Denying Fate ( Moonlight Trials Series #1)

Chapter 16 – Starting to see the past.

Karmas POV

We had been sat on the edge of the cliff for over an hour now, just talking about random things, our taste in music, favourite books, favourite movies and so on.

“Really?” I laughed aloud, trying to catch my breath.

“What’s wrong with that?” Tracker growled, his face turning red.

“Nothing…” I gasped for air. “You just come across as such a hard man that I find it hard to believe your favourite film is…” I started giggling again, unable to finish my sentence.

“Hey! I didn’t give you hassle for saying you like reading stupid fairy novels!” This shut me up and I glared.

“Harsh coming from someone who I caught reading a similar genre this morning!” I sighed. “I’m sorry… but Enchanted?”

“Look!” He growled again, rising from the cliffs edge. “I didn’t grow up with a conventional family and I always longed to find my true mate so yeah, sue me for liking a soppy love film about fairy tales.” He moved to the back of the cave area and took off his top.

“Hey, what are you doing?” I said worried that he was cutting our journey short because of my teasing.

“I’m going to take a swim. Want to join?” He said, shrugging his shoulders.

“Oh…” I breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought you were mad I was teasing you.” He just grunted and headed out of the cave. I took off my bottoms as the t-shirt Tracker had given me was long enough to cover my backside and I didn’t think he would appreciate me getting all of his clothes wet. I hurried out of the cave after Tracker and noticed him slowly making his way down to the lake below the waterfall. He was holding onto the cliff and scaling down slowly. I looked over the side and saw that the water was directly underneath us. I looked again at Tracker and made the decision. “Tracker!” I yelled then I jumped off the side directly into the lake.

Trackers POV

I was scaling the cliff to get down to the lake. All the talking we were doing and how close Karma was to me was making me warmer and warmer. Then when she started tormenting me it made me think of when we used to bicker as children. I needed to cool off and the lake seemed like the best place to do that. I knew she’d follow me. She loved adventure and the beauty of the world, that I knew, she wouldn’t be able resist the lake.

“Tracker!” I heard her yell and turned back, assuming she wanted me to wait for her. But then I saw her jump off the cliffs edge to the lake.

“NO!” I screamed! The cliffs edge right under the waterfall was dangerous. There were outcrops of rock that were only just under the height of the water and if she hit them, it would not end well. I panicked and started jumping down the cliff as fast as I could. I knew the walls well enough but was always careful just in case but this time my on safety went out of the window. Karma had hit the water and not surfaced yet. I reached the lake and dived under the water to find her. Luckily, the water was clear enough for me to see but I couldn’t see her anywhere. Panic was creeping in again. Where was she? Surely I would be able to see her if she had fainted or hit something.

Something grabbed me from behind and I yelled out, losing the oxygen I had taken in and swam to the surface. When I turned, I saw a giggling Karma behind me. Anger flashed through me, and I grabbed her shoulders.

“What the hell!” I shouted at her. Her face stopped smiling and she looked worried again.

“What?” She asked worriedly. She began to stutter. “I was only joking around.”

“Do you realise how dangerous that was?” She looked confused. How could she be so naïve whilst so clever at the same time.

“What? Jumping off the cliff edge?” She questioned, biting her lip. “I mean, I knew there was a chance there would be rocks but the waters pretty clear and I could see I was safe. Also, I’m a bloody werewolf, I’d heal fast enough if I broke anything. Also, also, I knew you’d rescue me if I did knock myself out or anything, surely you aren’t that mean... It seemed worth the risk to see you smile when I surprised you…” She again started biting her lip and started towards the edge of the water, clearly intending to get out.

“That’s it?” I shouted after her. She ignored me and continued towards the edge and began to climb out of the water. It was then that I noticed her only wearing my t-shirt. As she climbed out further it slipped up higher giving me a view of the bottom of her backside. All my anger seemed to dissolve, and I wanted nothing more than to grab her and her sweet behind. I swam after her and managed to grab her just before she was fully out. She let out a little yelp as I pulled her back into the water. She fell into my arms, and I spun her around and looked into her eyes. She was crying.

“I’m sorry, ok?” She sniffed. “I thought it would be funny, you seemed mad about my teasing, and I wanted to cheer you up. It was nice getting to know you more.” I was taken aback by this. Couldn’t she see how hot she made me; couldn’t she see the effect she had on me? I let go of her and rubbed the back of my neck, sighing loudly.

“I wasn’t angry…” I said, my anger fully melting away. “I was enjoying myself… a little too much and wanted to cool down. But then you scared me half to death when you jumped in. Maybe I over reacted?” I said, looking into her eyes, wondering if she understood that I was genuinely worried about her. Her eyes seemed confused, they shifted into a dark grey colour, and I knew she was talking to Kismet, then her mouth formed an O shape as realisation dawned on her that I needed to cool off.

“Oh…” She breathed out, turning pink. She started backing away from me, realising we were too close. Before she had chance to move, I pulled her in and kissed her, snaking one arm around her waist and the other in her hair. She tried to pull away for all of a second before sinking into the kiss. Her arms raised and went around my waist.

