“I am cursed,” Theo says once we are seated in our bedroom.
“You are cursed, with what?”
“My mate will die once I mark her.”
“What!” I say, shocked.
“A witched cursed whoever my mate is to die once I mark her”
“Why”
“Because my mother killed her mate.”
He must be talking about the witch that was mated to the vampire that killed his dad.
“How did you find out you were cursed.”
“You are not my first mate.”
“Oh, I am not,” I say, surprised, but I shouldn’t be because if I remember correctly, those women spoke about me being his second mate.
“Yes, you are not. My first mate died once I marked her”
“How did you know it was because you were cursed?”
“Before she died, the witch used her body to tell me. She caved the message on her belly.”
“Oh my, that must have been horrific. How old were you?” I am guessing he was very young since it’s not a lot of people that know he had a mate before.
“18, I had recently ascended the throne.”
“Oh, my, you were so young. I can’t imagine what you went through,” I say, imagining the horrors young Theo must have faced after seeing his mate die immediately after his teeth sank into her neck. The caving on her stomach must have scared him too.
“You can’t imagine.”
“Did you try finding the witch to break the curse?”
“She is dead.”
“Can another witch break the curse?”
“No, only her or anyone from her bloodline.”
“Oh”
“Yes, I will understand if you don’t want to be with me because of it.”
“Why would you think I won’t want to be with you because you are cursed.”
“Because I can never give you pups, and you can never bear my mark.”
“Even without those things, I still want to be with you.”
“Why,” He asks, surprised.
“Because the reason I won’t have those things is not because you don’t want me. It’s because we haven’t found a way to break the curse.”
“What if I am not able to break the curse?”
“I won’t leave you regardless.”
“Really, you will stay with me.”
“Yes, I will.”
“Do I really mean that much to you?” He asks surprised
“Yes, you do,” I say, smiling as I realize I am starting to have stronger feelings for Theo.
“Thank you,” Theo says, pulling me in for a hug.
“You don’t have to thank me,” I say into his chest
“I do because a lot of she-wolves won’t stay with a mate that can’t provide them with a pup or mark them.”
“I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
“Me neither,” Theo says and kisses me.
As we release from our kiss, I think about telling Theo that I am a hybrid but decide not to. He is cursed because a vampire killed his father and his mother took revenge for her mate. Theo must hate vampires a lot but not witches since he is friends with Ekaterina. I don’t even think I ever have to tell Theo. My werewolf side is stronger than my vampire side. I can pretend I am not part vampire and be happy with Theo.
A few weeks later, things are still good between Theo and me. Now I don’t worry about Theo and I not mating because I know why. I am in his office waiting for him to finish working so we can go out for dinner. I didn’t feel like cooking today.
“Theo, how much longer?” I whine from my seat on his office couch.
“Just a few more minutes,” He says, typing on his laptop keyboard
“You said that a minute ago,” I say, walking over to him by his desk
“I know. I will be done soon.”
“Alright,” I say, taking my seat on one of the chairs in front of his desk.
I pick up my phone and try to find a book to read. The stories humans write about my kind make me laugh. Sometimes they get it right, and sometimes they get it wrong. They are really lovely to read.
After a few minutes, I start to get tired of using my phone and decide to find out why Theo is still not done.
“Theo,” I say, trying to get his attention, but all he gives me is a hum in response. I still ask him the question in my head. “Theo, do you ever wish you were human,” I ask, and immediately, his attention is on me.
“Why would you ask me such a question?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I love been a werewolf but have you ever wondered how it would be if we chose each other and were not paired together.”
“I am sure even if I was not a werewolf, I would still choose to be with you,” Theo says, and I feel my cheeks start to heat up because of his words.
“I am sure I would have done the same, and I was thinking, what if we pretended not to be werewolves for a day.”
“Why would we do that?”
“So we can experience how it feels to fall in love.”
“I don’t think we need to pretend to be humans for a day to experience love.”
“I know that, but I thought it would be nice if we tried dating as humans do.”
“Why does it sound like you are bored and want to spend more time with me?”
“No, that’s not why. I felt it would be nice to spice things up in our relationship.”
“Come here”
“Why”
“Just come here.”
“Alright,” I say, and stand up from the chair and walk over to him. Once I am in front of him, he pulls me down and places me on his thigh.
“You know you can just tell me you miss me instead of saying all these things,” Theo says as he wraps his hand around my waist. He is not lying; I miss him terribly these days. He has been working a lot these days. It’s very dull during the day when I am alone. I visit Charlotte and Chloe, but I can’t be disturbing them all the time.
“Is it that obvious?” I ask, looking away from his face. I feel a little shy that he caught on to why I wanted us to date like humans.
“Yes”
“You can’t blame me. I miss you,” I say, resting my head against his. “You always come home late,” I whine.
“I am sorry. I promise to make it up to you.”
“You don’t have to apologize. I understand”
“Thank you. come, let’s go and eat.”
“Finally,” I say, standing up from his lap.
The following morning while scrolling through snapchat, I get a new follower’s request on Instagram. I always get new follower’s requests. What makes this one special is the name of the person. King Theodore is the person’s username. I click on the person’s page, but there are no pictures yet. I thought it was Theo, but I guess I was wrong. I close Instagram and go back to using snapchat. I am about to click on someone’s video when Theo starts calling me.
“Why didn’t you follow me back,” He says, as soon as I answer
“It’s really you. Why did you create an Instagram account.” I guessed it was him, but I was not sure because he hates social media.
“You will know once you follow me back.”
“Alright, I will follow you back,” I say and hang up the call.
I do what he wants, and as soon as I follow him back, he sends me a message.
“Hello beautiful,” it reads
“Hi handsome,” I reply
“Wrong reply. You don’t know how I look, so how will you know I am handsome.”
“What are you saying? Of course, I know how you look.”
He sends the facepalming emoji, which makes me more confused.
“Are you alright, Theo?”
“Why won’t I be alright?” He says, from behind me this time.
“Theo, what are you doing at home by this time?”
“I came to explain things to you so you will understand what I am doing because it seems you can’t figure it out yourself.”
“Explain what to me.”
“On Instagram, I am not Theo, your mate. I am Theodore trying to become friends with the beautiful girl he met on Instagram.”
“You are doing what I asked,” I say, smiling
“Yes, I am.”
“What made you want to do it?”
“I am hardly here, so I want to try and do things to make you happy as possible.”
“Thank you,” I say, smiling
“Anything for my queen.”