*Warning! Mature themes are mentioned in this chapter such as bullying, mental health and rape. If these trigger/upset you, please do not continue reading after Kaden and Luna go to the lake for a swim. Skip the rest. It is not my intention to hurt/upset anybody, I have warned you beforehand.
Chapter Thirty-Five – A Night Full of Secrets: Part 2.
I'm confused but decide to go along with it and wrap up in my coat and boots. We make our way down the stairs and I look up just in time to see Kaden grabbing hold of a basket. I had not even noticed that because of my mate using his speed to take me up to his room.
"We're having a picnic?!" I ask excitedly, bouncing on my toes before I realize something and freeze. "When did you prepare a basket?"
He bites his lip before smiling, a guilty look in his eyes. "I may have lied about taking a walk in the clearing."
My jaw drops before I sigh, nodding and wrapping my arm around his waist. He murmurs an apology, pressing a firm kiss to my forehead before pulling me out to the patio. At first, I think we are going to eat out here but then Kaden starts guiding me behind his house and into the forest that surrounds the place.
About halfway into the walk, Kaden stops and tells me to close my eyes. I immediately refuse, worrying about tripping over the multiple rocks, vines and fallen branches we have already come across. Eventually, he reassures me and I let him lead the way.
After a few minutes of walking, he tells me to open my eyes. I see that we have arrived at a clearing in the woods. I am in awe over how magical everything looks under the silver glow of the moonlight. There is a lake to our right with beautiful flowers growing around it that I saw when I was with Ajax.
But, that's not what I notice first.
My attention is fixated on the large blanket being held down by rocks placed at each corner. Battery operated string lights are weaved around the branches in the trees and lanterns are set on the ground with small candles burning away, providing us with a warm glow as light.
"Oh my god!" I gasp, turning to Kaden with a huge grin. "You did all this for me?"
He smiles and nods, gently leading me to the blanket. "Do you like it?"
"I love it!" I exclaim, taking a seat on the blanket. I glance up to the sky, marvelling at how I can see so many twinkling stars in the darkening sky. "It's beautiful here."
He hums in response before taking out the food he has packed for tonight. I accept the chicken wrap he hands to me, taking a bite as he passes me my drink. He pulls me close so that my side rests against his body and I happily lean my head on his shoulder.
"How did I get so lucky to have someone like you as my mate?" I muse, popping a grape in my mouth.
His chest vibrates as he laughs, pressing a lingering kiss to my cheek. "It's the other way around, Luna."
"Nope." I shake my head in refusal, taking a sip of my drink before speaking again. "How can I not be the lucky one when you do such cute things like this?"
"I want to make you happy, you deserve so much more." He murmurs gently, running his fingers through my hair.
"You do make me happy." I smile softly, leaning up and pressing a kiss to his jaw.
He growls huskily, nuzzling his nose into the crook of my neck. I sigh and wrap my arm around his waist, cuddling closer when I feel the cold wind caress my face. We resume eating, talking about anything and everything under the crescent moon hanging in the midnight sky.
It's later in the night when I notice something move from the corner of my eye. Turning, I blink when I see something flit from one side of the lake to the other in a second. I gasp, shaking Kaden excitedly to gain his attention.
"Whoa! Do you see that?!" I exclaim, pointing to the small mythical creature with purple hair and glowing lavender eyes.
Kaden chuckles and nods when I turn to look at him. "This part of the forest gets a lot of magical visitors. Those are faeries."
"Wow." I mumble, completely entranced by others revealing themselves.
There are blue haired fairies that are dancing on the water, their tiny feet creating the smallest of ripples. Green haired fairies flying from one flower to the other, their skin sparkling in a various tones of color.
"I'll show you after I pack these things away." He states, getting up to place the food containers back in the basket.
The purple fairy looks at me and beckons me closer by her small hand, flying away to another spot. I shake my head but there's a gnawing curiosity within me, wanting to be sated. She twirls higher before the sound of her melodious laughter reaches my ears as she flies away.
I get up and follow her, there is an urge inside me to know where she is going. I forget about my surroundings, everything becomes a blur and all I can focus on is the purple glow leading me on. As soon as I pass a large tree, I pull away long vines to reveal a completely different realm.
