Chapter 42: 42|As Night Falls

~Serena~

Alpha Seth’s pack shaped their lives coexisting with humans on a daily basis. But as werewolves, there was still this need for each pack member to roam freely in their wolf form, especially during the full moon. Fallenmist pack’s solution to that was to own 500 acres of land at the edge of the city, a safe haven away from the humans’ prying eyes.

Declan drove through a metal gate with an arch stating we were about to enter Hawkins’ property. The guards stationed at the guardhouse allowed us entry when they recognized Declan. My shoulders were stiff, worried that they would scent me, until I noticed the bite marks on their necks. They were already mated.

“Don’t worry, Seth made sure that all unmated guards would not be around when we arrive,” Declan said, and relief instantly washed over me. At least all I have to worry about now is being with my mate a little bit longer inside this car.

We took the dirt path lined with towering trees and endless green landscape until a mansion came into view. Nestled in the middle of the clearing was a two-story, classic Mediterranean mansion with a fountain twice taller than me before it. Its walls were earth-toned, a long, enormous main door, and windows with carved arches and an enclosed balcony on the second floor.

Alpha Oren’s Rebel 300 sat beside the fountain, while he stood at the open door, arms wrapped around a petite woman with porcelain skin, bleach blonde hair, and green eyes that mirrored Alpha Seth's emerald ones. She wore a white maxi dress, a ribbon holding her blond hair in a low ponytail.

She must be Cora. Her smile and her welcoming aura as we slid out of the car told me so. Declan greeted her as I fidgeted behind him. I was still dressed in the shirt I snatched from Alpha Seth’s neighbor, barefoot with disheveled hair and wild eyes.

Cora didn’t show any hesitation as Declan stepped aside, paving the way for her to see me.

“You must be Declan’s mate,” she chimed, then she removed the distance between us and enveloped me in a motherly embrace.

I couldn’t move. I stood like a steel pole as Cora’s warm embrace swathed me. She was too welcoming to a stranger like me.

She held me at arm’s length, her gleaming eyes traipsing down from my head to foot, excitement reverberating off her.

“Let’s go inside. I prepared some tea,” she said, whisking me inside the mansion with her arm wrapped securely around my shoulder. “You must be starving, honey.”

My stomach growled. I had been running around since this morning with nothing but two sips of coffee in my system. To add to that, I haven’t eaten a morsel of food in the last six days, so when the aroma of freshly baked blueberry muffins wafted in the air, my stomach grumbled like a beast.

“Oh, you poor thing,” Cora murmured, guiding me towards the long couch in the living room. The said tea and blueberry muffins were already sitting on the glass coffee table.

The Persian rug beneath my feet was smooth, and the couch I’m sitting on was too comfy. I had forgotten how it felt to sit inside a home. Even the smell of lavender cleaning agents permeating the air reminded me so much of our house back in Embercrest. I had been living in hotels and safe houses for too long, and this was the closest place to home I had ever set foot on.

My throat became tight as memories of home in Embercrest flooded my head. Declan sat directly across me, his eyes growing worried by the minute. I reached for a muffin to stop my mind from walking down memory lane.

I chewed my muffin slowly and listened to Declan as he updated Cora on what happened to me.

“Do you have any idea why this is happening to her?” Declan asked.

Cora sat beside me, not even a bit bothered by everything Declan told her. “She’s in the heat, that’s all.”

“That’s all?” Declan echoed, his anxious gaze sliding to me.

“Uh-huh,” Cora nodded. She made it sound as if the answer to this predicament were as easy as learning how to count. “The solution is easy, and I know you already know it.” Her nonchalance about my predicament didn’t sit well with me.

“He needs to mark me, is that it?” I spoke for the first time, finding this situation ridiculous. This can’t be the only solution to this, right? It can’t be.

“Yes. You were supposed to mark each other the moment you found out you were mates; that’s how shifters’ fate works. Your mate’s essence will ward off other werewolves from scenting you, and the heat will not even happen because you have a mate to calm your emotions.”

There is a huge difference between having an idea about what was happening and knowing the truth. My emotions are mixed up, and the tension in my gut tightened like a cord ready to snap.

“You didn’t think that there wouldn’t be any consequences in fighting the mate pull, right? There are always repercussions in our choices,” Cora added.

My heart sank deeper at every word that came out of Cora’s mouth. I was slowly resenting her the more truth she told.

“Is there no other way around this?” Declan asked, equally upset as I was.

“Were you not listening?” Cora’s voice shifted. She sounded like a mother displeased that she had to repeat herself. “Fighting the mate bond will do you two no good.”

My throat was sandpaper, sweat was rolling down my spine, and my blood had run cold. But what Cora said next only made everything worse.

“What happened to you this morning and with Clint,” she was directly speaking at me now, “is only the beginning.”

“What?” My voice was so small, I’m sure Spade would have a field day when he heard me speak like this. I was always the tough one between us. I hate it when I look small and weak.

“As night falls, everything will only intensify, Heart,” she murmured meaningfully. And I know she wasn’t talking about this scent that the unmated wolves smell on me. That was only part of it. She was pertaining to this urge to be close to Declan, to let him touch me, mark me, make me his.

Cora knows what has been happening to me in the past few days. The glimmer in her green eyes was a silent warning. It will only get worse.

The muffin I ate crawled back to where it entered. I had to excuse myself and ran outside the mansion, soiling the well-manicured lawn as I poured my guts content on it.