Relieved

They started walking again but this time, side by side with ones hands on anothers.

They soon reached before Ace's home.

They went inside the house. The house didn't look that big from the outside but the same couldn't be said for the inside.

It had navy blue themed walls and a bed placed in the middle.

This room didn't have lots of furniture. Just the bare minimum one needs to live.

Instead, it was clean and looked so sorted out, with no unnecessary drama. Azariah liked it.

Other members also have their homes around it but as it was night, Ace didn't feel like making her see the entire thing.

They just decided to rest in his house for now.

Azariah was a little confused. She agreed to stay at his house and as his mate, she knew that they are supposed to stay together but she doesn't know if she's ready to share the same bedroom yet.

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Ace asked.

"How would I know what you are thinking?" Azariah said, still playing with her fingers. She was feeling shy all of a sudden.

"Well, about sharing the same bedroom thing. Since you are my mate, we are expected to use the same bedroom. But we can use two rooms if you want to," Ace said hurriedly.

She was slowly opening up to him and he doesn't want to ruin it.

Azariah was looking down. She was remembering a incident that happened once.

She wasn't a human and knew everything about wolves given that she's one.

Mates living in two different bedrooms is considered as a disgrace if both of them are over 18 which makes them an adult.

She still hasn't met the people from Ace's pack and has no idea of how they might be.

They can be nosy like the people in her pack and if her assumption is true then they are obviously going to talk about this.

She doesn't want anyone talk bad behind hers or Ace's back after all he was her mate. He deserves to be respected by everyone and if for that she needs to share the same room as him then she was ok with it.

Respect comes first for her. And they would talk if they don't live in the same room but what goes inside of the bedroom is on their hands.

If both of them are mature enough to keep their hands to themselves then she knew that she was going to be.

"I have no problem sharing the same room as you," she said in a small tone.

Ace could detect the hesitation in her tone and he didn't like it. He knew that there was more to the picture than he was seeing.

He wanted everything to stay clear between them. According to him, communication is the key.

Couple who communicates better with each other, has a life happier and healthier than other couples.

"Are you saying ok because we are mates and you feel pressurize to live up to the standards set by the society?" He asked in a soft tone.

Azariah was silently looking down.

"I am not going to eat you alive. Tell me why you are saying ok?" He said while putting his fingers under her chin to make her look at his face.

"And be honest with me. I don't like liars," it was the final push that she needed.

"People from my pack are extremely sensitive about mates sharing the same bedroom. If two adults who are mate don't live together then they would gossip about it. They would call both the guy and girl a disgrace and would say lots of other things. I don't want anyone to say the same thing for us," she said at one go.

Ace was looking at her with a 'I-am-done-with-this-world' look.

"Are you serious? Girl, tell me that you are not serious. Wait, you are serious," his eyes became as big as soccer balls.

"How can you listen to what the society tells you and ignore what your heart says? You are a queen and you should follow your heart, not the things our society made up. We are mates and we are eventually going to live together but it doesn't mean we have to move in together the first day we met," he said while cupping her face.

She was just looking at him without a single word.

"There are lots of couple out there who are a couple but they don't live together. It doesn't mean that they don't love each other. They just ain't ready to take their relationship to the next level. We are still young and have a long way to go. We have a lot of time. We will slowly figure out everything," he said.

Her eyes suddenly filled up with tears.

She remembered how her first mate didn't have lots of time with her. He also said that they have enough time and they would eventually manage everything but was destiny cruel to them?

It was more than cruel. They were snatched away from the dreams they saw together. She cried and cried and cried until there was no tears left to cry.

Just when she thought that she would never let someone else enter in her life, he came along and now the fear of losing him was eating her alive.

"Why are you crying?" She could feel hands touching her cheeks, wiping off her tears.

That's when she noticed that she was crying. She shook her head, indicating that it was nothing but he knew better than to believe her.

He made her seat on the bed and sit before her on his knees.

"Don't lie to me. I don't like liars," he said and a sob left from her lips.

"When did I lie to you? I didn't even open my mouth to speak," she said, trying to change the topic but he was better at this than her.

