Bastian and I start making our way back to the pack land. I just sit there trying to process everything that has happened. Even though I had rejected Tarech two years ago, there is still pain from the completion of the rejection.
It hurts so much.
Just as we pull up to the back of the cabin, I hear a scream.
“Ria!”
From the backdoor I see Mak come rushing towards me.
“Mak?”
She comes crashing at me with her lengthy figure and grabs me pulling into one of her grizzly hugs.
“Mak can’t breathe.” I say as I pat her shoulder.
“Sorry,” she says as she lets go of me.
“How are you feeling?”
“I am doing better.” I say as we start making our way into my cabin.
“Oh, Alpha Bastian, this is Mak my best friend from the High Council. Mak this is Alpha Bastian.” I say as I stand close to him, and he starts to gently rub my back.
“Hello,” Bastian says quietly.
“Oh, so this is Alpha Bastian.” She says with a smirk.
“MAK!” I say with a bit of shock in my tone.
“Sorry, nice to meet you Alpha.” She says with a bow.
“When did you arrive?” Bastian asked.
“A few days ago. I was freaked out when I heard about Ria and couldn’t get ahold of her on the phone. I spoke with your Father Alpha Caspian, and he said he would make the arrangements for me to be able to come here.”
“I see. Welcome to Shadow Ridge.”
“Thank you, Alpha.”
“I will leave you two so that you can do some catching up. I will see you later?” he asks me.
I nod my head in agreement and am sad when his hand leaves my back. Oh Goddess, what am I going to do?
We both turn to watch Bastian walk away. When he is no longer in sight, we both turn to each other and start to laugh knowing what the other one is thinking.
We walk into the cabin and shut the door behind us, and I make sure that it is locked. This is my first time being in the cabin by myself without Bastian and I am back to my OCD of being locked and secured. We moved into the living room, and I went over to the front door and made sure it was locked too.
“OCD again?” Mak says as she watches me.
I just nod my head as I make my way over to the couch to sit with her.
“Thank you for coming down here to be with me. It’s nice to have someone I am close to here.”
“Of course, you know how important you are to me. I also spoke with Mandella, and she should be here any day now.”
“Really? That will be so great to have her here.”
“So…” Mak starts off with.
“So?”
“What happened out in the forest?”
“To be honest, I am not exactly sure. From what I can remember Bastian and I went out into the woods to do something and then I was out of it for a few days as was Bastian, and then I heard Freya calling to me faintly and I woke up.”
“How’s Freya doing?”
“She seems to be doing ok. She has been a little quiet since I woke up but at least I know she is here. Before the woods, I couldn’t feel her. I was so scared that he took my wolf away from me.” I start to get choked up and the tears start to stream down my face.
Mak comes over and wraps her arms around me and lets me cry.
Freya: Shh. Don’t cry Ria, we will be fine.
I start to take deep breathes to calm myself down.
“Do you want to talk about what happened when you were with Tarech?”
Shaking my head vigorously and said, “No, I am not ready to open that wound just yet. I am still trying to piece it all together in a sense.”
“Ok, you know I am here for you when you are ready to talk about it.”
“I know, thank you.”
“How about you. Have you found any cute wolves that you wanted to 'heal'?”
“There are quite of few good-looking wolves in this pack. There is one wolf though that I have my eye on. He is super yummy. Tall, dark and handsome.”
“Terrin?”
She looked at me surprised that I knew who she was talking about. “I believe he is the head warrior?”
“Yep, that’s Terrin. He is a really nice guy, he offered to train with me before the kidnapping.”
“That was sweet of him.” She says with a hint of jealousy in her tone.
“Wait, did you have some Terrin?”
“Guilty,” she says with a sly smile.
“You dirty girl. Did he need some healing?” I said with a coy smile.
“Of course! Oh, my goddess Ria, he is AMAZING!”
I smile. I have not seen Mak like this in a long time. I just hope she does not get hurt.
I let out a long yawn and start to stretch.
“You look tired, I’ll let you rest, and I will check in on you later.” She says as she gets up from the couch and walks over to the door.
“Mak.”
She turns back to look at me.
“Thanks for coming here and being here for me.”
“Pssh, you know I got you.” She gives me a wink and heads out the door closing it behind her.
I let out a heavy sigh. It feels weird being by myself. I used to enjoy my privacy and now I feel anxious and scared.
I hate feeling this way.
Freya: Give us time. We will bounce back from this.
Me: I thought he couldn’t hurt us anymore. I was a fool to think that my rejection was enough to get rid of him.
Freya: It did wound him, and he was not able to find us for quite some time. But I think you were right; the dreams were indicators that he was getting near. But I just assumed it was just us still healing from the first rejection, who knew it was this much pain.
