A/N: This book was a MONSTER to edit and I still found mistakes but that's a future me problem. It literally took me a full month, but THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER, Y'ALL!! Thank you for all the votes and comments and whatnot. I hope you enjoyed this story enough to read(re-read) and vote, but please don't ask for a sequel because I think 63 chapter was enough! For those of you who have re-read and see the obvious differences in the middle school-me version vs the college-me version, I hope the edits served the storyline better ( let me know your thoughts). If you still want to dive into my werewolf world, please continue reading my works like "Throw Me to the Wolves." Other than that, again thank y'all so much and don't be afraid to comment or message me!

The whole day was confusing. I knew nothing about anything. Chase and the other two boys—Dylan and Dane—were always fighting about something, but when the elders—their "royalty" called the Council—was within the same room or corridor, they just shot nasty glares until they were able to bicker someplace else. Stuck in the same mansion together had its perks with resources and recreation though. Cole and I had gotten closer. We had a lot of things in common and I was honestly starting to like him...but something in the back of my mind told me not to along with every burning sensation that my skin felt when he brushed against it.

As we played video games in the media room, I heard the fighting stop and then Chase walked in the room. I pressed the "home" button on the remote to pause the game, in order to look at Chase as if he had something to say to me, and then I felt pressure on the remote and saw Cole cheating as he started the game without permission. We wrestled on the floor before he conquered by getting my remote and winning the game. Cheater.

"Cole, I need to speak with you," Chase said as some authority figure. Cole seemed to growl at him and then hop up from the ground to follow him out.

I wondered what they needed to talk about? I mean, in comparison to Dylan, he hadn't done anything wrong because we had been minding our own business this whole time, but I really hoped they didn't start arguing. After all, Chase was the only one I was supposed to know here so I had to be partially loyal to his side of the argument—whatever it was.

And then minutes after patiently waiting, I heard something shatter in the other room and I rushed to get up. I saw as there was grass shattered on the floor beneath Chase as his left forearm was leaking maroon blood. I rushed over and looked between them.

"What the hell happened?!"

"Nothing," both the boys lied.

"You gotta let me help you wrap this," I said, reaching out to touch Chase's arm to examine it, but then he jerked away. My stomach clenched as if he had punched me.

"I can do it on my own," he spat, somehow hurting my feelings. I watched him leave before I looked to Cole. Before I could say anything, he was shaking his head and walking out as well. UGH. I waited in silence and confusion before leaving back to somehow find my way back to my room. As I rounded a corner (I swear I was lost) I heard a voice.

"I don't believe he would honestly do that," Cole's loud whisper said to someone.

"Well he did. One look at her and I can tell," Chase responded. Did they not just fight? Why were they talking again? "How do I fix it?"

"I don't know if you can," Cole replied. Can what?

"You've gotta be shitting me," Chase said in agony. I knew Cole well enough that he'd be shrugging by now. I wanted to know what everyone was hiding from me. In pure curiosity and mystery, I walked back to my room.

"Can I come in?" I heard a voice say hours later. I looked to the door and nodded as I saw Dylan peaking his way in.

"What do you want?" I asked in a sigh. It sounded rude, but I didn't intend for it to be that way. I was just stressed and in some weird state of soreness like my body had gone through an intense workout and needed to remind me of what stiffness and nerve damage felt like. It had even begun to make its way up to my head for a migraine.

"I just wanted to apologize for all the recent fighting between me and Chase today," he said as he sat on my bed.

"It's okay," I nodded. I just wanted to know what it was all about...

"I think you can leave here soon, though," he said. I snapped my head at him. "I know you must be confused and not like—"

"Seriously?" I asked, enthused. He nodded.

"Yeah. If you want, I can totally help you get your things and then you can leave tomorrow morning. Hernandez can have your flight booked tonight," he said. Sweet. Awesome. Perfect. Terrific. I agreed to the arrangement and conversed with Dylan as we both packed what few new clothes I had that fit me. Somehow they found me modern girl's clothes in my size, even though I think with all their riches, they measured me in my sleep and then seemingly bought me a wardrobe over night. Though few in number, the items didn't exactly cause me to think they were really what I would normally wear. The one thing that did stand out to me was a NYU t-shirt—that I knew represented my university even though I couldn't actually remember my time there—only it was the only thing that was way too big on me. Just like the song from earlier, my mind itched to connect it to something from the past.

***

The council's driver drove me out of the palace's property and out of the town to the nearest airport, which was two hours away in the Ukraine. Although I wanted to think of all the fun I had with Cole—genuinely the most recent memories I could recall other than suffering through college—I could only think of Chase. I didn't know what it was, but he was on my mind and I couldn't shake it. But then again, maybe it was because even though I had a gap in memory of meeting him or even getting to this strange place, my long-term memory had stored the inklings of familiarity within him.

