Willow munched on salt and vinegar chips as she watched the Great Gatsby with Lark. She looked at the clock in the living room, waiting for Melody to arrive as she had a lot of questions piled up.

"I didn't know humans committed necromancy." Said Lark, pulling the packet of chips out of her hands.

Willow raised her brows and pursed her lips. "What do you mean?"

"That man, I saw him die." Lark pointed at Jay Gatsby on screen.

"You saw him die? When?" Willow wondered who scammed poor Lark by masquerading as Leonardo DiCaprio.

"On the day before yesterday."

Two days ago was when Rowan had left. Willow scrunched her eyebrows, she also remembered that Lark had been crying secretly that day. Willow's eyes widened in realization. Lark had cried after watching Titanic.

Willow sighed. "Have you ever watched a play?"

"Of course, I have."

"Then, don't the characters die sometimes?" Asked Willow. "In the play."

"You mean," Lark's eyes widened. "You mean that this was all a play? The people in there," Lark pointed at the television. "Aren't real?"

Willow took a deep, with a sad face, she shook her head.

Lark stated at her in disbelief. As if in a trance he turned to look at Leonardo DiCaprio.

Willow heard the doorbell going off. She got off the couch and looked at the sad Lark. "And that's my cue." She felt that she should give him some space.

Willow opened the door to see Melody standing before her, with her purple hair tied up in a pony and wearing JR's hoodie.

"Hey!" Melody smiled.

"Come in." Willow opened the door up wider.

Melody looked at Lark who was staring dumbly at the flat screen. "What's up with him?"

"Don't mind him, he just heard an earth shattering news."

Willow lead Melody to her room. "I wanna ask you something." Said Willow as she shut the door.

"What is it?" asked Melody, sitting on the bean bag.

"A few days ago, you said that Hunter is my mate." Willow stared Melody straight in the eyes. "Why would you say that?"

Melody sighed, as if to say 'not this shit again'. "A year back," said Melody. "Hunter indeed found his mate and you were his mate."

Willow flinched. She didn't even like the thought of being Hunter's mate.

"But then, he rejected you."

"Rejected me?" Willow's eyes widened. She did remember that day, when he had labelled her as the 'Reject' and she even remembered her recent recurring dreams.

"Yeah, when someone doesn't want their soulmate, they reject them. But rejection is looked down upon in society. Mates are in general blessings from the Goddess and rejecting a mate is like rejecting the blessing given by the Goddess, which ends up being a curse.

"Rejecting your mate will weaken both the people involved. The rejected will mostly die, death is like a blessing compared to living and watching your mate move on."

Willow thought about how in her dreams she had ended up dying after being rejected. "But if he is indeed my mate, then why am I alive?"

"I don't know. You almost died, the pack doctor was sure that you won't make it through the night. JR and I, we bought you to my house since your mother was away."

Willows ears perked up at that, she was bought to Melody's house in her dreams as well but it was because her parents were away, her dad, who had passed away a few weeks before that day, had been alive in her dream. That was the reason she had concluded that her dream was just that, a dream and not a recurring memory or anything.

"I wasn't sure about you being Hunter's mate at first, because he kept denying it, but then you started painting him."

"Painting? When did I paint him?"

Melody stared at her blankly before heading towards her bed and dragging out a stack of canvas.

Willow cringed. She had forgotten all about them. "I—I'm going to burn them, soon."

Melody pushed them back in and sat back on the chair. "Not only that you also started getting the cramps, I was sure of it, because you got cramps everytime he was sharing his bed with someone."

"You—" Willow was shocked. "You mean—?"

"Yes."

Was that why Melody was mostly with her when she got her cramps? But it had been more than a week since she last got her cramps. Willow unconsciously rubbed at her collar. Willows eyes widened in realization.

"Rowan."

Melody pursed her lips as she stared at Willow, who stood by the door. "Rowan, I'm still not too sure about him, but I kind of like him now. Though I'll still punch him if he leaves you, damn him being a Royal."

"He said that, him being a Royal is the reason of him finding his mate earlier."

"I'm not so sure about it, but if from what you said and he does help you with those cramps then there might be a chance, but I'm still not sure, what if it's is because he's a Royal and the future king of Vampires, that he can help you with it. Healing might just be one of his powers."

Willow was taken aback. She had never thought about that. She walked over to her bed and flopped down.

