Arunia

The Cabin and The Witch

Darian’s POV

———————-

I finally arrived at the cabin after two days of traveling. I didn’t bother unpacking as I was exhausted. I sighed in relief as I threw myself down on the dusty couch. The windows were dirty, but light came shining through, illuminating the room and revealing just how much cleaning I needed to do.

“Good. Maybe it’ll make you stop moping before we go find our mate.” Fen said, barging in once more into my brain. I rolled my eyes as I sat up and looked around.

“Fen, leave me alone. I don’t even know how to tell her, much less if I even should. Maybe she likes her life. Maybe she’s happier not knowing. Did you ever think of that?” He didn’t see why I was hesitant, but she honestly was the first woman to ever make me feel like this. Queasy and nervous about how to just talk to her. I was an Alpha for crying out loud! I ruled with confidence and intelligence. But around her, it was like I had melted ice cream for brains.

“You’re an idiot.” Fen snickered. I pushed him away and started cleaning. After a few hours of scrubbing, the whole cabin finally was live-able. The sun had gone down and I finally decided to go for a run.

——————————-

Runes POV

——————

I was stunned. Lia had told me a lot in the last few hours, most of which was increasingly difficult to accept. The main thing being my father, Bellmond, wasn’t human. He was something called a “Hybrid”. Apparently my grandfather was a werewolf and my grandmother was a Witch/Nymph. I wouldn’t have believed it, honestly I’d have taken off for the hills, but she showed me undeniable proof.

I held the pictures of my father and mother in my hands, along with my fathers journals and a letter written to me from him. It matched the handwriting on my birth certificate. I sighed, and closed my eyes, wondering what this meant for me. But the only thing I could even think of was him. His beautiful face and his gentle eyes. For some reason, I wished I could talk to him. To tell him everything and find his opinion on it all. But I knew he’d just think I was nuts and run the other way.

“Rune.... I know it’s a lot to take in, but please.. I need to protect you. It’s what your father wanted of me, if he wasn’t here.” Lia spoke softly over the tea we’d been sipping for hours. Tears fell down my face before I’d even known they were there.

“What was he like?.... my father....” I looked at a picture of my father and mother. They were smiling, happy. My mother was very pregnant and I could see the sparkle in my fathers eyes. They looked so happy together. It honestly broke my heart, knowing he was forced to leave my mother, all because she was human. His pack didn’t approve, and had threatened to exile him, many threatened worse: killing me and my mother. He didn’t have a choice, but still... it hurt to think about the life I would have had if he’d stuck around.

“He was a good man. An even better friend, and he was so excited to be a father Rune. If he’d had any other choice, he’d have been with you. He loved your mother, and you.” Lia looked over to the window at the sunset. She blew on her spoon and made it stir her tea around as the teapot poured more into her cup on its own.

I looked at her and smiled a little. She kind of resembled someone I once knew, when I was small. I’d see her at the park and walking home from school, until one day she just disappeared. I had a sneaking suspicion that the had been that person, and it made me feel better, knowing my father cared enough to make sure I was safe.

“Lia.... what happens now?” I was a little wary about knowing what I knew now. How was I suppose to go back to the bar and live my life knowing at some point I’d most likely turn into some sort of wolf creature? How could I keep people around me safe from myself if I didn’t even know when it would happen?

“Well thankfully you haven’t met your mate. Females don’t have the ability to turn until they’ve met their mates. And don’t worry, you’d know if you’d met them. You’d be unable to stop thinking about them and honestly it’s quite annoying.” Lia chuckled, like she was remembering something from her life.

“Actually..... Lia... I think I might have? There’s this guy... I met him at the bar and... I don’t even know him and I miss him.. and I keep wondering what he’d think about all this..” I looked at her sheepishly and tried to smile. She sighed and rubbed her temples.

“Alright, okay.. you can’t go back home yet then. Not until after your first shift. It’ll be soon, and unfortunately it’s going to be hard. Do you know where your mate is? It will be easier if he’s there, even if he plans on rejecting you.” Lia got up while talking and was looking through her bookshelf, her fingers flying across the spines of the books.

“No, like I said, I’ve only met him once, and even then it was at work..” I looked down to my hands and sighed. This was going to be hard. I still felt like I was going crazy, like I’d wake up back in the cabin and this would all be some crazy manifestation of my abandonment issues. But I knew it wasn’t. I’d already burned myself multiple times on the tea.

“That’s fine, it might be a little more uncomfortable for you, but I can promise I’ll try to make it as painless as possible. You go get some sleep and I’m going to read up on some things and tomorrow we can start preparing.” Lia didn’t turn to talk to me. She kept pulling books off the shelf. I smiled and went back to the room she had showed me to earlier. It was fully furnished and she even had clothes for me too, in my size and style.

I wonder where he is? Who he is?

—————————-

Thank you for reading!!