-- Please read the author's note at the end of the chapter --
Brooke's POV
I sighed, exasperated, and plopped myself down on the couch. The plane that would take us to Panama, was scheduled to take off this evening. We, as in me and Jace, were already packed and ready to go. That was clearly not my dilemma. The problem was, that Jace had allowed me to take a friend along with me for company, and unfortunately, I had no one to bring. If you had not already noticed, I was not the most sociable person there was. I had in fact, only two friends – Taylor and Remy. Cayden, who due to fact that he had to look after the pack while Jace was away and could not follow us to Panama, had forbade Taylor to tag along, stating that he could not survive so long without his mate. Taylor had no choice in that matter. Remy, had no choice either. She had been put in charge of training some of the teenagers in the area of fighting, which made a lot of sense seeing as she is the pack’s assassin.
I had two choices at this point of time. A, I could make a friend and ask her to come with. That would be a challenge. I truly was not very sociable. Or B, I could suck it up and just go with Jace, alone. The choice of the latter seemed to be the more reasonable one. However, the thought of going anywhere alone with Jace gave me mixed feelings. On one hand, I felt rather uneasy about it. Yet, I also felt a sense of happiness, and the thought had given me goose bumps.
“Brooke?” Jace’s voice instantly snapped me out of my thoughts. He saw me on the couch, and continued talking, “We will be staying with the Light Dawn pack, while in Panama. They will be protecting us, as well as giving us a place to stay, and food to eat, so you have to be on your best behavior.” I perfectly understood him, and what he said had made perfect sense. I nodded, masking my annoyance. The tone he had chosen to use on me, was not something I liked. He didn’t treat me like I was his mate and the Luna, and I hated it.
He did not notice my irritation, and passed me a brochure of Panama to look at, while he went to settle some Alpha business. I took it, and flipped through it. Until recently, I had never heard of Panama. It was a country, located in the southernmost country of Central America, near Columbia. I looked at the pictures the brochure contained, in awe. Panama was indeed a beautiful country, and I could see why the Oracle lives there, besides the obvious geographical reasons.
Then, I realized something. Panama was a huge country, and had a population of over three million people. How were we, supposed to find one person in the whole of Panama? The only clue we had as to where he was or how to find him, was his appearance of both himself and his house. I shook my head; I should not worry too much. He couldn’t be too hard to find. From the vision, I could already tell he lived in the less congested part of the country, in someplace where everybody hardly went to. It should be easy to find him from here.
I got up from the sofa, feeling bored. I looked at the time. It was already four o’clock in the afternoon. Our flight was at 7. The airport was about an hour drive from the pack house, hence we would have to leave the house at around 6. Two more hours, I thought.
I flipped to a random channel on the television, deciding to watch a movie to kill time. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was on, and that was the movie that I watched for the next two hours.
Before I knew it, Jace was already standing at the front door was our luggage, calling my name. It was time to leave for the airport.
“I’m going to miss you so much!” Taylor said, hugging me tight.
Laughing, I said my ‘goodbye’s and hugged Taylor and Remy. Jace tugged my arm; I sighed. It was time to go. I knew I had to go to Panama, and find the Oracle, because he would be a major help to us in this problem of ours. But I didn’t want to go. For the pack, I would have to.
Jace walked me over to a car that was parked outside of the pack house. I got in, to the passenger seat. Before I knew it, he already started driving, and we began our journey to the airport.
“When do you think the war will happen?” I said, trying to start a conversation between us, for the awkward silence in the air was starting to get to me. I, for one, could never deal well with awkwardness.
He sighed, as if this was something that had been bothering him for a long time. “I don’t know, Brooke. It could happen next week, like what the rogue said, because they already planned it on that day. Or, they could shift the date to an earlier or later date so they would have the advantage of surprise. I really don’t know.”
He had a point, and now, I was too as confused as ever. “I don’t know either. But I was hoping the Oracle could tell us the details.”
“We can’t depend on the Oracle for everything. He probably doesn’t know much about it. And even if he does, he would speak it in the form of a prophecy, which would bring about more confusion because they’re always hard to interpret.” Jace said.
“I know, but what other option do we have? I’m just afraid they’ll take us by surprise, or when we’re still in Panama.” I was truly scared of that prospect. We barely had anytime to train, or plan anything. If they attacked now, we would all die, for sure.
He shook his head. “No, they won’t. They won’t attack because then they won’t be able to find what they’re looking for.”
“What are they looking for?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.
He hesitated, and I knew that he didn’t want to tell me, yet he felt that I should know. “You.” He said, pointedly.
My eyes went wide, in an instant. This was all news to me. Jace had never mentioned this to me before, and he probably should’ve, since this concerns me. “M…Me?” I stuttered.
He nodded grimly. From the look on his face, I could tell he wanted to talk about this no more. His eyes were turning darker and darker with each passing second. I didn’t dare myself to speak, for he seemed too angry at this point. Don’t get me wrong; I was immensely curious too at this point. But I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to anger him more than he already was. I wasn’t going to risk it.
