confused, with too many questions in my head. And instead of finding out why, he seemed focused on looking happy, which confused me more.
First, he confessed he was genuinely in love with me, which didn’t change much. When we were dating, I didn’t know about the bet thing, so I thought he truly liked me. The bet thing I only found out recently.
But now, the bigger issue was that I had two mates. Our attention snapped away when something slammed hard against the window. We both jolted, and Yorick threw his arm across my waist, pulling me away. The glass didn’t break, but blood smeared across it. Then, whoever it was ran to the door and began pounding.
“Please let us in! We have babies! Please, please!” It was one of the squad mates, screaming for help.
“There is someone outside,” I said to Yorick, rushing toward the door. He grabbed me by the back and pulled me away.
“What are you doing?” I complained.
“Look outside,” he said, dragging me toward the window and pointing.
The squadmates asking for help were two from Blue Squad and one from Green Squad. Two of them had babies — one blue, one green. But they were already being dragged back onto the road by the fleshmingos.
“No, no, no, no, no! The babies!” I screamed as both babies fell.
“Clementine, we can’t do anything! They’re everywhere!” Yorick tried to hold me back, but I began pulling out of his arms.
“Yorick, we won’t know until we fight!” I shot back, rushing toward the door. I paused only long enough to glance over my shoulder at him.
“Fine, I’m coming,” he grunted, grabbing a chair to use as a weapon.
The minute we opened the door, it was chaos. Fleshmingos were attacking and toying with our squadmates, tossing them around. It was a heartbreaking sight.
We charged in — me with a butcher knife, Yorick with the wooden chair. He swung it hard, knocking two fleshmingos off the Blue Squad mate. Then he grabbed the boy’s arm and pushed him toward the shop entrance.
“What is it?” I asked Yorick in panic while fighting off the fleshmingos coming toward us. He had knelt down to check on one of the babies.
“Yorick, what is it?” I turned to look at him this time, still swinging the knife around.
“This baby is barely breathing,” Yorick said. My heart crumbled in my chest. He quickly picked up the baby and patted its back.
“I need to find a hospital,” he said and I began to nod with him.
The three squadmates were badly wounded, but the fleshmingos seemed either full or distracted. They weren’t killing them, and I knew they only ate the head. Instead, they had bitten into their flesh, almost as if they were playing with them, and it made me sick to my stomach. These things understood what pain was and exactly how much they could cause without killing, just to make their victims suffer.
While I sliced through one fleshmingo’s neck, I heard a baby crying on the road. I rushed over and scooped him up. He was still alive, just hurt from the fall. I hugged him instantly, then saw more fleshmingos coming for me.
I ran toward the road, away from the shop. I could hear Yorick shouting for me.
“Save yourself, Yorick! Find a safe place, we’ll meet again!” I yelled back. The farther I ran, the fainter his voice became.
Now I was alone, headed for the big city.