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My heart was beating uncontrollably fast. I couldn't breathe properly. I was shaking involuntarily.
I was about to hear his voice again for the first time in two years, and despite the fact that I was in love with someone else, a small incoherent part of my heart still held room for him.
Luckily, I wouldn't be the one who would talk to him because I couldn't think straight. I didn't even trust myself enough to have a proper conversation with him, even if we were hundreds of miles away. I could only hope that I had this same unthinkable control over him too. I hoped that my name made him tremble. I hoped memories of us together made him scream in pain.
Alex's finger hovered over the 'call' symbol on his phone and he met my eyes in a question, as if asking me for the hundredth time if I really wanted to do this. Even though we had this conversation many times since last night whether it was in bed or over breakfast, I still hesitated before I nodded at him. I needed to know what his problem was.
The phone was on speaker and the ring seemed to go on for eternity, as if it were mocking my fear. And I could swear that with every second that passed by, regret filled me slowly.
My eyes flew open and I clutched Alex's hand when the ring stopped and a voice finally answered.
"Hello?"
It was unmistakably Dominic's voice. It was much more refined and deeper than I remembered. The wolf inside of me went hysteric and I felt the need to scream. Alex's green eyes flitted over to mine and he held my hand tighter as if to warn me to stay quiet. He ran his thumb over my hand and I calmed down a little, remembering to breathe.
"Hi, I'm calling back on behalf of Destiny Evans as the official spokesperson of the Arctic Lights pack," Alex replied as clear as possible. I noticed he used the same voice as he did when he was in the coffee shop, serving customers. Apparently Dom bought the whole "official spokesperson" thing as he spoke a few seconds later.
"Is Dee, or uh Destiny there?"
I involuntarily gripped onto his hand even tighter when Dominic said my name. My real name. My heart race sped up again.
"Sorry, she's unavailable at the moment. Is there a message you'd like to leave, sir?" Alex responded. He stroked my hair in comfort as we waited in anticipation.
"Yeah. Her old pack, the Dawnlight Breakers have invited her back as respect for the Luna's funeral. Sorry for the late notice as it's in five days from now,"
Alex furrowed his brows and then turned towards me, mouthing the words 'The Luna's funeral?' in utter confusion
Even though I was as perplexed as him, I motioned for him to continue speaking.
"May I please ask, who exactly is calling?" Alex suddenly asked.
"This is Dominic Falbrook, the Alpha," he said, sounding impatient.
I almost fell off the bed. Dom was an Alpha. He was the Alpha. Well fucking shit.
"Alright, I'll pass on the message to Destiny as soon as possible. Thank you for calling. Goodbye."
When Alex ended the call, I held onto both of his hands, hard.
"Alex, what the hell? What the actual hell. Dominic is an Alpha now. . And the Luna's dead? Shit. I don't know what to think. This is--"
Alex placed a gentle hand over my mouth, muffling my words.
"Dest, breathe. It's done, it's over. Calm down," Alex instructed. I closed my eyes and tried to relax. Alex slowly pried his hand off my mouth and I moved over on the bed so I was sitting down next to him. He placed a hand on my back to steady me.
"It's your choice if you want to go back, no one's forcing you to go. Honestly, if you never want to hear from him again, we just block his number and move on," he said.
"No, I think I'm going," I muttered, thumbing the edge of the bedsheet between my fingers. "I might get the chance to see Amber and Arizona again. . Though I also want closure with Dominic."
"That's really brave of you, Dest. You're 18 and can make your own choices, and I know you're trying to be the bigger person here, but it would kill me to see you get hurt by him all over again." Alex sighed, squeezing my shoulder. The dim light of the lamp outlined his features, illuminating his defined jaw and soft lips. His long eyelashes swept over his cheekbones every time he blinked and I wanted to capture this very second.
I swiftly turned around to make sure our room door was closed before leaning in to whisper,
"That's why you need to mark me."
His forest green eyes darkened a few shades and they flitted to my neck.
"Dest-- I want to but. ." his voice sounded strained and he struggled to form the right words as I leaned in closer. He didn't finish his sentence as he met my lips and kissed me until my head began to spin. I held onto his shirt and ran my hand across his jaw. He turned me over and pinned me against the bed, his lips dangerously close to my collar bone. We were both breathing hard.
"I could mark you right here and right now," he purred against my skin. "And it's hard to control myself around you."
He slowly lifted his head up, but still had my wrists pinned on each side of the bed.
"We've come this far, together, Dest, and I don't want to lose you. If we wait a few more days until I turn 21, then the mating bond will definitely last. If I try to mark you right now, the chances that the mark will last until tomorrow morning are slim-- And I don't want to risk a messed up bond when we can still wait." He trailed a few kisses up from my neck to the corner of my lips. "I want everything we have together to last, and I want a strong mating link too. Okay?"
I nodded.
Alex really cared about our relationship, and he was right, it was hard for both of us to hold back. He was also right about being careful about the mating bond; The fact that we weren't predestined mates made it almost impossible for a proper mark to last unless one of us were 21 or older. Too many things in our lives had gone wrong, and we had to make sure that this was not going to be one of them.
A few moments later, Alex lowered his head down onto my chest and nuzzled his face into my neck. He closed his eyes and exhaled softly when I combed my fingers through his silky brown hair. I would wait an eternity for him.
"I'm going to sleep," he murmured, pulling the blanket over us with one hand.
