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Chapter 13

After last night, where they almost had sex before Zoe interrupted them, Rae had quickly gone to her room and locked it. Completely flushed and greatly embarrassed.

She wasn't a prude or anything. But she had to live with this man in one house and he was also her employer. An employement he forced upon her of course, but still. For now it was all that she had and she didn't plan on giving it up.

She also didn't plan on giving it up to him. With his smooth talk about ferals only being right for other ferals.

Such bullshit. She could make up her own mind. He didn't control her or anything that she did. She was taking care of his kid, moved into his place by force and stopped taking the serum because he had asked her to. This was as far as she would go when it came to letting Victor Creed control her life.

The nerve of that man!

When she got up early to take Zoe to day care, he was still asleep so she could easily avoid him which was a big relief.

Now, she'd just dropped Zoe off at day care for half a day.

She would give Hank a call. He woud probably know what to do and why this frikkin' scar in her neck won't just heal.

She puts her phone in the charger of her car next to the wheel and video calls doctor Hank McCoy.

"Rae, it is so good to hear and see you. How are you?".

Rae smiles broadly and sighs in relief at the sight of the blue doctor "Hank! I'm so happy to see you too. I'm sorry I haven't been in touch the last few weeks. I'm doing really well and yourself?".

"Ah, you know. Same old, same old. No complaints here." Hank replies as he frowns "Rae... I'm sorry to ask but, is there something wrong with the serum?". He wonders because he notices the small canines when she speaks.

Rae chuckles and decides to play along "No nothing is wrong with it I think, why do you ask?".

"Well... it's just that, you seem kind of, how should I put this, feral-ish?".

"Yeah so" she starts trying to explain "I should probably let you in one some major changes in my life lately. As you probably heard from Logan, I decided to take that job offer that Victor Creed offered me" she makes breakage signs at the word 'offer'.

Hank cocks a brow "Yes, so I've heard. Although I'm pretty sure he somehow made it an offer you literally couldn't refuse".

Rae decides not to tell him the whole truth on that matter "Yeah, something like that" she replies "Anyway, I'm actually pretty content with it all. His kid is great, and so cute, and in the beginning he wasn't even around that much. And even though he's got a mean streak to him, he's not actually scaring me all that much. Anyway, at some point he offered to help me with the feral thing".

"The feral thing? Rae, when Victor Creed offers his help, then you really have to watch your back. I think I know him a little better than you do, and I press you to be careful my dear".

"I know I know, it's just that-" she pauses for a few seconds "I really only took the serum because of what happened all those years ago and because I was afraid Hank. But now, with his help, I can actually be me and it feels kinda great".

Hank smiles sadly. He understands her of course. He just highly doubts that Victor Creed would help anyone out of pure altruism.

"I support and trust you Rae. You know what you're doing, you're a smart young lady and you can look after yourself. Even with Sabretooth around you".

"He doesn't like to be call-" she quickly bites her tongue "Never mind. Unimportant. Anyway, I have a question to ask you and I'm a little bit embarrassed, so can you keep the following between us Hank?".

"Of course. This conversation will stay strictly confidential".

"Soooooo-" she starts fidgeting and looks away from the phone, as if to avoid eye contact "Victor is feral and so am I. And now some things have happened".

"Things?" Hank asks when she pauses just a little too long.

She takes a deep breath and decides to just spill it out "He smells fucking irresisteble to me. And apparantly that goes both ways. Is that a feral thing Hank?".

Hank knows the answer, but he's not sure how much of the answer will be acceptable to Rae. "Do you remember, all those years ago, when I told you a few things about male ferals and female ferals and their so called 'mate bond'? You said you didn't believe it to be true, but do you remember me telling you about it?".

She scoffs "Yeah, sure, I remember. You were all like 'Rae, listen, ferals are meant to only be with one another. We don't mix with other kind of mutants, let along normal humans yada yada yada".

Hank chuckles at her imitation of him, she hadn't changed much "Well I've got some dissapointing news for you Rae. But I was right and that is what this is. That is the reason that Victor Creed smells so irresisteble to you".

"Pfffff, just cause he's feral? You and Logan are feral and my body never had the same reaction to you guys. Not even before I took the serum".

"There are multiple explanations for that my dear. First of all; you were taking the serum back then, so that could've blocked our scents out partially. Secondly; we are not your type of feral, we have wolf based DNA and you have feline or cat based DNA like Victor. And then there is this number three reason, but this has not fully been verifed yet so-" he pauses "Never mind, it doesnt matter. You won't believe me anyway".

Rae grins widely "You know I'll wanna know now, so come one mister reversed psychology, just tell me the third possible explanation".

