Chapter 3: Back Home.

MIA.

ONE YEAR LATER.

It had been over a year since I met Lucien Storm, the once cold-hearted Alpha of the Black Mountain Pack and a man I'd come to love. That day, I sat, staring into the mirror. In this same room.

That day was far from vague—the first day I came here. Attacked and wounded in the forest, the day he saved me. The day he looked into my eyes, sure as anything under the sun and he told me.

"You're my Mate." A growl that stung the deepest parts of me, like suddenly explaining the fire I felt in my chest all this time. The magnetic pull to him. The inexplicable bond and familiarity like we'd met and known each other our whole lives.

That day was fated. It was our destiny. Because if I hadn't run away from home, from Ezra—I would've never met him. I wouldn't even be sitting here today, the happiest I'd ever been.

I wouldn't say the past year was the easiest, moving into a foreign place where everyone questioned your integrity, your intentions. For the longest time, the Blood Moon and Black Mountain weren't essentially enemies but they weren't allies either.

So it was normal for his Pack to feel some type of way the day he brought me in, the day he introduced me to them. To his Father too.

But the feeling of segregation was not strange to me. It's something I've felt my whole life, even in my own home. So, this was no different. Actually, maybe it was. Maybe it was better.

Because I had him.

Lucien.

Every day that passed from the day we met, he began to open up more and more. Slowly, I began to know who he truly was. Which was far from whatever anyone described him as.

Cold. Ruthless. Unforgiving.

All traits necessary for becoming an Alpha but those that were close to him, he allowed to truly know who he was underneath. Which was loving and tender and funny. The kind of wittiness you'd hate at first but come to love in the long run. He had that.

It wasn't so hard to fall in love with him, not at all. Looking back at that moment in the room where he told me I was his Mate, there was a sensation that ruptured inside me. A feeling close to one my mother described in her letter to me.

Lucien was everything she described. He was a man that lit up my heart, a man that swept me off my feet. Something Ezra could never do. A man I could be my most vulnerable. A man who protected me.

Truly, in every sense. Even from his own people. From his Father too.

Like I said, the last year wasn't the easiest but it was necessary because it led me to this very moment.

I took a look down at my finger, wrapped around in the most precious diamond. I was to be a wife. His Wife.

And unlike the last time, this was something I chose.

This was something I wanted. There wasn't a man I'd rather be with than Lucien Storm. There wasn't a man in this world who could love me more than him. That even I could love more than him.

At that moment, he appeared through the door, drawing me into his large arms. He pressed a tender kiss into my hair.

"Are you ready?" I closed my eyes, surrendering to him. "I am."

"I'm a bit nervous though." I turned around to face him and he looked into my eyes. "Why?" He asked.

"It's just that I haven't seen them in so long. Not since it happened. Not since I ran away." I replied. "Honestly, I would be fine if we just stayed. Like stayed away forever." Lucien said.

"But tradition." A whisper escaped my lips as he pressed his forehead against mine. "Fuck tradition. You know I'm not one to follow the rules" He scuffed and I chuckled.

"I mostly want them to see the grave mistake they made by letting you go away. I want them to know that you're safe with me. That you've always been. And that you're happy." Lucien whispered. My eyes were wet with tears.

"I am happy." I echoed.

"To be honest, I want to gloat as well. That you're mine."

"I would tell the whole world if I could." Lucien's hand cupped my face, drawing my eyes to meet his smoldering brown ones and I smiled. "What did I do to ever deserve you?" I whispered.

"I should ask that. You've been an Angel, I, on the other hand, not so much. I've done a lot of things that I'm not proud of. And the only reason I can see that now is because of you. It's because you changed me. You know that, Mia?" He said softly.

"You made me want to be a better man, a better person."

"And one day, I can't wait to start a family with you." His hand dropped my stomach and my guts tied in a knot. I blushed.

"One day we will." I whispered to him. In that moment, completely forgetting my anxiety about meeting my Father again after so long—the dreadfulness of returning home. In fact, I was more than ready now.

Only because of how much I wanted this to be behind us.

"Come on," He slipped his hand firmly through mine as I stood up and we were headed out through the doors.

"You look beautiful, Mia." A deep voice echoed from the corridor and I turned around to Roman. He was Lucien's Beta, his best friend and right-hand man all this time. Lucien said he didn't have a brother but the closest to that could be easily Roman Voss.

"Thank you." I flashed a smile back at him and Lucien rolled his eyes to the back jokingly. "Careful now, Mr Voss" He warned with a French accent he couldn't escape sometimes.

"You couldn't steal her even if you tried." He teased, flashing the ring across my finger before placing a kiss on it. "Oh no," Roman laughed before his face became stoic as a stone.

"I've already had my one great love in this lifetime." He said with eyes foreshadowing memories, I didn't know much but what I did was that Roman was once married to a woman named Lydia who died in a car accident some time back.

Lydia was his mate and has been ever since then.

At that moment, Lucien squeezed his shoulders. "But I'm fine." He quickly smothered off. "You sure?" Lucien asked.

"You sure you can take care of things till I get back?" Roman shook his hands. "Of course. Of course, I would." He forced a smile convincing enough for Lucien. And we were headed to the car when suddenly another voice thundered from behind.

"Are you forgetting something or should I say, someone?"

Lucien halted by the car, meeting my eyes for a second before turning around to his father.

"Of course not." He muttered, burying his hands into his pocket. His Father walked towards us but came to a stop next to me. His accessing eyes wandered from the crown of my head to my feet.

"Dad." Lucien cautioned. "Now is not the time."

"Should I not follow my son to the family of the woman he intends to marry for life? Should I not give my blessings also or does my son not deem me worthy or important in his life to do so?" He turned to Lucien, the words already on the tip of his lips before they fled out.

Lucien exhaled, locking eyes with me. I shook my head to refrain him from allowing his father to get under his skin.

He just opened the front door of the car for him to enter but his Dad insisted on staying in the back, with me. It wasn't until the car moved that it was clear why he wanted to.

Lucien stared through the rearview mirror as his father leaned towards me with a voice barely audible and words that sent chills down my spine.

"I don't know what it is you want with my son. Or whatever spell you have him under but that wedding is not going to happen." He pulled away once he made eye contact with Lucien.

"Not while I'm alive." But not fast enough until those words got out, loud and clear. And my eyes began to water with tears. It took everything for me to signal to Lucien and everything for him to hold himself back. But at the end of the day, Simon was his Father.

And even though I had no idea why he was so disapproving of me aside from the fact that I wasn't one of them, there was nothing either of us could do about it.

Except love each other regardless, and keep loving each other. Hopeful that one day it would be enough to change his mind. But Simon was just one father. We were still yet to meet mine on a day that was bound to change everything, forever.

The car came to a halt finally and the waves of memories crashed into my face. The whiff and the familiarity of a place I once called my home. The door opened and my feet met the earth.

He was right there, armored by my once family but his eyes melted once he saw me. I stepped forward to him.

"Hi, Dad."