"Where do we go from here?" Liam asked softly. I took a deep breath and shrugged.

"I don't know," I answered honestly.

"Are you rejecting me as your mate?" he asked hesitantly. I shrugged.

"I don't know," I repeated. "But I could use a ride home," I said. He nodded and grabbed a jacket as my invisible wall went back up. We headed to the garage. We were both quiet as Liam drove but it didn't feel like a goodbye. Other than the occasional directions, neither of us said a word the entire ride. When he parked the car in front of my house, he looked at me longingly. I tried to ignore it but it was nearly impossible in this small enclosed space.

"Can I come see you tomorrow?" he asked. I hesitated before I nodded. I promised I would give him another chance, but I wasn't ready to jump into anything with him. We would be taking it at a snail's pace for sure. But I had to at least continue talking to him face to face in order for that to happen. As much as I wanted to hate him and move on with my life, I had to listen to Aria and give him one last chance.

"Sure. I'll text you," I agreed. We swapped numbers before I got out of the car and walked briskly through the cold to the warmth of the house. My grandparents were lounging in the living room and watching TV.

"How was your day?" my grandpa asked when they saw me. I shrugged.

"Fine," I answered as I took a seat on the couch. "A lot to adjust to," I added for their benefit. They didn't press any further, but I doubt they ever would. They were just happy to have me in their lives again.

"Will you be joining us for dinner?" my grandma asked. I nodded.

"I don't see why not," I replied. I'd been so busy trying to figure everything out with Liam and dealing with Aria that I often skipped dinner. In fact, I hadn't been spending much time with my grandparents at all lately. And after everything they'd done for me, taking me in, no questions asked, I owed them to try and get to know them better.

"I'm sorry for my absence lately," I apologized. They were quick to wave me off.

"You're a special girl, Danny. We understand that your plate has been a tad full lately. It's not your fault," my grandma assured me. I hugged her gently.

"Thanks, I'm going to shower," I dismissed myself. I sprinted up to my room and wasn't surprised in the slightest to see Aria sitting on my bed in her red-headed form.

"That was a lot of 'I don't knows' with Liam," she noted. I was not looking forward to this conversation at all.

"I'm not a 'forgive and forget' type of person. That's as good as it's going to get for now," I defended myself. She sighed before shaking her head.

"I should have never told you about the chosen mate option," she muttered to herself. "Look, I misread him initially. He is trying. You're being hard on him," she said to me.

"But I'm technically you, right? What would you have done if your mate rejected you for weeks?" I asked.

"Well, firstly, I would kill for a mate. I don't get to have the companionship of another where I go. I'm constantly looking over the wolves, I can't be distracted. It's a lonely job," she answered longingly. "But we're not talking about me. He was wrong, yes, but I'm just asking you to have a little more... empathy," she said. I picked out some long johns and grabbed my towel.

"Empathy isn't my thing. You taught me that. Goodnight, Aria," I said, heading towards the bathroom.

"Whatever. I'll see you tomorrow," she said before she vanished. I was pretty sure I pissed her off. I got ready for bed before going down for dinner with my grandparents. Tomorrow was going to be better. Or at least, that's what I was trying to will myself to believe.

~

"Healing draws from you own life force so you'll need to be careful with it. Too much and it'll kill you," Aria warned me during my lesson. For the first half of the day, we were doing some air-bender type moves straight out of the cartoon Avatar, but Aria said it was called Tai Chi. She said it would put me in the right state of mind before teaching me how to heal.

"Like everything else, it's about the right state of mind. You focus and will it to happen; pulling from inside yourself," she instructed. We were knelt over a deer that was laying with a cut on its back leg. Aria moved my hand over the wound and instructed me to start. I focused on closing up the wound. It took nearly twenty minutes as Aria kept the deer calm, but it finally closed, leaving a small scar in its place. I stopped and slumped back on my heels with a yawn. I was exhausted.

"Good, good. Practice and it'll get easier. With time, you'll get stronger and it won't take as much of a toll on you. Of course, this was a very minor heal. You shouldn't try anything bigger than a cut until you come into your wolf. Like healing, you can also hurt someone too. Try to reverse it. Create a cut," she instructed. I took a breath and dug my hands into the earth as I felt for the current of energy. When I finally found it, I drew from it to reenergize myself before trying to reverse what I healed. Aria kept the deer calm and still as I worked. It was much easier to open the wound then it was to heal it.

"Why was that easier?" I asked.

"Causing pain requires you to draw from your own hurt and anger... and you have a lot of it. To hurt someone else, you project your own onto them," she explained. I sighed and sat back to pull more energy from the earth. I was getting lightheaded. I sighed and sat back as Aria healed up the dear in less than a minute and released it.

"So when do I shift?" I asked. She sighed and crossed her legs.

"Normal wolves shift between ages 7-12. The stronger the wolf, the sooner they shift. Those people tend to be more in touch with their animalistic side. You almost shifted at the age of 3. I had to suppress your wolf for a while. You weren't ready. I will give her back when you're ready. When she comes, you'll be immensely stronger than any wolf ever born," she warned. "You won't be able to pull her out whenever you want either. Your human form is stronger. Your wolf will come out when it shows to be an advantage for you, or when she feels like it," she added. I sighed heavily.

"At what point do I get a normal moment?" I asked sarcastically. She chuckled.

"It's a burden sometimes; I won't deny that, but you're alive," she reminded me. I sighed as my thoughts drifted to Liam. I was supposed to meet with him today after school got out and it was nearing that time. I wasn't going to lie, it was making me anxious.

"You're thinking about him," she noted. I nodded. It was pointless to try and hide it from her, she was in my head.

"I wish I knew what to do," I admitted.

"Now that you've felt the true intensity of the bond, you want that, but you're still scared he'll go back to her," Aria spoke my deepest thoughts out loud.

"But... I know what I saw," I defended myself.

"Your vision? The vision was fulfilled already. Your visions aren't long term. You haven't gotten that advanced yet," she shook her head at me before sighing heavily. "What you saw already came to pass. Once a vision is fulfilled, that's it. You saw him choose Sophia, and he did. Now it's over, and it's time to move on," she explained.

"I don't trust him," I said.

"Yes you do," she countered. "He's going to need you, and believe it or not, you're going to need him. You've gotten even, now it's time to humble yourself," she said.

"I really don't want to get hurt again," I admitted.

"You're more powerful than he is, my daughter. He fears more than you do. He'll keep your secrets, out of fear if nothing else," she promised. She stood and helped me to my feet before opening her arms for me. I sighed, knowing she was about to drop me off at his door. I held her and closed my eyes briefly as a gust of wind landed me right in front of his house. She tucked my hair behind my ear with a smile before taking a step back.

"Try to have fun today," she said before vanishing. I took a deep breath before I knocked on the door.