I'm Dying Mate (Iona Blackfield) novel Chapter 8

(8) The Existence of a Heart

(8) The Existence of a Heart

IONA

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I realize that school wasn’t much and I really haven’t missed a lot from not going to one. The lessons and teachers were dull and a tad bit boring. My nurses and Doc were more entertaining and stimulating to learn from.

I remember one time, Doc took me to a C-section of a pregnant woman who undergone a breech. It was my first time seeing someone being operated and with her being awake no less. They’ve cut her open and put her organs on a table just near her.

I found it so interesting that I was focused in the whole thing. It was also incredibly funny how the husband peeked through the curtain that separated his wife’s upper half to the lower half and he fainted. He was already squeamish and worried at the fact that he was finally going to meet his baby.

“weak” The mother says, with a small smile playing on her lips while she gazed at her husband on the floor. Passed out

I know school was meant for social interaction but not much was made because for some reason kids avoided me. they walked on eggshells around me. I have a feeling one of the boys told them about me that I was sick and I shouldn’t be meddled with.

I sigh at this while I look around the halls. A friend of mine the hospital would love this, me being in a school. We’d often talk about the what ifs and the future back when I was still so naïve and hopeful.

I feel the ache of missing her since that girl would always be in the hospital too. She has this heart disease because she isn’t really human. She’s a hybrid of a werewolf and vampire. An existence that is illegal as Vampires and Werewolves have a tipping balance kind of relationship.

There isn’t a law that says that hybrids can’t exist because some babies barely survive infancy. There are interspecies mating but it isn’t stopped since people finally believed that it’s true and possible. Mirage is one of the rarest kinds of hybrids.

She was left on the doorstep of her parents though, probably because her parents are on the run. They’re a vampire and a werewolf couple, them being together is hard to accept already what more if people knew they have a child.

I miss her and I’m sure Synthia does too. She left when I was 14 because her succubus

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mother, Julie, found out a witch can help with her condition that maybe at some certain age her body could choose one side instead of having two.

The reason for her heart disease is because both the vampire and werewolf existence inside her tries fighting over control. Her body’s heart can’t take the change of shifting beings. I often catch Mirage just screaming in the corner of her room while her wolf and vampire fought in her head.

I’ve seen her try to take her life countless of times and her being rolled off to the psych ward and back to the child’s wing when we’re kids. I often saw her Demon father, Eric, crying and just punching the walls outside of her room.

Oddly enough, the endless hall with countless of doors reminds me a bit of the hospital. Just take the lockers away and take off the posters on the wall. Change the colorful retro floor in to one color and this would be the place I called home.

I walk around, not really minding my business. No teacher dared to reprimand me or tell me I have to get to class. Is it my paleness that gives me away or just that I look really new? Nonetheless I used that as an advantage to loiter around.

I escaped my cousins watchful gaze with a promise that I’ll come back around lunch. I used the cancer card on them and it worked like putty. I feel a bit bad on using on them but there is so much I want to see from this school

I also learned that Damiano is the science teacher here. I wondered why was a rich and accomplished man doing here teaching high school. All the walking made me want to pee so I went to the closest restroom and did my business on the farthest stall from the door.

Once I relieved myself and reach to flush the toilet, I hear a sob to which made me freeze. Is someone crying? I flush the toilet and washed my hands on the sink then I heard it again. This time, it was unmistakable.

I see someone’s feet on the bottom of one of the stalls and hear a loud sniff. I wipe my wet hands on the bottom of my dress. My eyes still fixated on the girl’s stall door. Should I help? I really want to but I don’t want to be nosy.

You know what, the world is a cruel place because not enough people cares for it so fuck it. I knock on her stall door. I see her feet reposition in shock probably because of me.

“Hi, you don’t know me but is there something wrong?” I say

There was a long silent pause before I decided that she’s not going to talk. Is she okay?

“You know, if you need tissues I can give them to you. Give me a second” I took the only thing my messenger bag has which was a roll of tissues. My family thought I would need it if I

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suddenly have a nosebleed which in all fairness happens a lot with me

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I reach down and waited for her to move to take it. It took a while before I feel the roll out of the grasp of my hand. I smile since she took the roll of tissues. “What’s your name?” she asks, her voice raspy and low. I have a feeling that she’s been crying for a while now

“lona” I say, a bit happy she accepted my help.

“lona?” she says confused.

“Yup, strange name, huh?” I grin “You see, my Mom has a close friend named Fiona who is also her sister-in-law. My mom loved and liked her so much she just took the F away and gave me lona as a name my Mom is a bit silly”

“Is that-”

The bell rings signaling that it was lunch to which made me panic. “I’m sorry my cousins are waiting for me. it was good talking to you and I hope you feel better. Also, whatever reason you’re crying, it can’t be as bad as having cancer, right?”

