OLIVIA'S POV

A few days after my quick chat with dreamy Alpha Vincent, I came down with a horrible fever that wouldn't let me make the slightest move. I called Mom and asked for medicine and she quickly rushed to my condo, wondering why and how I got so sick. In my entire life, I've only gotten "sick" once, and that was the night before I turned for my first time. The year after that, I decided I would make that gene dormant.

Werewolves don't get sick. It's in our nature to remain perfectly healthy. Unless you're cancer. Wolves are all powerful, mystical creatures, but we cannot beat cancer.

"You're burning up," Mom said in a worried voice I haven't heard from her in so long. "This fever could have killed you hours ago. Why didn't you call sooner?"

"Thought it was a bug," was the best thing I could come up with. My breathing became heavy and I itched my right arm again, right where my arm dipped to bend at my elbow. Apparently I was itching furiously, because Mom pulled my hand away and eyed the place I was itching.

"You're in heat," she said without an expression in her voice. "Why didn't you tell me you were with someone?"

"What?" I asked. "I'm in heat? What does that even mean, Mom?"

"It means a werewolf marked you. You're someone's mate! Baby, please tell me who marked you."

I looked at my mother, searching for an answer while my head pounded and continued to feel like it was moments away from combusting into flames. I gathered myself and thought about the last person I was with and if they had clawed me, or marked me, or whatever.

My lips parted as my jaw dropped. "Mom, it was an accident. He didn't mean to."

"Who was it, Olivia? You can tell me."

I mustered up all the courage I could as I said the name of my mate, "Vincent de la Rose."

VINCENT'S POV

I barged in Olivia's condo along with Beau and hurried to her side. Her eyes were shut and she was panting, sweating profusely right through her sheets. I met the eyes of her mother and looked at her apologetically. Her mother didn't look angry, she looked terrified for her daughter. Freya looked at me, pleading with her eyes for me to help her daughter, I ripped the covers off of Olivia and found her wearing only a tank top and sleeping shorts. Slowly, I neared her, wanting so bad to hold her, but I didn't know what to do! Her body was hot, literally, it felt like if I touched her I might get burned. Not once have I been around a werewolf in heat.

The strangest thing happened... Olivia, without opening her eyes or asking who was in her bed, rolled on her side and pulled herself closer to me, pulling me down so her cheek could rest on my arm. Almost instantaneously, her heavy breathing subsided and her fever seemed to have simmered down. That was it? I couldn't help but smile at her, and I looked up at Beau, who eyed me with surprise. Freya smiled and sighed in relief. Her daughter was finally asleep. But she was sticky with sweat. Her fever was so strong, the entire room was hot and humid.

Freya pointed at me with her index finger and gestured me to walk with her. After slowly prying myself beneath beautiful Olivia, I followed her. Olivia's sweat had seeped through my t-shirt.

"You are a powerful Alpha," she started. "And I have a great deal of respect for you, but I will not sit here without answers. Tell me, how did this happen?"

How do I tell her that I imprinted on her daughter from the moment I saw her? How do I tell her I have an unexplainable connection to her that drives me wild? How do I tell her I accidentally marked her daughter? I mustered up all the courage I could and just like that, I told her.

"Oh..." Freya cleared her throat and gave me a soft smile. "Vincent, let me tell you something. It seems like you haven't marked someone before. Let alone imprint. Werewolves have one mate. Imprinting is step number one to finding said mate. Marking them? It takes two, darling. Whether you two knew it or not, it was a consensual marking." She pointed to my right arm, the spot I had marked Olivia. The same mark was on my arm, too. "Consensual."

I sat on the couch and rested my head in my hands. I was screwed. "My father will hate me."

"Why is that?"

Looking at her with apologetic eyes, I retrieved the hidden part of my necklace from the collar of my shirt and immediately, she saw the ring. "I'm engaged. And have been for three years."

"Do you love her?" She asked me, her eyes soft and understanding. "Your fiancé."

I opened my mouth to answer her question and immediately shut it. No. I didn't love her. Even after three years, we hadn't kissed, held hands, shared a bed... none of those things felt right with her, my fiancé.

"It was an arranged marriage," I told her. "The wedding is supposed to be in six months."

"What do you feel for Olivia?" She kept asking me questions that made it feel like reassurance more than a test. She wanted to see if I had my head screwed on right, if I cared for Olivia.

"I care for Olivia. She's a wonderful woman that I can't shake. And trust me, I've tried. I have a duty to my pack and now..." I look at Olivia's sleeping figure. "I don't want anything to do with the wedding. I can't see myself marrying anyone else."

Freya laughed through her nose and gingerly touched my arm. I raised a brow at her. "I'm not laughing at you," she said, smiling. "Would you believe me if I told you this is how Hugo and I met? Except I was actually married. To a horrible, mean werewolf that thought of me as nothing more than a child-bearer and relief in bed. Hugo saved me from my own personal hell."

I shifted my weight in my seat, exhaling at the thought of being married to someone other than my mate, Olivia. It felt so wrong.

"In a way," Freya started. "You could say Olivia's saving you from your own personal hell."

This may possibly be the last chapter I post of HEIR on here, so if you would like to read the rest, please go to Wattpad to read the other four chapters (I try and upload twice a week!)

wattpad: babygeminii