~~Light Editing~~
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"You're father is alive, and he is the King of Werewolves."
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"What?" I whisper yelled. "He is alive?"
"I believe so. The evidence is highly in his favor."
"Bu- H-How? Wha- When? Why?" I stuttered and whispered, so many questions and feelings hitting me all at once.
"His nickname was Alpha and King, his name is Alex, he is the leader of the CelestialHowls, he sounds like a werewolf from your mothers descriptions, and your mother is human so your father must be a werewolf." Nathan began. "And I know for a fact that the king's name is Alex, he has no known family and the royal pack is called the CelestialHowls."
"There also was no evidence of the crash..." I whispered, putting all the pieces together fully.
"Exactly."
"But if he is a werewolf, then by the way Mom explained meeting him for the first time, it made it sound like he was her mate. Then why did he leave? Why did he fake his death? Why didn't he come back for me?" I asked quietly. Nathan sighed loudly.
"I don't know Bailey. I really don't know..." He said while running his hand over his face. I was still trying to wrap my mind around the thought that my father is still alive. But not only alive, he is a KING for goodness sake. The king of all werewolves!
I didn't voice my thoughts even though I wanted to. I was getting close to used to this new life for me, without Aaron.
Aaron... wait... if Dad didn't leave then I wouldn't have had to live with that monster for 11 years of my life!
"Bailey?" Nathan said softly to me. "What's wrong baby? I feel waves of anger washing off of you. I have never felt this before. What's going on?" His hand slowly touched my arm, instantly calming my nerves down. I took a deep breath and put on a fake smile.
"I'm fine." I whispered. He sighed.
"You don't have to lie around me darling. I can see through that smile and hear the edge in your voice. What's wrong?" I closed my eyes and looked away.
"I-I'm just mad at my father." I whispered. "If he wouldn't have left, I wouldn't have had to live with Aaron..." I heard Nathan growl and I jumped, the hairs on my skin stood straight up and my skin crawled. Nathan saw my reaction and sighed, running his hand over his face again.
"I'm sorry Angel. I wasn't growling at you, I didn't mean to scare you. I just couldn't help it when you spoke his name. He hurt you and he will pay, one day." I kept my mouth closed and nodded my head. I looked out the window and the world became a blur as I wrapped my mind around the thought.
Nathan put his hand on mine but kept his eyes on the road. His large hand completely covered mine. Instead of focusing on the thought of my dad and the things what life would be like if he hadn't left, I focused on the warmth that radiated off of him and the electric shocks coating my hand, spreading up my arm and over my body.
My heart started to flutter as I thought more about Nathan. How he has always been there for me. His eyes, touch, looks, his charm, and more. My heart rate quickened as realization hit me.
He is way to good for me... He is so perfect and I am just so... me. He deserves way more than me. He deserves someone just as perfect. I can't be that someone. Why does he even want me? How does he even want me? I'm nothing special and I am far from perfect. Even if I'm not with him now, he has still ruined me. I am worth nothing and am nothing.
With those old thought coming back and rolling around my head, I felt my heart drop. It felt like a heavy weight was dropped onto my shoulders. I closed my heart and put up a brick wall to my mind, closing off all my feelings.
"Angel, are you ok?" Nathan whispered, I saw him look at me quick and then back at the road. That little glance I could see worry in his deep ocean blue eyes. I just nodded my head but kept quiet. Nathan sighed quietly and started to rub small circles on the back of my hand with the pad of his thumb.
"We are back on our territory Angel, would you like to run the rest of the way home? I always feel better after a run. I feel more free and I let my worries disappear when I am running." Nathan asked me quietly. I looked out at the dark trees, thinking.
"What about the truck being safer?" I asked.
"It will be ok now that we are in our territory. And even if some rogues attack, I can protect you and I have many warriors on call." He assured me. I nodded my head shyly. "Hold on, let me mind link a scout to let them know to bring the truck back to the pack house." After a few seconds, Nathan smiled at me then unbuckles his seatbelt. I followed his lead and unbuckled as well. Once we were out of the truck, Nathan led me into the trees a little ways.
