CALLINGS

Noah p.o.v

I walked out of the pub in a not-so-great mood. I swore if I saw Ethan on my way out of the pub, I would not hesitate to punch him for the old behavior he promised to change. He had stopped for a good year, now he did it again.

While I was walking down the sidewalk in fury, a pang of sadness and anxiousness suddenly stirred in my chest. I was sure it was not my feelings that surfaced. It's Diana.

I quickly went for my phone and dialed her number. It took a few rings before she answered.

"Diana ! Is everything alright ?" I had to ask as soon as she answered as it began to stab in my heart. Usually, we would not feel our mate's feelings if they were unwilling to share, but it seemed that Diana was going through too much pain that I could feel it as well.

"Noah... I'm not." Hearing that, my heart immediately thumped harshly as I began to worry. The deep and hoarse voice told me she had been crying. What could possibly happen now ?

"I'm at the hospital right now. S-Someone is dying. I need to ask you something. Can you come ?"

"I'm on my way." I'm not wasting a single second standing there while Diana was going through extreme pressure right now. I immediately stopped a cab and told them to go straight to the hospital.

My feet won't stop fidgeting and my body was tense while eagerly watching outside if I could see the hospital in sight. I could feel the feelings were not as outrageous anymore, but the lingering pain was still there.

"Thank you !" I gave a huge bill to the driver and rushed out of the cab immediately. I could sense her nearby, and I heard another footstep coming to an abrupt stop. I looked over and saw Ian with his chest going up and down from the run. An unknown feeling suddenly surfaced in my heart, but I put it aside and nodded toward him before the both of us ran inside.

When we ran, a nurse nearby quickly warned us to be quieter, so we made a fast walk through the hallway, and soon enough, I saw Diana with her body bent forward, her face low and hands clenched onto the phone in hand. Once she heard our footsteps, she looked up and revealed her tears-stricken face.

"Ian.." She called Ian's name, and I bit my tongue from that particular action. I tried not to show that it affected me when Diana stood up and hugged Ian instead of me.

"Hey, it's alright. It's okay." He comforted her with a gentle voice, wiping the tears, and fixed her messy hair so attentively. He knew exactly what to do and I felt quite envious.

Then, a doctor walked out of the room, catching both my and Ian's attention.

"I'll talk to the doctor." He said before releasing Diana, gingerly pushing her towards me. She finally looked in my way and I cast all that childish feelings aside and pulled her into a hug. Her skin was as cold as ice. She was all alone while everything happened, and to greet with the news that someone might die, must have been so stressful for her. I could feel my own chest go warm when we hugged each other, and I was glad she felt that way with me.

"She's out of danger now, but her body is still tremendously weak. She needs to be in the ward for at least two weeks for recovery. We need to find the source of her illness, but it could only be done when she wakes up."

Diana walked away from my arms as we both listened to Ian.

"Can we see her ?" Her voice cracked and sounded hopeful, and Ian nodded. Diana walked past Ian to the room, and I followed both of them inside.

As we reached the bed, my eyes widened seeing the familiar lady. It was Amelia Foresky, the goody-two-shoes of the school. She looked horrible on the bed and I sort of understood why Diana did not make a call to me for help in the first place. The bruises on her body, I had seen on a slideshow in middle school when we were taught the topic of 'mates'.

When a mate cheats, it would inflict pain on the other, and from what I'm seeing, Amelia's condition was critical. I could not look at her for so long, and I squeezed Diana's shoulder who was holding onto Amelia's hand.

"The nurse said that... what drove Amelia to this condition is that her mate had been cheating on her with multiple women." I heard Diana say. I could hear the anger in her voice, and Ian nodded at her words, agreeing with her. A name unknowingly came into my mind, but I immediately cast it away. I was beginning to feel both disgusted and afraid to speak about it.

"Noah..." Diana said my name, and I hummed answering her and it even stuck in my throat as if I was guilty.

"I want to ask you something, about Ethan."

My heart began to beat harshly against my chest when the name I was hoping won't be mentioned, came straight from Diana's mouth. When she turned to look at me, a chill went down my spine seeing that magnificent blue eyes staring at me for an answer. The stare was cold but seems to be genuinely curious either.

From across the bed, I could feel another pair of eyes staring at me. My eyes moved up, and the golden eyes owned by Ian were examining me, watching me intently, waiting for my answer as well.

"What is he up to, nowadays ?" My eyes moved back to Diana who asked me.

I could not speak my voice for the first seconds when she asked. The stares I got from them nailed me to the ground when it should not be possible. I was born with Alpha blood running in me. It just dawn on me that while Ian put trust in me and Diana reciprocated my feelings, these two were the highest of the dominion chain within Werewolves' bloodline.

