Chapter 72: 79

ChapterTwenty-NineIknew I was

dreaming, just like when Ezra marked me, but I wasn't afraid this time. I want

to understand and need clarity after speaking to Seline. But this dream was

different, I wasn't sure what I was seeing at first and didn't recognize my

surroundings, but I had no doubt who I had become.Istared at

a man, at first I didn’t understand because I could feel her love for this man,

Marabella loved him, yet he wasn’t Micha. No, this man was human. I recognized

the heavy bell-shaped maroon skirt that flowed to the floor that I wore, and

the white V-shaped off-shoulder bodice. I could feel the tightness of the

corset beneath it, as it wrapped around the hard bump on her abdomen. Marabella

was pregnant, so this was after she had been cursed, after the attack on her

village. I watched the man, listening, trying to figure out who he was, I could

feel how badly her wolf called for him, yet he was human.The man was pleading

with her, I could tell he loved her too, as she stared at the blonde-haired

man, his blue eyes watching her adoringly. They appeared to be in some house,

and I could feel her emotions as if they were my own. She feared for his life.“It’s not safe,

Nicholas, Micha will kill you. He will never accept you,” Marabella warns, and

I see the hurt shine in his blue eyes. Micha was a werewolf, this man was no

match for him, and she carried Micha’s children. Micha would never accept

another in her life, and she knew to save him, she had to leave him, even if it

killed her. She wanted him safe from Micha, and she would sacrifice her own

heart for his safety.“I, Marabella Badeaux,”

I could feel the tears slip down her face as she spoke the words, it was

killing her inside.Nicholas grabs her

hands, pleading with her. “We can run, we can escape together, he won’t find

us,” Nicholas tried desperately to reason with her, but she couldn’t leave

Micha. She loved him just as much, and her children needed their father, as

much as she did. Their souls already entwined, leaving her no other choice if

she didn’t want Micha to kill him. She had no choice, but to reject him to save

his life. Marabella shakes her head, pulling her hands from his and rubs her

baby bump, seeking strength and comfort from her unborn babies, that she was

making the right choice.“No, Nicholas. This is

how it has to be,” her voice is meek, as she steeled her resolve and pushed

back her heartache.“I, Marabella Badeaux,

reject you, Nicholas Acker, as my mate,” she pronounces, her voice unwavering

though a piece of her soul was breaking in two. Nicholas looked at her,

heartbroken, tears forming in his eyes. The look he gave her crushed her until

it turned angry.His hands balled into

fists as his face changed color in his anger, his jaw clenched. “Get out! You

would choose a mutt over a man? I would have loved you despite the filth you

carry in your womb. You mark my words. I will kill you and the dog you lay with,”

he bellows.Fearful of him for the

first time, Marabella runs out the door and races for Micha. She thought she

was doing the right thing, but his words not only frightened her as she ran

through the forest in search of her mate, but they also broke what was left of

her. Although she loved him and did this to keep him safe, she had no doubt

Micha would kill him. He was possessive of her and would not share nor

entertain the idea of another man being hers.“Micha?” She called out

as she ran through the forest, the first contraction swept over her. In agony,

she stopped, and clutched a tree, trying to catch her breath. She wished she

could shift, it would be so much faster than being on these human legs, trying

to carry the heavy weight of her unborn babies. Micha quickly came to her,

picking up on her distress and using the bond to find her.“Where have you been,

my love?” He says, grabbing her arms as she leaned heavily on him.“In the village, we

should go,” she tells him, and they start the trek home, back to the caves in

which they lived away from civilization. However, with each step, the

contractions grew stronger, and each step became harder to take.“You sure you weren’t

seen in the village?” Micha asks when he could hear the chatter of men,

bouncing off the trees and making the forest go silent. “Marabella, were you

seen? Why were you in the village?” He asks her, looking around frantically as

pain tore through her belly.Marabella didn’t have

the heart to tell him she also loved another, he would never understand the

torment she was in, but as the night came and her contractions got worse, her

worst fears came true.They found them, she

was even more shocked when she picked up the scents of her kind, also helping

the humans hunt her and Micha, and her unborn children while she labored.“Push, my love,” Micha

tells her, as she lays with her legs spread on the fur rugs in the cave from my

previous visions. I could not bear the thought of watching her lose Micha

again, I already knew the outcome of this vision and was glad when the dream fizzled

out before I was forced to witness it again, moving on to the next, yet I

couldn't understand why I was being shown this.I watched Katarina be

burned at the pillar in the town square, only this time with better clarity,

her heart filled with sorrow as the town's mayor came out, she loved him and

couldn’t believe he would harm her in such a way as he ordered his men to tie her