Karmas POV

When he said he needed to cool off it took me a second before I realised what he meant. How could just talking to him have that effect on him? Kismet explained that he just loved being around us. I backed away, seeing the lust in his eyes as he watched me. I didn’t want this; I didn’t want to ruin the fun we had, had so far. But when he pulled me into the kiss I almost couldn’t resist. In fact, it felt even more amazing than any kiss we had shared before. The water was cold but the sparks shooting through me warmed me, causing my skin to tingle in a painful pleasure. The kiss was long and gentle, not heated as before. I fell into it and wrapped my arms around his waist. I could feel Kismet in my mind, growling gently, enjoying the kiss.

As we pulled apart for breath, Tracker put his forehead to mine, breathing hard. I could tell my face was red and I was so warm.

“Wow!” Was all he said, his eyes looking into mine. I echoed his sentiment. The kiss was amazing but there was still a tug in the back of my mind. Chase… I blanched and pulled away from Tracker and smiled sadly.

“It was amazing but…”

“But what, Karma?” Tracker said, his eyebrows furrowing, in confusion though not anger.

“I can’t…” was all I could muster to answer. My heart was breaking again. How could I have feelings for two people. The mate pull was the only thing I could blame for my attraction to Tracker. I didn’t remember him from my childhood, and I didn’t know him until a few weeks ago. I don’t KNOW him. The moon goddess sure screwed up this time! There wasn’t a possible reason to pair us together. There was usually a plan, I couldn’t see this one.

Tracker didn’t push me to explain further, his eyes seemed to cloud over, and his face turned extremely passive. He didn’t move though and just kept staring at me.

“Karma, do you know what happens to someone when they lose their true mate?” I nodded my head, yes. I’d read about mate less wolves who just give up or turn feral when they lose their mates, but I’d also read about second chance mates. They were rare but they did happen.

“I have read about it. When I found out about us, I knew that rejecting you would have consequences, so I researched fully. I didn’t want to hurt you even if I didn’t know you. I read about wolves giving up, but I can sense a strength in you that made me know that wouldn’t happen. Then I read about turning feral, no offence, but I knew you as a rogue so thought you were pretty much there so… and lastly, I read about second chance mates. I know they’re apparently rare, but the goddess does give them. But I don’t know what to believe…” I said, looking into Trackers eyes.

“So, you’ve never seen it happen?” He questioned. His face turning dark. I flinched, something in his eyes changed. I didn’t trust myself to speak and shook my head. “Well…I have!” He snarled and stormed his way to the edge of the lake. I followed behind but not too close. He looked like he was going to explode. He stopped walking when he exited the lake, just stopped, staring into space.

“Tracker?” I questioned quietly, but he didn’t answer and just continued to stare into space. I moved closer to him and moved to the front of him. He didn’t see me; he was looking straight through me. I reached up a hand and touched his cheek. He looked at me, but he still looked far away. “I’m sorry that you’ve had to see someone you love go through that. I’m sorry that you’re having to go through this…” I couldn’t get the rest of my words out. Tears sprang to my eyes. I felt awful that something like this had affected him in the past, I felt awful that I would potentially let him go through this too. I dropped my hand from his face but before it fully dropped to my side Tracker grabbed it.

“I’d like you to meet that person if you feel up to it?” He said, his face looked hard at me, anger still there, but there was something else. A resolve in him.

“I would like that.” I nodded, smiling through my tears. He dragged me through the woods and indicated for me to shift so we could run somewhere. I did and followed behind him. A short while later we arrived back at Trackers cabin, and he motioned for me to go behind the tree and change from the bag he had stashed earlier. I did as he asked and as I came out, he did the same. I smiled, happy that he trusted me to do so and realised for the first time that I had actually no intention to run. It hadn’t even crossed my mind once today He grabbed my hand and dragged me to the cabin. I was confused, I thought we were going to meet the person who had lost their mate. He walked towards his room and unlocked the door. I noticed his room was full of books and a bed as well as a large wardrobe for his clothes. On the opposite all I noticed a door and assumed it was a bathroom, but he began to guide me towards it. He knocked on the door and I heard a small, quite feminine voice answer.

“It’s me mum, I’ve brought someone to meet you if you feel up to it?” We waited and heard nothing. Finally, the door unlocked, and Tracker opened it. I looked inside but it was extremely dark, the room had a small bed in one corner and a set of drawers against the same wall, on the opposite wall was a dressing table with a large mirror. On the stool in front sat a woman who was looking towards the door. She had extremely long black hair that touched the floor, her large doe like eyes looked at us in puzzled frenzy. Her eyes were pure red. She didn’t smile, just kept looking from both of us very quickly. I recognised those eyes, the rogue who attacked me when I first met Tracker. I looked at Tracker, this was his mother?!

“Hi mum, I wanted to introduce you to Karma, she’s the girl I told you about.” His mother looked at me, something made her eye flash then suddenly she started cackling. Not a nice laugh that she was happy to meet me, a manic, crazy laugh. She spun around on her chair and went back to looking into the mirror and started humming a song that I could swear I knew. Tracker ushered me out of the room, and we heard the door lock behind us. He led me to the room and gestured for me to take a seat whilst he went to boil the kettle.