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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.