Me: It’s weird, we know how to manage this if it was happening to some other wolf. But it’s us and I’m not sure if the same rules apply.
Freya: Yes, you do have a point. Also, we should be seeing Mandella soon and I’m sure she will have some type of herbal remedy to help us get back on our feet.
I smiled.
Me: I hope that it is sooner rather than later that she pops up. You never know with Mandella.
I close my eyes and let the calmness of thinking about my grandmother take over and help me fall asleep.
***
I feel myself being moved as I slowly stir.
“Shh… keep sleeping, I am just moving you into the bedroom.” Bastian says softly.
I nuzzle into him more.
“Mm… thank you.”
I feel him gently lay me down on the bed and laying the sheet gently over me. I whimpered when I no longer felt his touch but was relieved when I felt the bed dip.
I could feel him stroking my hair as I laid there coaxing me to go back to sleep. But my body did not want anything to do with sleep. It wanted him. Slowly I took my hand and started to rub up and down his arm and chest.
“No, Ria that is not what I am here for. I just wanted to make sure that you were ok. I am not staying.”
I opened my eyes and looked into those light blue eyes and said, “Please stay with me. I don’t want to be alone.”
Wrapping my hand around his neck and pulling his head forward so that it was touching mine. “Please.” I pleaded softly.
“Ok.”
He gets back up to strip out of his clothes and gets under the sheet.
“Turn around so that I can hold you.”
I turn so that my back is resting against his chest, as he wraps his arms around me. I let out a sigh as I take in a deep breath and fall back to sleep.
***
“Well, isn’t this a lovely site to see.”
I hear faintly as I start to wake up. I open my eyes to find my grandmother standing at the end of my bed.
“Grandmother you are here!” I say with excitement.
“Yes, I am. But it looks like I may have caught you at the wrong time.”
Bastian starts to stir and jolts when he sees my grandmother standing there.
“Bastian, this is my grandmother Mandella. Grandmother, this is Alpha Bastian.”
“Ahh yes Alpha, I spoke with you on the phone. Thank you for helping my granddaughter.” She says as she slowly makes her way out of the room.
“Ahh please to meet you.” He looked at me with a concerned look. But I brushed it off as I got out of bed and made my way out to the living room closing the bedroom door behind me to give Bastian a chance to get dressed in private.
I found my grandmother already scurrying around in the kitchen making herself at home. She looks over to me.
“Nice man you have found there.” She says as she points in the direction to the bedroom.
I giggle, “Yes, Grandmother he is a nice man, but he is an assignment. I am only here to heal his heart, nothing more.”
“Didn’t look that way to me a moment ago. You both looked like you were cozy with one another.” Giving me a knowing look.
Shaking my head with a smile. “Grandmother, he was just checking on me and I didn’t want to be alone.”
We heard the door open and out walked Bastian, his cheeks were a little flushed from embarrassment.
“Sorry Miss Mandella.” Bastian says in a polite tone.
“Quite alright Alpha Bastian, I too was young once.” She says playfully.
Bastian blushes from her remark.
“Well, I will leave you two, I need to get some work done anyway.” Bastian says as he heads out the door.
“Grandmother!”
“What? It’s the truth,” she says with a shrug.
I shake my head but laugh. There she is everyone my awesome Grandmother!
She walks over to me and pats the side of my face with her hand and holds it there. “So truly how are you feeling?” She asks with a concerned look.
All the emotions that I have been bottling up start to explode as the tears streak down my face when I answer her, “He completed the rejection.”
She walked me over to the couch and sat down with me as she wrapped her arm around me and cuddled with me.
She let out a sigh before saying, “I know you are in pain right now, and that you never thought that you would ever feel more pain than you did during the first rejection. But you are a strong woman and wolf. You will both get through this and then you will have no ties left to that Mongrel.”
“I know you are right Grandmother, and it’s not like I miss him or want him back in anyway. It’s just the process that it puts a wolf through.”
“Yes, dear, I know. But Freya is a strong wolf. I can tell that she is going to get through this just fine. Speaking of which, how did it go up in the forest?”
“Oh Grandmother, don’t even get me started about Freya with that. The only good thing that came out of it was I got Freya back. The bad part is she took a week and stayed in wolf form the whole time with Bastian’s wolf Rufus. Who knows what they were up to the whole time?”
Grandmother giggles.
I give her a slight glare.
“Deary, that is why I called Alpha Bastian in the first place. I knew it was going to take some time for Freya to be pulled out of her funk and that is why I suggested somewhere far away from the pack. I know you can’t remember the last time this happened, but I sure do.”
“Didn’t we stay with you the last time?”
