The clouds have risen once more and the sky has decided to play hide and seek. The clouds open up and allow the rain to fall down on Jayden and I.

We were having a nice walk to his parents indoor gardens but the rain decided it wanted us to hurry up.

I pull the thin coat over my head as my attempt to keep my hair from getting dry. But the rain will always find its way in.

The garden doors are finally in reach and Jayden and I burst into them as quickly as we can. We both let out a few deep breathes of relief at the instant warmth of which the gardens behold.

I look around at the greenery of the gardens and smile. Flowers of all sorts are splattered around, living amongst bushes and trees.

I finally realise that the King, Queen, Jay's Beta and his pregnant mate are sitting on a picnic bench in the middle of the gardens.

"Hey!" Jayden waves over at his smiling parents, he takes my hand and walks us both over to where his parents are sitting.

My stomach is fluttering with nerves as I watch his parents standing up to greet us. My eyes glance over at the Beta Asher whom is smiling at Jayden and I with his arm tightly wrapped around a beautiful woman. I guess that is Willow.

"Mom!" Jay greets hugging the short thin woman that looks exactly like him; he takes after his mom then. I watch as he turns around and gives his father a man hug.

Then he turns to me and wraps his arm around my waist, he shuffles me forward slightly and I smile at his parents. Even though I've met them briefly before it is still nerve-racking.

"Hey!" I greet just before I'm pulled in for a hug by Kate, I instantly return the warm hug and enjoy the familiar feeling of a mom hug.

I miss my mom.

"How are you Melody?" King Russell asks as I pull away from Kate's hug.

"I'm.."

What am I? Am I happy? I glance at Jayden who is grinning down at me. I'm happy when I'm with Jayden but I feel like something is missing. Family, more importantly my family.

"...fine" I reply with a smile as I push away the negative thoughts cramming my head.

"Come sit down; you must be starving." Kate says putting a shoulder around me and leading me over to the picnic table where Asher and Willow have stayed seated.

"Hey Melody, nice to finally meet you." Asher speaks up finally, he stands up and walks over to give me a hug. As he hugs me I hear the slight quiet growl escape Jayden's mouth making me giggle.

"Yes it's good to meet you!" I reply glancing from him to Jayden who has sat down opposite Willow.

"I know its been a long time coming but you've been busy with training and Jayden then I've been off duties since you got back to help sort out Willow. The baby was a surprise, one we are glad for but it's also one we weren't ready for." Asher says leading me to the picnic table where everyone is already seated.

I leave Asher and take a seat next to Jayden, he greets me with a quick kiss on the forehead before proceeding to chat with Asher. I look over at Willow and notice she is smiling at me.

"Hey Melody, I'm Willow!" She speaks up with the same happy smile as she leans over and shakes my hand. "It's nice to see you at last, Jayden's done a good job at keeping you to himself as much as possible hasn't he?"

I let out a laugh and turn to a now pouting Jayden, I lean up and peck his cheek before turning back to Willow.

"I know! It's good to finally meet my fellow Beta female, we should definitely go out sometime without the boys. I promise there will be no alcohol." I laugh gesturing towards her small bump.

"Sounds great! No alcohol but plenty of boys!" Just as she finishes her sentence Jayden and Asher growl possessively.

"So Melody," Kate speaks up just as I grab a sandwich from the middle and place it on my plate "how is your heat?"

"Mom!" Jayden yells in embarrassment but Kate only laughs at her son.

"What? It is an innocent question everyone at this table has either been through it or witnessed it." She speaks truthfully but I can't help the blush that creeps up my neck as all gazes fall on me to answer the question.

"Um...its manageable." I nod biting into my sandwich. Asher, Russell and Willow all nod and carry on eating but Kate didn't seem to want to drop the subject so easily.

"I don't like you putting you and Jayden in such pain just because you don't want to fully mate yet." She says shaking her head in disappointment "It is pointless because in the end you will both mate anyways so why wait and sit in pain."

I look down at my food as her words swirl around in my head, am I being stupid? Why am I postponing the inevitable? She is right; we will mate one day so why am I letting me and also Jayden go through all this pain because I want to wait?

"You can't say that Kate!" Russell scolds his wife "It's their bond so it's Jayden and Melody's choice."

"Yes I know that!" Kate shouts giving me an annoyed look before turning back to Russell "But it is not both of their choice is it?! Jayden obviously wants to mat with her; he doesn't want her to wait and continue with the pain of heat! But no, it's just her choice. She is choosing pain over love!"

My heart is thumping out of my chest now and my ears have tuned out of the constant shouting. Kate's words fly through my head at top speed and I can feel a panic attack creeping its way into my chest.

