The next morning, I woke feeling cold and lonely. I rolled over on the bed. Jared’s wolf was gone. I wasn’t that surprised. We hadn’t talked at all since he’d rejected . I hadn’t even seen his face. He was hiding behind his wolf.
I would have never thought Jared would be afraid to face .
The packhouse was very empty and quiet when I pulled myself out of bed and went down to the kitchen for breakfast.
I didn’t wake up in as much pain as I had the morning before, but I could still feel the awful sting and heartbreak of the rejection. I wondered if Jared’s presence last night had helped ease the pain.
Even my wolf felt a little more settled and less scattered.
I spent the day in the garden, tending to the flowers and just finding anything to do that would keep my hands busy. I didn’t talk to anyone or interact with anyone. I wasn’t sure if that was helping grieve or if it hurt more.
“Eliza, where is Eliza?”
“Oh, Goddess!” I groaned when my mother’s voice echoed through the packhouse.
Before she could cause too much of a scene, I raced to et her.
“Mom, I’m right here.”
She smiled slightly at and put a hand on my shoulder. “I didn’t an to sleep the day away. I went into your room to check on you and you were... you were gone.”
I felt my brow furrow and then I understood she must have been just as frantic to find when I disappeared from the Light Realm.
“I was just out in the garden.”
“Yes. I see.” She sighed and ran her fingers through my unruly, curly hair.
I hadn’t done much in the way of hair care for the past few days.
“Mom, it’s okay. I’m fine now.”
“You still don’t look fine. When was the last ti you washed your hair?” She tugged my curls.
“Mom....” I batted her hand away. “It will just take a few more days for to bounce back. But the curse is gone and my energy is returning.”
“It isn’t the curse that is dragging you down. Honey, I warned you about Jared. I warned you not to get into anything with him too quickly.”
Scoffing, I took a step back.
“Is that why you’re still here? You want to watch everything blow up in my face and tell , ‘I told you so?’ You have no idea everything we’ve been through or why....”
I sighed and looked down. I had no idea why either, and I couldn’t defend Jared’s actions. But I did not need my mother waltzing in, adding insult to injury.
“I would if you would tell . Eliza, I am your mother. You have a family that loves you and is worried sick about you. Did Jared explain himself? What did he have to say?”
“Mom, just go.”
She flinched as if I’d hit her and took a step back. “I’m going to. Your father and I are getting ready to return ho.”
“I’m glad. I know you guys prefer the Light Realm to the Dark Realm.”
“It is true. However, in light of what has happened, I think it would be best if you returned ho with us.” My mother held her hand out to .
I shook my head. “No. I’m not going back!”
“Eliza, be reasonable. There is nothing here for you now.”
“There’s my life! This is my life still. I’m the one making the decisions and I’m choosing to stay here!”
My mother sighed and bowed her head. “Please, Honey, you belong in the Light Realm. Why do you want to stay after he rejected you?”
Anger welled inside of and I couldn’t even look at her anymore.
Crossing my arms, I stomped upstairs to my room. Snarling, I slamd the door shut. When I turned around, Jared’s wolf was on the bed again, waiting for .
***
*Jared*
With a heavy sigh, I opened my eyes. Once again, I was staring at the ceiling in Eliza’s room. When I’d laid down here with her, I’d still been in wolf form.
Soti in the night, I shifted back. Fortunately, Eliza was still sleeping and I didn’t need to explain anything... yet.
That ti would co... when I had a way to fix what I’d broken.
It was early. The sun had barely started to rise and the sky outside her bedroom window was a deep gray color.
I rolled on my side and watched Eliza sleeping.
She hugged her pillow to her cheek. Her bouncing, unruly curls splashed across her face and over the pillow. Eliza looked peaceful as she slept, but I knew she wasn’t. I knew that underneath her soft features, she was in a lot of pain.
I’d done that to her....
When I thought back to that night, my blood pouring out, I hadn’t been in my right mind.
Yet, if I’d had to do it all over again, hurting Eliza by rejecting her in order to save her life and the life of our baby... I’d do it again. Because if I hadn’t, there was no guarantee that she’d be lying here next to right now.
Mila had shown up in the nick of ti. But if she hadn’t, my sacrifice would have been the only way to save her.
Absently I reached out to her. I stopped, my hand inches from her face. As much as I wanted to touch her and feel her soft warmth against , I knew I couldn’t. It would be a violation after what had happened.
She tolerated the presence of my wolf, which was a good thing. I didn’t think he’d take no for an answer. He had been adamant in watching over her and protecting her while she was in pain.
Sighing, I rolled onto my back and reached under the bed. There was a stack of books and scrolls I’d been keeping there for study. These early mornings while Eliza slept and I was beside her were the only tis my mind felt at ease enough to get any reading done.
