Our Ending is Near (AOT Sequel)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Nicole

            I sighed and raked my hand through my hair. I was leaning against the wall outside of Chase’s room—our room. “How is he?” I asked as Magnus approached me.

            “Go to bed, Nicole,” he sighed. “Chase is okay at the moment. Get some rest. You aren’t helping by tiring yourself out.”

            I bit my lip. “Look, I know that I’ve been awful recently—“

            “No, Nicole. You don’t know. It is just one thing after another with you. Chase was fine before you showed up. Sure he walked around like an annoying unmated pup but at least he wasn’t getting hurt over and over again. We’ve had to go through so much just for you. If he wasn’t my son I wouldn’t do it. I hate to say these things to you Nicole but I don’t know what else to do. You’re no good for him. He loves you unconditionally and you keep hurting him. I want nothing more than for him to be happy and with you all I can see is destruction. For some reason the fates have decided to place the two of you together and I just don’t understand it.” His words hurt. All I wanted to do was run and cry but I was stuck in place. “If you really want to be with him you need to start doing what’s best for Chase. And right now, that’s you going to get some rest. He doesn’t need to worry about your health whilst feeling that bad.” And with that Magnus walked away, his long velvet coat stiff against his back.

            I swallowed hard and felt my face heat up. Everything Magnus said to me was completely true. I didn’t deserve anything Chase had done for me. I hadn’t repaid him at all. I have been selfish since this entire thing blew up. This isn’t me. It just isn’t.

            “You need to be his Mate. Not his girlfriend,” my wolf whispered.

            I had no idea what being a mate meant. I didn’t understand the concept enough. It wasn’t what I was raised on. I bit my lip and walked down the hall knocking on one of the many doors.

            “Yeah?” Kelly asked once it swung open. She leaned against the door frame. “Everything alright, Nicole?”

            “Could you help me find some books?” I knew there was a library in this place. I also knew that Kelly would be the one who knew the library like the back of her hand.

            “Sure,” she shrugged stepping out of her room, shutting the door behind her. “On what?”

            “Mates,” I replied.

            She raised a plucked blonde eyebrow at me. “Oh? Doing a bit of research on werewolf culture are we?” She gave me a sympathetic smile. “That’s probably something Magnus should have made you do a while ago. All three of you, actually. Considering you were raised human.”

            I nodded at her. “Yeah. I should’ve definitely done this a while ago. All I know is what was spread throughout the town. Speaking of werewolf history, what’s yours? If you don’t mind me asking.”

            “Smooth transition there,” she complemented as we turned into another corridor. “And no I don’t mind. I was fourteen when my family of six was passing through this territory. My parents were the nomad type, we moved around a lot. Jade and Tom Laurence were my parents. They weren’t wolves though. I was adopted. Therefore I was like you—raised human. They only had two blood children.” She had an emotion stirring in her green eyes—an emotion I couldn’t place. She shook her head, as though clearing a train of thought. “Anyway, when we were passing through Magnus, Chase, and Cain were out patrolling and they smelled me. I was the only wolf in my family and my parents weren’t really aware of it. I hadn’t exactly reached my shifting age. My shift was a bit later than most. It’s different for everyone. But, like I said, I was raised human without any knowledge on this subject. When a man with two teenage guys walked up to my family in the middle of the woods looking quite angry, it was very odd. My father stood in the front with the two oldest—Phil and Joe—and basically told Magnus to get lost.