"We're here," Hernandez, the driver, announced. He helped me with my single bag and then gave me directions and translations to some signs since apparently we were in an entirely new country and there wasn't one lick of English anywhere. I looked down at the paper after checking in with my ticket. I was going through the security line, hearing the high beep from the metal detectors and then I looked at the small corridor of the airport. I looked down to the ticket and translated note of instructions for where I was supposed to go. Before I even made it ten steps down the floor, I heard my name being called.

"Alicia!" I turned and saw crowds of people being moved over.

"I'm sorry, you can't get through—"

"Wait. That's the Prince—"

Prince? I looked around and started to walk from where I just came from and saw Chase out of breath as he jogged up to me as people took pictures. He was...a prince? I was led to believe he was just an inherited lord of some sort.

"What are you doing here?" I asked with confusion in his presence as well as his title.

"I can't let you go," he said out of breath. What? "You don't know, but Dylan wiped your memory."

"Chase, that sounds—" Not completely ridiculous even though I wanted to calm whatever was coursing through his veins.

"I lied," he declined in interruption. "I told you that we were just friends from high school because your eyes gave away that someone had messed with you—Dylan had messed with you; he compelled you. Trust me. He wiped your memory, Ali."

Wiping memories? That was impossible as much as whatever compulsion powers he was going on about. And plus, why would I believe Chase? I had asked him questions about my apparent amnesia and he failed to answer me before so why was now a convenient time for him? Maybe he was saying all this because he and Dylan were fighting the entire time and he just wanted to oppose him any way he could.

"Alicia. We're soul mates—please remember," he stated desperately. Soul whats? "I'm a werewolf and you're my mate. I'm also your boyfriend even though we've been through hell and back with all our shit. You're only in this position because I wanted you and I to pretend to genuinely fall for each other—again—so we wouldn't get in trouble with the Council about you knowing my secret. And I don't know what was more stupid—that or the fact that when you said you didn't know who I was, I couldn't give you a straight answer because for a moment, I actually did want you to forget all the bullshit I put you through within the last five years." He explained and scanned my face with every word. I could tell he wanted to reach out and touch my face, but controlled himself. "I am so sorry I put you in this position, but it's my fault. This is all my fault. Just please come back to me. Everything you think you know or don't know is a lie. Trust me."

"I can't," I choked out. My mouth had spoken faster than my thoughts. Most of me wanted to believe him. The werewolf thing threw me for a loop, but the soul mate thing...not so much. Maybe there was a reason why Cole's interactions with me caused pain. Maybe there was a reason why I couldn't shake Chase from my mind. Maybe there was a reason his ever changing eyes were moistened with desperation to make me remember.

But I couldn't do it...I couldn't remember a thing no matter how badly I wanted to.

"No, no, no, Alicia. Please believe me," he begged. He looked like he was about to break down into a broken cry in a way someone was trying to break through a bulletproof glass casing to save someone and couldn't quite reach them. But it was me he couldn't reach. And that's why I had a hard time believing that this man in front of me was the same one who had apparently wronged me for five years according to him.

"I can't," I said between closed teeth. "You're not making any sense. I just met you the other day and hadn't seen you since high school apparently. I don't know who the hell anyone is or where the hell I am or what language that even is," I gestured around at signs. "And I'm damn sure that you are not my boyfriend—"

He shook his head once before grabbing my waist, pulling us together, and pressing his lips roughly against mine.

I saw a big wooden house. I saw a clear night of stars. I saw two people getting married and sharing gazes. I saw an adorably fluffy puppy chasing down my sister in our house's hallway. I saw me and Jasmine moving in boxes to our dorm. I saw my own perspective biting into an apple at a Halloween festival. I saw a glass mansion flooded with teenagers. I saw Chase twirling me on a dance floor as everyone wore elaborate long dresses.

Then darkness came. I saw a bullet's reflection off of a body. I saw glinting teeth suspend from full lips. I saw two wolves absolutely attach each other. I saw a table full of beautiful people at a fancy restaurant. Then came the terms werewolf and vampire and witch. Then came the names Eli—Wes—Mason—Chase—Tori—Riley—Dane—Tommy—Billy—Kayla—Nathaniel—Carina—April—Jaylen—Jackson—Torrance—Franscesca—Adolph—Elle.

Everything was coming back. And at the same time, there were stars and butterflies all around from the amazing kiss. I finally pulled away and Chase's eyes were still closed.

"Please, Ali. Remember," he prayed before his eyes opened a millisecond before he kissed me again, but this time I added my hand to the back of his neck and kissed him back. I even bit his lip like he had done to me once before. He was hesitant at first, but then when he finally got into it, he pulled away. "You remember," he whispered, ecstatically before taking me into a hug around my waist and lifting me into the air.

"How could I forget?" I joked, although I had. He planted a kiss on my lips once more and then we heard footsteps and we turned to see the head councilman with crossed arms and a disappointed composition. Hernandez waved us forward with two fingers. Chase and I started walking and in the process, he grabbed my hand, knowing that we'd need all our strength to endure whatever was coming at us.