I don't really notice when I had stood up but I find myself racing out of the glass doors and into the pouring rain. It felt numbing on my face.

I could hear a faint voice calling out to me but my feet were working on autopilot. Kate's voice in my head has turned to words and its screaming now, screaming about how horrible and stupid I am.

I breathe deeply and find myself realising that I am in the woods, the rain is still pouring and it's starting to bite at my skin now but my head is too occupied to think about getting warm.

I lean against the tree and try to clear my thoughts to focus on my breathing. It starts getting slower and finally my chest stops squeezing allowing me to once again breathe normally.

My head still pounds with the negative thoughts and the way my mates mom was shouting at me and about me.

I open my eyes for the first time in 10 minutes and look around to try and figure out where I am. There are trees all around me, I wish I knew what part of the forest I am in.

Well I was in the gardens which are situated in the northern area of the castle grounds; I must be in the northern or east forest then.

It's dark underneath the thick layer of black rain cloud; it reminds me of when I was little when I was scared of the dark.

I use to cry and cry until Mikey crawled from his bed on the opposite side of the room into mine and cuddled me.

Eventually when I was 16 I became too scared to sleep because of the nightmares that haunted me every night. I went days at a time with no sleep until eventually my parents took me to the infirmary.

The doctor injected me with some sort of sedative and I slept for 2 days on and off in the infirmary. My parents suspected that my dreams were linked to the mystic wolf.

But it wasn't. I was just suffering of severe depression because I had declared I had no mate. It's weird something in me thought that meant my mate is dead so I feel into a depressed state.

After a 2 years I finally got a hold of myself and the nightmares faded into blackness. Then Jayden walked into my life and they started again but this time they were different.

They were about me because isolated for not having a mate. Now they are about losing my mate who I am suddenly falling for.

A cold shiver scraps up my back as the cold rain finally sleeps through my clothes and touches my bare skin underneath.

I let myself slide down the tree until I am sitting on the soaked glacial forest floor, it doesn't make a difference though; I'm soaking wet anyways.

How am I going to face anyone now? I'm being such a selfish bitch. I didn't think about the pain my heat is causing Jayden or the entire pack for that matter. If I die then Jayden dies and the Royal line and pack is left with no heir.

I bite down on my lip, hard to try and focus on my pain instead of the thoughts in my mind. My wolf isn't helping, she is anxious and upset so she has disappeared into the back of my mind.

"S***!" I hear a familiar voice swearing, the person was a black blur in the distance but their voice was as clear as day.

One minute the shadow is in the distance then the next thing I know is that they are directly in front of me. It's Jayden.

"Melody! Oh my gosh Melody. It's okay love." He says hurriedly. He picks me up gently as though I'm a china doll about to break.

I feel my eyes starting to roll back but I force myself to stay awake, its peaceful. My ears are no longer allowing any noise in so I just watch and feel the cold rain biting at my skin.

Jayden is pelting at full speed so all I can see is a green blur of the forest until finally he stops; we are outside the infirmary.

People have stopped and started starring now. Everyone is holding umbrellas and its amazing; there are so many colours everywhere.

I rest my tired head on Jayden's chest as he runs in the infirmary doors. In an instant we are greeted by nurses who hurriedly lay me on a trolley.

I only watch in silent as they cover me in blankets and foil sheets then I'm wheeled down some corridors. My whole body feels numb but I can feel the constant shivers ricochetting through my body.

I cough violently as my chest starts compressing my lungs. I can feel the rain dripping off the end of my nose and falling to its doom on the thin mattress of the trolley.

I come to a sudden stop and I feel nothing as the doctor and nurses shuffle me onto a hospital bed. The doctor is talking but I can't hear him, I've tuned out by now.

He starts cutting up my clothes and Jayden growls angrily. In seconds he has me changed into the t-shirt he was wearing 10 seconds ago. The doctors then put blankets over all my body and my head.

"Right," The doctor starts as he examines me over "her body temperature is at 28ºC. Her breathing is too shallow, can you put an oxygen mask on her please."

Before I know it a mask is put over my head and covers my nose and mouth. I try and take deep breaths but find it difficult.

"Alpha Jayden." I listen to a women in light blue scrubs talking to my mate "Luna has got moderate hypothermia. She will be fine but for a few days she will be constantly tired and feel cold. Also we aren't sure but her heat might not come as she is too cold."

"Okay great thank you." He replies with a nod, he walks over to me and takes a seat next to me.

"We'll pull through this Melody, don't listen to my mother. This is us, you and me, not her. "