When I was a little girl, I would ramble on about wanting to be eighteen years old. I would go on and on for hours, expressing my undying dream of becoming an adult. Now that I'm here looking back, I had never imagined I would be living my eighteenth birthday like this. My entire life changed in a matter of minutes. Several months ago, I was playing Uno with Evan on the floor of the shack that I called my home. That stupid shack was a luxury to me. Now, I'm lying in an actual bed that has fluffy, plush pillows and satin sheets draped over the top of it.
How is it possible for your life to change so quickly? No matter how many times I look back in search of an answer, I can't find one. Things like what happened to me just sort of happens when it does. There's no pattern, no magic spell, nothing. It happens when it's your turn for it to happen.
I'm glad I was found and returned to my proper family, but at the same time, I miss my old life. I feel like I shouldn't, but when you're ripped away from everything you've ever known, you're bound to miss some parts of your old identity.
I'm not exactly sure what parts of my old life I miss. Maybe I miss the simplicity of it. I didn't have to think twice when doing things and I didn't have to rethink every decision I made because most of the time, they weren't crucial, life changing decisions.
Maybe I miss the part of me that didn't hate Alec despite the things he did to me. He pulled me out of school when I was only fifteen, he didn't let me make friends, and he was controlling of my powers as if they were his, which, in a way, they were his. He was planning to take them from me and make them his. It was like I lived for his benefit. Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken me from my real family at only two weeks old.
Maybe I miss my old relationship with Evan. Back then, we didn't have issues. He was still keeping the secret of my family away from me, but I didn't know about it. That's what was peaceful about everything. I was oblivious, and at the time, obliviousness was nice.
Maybe I miss the old me. There's something about the old Norah: Norah Nightfell, that I was missing. She lived her days as if they were her last. She had nothing, not a penny to her name, yet she still lived a life far greater than any king could buy with all his riches.
Now it has become a matter of surviving. I'm not living anymore. I haven't been living for a while now.
In my eighteen years of life, I've learned things that have made me into a better person, and I've also learned things that have torn me apart.
Over the past week, my father has increased security and Bennett sent some of the palace men over like he had promised. But no matter how much security there is, I won't feel any safer. Not when the people I care about are on the line.
Carlina has been healing and she's on the right path to recovery. She was allowed to leave the bed a couple days ago and now she's up and walking. We were hoping she would heal perfectly and not have any scars, but by the looks of things, she'll be living with bite marks around her body for the rest of her life. After doing some more tests on her, we found out she's half human, which plays a large part in her healing process and how slow it is. She heals faster than a normal human, but slower than a normal werewolf. It also explains why she was dying as quickly as she was.
Ever since finding out about her being half human, we've been trying to find her parents. She thinks they're dead, but if there's anything I can do to make what Alec did up to her, it's finding them. I have hope that they're still out there somewhere. They both fled once they found out their daughter was dead. They should still be alive and hopefully somewhere safe.
My eyes flutter open as I feel a part of the bed near me dip. I sit up straight and let out a loud scream when a little person jumps on top of me. We fall back as he laughs and once I see who it is, I laugh too. "Hey, Niko!" I greet, situating him in front of me as we laugh.
"It's your birthday!" he exclaims, jumping forward and latching his arms around my neck in a hug.
"I know!" I say when he sits back down in front of me. He looks absolutely adorable with his red, car themed pajamas.
"I got you a present!" Niko stuffs his hand into the pocket of his pants and pulls something out in his fist. He turns it over and opens his curled fingers, revealing a small, purple flower that has definitely seen better days. The poor thing is barely hanging on with its crumpled, wilted petals. I accept his gift and hug him, thanking him for the sweet gesture. It might not be much, but when a child goes out of their way to do something like this, it warms my heart.
"I picked it in the garden just for you," he says, full of pride. The smile on his face is as wide as ever. "Isn't it pretty?"
"It is," I agree, nodding. He takes the delicate flower from my hand and my gaze follows him as he climbs off the bed and goes to my nightstand, gently placing the flower on top of it. His little feet carry him back over to the edge of the bed and he reaches over it, grabbing my arm and pulling me.
"Where are we going?" I ask as I let him pull me out of the bed. I slide on my slippers, which are lazily positioned by my bed, and let Niko lead me out the door of my room.
"It's a surprise," he claims, dragging me down the stairs. Technically, he's not dragging me down the stairs. I'm letting him pull me and following him at the same time.
"I like surprises."
Niko manages to lead me all the way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Rowan enters it the same time we do, half asleep, and with Lily on his trail. He's wearing some plain, black sweatpants, and a blue colored t-shirt. He looks like he's fighting the urge to collapse onto the floor and get another hour of sleep right there. His eyes are half closed, his blinks becoming slower and slower. He rubs his eyes as he sways forward, managing to catch himself before he actually falls.
