Chapter 19

“Go down in history, go down together, into infinity, forever.”

- Legendary Lovers by Katy Perry

"You're going to die?" Caleb whispered back hoarsely. He looked like his whole world was crashing down. Caleb reached out and wrapped his arms around my torso and pulled me to him. I resisted, pushing against his body. "How sure are you? How can we save you from dying?" He whispered again. I shook my head, if I'm going to die, I'll accept it and move on. "Please, isn't there at least one?" I shook my head, but then Nina spoke.

"There is one way." She said. I glared at her, indicating with my eyes that I didn't want her to say anything. Caleb looked at Nina and begged her. "Please tell me, please." He pleaded, turning his body towards her.

"No, don't. Don't tell him anything." I begged with Nina. Nina shook her head at me.

“I must save you, Scarlett." She said to me as Caleb stood there.

"It’s not your responsibility or duty to save me," I said to them. “I’ve got nothing to live for anymore.” I continued.

“I can't lose you, Scarlett. You're still my real and only Luna." Caleb said as he let his hand slip to my waist.

"The only way to save Scarlett is to mate and mark her. Not out of force to save her but love, if you mark her just to save her, she will die a day after you mark her." Nina said to Caleb.

"I don’t want to be mated and marked,” I said, sliding down onto the floor in a gentle pool of my own blood. My leg could no longer hold me up. "Nina," I said sadly. "We read this before, but we didn't know it would happen so fast."

"You only have 13 days left," Nina whispered sadly. I nodded as Caleb wrapped his arms around me tightly. Although I hate him very much, I still let him hug me because I needed the comfort. I have 13 days left.

Thirteen days before I die.

After Nina telling Caleb that in order to save me, he had to mate and mark me, Caleb became very touchy and close. I had five days left now. The days seemed to blur together, every day faster than the other. It seemed to me that every day was supposed to pass faster than the other. Sean has been well. He's growing pretty quickly, and now he knows how to say the word 'Dadda.'. It's cute when a child starts talking. He's also been crawling around the attic room with his rubber duck.

Lindsay was an emotionless zombie, she hadn't been herself for a while. She hadn't given me snarky comments or anything, and I guess I liked it. It was a change for a while, but I knew that the old Lindsay would come back soon. My parents had been trying to talk to me, but it didn't really work. They were just acting nice, and greeting me every time we met. I would just do a casual nod of my head and quickly walk off. My mom looked so old. Her eyes were wrinkled and her posture was bad. My dad just looked like he always did. He had an 'I-don't-care-look' on his face that aggravated me. My dad was always a guy who wouldn't care about anything but his family, but now, he wouldn't care about his family. Nina has been avoiding me for some reason. I think she's scared that I'll burst on her for telling Caleb the way to save me. But I guess she really wants to save me. The method would have worked if Caleb and I actually loved each other.

My wolf hasn't been talking to me much. I've tried to talk to her but no one answers. It worried me a little, but I was already going to die, so what can my wolf do about it? Even her being here wouldn't make any changes to my inevitable death.

I had one day left, one day left before I die.

I told Sean that I was going to die, and even though he was a little child still, it was like he understood and started crying. I started crying with him too because, at that moment, I finally accepted that I was about to die. In a day’s time.

I wanted to say something to Caleb and my family before I died. I had some conditions. I wanted to explain why I was going to die. I still didn't know why I got the mark, maybe I was just a rare werewolf. I asked Caleb to get my family gathered downstairs in the library. After he got everyone gathered there, I changed into a shirt and a pair of shorts, then went down into the library. My parents were there, and most of all, my sister was there too. I stood, leaning against the table.

