Chapter 48

I packed up my clothes and the few other items I had brought on this trip. I didn’t have a lot of stuff with me, since it was supposed to be a short trip, instead of what it turned into. It felt a little odd knowing I was leaving, and I wouldn’t be welcomed back.

A sharp pain radiated through my chest at that thought. Jori hated me, and I didn’t blame him. I was consumed with guilt from how the conversation had gone down. I wanted to sit down with Jori and explain everything to him. I wanted to tell him that I still cared about him, but I had to be true to my heart.

Everything with Mark made me lose focus on staying neutral, and Jori saw that. I let out a long sigh. Even if I had sat down and talked to Jori the way I wanted to, it likely wouldn’t have mattered. Rejection was difficult. I knew that first hand. How you get rejected doesn’t matter in the end. It was still rejection.

If my mother had sat down with me and told me that she loved me and cared about me, but I still had to leave the pack and never come home, I don’t think it would have made the rejection better. It might have made it worse. Maybe I would have been angry instead of confused, but in the end, my family didn’t want me.

And I didn’t want Jori. I couldn’t blame him for throwing me out. Another sharp pain shot through my body, and I had to sit down and take a break from packing for a moment. I didn’t know how long this pain would last, but it made me ache for Mark’s presence again. It dulled the pain when he was near.

I missed Moon’s voice in my head, too. She hadn’t been there for very long, but I liked her. She felt like a part of me that had been missing. She was confident and smart. I hoped she was okay.

“Are you ready?”

Rie was standing in my doorway, her bags packed and a solemn look on her face.

“Almost.” I threw the last few items in my bag and zipped up my suitcase. I turned my face away from Rie as I stood up, so she wouldn’t see my pained reaction.

“Are you okay?”

I looked at her, and her eyebrows were slightly furrowed. She looked me up and down and c****d her head to the side.

I tried to smile. “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Talk to me.” Rie entered my room, and shut the door behind me.

I bit my cheek in hesitation. I wasn’t planning on telling anyone what was happening. “I’m okay, really.”

Rie sat on my bed and patted the seat next to her. “I can see right through you. Sit. Talk. You have no choice in this matter, so don’t fight me or lie to me.”

I sat on the bed and let out a long sigh. “Jori rejected me.”

Rie nodded slowly. “I thought you were going to reject him.”

“I was. I just wasn’t ready to have that conversation. With everything that happened with Mark, I got swept up in everything. Jori could tell that I had made my decision, and before I had a chance to bring it up, he rejected me.” Talking about it made my body ache even more. I wanted to move past it.

“Ah, so that’s why he wants us all out of the house so fast. I had a feeling that was the case, but I wasn’t sure. How are you handling it?”

I squeezed my hands together and closed my eyes. “Ever since it happened, I have been in pain. It dulls when I’m with Mark, but I still feel it. I don’t understand why. I was going to reject Jori. I shouldn’t be feeling this way.”

Rie put her hands over mine. “We should talk to Doctor Zayla.”

“No,” I instantly said. “I don’t want to tell people about it. I’m sure I’ll be fine. Especially when Mark and I strengthen our mate bond.”

“Adira.” Rie’s voice was calm and full of concern. I knew she didn’t approve, even without me telling her. “You should at least tell Mark.”

I nodded. “I will. I promise. I haven’t had much alone time with him to talk about everything. I don’t plan on hiding what happened with Jori from him, but I don’t want him to worry about the pain. I’ll be fine.”

Rie let out a long sigh. “Fine, but if it gets any worse, tell me, and we’ll get you help, got it?”

I forced a smile. “Got it. We should get going before Jori throws us out of here.”

We packed up the car, and then together Rie, Scythe, and myself helped Mark to the car. He still wasn’t in the best condition, but he insisted he would be okay. Once Mark was in the car, we all said goodbye to Scythe and wished him luck. I wished he was coming with us, but I knew I would see him again. I just hoped it would be sooner rather than later. I knew he was doing what he had to for his own happiness though, and I wouldn’t blame him if he decided not to return to Mark’s pack.

Everyone else piled into the car, Rie in the driver’s seat and Daniel in front. I was about to get into the back with Mark when Doctor Zayla grabbed my arm and stopped me.

“He won’t recover his full strength for a few days,” she warned me. “I’m leaving his safety in your hands. If you get attacked again, he won’t be able to defend himself. He has to come home, understand?”

I nodded, understanding what she expected, but I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to fulfill that promise if we got attacked. Shadow was still with me, and I had my wolf strength, but if Theron attacked, I wasn’t sure if I could do anything to defeat him without Moon’s assistance and my sorcerer’s powers. We barely won the last fight with more wolves at our disposal.

“Excellent. I hope you find what you are looking for, and it’s enough to stop this brother of yours.” Doctor Zayla let go of me.

“Me too.”

The sense of relief I felt when Mark woke up was quickly fleeting. I knew this was far from over. We would have to face Theron again, and I couldn’t let him escape, or I would be spending my running and always in fear. I didn’t like the idea of it coming down to killing him, though. I was never a warrior. My parents didn’t want me to participate in training, because they said I wouldn’t need to as future Luna of the pack. I would have had a security team to take care of that for me.