"Come on," Lily urges, slightly pushing him forward. She glances over to me, giving me a large grin. "Good morning," she smiles.
"You're scheming," I accuse, seeing right through her grin. I look down at Niko, who is still holding my hand, and I playfully narrow my eyes at him. "What are you up to?" I ask, messing up his already messy hair.
Niko looks like he's about to spoil the surprise, but I'm not the only one who realizes. Lily sees too and she quickly runs to him, leaving my brother's side. She wraps a gentle hand over his mouth from behind. "Shh!" She panics. "Not yet. They just have to—"
One by one, people start appearing from their hiding places. They all hold party related things. My mother holds a cake, while my father holds two gift bags. A loud, "Surprise!" echoes throughout the house. The rest of the family, along with Carlina and Evan, come out from their hiding spots. I jump back in surprise and glance at Rowan, who is in just as much shock as I am.
We both start walking forward at the same time. I'm not sure what this means for him, but for me, this means everything. This is the first birthday I'm spending with my real family and the first birthday ever that I actually get to celebrate. Birthdays throughout my old life weren't a big deal. We couldn't celebrate due to us not having any money. Most years my birthday would consist of Evan taking me to town and buying me a small cupcake because that was all we could afford. The one time I did have a real cake, Evan ruined it by shoving my face into it.
With a hand over my mouth and tears pricking at my eyes, I approach my mother first as she places the cake down on the counter. I embrace her in a tight hug, muttering a string of thank yous as she rubs my back. She pulls away a little before I'm ready to. "You're so welcome, Sweetheart," she smiles, and I smile back, moving on to my father, who hands me the remaining gift bag.
The hug we share is a hug I didn't know I needed. It's warm and nothing close to the hugs that Alec would give. "Thank you so much, Dad," I say as we pull apart.
"Of course, Norah," he nods, smiling. "You deserve this after everything you've gone through."
I offer a warm smile to the rest of the family that surrounds Rowan and me. I take a few steps back, meeting my brother at his side. He has his gift in his hand and I have mine. We look at each other and then back at the crowd. They all smile and nod, urging us to open them.
I start by taking the white tissue paper out of the gold paper bag and letting it drop to the floor. My hands spread the bag open further as I peak inside, taking out a black jewelry box. Using my peripheral vision, I can see the matching black box in his hand as well. I turn to him, letting my internal smile show on my lips. I take a step closer to him until we're only inches apart. We put our boxes right beside each other, both of us smiling as we open them simultaneously.
I don't expect the piece of jewelry inside our boxes to be what they are. I can feel smiles grow with our gasps. Rowan knows what these are as well.
I pull out the necklace that sits perfect in the box, setting both the bag and the box down on the floor next to me. I let the chain hang over my fingers as I bring the pendent closer to my face, examining it. The pendant is in the shape of a full moon. Four letters are engraved into the moon. It doesn't take me long to realize they're the initials of our family.
"Wow I—" My words muffle as my hand covers my mouth. I look beside me at Rowan's hand. He too is shocked. His box contains a ring that holds a heavy similarity to that of my necklace. It's a plain, thick, gold banded ring, but our initials are engraved along the band. The two pieces of jewelry are meant to resemble the necklace that our father gifted our mother on her eighteenth birthday. The exact necklace he had given her was the same one that belonged to our grandmother before she died.
I look up at our parents. "These are beautiful," I say, smiling.
"Thank you so much, Mom, Dad," Rowan breathes.
Our parents both step forward with their arms outstretched and before I know it, we fall into a group hug. It's a hug I never knew I needed. It feels comforting, beautiful, and heartwarming.
It feels normal. It feels right.
***
"Happy birthday, birthday girl," Evan smiles as he leans down to press a kiss to my forehead.
The laugh I let out is of genuine joy. I haven't felt this way in a while. "Thank you," I gush, "but I don't see a present in your hand," I tease, making Evan's smile grow wider.
"Don't worry," he laughs, kissing me once again, but this time, it's on my cheek. "I have your present upstairs in my room."
"Ew, you guys can't seem to get enough of each other," Carlina pops up out of nowhere and makes a gagging noise from beside us, faking a disgusted expression. "If I have to watch you two smother each other with kisses one more time I think I'll just go ahead and pass away," she says dramatically and Evan places a kiss on my lips to mess with her, causing Carlina to gag once again. "Alright I'm going. Gone. Done. Goodbye."
We all laugh together. It feels refreshing to finally share a moment like this with the people who were a part of my childhood. It makes me feel some sort of normalcy from my old life, but it makes me feel emotional at the fact that Carlina wasn't there to grow up with us. She was only seven when Alec faked her death, which means there was still a lot more growing up going on and she missed it.
Evan leans down to whisper in my ear. "Do you want to head up to my room?" he asks, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "I'll get you your gift and then you can go back to your room to get ready for the party."