I ran out of the restroom and looked for the cafeteria. Thankfully, I was a quick to remember where it was. It was just a few halls down but paused as I caught him.

Why is he here? My heart skipped a beat at the sight of Drake’s wet hair hanging off as it is long. He runs his hands through his hair and shook the water off while giving me a cheeky grin. He’s leaning on the lockers just beside the double doors that leads to the Olympic size swimming pool that the school has.

There’s a whistle hanging off his neck. Don’t tell me… Is he the swimming teacher? I slowed and try to avoid his gaze, I try to walk past him without making eye contact.

“Where are you going, Tesoro?” his hand on my shoulder was soft to the touch and I could have easily escaped but the sparks that shot through my system made me stop.

“You rejected me, remember?” I look at him in the eye “I thought you don’t want a mate with two mates”

“You didn’t say you weren’t with the other” he says, his voice soft and careful. His accent lilting some words and the emotion of his voice made goosebumps rose from my skin.

“Does it matter? You left like coward without even knowing me. I didn’t even know your name and if it weren’t for this stupid tattoo I would have no idea who you are. Not saying your name is rude by the way” I try not to smell and not to ogle at how his white shirt clung to his muscular body.

“You looked fine when I saw you. I thought-”

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“You didn’t even ask for my name” I cut him off, I see he was bothered that I cut him off but my words seems to soften his gaze. “How can you do that? You get one mate for life and you don’t even want to know her name. you didn’t even want to get to know her.”

“It’s not that easy-”

“What were you doing by my uncle’s land anyway?” I glare at him, trying to take a step back

from him.

“You think I didn’t care for you?” he ignores me as he straightens up and stands on the balls

of his feet.

“Yes”

He scoffs, “I should have attacked your uncles pack right when I had the chance. But you had to get in the way.”

Confused, and discombobulated I decide it was better to take a step back and tried to absorb what he just said. He wanted to attack my uncle’s pack? Ah, right he is also one of my uncles enemies along with… I need to go and not get distracted by him.

I see his pecs and his perfect abs through his white shirt due to its slight dampness. Caught off guard by the sight but I tear my gaze away from him and started running away. I chanted to myself that this man is my Uncle’s enemy and being mated to him shouldn’t matter because he rejected me. There weren’t any students as we exchanged “pleasantries” but this time I truly hurried through the double doors of the cafeteria.

I got there with Jared looking around the room. It lands on me the moment I went through the doors. He looks a bit like someone pissed on his food. I gave him an apologetic smile and walk to the direction of their table

I notice Skylar and Mark were on different tables with people that I didn’t know. I also felt their eyes when I got close to Jared’s table but ignored them. Michael, Keith, Airo, and Manuel were on the same circular table. The logo of the high school painted on the surface of the table.

Frier wasn’t here because he was already in college. He is majoring something under business since he is poised on taking over the Uncle Raven’s pack. Being an Alpha is a mixture of a lot of things.

“Hey, how was the walking around?” Keith gave me one of his friendly smiles. I hear some girls swooning at it and chose to ignore it. Humans and werewolves alike seems to be taken with all of my cousin’s charms.

“It was okay, nothing much happened” I lie through my teeth while Jared takes out a large

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Ziploc from his bag. “Let me guess, Aunt Farah didn’t want me to eat cafeteria food?”

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“No” Airo guffaws while holding his stomach “Honey, Jared did all of that himself saying he isn’t going to let you eat cafeteria swill”

“He’s gone full domestic” Manuel winks at me. it takes a really keen eye to finally differentiate the twins apart. Thankfully I have those keen eyes.

I smile, feeling heat on my cheeks “Aw that’s sweet of you”

Jared glares at twins while taking out the sandwich and a Tupperware filled with fruits. He quietly then stands from his seat and fall in line for food.

“Why didn’t he pack his own?” I ask Michael who was closest to me. I nudge my elbow to his

side.

He shrugs “I think he got lazy on making his. He is the kind of guy who is chill and isn’t that responsible when it comes to his own well-being. He made the lunch for you and since he could always just buy food he didn’t bother to make his.”

“Yeah, my brother is odd like that” Keith interjects “he tends to take care of people.”

“I think he got that from Aunt Farah”

Keith frowns “I don’t see it”

“You’re an idiot that’s why you don’t see it” Michael rolls his eyes while grabbing a bite on his

pizza.

I look at his food. “School food doesn’t look too bad”

“It’s junk” Jared says with a tray on his hands. “And you’re not going to have any of it”

That was quick. Jared sits back on my other side with a plate of pizza on his tray.

The door opens and I hear the life of the cafeteria slowly sip out of the room. I even saw the guarded expressions of my cousins. Their eyes flickering to whoever entered the room without their permission.