“Yes, and Freya was walking around like you for three days and it was utter chaos.”
Freya: Oh yeah, that was fun.
Me: Troublemaker.
“Now enough about Freya, what about you? I’m sure Tarech did not go easy on you either.”
“No, he didn’t. It was hard the first night. But Bastian was here, and he stayed with me the whole night. I think that was actually the only time I had the nightmares.”
She eyes me up and down for a moment and then says, “Good, I like him. You should keep him around.”
“Oh Grandmother, it’s not like that.”
“Isn’t it?”
I shook my head.
“No, he just helped me through this hard time, and I am helping him heal his heart end of story.”
“What about your heart?”
“What about it?”
“What if he can help you heal your heart?”
“No, that’s preposterous.”
“Is it dear?”
Before I could respond, Mak opened the door while knocking.
“Knock, Knock. I heard Mandella was here.”
Saved by Mak!
“Oh, Makenzie darling you come here and give me a hug.”
Mak makes her way to the couch and gives my grandmother a big hug. She sits down beside her. Mandella puts her palm out and looks at Mak.
“Give me your hand child.”
Mak smiles and gives Mandella her hand. Mandella closes her eyes as she shakes her other hand before covering the top of Mak’s hand.
“Oh Mak, you seem very happy.”
“I am actually.”
Mandella nodded and continued, “You have met someone recently. Oh my, he makes you very happy in more ways than one.”
Mak blushes but nods, “Yes, he does.”
Mandella smiles and opens her eyes and looks at Mak. She gently puts her hand on the cheek of Mak and says, “Your heart is ready dear.”
Tears start to brim Mak’s eyes before she says, “Really?”
Mandella nods, “Really dear, now close your eyes.”
Mak closes them. Mandella whispers a small prayer in her ear and when Mak opens her eyes for a moment they are silver and then change back to her normal green.
Mak clutches her chest, “Oh Mandella, thank you! Thank you so much.” She says as she pulls her into a hug.
Me: Terrin?
Terrin: Yeah Ria?
Me: Can you come to my cabin for a moment, something happened to Mak.
Terrin: I will be right there.
I smile.
Moments later there is a knock on the door. I open it and in rushes Terrin.
“I got here as fast as I could, what’s wrong with Mak?”
They both look at each other and yell “MATE!”
Mak jumps into Terrin’s arms and kisses him.
“Congratulations you two!” I say as I open the door and Terrin carries her out. Oh, to be Mated.
Freya: Don’t start.
Me: It was just an expression. I didn’t really mean it.
Freya: Yeah, the sad part is, I WISH YOU DID!
I roll my eyes into the back of my head.
“Question Grandmother?” I say while standing at the island in the kitchen.
“Yes dear.” With her back still turned to me.
“How come you never try that on me?”
“That’s because you are guarded and refuse to let anyone in to try and heal you. Your healing has to be done by you.”
She gets up from the couch and moves into the bedroom. “I need to lie down for a while, dear. I hope you don’t mind.”
She ended up staying in there the entire night.
The next day the entire pack heard the wonderful news about Terrin and Mak.
Mak came to visit me in the morning sporting her new mark.
“Well look at that fancy mark you got there.” I said with amusement.
She fans herself. “It is pretty amazing isn’t it.”
I laugh.
“Would you like some breakfast?”
“No, I am eating with Terrin, but I just wanted to stop by and show you how truly happy I am.”
She giggled.
“Funny, yeah, that’s so funny.”
“No, but seriously. Thank you.” She said as she gave me a hug. At least this time it was not one of her grizzly hugs.
“I am happy for you Mak. Truly I am.”
She smiled and then left.
Mandella walked out of the bedroom. “Oh, did I just miss Makenzie dear?”
I smile at her while glaring my eyes at her not meanly but lovingly.
“Yes, Grandmother you did.”
“That’s a shame. Well, I myself will be leaving as well shortly.”
“But you just got here.”
“I know dear, but you and Freya are doing even better than I imagined. Oh, but before I forget, I did bring a little herbal remedy for you to help build up your strength. Goodness knows you are going to need it, with that Alpha in your life.”
“Grandmother!” I said in a very shocking tone.
She chuckled.
Freya: Double score for Mandella.
Oh, here we go.
My grandmother comes over to me and gives me a hug.
“Now, listen to me please.”
“Yes Grandmother.”
“I want you to take this time and truly let your barriers down and open up. Something amazing is destined for you but you will never find it, if you keep yourself locked up and guarded. Do you understand?”
“Yes Grandmother, I understand.”
“Alright deary I will be talking to you soon. I love you.”
“I love you Grandmother.”
And then she was gone.