Chapter 115

I felt a presence come up from behind me, but before I could turn around a round a strong pair of arms was wrapped around my torso. “A penny for your thoughts?” I felt myself melt into his touch.

A warmth I didn’t even realize I was missing settled in the space around us. A few hours ago, I was too tense and embarrassed out of my mind to even look him in the eyes, but I guess it wasn’t that bad… I mean, after seeing the state that Cierra was in because of her horrible mate, it inspired me to do better.

Even though it hasn’t been a complete walk in the park, being with him was one good thing that had happened to me since mom and dad passed. I was pulled out of my thoughts when his head settled in the crook of my neck and he took in a deep breath.

“I was just thinking of how much my parents would have loved this garden,” I answered with a soft smile on my lips. For a split second, so quick that I thought I imagined it, he froze.

“You’ve never spoken about your parents before.” He said softly. I paused for a few moments before I realized… he was right. I had never spoken about them before… have I even told Ben about them? I mean, I’ve known him the longest in this place, so I must have brought them up a few times, right?

But even as I thought about it, trying hard to remember, I couldn’t remember a single time when I had randomly brought them up in a conversation. You would think it was impossible not to talk about them with how often I thought about them, but it’s true. I was the terrible daughter who never told the world how amazing the people who raised her were. I really did let them die…

Sensing the change in my mood, the arms wrapped around me tightened. “It’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I’m sorry for bringing it up.”

With a sad smile, I gripped the hands around me, “No, it’s fine. It’s just that you’re right. It’s been nearly nine years since they died, and I haven’t said a word about them to a single soul…” And for the second time today, I struggled to keep the tears at bay.

“My father was just a regular man who loved Mom and me so much he would do anything we wanted.” I paused, trying to gather my thoughts. “We lived in a little human town, we weren’t rich, but we had enough to eat, and I was always in the prettiest clothes.”

“Come to think of it, Dad would have loved it here,” I say, laughing lightly. “He would always read me bedtime stories about werewolves and mates. He especially loved the one about a werewolf that gave up life with his entire pack to be with his mate.” I continue, lost in all the good memories. “I think I might have loved that one too.”

“As for Mum… she just loved him, that much was obvious,” I said, chuckling lightly at the memories of Mum pouting at Dad and me, saying that he doesn’t pay any attention to her anymore because of me. “I know she loved me, too, but I guess she expressed her love a lot differently than Dad. She was just happy to watch me and Dad doing things together.”

“He was good at almost everything. There was literally nothing he couldn’t do, and it never ceased to amaze me. I loved doing everything with him. Whether it was us cooking together, gardening together, or just going on long walks alone with him whenever mom had to work late… every moment with him was refreshing, and I never wanted it to end.” I continued, turning around in his arms to bury my face in his chest.

“But it did, and mom wasn’t left out of it.” I couldn’t bring myself to go further than that right now. It might have happened over eight years ago, but the pain was still fresh like it was yesterday. I don’t think I could get into the details without bawling my eyes out.

I took a long pause after that, waiting for my emotions to settle down a bit before I continued. He didn’t say a word; he just stayed there, his arms tightly wrapped around me, letting me know that he was there for me, and that was more than enough.

I cleared my throat, taking in a huge whiff of his earthy scent before continuing. “I may not have known much back then, but I know their deaths were definitely not normal. What I didn’t understand was why anyone would want those two amazing people gone? But I didn’t know all my parents’ friends, so I couldn’t find out.”

“I was supposed to go into foster care. My parents didn’t have any family or close friends who could have adopted me. All the papers were ready, and I was almost shipped off to be with some random couple that had decided they wanted to be my foster parents, but a few days before that happened, a masked man came to me, saying he was my Dad’s friend, and Dad told him to take care of me. I was skeptical at first, but I would rather go with someone who knew my Dad than be with strangers, and that was how I ended up here. I’m sure you know the rest of the story from here.”

We stood there in a comfortable silence for a few more minutes before he let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry you had to go through that alone, love.” He said, snuggling me further into him. “No one deserves to go through that at all, much less alone.”

Those words warmed me in a way I didn’t think they would. Maybe because he said it with so much sincerity, but I remember sitting in the hospital after mom died and hating the way everybody gave me such pity-filled looks, and hating it even more when they told me they were sorry for my loss.

But right now, right here, in this very moment, everything felt so…. Right.