"Why do I feel like those are not the only things she had done?" I said, to no one in particular. "What's her name?"

"Zora - Zora Wiccan." Kia said, and sighed, "Well, she's the same witch who helped bring Lazarus to power. She's crazy, and now that Lazarus is no more, she will find another way to ensure she remains on the path for gaining more of it. We're afraid she'll target the rescued PureBloods."

"Rescued PureBloods? There were more?" I asked her, my eyes widened in surprise. This was great news.

"Yes," my mother continued and smiled at me with warmth and pride, "Along with us and the vampires, you rescue more than twenty PureBloods. Even we didn't know about them until the Vampire Queen informed us that they had been staying at the Palace, but the Vampires couldn't heal them completely no matter how much they tried. They were sent here immediately and we all will remain under the protection of the Werewolves, until the species is strong enough to return to the PureBlood Kingdom."

Oh.

I was happy to know that my father's kingdom was not all lost and there was a good chance to rebuild its glory. It was going to be a difficult and time-taking task, but the fruits were going to be worth it all.

"That's great, Mom!" I smiled, "How's Papa?" I asked her, hoping that the conversation would take a lighter tone. I had just woken up and the little information on the witch was already giving me a headache. "I've not been able to hold a proper conversation with him yet."

"Your father's fine, Cel. He's slightly upset over your condition at the moment, but otherwise, he's strong and ready to re-establish his kingdom. He was so worried about you when you were taken away, he was ready to kill Adrian, but calmed down once he knew that Adrian himself was poisoned, he calmed down." She stroked my arm, reassuringly.

That nickname - it was as if it struck a familiar chord in me. Somehow, I knew that she had called me that way before.

It warmed my heart to be able to hear it again.

"Adrian had no fault in that - he had tried his best to protect me." I then smiled at her, "It's really good to know he's fit and fine. I really want to meet him. I just haven't been able to catch up with all of you and I'm dying to be with both of you." I held her hand in mine.

She smiled at me, "We have forever for that, my baby."

Her words brought warmth to my chest. What child didn't want her parents to be in her life forever and ever? I was living a life many humans only dreamed of, I guess.

I smiled back at her and then turned to Liana, "How's lover boy treating you? Done enough of begging and grovelling yet?"

Liana laughed at me and then winked, "Oh yeah, there was enough of it - begging, grovelling and what not. But then my heat came and boom - the dynamics changed. I was aloof earlier, despite going through the heat, because he had managed not to mark me. He wanted to wait till I had completely warmed up to him, and then... There was this fear of that curse."

"What curse?"

Liana pursed her lips, "There was this prediction about him - the one he marked first would be killed by his mark - his fangs had some poison or something. So he kept pushing me away because he didn't want me to die. Then Cassandra came in with her love potion, wooing Jaxon and wanting to bear his mark. It killed her."

Oh, so that was what happened. And I had been judging the poor guy for so long.

Liana continued, "He kept this from me until I was finally begging for him to mark me, it was some two months after you left - but he was still scared, you know. He had watched Cassandra die because of him and he didn't want the same for me."

She then grinned at me and tugged her blouse down, showing the mark on the top of her right breast, "That man makes me so happy and he is an animal in bed. There's nothing else I could ever want - he is worth waiting this entire century."

I grinned right back, "I'm so happy for you - just tell me one thing, when are you planning for a mini mix of you?" I teased.

She broke eye contact and a blush covered her cheeks.

I gaped at her.

"Liana! You're pregnant!?" I whispered excitedly.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who was kept in the dark: all the others looked just as surprised as I was. We were all staring at her and she blushed harder.

"I don't know...really. But I think I am...pregnant. Oh Goddess, am I even ready for this?" She covered her face with her hands, looking a little embarrassed.

"It will be alright, Liana." My mother smiled at her, "Goddess won't gift you with a child if you aren't ready for one."

Liana nodded at her, still looking slightly unsure.

"What about you, Mercy?" I asked her, "How is the Beta King doing?"