"I-I don't know. The meeting tonight was going to be the first time I meet him in a while, but he did not turn up." I explained to them, giving them the half-truth. While Diana seemed convinced, Ian continued to watch me. Diana seemed to be oblivious to this.

"I never told you, but one time I met Ethan at a cafe with a new girlfriend, you know after he broke up at the park." I finally felt calm when Diana changed the topic. I saw her gently caressing Amelia's hand with her thumb.

"It was the day I went out with Amelia. Ethan and Amelia met there, and I definitely sensed the tension between them. She acts weird after that and immediately excused herself." I tried to appear calm, but somehow this aligned with Ethan's current behavior. They had met, and of course, they felt strong feelings for each other the first time. He promised to tell me when he met his mate, and it seemed he broke not one, but two promises.

"That is one lead that I got, but if my intuition corrects..."

I gulped down.

"There is no helping it, Noah. Nothing can protect him from me."

-

Diana said she wanted to be alone with Amelia, so Ian and I left the room. I walked into the front and Ian was just behind me.

"So you decided to hide it from her." My eyes widened at his words, and I immediately turned to see him nonchalantly standing there.

Does Ian know what was Ethan doing these past few weeks ?

"I keep an eye on anyone around Diana, including Eden Gardner." I continued to stare at him as my body was deemed immobile at his words.

"She never told me about him, and I assumed you don't know about her second encounter with the boy, do you ?" My eyes flickered, not believing that Diana did not tell me about the second encounter with Eden.

"It could've been a third encounter tonight, but Diana chose to go with Amelia instead of going to the pub."

"A third encounter ?" Shocked when I asked and Ian scoffed a laugh at my reaction. I grasped myself real quick, a thought came into my mind from the revelation of him.

"Do you also know what happened to Amelia ?" He stopped circling around me, and he nodded.

"You never thought of saving Amelia when you found out ?" I asked him, provoking him by coveting his principles for ignoring the sick.

"My duty is to protect Diana and only her. Whatever happens to the people around her is out of my concern." My face runs cold at his principle which sounded powerful yet selfish at the same time. The Bennette was born to serve the royalty through blood and death, that was a fact everyone knows.

Then, Ian stopped walking as he stood in front of me. I was glaring at his words that sounded hostile and heartless earlier until I noticed his shoulders loosened when he sighed.

"Diana's wishes are my callings. Whatever she wishes for, I will make it happen." His words got me a little confused.

"And right now, she wishes to save her friend. To save her friend, she has to get her hand on Ethan who is your friend, and the person you would go as far as to lie to your mate about not knowing Ethan's whereabouts." I clenched my hands as guilt came eating up my heart when he finally mentioned it straight from his mouth. I indeed had done that and Ian knew exactly what I was thinking. It made me feel like walking back inside and telling Diana the truth.

"Get to Ethan before Diana does." Again, my eyes grew wide at his words and I looked up at him in disbelief.

"He's your best friend, right ? You wouldn't want anything to happen to him. Plus, I'm pretty sure you know where this problem is rooted from." I looked into his eyes, and from all the words he was saying earlier, I did not expect to see sympathy from those golden eyes. I thought he would hate me for lying.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm starting to like you and entrusted Diana's safety and happiness to you. Do your part now, will you ?" My chest felt warm at his words. Now, he looked more like the older brother he deemed to be and I felt like an asshole for feeling jealous of him being Diana's priority since the start.

"I'll find him. You'll look after Diana, right ?" I told him.

"You don't even need to ask. Go now !"

I nodded with a smile at him before I jogged away to catch a cab. I became more confident now to put Ethan in his place.

-

Natasha p.o.v

After all that convincing words to make me come here, in the end, I was left alone in this corner. Enjoying the alcohol on my own... just perfect.

I leaned my back to the long couch as my arm rested on it, and the other held the pod as I sip in. I took a few good, deep sips into the pod before I moved it away from me. I puffed it out and my mind and body calms once again.

As I stared at the ceiling, I could sense someone sitting next to me. The sound of metals clanking against each other was obvious enough to tell me of his presence anyway.

"So, they're not here." The voice said, and I was on cloud nine with my own peace. No nagging thoughts, no agony feelings, just me and the pod. I giggled out of nowhere, giddily in the feeling.

While I was enjoying the moment with my eyes closed, my finger went up and landed on a pair of lips that were coming close to mine. I opened my eyes and glared at Eden.

"You are nothing but a dirtbag, aren't you ?" I saw his jaw clenched and a growl came from his throat, but I went and pushed his face away anyway.

"Things came up, they are all gone. Go home." I told him as I was about to take another sip, but his hand clenched the pod over my hand and I glared at him.

"Enough with this. You go back to your dorm." He emphasized the word 'you' and I rolled my eyes. I threw the pod away as I stood up, not wanting to be by his side any longer.