Warmth ✔

Chapter 32

When the woman is close to releasing herself from Ciara's Mom's grip, I take a step forward to find out what is going on.

"You can't keep her in the dark forever. She needs to know that her mate is dead," the woman declares.

Hearing this, I stop dead in my tracks. Since I'm out of my hiding spot, the woman sees me and freezes. Ciara's Mom follows the woman's gaze and her eyes land on me. Her eyes go wide with shock.

Ciara's Mom's eyes go over my face and the expression that I have is a clear indication to her that I've heard their conversation.

I slowly walk towards them while trying to process what I've just heard. Even though the words are clear in my head, I cannot understand them. When I reach them, both release each other from their grip.

"I want to have a word with both of you. Follow me."

I lead them to a place where people don't usually come. I look around to make sure that no one is passing by. When I'm sure that no one will be eavesdropping on our conversation, I face the women who have their eyes on the ground.

"Who are you?" I ask the woman.

She looks up at me and answers, "I'm the mother of Ciara's mate who is dead."

"Dead? What do you mean by that?" I cannot understand what the woman is saying. When did Ciara have a mate?

"When my son turned eighteen, he knew that Ciara is his mate. And he loved her from afar. He was waiting for Ciara to turn eighteen so that she could realize too that Trey is her mate. But he died fighting in the Silver Moonstone battle. I wanted to tell Ciara the truth the day she turned eighteen but her mother has been holding me back. She needs to know the truth so that she doesn't wait for her mate all her life. She needs to know so that she can move on."

"Go home and you won't tell Ciara anything until I allow it," I order the woman. She nods and leaves.

"Who else knows?" I question Ciara's Mom.

"Ciara's Dad and Trey's Dad know."

"Do you want Ciara to know the truth?"

"No. The truth will destroy her."

"So, you're going to hide the truth from her?

"Yes."

"For how long?"

At my question, she doesn't say anything because she knows that she can't hide the truth forever. One day or the other, the truth will come out in the light.

"Let's go back," I tell her softly. We walk back towards Ciara's house.

Just before I'm about to enter the house, Ciara's Mom stops me and asks, "Are you going to tell her?"

"Not tonight," is all I say.

And we both get inside the house.

"What took you so long?" Ciara asks me as she comes from the kitchen.

"Something held me back," I say.

"What?" She questions with curiosity.

"I'm not here to be interrogated by you, Ms. Nancy Drew," I tease her. "I'm here to eat the delicious food that you prepared and to talk to you till the morning arrives."

After having dinner, I wish Ciara's parents "goodnight" and Ciara and I retire to her room. We sit on her bed and I start telling her about my date with Alarick. When I finish, she remarks, "You are really bad at planning dates. Alarick should never allow you to plan your dates."

"Tonight's date was a good date," I say in my defense.

"No, it wasn't. Alarick is your mate. You were supposed to plan a romantic date. Taking your mate to watch a horror movie is not considered as a romantic date," she lays emphasis on the word 'romantic.'

"Well, I thought it would turn into a romantic date," I say innocently.

"How?" Ciara asks in a confusing tone.

"I thought that he would get so scared by the movie that he would hold me but he just held my hand. I was so disappointed," I joke.

Ciara just shakes her head. "I don't know what you would do without me. I'm planning your next date," she says in a firm tone.

"Yes, Mom," I mock her.

When we are done with the topic of my date, we move on to other topics. When it's 3am, I tell her, "Let's watch a movie."

"Which movie?"

"A horror movie."

"No," Ciara says in an instant. "I'm not going to watch a horror movie at 3am."

"Nothing's going to happen. And also, I'm with you. I won't let anything happen to you."

"That's very assuring," she remarks sarcastically.

"Stop being a scared cat."

"You calling me a cat is an insult to me," she says, faking hurt.

"I know what you're trying to do," I tell her as I get a hold of her laptop. "You're trying to tangle me up in your conversation so that we don't get the chance to watch a horror movie. But guess what Ms. Ciara, we're going to watch a horror movie now."

After watching the movie, we call it a night and sleep.

*

It's around 7 in the morning when I wake up. It is the earliest that I've woken up after having a sleepover. Usually, when Ciara and I have a sleepover, we never wake up before noon.

The reason why I woke up so early today is because I couldn't sleep properly. What I came to know yesterday was too much for me to bear.

I get up from Ciara's bed. I'm careful as to not wake her up. I leave her room as quietly as possible and go to the drawing room where I find her parents sitting in silence.

Upon my arrival, they look up at me. I take a seat adjacent to them. I look at their faces. Dark circles under their eyes is a clear indication that they didn't sleep well last night.

I turn to them and say, "Ciara needs to know."