Pain of the Past

Chapter Eleven

What's a Mate

We're all searching for someone whose demons play well with ours.

Fern's P.O.V.

After we finish signing the papers for my release we head back outside and towards the forest. I smile as I feel the shift crawl through my skin. I start running and Lily purrs in my head. The others laugh and run after me, as I enter the tree line I left the shift take over. The air shivers as the others shift as well. After a few seconds I'm in my snow leopard form rushing through the trees, dodging low branches and avoiding the holes. I pause and wait for the others to catch up.

'This is exactly what I needed.' Lily purrs.

'Ya this is amazing.'

'Do you want to try and mindlink the others?'

'I can try.' I focus on sending my thoughts to Shay. 'Hey Shay!' He stumbles and snaps his head in my direction. I give him a playful grin and tackle him.

He huffs and licks my muzzle. 'How'd you mindlink me?' He asks me and I do my best to shrug my shoulders. He flips us over and his wolf stands over me. I lick his cheek and purr, he nuzzles my neck and then lets me up.

'Come on the others already went ahead.' He starts walking and I quickly get up and follow him. We reach a meadow and the other wolves are sitting there.

'Hey guys.' They all jump and I left out a cuff of laughter.

'Don't laugh at us!' Scott whines out and I laugh harder.

'But it was funny.' I finally get out as my laughter calms down. Raven dark grey wolf walks up to me.

'How'd you learn to mindlink?'

'I just concentrated on sending you guys my thoughts.'

'Cool, now we don't have to shift back to talk anymore.' Ace happily says.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shay's P.O.V.

Fern plays around with the girls while me and the boys sit on the side and watch them. The four wolves tackle Fern and then lay on her. Fern manages to escape their dog pile and she starts running towards us, she tackles me and licks my cheek.

'Come play with us! Please.' I nod my head and she jumps off me letting me stand. She sends me a cat smile and goes back to the girls. The boys follow me and we start roughhousing with the girls.

'Tomorrow is Monday right?' Fern asks and we all nod. 'Alright that means I need to go home soon.' She says and I push my snout into her side.

'That's ok. We have a few classes together along with lunch.' Rose states and Fern lays down and puts her head on her paws.

'But I want to stay here with you guys.' She closes her eyes.

'Why don't you want to go home?' Scott asks her tilting his head.

'I'll tell you guys later.' She stands up. 'Now then who's up for a run?'

'Alright, let's go.' Blake cheers. We take off and I stay close to Fern making sure she doesn't run off again. We run to the hangout and shift back to our human selves. We go inside and take a seat on the couches, The Fern asks a question.

"Could you guys tell me what a mate is?" We all look at her and a short silence follows.

"O...Oh... um...sure." Crow stutters out while looking at me, I nod my head telling him he can.

"Ok so when the Moon Goddess created us she gave us mates, short for soulmates. When these two meet their inner wolf, or in your case snow leopard, will call out into our mind and say, Mate!, someone can only ever have one mate unless their mate rejects them. Though very rare rejections still happen. Once the two mates complete the bond, a ceremony is held joining the two in a sort of marriage." He smiles at Raven probably remembering their ceremony. "After that the two are bonded for life."

Fern looks between him and Raven before speaking. "Is Raven your mate?" He nods and begins naming off the mates in the room. "Dylan and Rose, Blake and Ace, Opal and Scott, and then Shay with me." My eyes widen slightly. She knows?

"How'd you know?" I ask her.

She taps her head. "Lily told me." She smiles at me and I can't help but smile back.

"Well alrighty then." Raven states and pulls Fern up from her seat and drags her over towards me. I raise a questioning brow and Raven pushes Fern and she loses her balance. Before I realize what i'm doing im on my feet reaching out to catch her. I wrap my arms around her protectively and pull her to my chest. I hear her let out a quiet purr and I pull her closer.

"Does anyone know what time it is?" Rose asks and we all reach for our phones.

"It's 4:30." Ace says and Fern lets out a sigh.

"I best be getting home." She stands up and gives everyone a hug.

"I'll give you a ride." I lace our fingers together and wait for her to finish her goodbyes.

She smiles. "Ok, we should go now then." We tell everyone bye and head outside.

"We'll have to go back to the pack house to get my car." She lets go of my hand and we both shift.

'Race ya!' She says and then takes off.

'Cheater!' I call after her and her laugh rings through my ears.

'Catch up slow-poke.' She giggles and picks up speed as I near her. I playfully growl and bump her. 'Hey! No cheating.' I laugh and soon we break through the trees surrounding the pack house. We shift back and head towards the garage, I grab my keys and lead her to my car.

I hold the passenger door open for her. "Hop in." She gets in and I close the door behind her and hurry to the other side. I get in and buckle my seat belt before starting the engine. We pull out and begin the journey to her house. After a few minutes her house comes into view and I turn into her driveway.

She goes to get out but I grab her arm. "I need to ask you something." I softly say.

"Is something wrong?" I shake my head and she motions for me to continue.

"I was wondering if you wanted to be my girlfriend?" She pauses for a moment before responding.

"I would love to be your girlfriend." I smile and lean over to kiss her cheek, then she gets out of the car.

"I'll see you tomorrow Fern."

"Of course." She walks up to her porch before turning around and waving to me.

I wave back and then put my car in reverse and pull out of her driveway. I can't wait for tomorrow.