It's bright and sunny, flowers that I have never seen before are blooming everywhere and there are fairies flying around. It looks so beautiful and I crave to explore the place. I glance at the purple haired fairy who is hovering in the air by my head.
"Come." She smiles, flying ahead before turning back to look at me, beckoning me with her finger.
I nod absentmindedly, starting to take a step when suddenly, I am pulled back harshly making me snap out of my trance. I blink away the haziness in my eyes, looking around to see that I'm deep in the woods. What's frightening is that I was about to fall off a cliff that overlooked the river flowing from beside Kaden's house.
"F*ck Luna! I told you to wait, why didn't you listen to me?!" Kaden yells angrily, gripping my shoulders.
"I-I'm sorry...the fairy...she – I don't know what happened." I whisper, rubbing my eyes in frustration.
He growls before looking around, intertwining our hands tightly as he starts walking towards the clearing again. I'm shocked to see how far that fairy had lead me. It only felt like I had been walking for a few minutes. Eventually, we reach the clearing again and Kaden sits back down on the blanket.
"Faeries are mischievous creatures and some are dangerous and unpredictable. We cannot distinguish them easily, so it's hard to know which side they are on." He explains, pulling me onto his lap and embracing me tightly. "They love to manipulate humans and what you just experienced is called confusion inducement. She messed with your mind and mislead you. If I had not found you in time, she would have made sure you slipped off that cliff."
A shuddering breath escapes me at how easy it is for those tiny creatures to manipulate someone. I clutch on to the material of his shirt, resting my head on his shoulder. He growls protectively, deeply inhaling my scent.
"Do faeries um...poop glitter?" I mutter, feeling his chest vibrate underneath me as he laughs.
"No, their skins are naturally like that." Kaden smirks, laying us down so we are looking up at the starry night sky.
"Are the blue and green ones harmless?" I mutter, pointing to the ones that are still by the lake.
His hold loosens and I can tell that he is trying to relax himself. The fairy has shaken both of us up and I'm not too fond of her right now for almost killing me. He rests his chin on my shoulder and nods, warm breaths escaping his lips and tickling my skin.
"Yes, but they are wary of other supernaturals and mostly keep to themselves, so we have to be careful if we go near them." He explains, rubbing his thumb across the skin of my hand. "Do you want to get closer?"
I nod, my gaze still focused on the tiny creatures. Kaden pulls me up before we take slow steps towards the lake. Eventually, we reach the edge and take a seat. My eyes are wide in astonishment as I watch them fly around and play.
The blue faeries are water faeries with black hair and their clothes seem to be made of raindrops. I glance at the flower fairies and watch their glowing, green hair sway lightly in the wind as they move from plant to plant. Upon closer inspection, I realize that they are wearing strapless dresses made from green leaves.
The water fairies take longer to relax around us and before long, they are flying towards Kaden and I, beckoning us to take a dip in the water. I laugh lightly, shaking my head in refusal as Kaden stands and takes off his shirt and jeans, leaving him barefoot and only in his boxers.
"Come on, little moon." He chuckles, the water coming up to his waist.
"Is it cold?" I ask, dipping my hand in the water only to gasp in surprise when I find it to be warm.
"They can change the temperature." He wades closer before taking my hand. "Come, just for a little while."
I smile and nod, watching as he turns and swims back to the other side. Taking off my clothes, I am only left in my bra and underwear when I slip into the water. A soft hum escapes me when the warm water envelopes me, an arm wrapping around my waist and pulling me flush against a rock-hard torso.
I open my eyes to see Kaden's playful ones. Frowning in confusion, I am just about to ask what he is up to when he splashes water at me. Squealing in surprise, I swim away and splash back, laughing when he yells at me to stop. I go underwater and swim around to his back, watching him look around for me. He cries out in shock before chuckling when I jump on his back, water running down my hair and onto his bare chest.
"No, no, no! Kaden!" I laugh as he tips forward and we both end up underwater.
I cough as I come up for air, wrapping my arms around his neck when he wades closer. The water fairies are giggling as they fly about, bringing a vibrant glow to the water. After playing around in the water some more, we finally decide to get out.
