From scratch ✔️

25. Building bridges

"We need to talk."

The world froze. That's it, this gorgeous man is going to reject me now, it will be over and my life will be just as it was before, with no man in it. When did you decide you wanted a man? My subconcious me asked. And really, when did this idea became normal to me? Less than a week ago I was strictly against letting any man touch me, and here I am now, staring at this hume man of a beast, gorgeous to no end and regretting everything that I have done and what was done to me. Karma is a bitch indeed. 

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes for a second and gathered all my courage, then opened them and have Nick a small smile. 

"I guess we do. Please, come in, sit. Sorry for not standing up, it's almost impossible to do that myself now..." I chuckled uncomfortable. His eyes went to my stomach and with furrowed brows he let out a cough, but went to sit on the chair in front of the couch I was lounging at. 

"We haven't officially met. My name is Nick." He said somewhat shy? No, I think he's just uncomfortable with what he has to do, I believe it's a pretty nasty thing rejecting someone who was destined to you by the moon Goddess. Only for Shirley and Jonathan's sake I will endure this meaningless conversation. Not because I like his voice. Although I must admit - it's charming, husky, deep... The list goes on. 

"I'm Emily." was the only response he got from me, but what he didn't know was that I was to enchanted by him to think of something else to say. 

"It's... uhm... nice to meet you..." he said staring at something over my head. I turned around, but saw only the bookshelf. Oh, goody, now he doesn't even want to look at me. 

"Yeah..." I said. Then took another deep breath and started my speech. "Listen, Nick. I know that you have to reject me, I understand, doc Evans laid it out to me to the dot, so let's save us the trouble and not engage in a meaningless conversation when we both know why you came here today. I value Shirley and Jonathan too much to let it affect our relationships with them, so do what you have to do and you won't hear any complains from my side, ok? Just reject me and let's get this over with."

His reaction was well expected. Well, the first part of it. First he went completely silent, I couldn't even hear him breathing. His eyes were the size of tea plates and held and expression I couldn't read. But then, then he shot up from the chair and started screaming.

"Why the hell would I reject you?! Do you think I would disrespect the gift that the Moon Goddess herself graced me with? I have searched for my mate for years, and now you want me to throw it out like garbage? Do you think so lowly of me?!"

Stunned. That's what I was. Not scared, for some reason this outburst of his didn't scare me like the one that night. I was simply stunned. Did I hear him right? He wanted to do something with me? Oh my... 

I shyly looked at him from under my lashes. It was too good to be true. He doesn't know how broken I was, not only from the outside, but on the inside as well. 

"Nick..." I started quietly. "What do you know about me? I mean, as I understood from what doc said, you wouldn't want me, I violated the whole mate thing..." I must admit, I was scared to death to look at him. Depending on what he knew or didn't, something would have to be done. I don't know, I think I lost the ability to think straight for a second here. Different 'what if's' were plaguing my mind and I didn't know what to thing, how to react, how to act. 

"Listen, Emily..." oh how good my name sounded coming out of his mouth... Stop it!  I internally screamed at myself. It is not over yet, get yourself together!

"I'm sorry..." He sad so quietly, that I almost didn't hear him. Why was he apologizing? 

"What?" I asked in disbelief. Maybe I heard wrong?

"I'm sorry for scaring you, and for, you know, growling at you?..."

"Oh... Yeah, sure..." I mumbled. This conversation was getting more and more awkward by the minute. To say I was confused was an understatement. I was absolutely sure he came here to reject me, to tell me he didn't need me in his life, and he is apologizing? 

"You know..." He started again. "I should have been more in control, I should have realized you were a human from the start, and in that case I have no right to blame you for not waiting for me. But I didn't, and thankfully dad was able to keep me calm and make me listen to reason. I was confused at first, I completely forgot about the existence of healers, and the thought of you being a human never even appeared, because it is impossible to be mated to one. So naturally I was mad, because, you know, there was another man in your life before me and I thought that you betrayed the gift of the Moon Goddess and me. And then mom and dad told me your story, and I felt ashamed. I'm so, so sorry..." He almost cried at his last words, his shoulders slumped, head bent down, hands nervously twisting. I wanted to reach out to him and console him, but I restrained myself. The air wasn't clear yet. 

"What exactly did Shirley and Jonathan tell you?" I asked quietly shuffling in my seat a bit. He lifted his eyes at me with apprehension. 

"I know same things as Nathan. You never shared any details and I wouldn't ask you to, but if you want to talk about it, we can?..." He sounded unsure, and I get that. He was a wolf, a warrior, his mission was to protect, what would he do if he knew exactly what happened and how? No, it wouldn't do any good to anyone. 

"No, I don't really want to talk about it..." I said uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry..." He said looking torn. 

"So what now?" I asked the dreaded question.

"Well," he answered with a shy smile. "Maybe we could get to know each other a bit?"

"Ok" I gave him a small smile, but inside I was dancing. He wanted to get to know me better! Everything's not lost! Relief filled my heart and I exhaled a long one. But still I wasn't 100% convinced in the success of this whole ordeal. 

"Nick, what about my baby?" I asked warily. And there it was, this thing I felt in my gut, and if I learned anything in the last 5 months, it was to trust your gut. Right there in his eyes I saw this spark of uncertainty, this doubt, and it tainted my happiness like a drop of dirt on a perfectly clean white sheet. He closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath (we seem to do that a lot today, but hey, our situation is out of the ordinary) and spoke in a calming manner, as if I were a wild animal and he tried to tame me. 

"I won't lie to you, I'm not happy about it. But I will try accepting it and loving it."

"Her." I said firmly. "She's not an it, she is alive and she is not at fault in this, she is a part of me. Either you take us both, or you have neither." That was it, an ultimatum, and I wasn't backing down. Nick looked me deep in the eyes, and I tried to influence him with my look. I guess it worked, because the next thing he said was: "I'm taking you both. You and your girl."

A/N Sooo... Not everything goes bad after all, right? Aaah, I was so happy to write this chapter!  What do you think? Tell me :)