Awakening The Silver Wolf

she is safe

Bella pov

Kiara was quiet for a moment. Then she cupped my face in her hands the way only someone who genuinely cared could.

"You are asking the wrong question." She said softly. "The question is not what you can offer him. The question is whether you will let yourself be loved properly for once." She said.

I didn't have an answer for that because I never thought about it.

After my experience with Hunter, I stopped thinking about love or anything related to that.

I had chosen to end it all then somehow survived.

Now, all I wanted was to leave anything related to mates and packs. I just wanted to venture into the human world and live a peaceful life there.

Kiara didn't wait for an answer either. She just wiped my tears with her thumbs, smiled at me and clapped her hands together like the conversation had reached its conclusion.

"Now, we have shopping to do and my brother's card is not going to spend itself." She announced, grabbing her bag from the bed.

I laughed before I could stop it.

“ You look dazzling when you laugh. You should laugh more often.” She pointed out with a smile.

I blushed, looking away.

"Stop it." I muttered, wiping my face.

"I am just saying. Life is too short to keep living in the past.” She said simply, linking her arm through mine and steering me toward the door.

We arrived at the market in no time.

I could see stalls stretched as far as my eyes could see.

It looked lively, a scene that I could not remember seeing in my former pack.

Kiara moved through the crowd like she had a map in her head, pulling me from one stall to the next with zero hesitation.

"This one." She held a flowy sundress against me, tilting her head.

"It's nice." I said carefully.

It was in the bag before I finished talking.

I stopped arguing after the third item. She had a system and my opinion was clearly not needed anymore.

We moved through fabrics and shoes and accessories, Kiara chatting with the vendors like old friends, negotiating prices she absolutely did not need to negotiate given whose card she was holding.

Then she stopped at a stall which had me nervous immediately.

Before I could react, she was already holding up a lingerie set.

“ This looks good.” She started.

"Look at the detail on this." She said, completely ignoring me.

"I don't need that." I gathered the courage to refute.

Such kind of clothes were meant for mated females, not someone like me with zero plans of getting bound with anyone.

"Nobody needs lingerie Bella, that's not the point." She examined it, turning it over appreciatively.

"Then what is the point?" I asked.

Kiara looked at me with those bright eyes and grinned.

"This set would look heavenly on you." She announced. "I'm sure my brother won't be able to keep his hands off you."

"Kiara!" My face went hot immediately.

She laughed, dropping it into the bag without a second thought.

"Your brother and I are not…" I started, ready to remind her that I was leaving the pack as soon as the rogue issue was solved.

"The future is uncertain." She cut me off, already moving to the next stall. "Who knows what tomorrow holds? Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it." She added.

"That logic makes no sense."

"It makes perfect sense." She called back without turning around.

I stood there for a second then hurried after her.he

By the time we got back to the pack house late, the bags felt heavy but the feet heavier.

Kiara disappeared toward the kitchen the moment we walked through the door, announcing that shopping had made her dangerously hungry.

I made my way to my room and dropped onto the bed without even changing.

After all that walking and chattering, I could feel my body protesting with exhaustion.

I needed to get some sleep and regain some strength.

Asher pov

"She said that?" I asked, unable to believe what Kiara just told me.

So my mate thinks she can't offer me anything?

Is that what a mate bond is to her? A transaction where I give and expect something in return?

"I don't know what she went through in her former pack but she seems to have misunderstood the concept of a fated mate." Kiara added, dropping onto the chair across from my desk with a heavy sigh.

I leaned back and said nothing for a moment.

What she went through in her former pack?

I knew very little about that.

My pack doctor had informed me that she was abused, fed wolfsbane and almost lost her wolf.

When we captured the rogues, I thought they would give valuable information about her experience. Turns out they had only been given orders by Vivian to capture her and make sure she was dead.

I am yet to understand why she would go to that extend to get rid of Bella.

From her reaction when she learnt that we were mates, it was clear that she was betrayed before. That stupid mate and his Luna put her through so much pain and I plan to return the favour someday.

"She needs time." I said finally.

"Time?" Kiara sat forward. "Asher she thinks she is worthless. That she has nothing to give. Someone put that in her head and she believed it." She pressed. "You have to show her otherwise. Show her that she can be loved without having to give anything in return." Kiara suggested.

"And how exactly do I do that?" I asked. "She doesn't trust me Kiara. Anything I do right now she will read as manipulation. It will look like I am looking for a reason to make her stay. She will think I am making up excuses to keep her here."

"So you do nothing?" Kiara asked, glaring at me.

"I give her space. That's what she needs." I answered flatly.

Kiara stared at me for a long moment.

"You are scared." She said quietly and I gave her a look.

"You are scared that if you try, she will still choose to leave and that will hurt more than if you never tried at all." She insisted but I didn't answer. I didn't have to.

Kiara stood up and walked to the window, looking out at the grounds below. When she spoke again her voice had lost its arguing edge.

"Asher." She said carefully. "If she leaves…"

"She won't be stopped." I cut in. "I told her she was free to go once the rogue situation was resolved and I meant it." I cut her off.

"Even if it kills you?" She turned to look at me.

She finally said it.

I had wondered how long before she brought it up.

"Kiara…"

"She is the only one who can save you." She said, her voice dropping. "You know that. If she walks out of those borders before the bond is completed then you…"

"Enough!” I said before she could complete her words. I didn't need anyone telling me or rather reminding me what was at stake if she did.

Kiara stopped,m sensing my displeasure.

"I am not going to force her to stay." I said, my voice barely audible.

"Even if you will die if she leaves?" Kiara asked and I could feel the pain and frustration in her voice.

I met my sister's eyes across the room.

"Especially that." I said. "Otherwise what is the difference between keeping her here and using her? How is that different from what was done to her before?"

"Asher she is your fated mate. Your better half. The moon Goddess chose her specifically for you."

"So what?" I said simply.

Kiara blinked.

"If she wants her freedom then I will give her that." I continued. "That is what being a good mate means. Not chaining someone to you because it is convenient. Not dressing up manipulation as love." I leaned forward. "She has had enough of people deciding what is good for her without asking. I will not be another person on that list."

The room went quiet.

Kiara looked at me for a long moment, something shifting in her expression and the argument draining out of her slowly.

It was replaced by something that looked uncomfortably close to pride.

"You really love her." She said softly. "And you have barely spoken to her."

I said nothing.

Because she was right and we both knew it.

The mate bond had nothing to do with it. Or maybe it had everything to do with it. I had stopped trying to separate the two.

All I knew was that a woman who had been broken by someone who was supposed to protect her had walked into my territory and called my rogue warning an excuse to her face.

I would burn everything before I became another reason for those walls to go higher.

“ If she wants to go, I'll make sure she is safe until she reaches her destination.”