THE POWER OF TRUE LOVE

CHAPTER 40

ASHLEY'S POV
I breathed in a sigh of relief as I sat down in the cool grass underneath me, taking in my surroundings. Apartment buildings, children walking to school, adults walking to their work, other cars and vehicles. It felt like I was in a dream. We were home. Well, almost home. You see, after being in the water for about 6 hours, we had finally stumbled upon land. To say that we were happy was an understatement. But our happiness was short lived because within a few minutes of us stepping foot on the land and walking a few metres, we were surrounded by the werewolves who lived on the land. Again, we had expected that, but still their sight scared us. Jacob and his friends had taken a cover in front of us, with their claws drawn back and their stance submissive. Alex explained everything to the pack to his level best. The moment they heard about the Lycans, they withdrew from their attacking positions and returned to their human forms. They escorted us to their village and we were given food and shelter. After we had had a good rest, we graciously thanked their alpha. He had already made arrangements for us to travel to Jacob and his friends' territory, for which we were utterly grateful. After a whole day of travelling, we finally reached their territory. It was exhaustive, yes, but the thought of returning home and seeing my parents again, pumped my body with energy. But the one thing that I'll never be able to forget, is the condition of their land when we had reached there. It looked like the battlefield of the Battle of Troy. Weapons and blood laced the soil and it was unsettling to say the least. Alex told us that this was the very same battle that they had told us about. The battle in which they lost their pack, their land, their families, their freedom and most importantly, their soulmates. The Lycans, mercifully, had granted the remaining pack members to bury their dead pack members. I can't even come to imagine what these guys must have gone through while burying their loved ones with their own hands. All of us were left speechless and the only action that we could do was offer them comfort in whatever way we could. While we were staying there, the boys helped Jacob and the rest of their pack members to clean up the land. Meanwhile, me and the girls tried our best to set up the surviving houses to their best. This was the least that we could do for them. They had been through enough. After resting there for 3 to 4 days, helping them rebuild everything back, enjoying the calm of the nature and just regaining back the lost mental peace, Daniel along with some of his other pack members, was decided upon to take us back to our city safely. Daniel was the one that often travelled to the city from their land. He had the most experience amongst his pack members to live within the humans and so Jacob and the rest of the members had decided that he along with a few others who were familiar with the directions could be trusted with the job.

"well we can't just directly travel to the nearest city. Our current state and number would be way to suspicious to explain" I said, mentioning to our wrinkled and dirty clothes. Ten strangers entering a new city in a condition like ours would surely raise eyebrows and we can't afford to get into anymore trouble at this point. Daniel nodded. "well then I guess the only way to travel is through the forest. I had seen your city on a map once, in our pack's library. We don't have the map now but I remember the directions to your city very well. If we start travelling tomorrow, we should be there within 3 days" He said, looking at us. Honestly his memory was excellent beyond question. "But it wouldn't be that easy" Mason said, sounding a little concerned. I was about to ask him why but then Scott spoke up. "Yes. Travelling through the forest means travelling through the territories of different packs. There is no guarantee that they would allow us to pass their territory" Scott said. My eyes widened as I turned my head to look at my friends who had the same expression. We had completely forgotten about this fact. "By the way how many packs are there in our path?" Mason asked Daniel. "Two" Daniel replied. "All three of our packs are located at a safe distance from each other and we've never had disputes over land or any thing else so I think they shouldn't have a problem with us crossing their territory" He completed. "I think we should send the messages then" Tyler said. "what messages?" The question came out of my mouth almost instantly. "In order to cross another werewolf packs' territory, the travelling pack should send a prior message to them, seeking their permission. If they cross the territory without any consent it would automatically be considered an invasion and I don't think we need any more fights" Tyler explained and I nodded. They had a pretty medieval system of society. Having Alphas as their rulers, separate territories, seeking permission through messages. With the end of our discussion, Daniel quickly rushed to the rest of his pack members and by the time night sky fell over us, they had already sent the messages to those packs.

Nervousness shrouded my mind as me and the others waited for the response. The first pack had already given us the green signal but for some reason the second pack was taking its own sweet time. It had already been two days since we had dispatched the messages and all of us were now having doubts. What if they denied us?. What will we do then?. As these questions raced my mind, I saw Noah coming towards us with a smile on his way. "We'll be leaving tomorrow" he said as he reached us. Relief washed over me. Finally we'll be home!

The journey was exhausting to say the least. We had to take our first break after we had crossed the first packs' territory. Similarly, we took another break after we had crossed the second packs' territory before starting on a long walk to the city. By the time we were able to see our city in the distance, I could no longer walk. The boys had to carry me and my friends to the end of the forest line. When we reached the outskirts of the city, Daniel turned around to face all of us. "So I guess this is it" He said with a small smile on his face. "yeah" Scott replied. "Thank you for helping us and our mates. We're forever indebted to you and your friends" Zayn said as he looked at Daniel. He shook his head. "We did what any other fellow werewolf would have done" He said chuckling, while laying emphasis on the word werewolf. All of us let out small laughs as well. With that Daniel started making his way back to his pack, but not before we gave him a hug. As I watched his figure disappear into the deep forest, I turned my head back towards the forest line. It was already late night by now so the possibility of people noticing us walking on the street like this would be slim.

As all of us started walking on the dirt road which connected the forest and the countryside, we were surrounded by green grass fields on either side of us. I could see the buildings and hear the city noise in the distance. The familiar noise was music to my ears right now. As we walked under the night sky, accompanied by the beautiful winds swirling around us, all I could feel was peace. Peace of being back home, peace of having my friends safe and by my side and most importantly, peace of having my soulmate's hand in mine.

I turned my head to the side to see Scott looking at me, a genuine smile on his face. I gave our linked hands a gentle squeeze as I gave him a smile back. In that moment, as we looked into each others' eyes, I realised that we had finally put the worst behind us. Our sufferings had ended and they were now buried deep in the past. I realised that they would never harm us again. It also dawned on me that we had the most valuable power on this earth, the power that no Lycan or any other creature could tame....

The power of true love.

Hey guys. So this was chapter 40. I hope all of you enjoyed it.
Thanks for reading!