When will I get my happy ever after ?

Chapter 22

Marina POV

"Marina. Wake up." Sun prods. I mumble a complaint. "Wake up!" she demands. I sigh.

Turning over in bed, I knew something was off. I had too much space. "Oliver?" I murmured peeking through a half asleep eyelid.

"Go find him, he is upset and I want to help him." I groggily comply. It's best to just do as you're told sometimes.

Sun hasn't spoken to me much while I have been sick but I assume it because she was basking in her time with Striker; who interestingly has not been speaking to Oliver that much as well.

I wipe the crust out of my eyes and grab my phone. He texted me not even 15 minutes ago and he is already upset about something? It's warm in the packhouse so I throw on a pair of shorts and another one of Oliver's giant t-shirts. I didn't even bother with my hair because that would take too long and I want to get to Oliver as fast as possible. Plus, Oliver has seen my wild hair for the past few days so who am I trying to impress if not him. I will; however, brush my teeth before I leave the bedroom. I don't know who I will bump into on the way to find Oliver but I don't want them to smell what I say before they hear it.

Once I finished in the bathroom I followed my mate sense given to me my our mate bond. It led me down the stairs, through the kitchen, out the back door, less than a mile into the forest, and into an underground cellar. It is at this time that I regret not putting on sweat pants and a bra.

It smells like home in here. Is it sad that this is where I am most comfortable?

"You need therapy" sun chuckles at my dark thought. I smile at the thought. There's no way a therapist can handle all that's wrong with me. It's like asking a glass forger to fix an already broken piece. It will never be the same. I wouldn't suscept anyone to such failure.

"NO YOU CAN'T LEAVE, WITH OUT GIVING ME SOME ANSWERS." I hear Oliver plea. I walk faster. I don't know why but I have a feeling that I am a part of this. Rounding the corner, I take a peak at the situation. Hanging by his arms in one of the cells is an unnatural and darkly tanned man. He appears to be in his mid 40s but because of his wolfs genes I know that he is much older. Covering his face is both new and old bruises but that's not what stood out to me. What stood out to me is how distorted his face appears. One side of his face seems to have fallen. He is smiling; but, instead of symmetric features his cheekbones lie diagonal to each other and his left eye appears grotesquely colossal. I have no room to judge but it really is a wonder how he blinks.

My mate looks mentally distressed but physically he is still fine. How can someone still look so good in a place like this?

"Although I am all for the mate appreciation, you really need to pay closer attention about what is happening here." I shake my head in attempt to focus. Nobody has noticed that I am here yet because they are so focused on this guy. "What is he saying?" I ask Sun. The guy is chanting something that doesn't sound like English. It sends shivers down my spine and not in a good way. "I don't know but I feel like I have heard this language before. " She replies.

He's disappearing.

"It must be some type of spell." I tell her. "That couldn't be possible. There has been never been a hybrid witch-wolf in my entire existence and I have been around for a very long time." She expressed worriedly. Before the guy fully disappeared, he glanced at me then back at my mate with an even wider smile. He obviously doesn't want Oliver to know that I am here.

"Enjoy what little time you have left with your princess, Al-pha" he says tauntingly. My breath hitched. And then he was gone. Like he was never here in the first place.

It was like time was moving slowly. There was a ringing in my ears that made it hard to focus. Oliver had noticed that I was here and has quickly swept me off my feet in attempt to comfort both him and I but the mate bond couldn't touch this kind of anxiety.

He was here for me. He will be back for me.

Why? Is this what my brothers were talking about? or is this something else entirely?

"We have shifted recently. Do you think someone saw?" I asked worriedly. Oliver hasn't even seen me in my wolfs form yet; nobody has. Can we take the chance? We would be putting the pack in danger if we stayed here; however, the pack isn't their target so if I found out who they were and turned myself in- "No, you will be doing no such thing. " Sun growls. "But-" I try. "No buts. This is the first time that you have been relatively safe in your life. I am not going to let you throw that away for something like this." She pauses. "We don't even know why they truly want us; however, we need to tell our mate. He can't help if he doesn't have the full story."

I finally take in a breath that I didn't know that I was holding. I have been so engrossed in my conversation with Sun that I hadn't realized that Oliver had carried me back into the back house and is now in front of me trying to get my attention. He looks worried but I give him a small smile to hopefully ease his mind. It wasn't successful. He wiped the rouge tears off my cheeks and kissed me where they used to lie.

The ringing in my ears has stopped. Sun is right. I need to show him. This week has shown me that I can trust him.

"Marina are you okay?" he asks. I give him a look. " Okay, I know that was a stupid question. What were you doing in there?"

"Sun told me that you were upset about something. So I came to help" he engulfed me in a hug and kissed my temple. There wasn't much to say.

"Oliver, I need to show you something," I say pulling away from our hug "It might explain a few things."

I lead him back outside into the woods. He willingly lets me tug him deeper into the forest aimlessly. I have to be sure that nobody else can see me.

I stop us at a nice enough clearing. Before I do anything I close my eyes to inspect my surroundings.

"There is nothing around us other than birds and woodland creatures for at least 2 miles in each direction. We should be in the clear." Sun confirmed. She doesn't seem nervous about what we are about to do. That makes one of us. We have been lying to everyone about my ability to shift. Who knows what his reaction will be. I sit Oliver down on a log before starting to undress.

He growled in approval.

In hindsight, I could have undressed out of his view but I saw no need to do so. He has already seen everything. He was about to make a move to get up but I shook my head. I really needed to do this.

I closed my eyes and imagined Sun. I imagined her perked ears all the way down to her four paws. My shift was effortless. She is my second skin and it feels nice to have her out right now. She rarely ever gets the chance to be free.

I have kept my head down in attempt to ready myself for his reaction. I could literally hear his heart rate increase. I can feel his presence. In this form I am larger than him but I still feel his powerful aura.

"Marina...." he whispers while petting the top of my fur "this is what you have been hiding?"

I nod. "My mate is the white wolf?" he says with both pride and nervousness in his eyes.