Six (Edited)
Colton and I pull into the driveway of my childhood home and I feel comforted by the familiar setting. I've made so many beautiful memories in this house with my little family that consists only of my mom and Smith. I'm reluctant to leave these little pieces of me behind but, at the same time, I know I'll make amazing new ones with Colton in a house of our own.
"You okay?" Colton asks, breaking me out of my sentimental moment. I nod and throw the car door open in excitement. It's been only a day since I've seen her but I seriously miss my mom. She's been one of my only best friends for years and it felt weird waking up this morning without the smell of breakfast cooking (her favorite meal to make).
I take my worn out key from my back pocket and slide it into the lock, opening the door for Colton and I. "Mom! I'm here!"
Shuffling comes from the kitchen and my mom comes around the corner looking more frazzled than I've ever seen her. I give her a questioning glance and we fall into an awkward silence until Colton clears his throat with a friendly smile on his face. "Hi, Mrs. Blackwell. I'm so sorry for the intrusion, but I just wanted to stop by and make the acquaintance of my beautiful mate's mother."
The first thing I think is that he's being a total suck up and just lied to my mom about why we're really here, but when I see her relax a little I know he's only doing it for her sake. I send a grateful smile his way before I approach my mom and envelop her in a hug, "How are you, mom? I didn't get a chance to talk to you or Smith yesterday. You both kind of disappeared on me." I chuckle. Mentioning our talk a few hours prior with Colton in the room didn't seem like the best idea.
"Oh, I'm fine honey. Smith and I had something to attend to. Plus, another pretty girl caught his eye and he was instantly putty in her hand." She smiles although I know my mom well enough to see that it's forced. Did she sound like this on the phone?
A ringing interrupts my mom and I, but Colton apologizes and walks out the front door to take it. Looking back to my mom, she frantically grabs my arm and pulls me close to her, "Cassia, there's something very, very important I must tell you. It's about-" her hushed whispering is cut off by my mate walking back in. What the heck is going on? Why couldn't she have told me whatever this is earlier?
"I'm so sorry to do this but I have a problem I must take care of. I'll be back to pick you up later, Cassia. It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Blackwell." He strides up to me and kisses my forehead before quickly leaving my mother's house. I wonder what has him so worried?
"Come. Sit," my mom orders, dragging me to the couch. Colton is pushed to the back of my mind as I await for whatever important news she has to tell me. "Now that he's gone I can do this right. Smith! Get down here!" Smith? Smith is here? Usually I can smell him if he's here.
All of a sudden, Smith appears right before my very eyes and I fall off the couch in shock. Is my mind playing tricks on me?
"S-Smith? What the hell was that?!" I exclaim, pinching myself in case this is a dream.
"HA! I did it! I win! I knew once I pulled that trick off I would get you to cuss. A weak cuss word, yes, but still an explicit word!" he screams, fist pumping the air. Well, obviously this isn't a dream. Smith is still his childish self which means that he really appeared out of thin air. Since when is that normal?! And why is my mom just sitting there like it's no big deal?!
"Explain!" I manage to choke out. Smith laughs and runs a hand through his brown hair. He starts to say something but my mom cuts him off, "There is no way in heck I'm letting you explain this to her. You would find some way to screw it up."
"I don't care who explains it as long as someone talks," I growl out in frustration.
"All right, honey. Just please don't interrupt and no questions until the end, okay? There is going to be a lot of... stressful information and I really need you to keep a level head. It's my fault and I should have told you this a long time ago, but I thought the chances of him being your mate were really slim. Keeping you in the dark seemed like the best thing to do but that's not really an option anymore. I couldn't tell you over the phone, either. This is definitely something that needs to be explained. I'm going to put this bluntly- you're in danger." Her words slowly register in my brain and I nod my head. My wolf had warned me about being in danger this morning, is it possible that this is the same danger Zara was talking about?
"I'm going to have to start from the beginning for you to fully understand everything, sweetie. It all begins with your father- your real father. Evan Blackwell, Peacekeeper of this pack, did not sire you, Cassia. I know he'll always be your father in your eyes, but he's not your biological one. Now, before you start freaking out and asking questions, Evan was my real mate and he chose to raise you as his own. We never got around to having anymore kids because I kept having miscarriages and then he died. Evan was a good man; an honest one. Unfortunately, your real father, he's another story. His name is Julian Wolfe-"
"Wait a second, as in-"
"-I told you not to interrupt, Cassia." I sigh and nod my head for her to continue. I already felt over loaded with information and she's only dropped one bomb of crazy on me.
"As I was saying, his name is Julian Wolfe, and yes, as in the royal family and current king of the werewolves. My family has worked as their servants for centuries- cleaning the palace, throwing the balls, organizing important dinners. It's an honor to serve the royal family; a job I took very seriously. When it happened I was seventeen, same age as you are now. Julian was twenty at the time and had seen me cleaning his room when I first caught his eye. It wasn't uncommon for the servants to have affairs with the royal family, but it was always only with people who were seventh or eighth in line for the throne- never the next in line. Julian wasn't a patient man though, and he was used to getting what he wanted. So, one day, he snapped and forced me to... uh, be with him.
"A couple weeks later I found out I was pregnant with you. He would have forced me to get rid of you if it wasn't for Smith. He was visiting the palace when everything was going on and he... saw something that he'll have to explain himself. Anyway, Smith became your protector and has been ever since that day. Smith is going to continue now that we have the boring history out of the way," my mom finally finishes.