She smiled, looking extremely lovesick - just how she should be looking, "He's great, Luna." She gushed, "He manages his work wonderfully and never brings the stress home. My baby seems much happier and healthier now that the father is around. He's so attentive - he fulfills every demand of mine and deals with my mood swings like a pro. Don't get me started on his bedroom skills." She giggled and blushed.

Her eyes widened all of a sudden, "Hey, Luna, give me your hand."

I raised my hand, and she excitedly brought it to her belly.

The little pup kicked.

"It's been months since my babe's started kicking - you know that, you have felt my baby kick before - and I get just as excited every time. I can't even tell you how happy I am. Somehow, Alpha King did a huge favor to me by telling Theo about my pregnancy - I have never been so happy, I'm afraid I would jinx it."

We all looked at each other and grinned as Mercy went into a full on ramble about Theo and her baby and how things had been going on. She didn't have to really tell us how happy she was - it was written all over her face that he was being an attentive and doting husband. She was looking healthier than I had last seen her, there was this glow on her face that made her look much more beautiful and her eyes were shining brightly.

"You know what?" Mercy grinned mischievously, "Kia, why don't you tell Luna about your kiss?"

Liana giggled.

"Oh," I grinned, "So Kia has finally been able to seduce her mate."

She shook her head, red-faced, and was about to say something but Mercy cut her off, making Kia roll her eyes.

"Oh, you should hear about that oh-so-sexy and passionate kiss, Luna. Even though Josh doesn't know if Kia is his mate, he is extremely territorial about our dear future Wiccan Chieftess," she wiggled her brows at her, "So when Kia was almost attacked while rescuing you, The Wiccan Chief panicked and kissed the hell out of her."

That did not make sense but okay.

Kia was still red-faced, and Mercy was not stopping, "But something tells me that it wasn't the first time the both of them kissed - both of them didn't seem too surprised by it."

Mercy grinned and we all stared at Kia, who couldn't meet our amused gazes. We all were curious to know about the romance brewing between the two of them and finally Kia spoke out, "It happened only once before and he regretted it immediately." She sighed.

We all had frowns on our faces now and Mercy asked, "Why?"

She shrugged slightly, "He wanted to save his first kiss for his mate."

"Why don't you tell him that you are his mate?" Mom asked her.

I suddenly had the frightening realization that I was the baby in this room, again, and all the ladies around me were almost equal in age according to Werewolf years, including my mother.

Then again, I wondered about children and parents all over this immortal world, and having a mother who's almost as old as you are is so...weird.

"It's not that easy - I don't even think he'll believe me. I have tried to think of ways that might add as a proof, but I found none. The curse is too strong and breaking it will only be the way to get him off it."

This witch - Zora - was going to complicate things and frankly, I didn't want to deal with her shit at all.

***************************

Things were easier when I had someone with me, when I had people surrounding me, gossiping to take my mind off things.

But when I was alone, the grief gripped me, once again. Being alone with only my thoughts as company brought memories - the ones I didn't want to forget. He was dead now and I didn't want to taint the good memories I had of him. I did love him, he did make me happy, unfortunate circumstances came upon us and our story ended there.

I wanted to move on, desperately. I wanted to let him go; but every time I was alone, the image of Adrian's huge wolf ripping Aiden's head off his body reflected in my mind and I was lost. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I was reminded of the scorching pain that gripped my body when he was burning, the fear in his eyes when I had caressed his face and closed his eyes.

I should have at least kissed him softly at that time.

I felt my heart flutter.

Wiping the tears that were streaming down my face then, I looked up to find a huge silhouette of a man, standing by the door to my room.

With the way my heart still fluttered, I knew it was Adrian.

"Hey," I murmured, "Come inside." I told him, slightly nervous about facing him after everything.

Standing some distance away from me was the man who never gave up on me despite me choosing another man over him.

"How do you feel?" he was still standing by the door; he just took a single step that brought him into light so that his features were clear to me.

He was so handsome it made my heart ache with a completely different feeling.

"I'm alright - it will just take some time." I said, still waiting for him to come closer, "Do you insist on standing at the door?"

He hesitated slightly, "I'm comfortable here." He shrugged.

