Chapter 67

“Is she breathing?” Eric asked as he saw his sleeping mate. It all made sense now, why she would sleep for long hours, why she always passed out.

She was not of his world. She was an outsider, or to the others, she was human. Utterly and purely human.

But how?

She definitely could not be human if she was a seer or if she had just now changed to a shifter. Something wasn’t adding up..

“Done worry about it, everything would go back to the way it was.

“I hope so” I looked at her, ignoring the mind link of Ian and my third in command that the witches at the left borders had attacked again, k couldn’t move. All I could do was watch my hopeless mate…

Eloise’s vision

“Oh..”

I got up from where I had sat for the past three hours and went to go and see for myself who it was. “I thought you closed by six?” the weird guy from earlier said smiling at me.

“I thought you got the hint that I did not want to go out with you?” I said turning away from him and going back into the office.

“I figured you might not have eaten dinner, so I brought you a little something” he said stretching the little brown bag towards me.

“I don’t do late dinners” I said not collecting the bag from him at all.

“Fine by me, then don’t think of this as a late dinner. Think of it as an early breakfast” he was still smiling and the smile was yet to shift from his face.

“What’s your deal with me” I crossed my hands over my chest. “Are you stalking me?” I looked around the office, kind of satisfied that there were more people who decided to work late today.

“What? No!” a look of panic crossed his face. “I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable. I know how shitty work could be”

“Then why did you bother to get me dinner? Why do you even bother to talk to me.” I needed answers and I did not care if I was being mean about it.

“Look, I saw you one day and I thought I would like to get to know you. So if you don’t mind, I am trying to get to know you” he took a step forward making me look down, to the direction of his feet.

“Look, it’s just a harmless treat. Please? I waited since five thirty to pick you up on time” my eyes widened at that information.

“Its nine o’clock!” I said, still with wide eyes.

“I noticed” he chuckled

“And FREEZING out side” winter was yet to be over and he most definitely was not dressed for the cold in his suit pants and packet long sleeve shirt.

“I could handle it” he shrugged mindlessly. “I mean I am standing here aren’t I?” the guilt made me to finally take the brown bag from his hands.

“I am just doing it to feel polite, nothing more.’ I tried to convince myself that, that was the only reason I was taking the food and not because I was dead hungry and could not afford the money on food today. If I did spend today, I would not have money for the bus. Besides, I needed to get money to pay the light bills before it was cut for untimely payment.

“Thank you” he said with a wide smile

“I’m Declan” he said out of the blue while we were seated.

“Okay” I said as I consciously opened the brown bag. I was fighting the urge to release a moan from how good the smell of the food was. I was basically in another heaven.

“You know, this is where you tell the other person your name” he said sarcastically although you could tell that he wanted to know my name

“I thought you would have stalked the name out of me already” I said rolling my eyes as I brought a burger out of the bag.

He laughed. “I swear, I am not a stalker. You just happened to have caught my attention and now I want to hang out.

“Marie, spellmen” he nodded his head in approval

“It fits you, I like it” he said giving me that smile. He seemed like the type to smile a lot. I was starting to get worried. 'All serial killers start this way. They first come off as friendly.

“Did you poison this?” the words came flying out of my mouth before u could even stop them. “WHAT!! NO! It’s just food i swear” the look that passed his face as he said those words made me feel safe.

'he did not poison the food' I thought to myself

Maybe Lana was really rubbing off of me with her crime and mystery movies because why would I think that?!

I decided not to think much about it, and dug in. “You care for?” I said after a while when I realized that I was the only one that was eating.

“No thank you, I had mine two hours ago” he said shaking his head.

“That was a long time ago” I said and pushed the burger in my hands forward as if forcing him to take a bite.

“no, Its fine, I promise” he pushed my hands back slightly as he rejected it.

“So, what do you like to do in your free time?” the look of interest on his face made me feel like he was genuinely interested in me.

Snorts “its not like you care about that” I said as I continued to bite my burger. It’s not like he cares anyways

I tried to remove the negative memories that had started to flood my mind but it was futile.

“Well I do, you believe I would not have bothered to ask” he said in a playful tone.

I nodded my head, not even bothering to answer. ‘Gerald was exactly the same. Acting like he gave a shit about me or what I cared about.’

“I am still waiting” he said waving his hands in front of me, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Look” I dropped the chips I had picked after I was done with the burger. “I am really grateful for this meal and if you don’t mind, I would pay you back. But as far as I am concerned, you are a stranger and I don’t want have anything to do with you.” I saw his face fall So I quickly added. “I am sure you are a great guy, but I don’t want anything” I said and stood up, trying to get away.

“But I just want to be your friend, nothing more” he looked at me hurt.

“Look, I know how it starts. Soo , you would not want to be friends anymore and that is something I cannot afford to give.” This was exactly the line that Gerald had used. He first wanted to be “friends” and then he betrayed me.

The memories found their way into my head again and this time, I was barely holding in the tears. “excuse me please” I said and rushed out of the office..