Just as I am wondering how we're going to dry ourselves without towels, three faeries fly by and a gust of wind has dried my body completely. My jaw drops in disbelief as I stare down at my body. Kaden turns to me after he is dressed, grinning boyishly when he notices that I am still dazed.
But that grin drops when I am in the middle of putting my top on. "Luna...what's that on the side of your thigh?"
"Oh...um, just a scar." I mumble, avoiding his curious gaze as I pull on my jeans.
"Luna." He spoke firmly, knowing right off the bat that I'm hiding something from him.
I sigh, bringing my knees up to my chest as we took a seat on the picnic blanket again. "I guess I owe you an explanation since you told me about yourself too. I um..."
"Take your time." He whispers, draping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close.
"I was bullied in school. I was shy and because of that I didn't have many friends so I kept to myself. I did well in school though, but the other students weren't so nice. They would force me to do stupid things and if I didn't, they'd make it so I had to either hide bruises from my parents or a limp in my walk." A shaky breath escapes me as I recall the horrible memories. "At first I thought that if I did what they asked then they would stop hurting me but it only got worse. The boys started getting vulgar and I feared being seen in school."
A thunderous, dark growl escapes Kaden and he pulls me onto his lap so that I straddle his waist. I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him, stroking his hair to keep him calm as I continued. I must tell him the full story, it was only right that he knew my secrets like I knew his.
"I was only shy and I didn't understand why that was something to be bullied for. It got so bad that I started having night terrors, anxiety and depression. For a while I thought it was okay not to tell anyone, I still lived with the false hope that everything would eventually get better. This scar is when one of the girls cut me in the school bathrooms, telling me that I should just kill myself. I hate that I couldn't stand up for myself. The truth came out when I ended up being drugged and nearly raped one night at a party before my brother and his friends found me."
"F*ck!" Kaden roars, his body trembling in anger.
I pull back to how much he would allow me to put distance between us before kissing him. Caressing his cheek, I let myself lose myself in the way his soft lips press against mine, tingles shooting down my spine making me shiver. But before it can go any further, I pull away and smile. I need to tell my story, I need him to know. So, I continue.
"I finally broke down and told my parents of everything that had been happening. After that the police were involved and the students were being charged. I completed my last year of school in Amsterdam before starting afresh in Berlin. I couldn't be there anymore with people staring at me with pity and like I was fragile. It was suffocating me." I whisper, my shoulders sagging as I end my story.
"I'm going to kill every one of those bastards -"
"No." I shake my head, pleading him with my eyes. "They have all been dealt with."
"They hurt you over a ridiculous, childish reason. I bet they got away with community service or some shit." He snarls, his nails digging into my skin making me wince.
"The students who would hurt me were given community service but the guys who spiked my drink and attempted to rape me were charged." I explain, watching his dark eyes meet mine.
"I am so sorry you were put through that, angel." His voice filled with sorrow as he stares at me with sadness.
I shrug, resting my head against his chest, wanting to be closer. I feel safe in his arms, like nothing can ever hurt me again. It's like a weight has been lifted off my chest and I feel lighter now that Kaden knows about my past.
"My family helped me so much, they were there every step of the way and encouraged me to go to therapy. When I told them that I wanted to study in Berlin, they were sad to see me go but they accepted my decision." I whisper, playing with the buttons of his shirt.
"I will do everything in my power to keep you safe, Luna. I promise, you won't hurt again." He murmurs, tilting my chin and kissing me deeply.
"Thank you." I mumble against his lips when we pull away for air, staring into each other's eyes.
I shiver when the air becomes colder, the wind making my hair dance wildly. Kaden stands and turns off the string lights, blowing out the candles in the lanterns before picking up the blanket and turning to me. I intertwine our hands with a soft smile, holding the rolled-up blanket as we make our way back to his house.
"Please don't go tonight." He pleads in a low voice, glancing at me before focusing on the path ahead, his jaw clenched. "My beast and I won't be able to handle you leaving."
"I'm right here." I smile, wrapping an arm around his waist in reassurance.
And we continue walking in comfortable silence, content with just the sounds of our footsteps and an owl hooting away in the distance. What a night it had been.
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Be kind to every person you come across, you never know what they are or have been going through. Kindness doesn't cost anything, even something as small as a smile can go a long way. ❤️
Next update: Tuesday!
- R.W.