"You shook your head and it is enough to prove you as a liar. Tell me what's the matter. I can't take away your pain unless you share what is making you suffer. You have to open your heart to me for me to give you a solution,my love," he said so softly that she felt like crying again.

"If I share my problems with you, would you really solve all of them?" She asked with a fragile look.

"I am not God who can solve all of the problems but I can try my best. I will fight everyone who's hurting you. I will do everything to protect you. And if I can't solve your problem then I promise to be there for you. That's the least I can do. Whenever you need me,I promise to be by your side, forever."

His words bought her so much peace that she was feeling comfortable enough to share her thoughts.

"You already know that you not my only mate, right?" She asked in a small tone.

She knew how possessive mens tends to become when their girl's names are somehow attached to another. She knew that as different as Ace was, he can't be different than them.

Adding another guys name with his girl was going to irritate him for sure and they are talking him another guy who used to be her mate.

This effect was more than normal guys. Ace nodded his head.

"He was my childhood best friend. Our parents were always busy with other works and they would barely be able to pay us attention. He was from another pack and he was a normal pack member. His family didn't have any titles attached to it, giving him the freedom to do whatever he wants without having to worry about what the others are going to think and that's how he was, as free as a bird," her eyes were distant, as if remembering a far memory.

Both of them knew that one shouldn't talk about their ex's before their present but she wanted him to know everything from the scratch and he wanted to know everything related to her.

He doesn't care whether it's going to hurt him or not. All he cares is knowing everything.

"How was your relationship with him?" Ace asked, his jaw was clenching so hard that if anyone pays attention to him now then they would think that he is going to die due to an strange disease or he might end up with a broken jaw.

"As I told you before, we were like best friend. I would share everything with him and vice versa. Do you know what was the most amazing yet saddest fact about our relationship?" She said and he asked what.

"He was the only friend who was with me for the longest. I had friends but they also came after I met him. They were barely friends, to be honest. They would behave nicely with me when he's around and ignore me as soon as he is out of our sight. They were here just for him, not for me. I was so naive back then. I didn't even realize this untill he was gone."

Her voice was totally down by the end and he felt like she was going to cry anytime soon.

He wanted to cheer her up anyhow and to do that, he was willing to do everything. Even if it means burning down his own heart and that's what he did.

"What is your favorite memory together?" He asked.

In his heart, he was begging her to say that they don't have any favorite memory or to say that he was nothing more than a friend.

He was having a hard time accepting that she was close to another man but that past is already in the past and no matter how much they try to change it, they honestly can't change it.

She was a little shock after hearing his request. He was behaving exactly opposite of what she thought he would do.

He was putting himself before her to be used as a punching bag but the difference is, he was asking her to break him mentally rather than hurting him physically.

Despite understanding everything, she was going to act blind. She needed someone to dumb all of her sadness into.

Nobody, not even her own parents, bothered asking her how she was coping with the scars she was left with after her mate died.

She was so alone and scared. She wanted someone to come along and be her comforting person but nobody bothered asking her how she was doing.

All of these were still stuck inside of her heart and it was hurting more than usual.

She wanted to let go of everything and start afresh with Ace. She would forever love her first mate but he was already gone.

Ace was now her present and he's the person she's going to enter in the future if god is generous enough.

She needs to clean her mind and heart so that she can give Ace a clean canvas to write his name in it.

She knew that he deserves so much more than her broken self and she wanted to be so much more for him.

She wasn't in love with him. She just started caring for him and you don't give something broken to the people you care off.

Despite knowing everything, she was going to break his heart with a silent promise to heal it and gift him a better heart in return with her love filled in it.

Breaking his heart, she started narrowing her story with her first mate.

"We both were in our classroom when one day it started raining so bad that we thought our school is going to drown. I was scared since I didn't have any umbrella with me and I was already suffering from high fever," she said.

"Why did you go to school then? You should have rest in your room," Ace said, an worried look covering his face despite knowing that this is already in the past and she was perfectly fine and sitting before him, alive.