Willow yelled in her pillow out of frustration. Even though everything pointed towards Hunter being her mate instead of Rowan, she still wanted to trust Rowan.

Willow suddenly got up and looked at Melody. "Hunter said something about my mark fading."

"You talked to Hunter?"

Willow nodded.

"That bastard must be regretting it." Melody grinned. "Even though I should be patriotic when it comes to my pack and my Alpha, please don't ever accept Hunter."

"I can swear on it. But I still feel that Hunter might not be my mate. I guess we'll truly find out in a few days."

Willow buried her head back in the pillow.

Willow woke up yet again, in the middle of the night. She looked at her phone to find that it had been two hours since midnight. She had been dreaming the same recurring dream and waking up at the same time, in the middle of the night. She started wondering if her life was turning into some horror story.

Willow shivered at the thought and rolled on her side. She shut her eyes and awaited sleep.

It had been five days since Rowan had left and Willow missed him dearly. Willow shook her head and put a stop at the thoughts of 'Rowan filling up her head, because if she continued thinking about him then she was not going to get any amount of sleep and would probably be a living zombie for school the next day.

Willow planned on listening to some calm songs but then she remembered that Lark had borrowed her headphones and her earphones had been tangled into a mess for days now and she'd probably get anxieties the moment she will look at them now.

Willow started counting sheep in her head. On the 465th sheep's jump, Willow got off the bed and walked out to the kitchen to make herself some chamomile tea to help her sleep.

Willow placed the tea bag in her mug and poured some hot water in it. She leaned against the counter and sipped on the tea.

As Willow continued sipping, she heard a sound coming through the back door. She froze when she saw a silhouette flash from the tinted glass door, her heart jumping to her throat.

In her shaky state, Willow placed the mug on the counter with her hands shaking. Willow pulled a knife out of the holder, even though she should be rushing the other way and should be calling nine-one-one, Willow walked forward and checked on the lock to find them unlocked.

Willows eyes widened. She had checked on the door before she went to bed and it had been locked then.

Willow then turned the lock, putting it in place. She turned around and rushed to her room to call the police.

As Willow was running towards her room she suddenly felt her mouth being covered. Willow tried to yell, only for her voice to come out in muffles. She trashed around the kidnapper's grip.

Willow regretted not yelling out when she first saw someone outside through the door. She could have had alarmed everyone in the house.

"I got her." Willow heard a manly voice say behind her. It sounded familiar, but in her haze, she couldn't make out who.

Willow felt herself feeling drowsy, the drug kicking in. She soon lost her consciousness.

)

Rowan had been feeling restless the whole night. But he couldn't point out what it was. He wondered if it was because he was away from Willow for days now.

Rowan wanted to call her to ask her if she was okay, but he had talked to her before she want to bed. He was worried that she might find him clingy.

Rowan debated in his head whether he should call Willow or not. Yes, every part of him wanted to call her, to hear her voice, but at the same time he didn't want to disturb her sleep, it was pretty late in the night.

Rowan glared at his phone.

Signing, Rowan got off his bed and walked over to the balcony. Rowan looked up at the stars, still feeling restless. He didn't want to disturb Willow nor did he want her to find him clingy but what matters the most is her safety.

Making his mind up, Rowan called Willow, only for the call to be forwarded to voicemail.

Rowan's restlessness deepened. Even though she might be deep I her sleep to answer the call but something else could have also happened to her.

Rowan!

Rowan heard Felix through their mind link. Then he heard his door being knocked urgently.

Rowan opened the door to his room. He furrowed his brows at Felix. "What is it?"

"I just heard something, about Lark."

"Lark?" Asked Rowan, confused.

He had known Lark ever since he was ten and Lark was someone he trusted, he had even let him stay at his mate's house, that already proved how much he trusted Lark.

"I even looked it up. Did he not say that he was exiled?" Said Felix, with a solemn face.

When Lark had previously told him that he was exiled, Rowan wasn't shocked because Lark being exiled was a common occurrence. He would often be exiled every now and then. In fact, Rowan would be more shocked if Lark didn't do anything to anger his father, the king of Seelie. But the Seelie king was too fond of Lark to exile him for long. Lark was, after all the best candidate among his siblings for the throne.

Rowan blinked. "So he wasn't exiled?"

Rowan had left Lark behind with Willow because he was one of the strongest person he knew, so Willow would be safe from any danger. But what if Lark was the danger to Willow?

"We have to head back," said Rowan. "Now!"