Chapter 78 Seventy-Eight- End

Chapter 78 Seventy-Eight- End
Amber

At midnight, Drew took me for a run, but I was able to maintain speed with him this time. It was indeed a rush, even though Drew had to save me from bumping into a few trees. I had to admit, it was fun. When I had to ride on his back, I was terrified out of my mind most of the time. But doing it on my own was tremendous.
We ended up on the roof of his house in the middle of the forest. The moon was at its peak, beaming down at us as we sat side by side. The sky was clear, and we had the perfect view of the sea from where we sat as the moon danced on the sparkling waters.
I could see over the trees as well, appreciating the way the lights of the pack were scattered over the area. I had a perfect view of the castle, too, at the peak of Consok hill. Sitting there with Drew at that moment felt like it was the ideal place to be.
I rested my head on his shoulder, and he told me about what happened after Dageian changed him. I remembered what Dageian said before he killed me. I now understood why Drew was so secretive when we first met. He believed that I’d hate him if I learnt the truth.
But I didn’t. I could never hate him, no matter what. It also explained why he was so protective of the rogue hybrids that Dageian made who we had to lock in the warehouse. He knew what they were going through, and he only wanted to help. I wish I had known then, but I was happy that I knew now.
He told me of what he did after his sire bond was broken with Dageian, all before he moved to Italy. He stayed in Consok until every one of his family members died, and I already loved hearing about them.
“What happened after you were changed? You talk as if you no longer lived with your family,” I asked out of mere confusion.
He tightened his arm around my shoulder as he gazed upon the dark horizon, but his gaze wasn’t sad. He actually seemed… content.
“I didn’t,” he said. “After I was changed, I woke up with a thirst that you can now imagine. I was scared and confused, and I didn’t understand what had happened to me. Dageian was there, though, and he forced me to rejoin the reception. I fed from my uncle, George, but luckily, I didn’t kill him. But everyone saw, and my mother was terrified. She shunned me and called me a monster, which I was, and banned me from our home forever. Years passed before I saw my sisters again. The only thing I regret is never talking to my mother again before she died.”
“And your sisters?” I kept my voice small, not wanting to startle him.
His smile relieved me. It showed that he got a chance with them again. “It started with Julia. She sought me out after my mother’s wedding, but I hid. I was ashamed and scared that I’d hurt them. But when my mother died, I couldn’t bear seeing them in pain. I showed up at the funeral, and to my surprise, they were all happy to see me.”
He smiled even brighter as his eyes lit with the memory.
“George pretended as if he didn’t see me, but I was finally able to meet my little brother.”
“You got the brother you wanted,” I mumbled in excitement. He told me of how he wished his mother’s pregnancy would yield him a companion to do manly things with. It was later than he would’ve liked, but he still got the chance.
He nodded with a chuckle as he gently kissed my knuckles. “By then, he was already thirteen, and though I was still under the sire bond, I built and rebuilt my relationship with my family. By the time the bond was broken, my youngest sister had died from pneumonia. It was hard, but it showed me that one day, they all would die.”
“Did you ever think of changing them?”
“I thought of it.” He chuckled humorlessly. “I almost did when my baby sister was dying. But I didn’t want to condemn them to a life like this, especially since our mother hated it. They never asked, either, even though they knew. But soon, I lost them all to death, either by age, sickness or accidents.” He sighed deeply. “It was hard, and so I left Consok and moved to Italy.”
“And your dad?”
“He actually died in a shipwreck for real. After my siblings passed, I sought after anything that could tell me what happened to him. I found his ship at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and I got the closure I wanted. That was when I moved to Italy. I could no longer live in Consok, as the memories were far too strong here. My depression came out of loneliness, and then there was Veronica.”
“Then there was me,” I added sheepishly.
He smiled down at me with a light chuckle. “It was always you, Amber. You brought me back to Consok. You allowed me to find peace even before I met you that night. You gave me life again.”
“As strange as it sounds, you gave me life too,” I told him softly. “I was an obsessive mess before I met you. You didn’t only give me purpose, but you gave me vision and hope.”
As much as I hadn’t changed much, Drew brought out my better qualities, and I loved him for that. I reached up and connected my lips to his in a slow, majestic kiss.
Knowing more about Drew’s past somehow pulled me closer to him. I felt more connected to him than ever before, and I knew this was only the beginning. His past made him who he is today, even his experience with Dageian. The perfect thing is, we had each other in everything that the future might hold.
Slowly, I pulled away from our kiss and rested my head against his shoulder as I appreciated the warmth of the night and the feeling of utter peace. In addition to the few Drew had already taught me, I learned how to tune out the noise around me and simply zero in on a single sound. For me, that sound was Drew’s heartbeat.
“What are you listening to?” Drew asked as he shifted to face me. Even without our bond, within a few hours, I realized that he still knew my mind. I loved it.
“You,” I admitted as I met his eyes. “Always you.”
He smiled down at me as he brushed his finger over my lips, parting it only a bit as he gazed at me in pure and utter adoration.
“You have no idea how happy I am that you’re alive. I—”
I placed my finger on his lips to cut him off, slowly moving impossibly closer so that our bodies pressed against each other. “I am, too. Even in another life, I wouldn’t be able to imagine life without you. I don’t care how I survived, but it just goes to show that we have a story to write, and it has only just begun.”
“I love you, Amber Rousseaux,” he said after a moment of admiring me.
I snuggled my head against his chest as I trained my hearing on his heartbeat again, sighing in content as his arms went around my waist.
“I love you, too, Drew. This time, I mean forever.”
I meant it with all my heart. Because with Drew, forever didn’t seem too far away.
The END.