For the Bleeding Hearts

2.) TITAN

Of course, I knew Anna was in the lottery. It didn't take a genius to figure out why she was always so anxious on this day every year. I just wished she didn't resort to it when she did. She could have come to me, I wanted her to come to me. I was her mate. She was my mate, she just didn't happen to know it.

She didn't know a lot of things for her safety. She didn't know that we were mated. She didn't know that me and Eve were not prey but predators. And she definitely didn't know that I would kill to keep her safe, but after today she would. She wasn't supposed to know until a few years we were all safe. This wasn't supposed to happen.

I gripped Anna's hand tightly in my as I watched her body shake. My own body tensed up ready to rip anyone about to take my mate away from me to shreds. I felt another hand on my arm, I whipped my head around about to bare my teeth at whoever it was but stopped when I saw it was my twin sister, Eve.  She shook her head slightly at me signally for me to calm down and telling me it wasn't the time.

As much as I hated it, I knew Eve was right. I needed to calm down and let Anna go. Just for now. Of course, I would go and get her back and kill anyone who dared to touch her. I leaned down and whispered into Anna's ear, "Just stay calm, okay, cutie? You're going to have to go or it will be worse than it already is. I'll come find you, I promise." She stared up at me in desperation. My heart ached. I felt a pang in my chest as I watched her hand slip out of mine and she was out of my reach. She shakily walked towards that horrid woman. I imagined what it would be like to tear her into pieces and then bathe in her blood. My heart thudded in my ears as I watched as my Anna followed her into that obnoxious carriage.

I met Anna back when we were younger. I remember that me and Eve were about ten years old and Anna must have been about six or seven.

It was a cold, rainy evening; winter was approaching. School was finally done for the day and it was time for me to go to work. It was the first year I had gotten my assignment from the Capital. Children below the age of twelve, especially if they were of prey descent, would normally not start working yet; however, I was an exception. The teachers in our small schoolhouse recognized that I was strong and could hold my own. They had recommended me to get assigned, especially because it would have been good to have money coming in, for my current situation.

Shrugging on my light coat, I hurried down the steps of the shabby schoolhouse. I looked around for Eve because she made it out of class before me and she would normally wait around. I spotted her near the large pine tree, hovering over a small figure I couldn't quite make out. The frosted grass crunched beneath my boots as I headed toward Eve. I stopped a few feet from behind her and spotted the young girl Eve fussed over. She was tiny, but I couldn't quite make out her face from where I stood. She wore a tattered cream-colored trench coat with pink winter boots. Her white colored, hair was pulled into a bun. While the color of her hair was different in a town like this, I had seen odd natural colored hair and eyes in the Capital city before we moved so it didn't surprise me.

The tiny female swiped at her eyes. Eve put her hands on her hips and shook her head, "You shouldn't pay any attention to what they say! They are all just annoying boys." Eve made a face of disgust. "But you tell me if they ever bother you again, okay? I'll kick their ass." The small girl giggled at that. The sound was light and sweet, it warmed my heart. I rubbed at my chest in confusion.

I stepped up to the girls as Eve introduced herself, "I'm Eve. I have a feeling that we are going to be best friends!" Eve smiled brightly at the girl and the girl timidly smiled back. By her looks, she seemed younger than us. "And this is my brother, Titan," she pointed her thumb in my direction. "Come on, we will walk you home."

And for the next few years, we walked Anna home. Eve quickly found a friend in Anna and I was happy for her. As the years went on I also grew closer to Anna. At first, I was confused when I started to become attracted to her. I knew it wasn't just a regular attraction because I had fantasized about other girls from school before. This was different, something that ran deep.

It wasn't until me and Eve were sixteen that I realized that me and Anna could be mates. The idea had never crossed my mind before but it made sense. I knew of fated mates from the time I lived in the Capital with my parents, hearing bits and pieces about it from people on the streets. When I broached the subject to Eve she agreed that it could be a possibility.

Even when I barely knew her, I felt a need to protect her and come to her defense. I wanted to take care of her and be the one to calm her when she scraped her knee. I wanted to be the one to make her face light up with happiness when she received a gift. I could never stop thinking about Anna, she plagued my every thought and I wondered if she felt the same for me.

As Anna grew older and we grew closer, I noticed the glances she sent my way and how she blushed when I caught her staring. At those moments I knew we were made for each other. My dear, Anna. The sweet girl, the school boys teased, that the big bad wolf had to scare away.

And now she was out of my reach. I didn't even get to tell her how much I loved her. What if... what if I never got to see her again?

The townspeople gathered, began to mutter and gossip. It didn't last long and the crowd began to disperse and get back on with their lives. I watched in the middle of the road as the carriage departed up till I couldn't see it anymore. "It's going to be okay, Titan," Eve said softly from behind me. I brushed past her.

"I'm leaving now. I'm going after her."