It was an endless black tunnel. Darkness surrounded me and I was wandering aimlessly with no destination. I halted in my tracks when I noticed a source of light in front of me. Hope filled me before I started sprinting towards it, almost like my life depended on the light. With each step, I neared it, a small smile forming on my face. The light was getting closer and I raised my arm to cover my eyes from the blinding light. I broke through the darkness and found myself in a beautiful field.
“Where am I,” I thought out loud, my head swarming with confusion and curiosity.
A soft chuckle made me spin on my heel. There she was, in all her beauty, her long, blonde hair cascaded down her back, blowing with the slight breeze. A soft smile played on her lips, reaching her beautiful brown eyes. Her angelic face looked at me with adoration. I smiled back at her, before running to her and engulfing her in a bear hug.
“Hey Mum,” I whispered, happiness seeping through my voice. I hadn’t see her in months and it felt good to finally breath in her comforting scent. Her arms wrapped around me, returning the hug.
“Hi, sweetheart,” she replied.
I snapped my head to the left when I heard a snort, bringing a happy grin onto my face. My seven brothers came towards me, all of them having smiles on their faces. Letting go of my mother, I ran towards them, giggling like a little child. They pulled me into a group hug with open arms, a few tears making its way down my face. All of them, looking down at me with those familiar brown eyes, the same eyes that I was blessed with.
Pulling away, I finally said what was my mind, “So, what’s with the family meeting?” bringing worry into all of their eyes.
“You know why we’re here Caroline, the Great War is coming and it’s time for you to get ready,” my mother said in a soft voice, fear and worry swimming in her eyes.
“However…. before we get all sappy and start crying, I wanted to congratulate you on kicking all their as—buts today,” my oldest brother said changing his words when he saw the stern but amused look that our mother gave him.
I laughed, it had been quite some time since I had a genuine laugh. I looked at all of them, this was my real family and I was happy with them. Even though my mother was the Moon Goddess, we all acted like ourselves in front of her, not some sort of servant that wouldn’t curse in front of the Queen. With the eight of us, we were a handful for her, especially when I was younger and my brothers chased me around and teasing me. I spent most of my nights here, with my family and having the most fun that I could ever have.
I let out a soft sigh, drifting my eyes down to my shoes. When I looked back up, my brothers had worry lines etched on their foreheads, but my mother had a proud look on her face. It was my destiny to save the world, and she couldn’t have been any more proud to be my mother.
“What do I do? I’ve done as much training as I could, how do I learn to control my powers without any help?” I said quietly, fear and worry filling my mind as I looked at my family expectantly. The look on their faces told me that they knew something that I didn’t.
“You already have your help right in front of you. You know who it is, you may hate him for what he did to you but you have to let him in. He will be your greatest source of strength and your only weakness. Use your bond to your advantage, you are being given a mate for a reason, to protect you, to love you,” my mother replied, her lips twitching as a small formed on her lips, a look of determination in her brown eyes.
“But … why him? You knew he was going to reject me, so why did you choose him as my mate?” I countered, a small part of me angry at my mother.
“Even I don’t know my own concept of mates. When I see two werewolves, I have this special feeling that they are destined to be together. The moment that I felt Jace would be your soul-mate, I was sad, sweetheart. I knew that he hurt you before and I knew what was going to happen once he knew that you were his mate. He will help you, in more ways than you can imagine and you will have to accept his help. He was destined to be your mate and even I couldn’t control that feeling that I have. You know what you have to do. Go back to him. We will always be with you, no matter what. Your brothers and I will look after you from here, you will always have our protection wherever you go. Now go, my dear, go back to reality and prepare for battle,” my mother said before they slowly faded in front of me.
I reached out towards them before bringing back my arms to my sides, sending them a sad smile. My family waved goodbye at me, a proud expression on their faces. They were proud of me and I broadened my smile as I waved back.