"I wanted to tell you guys things. Many things." I said weirdly into the silence. "I'm going to die tomorrow, and I can't say that I'm not excited because I really want to know what death feels like. I got the imprint on the same day that Caleb marked Lindsay. That day was quite a windy day, Caleb told me to wait in the room and not to open the door for anyone. So, when someone knocked, I didn't open the door. But then after a few knocks, Lindsay and Caleb came in—in a heated lip lock. So in order not to disturb them, I jumped out of the window. After jumping, I started running into the forest. I went as deep as I could go, and then I found Sean. There was a note next to Sean and it said to keep Sean safe. So I did as the note said. I came running back to the pack house on three legs, and didn't notice the imprint until I was bathing. At first, it was an L with a cross, then it changed into a half moon then into a quarter moon, and now it's a new moon. Which means I'm dying soon. When I found out that I was going to die in barely a month’s time, I was okay with it. Somehow." I said. Caleb looked at me with tired eyes. I guess he hasn't been sleeping. Neither have I; I've been staying awake all night and reminiscing on old memories that I couldn't even remember.

"I just want to tell you guys that, no matter what happens to me. Lindsay will take my place as Luna of the Broken Shadows Pack, and I know she will be an amazing Luna. Sean will be taken care of properly and will have people who love him. Dad and Mom will also be taken care of." I said to Caleb. "I don't care if Lindsay isn't the rightful Luna of the pack but in my eyes, Lindsay is the Luna of this pack. Lindsay has wanted to be a Luna since she was young, and I will let her be the Luna of the pack even if it kills me." I said to Caleb. Caleb hasn't tried to mate with me because it could kill me faster. I walked up to Caleb. "You know Caleb, even though I hate you. I still like you. You were a good mate. You just didn't want to change for me. But it's over now. It's okay." I said with a small smile. Caleb lifted the side of his lips slightly. I walked up to my parents and gave them a hug.

"Even though you guys were never really parents, I still love you guys very much. In the end, you guys are still my parents and I will always love you guys." I said as I let them go. I walked up to Lindsay and just stood there in front of her, thinking of what to say. "You may have a bloated head, thinking highly of yourself, but you're still my sister. No matter what you made me go through, you are still my sister. I still love you. We had limited memories, but they were the best I ever had. I hope that your mate won't kill you for mating and getting marked by another guy but yeah. I still love you loads and every time I look at you, I see the four-year-old little girl dreaming about being a Luna. I see the four-year-old little girl who ate sweets every day and got sugar high." I said to her with a smile on my face. She smiled back at me with teary eyes, and I reached forward and I gently wiped her tears away. I turned around and walked out of the room.

I don't know how I stayed strong in there but I did. Getting to see my parents and my sister for the last time really made me realize how much I didn't hate them, but rather made peace with how my life was meant to be. I went back into my room to find it empty because I gave Sean to Nina to take care of. I settled down in my room and looked at the clock next to my bedside. It was already six in the evening. That was how fast time flies. I didn't know if I should stay awake the whole night until I die, or sleep. I thought I should stay up. So I did. I stayed awake the whole night.

Caleb was seated across from me in my attic room. He looked tired and worried. I was curled up into a ball, cuddled up with my blanket. It was already midnight, and I hadn't eaten anything since 6 p.m. I was tired, but I didn’t want to sleep.

“What are you doing here anyway?” I asked Caleb.

“I just can’t believe that I can’t save you. I mean, I’m the one who can save you.” He said to me. I crawled over to him and hugged him.

“It’s not your fault. It’s just my fate. I knew when I found you for some reason; I knew that we could never be together forever. A forever wasn’t for us.” I said to him as he wrapped his arms around my waist. He nuzzled his face in my hair and sighed softly.

“I’m sorry.” He said and his voice cracked. It was like he was going to cry.

“There’s nothing you can do about it,” I said to Caleb.

“I can but I’m not doing it.” I laughed.

“I don’t want to mate yet though. I wanted to wait until I could trust you, but now we have no more time.” I said to Caleb. Then I remembered something: I was only 17 and I was going to die. Oh, joy.

“I know, but I blew all my chances with you. I blew them all because of my stupidity.” He said. I shook my head and sat down in front of him. “It’s not your stupidity, Caleb. It’s your drive to not stop being a player. Your ignorance of the love you have.” I said to him as I reached up to touch his cheek. “It’s not your fault though Caleb. Just please remember that.” I said to him. He nodded sadly and leaned forward. Before I could even blink and process what was going on, we were kissing.