***

"Do you know how long I've been waiting to do that?" Chase whispered as we were both cuddling on the big couch outside the office, where Council was discussing the predicament. As soon as we were in the car with Hernandez, we didn't share a single word. We only played with our fingers and I tried to wrap my (throbbing) head around what had just happened.

"Do what? Cause an inappropriate scene made by a royal heir?" I asked. He gave me a look.

"Kiss you in public...make you remember...do enough for you to actually respond..."

"What made you wait?"

"I didn't know what could break the illusion," he said. Illusion...?

"About that..." I started. "How exactly was that possible?"

"Dylan' used to hang around with a bunch of witches and warlocks and he's one of few whose mate was of another Tier. Even though werewolves uphold Imprint's Law, her family didn't see it that way so they made her reject the bond and charmed her to where they wouldn't be in contact, but before that happened she had killed herself and somehow transferred her legilimency power to him as a reminder of her love and how she would never want him removed from her life—that's basically the power to extract feelings or memories of people," he explained. "So he took all of your knowledge of the supernatural and anything that had to do with us away."

"Why?" I asked.

"Probably because of my stupid brother," he groaned. "Scorned wolves without their mates tend to stick together when it comes to making people like me suffer."

"'People like you'...?"

"People who knew who their mate was the minute we laid eyes on them and wasn't strong enough to take responsibility and instead caused a long time of suffering on multiple people's accounts," he said sadly while looking down on himself. It was in this moment—especially following the airport scene—that I was feeling Chase's remorse. But now, I could only slide my hand into his.

"So what now?" I whispered.

"We wait," he answered before kissing my cheek.

After explaining the full truth about me and Chase, it had prompted harsh tests and heavy persuasion on our end to convince the Council to let me live my life with Chase without erasing all the extended knowledge I knew the whole time I had been without him. Apparently the "normal" way of imprinting involved us dating and genuinely falling in love before the werewolf secret was revealed, but it was obviously the other way around for us and that's what concerned the Council. But within our five years of ups and downs, the Council—mostly the Adolph led Lycans—believed we loved each other and we were at a good place to begin our journey as mates.

Their clear answer of approval was straightforward, but I still didn't know what that meant from here on out. But it didn't really matter. Once my fingers were laced with Chase's and his eyes illuminated with green rings, it was enough to make me remember all that we'd been through enough to carry it as education and strength for our future.

[THREE YEARS LATER]

"You sure?" Chase whispered, out of breath as he kissed my skin.

I said nothing and only nodded. He gave me a look with his bright green eyes and then kissed my lips. Our bare bodies pressed together as he kissed down my neck. He wasn't asking for sex because it was a given at this point in our marriage, but he was asking for a bond. Sure, we had received pressure from the Lycan Tier about me needing a physical connection to the immortal world other than my husband, but pressure alone wasn't what got us to this point. Considering I accepted his full form as my mate, his siblings as my own and Roanoke as our surrogate child until we were actually ready for kids, it made sense for me to want to be bonded with him in the last way possible.

I was still surprised Chase wanted to do this considering his previous opposition to commitment, but he was right all those years ago about being on board once his mate decided. And I had. I wanted to be with Chase Cane for the rest of my life as a true wolf girl and a Lycan princess who had enough rights to fully support everything he did on his throne.

I felt his teeth sink into my neck but it felt like sweet bliss as my nails clawed into Chase's back in the wince of pain every few moments. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"It's fine," I breathed as he carried on. The sharpness from his teeth was released and he kissed where he bit. That was it? I didn't feel any different physically, but spiritually I felt alive and energized with even more gravitation towards the man I was always really connected with no matter the good or bad. But it was actually more than that though; it was the elated feeling that I could do anything—we could do anything.

Chase rolled over and I snuggled into his body as his arm wrapped around my shoulders. He kissed my head.

"I love you Alicia," he proclaimed. It wasn't the first time he had said it, but it felt like it was. Through all these years, he knew I loved him and I learned that he loved me but after his shenanigans and jealousy and ulterior motives, verbal assurance was incredible from him. I think I really realized it when I heard how utterly romantic and devoted his vows were. No one noticed that he never said the technical words of "I love you" because he had illustrated the very passion with every recollection and confirmation without needing to use overused words. He had told me once that he loved me as soon as he set eyes on me...and after that, there were no words that could describe the level he adored me. But as much as I appreciated it, those three words still carried the weight of our relationship enough for me to feel warm on my insides.

"I love you too," I whispered before kissing him.

And so we went to sleep as easy as it was to be mates within the last three years. No matter the danger or his worries about responsibilities, it truly was a pure tether that made me understand how smooth everything was for Tori and Mason, Eli and Jasmine and even Wes and April. It was a bond of respect and loyalty and love—nothing could be simpler no matter how many opinions the Council had. It was simple. We were Alicia and Chase Cane, princess and Lycan prince in the werewolf sector of a royal Council.

And just to think...at the beginning of these eight years, the Group was really just a pack of weird, rude, confusing and clingy boys. But what else could you expect from werewolves?