Darkness consumed me once again as I closed my eyes, waiting for reality to strike me. My first sense of real life was the slow sound of a heart monitor. My steady heartbeat brought a small smile to my lips. I felt tingling on my right hand, a soothing feeling, a sense of warmth engulfing me. I cautiously opened my eyes, a bright light above me blinding me. I let out a soft groan before raising my left arm to shield my eyes from the light.
“Caroline?” a hoarse voice sounded from my right.
The light was moved away from above and I adjusted my sight to see clearly. I looked around the room, it was completely white and smelled of medicine. I was in the pack infirmary, the one place that I had never visited. A face covered my vision, a face clouded with relief and worry. Jace searched my eyes, looking for any sight of pain. I smiled at the look of worry on his face, it warmed me that I meant something to him. His eyes were bloodshot and the bags under his eyes didn’t go unnoticed. His hair was a complete mess and it looked like he hadn’t eaten in weeks.
“You look like shit,” was the first thing I said to my mate.
He let out a relieved and nervous chuckle, looking down at me with adoration. He brought his hand up to cup my cheek making me unwillingly lean into his palm. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling for a moment. Reluctantly, I leaned away, looking away when I saw the hurt and pain flash through his eyes.
“How long was I gone?” I asked softly in a quiet voice.
“Just over a month,” his voice cracking at the end. “Oh god, Caroline, you have no idea how scared I was. One minute, you were screaming in pain, next minute, you were an unconscious wolf. Do you have any idea how I felt? I thought you were going to die Caroline! The moment you shifted back to your human form, I carried you here. The pack doctor managed to stabilise you but he said that if I hadn’t brought that early, you could have died. I spent every day next to you. I couldn’t sleep, I would cry every night and I’ve barely touched any food. I was dying inside. You were so pale and you looked on the verge of death. One day, your heart started to slow down, your heart rate went down to a straight line. You died! You died and if the doctor didn’t bring you back, I would probably have died as well. I lost you for a few minutes and those minutes were the worst minutes of my life. I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m such a shitty mate, you don’t deserve me and I feel like a complete asshole about what I did to you. Please, just give me a chance. I can’t lose you, Caroline, you are the most important thing that I have. The moment I saw you, the moment when I realised that you were my mate, I hated you. Hell, I despised you! I blamed you on your father’s death and so did everyone else. When I rejected you, I was so guilty and you were the only thing that I could think of. Then, you came back and started singing. The determination in your eyes and your voice, it was amazing. When you started talking, the words you were saying, it affected the whole room. I could feel it, everyone was shocked and amazed at what you did. The way you fought showed how skilled and strong you were. The way you looked when I rejected you. The way you left after our fight. The strength that you had, after all these years, it was so …. impressive. I’ve never been in love before. I’ve never even had any real feelings for any girl before. But, when I’m around you, I’m getting there. I’m falling hard, Caroline. Falling in love with you.”
My head snapped up so fast, it could have given anyone a whiplash. His head was down but his shoulders were shaking. His hand was clenched into a fist, next to my frail one. Teardrops landed on the bed as his body racked with soft sobs. To say I was shocked was an understatement. I never would have thought that Jace could actually say that, to me nonetheless. I could practically hear my brothers snickering from above chanting, “I told you so.” Tears welled up in my eyes as I stared at my mate, his words replaying in my head. I shifted in my bed, so I could sit up. I took my left hand and intertwined it with his, taking my right hand and lifting his face to look at mine. The way he looked at me warmed my heart but the pain in his eyes were the most noticeable. I searched his blue eyes for any sign of a lie. There wasn’t any, he was saying the truth. Tears were streaming down his face and I squeezed his hand tightly. I leaned closer and placed my lips on his soft ones. He was surprised, I could see that but he responded, moving his lips against mine. The kiss was gentle with all of our emotions flowing into it. Slowly, I pulled away and rested my forehead on his. Opening my eyes, I looked at him, a soft smile playing on each of our lips.