"My mother doesn't like lazy people. I used to be a mischievous kid according to her and I could be lying about becoming sick. She thought that I was lying and forced me to go to school," Azariah said with a shoulder shrug like that day still doesn't haunt her.

Ace looked mad yet confused.

"She could have simply check your temperature. As you said that you were burning, she would have understand that you are really sick," he said.

"She did and she still said that I could be lying. Back when I fall sick, a thing was popular among the other pack kids. They would keep garlic under their arms and sleep with it. They said that it raises ones body temperature and using the same excuse, lots of kids would bunk school. Unfortunately, I became sick around the time when a kid got caught doing this," Azariah said.

Ace felt like slapping himself or banging his forehead against the wall.

He couldn't understand how dumb someone can be. How could Azariah's mother not understand that her daughter wasn't lying.

She was cruel enough to send a sick kid school. This was top level cruelness for Ace.

He wanted to tell Azariah how cruel her mother is and how he doesn't like her.

He wanted to tell her that she deserves a better mother than her, someone who would trust her own kid and not give them punishments for something they haven't done.

But he couldn't do that. At least not after witness it her already messed up relationship with her mother.

Today he already saw how her parents treat her. They don't seem to consider her as their daughter at all.

They don't even look like her by any angle.

He knew that she was already sad about everything and him pointing out this might her make even sadder.

To him, her happiness matters the most and he was ok with keeping his mouth shut to keep her happy.

"What happened after that?"

" I was scared and out of nowhere, he came. I was known for my dislike towards being touched. I still don't like it when people touch me. It creeps me out. He touched my arms and I ended up jumping. Resulting my head touching against his jaw and he got hurt in this process. I was worried about him since his lower lip was bleeding. I asked him if he was ok and do you know what he said in return?" She asked with a chuckle.

Her laughing at someone else's memory wasn't setting well with him. He was alive and standing before her, talking to her and yet, he couldn't make her laugh.

He, her first mate, was already in the afterlife, he wasn't present here. Yet the memory of him was making her laugh. He was feeling like a sour loser at that moment but there was nothing he could do about it now.

He decided to wait and wait until the right time comes.

"What did he say?" He asked her the same question she asked him.

He was trying his best to come up with creative questions but his mood wasn't really that good.

"He asked why I was so hot and added if it was because I was born hot. Everyone was looking at him like he has lost his mind and I was shocked since I was his best friend but he never flirts with me. I was like what the hell is wrong with this guy. But I also realized something. I felt an electric shock through his touch. It was weird yet I didn't hate his touch. I actually liked it," she said absentmindedly.

He was looking at her with a blank face like he wants to be anywhere but her. Nobody wants to hear intimate details about their lover with someone else and he was no different.

"That day I found out that we are soulmates. I was so happy that my best friend is my soulmate that I felt like crying and I did cry. He used to take care of me the most and I can't remember if someone else other than him asked how my day was, how my mental health was. We didn't have the relationship of two lovers but it doesn't mean that I loved him any less."

For some weird reason, her last lines bought Ace some peace. As outdated as it sounds, her saying that they didn't have any romantic relationship was enough to fix his mood.

He was someone who hates sharing and since she was her mate, he wanted everything of her to belong to him and only him.

"What hurts me the most is how unfortunate his death was. He was the sweetest guy I know but someone killed him mercilessly. He was still breathing when he came to me and told me to take care of myself. He was bleeding and still, he was thinking about me. He is really the sweetest person I know," she said, her eyes teary at the end.

"Shh, don't cry. He is at a better place."

She nodded her head, crying. And after that, she cried for someone who she used to love in the arms of someone who loves her.

Life was indeed tragic.

"Are you hungry?" He asked and just then her stomach growled.

Her cheeks started warming up. She was so thankful for her tan skin that it wasn't extremely visible whenever she blushes.

She could feel her cheeks, neck, and tips for ears warming up but it wasn't too visible to someone else.

Well unless someone decides to check her temperature.

"I guess I have found my answer. I have leftover mac and cheese in the fridge. They were cooked around 2 hours ago and just need to be warmed. Is that ok with you?" He asked, scratching the back of his neck.