to the pillar. People threw things at her and dragged her to the stage

surrounded by wood.She thrashed and

kicked, trying to escape them, but it was no use, another man who I knew was

her mate also was dragged to a sandstone block, his arms tied behind his back,

the deafening bloodcurdling scream that left her as she watched them behead

him. His head rolled on the ground, the Mayor sneered at her, enjoying her

pain, it was vengeance for rejecting him.Village folk laughed at

her anguish, and called her a witch, cursing her out while the Mayor, a man who

appeared to be in his thirties, watched in anger. Hatred filled his heart now,

even while destroying her, she still loved him. I watched the dream play out as

she looked for her brother in the crowd, the relief she felt upon seeing him as

she willed him to go and protect her child and keep her hidden.He nods and walks off,

turning his back on her, and that was the only comfort she felt, knowing he

would keep her daughter safe as her mate ordered them to burn her alive. All

because she couldn’t return his love, she couldn’t love him and keep her mate,

if only she met him first because he too was a werewolf, both men were. I could

tell by their scents, she felt relief knowing the bond wasn’t severed

completely, he rejected her rejection. Her child would live on without her, and

she stared up at the sky. She took comfort in knowing her child was safe and in

knowing that as he watched her die, he would feel her pain, all of it, as if it

was his own.The dream warps and

twists, and I watch generation after generation sacrifice themselves for those

they love, only to lose in the end anyway. Jealousy, the Moon Goddesses' words,

come back to me.This is what jealousy

is capable of, how it goes in hand with death. My grandmother was the only one

that accepted her mate, but couldn’t mark him because she was pregnant. My

grandfather was accepting of him for her. He loved her enough that he accepted

him, though her untimely death couldn’t be helped, as she haemorrhaged and her

heart gave out while giving birth to my mothers. Leaving two men to raise twins

became too much for her other mate, knowing they were not his, as he turned his

back and walked out the door, not returning and leaving my grandfather to raise

both girls.Tears slipped down my

face. I had no doubt they were mixed with my emotions too, and I watched my

biological mother explain to my father she had another mate. Her excitement

died out instantly as he growled at her and called her a whore. The way her

heart sank at his words as if he had just stabbed her. My father looked the

same with his black hair, only younger, yet his eyes were not soft but hard as

his anger engulfed him.He demanded to know who

it was, demanded an answer, and I had never seen this side of him. I would

never have pictured this sort of rage to fill him. Katherine rubbed her bump,

which was me, though it was only small, and I could tell she was in the early

stages of her pregnancy.“You will not fuck

another while carrying my child, tell me who it is,” My father growled at her,

but she refused to submit, refusing to give him up. The dream shifts, skipping

ahead, and I could feel my mother's panic as my father found him. He was a pack

warrior, new to Jackson’s pack. Two of Jackson's men helped drag him before

her. Jackson watched with an evil glint in his eye as he ordered my mother to

reject him, or he would die, granting his Beta’s wish.My mother, not wanting

to watch the man she loved die, did as they asked, even though it killed her.

Killed pieces of her soul off that she knew she would never be able to get

back, leaving a hole in her soul that could never be filled.The vision skips ahead,

and it was the day before they were due to be wed, my mother Shirley was coming

home, and I could feel Katherine’s excitement. Shirley walks into the house,

and Katherine jumps up to introduce them to each other when they both speak

simultaneously, the heart-crushing feeling when they call each other mate.Katherine looked at my

father as he embraced my mother, and she felt like she was dying inside as she

watched him claim another but denied her the same right. He had her other mate

banished, while not only was she forced to accept her mate had another too, but

that other person was her twin sister, making it impossible for her to decide.

The two very people she loved in this world were also killing her internally,

while she longed for the love lost.She couldn’t bring

herself to punish her sister, she hated my father at this moment, how dare he

claim another when he made her give up her mate. Yet was expected to accept

this, and if it were anyone else, if his other mate was not her sister she

would have demanded he do the same, but she felt she owed my mother this

glimmer of happiness. She felt guilty for what my mother endured because of

her, because of the curse bestowed on her.I was seeing my father

in a new light, seeing everything with clarity as the darkness enveloped me

again, washing over me and sending me numb, my father was a hypocrite.I finally understood

what the Moon Goddess meant when she said she threw me a bone and was trying to

help. Generations of mates separated because of jealousy, strangers refusing to

accept each other, and costing my family their lives and hearts.I noticed all the first

mates from my vision were men of power, men of dominance, and possessive beasts

unwilling to allow another man in, unaccepting of another. Then there was me. I

had two mates, but unlike previous generations, Seline didn’t pair me with

strangers, she paired me with best friends. Their friendship and love

outweighed the curse upon the women in my family, forging bonds between them

stronger than that of fate. I chuckle at my newfound clarity. Mateo’s love

forged a bond between them, Ezra’s love for his friend outweighing his anger

and jealousy, what started as friendship turned to something more, something

magnificent, and that was the bone she threw me. She gave me a fighting chance.