Chapter 5

4 days until birthday    

Lottie’s POV       

I struggled to sleep last night. Not because I was afraid of what happened, but because I didn’t tell my mom. I told her everything, Caren too. Between us, we have no secrets. Family is important to all of us, especially me. Mom thinks it’s because I am part wolf and with wolves being pack animals, they depend and rely on their families more. She encourages us to live similarly, which is why we are over protective of one another.   

Before me and Caren left for school that morning. I told our mom that something had happened last night on my run. She gave me a questioning look. I also told her I felt it was time for her to tell me about my real mom. She told us that after school we would all sit down and she would tell us everything we wanted to know.     

This was the only thing in our lives our mom refused to tell us until we were ready. Her agreeing to it now must have meant that she believed we were.     

It was a long day at school; I was so tired. I didn’t need anyone’s dramas today, but my idiot classmates had other plans by being verbal pricks all day. I just kept my head down and kept out of the way. Fortunately, for once, it worked and they ignored me all day. The bell rang at the end of the day and it was finally time to go home and find out what really happened that day all those years ago.    

Me and Caren rushed home. We didn’t know what to expect when we got there. But I knew it wasn’t good. Mom was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for us. There was a box in front of her, 3 mugs of tea and a towel. “Take a seat, girls.” She said.      

       

Millie’s POV       

I have never told Lottie about what happened to her real mom. It was a traumatic day. Not only because of how Lottie came to be with me. But because it was also the day I lost Caren’s father, my soul mate. I always told them it was because it may upset them. But the truth is, the day was so traumatic for me as well. I didn’t want to relive the memories repeatedly. At least now they’re old enough to understand and I only have to go through it once.     

Today was obviously that day. “I grew up with my coven about a 5-hour drive from here. We kept within the coven walls, avoiding humans and other creatures. We were safe, but isolated. The day I turned 18, I went out of the coven, into the fields looking for some herbs.” I took a sip of my tea       

“That day, I had an urge to wander outside of the boundaries of our home. I had butterflies in my stomach and was restless. I had just been granted access to my powers and just assumed it was the excitement of my birthday.” The girls nodded in acknowledgment.     

“It was when I was in the field, I saw a wolf running towards me. I watched it get closer and closer, expecting it to run off in the opposite direction at any time, but it didn’t.” The memory makes me smile. “It eventually reached me.”   

“Dad?” Caren asked.   

I nodded. “He pinned me to the ground and licked my face and neck. I instinctively knew he wouldn’t hurt me. The wolf made me laugh and giggle until my sides hurt.     

Eventually, the wolf shifted into a naked human who had a huge grin on his face. All he would say was the word ‘Mate’. As I am not a wolf, I don’t get the bond, but he knew I was supposed to be his.” Happy tears started rolling down my face. I grabbed the towel. “He was gorgeous. His blonde hair was the perfect contrast to his emerald eyes. He held my hands as he told me he loved me.” Both girls were smiling.      

“Aidan had been visiting a friend miles away and caught my scent. He started tracking me down. He said he had been running for hours and didn’t know how he had tracked me so far.     

I trusted him instantly. We talked for hours. When it started to get dark, I didn’t want to say goodbye, but a wolf would not be welcome in my coven and he wasn’t sure a witch would be welcomed into the pack he lived in. If we wanted to be together, we had to stay somewhere that would either accept both our species or not know about either species. Neither of us knew where that would be, but we both felt we had a future together.     

I agreed to meet him in the morning, giving me time to collect a few things and say goodbye to my loved ones. It was heartbreaking leaving my family, but they were my past and he was my future. That night I packed as much as I could carry and left.” I cried all the way to the wall, but the girls didn’t need to know that.     

“He was waiting in a truck exactly where he said he would be. He said he spoke to a friend of his, a close friend called Veronica, who was willing to help us. Veronica had mated a few years earlier and had offered us somewhere to go in the human world. Her only request was that Aidan live a full and happy life and that if she ever needed help, we would give it without question. How could we refuse such a generous offer? She did not know me at all, but she was willing to do this for a friend who found his mate. She didn’t care what I was.”      

“We lived happily for 3 years, then I found out I was pregnant. We talked about names for our pups and settled on Caren for a girl or Brandon for a boy.” I smiled at my baby girl. 

      

The day I gave birth, I was so happy. My family was complete. Our first night with Caren was surreal. She was a perfect baby and I was so content.   

I settled her, her next afternoon when Aidan jumped up. He could sense something.   

His senses were unparalleled. He ran out of the door, yelling at me to strengthen the protective barrier we had surrounding our home. I knew something was wrong. He never raised his voice at me. I did as he instructed and waited at home. I tended to Caren’s needs, telling myself he would be home soon.     

It felt like an eternity when he burst out of the bushes carrying a semi-naked woman. I lowered the barrier and let them in and put it back as soon as they had passed the line. He placed her on the table. She was bleeding all over the place, deep cuts on her legs, back, arms, chest and face.”     

“Millie, this is Roni,” he told me.