Wish It Would Rain

Chapter 23

I hear him chuckle behind me and tilt my head up towards the sky, shifting anxiously.

"You need to look at me, Adeline," he says. Well I think he says. It's kind of echoey, which I don't understand. It was weird the way it sounded slightly different.

"I'd rather not," I say, pressing my lips together. I hear him chuckle behind me again and take a step towards me.

"I'm not naked, Adeline," he says. I scoff.

"You think I trust that?" I say, rolling my eyes. He grabs my arm, pulling me around to face him. Boxers. I still glare at him and his smug smirk.

He takes a step away from me, his smirk falling.

"Don't freak out, alright?" He asks. My eyes were trained on his, and yeah it was a little difficult. I cross my arms and he lets out a breath. What felt like seconds later, he wasn't standing infront of me anymore. A huge ass wolf was. An oddly familiar wolf. I stumble back, completely freaked. The wolf approaches me slowly, and I continue to scramble backwards, tripping in the process.

A small scream escapes me as I continued to bump into a tree. The wolf nudged my knee with it's nose and I bit my lip, scared. What the fuck? The wolf, being as big as it was easily went over my knees, lightly nudging my face. A whimper slips out of me and I close my eyes. I feel it lick my cheek and I suck in a breath.

"Adeline." There's his voice again. Well, kind of his voice. It was weirder. I opened my eyes, darting them around a little bit. The wolf nudged my shoulder, the scarred shoulder. It basically exploded in sparks. "It's me." I look at the wolf in absolute shock. He was in my head.

Holy fucking shit. No. No way. This... this can't be possible. This isn't possible. The wolf nudges my neck and I didn't react this time. The wolf pulls away, walking over to where Cole was standing before. It picks up his clothes in it's mouth and walks behind a tree.

A couple minutes later, Cole walks out dressed again. I was still sat. Frozen. Completely frozen. He walked over to me cautiously. I stared at him, and let out a breath.

"You..." I couldn't even finish the scentence. He smiles softly, crouching down infront of me. I wasn't really thinking about the wet ground and my physical discomfort.

"I have a bit more explaining to do, if you think you're ready." I swallowed.

"I don't know about ready, but I'm pretty sure I've got the time," I say lightly gesturing at the nothingness that surrounded us. His smile grows a little as he looks around a little.

"You would have ran back to camp as soon as I told you," he says. I scoff, and nod, still a little freaked out. He gently reaches out to me, helping me stand up. I didn't take my eyes off his for a second. "Do you want to walk?" I was a little concerned.

"Um..." He chuckles a little and he grabs me again.

"I won't run this time," he says. I nod, still looking at him. "Like I said, my mom's human, like you," he tells me, getting back to the point immediately. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact I just saw him turn into an animal. I chewed on my lip and nodded. "Wolves believe in the Moon Goddess. She's the one who created us, and she's the one who pairs us off." I knit my brows, confused. He looked a little nervous. "We call them our mates. They're your other half. They are the one person in the world who is made for you. A soulmate." He explains and a realization hit me.

He looks at me with a cautious expression. It was like he didn't want to overwhelm me. "Everything about your mate is perfect to you. There is a special mate bond between mates. It ties them together. They become protective of one another. If anything ever happened to the other... it's like their world falls apart. Being rejected by your mate is almost worse. It's them not wanting you in the first place. Everything about them is addicting. Their touch... their scent," he continues to explain. My eyes widen as I stare at him.