"Do you know how to shift?" He asked me. I shook my head no. "All you have to do is imagine yourself as your wolf, picture your body in your mind, changing and shifting into your wolf form. Does that make sense?" I nodded my head. "Just go behind one of the trees, take off your clothes, tie them loosely around your ankle, and shift. Ok?" I nodded my head. I walked away from Nathan and behind a large tree I saw.
Slightly embarrassed, I peeled off my clothes and tied them loosely around my ankle like he said, then closed my eyes. I imagined my small skinny, pale body and watched in my mind as fur started to cover my body. I pictured my face expanding and stretching into a wolf's. Not long after, I felt a familiar shift of bones. This time it was kind of painful, but not in a bad way. The only way to explain it is like standing up for the first time after sitting in the same position for a long time. When you stretch and everything pops and stretches, a refreshing pain. I stepped out from behind the tree and looked for Nathan.
I jumped unexpectedly when I saw a huge black wolf. At first fear washed over me, I still wasn't used to seeing wolves. The fear quickly went away when I realized it was Nathan. He walked over to me with his head down to my level. He licked my muzzle and rubbed his face against mine.
You ready love?
He asked me over the link. I nodded my head and we started to run, side by side. Nothing but the forest, the starry sky above, and each other mattered. Nathan was right, a run did feel nice, and he was right with the fact that paws sounded like hooves if you listened close enough. We ran for a while, just enjoying each other's company and the wind through our fur.
Can I take you somewhere special Bailey?
Of course Nathan.
Nathan changed direction just a little and I followed. We ran for a few more minutes till we came up to a large hill. He walked up it and helped me every time I slipped on a loose rock or damp grass. Once we finally reached the top, I was awe struck by what I saw. There was a small clearing at the top of the hill with soft grass and beautiful flowers but what was the most beautiful was the sky.
There were no other mountains around so the sky was clear all the way around. I could see the horizon on all sides of me, not a single thing blocking my vision of the sky. The sky was such a dark blue it almost seemed black, and it probably did to any being with normal vision, but thanks to my werewolf vision, I could see the tint of blue among the black.
I gaped in awe at how beautiful it was. The open sky was lit up with glowing stars that covered almost every spot visible. Most of them were white but I could see a few red, blue, and even a green or two. I looked to my side to see Nathan turning around and motioning with his wolf head to do the same. I turned and soon heard Nathan shifting so I followed and slipped off the clothes from my ankle and put them on.
I looked around at the sky in human form as well, finding it was easier to look around and see the stars closer.
"Wow..." I breathed in awe. Nathan chuckled and wrapped his arms around my waist while nuzzling his nose into my neck, breathing in my scent, which I was still getting used to. "I've never seen so many stars at once before." I whispered, my mouth open wide in shock and my eyes darting around, not blinking so I wouldn't miss a single star.
"I know, I found this place when I went for a run one day." Nathan began, sitting down and pulling me with him. I sat in between his legs with my head on his chest and his arms around my waist. "I've never shown anyone this place before, you're the first one." I smiled at that. Nathan set me next to him, laid back and pulled me with him. We were side by side with his arm under my head.
We sat in a comfortable silence together, listening to the sounds of the night and examining all the stars and the beauty of them.
"Hey Nathan?" I whispered, breaking the silence.
"Yes Angel?" His voice vibrated my body slightly.
"Back with... him... he would let me watch a documentary every so often for what he called 'education' and my favorite ones were always the ones about space." I was silent for a few seconds. "You see that blob of mostly white right there?" I pointed to a small white with a tiny bit of red oval shaped spot near the horizon.
"Ya?"
"That is the farthest thing we can see from earth with the naked eye."
"What is it? A star?"
"Not exactly. That is a galaxy. It is called Andromeda. It isn't just one star, it is a trillion! It is around 2.5 million light years away from earth. But we can see it. And all the stars work together to form this beautiful masterpiece that is so beautiful and perfect..." I was quiet for just a little while. "Our sun is just one star in the Milky Way Galaxy... do you know how many stars are in the Milky Way?" I asked.
"I have no idea." He chuckled slightly.
"250 billion stars!"
Space information is one of the few things that I actually found so interesting I remembered every single word they said about it. Space has always fascinated me with the shire size of it, the perfectness (if that's a word...) of it. How enormous, beautiful, and dangerous it is.