I nod and he removes his arm from around my shoulder, taking my hand and leading me to his room. I'm the first to enter it and Evan closes the door behind himself. Sitting on the edge of his bed, I take note of how clean his room is. It's in pristine condition. It might even be cleaner than when we got here.
Evan heads into his closet and comes out moments later with two small boxes in his hand. Once he reaches the bed, he sits down beside me and hands me one of the boxes. "This one's for you," he says, handing me a purple, cardboard gift box wrapped in a gold ribbon. He sets the other one in his own lap. "And this one's for me."
I raise both my brows. "You got yourself a present on my birthday?" I ask, making him laugh. I scoot myself closer to him, leaning my head against his shoulder as I hold the box out in front of me. He places a gentle kiss on the crown of my head, making my small smile grow slightly wider at his affection. "No, but thank you," I say seriously. "These are adorable judging by the packaging and I don't even know what's inside."
"Thank you," he says pridefully. "I take pride in my wrapping skills."
We sit in silence as I admire the simple, yet adorable packaging of my — or should I say, our gifts.
This is the first time I'm going to be receiving gifts on my birthday. Back at our old pack, no one got gifts. The money we had would only suffice for food and clothes, let alone gifts. All we were ever able to do for anyone is get them a small cupcake and congratulate them. We would have a party, but that alone would consist of singing, dancing, and hanging out. We couldn't buy food for these parties because that would go to waste and the food that we normally had anyway was from our hunting trips, or something small from a small shop in the town nearby.
The packaging of the box alone is enough for me, which is why I'm not rushing to open it, but I decide to open it once Evan asks, "Are we not going to open them?"
"Yeah— sorry," I apologize, "I zoned out."
With Evan's approval, I take the small box and he takes his. We pull one of the ends of the gold bow made out of ribbon, which unravels and we put it to the side. With a nod of his head, he motions for me to open mine first and I do as I'm told. Lifting the lid of the purple box, I gasp when another piece of jewelry enters my line of sight. I set the box to the side, taking the gold chain bracelet with a small key dangling from one of the loops and placing it in my palm.
I can't find the words that will explain exactly how I feel in this moment, so all I can say with wide eyes is, "Thank you I—"
To make matters worse, Evan opens his box and takes out a larger, matching chain. At the end of his dangles a heart. I can't seem to form any words and Evan realizes that quickly because he reaches for my hand and takes it, turning it over and exposing my palm. I willingly let him play around with my hand because I am no longer in control of my body. I'm frozen.
He places the necklace in my hand and when he sees no movement of my own occur, he helps me by pushing my hand closer to my face so I can get a better look. I don't think I need a better look because I know exactly what it is and I know exactly what cliché words he's going to say. Regardless, I take another look at the necklace, suddenly finding just enough movement in my other hand to take the key bracelet and place it in my palm next to the necklace. In the middle of the heart on Evan's necklace, I spot a small hole in the shape of the key, confirming the cliché words he's about to voice.
"It has a keyhole," Evan starts, causing small tears to prick at the corners of my eyes for the second time this morning. I nod quickly, giving him a joyful laugh through my tears and covering my mouth with the hand that isn't holding the two pieces of jewelry. He takes the bracelet and necklace from my hand and places them into his, taking the small key and sticking it into the hole of the heart. "The key fits perfectly into the keyhole in the heart," he demonstrates, looking up at me through his eyelashes to make sure I'm listening.
Looking back down at his hand, he continues his explanation, "I think you know what I'm about to say, but I'm going to explain it anyway. Do you know why I got these for us?"
I nod, "I think I do."
He continues, "I got these for us because I want you to know that I love you and that I'll always love you even in death," he says. "I need you to know that I'll always protect you and the people you love because you hold the key to my heart." Evan lifts the two pieces as he speaks, connecting his words to the meaning of the jewelry. "You always will—"
Evan is taken aback when I abruptly throw myself onto him, wrapping my arms around him in a hug. We fall back onto the bed but I continue to hold him. Slowly, he also wraps his arms around my abdomen. He rubs circles on my back and my eyes clamp shut as I whisper to him.
"I love you, I love you, I love you." I repeat the three words over and over and over, tears streaming down my face in regret; regret for everything that I've ever done to put our relationship in jeopardy. "I love you so much. If I have to lose you one day I would go out of my fucking mind."
"I love you too, love," he whispers, digging his hand into my hair while rubbing my back, only causing me to hold him tighter; so tight, that I have no idea how his bones aren't being crushed under the pressure I'm putting them under. "I don't know what I'm going to do without you when the time comes."
I use my arms to elevate myself over him.
"What do you mean?" I ask, my eyebrows intertwining together in confusion.
