Chapter 22
Celia’s POV
As soon as my foor steps inside my home, I bolt through the hallways and find myself in my mother’s old office. Dust has settled across the small space. For years, her office has remained untouched, I haven’t been able to bring myself to enter inside.
Ever since my parents passed away, I haven’t been able to go into their designated spaces in the house. Whenever I go inside, it always feels as if their ghosts are inside, forever present, always chilling me to my core. I push through the feeling, though, and enter the office.
The smell of dust and mustiness fills my nose. I cough and wave at the air around my mouth, trying to muster up some fresh air, as I swipe my mother’s notebook from her desk. I quickly leave and make myself at home at the table,
Old, crinkled pages are scattered across the dining room table, I sit alone in silence, flipping through every page as I piece together the puzzle of the mind link my mother once wrote about and researched.
People without awakened wolves or those without mates can indeed use the mind link in order to effectively heal patients. This is good! This is progress. I flip to another page.
My mother’s notes add onto the information from before. If someone who has yet to awaken their wolf, like me, and they enter into a mind link, there is a slight possibility of their wolf mutating during the process.
My recent dreams of the white wolf flood into the forefront of my mind. The images of white fur being caught and killed by the black wolf sends chills down my spine. Soren’s scent fills my nose and I push the thought of him away. I slide the notebook across the table but it falls to the ground. I sigh and move to pick up the journal when I see a picture taped on the inside of the pages.
It’s of my father and mother. They hold each other in their arms with big smiles on their faces. Below the picture reads their story.
I met him when I was only twenty years old. My goodness, he was so handsome! He was out of my league, too! He was born into royalty whereas I was a simple commoner! I worked at the hospital and he always found reasons to come by and see me.
We fell in love not long after we met. He told his family and they rioted, demanding that he leave me for a more proper woman. I was ready to let him go until he came to me in the middle of the night. He begged me to run away with him, to elope and to marry him!
We left the Pack and didn’t look back. It was the best choice we made. We only hope that you, our dear Celia, are able to find your fated mate. Your one true love in this world. You deserve as much happiness as we have gone through, if not more!
I wipe away tears from my eyes. My mother’s words have moved me so much…but I can only imagine the disappointment they must feel while watching me from up above. I haven’t found my mate yet and, well, I sincerely doubt that I will ever find him.
The man I love doesn’t retum my affection. We have never been equals, our relationship was built on a contract that he broke. I need to get over him.
My phone vibrates on the table beside me. I pick it up, wiping one last tear, and see Lily’s name on the screen. Only Lily and the hospital have mu number Nobody else needs it, so I rarely ever go on ir
Are you going to Soren and Bianca’s engagement party?
No, I type, I don’t think I am
Why not? It’ll be good to get out of the house! Let’s go shopping! I’ll take your after work!
No, that’s okay!
Little did I know, Lily had already informed the doctors we were working under that we would be leaving work a little early the next day. She dragged me out from the hospital, somehow managing to get Ethan to come along, and shaved us into her car
Once we reached the downtown area, which is lined with expensive shops and boutiques, Lily hopped out and linked her arm into mine. She dragged me inside, my gaze attaching to Ethan’s sympathetic gaze, before she pulled me inside an expensive gown shop.
I sigh while looking through the dresses. The metal hangers glide along the metal cod, a scraping sound filling the silence between my ears. All of the dresses were so expensive…how am I going to be able to afford it?
“Try this one!” Lily shoves a dress in front of my eyes, look at it and tilt my head to the side.
I don’t know…” I murmur. Lily colls her eyes and shoves me inside a dressing room
This became a quick routine. I barely left the dressing room. Lily came by every few minutes with more dresses. I walked out every time and stood in front of the mirror, Laly gave harsh critiques while Ethan diverted his gaze, his cheels a bright pink color.
After what feels like forever, I step out of the dressing room in a dark red dress. The neckline stops right above my breasts and has sparkly red
-25 Bonus
all the right ways.
fabric that droops across my shoulder. The skirt hits the floor and the fabric hugs my body in all the righ
When Istepe
step out for
Lily and Ethan to see, Lily’s jaw drops. She begins to clap and tells me that this dress is the one. Ethan stares at me with an awestruck paze. I blush and push my hair behind my ear.
“You look…amazing.” Ethan gushes. Lily’s eyes flicker between him and me, a knowing smirk spreading across her lips.
“Thank you, thank you,” I wave Lily’s cheers away. I look at myself in the mirror and run my hands over the red material. Lily approaches me from behind, wrapping her arms around me.
“You look gorgeous! You should get it,” she beams at me.
“I don’t know if I can afford it, Lily,” I shamefully admit. Between my student loans and Grandma’s upcoming loan payments, I don’t know if t can really spare any money to buy this dress. “I can always-
ves meet and I turn around to face him.
“I’ll buy it for you,” Ethan’s voice cuts me off. My paze floats to his in the mirror. Our eyes
“No! It’s okay! It’s…it’s expensive! You shouldn’t waste your money on me,” the words fall from my mouth. I shake my head and wave my hands at him, trying to further my point. He waves me away, though, and shoves his hands into his pants pockets.
“I’ll buy it for you but you have to be my dance partner at the party. That is how you can repay me, Celia,” he whispers my name, down my spine.
Tlet out a breathy and surprised laugh, averting my gaze to the front of the store. My body goes numb.
Soren stands outside the glass wall. He glares at us, snarl on his face.
Chills run