Azariah was so hungry that she was feeling like eating grass just to finish this hunger. How could she not be ok with Mac and cheese?

She wanted to scream that everything is ok with me as long as it finishes my hunger but decided not to.

It was too embarrassing for her.

She just nodded her head, giving a clear indication to Ace to warm the Mac and cheese.

Ace smiled before disappearing into another room.

He returned with a big bowl after a few minutes which felt like a decade to Azariah.

Due to this entire fest thing, she couldn't eat anything the entire day as she felt like she was going to throw up if she eats anything.

He placed the bowl before her. As much as she wanted to dig in, she didn't want to seem too desperate.

"Aren't you going to have some?" She asked in a small voice.

She wholeheartedly didn't want to share the food with him. As she was too hungry, she felt like she could finish this entire bowl easily.

Ace shook his head.

"Thank you so much for offering but I just had finished my lunch before leaving to meet you. These are the leftovers from that. I am sorry for not being a good host but if we want to get much better food now then we have to go to the pack's kitchen. They are going to ask some questions and I don't feel like you are ready to answer them yet. Adults aren't as easy as little kids. They won't give you happy time, they are going to be reason behind why you might need happy time."

"What type of questions?" Azariah felt like her hunger has died a little.

Things were a little more complicated than normal wolves for them.

Azariah knew that these Aunt's were no less than nosy neighbors. She once saw an woman asking another girl if she has slept with someone before.

She came to the pack for the first time that day as a pack member's mate. That girl was so embarrassed that she almost fainted.

It was just the trailer. They could go really deep, deep enough to make one want to kill themselves.

She was the mate of the Alpha which means she was going to be their Luna. As the members of the pack, they were more than permitted to ask her whatever question they want to ask her and it could go as deep as to ask about her sexual activities.

She was going to be one of the most important figures of the pack and they would want her to be as innocent and pure as a pigeon.

Even the Luna from her pack was asked lots of odd questions. Looking after the pack's safety is what they call it.

Due to lots of past incidents, they seem to have lost trust on new people. There has been incidents where the Luna killed the Alpha due to revenge.

Some even went as far as to marry the Alpha just to kill him. This entire scenario was so weird that Azariah felt like crying.

That's one of the very few reasons why she never wanted to be an Luna but she has no other way out now. She was already the Alpha's mate.

The mating process was just left and she was slightly scared because of it.

She wanted to reject him for a moment but decided not to do so. He did nothing wrong with her and he was too good to go through that murderous pain that was popular enough to make someone go crazy or as far as to kill them.

Lots of werewolf dies everyday and the reason behind their dead is rejection. Their mates reject them and due to the mate bond, they feel so much pain that they feel like their souls are ripping apart.

Whenever their soulmate touches someone else, they feel burning all over their body and if, god forbids, their mate is mating with someone else then they feel like someone is pouring acid all over their body.

As sweet as the mate bond is, it's enough to kill someone.

Azariah doesn't want the same to happen to Ace. The person who is rejected feels the pain first and little by little, like a drug, they feel pain everyday.

Until one day the pain is too much to bear and they end up killing themselves to stop the pain. Destiny was cruel just like this.

The one who rejects their mates doesn't go free either. They feel the same pain.

The only difference is they feel it after their mate dies. They fall into depression and feel like this world is not worth of living in anymore.

They fall out of love with life. They start to live like corpses and one day, they kill themselves.

They tend to live longer than their mate to feel more pain than them.

Karma really is a bitch and everyone gets the prove by their life.

"They are going to ask who you are, where you come from, about your past life and lots of other odd things. Even though I am the alpha, I still have to stay silent at this matter. They are going to say that they are doing this for our pack and take full advantage of this opportunity. I hate this ritual. By the way, you don't have to wait to eat. You should start eating now," he smiled.

Azariah decided to push all of the other thoughts away from her brain, for now, to only focus on her food.

She started digging in her bowl. She could feel Ace's eyes over her and that's why she didn't bother looking his way while eating.

Only after finishing the entire bowl, she was relieved.

But he still had to ask her a few things.