"Then get off of me, fucker," I groaned, trying to push his head away. He didn't budge yet encircled me with his arm.
"You're kind of comfortable," he yawned, shifting his head slightly.
"I kind of don't care," I muttered, rolling my eyes.
"I can feel your heartbeat," he chuckled. "Can you please turn off the lamp?"
"Well no shit, your head is on my boobs," I proclaimed.
"You have nice boobs," he mumbled sleepily.
I could feel my face heat up. Of all the idiots I could've chosen as my mate, it was this one.
"And now your heart race just sped up," he chuckled. I flicked the side of his head and then turned off the lamp.
"Shut up, dumbass, I didn't ask you."
Nevertheless, I fell asleep with a smile on my face, thankful for the idiot.
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The next morning, Alex and I were sitting in the kitchen lounge, lazily draped on the sofas sipping steaming hot mugs of black coffee. I stared at the tendrils of steam that danced out of my dark red mug as Alex went over the details of our upcoming trip.
"So we'd catch a train in around two days, leaving us a night and day before the Luna's funeral. I tried to find a ticket for the day directly before, but since it's on such short notice, all of the seats were booked," Alex clarified.
"That's fine, because I'd have a day to show you around my hometown," I told him. I then sat up straighter from my slouched position next to him and smiled. "I have to take you to this one diner that serves the best iced tea ever. You'd forget about this black coffee in a second, Alex!"
"Pfft, please, I've been drinking black coffee since I was 15. Your crusty iced tea wont do a thing to my addiction," Alex snorted, then proceeded to take a long sip from his mug.
"Don't you dare call Donna's iced tea 'crusty'. It's legendary, I'm telling you. Also, it'll be like taking a drink from a fountain of heaven since it'll be blisteringly hot there. Will a Northerner like you be able to handle it?" I smirked, elbowing Alex.
He rolled his eyes.
"Might I remind you that you've been living up North for almost two years now? Besides, if you can get used to someone like me, you'll be able to handle the heat in your hometown," Alex snickered.
I almost spat out the coffee.
"Did you just--"
Before I could finish my sentence, a high pitched voice squealed from the kitchen entrance.
"DESTY!"
I sat up straighter when I saw young Kate, dashing toward me with her chubby legs and a bright smile on her face. I quickly shoved my mug of coffee in Alex's hand around my shoulder and scooped up Kate in my arms, giving her a hug. The Luna came in behind her, beaming.
"Hi Kate!" I laughed. "Good morning, Luna Arcadia."
The Luna waved with one hand as she held her newborn son, Dylan, in her other arm. He was nuzzled up sleepily against his mother's shoulder.
"Lovely to see you, Kate," Alex said. Kate was about to say something to him when suddenly her round golden eyes flitted to the mugs in Alex's hands. She peered in to the one closest to me and then scrunched up her nose.
"Mommy, I think Alzander is drinking black poison again," she whimpered, swiveling her head around to the Luna.
"Hey, Desty, here is drinking it too," Alex chuckled, indicating to Kate that his arm was around my shoulder and did indeed hold a coffee as well.
Kate furrowed her brows.
"Is Alzander sleeping in your room again? Trolls are not good, Desty," she murmured.
"Damn right I am," Alex winked, whispering in my ear, but loud enough for the Luna to hear. If I had been drinking the coffee in that second, I definitely would have spat it out again. I elbowed him even harder than before and sighed, while Alex failed to keep in his laughter. I looked up at Luna Arcadia to apologize, yet she was laughing too and gave me knowing glance. Kate on the other hand, looked absolutely confused.
I stroked her red curls and closed my eyes, hoping that Alex would one day shut the hell up for his own sake.
"Anyways, sorry about that Luna, really," Alex chuckled. "But Destiny and I were wondering if it's okay if we could take this week off for some personal matters to sort out back at Destiny's hometown."
To my relief, Luna Arcadia smiled warmly.
"Of course . You two have been working so hard on the deliveries and paperwork, and deserve a break. I'll tell Jace tonight," she replied, taking Kate's hand.
"Thank you so much," Alex grinned.
"No problem," she said, as Kate waved goodbye to us.
Alex squeezed my shoulder comfortingly.
"It's time to get packing, Dest," he exclaimed, draining my mug of coffee.
"You know what? I'm going to leave you here if you finish my coffee again," I groaned, grabbing the empty mug out of his hand and looked into disappointingly looked into it.
"You shouldn't be talking, considering you've been doing that to me for two years now," Alex retorted, taking the mug back and standing up to put them in the sink. I stretched out my legs on the now unoccupied sofa.
"I'm going to miss these sweatpants when we leave," I sighed, admiring the soft grey material.
"No one's stopping you from wearing them on the train," Alex called out, rinsing some of the dishes.
I beamed, glad that Alex was not only my mate, but my best friend as well.
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Hi guys, HAPPY 2018!!
How was your new year? I hibernated and then finished Clockwork Prince at 3 am, with tears streaming down my face for Will Herondale. Ah, what a great way to start the year :')
Lmao enough about my depressing ass, thoughts on this chapter though? Kate is just a sweetheart LOL.
Anyways your girl's birthday is coming soon :D Only 4 more days until I get to stuff myself with cake, haha so I'm excited for that.
Alrighty welp thank you so much for reading and voting, I'll catcha' later ✌️
-Popclouds