Is it another enemy? I turn to look and see a familiar face. My breath hitches at the sight of her, my smile widens at her.

“Mirage!” I shout, I couldn’t control my feet as I stood and went to her direction. Ignoring the looks I was given when I did come close to her.

Mirage still looked the same, she’s always been beautiful and pretty. A lot of the kids in the children ward has a crush on her. Her long wavy locks in a tight pony tail and her green eyes

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that would remind me of trees would stare in to your soul.

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I grab Mirage’s hand to which she flinches. It seems like she just noticed that I was there. I frown as I look at her eyes now. Her regal nose looks like it was broken and wasn’t set back properly. A bruise near her neck and the light of her eyes that I once knew was gone. Did she try to kill herself again?

“Mirage, what’s wrong?” as soon as the words came out of my mouth I was wrenched away

from her.

“Get back” Jared lets out a warning growl. Mirage doesn’t even flinch nor look up from her gaze on the floor.

I feel like a bucket of cold water was thrown on me. “Let me go” I hit Jared’s side with my

elbow

He seems to get the idea as he lets me go from hanging on his side. “Don’t get too close to

the halflin-”

Before he can finish his words, I slapped him. the look on his face was both the shock and anger. He is truly an Alpha’s kid.

“You don’t talk about people like that especially someone who deserve lo like just like you” I reprimanded.

I see Manuel and Airo holding Jared behind. His anger clouding him as his eyes turns gold. His wolf taking over. I know what I was doing, I know I was throwing my family away again for someone who wasn’t related to me.

But Mirage was there, she was the one who saved me countless of times from my Dad. I owe her this much and much more for what she’s done for me. I realize how strong she was when she tried so hard to save me even though she was going insane with the demons inside her head.

“She might be a hybrid but that doesn’t classify her as someone lower than you. You should be admiring her because she beat the odds, hybrids like her barely reach the age of 10 much less 18.”

“lona” I hear her whisper. Her voice broken and beaten. “Enough, it’s enough”

“No! it’s not enough! Werewolves and vampires hate each other but that doesn’t mean you should hate the innocent ones who barely know how the fucking feud started. No! I’d rather fight against all of you”

“lona!” Mirage says, louder. “Enough, don’t choose my side, you’ll lose”

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Then she left, I should be hurt that she left all of a sudden when I was trying to defend her and making a point but I was only mad. Mad that she has changed so much and endured so much because of discriminating assholes. It reminded me of a mate one particular discriminating asshole.

I whirl around and face my cousins with all my fury. I notice the smirks playing on Skylar and Marks’ face but I ignore them. “I don’t care who you are or what you are but you don’t deserve my respect for treating someone who is alive like that. The reason she suffers is because of assholes like you who thinks that being one side is better than the other. What idiocy and bigotry runs in your mind?

“Does it ever occur to you that we don’t get to choose anything in this life? That she is a victim of her fate as much as anyone here. you believe in mates and you accept them but you can barely accept the people who is alive with you. How your hypocrisy is sickening. How your egos would drown you and I hope you, I really do hope the people who hurts her would get a taste of their own medicine.

“Don’t look at me like that and look at me as someone who isn’t related to you. I refuse to have any relations to someone who belittles anyone like that especially the girl who saved my life countless of times. I have a mind of my own with my own views and ideas. Don’t try to make me side with you because the side that you are on is wrong.”

I breathe in and try to catch my breath, the silence deafening so I continued. My anger slowly ebbing away “And someday you’ll be Alphas, someday you’ll lead your father’s packs with the same mindset. With the same fear and hate as someone who is too much of an idiot to acknowledge other people’s differences. Someday you’ll kill much more people who are innocent than those you save and the only excuse you have is that ‘you’re trying to protect your own from those creatures’. Protect from what? Someone who is living and breathing the same as you? How long are you going to keep an age old shit and taking it as yours?”

Then I left, my anger slowly fading as I look for wherever Mirage may be. I’ve already got around the whole school but there was no sign of her. I feared she went home, I feared that she has an attack due to the shock of seeing me again. I fear so many things about her well-being that I didn’t notice Damiano stepping in front of me.

I jump back in surprise. He looks at me with a blank expression “Your friends in on the football field”

Then I remembered how Mirage loved the sky, how she loves the expanse of it. The freedom of the clouds to move around in such slow speed without the urgency to go anywhere.

“Thank you” I say while running outside to the field. I see her on the grass looking at the expanse of the sky and I finally let out a breath of relief at the sight of her.

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She’s okay.

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I trudge to her and lay down next to her. She sits up, surprise evident in her face but she tries to hide it. Not to offend me but I know that isn’t supposed to feel a lot of emotions or she’ll have another heart attack again. The wolf and vampire is very sensitive to her emotion which made sense.

“What are you doing here?” she asks