"Okay, so, like I said: scientist are still on the fench about this, but lately it seems more and more that ferals may just have a special bond with only one other feral that they meet. These ferals are biologically, genetically and evolutionairy highly compatible. They say that once these two ferals meet, their scents and smells are so irresistible to one another that they cannot break their bond and go back to living without the other. They will eventually want to be together. Scientists even suggest that these ferals can actually sense if their partner is in danger, distressed or other types of feelings that occur while troubled. Again: it is just a theory, but it's been more and more verified over the years by scientific research".

They remain quiet for a little while as Rae stares outside her car window.

"Well, that's unfortunate" she eventually says.

"I disagree" Hank replies "Ferals who find their mates? As far as I know, it's rare and something like magic".

"I don't think I want a mate like Victor Creed though. For female ferals he's basically what clown Pennywise is to little kids and what Freddie Krueger is to people who simply like to sleep".

Hank bursts out in laughter "Rae, you know as well as I do, that it's not at all like that".

"I'm sorry?" she scoffs "Isn't Victor Creed the only person in the world that you and Logan have always warned me about? I only know a hand full of female ferals but I know that we are all dead scared of Victor Creed. Or that we should be".

"Are you scared of him?" Hank asks her.

Rae looks down. She knows the truth. No. She's not scared of him. Intimidated, yes. But scared? No. Rationally she knows that she should be. And it has nothing to do with her shield barrier which she could just pop up at any time and then he wouldn't be able to come close to her.

He did scare her a few times, but for some reason she instinctively felt that she did't have to be afraid of him. She actually felt the exact opposite.

And all of that had started since she stopped taking the serum so she could be her true self: a feral mutant. Like him.

"I'm not scared of him, it's just-" she didn't know how to put it without making Hank think she either had completely gone crazy or had found her feral mate "He's very dominant and I know from what I've heard that he's a bad person. Or, well, he does bad things. And besides, he's done this to me" she finishes her sentence as she pulls away her scarf. Showing Hank the mark Victor made.

"Why doesn't it heal Hank? There goes my modelling career" she tries to joke it off.

For a long time Hank doesn't know what to say as he stares at the mark.

Rae touches the screen on her phone "You still there? Did you freeze or something? Can you still hear me?".

"No, I'm still here" Hank replies "It's just that I don't know how I'm gonna tell you this Rae".

"Tell me what?".

"Victor Creed marked you".

Rae makes a face "He what?"

"He marked you" Hank replies most sternly.

"For what? To be his prey?".

Hank sighs and closes his eyes in desperation "To be his mate Rae".

Rae feels her stomach turn a little as she witnesses the scared look in Hank's eyes. This is not some game or joke anymore. This just got serious.

It's like her tongue is stuck to her palate and her mouth has completely dried up "What does that mean Hank?".

"Victor has decided that he wants you as his mate. He marked you. Meaning that he's followed the instinct of his inner feral telling him that you are his mate for life".

If this had been any other person than Victor Creed, and a situation not concerning her, she would've now made a joke about how he apparantly just proposed to her and dragged her to the aisle.

But it wasn't any other person and it was about her. And it was definitely not funny.

"What does this mean Hank?".

"Perhaps you should talk to Victor about this".

"I'm talking to you about this!" she all but snaps at him "Sorry" she quickly adds.

"I do not know all of Victor's motives of course. But as far as I know, Victor has never had a mate in his entire life. And he's little over 200 years old. He's never marked anyone either. But once a feral sets his mark on another feral, they will not let go".

"But-" she stammers as she searches for the right words "Why the hell would he want that?".

"That, you would have to ask him. But it seems that his inner feral is instinctivey telling him that you are his perfect match. And now that you've stopped taking the serum, you will very soon go into your last feral cycle. The one that ferals have at the age of 25. And if Victor is right about you two, then you will probably experience some very strong attraction towards him already, which will only grow stronger after the last cycle".

Rae exhales deeply. This is a lot to take in. Rationally she wants to fight this thing with everything she has. But she knows damn well what she feels inside and how her own feral instincts and urges react to him. 'Almost like magic' didn't even come close.

"He will now want to claim you by-" Hank was searching for a way to describe it "By fnishing what you two apparantly started last night".

"Claim me?!"

"As his mate" Hank adds "For life".

She storms into the house looking for him. She was absolutely breezing with anger.

How dare he.

This man.

This beast.

Who the fuck did he think he was?

"Creed!" she brawls out his name, the sound echoing throughout the entire house.

Eventually she finds him in the kitchen. Casually leaning against the counter.

He lazily smirks at her as he licks his lips, eyeing her up and down in approval "What's wrong kitten? I can sense you are in great distress".

His reaction angers her even more "We need to talk, you asshole".