I am on my way, my love.
1450 Words
Esme.
Even long after my last visitor left, who happened to be my fiancée, who happened to have unknowingly exposed the sick plans that he had about me, to me, I remained in my seat.
I was too shaken to react. Besides, with the revelation that had weakened even my bone marrow, I couldn't trust my legs to support my weight.
I didn't know how long it took, but by the time I raised my face, my surroundings, the hall, had gone pitch dark. The night was slowly closing in.
I was processing everything at a slower pace. It was like my brain was frozen.
The blissful life that I had been leading for the past two years had been a lie. The sparkly future that I had hoven my dreams around was a lie, a well-executed plot, and I was the prize.
And my dead parents? They were victims.
The thought of my parents had fresh tears welling up in my eyes, and for the first time, in the confines of the Dark Hearts, a place that had listened to so many dark confessions, I allowed myself to break, to cry.
Heartwrenching cries tore through the air, raw, anguished, coated with raw bitterness.
I cried until I couldn't anymore, until my ribs began aching.
I could accept the betrayal.
I could accept that the seemingly real love that Cooper had sold me wasn't real. I could accept that I was stupid, blind, not to have seen him for who he truly was.
But what I couldn't accept? My parents' death.
Cooper killed my parents.
My parents.
My lovely parents.
Esme Brooks, an only child of the late beta couple, the Brooks.
Growing up, my life was perfect.
I had everything that I desired, liked. Love, home and many more.
They were the best parents you could ever ask for. They had treated me like a treasure, their only little princess.
Their love, so warm, so protective, had bordered on crippling.
But they had meant well. They had only wanted the best for me, only the best.
And when it came to a mate, they had held similar standards. Given my rank, as a beta wolf, a she-wolf, the next beta, many had coveted my position. I wasn't short of suitors.
Being a female, the chances of my beta title going to my mate were a solid ninety. My overly protective parents wouldn't have liked me to do something that I didn't love just because it was my born duty, after all.
They all knew where my passion was. Growing up, I had only preferred the shadows, the quiet places, silently tacked away from the pack's chaos, the herb garden.
From a young age, my desire to become the pack's healer had been obvious, and my parents had fully supported me, promising to pass he beta title to my worthy mate.
They had strongly believed in waiting for my fated mate, since, they had also been fated mates, and their union had been everyone's dream union. So, I had also been for the idea of waiting for my fated mate, that's why, on countless occasions, I had turned down Cooper's courtship...
But after my eighteenth birthday, when I was supposed to meet my fated mate, after attending countless mating balls, for two years, I finally gave up on finding my fated mate. Maybe I was just among the unlucky few who weren't blessed with fated mates.
Then there was Cooper.
He had been relentlessly pursuing me. He had gone to every lengths to make me fall for him.
Cooper was familiar, we grew up together. He was a year older than me. We attended the same pack school, stayed in the same pack court, and he was... familiar.
He was hot, kind, and trusted, or that's what I had assumed.
With no hopes of finding my fated mate, my heart had easily settled for him.
Thinking that far, more tears found their way to my chin as I remembered my last interactions with my parents.
I had taken Cooper home with me, eager to introduce him to my parents as my chosen mate.
With how protective they were of me, of course, I had expected some mild rejection from them, but nothing had prepared me for their reaction.
They had been just calm, too calm, actually. Not surprised, and definitely not excited.
They hadn't approved of him, but they didn't reject him either.
' Esme, how about we think about it first? Your father and I have some pack-related business to tend to, let's talk about it when we come back.' My mother had declared, her voice coated with love, but also finality.
' It's only a two-day journey. My little princess can wait, right?' My father had asked, pinching my cheeks lovingly.
They had asked for two days to approve my relationship with Cooper. Of course, I could wait.
Who knew that the wait wouldn't just take two days but forever?
Who knew that that was the last time I was seeing them?
Yes. After they travelled for the pack business, they never returned. I only received news of their fatal accident the next day.
They were involved in an accident that claimed their lives.
Those had been the hardest news to digest.
My loving parents were no more. My only anchor, I was all alone.
My wolf and I were devastated. From the burials to the days that followed, my life had followed a blurry pattern. I was in a semi-conscious state. All that was present was my body, but my soul was elsewhere, hiding from the reality.
I had been quiet before, but after my parents' death, I had become even quieter. I had gone for two weeks without speaking to anyone, without getting out of the house.
At some point, I thought I was going to lose my vocal cords, but then Cooper happened. Ever so patient, ever so considerate, always staying next to me, walking through the unexplainable pain with me.
Slowly, he became a part of me. A shadow that I could no longer ignore. He knew what I wanted even before I asked for it.
He was there for me, he tended to all my needs.
No matter how emotionless I was, after a year of being with a person, anyone would cave.
So, on my parents' first death anniversary, I made two decisions.
The first thing I did, was to take Cooper to my late parents' graves and introduce him to them as my chosen mate.
It had caught him by surprise, and tears had freely trickled from his eyes as he pulled me into his arms. He had looked happy, excited. It had looked so real.
From that day, we became a couple.
The second decision was to open a confession house. Given the close relationship that I had with my parents, their death had hit me in ways I couldn't explain.
Back then, I had craved a person to listen to me, no questions asked, no comments, no advice and no comforting. I just wanted someone to listen to me while I poured my heart out.
Sadly, I hadn't gotten a suitable place in our pack, so the confession house was situated in a neighbouring pack, in an isolated villa, in the middle of the forest, offering the much craved privacy for the visitors.
For privacy, no records were kept, no names were given, just confessions.
Luckily, I hadn't told Cooper about my connection to Dark Hearts, the confession house.
Who knew that the same decision that I made impulsively would save my life in such an uncanny way?
' I am sorry Esme. No wonder I never liked him. Who knew that he had such a twisted personality?' My wolf's voice was hoarse from crying, coming out cracked a she tried to console me, but I laughed instead. A hollow laughter, chilling to the bones.
' Well, by the end of all this, we will see who has a real twisted personality. ' I sneered as I linked back, before yanking the oversized gown from my body.
" Esme? Where are you? " Just then, Cooper's desperate voice reverberated at the back of my mind through the mindlink.
It was the same, Cooper.
" Where are you?"
" It's our mating night. The full moon is almost out." From the mindlink, I could feel the desperation that clung to his voice.
He was growing restless...
" Don't panic, my love." I linked back, sweetly, the sickeningly endearing name filling my gut with an overwhelming urge to retch.
" I am on my way...." I linked back, with a smile.
- Writer