Not to ntion, it was the only ti my wolf was calm enough to let think straight.
Whenever we were away from her, he was agitated and restless, thinking about how she and her wolf were alone and in pain while carrying our child.
I pulled out one of the books and flipped to the section on mate bonds.
Tucking my arm behind my head, I propped myself up and I started reading. There was a lot of lore around mate bonds–their origins, the deep connection between us and our wolves.
There were all kinds of stories about rejections and mates finding each other again after being separated for years and years.
I was reading everything I could on the subject to determine how to fix a broken mate bond.
So far, my research had been fruitless. Almost everything I read said that the rejection was final. I wouldn’t believe that. Already, Eliza and I had overco impossible odds.
We’d survived a curse and we’d managed to break it.
Now, I was back in a situation where everything I read was saying that repairing the bond was impossible. But Eliza and I had already done the impossible, which ant we could do it again.
She murmured in her sleep and shifted on the bed.
I glanced at her, watching as she rolled away, turning her back to . She sighed and then relaxed again.
She’d been sleeping restlessly ever since I’d rejected her. Sohow, she’d handled the entire thing with such grace and eloquence. She hadn’t been moping around or sobbing. She hadn’t been clinging to or asking everyone why this had happened to her.
I wouldn’t bla her if she had been acting like that.
But she wasn’t. She was keeping it together. She was shifting, attending to the garden. It pained that I couldn’t be a part of that with her.
I read a few more ##Chapters about mate bonds. It didn’t tell anything new and it didn’t tell anything I wanted to know.
I thought about contacting Mila and asking for her advice. She’d pretty much vanished again.
Eliza was the one with all the connections.
I’d even considered going to my brother and his wife to see if they had any abilities as the Dark King and White Queen that could fix our mate bond.
The room started getting lighter as the sun crested over the horizon. I put my books away and got out of bed. It was ti for breakfast, and it would be better if I wasn’t here when Eliza woke up.
She was tolerating my wolf, but she’d made it clear that she wasn’t happy about it. I had a feeling the only reason she had was because we couldn’t communicate while I was in wolf form.
I ate a quick breakfast and then imdiately left the village to rendezvous with Archer and so of my n.
Whenever I could, I made myself scarce. I didn’t want to see the anger and fury in Eliza’s eyes. Maybe, there would be a ti when she wouldn’t be so hurt by the broken bond, but I doubted she would ever forgive .
I’d done it to save her, but that didn’t make it any better. It didn’t make it right.
“What’s the status update?” I asked when I caught up with Archer at his camp.
The tracking group had several tents set up. Archer was at a table with maps spread out and pages of notes scattered around it.
“We’ve been focused on gathering intel from Aries’s n, infiltration, and trying to get a bead on their plans.”
“Have you successfully infiltrated?”
Archer nodded. “Here, check this out. These are so ssages we intercepted between Aries and his most trusted warriors.”
I scanned the pages, reading snippets about “moving forward” and delivering “the package.” It was written vaguely, supposed to be so kind of code. But I knew enough about Aries to understand it.
“So, Aries is going ahead with his rebellion. He’s going to move against the Crown.”
“That was my thinking as well,” Archer agreed. “We don’t have a whole lot of ti, Jared. He must still think that you’ve been detained by the Royal Guards.”
“Well, we should keep it that way. Do you have any updates on where they are gathering or when they plan to make their move?”
“Here are all the ssages we’ve intercepted. You might want to look them over and see if you can find sothing I missed. You do know Aries better than I do.”
“Thanks, I’ll take a look.” I grabbed the pages and headed to a folding chair Archer had set up outside his tent.
For a mont, I let myself be impressed by Archer’s intel gathering. He’d gotten a lot of ssages from Aries’s n. I worried that it was a trap.
Aries was cunning. He’d have safeguards about intercepting ssages.
And yet, he might have let his guard down if he still thought I was in custody. Who else would be going after him with out of the way? Who else would know what he was planning with out of the way?
Sighing, I went back to Archer.
“I’m not seeing anything else useful in these pages, just a lot of jabber about the plan, but nothing about tis or dates. He’s let his guard down, but he’s not an idiot.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.” Archer shook his head in disappointnt.
“Although, the lack of obvious detail makes think these ssages are authentic. If they were ant to be a trap, Aries would include a lot more information.”
“Well, that’s one good thing, I suppose.”
“I want you to send another scouting party out, intercepting ssages as frequently as possible. They’ll change their tone and approach the closer they get to their plan. We’ll be able to figure out their movents by the nature of the ssages.”
“I’ll get right on it.”
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