After I was on my own, I took self-defense classes so that I could protect myself. It wasn’t as good as the training I could have received growing up, but it had kept me alive so far. I knew it wouldn’t be enough in the upcoming fight with Theron. I needed something more. I needed answers. I needed training. Even then, I wasn’t sure it would be enough.

“What did Zay want?” Mark asked as I slipped into the back seat.

I shut the car door and looked at him. “She just wanted to make sure I was looking out for you until you fully heal.”

“I told you, I’m fine.”

I rolled my eyes at him and grabbed his hand. “You will be. You’re not now.”

“Don’t act so macho, Mark,” Rie said, starting the car. “You’re allowed to not be at peak performance all of the time.”

“No one could run at peak performance one hundred percent of the time,” Daniel added. “They would simply exhaust themselves.”

“I’ve been trying to tell him that for years,” Rie muttered under her breath.

Mark laughed at the comment. “I’m your alpha. It’s my responsibility to take care of the pack and make sure everyone is safe.”

“You haven’t been my alpha that long,” Rie retorted. “Besides, as part of your pack, it’s my job to support my alpha and protect him when he’s being an idiot.”

Mark sighed and shook his head. He turned to me, letting go of the conversation. “I’m just happy you’re here with me and safe. I feel like I’m on top of the world knowing you picked me.”

I felt my face heating up, and I knew I was blushing like crazy. Butterflies spun around in my stomach, and for a moment I felt like I was floating. “I’m glad I picked you too.”

“Gross,” Rie said from the front. “Can you tone down the lovey dovey nature while I’m in the car with you?”

“I would also appreciate that,” Daniel agreed.

Mark chuckled, his low voice vibrating in his chest. He pulled me closer and grabbed my head. He pulled me into a heated k**s. I instantly melted into the k**s, completely forgetting about who was in the car with me. My body tingled all over, and the craving for more burned deep in my stomach. Finally, Mark pulled away, leaving me breathless.

Rie made fake gagging noises. “I’m going to pull this car over if you decide to be smoochy teenagers in love while I’m driving.”

Mark laughed again. “Alright, alright. I’m done.” He paused and looked at me. Then he whispered, “For now.”

I felt my body heat up again, and I felt a craving for his touch in a way I hadn’t before. I wasn’t scared anymore, and knowing I wanted him as my mate made my mind start to wander to new places. I suddenly couldn’t wait for some alone time with him.

The rest of the car ride went fairly smoothly. The address given to us was only a couple hours away. We ended up driving through my hometown, and I was holding my breath the entire time, terrified I would see someone I recognized. Mark held my hand the entire time, and I knew he could tell I was on edge. Luckily, we were just passing through on a main road, so there wasn’t an opportunity to see anyone.

We continued on, driving on a road that wound through the forest that surrounded my hometown. The GPS took us on a small, unpaved road that I didn’t even know existed, despite it being so close to where I grew up. It took almost an hour of driving on the small road before we came to a road block.

Rie stopped the car and turned it off. “This is where the GPS says we are supposed to go.”

I looked around, seeing only trees around us. “I don’t understand. I don’t see a house.”

“Maybe she wrote the address wrong,” Daniel suggested. “She was in a stressful situation when she wrote it.”

I pulled out the piece of paper and studied it again. There was still a small b***d stain on it from that night. Clara didn’t make a mistake. “No, it’s here. I’m going to take a look around.”

Mark grabbed my arm. “Wait, I’ll come with you.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m just taking a quick look. You should stay in the car and rest.” I smiled to reassure Mark, but it didn’t seem to help.

“It’s okay. I’ll go with her,” Rie said, stepping out of the car. “You two stay here, just in case we need to get away quickly.” She winked at Mark and then left the car.

I left the car and walked over to the blockade in the road. It almost looked like a few trees had fallen and nature overtook the trees with time. It looked like a natural block, but something told me it was more than that. I looked past the trees in the road, but I didn’t see any path on the other side of the road. It was as if the road stopped where the trees fell.

“Doesn’t something look off to you about all of this?” I asked. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but something was gnawing at me.

Rie shrugged. “Not really. I don’t see any houses around here though, or anywhere else to go.”

I squinted my eyes, and I didn’t see anything specific, but I could feel something beyond the roadblock. For a split second, I felt like I could see something beyond. I started climbing over the trees, knowing I needed to move past them.

“What are you doing?” Rie asked. She moved closer to the trees, but she didn’t follow. “That’s dangerous.”

I ignored her and kept climbing. My feet landed on the other side of the blockade, and I reached forward, knowing something was there. My fingers brushed against something cold only a few feet in front of me, but I couldn’t see anything. I took a few steps forward, and it felt like I had been transported to a completely different area.

There was a cabin surrounded by trees. It was small, but it was there. Why hadn’t I seen it before?

“Adira? Where did you go?” Rie asked.

I turned back, but I couldn’t see Rie or the trees or anything. It looked like I was somewhere completely different, but I could hear her clearly on the other side. There was some kind of invisible wall in front of me separating us.

“I’m right here,” I called out.

A shotgun noise rang out nearby, and I dropped to the ground, suddenly terrified for my life.