I kept quiet on my part, for the next hour, and rarely attempted to make small talk with Jace. Occasionally though, I would glance over at him, and observe him quietly. I was sure he noticed my strange glances, but he thankfully said nothing about it, and chose to ignore it.
He had the same idea as me, too. Throughout the entire ride in the car, I would catch him, from the corner of my eye, sneaking the smallest of glances at me. Likewise, I kept my mouth shut. I guess we both didn’t want to complicate the situations – both our relationship status, and the mission assigned to us.
I glanced over at him, again. This time, studying his facial features carefully. Only now, did I notice how tired he has become. From the creases in his forehead, to the eye bags under his eyes, to his slightly sunken cheeks, then to the small stubble on his chin; I noticed it all.
Noticing that he seemed to be in deep thought, I talked for the first time in minutes. “What are you thinking about?” I asked him.
“I was just thinking about how to find the Oracle. I mean, we don’t know where he lives. All we know is how his house looks like. Though I am quite certain he lives in a remote area outside the city. That way nobody would attack him or anything. That’s pretty much all we know,” He sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck, “I worry we won’t be able to find him.”
I shook my head, adamantly. “We will find him. The Moon Goddess wanted us to, she would help us.” This, I was very sure. The Moon Goddess wouldn’t send us on a mission, which we could not complete.
“I hope so.” Jace said, and after those words left his lips, we lapsed in complete silence once more.
Within minutes, we had reached the airport. Jace checked us in, and did the necessary things before our flight. It didn’t take long for us to be ready, and seat ourselves in the plane.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Please buckle your seatbelts, we are ready for takeoff.” The voice of a flight attendant boomed through the intercom. I buckled my seatbelt, and as did Jace.
As the plane started to take off, I squeezed my eyes shut. I had never done well in planes, especially during the takeoff. The plane would always feel so shaky, as if it was about to crash any minute. I absolutely hated it. I grabbed the nearest thing to me, and clutched it tightly, praying for the plane to hurry up and takeoff as quickly as possible.
I never realized, until after I opened my eyes again, that I had grabbed Jace’s hand, in my moment of fear and panic. He had not objected, as he obviously noticed my fear. I blushed beetroot when I opened my eyes again and realized that I was clutching his hand.
I removed my hand quickly, and avoided his eyes.
The five hour flight to Panama would have been grueling and boring, if it weren’t for the movies that I watched on the plane, to pass time. By the time we reached our destination, it was already midnight. We alighted the plane, and left the airport in the limousine, that the Light Dawn pack had sent to collect us, but not before I admired Panama in the moonlight. The brochure Jace had given me had been correct – Panama was indeed a beautiful country.
I was exhausted, and could no longer wait to get in a bed, and sleep. We were lucky; the pack house was only five minutes away from the airport. The Alpha greeted us as soon as we entered the house.
“Alpha Asher.” I greeted him, with what I hoped looked like a grateful smile, on my face.
He greeted us, with equal enthusiasm. Seeing as it was already past midnight, he showed us straight to our rooms, saying that we’ll talk tomorrow instead, for it was already getting late. We didn’t want to object.
“This will be your room.” He said, gesturing to the door in front of us.
“Wait. Room? Like singular?” I asked.
He nodded, “Yes, is there a problem?”
Jace answered for me. “No.” He said, shaking his head. With that, Jace entered the room, and pulled me in with him, leaving no time for arguments.
I crossed my arms, and stared at him, waiting for an explanation. I didn’t want to stay in the same room as him. How could he just agree to it without my permission?!
He sighed, for like the tenth time today. “I told you we had to pretend to be a couple.”
That didn’t seem like the only reason, to me. But I didn’t voice out my thoughts, because the only thing that really bothered me now, was that I had to share, and be in the same room, alone…
With Jace.
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Please read the author's note
Hello again :)
So, thank you for reading.
The thing is, the next chapter will be updated later than usual. I have two reasons for this. First off, my holidays have started, and I have been super busy, that I barely have time to come on Wattpad. Of course, I will come on whenever I can, and update as soon as possible.
Secondly, because I want to rewrite the first few chapters first, because let's face it, they suck. So that will probably take some time to do.
I will not be gone for too long, so don't worry. I will try my very best to get the next chapter up in two weeks, or if I have the time, one week. If I do take longer than that, I apologize.
I hope you guys will understand. I'm really, truly sorry about this. And I promise you that the next update will be longer, to make it up to you guys. Sorry, again.
Oh, and I've actually been running out of books to read on Wattpad, and I was wondering if you have any suggestions? It can be of any genre, though I prefer books from the romance or werewolf category. If you want me to read your own books, just comment below! I don't mind! In fact, I would love to read your books :)
If you have any story ideas for this book at all, feel free to message me, at any time :)
Once again, I thank you for reading. I really appreciate it. I hope you liked this chapter. Sorry, I know its a little boring...
Please remember to fan,comment,vote.
~claudia
P.S. Song at the side for this chapter, chapter 22 :)