Chapter 3

I raised my hand up and knocked on the white painted wooden door.

I ran out of anxiety medication, and I needed to just do something to try and calm down after another night with a nightmare.

The light turned on from inside and I anxiously checked my watch.

1:38am.

The door opens and I see a sleepy Jaden.  He's in black sweatpants and a white tank top that show off his tattoos clearly. "Kyle?" He rubs his eyes together.

"I'm sorry it's so late I just...a nightmare and...I can't calm down. Fuck I'm sorry I should just go." I try to explain.

"Woah woah, no, come inside. Right now." He grabs my wrist and pulls me into his house. He shuts the door behind us and he leads the way into his tv room.

"Do you need to talk about it?" He asks me, as he points to the couch, pretty much demanding that I sit down with the stare he gave me.

"I just need to not think about it." Was all I say as I sat down on his couch, pulling my knees up to my chest. My hand subconsciously pulls out my chain from under my shirt and toys around with his ring. It brought me comfort in some sort of odd way.

I hear some things being moved around in his kitchen, because it was an open space between the room I was in and where he was.

He comes into the tv room and takes a seat next to me on his brown leather couch, handing me a cup of iced coffee.

Bless Jadens pure soul.

I immediately start to practically inhale the drink, until I feel his hand slowing me down.

"Woah, don't drink to fast. You'll choke dude." I furrows his eyebrows in concern, and his eyes flick down to the ring around my neck

No ones ever seen it before, well, not until now at least.

"May I ask who's that is?" He nods down to my chain, and I look down on it. The gold band imbedded with small tiny diamonds flashed back brightly at me.

I sigh. I may as well tell Jaden about him.

"Uh, it was my mates." I whisper, and set the half full cup of coffee down on the table across the couch.

His eyes practically bulge out of his head in shock.

"You have a mate? And you never told me?" He practically yells.

I wince at the sudden increase in volume. My head already hurt enough.

"I had a mate." I make sure to put emphases on the word 'had'.

He seemed to catch onto the point quickly. "Oh, I'm sorry."

That has me rolling my eyes. This is exactly why I never told anyone about him. They would just get all sympathetic, and I was already so over that bullshit.

"Is that what your nightmares are about?" He asks, almost afraid that he's pressing to far.

I hesitate, then nod. "It's the same thing every time." My eyes roam around the room, just to see anything else besides Jadens facial expressions.

He was about to speak again before his phone buzzing cut him off. He reached into his sweatpants pocket and pulled it out.

"Hold on, its Berkeley. Shes working a night shift with her brother." He tells me, and I nod, reaching for the coffee again as he answers the call.

I hear a bunch of quick mumbled words through the phone, and Jaden trying to keep up.

"Wait wait, you forgot something?"

Silence.

"Yeah I know where that is, I'm not dumb." I look at him as I sip my drink, and he makes eye contact with me before shrugging.

He has no idea where the object is.

"I'll be over with it in a few."

Silence again, before he says a quick goodbye and hangs up the phone.

"Berkeley forgot her first aid kit, out of all things. And I don't know where the fuck it is." He gets up off the couch, and I do the same.

"Go check the bathroom, I'll check in her closet where she keeps most things." He explains.

I nod, and go into the room he pointed at. Turning on the lights, I begin to look around in drawers and cupboards for a first aid kit.

My eyes find a black case, and I grab it. Zipping it open, I see a bunch of first aid stuff.

"Found it!" I call over to Jaden in the other room.

"Awesome! Just let me put on a decent pair of clothes." He tells back.

I look down at what I'm wearing. Thank god I actually threw on some jeans with a plain white shirt before coming here. I look at myself in the mirror.

Eh, my hair could be a lot better though.

I hear him come out of his room and I follow him outside to his car, first aid kit in hand and zipped up.

"Be ready, because this guy is a lot to handle."

———

The car came to a stop at an apartment complex, and Jaden checked his phone for the address again.

"Upstairs. Follow me." He nods in the direction of the building, and we finally reach the stairs, going up two flights before knocking on a door.

I hear a shout, and followed by a few footsteps, and then finally the door opening.

Berkeley, who is barely five feet tall, had her long curly brown hair up into a messy bun at the top of her head.

She narrowed her eyes at me in confusion. "What's he doing here? No offense, love you Kyle."

I just breath out a laugh.

"He was already with me at the house. He has the first aid kit." He pointed time the black box in my hand.

She looks down on it and smiles.

"Thank the goddess." She mutters to herself, and takes it from my hands.

"Come on in. Ransom can't hurt you. He stepped on a shit ton of glass by trying to get a drink in the dark." She rolls her eyes, but let's us in nonetheless.

Ransom?

When I stepped inside, for some reason I started to feel uneasy. Nervous.

Not another panic attack tonight. I can't do that shit again.

We follow her down a short hall before she turns a corner, and immediately I see a guy sitting on the kitchen counter, still a ton of glass on the floor.

My eyes travel up to the guy, and I pause.

It was the man I saw from the cafe last week.

He had a very broad build. Like, very broad. He was definitely in the army for a while, and that's for certain.

But it's clear he's been back for a while, as his black hair wasn't the normal short and buzz cut army style. It was long, but it doesn't reach his shoulders. It rested more at a good medium in between.

His eyes were a dark hazel brown color, and his skin was a light tan shade.

He looked over to me and Jaden, catching eye contact with me. And he doesn't look away.

The feeling of nervousness and anxiety in me grows immensely. There was something about him that was magnetic to me.

"Who are you?" His deep voice sends shivers down my spine, but I try not to make it visible.

"It doesn't matter Ransom. They're just here to bring me a first aid kit to help your stupid ass." Berkeley rummages through the black case.

Ransom doesn't break eye contact with me though. Maybe he feels it too? The pull?

"Hey, can one of you sweep up the glass please? I still need to find some things in here, and I can't work properly with glass on the floor." Berkeley looks back at Jaden and I.

Finally breaking eye contact with Ransom, I go to the closet Berkeley pointed at, and grab a broom.

I begin to sweep up the tiny shards of what looked like to be a glass made from crystal. I clear the area by Ransom first so Berkeley can start whatever she needed to do right away.

As I'm almost done finishing up, I hear his deep voice again.

"I like the ring around your neck. Who's the lucky girl?"

I pause everything I'm doing and look down at the chain. I quickly take it and tuck it under my shirt so no one can see it.

I feel an anxiety attack set in. I need to get out of here.

I stand up and quickly pass over the broom to Jaden, who is about to protest, but I'm already halfway outside this guys apartment.

As I exit, I unknowingly slam the door shut behind me, and run my hands through my hair, trying to stay calm.

Then it dawned on me.

The pull. The feeling of nervousness, the unbreakable eye contact.

The moon goddess had given me a second chance mate.

A human.