7

I am silent when he says that in reply in the first few seconds.

“And I am not your mate.” I say and he is quiet as if he is thinking of something to say too.

“I’m sure you are low-key that this happened to me.” You cannot hurt me because you made a pledge to your brother but it’s not a bad idea if someone does it to me. Right? I ask but he doesn’t give me an answer.

I take the towel from him and head out of the room. I need space, away from him and his stupid little pack. I don’t even know what I am doing here. My back stings and I just want to cry but I wouldn’t break down in front of the people I hate.

I can hear his footstep behind me as I walk downstairs and I do not give a second thought to why he is following me until he grabs a hold of my hand. I face him and he is staring at me seriously.

“You are injured.” Stay still while i tend to your wound. Dane says as he heads over to the cupboard and pulls out a first aid box.

I stay still holding tears as he returns back to me and keeps the box on top of the basin. I begin to feel the sting on whatever he is putting on the affected area of my back and I bite my teeth.

“I will banish them.” Dane says and I know what he is talking about as I release my teeth.

“It doesn’t matter if we care about each other or not. I have marked you as my mate and I will protect you as my Luna.” He says and I really almost believe.

“So, whether you choose to believe that or not…I’m giving you a chance to start all over again because there is nowhere for you.” There is no protection in Edgewood or any other place.

“I find it very hard to believe that you are some chosen one but my brother believed it and he told me that at the right time…I would see it work out.” Think yourself, what did you grandparents tell you about your scar? Why did your parents abandon you? Dane asks and that hits a spot in my heart.

“You are different.”  It could be a curse and blessing at the same time. But I cannot let you go until I know what exactly my brother sacrificed is life for. Dane lets me know.

My lips are trembling when I keep getting reminded that his brother died while rushing to save me from snarling wolves because I cannot protect my own self. Dane did not deserve to lose his loved one to some purpose that I think I have or to some curse that I definitely uphold.

“I’m sorry.”

I whisper hoping that he would hear me because I have seen him as the enemy for as long as I could but now, I am going back to the fact that he is also a victim.

I face him, interrupting him from cleaning my wound.

“I’m sorry.” I repeat to him and he looks at me, it is evident that he wasn’t expecting me to apologize to him especially at this moment.

“Your brother would be alive today if he did not try to save me.”  I say and Dane expression is still the same.

All of a sudden, the door barges open and three men stride into the house and he takes his face away from me to see what is happening. They enter into the kitchen and Beast is amongst them.

“I heard what happened.” A dark skinned man says to Dane and I assume it is about the girls who came in to harm me. I turn my face away because I see that Beast is also in the room.

“There is another problem.”  Beast says and Dane continues to clean her wound.

“The allegiance pack trespassed and left this behind.” Beast says and Dane looks to his side.

Beast gives Dane a rough paper and he collects it, reading it and looking at the three men.

“They know we have the girl.” Beast says and I look at them wondering if it is me that they are talking about.

Dane looks at me as he is holding the paper and without even asking, I snatch the paper from him to see what is written.

What does this mean? I ask looking at the total of them and waiting for a reply and how what is written hear has anything to do about me.

“Words spread about your scar and every alpha from packs all over the world is searching for you.” Dane answers.

What does that have to do with them? I ask, my heart racing all over again.

Is there really no place for me in this world? Can I really not run from this place?

Dane turns to me and I move back a bit, taken a bit by the way he walked towards me.

“It is of the same reason why my brother would give his life for you.” It must be so important that they are here for you. Do you see why being here is safest? He asks me but I cannot answer.

I just don’t want to know if there is anything out there for me. I do not want to have a ray of hope that I can become something better, something useful to others. I just want to keep thinking that I am all alone in this world.

To have hope is so costly and after all I’ve been through. I cannot afford having that mindset of being better. I tried to run but I was caught. The cycle just seems to never end for me.

I step out of the kitchen, pass the middle of the men who came to relay the news including Beast and I head upstairs. When I get upstairs, I open the door of my room and I cannot help but think of my grandparents.

“They would have wanted the best of me.” Dane said it himself even as he doesn’t know me. I am different and even as much as I would like to give up, it doesn’t happen. There is always something that trespasses and pulls me out of the zone in which I want to stay.

Why did my parents abandon m? There must be a reason to it. There are so many unanswered questions and I cannot continue to pretend like I do not want to learn of my identity, and if there is even an atom of purpose in my life.

Why do I carry this scar on my forehead? Why did my ex-mate have to choose me to be his mate and luna even when there was no attraction between us? Why? There are so many questions and I have no answer for it.

How can I continue to leave lie this? Hwy am I so comfortable leaving like this when others are sacrificing their lives for me. How are they seeing something in me that I do not see myself?

I cannot continue to flee.

I cannot continue to live like this.

Maybe, this is a second chance for me to grab a hold of life and choose what i can. “It’s time I faced it, death will not come to me.”  I should definitely stop trying to go to it too.

I take off my previous cloth and ransack the closet for a new one. I change into it in a second and head out of the room without giving myself a second to think about any other thing. At the staircase, I bump into Dane and I fail at it.

I fail in the sense that I am not supposed to let him see my tears or know my breaking point. Right in my eyes, there are tears as I bump into him and I almost slip because of devastation that he has seen me cry.

One of his strong hands hold my waist and that hold gives me comfort despite him being someone I hated a few hours ago. I look at him, that immediate comfort allows me to be vulnerable and I long for him.

“So, ever so slowly, I wrap my hands around him for hug that makes me breath better.” At the end, he surprises me because he doesn’t push me away.

“I am the one whose brother died for.” Why doesn’t he push me away? I think until I don’t even care anymore because just being in his arms gives me clarity.