Sighing, he uses his elbows to prop himself up, forcing me to get completely off of him. We both sit back up and I scan his face. He's upset. "Look," he says. "I've been thinking about it and I really think it would be best if you just go with—"
The shake of my head forces him to stop short. "I'm not going with him," I argue. "I told you that already."
"I know." Evan runs a hand through his hair, letting out a conflicted breath. "But I'm not willing to risk the entire werewolf world."
"I am," I sass. "I would risk it all for us to be together. I'm willing to."
"And I'm not." He gives me a face that asks me if I'm hearing myself. Of course I am. I would risk my own life to be with him. "You would be safer with him. He has all the protection you could possibly need. The Destroyers can't get to you while you're with him."
"The Destroyers won't get to me anywhere."
"They know who you are, Norah!" He outstretches his arm and points in a random direction, referring to The Destroyers. "They know who you are to him and they won't stop until you're dead. They've already tried getting to you and they're not going to stop now! You'll be safer with him. They won't be able to reach you with him."
"And once I'm with him what do you think they'll do?" I ask, standing up off the bed and taking a few steps away from it. My hands fly to my head as I turn around and my fingers sink themselves into my hair. "They're going to go after my family, after the pack," I make eye contact with Evan, "after you."
I hear Evan's long sigh. "You can't save everyone, you know," he says.
"But I want to. I know I can't. And if something happens to them — if they die — If you die," My lip quivers slightly as more tears threaten to pool in my eyes. "I would rather much stay here and die with you than receive the news that everyone I love is dead while I'm with him and still alive."
My eyes close on themselves as the tears begin to sting. A single one slides down my cheek. It's the only one I allow to fall, but I don't open my eyes. I steadily breathe, letting my aching heart engulf all of me. I don't hear anything for a few seconds, but then I hear rustling coming from the bed and my body is engulfed in a hug.
"I don't care what happens." I rest my head on his shoulder. "Together we'll die and together we'll fall."
"I understand how you feel and—"
I look up from our tight hug. "Can we not talk about this anymore?" I ask. "I'm willing to talk about it another day, but not now."
"Of course," he nods, massaging my scalp with his fingers. "I'm sorry for upsetting you. Especially on your birthday."
"Oh no," I offer a small laugh. "Crying is the least of my worries. I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of that today especially since It's a whole new change for me. I don't blame you for wanting what you think is best, but I don't really want to continue talking about it right now."
Evan leads me back to the bed by my hand and we sit down on the edge once again, facing each other. "What do you want to talk about then?"
I keep quiet for a moment, thinking before answering. "Rowan is probably going to become alpha soon," I bring up. It hasn't been brought to any of our attention recently, but from what I've heard, the Alpha steps down once his son turns eighteen and the son then becomes the new alpha.
"Mhm," Evan hums. "How do you feel about that?" He grabs the two pieces of jewelry he had set down on the bed. Taking my bracelet, he takes my hand and wraps the chain around my wrist as I speak, clasping it together.
I shrug. "I don't really feel anything in particular," I begin. "I'm happy for him, but I don't think he realizes it's coming soon." In normal circumstances, the alpha's son would train most of his teenage years for when he needs to become alpha, but Rowan hasn't been doing that. "I'm just worried he won't feel ready since he spent most of his life looking for me instead of training for when the day comes." I take the necklace from Evan's hand and stand up, walking up behind him and swinging the necklace over his head. I clasp it in place from behind him and I let it fall, returning back to my spot and sitting down.
"I think he'll do great," Evan says, nodding. "From what I know about him, he already has the skills he needs naturally. He's a good fighter, he has great leadership skills, and he holds a lot of compassion for others," he lists. "I don't think he needs much else besides support."
"From me, that's guaranteed," I smile.
Evan returns my smile and he leans down and presses our foreheads together. "I am so lucky to be able to be loved the way you love."
My smile grows a little wider at those words. They're almost identical to the ones that Bennett had said to me a few weeks ago.
Imagine being loved the way you love.
Evan doesn't have to imagine.
____________________________________
Hello!!
Did anyone miss me? I'm just teasing I missed y'all as well!!
I have a question for everyone else who writes stories on wattpad. I usually write on a google or word document and then copy and paste it onto here when I'm done, but then the word count on wattpad is less by about 100 words than on my document. Does that happen to anyone else? if so, does anyone have any idea what that could be about? it probably isn't too big of a deal but it bugs me.
Anyway, sorry I haven't updated in a long while! I was just too overwhelmed with school so I decided not to worry about writing until it was finished. I'm done now, which is why I'm delivering this today!
WE'RE ALMOST TO 2K FOLLOWERS!!! Words cannot express how grateful I am and how much I love all of my lovely readers! I would not be here without you! (when we do hit 2k I may or may not post another chapter of FHC hehe. We'll see)
What do you guys think about Hidden Away so far?
That's all I can think about adding to this A/N for now!
Anyways, I'll see y'all in the next chapter!