"A-And to think," I began, still looking at the stars. "this-this MoonGoddess knew me. She knew me and saved me from him. She gave me to you, out of all the werewolves in the world, she paired me with the best one. The creator of all those stars, galaxies, planets, and everything in between, looked down at me, and saved me. How amazing is that?" I whispered. "Her masterpiece is in the sky. We paint with brushes, but She paints... with stars... " I felt him look at me so I turned my head to the side to see Nathan's face with a huge smile on it. His eyes seemed to sparkle like the night sky. "W-What?" I asked, feeling my face heat up slightly under his stare.
"Nothing... you're just so beautiful... you know that?" He whispered. I felt my cheeks heat up more. "Tell me more about space... I like hearing you talk about it." I smiled hugely.
"Really?" Nathan nodded his head. I looked up at the stars and thought about what next to talk about. "My favorite thing I learned about is the death of stars. The core of a star is made up of solid metals, and the ball of gas that we all see is mainly made up of nitrogen that moves so fast due to the heat, it collides with another molecule of nitrogen gas, causing an explosion outward. The gravity in is perfectly balanced with the explosions out, but when the nitrogen fuel runs out, gravity becomes stronger than the explosions, pulling everything in towards the core, causing it to explode. That is called a Super nova. They are so full of color and light that I personally think it is the most beautiful thing in space. They outshine everything around in with color and minerals which spread across the galaxy to other planets.
What is left behind is a very dense, very fast spinning core called a neutron star. It is the mass of a star condensed to the size of a city! One table spoon of a neutron star is so dense and heavy that on earth, it would slice through the earth all the way to the core like a hot knife and butter! There are three different kinds of neutron stars; a neutron star which is just the core that spins quickly and has a strong gravitational pull which gives off very little light. Then they either turn into, or start as, what is called a pulsar. These things spin so fast that huge, very bright, beams of light shoot out of the poles creating these beams of light and energy, they also have a lot stronger gravitational pull. Pulsars normally turn into Magnetars. These things are super cool in my opinion. Magnetars have one of the strongest gravitation pulls in the universe, they spin so fast that the surface is nearly perfectly smooth with 'mountain ranges' as high as 2 cm! The surface at times is fragile enough to crack, which sends out a blast of energy so strong it normally destroys itself within a few thousand years. They collapse on themselves to create a black whole which is a whole other story..." I went on and on telling him the only thing I really learned about the outside world, if you consider that the outside world... but besides space facts, I really didn't know anything else.
I don't know math, reading, writing, history, technology, how to be social, polite, how the body works, how to live on my own. I never learned another language, barely learned english, how to read music, play music. I never got to experience friends, or teachers... I missed out on a lot...
After a while of just going over a lot of things I knew about space, I yawned and sighed.
"That's a lot of what of what I learned about space..." I sighed, snuggling in closer to Nathan.
"You're amazing... have I told you that?" He whispered in my ear.
"I-I'm just one star in a infinite universe..."
"Some stars shine brighter than others." I smiled genuinely and hid my face in Nathan's chest so he couldn't see my face which was probably as red as a tomato. I yawned again.
"Do you have the energy to go back? Or do you just want to stay here for the night Angel?" He whispered in my ear.
"Is is safe enough to stay here?" I asked, silently not wanting to leave.
"Definitely. I have never encountered anyone here before and it is a very steep hill, we would be able to hear if anything was trying to climb."
"Could we stay? I've never been outside this long before and I don't want to leave the stars."
"Of course Angel." I smiled and snuggled impossibly closer to Nathan and watched the stars with tired eyes. "Sleep," He whispered. "I'll be by your side the whole night." I felt his other hand move a stray hair out of my face and behind my ear. I let my eyes drift close, my last thoughts of the day was;
'What did I do to deserve such an amazing mate?'
"What life knocks you down, roll over and look at the stars." -Debra Henson
"One small crack does not mean that you are broken. It means that you were put to the test and you didn't fall apart." -Linda Poindexter
"When it rains, look for rainbows. When it's dark, look for stars." -Oscar Wilde
Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while. And sorry that this may have been a boring filler chapter. Thanks for reading everyone! Please let me know how I'm doing, what I can improve, what I could've/should've changed and things like that. Thanks! Have a good rest of your day! I hope you are all staying safe and healthy during this time. Thanks again!