Chapter 14

Lumae was back at 19 years old, when she went to visit Samantha's pack, with her mother's necklace in hand. She was hastily running towards an elderly woman, with white hair and brown eyes, who was busy cooking some stew. "Ms. Shadmon, I noticed that my mother's necklace looks exactly like the one in the book you lent me about the White Moon pack! Do you think it's THE necklace?" Ms. Shadmon inspected the necklace in Lumae's hand and instantly had a look of surprise on her face.

"It is, that is the necklace to the White Moon cave. With that, you'll be able to finally discover who you are!"

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After a lovely 8-hour sleep, Lumae woke up to the most beautiful, familiar scenery of her hometown, surrounded by the forest from all sides with the early morning sun spreading a beautiful golden colour over the trees. The car slowly started to slack down before the small, familiar wooden house, where Grandpa Will was sitting on the porch. Lumae sprung out of the car and straight into his embrace, "Grandpa Will!"

"Oh, hello there dear, what brought you back so quickly?"

Lumae excitedly smiled,"I have to do some research on a plant in the forest for one of our projects, so I guess I'll be staying with you for a while."

Grandpa Will smiled proudly, "That's lovely deary. Let's go get your bags, shall we?" They both then went to the car and grabbed Lumae's things and placed them in her old room. She didn't really think that she'd miss the town this much, especially not after just a few days. She missed the silence, the serenity, the beauty of it all. In the midst of that thought, she remembered about Samantha's grave and quickly headed downstairs towards Grandpa Will, "Grandpa Will, I'm going to go visit Samantha, I'll be back in a bit," she gave him a quick hug and headed towards the exit.

Grandpa Will tried to respond, "Alright, just be careful deary," but Lumae didn't hear him and was already halfway out the door.

As she was going towards the forest, she couldn't help but feel as though someone was staring at her. She looked around but didn't see any of the townspeople nearby, so she shook it off and continued through the forest. As she went, a pair of green eyes followed her, creeping through the bushes, in order to not be seen.

When Lumae finally got to Samantha's grave, she instantly noticed the bunch of wolfsbane surrounding her grave, making it illuminate with a beautiful blue colour. The pair of green eyes also noticed something familiar about the specific place Lumae went to. She then started talking to Samantha about everything that has happened so far, "Samantha, I've finally done it, I got accepted into Flos.co as I've always wanted, though my boss seems a bit sceptical for some reason, I met these amazing people. Take his secretary, Letta, for example. She is extremely kind and has been very helpful to me. Oh, and there's also Jackson. We've become quite good friends..."

Just as Lumae was about to finish that sentence, she heard a bunch of distressed howls coming from Samantha's pack and instantly started running in the direction of the howls, transforming into her wolf form on the go. The pair of green eyes are now shocked, but they knew that they were right about Lumae.

As Lumae ran trying to get to Samantha's pack, the howls suddenly stopped, and she suddenly noticed that she was in the middle of the Tenebris Lupus pack's territory. Immediately wanting to get out, but she started to notice a familiar presence, a presence that has been following her ever since she got in town. She started to take a deep sniff of the air and noticed that they smell kind of like... Mr. Mortez?

The pair of green eyes, then noticing that Lumae was starting to realize who they were, sprung into action. Slowly creeping behind Lumae. He was determined. He wanted to find out who she worked for, why she had such an effect on him. He wanted to know everything.

He then ran up from behind her, but she instantly sensed him. She turned around, leaped over him, and in a swift motion, pinned him to the ground and gnarled at him, letting him know that she did not appreciate him trying to attack her from behind. Leaving him in a position where all that he could do, was surrender, even though he had never surrendered in his entire life.

Lumae then noticed his beautiful green eyes, jet black fur and his unmistakable musky scent. Their eyes were interlocked and the same strange feeling Lumae felt six years ago came to surface. She instantly remembered what Ms. Shadmon had told her about this feeling, the feeling that tells you that the person you interlocked eyes with, was your mate, that once you know of their presence, you'd always be aware of it wherever you go and Lumae could clearly see that the wolf in front of her, clearly being Mr. Mortez, felt it too. Right underneath her at that very moment, he then transformed back into his human form, right under her paws.

"M-Ms. Moonshaddow, I didn't want to believe this at first, I thought you'd be a wolf from an enemy pack, but didn't expect you to be... to be my m-m..." He sighed. Lumae, then noticing the worry in his voice, transformed back into her human form as well, keeping him pinned under her hands.

"Your mate, Mr. Mortez. What is SO wrong with me being your mate? Is it that I'm not pretty enough for you? Not strong enough? Too strong? What is it that makes you think of your mate so badly, that you can't even stand to say the word?!"

She tried standing up, but he grabbed her waist, pulling her closer, but she tried to push him off. "Ms. Moonshaddow, it's not that I don't want you as my mate, I just can't understand how I've gotten a mate as gorgeous...," his hands started to travel towards her neck, "...as strong...," he pulled her closer to him,"...and as incredible as you." They were now so close that they could feel each other's breath.

"I felt this way six years ago, Ms. Moonshaddow, but I let you get away. This time you're mine."

They were almost about to kiss, but Lumae pushed him away and stood up off of him. "Mr. Mortez, as much as I would love to stay, you gave me a task to do. I should be going now."
She turned and left Mr. Mortez, alone, on the ground, still taken aback about what he had just found out. He then stood up and, in thought, went towards the place that Lumae had visited before she pinned him down. He went towards the branch cross, clearly made in a haste, and saw a name carved into it, "Samantha".

He suddenly remembered his father waking him up in the middle of the night six years ago, only saying the words, "Come with me", and he obediently followed his father. They were walking for a very long time, when his father suddenly came to a stop.

"Look ahead son, this is what we do to trespassers, this is what we do to wolves who do not abide by the natural law, this is what you should've done." He looked out in front of his father, where he saw the woman, who was with his mate earlier that day, laying on the cold forest ground as blood seeps from her neck. He stumbled back in shock and fell to the ground, his father giving him a fierce look of disappointment.

"If you can't even manage to kill, let alone look at a dead body, you will never be worthy of becoming the alpha," his father turned around, not even looking back at his own, clearly traumatized son. Leaving him alone with the corpse, in the cold, dark, lonely forest.