“You were right about one thing, you are an asshole,” I said, making him flinch and trying to pull his hand away from mine. I tightened my grip on his hand, “But, that was the cheesiest thing that I have ever heard. The memories of what you did isn’t going to away so easily but I’m willing to try. You’re my mate and I’m going to have to learn to put up with you for the rest of my life. But you only get one chance Jace, you blow it and I’ll never come back. One chance, that’s all I’m giving you.”
I pulled away and waited for a response. His face was priceless, the shock and disbelief on his face was evident. So many emotions filled his eyes, happiness being the most noticeable. A silent moment passed before he abruptly stood up from his chair and pulling my face to his, placing kisses all over my face. When he pulled away, he pranced around the room doing a weird victory dance and fist pumping the air. I shook my head amusedly at him, laughing at my mate’s weirdness. Halfway through his dance, the pack doctor entered the room, halting in his steps when he saw Jace dancing around the room. His eyes widened in shock before flickering his eyes to me, realisation replacing the shock on his face. I placed my hand on my mouth, trying to muffle the giggles from escaping my mouth. Jace still didn’t realise that there was someone else in the room. Looking at the doctor, I could see his eyes get foggy and I knew he was mind-linking someone. He looked at me, amusement swimming in his eyes and I removed my hand to mouth a silent word. He understood and left the room, only to return with a video camera in his hand and a crowd of people behind him. The doctor started recording while the others looked on, muffling their own laughter along with mine.
Jace finally looked at me and his face lit up with happiness. I couldn’t hold it in anymore, I burst out laughing, holding my sides when it started to hurt. I finally had enough strength to point towards the door, where Jace turned to. His face turned red in embarrassment as the pack members started laughing as well. The pack doctor was still videoing all of the action and Jace looked straight at it before narrowing his eyes at it and slowly creeped towards the doctor. My mate was about to pounce before the doctor realised what was going on and tossed the camera to me. I picked it up and started videoing Jace about to pounce on the doctor. He glared daggers at me but I could see the playfulness on his face. I finished recording his embarrassment and put the camera down. The crowd simmered down and soon started dissipating. When it was just the pack doctor left, Jace huffed and crossed his arms on his chest like a little child.
“So, Caroline, it’s good to see you awake. How are you? Are there any signs of pain?” the pack doctor asked kindly.
“No sir, I feel perfectly fine. I think a month of rest was enough to heal me,” I replied with a reassuring grin.
“Alright then, I’ll see you tomorrow to check up on you again. If you are completely okay by then, you would be able to go home again,” the pack doctor said before leaving the room, leaving me and my mate alone.
Jace made his way to my side and sat down on the bed, taking my hand in his and rubbed circles on it with his thumb. He had a large smile on his face and he had a happy expression, my face mirroring his.
“You tired?” he asked, softly.
“A little bit. I mean laughing at you takes a lot of energy,” I said, an amused smirk forming on my face.
“Ha ha, so funny. Once you get out of this bed, I will get my revenge on you. Just you wait. Until then, it’s time to sleep,” his countered, a smirk of his own playing on his lips
My reply was simply a large yawn. I moved aside, leaving a space between me and the side of the bed. I patted the empty side of the bed and motioned him to lie down. Jace kicked off his shoes and lay down beside me, bring up the covers to our chests. Jace looked up at the ceiling, lost in his own world. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to him. I rested my head on his chest and breathed in his scent and sighed with happiness. He used his free hand to play with my hair, a soothing feeling taking over me. I was drifting to sleep when I felt him pulling away. I snapped my eyes open and grabbed his hand.
“Stay. Please,” I whispered tiredly. I closed my eyes, yawning once again, my hand slipping from his grasp. I sighed, disappointed when his warmth left me.
The bed dipped beside me and I felt him crawl towards me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer.
“Always,” he replied, kissing the top of my head.
I smiled and fell asleep like that. For once, in years, I had a dreamless sleep. It was the best sleep that I could get, wrapped in the arms of my mate.
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Author's note
Sooo ??? How was that? I hope this is a long update and I hope that you'll like it. It is not edited so you might come across some grammar mistakes. Other than that.... tell me what you think
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