I hold up my hand to shut Smith up as I process everything I was just told. I'm pretty positive I'm going to have a panic attack right now. It's like my entire life I've just been lied to! Does Smith even like me as a friend or does he only tolerate me because he has to? And what about my poor mom? She was raped for goodness-sake and the only person she's had to talk to about it is Smith! Plus, the dad I've looked up to my whole life isn't related to me. How did my life go from normal to utter chaos in less than two seconds?
"So let me recap real quick. My dad isn't actually my dad and my actual dad is the king but he's also a rapist who wants me dead and Smith is some weirdo who knows how to go invisible and was somehow alive when I was in your womb even though I'm pretty sure we grew up together and are the same age?!" I rush out in one breath. Is it possible that I really am in one big dream?
"Yup, pretty much. But you're missing one very important part of the story. So before you have your freak out I highly suggest you listen to me because it gets worse," Smith says in his I'm-always-brutally-honest-in-bad-situations voice.
Putting my head in my hands, I kick him in the chins so he knows to continue, "Basically when you were in your moms belly I had a vision of your future, which I can't tell you because it might alter it, but it was so important that it's absolutely necessary that you stay alive and keep on your course of destiny. The catch here though, is that the only way to have gotten the ball rolling for your future is you finding your mate. Now that you've found him it's my duty to safely get you to the finish line- both of you. You're extremely important to the goddess and although I don't know your entire future, I do know one of many ways it could end up."
Lifting my head up, I look at him with a questioning glare, "So what are you then, if not a werewolf? I've never heard of our kind having that sort of ability and your scent has changed, I don't recognize it. Oh, and please explain how in the heck we were both kids together!"
He smirks and cockily crosses his hands behind his head, a gesture he knows I hate, "Oh, you know, I'm only the oldest and most powerful warlock in the world. I have the ability to transfer my soul to other bodies, kind of like your wolf counterpart, except they have to be newly dead so A) they don't smell bad and B) there isn't a soul still inhabiting it. It's very complicated and when this shit storm is over I'll explain it to you."
"Warlock? I thought they were extinct," I snap, not appreciating his hubris demeanor. My brain doesn't have enough room to even begin addressing his "soul transferring" situation, so I decide to leave it for a later date.
"No, witches are extinct. Those damned Salem Witch Trials got the last of my sisters in black. Stupid humans. I'm surprised they even figured out there were witches living amongst them in the first place, although they also killed a lot of their own kind, too."
I let out a sigh as I try and sort out the thoughts running through my brain. I need to take this one question at a time and try not to overwhelm myself (yeah, too late for that).
"Okay, so, you said that my 'future' has more than one outcome but you've technically only seen that one, so how would you know what er, 'road' I'm taking then? I could be going on the completely wrong course!"
"I would get another vision if that were to ever happen. Whenever you make a choice that is crucial to your future then I get a flash about your new future. It hasn't changed since I last saw it when you were still baking in her oven which means you're on your destined path," he explains.
"How can it be my 'destined path' when I have other paths I can choose from? What if I don't want this so called 'destiny'? I don't even know what you're seeing! My destiny could be to murder every man, woman, and child for all I know! Why do you get to dictate what path is right for me?" I ask with all my anger and frustration and every other emotion that's running through me.
"I don't, our goddess does. I wish I could tell you, Cassia, believe me I do. The only thing I can happily tell you is that it doesn't involve the maiming of 'every man, woman, and child', but it does involve you going through many other hard obstacles. You're going to have to trust me, Cassia. I've known you all your life- we're best friends! You probably think I was faking it, but that's not true. I really enjoy your company although I didn't enjoy having to adopt the lingo of this century. People are honestly getting more and more stupid with every decade that goes by," he complains with disgust in his green eyes.
I groan at my newly complicated life and decide this is enough for today. I don't think I can handle anymore right now. I'm literally two seconds away from exploding.
"Honey, I know this is a lot to ask from you but, unfortunately, it's necessary. We're going to need you to keep this hush hush with Colton. The only reason why we told you was to try and get you ready for what's to come. This doesn't mean that you should change your entire life's routine, but be aware and ready for anything. At the moment your job is to spend time with your mate and love him. There might come a time when that's not possible," my mom warns, sounding a lot like my wolf.
"Zara said practically the same thing you did. She told me earlier today that there was a storm coming and that I need to get ready for it by spending as much time with Colton as I can," I whimper. Thinking about being separated from my mate kills me inside.
"Wait, she actually talked to you today?" Smith asks, scooting to the edge of his seat.
"Yeah, why?"
"If she's already waking up that means whatever we're waiting for is coming sooner than we thought," Smith says, an intense look coming over his face that feels foreign compared to his usually light and playful demeanor. "Lorraine, do you mind giving me a minute alone with Cassia?" My mom nods her head then gets up and goes to the kitchen.
"This is going to be a little embarrassing, but I just want you to know that you don't have to be worried about not having pups with Colton. I know you think you're infertile but that's far from the case, okay? The only reason why you haven't felt a trace of your heat like most females do before they're eighteen is because your wolf is in a dormant phase right now. She'll come to the forefront when you and Colton mate, so use protection unless you want some pups, all right?" he says with the most serious look and not even a snide comment like usual. I want to ask how he knew I was worried about that but I probably won't like his answer. At least that's one thing to check off my list of worries.
I blush a little and say thank you. It feels good to have my mind at ease with one issue, no matter how many other problems have recently popped up. If there's one thing I know for sure, it's that my life is starting to become more complicated than I ever imagined.
(A/N: Yeah, that's right! I updated! Lots of info in this chapter but you can handle it! ;) As you can see, this story is going to be EPIC! Lots of drama, action, romance! My only concern is that I'll leave plot lines open but I'll cross that road when I come to it! Thank you all for so many reads and votes! 4.1k! So amazing! It's seriously crazy! <3)