Chapter 19
Chapter 19 Alessia’s POV 95% 11:24 I walk behind Caden as we move deeper into the woods. We cto a halt and I nearly bump into him because I’m staring at his a s s instead of looking at where we are headed. Caden throwsa look with a raised eyebrow that is answered with a blush from i me. I can’t explain it but something has changed. At least something has changed for me. I no longer hate Caden as much as I wished I did. It started when he defendedfrom Julianna and then finding the black dress that I wanted on my bed created a turmoil of conflicting emotions within me. Then when I tried to thank him for the dress, he shut down my attempt by remindingthat I had promised to pay him back for the clothes. I mean, I’m meant to hate him because he’s keepingimprisoned but then, if he did letgo, where would I even go to? Basically, Caden is the only hope I have and in a way, I’m thankful that he hasn’t droppedon my a s s yet. Wait…is this what they call stockholm syndrome? Am I in love with my kidnapper? I’m pulled out of my thoughts by Caden’s harsh tone. “I said undress,” he bites out, lettingknow that this isn’t the first the has said those words to me. A tint of embarrassment in the form of a blush graces my cheeks and I turn around to do as he said, knowing that there was no way he was going to letgo behind a tree. Not after the trick I pulled last week. In fact, I’m ever surprised that he’s lettinghave a run. However, he did heavily threatenand providewith vivid images of what he’d do toif I even thought about running away. I quickly strip down and just as I’m about to take off my last piece of clothing, I hear Caden shifting.
I shift as well before turning around to face a wolf with a midnight black coat. Xavier.
I found out Caden’s wolf nfrom Scarlett and I’ve been itching to get a good look at it since then. Apart from the brief moment that it displayed its strength by slamminginto the ground, I haven’t gotten at glimpse since then. ‘He’s beautiful, Zuri breathed out with a sigh, and so strong! I have to agree with her on that. Xavier is beautiful. His coat is dark and glows in the night light. He is about the height of an average man and he’s huge. Walking closer to him, Zuri rubs her snout on his fur, feeling the soft fur. 1/3 13 ם ם 0 Z 11:24 Chapter 19 Xavier in return nudges Zuri away with his head pressed into her side. It almost seems like they’re playing with each other. Something I never thought to be possible When Xavier growls lowly and pushes Zuri again, I definitely know that he’s playing it with her. It makes the big black beast less scary and maybe even a little adorable. Zuri runs a bit to the front and looks behind her to check if Xavier is following and sure enough he’s directly behind her. She then strutters for a bit before turning around to wait for Xavier to join her. When he gets to her side, she rolls onto him and pushes both of them to the ground. Just as I’m sure that Xavier is about to have our heads for that trick, he rolls us over so he’s on top and then he buries his face into Zuri’s shoulder, using his fang to graze her flesh. After a few seconds of doing that, he lifts his head up and rubs his snout on Zuri’s. They play around for close to half an hour and Zuri has the tof her life; playing with Xavier and
running freely in a wide space. I know that she’s going to be talking about this for days to come. We later shift back to our human forms and change back into our clothes. “Tellabout werewolves,” I ask Caden when we’re together again. The only things I know about werewolves are the ones that my mother toldabout. She wasn’t one of us so definitely there were stuff she didn’t know about. “What do you want to know?” He asks, walking the path back to the pack house. “Everything,” 1 answer. “Tellabout mate.” That’s one thing that has been buggingever since I found out I have one. I know nothing about mates. Like what are they to do together? What would happen if one decided that they didn’t like their mate? Are they just forced to live together forever? A shiver goes throughat that thought. I can’t imagine being forced to spend a lifetwith Caden when it’s obvious that he doesn’t wantas a mate. Caden stiffens and my brow furrows, What is his adversary to mates? First, he declares that he wants nothing to do withand now, at the mention of the topic, he stiffens up. “Mates are chosen by the Moon goddess herself.” He clears his throat. “They are meant to love one another, strengthen their mate bond by marking each other, mate, and spend their life together. “What happens when one doesn’t want to mate or mark their mate?” I ask the question on my mind, waiting expectantly for an answer. Caden pauses, not saying anything for a while. “They reject them.” Reject them? How does one do that? 2/3 &&B DDDDDDDDD Chapter 19 95% 11:24 Something tellsthat it wouldn’t be right to ask Caden such a question so I keep shut. Besides, Caden isn’t the only person that I can ask. I make a ment a l note to ask Scarlett about it the next tI run into her.
We walk the rest distance in silence and I go up to my room, still wondering about how to reject one’s mate J