"You can come inside, really. I promise I won't bite," I teased him, "It makes me feel uncomfortable, talking to someone who is standing so far away."

He sighed at my words, but cracked a small smile nevertheless. As he stepped deeper into the room, my gaze ran over his features.

He looked tired and in pain - I felt responsible for that. He still looked powerful, masculine and oh-so-very strong, but his aura didn't have the kind of ruthlessness he always carried with himself. There was not a hint of the arrogant, manipulative man who seduced me to do his bidding.

He looked like he had lost everything.

"How are you?" I asked him, softly.

"I'm as fine as I can be." He gave me a crooked smile.

Silence fell over the room as we both stared at each other for some time. I inhaled deeply as he looked completely unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry," I started, "For Delia and the pup."

"You have nothing to be sorry for - it was bound to happen someday. I just feel horrible about the innocent life Delia killed for her own greed." He said to me, and I nodded.

I wasn't angry with him anymore, neither did I have any grudges left in me to hold on to. I didn't know why it was so - maybe I was too tired to hold anything against him, or maybe I had really forgiven him, now having a different perspective to things since Aiden had betrayed me.

"I'm sorry," this time, it was he who started, "For...Aiden. I have no idea how you must be feeling." he said.

"It was supposed to happen, Adrian," I smiled at him, painfully, "He paid for his wrongdoings and it wasn't your fault. You did what you did to save me and I'm grateful."

And that was true - despite everything that transpired between us, Adrian had saved me in more ways than one. He had heeded to my call for help, had saved me from Lazarus and now he had saved me from Aiden.

If it hadn't been for him, my other mate, I was sure I would've died when Aiden did.

"I wanted to come to see you earlier, but I didn't know if you were ready to see me yet. You were grieving and I didn't want you to blame me for everything that happened." He sighed. " Mercy kept me updated with your condition."

For some reason, he was still standing stiffly a few feet away from me, and his muscles weren't relaxing at all.

"I'm glad you're here; I wanted to see you." I told him, "There are a lot of things that we need to discuss and clear out."

He nodded.

"Why don't you sit? Or you know...relax a little bit?"

His jaw hardened even further and he stared at me for a moment or two, his eyes darkening.

My heart stopped for them and I wondered if I said something wrong. But then, he growled.

"This is fucking ridiculous!" He muttered, looking angry, "I can't fucking relax! And I'm not going to sit anywhere near you."

It hurt.

"Why?" I whispered, my voice cracking slightly.

This was not the time to be an emotional mess!

"You won't understand," His voice was soft, full of frustration, "You are not the one feeling this tension in the room, this mate bond that's pushing me towards you, this bond that wants me to gather you in my arms and kiss all this grief that surrounds you away. It kills me to see you like this, when I know I can make you feel better. But I know this is not fucking right - you can't feel this now and I'm not the kind to force myself on you."

"Then kiss me," I said, telling him what I had really wanted to do since so long. "Make love to me, take this pain away from me, Adrian," I whispered and his eyes darkened, "I want to be in your arms one last time before I go back to my human home."

His gaze softened and he sat down next to me on the bed, tracing one soft finger down my cheek. This moment was so tender, his touch was so romantic, that I wanted to cry. A foolish part of me wanted to slap myself of ever thinking of going away from him, for thinking I would ever get over him.

He would always remain my first and my last love.

The man with the mixed signals, who kept telling me to stay away and kept seducing me at the same time; the man who loved me to death but considered his duty towards his kingdom and his people just as important; the man who never lied to me, never betrayed me, and saved me when I needed him the most.

"I love you; I loved you even when you were with Delia and even when I was with Aiden." My voice was a croaky whisper as I looked at his features, memorising them - as if I could ever forget him. "But I think we need some space, Adrian. We need to be away from each other sometime, so that we can come back together."

"Yes," Adrian's reply didn't take much thought, as if he had already been thinking along the same lines.

My heart sank with disappointment. I don't know how I was expecting him to respond. It wasn't as if he was the only man who had been with another woman. I had been with Aiden, too, and even if our situations were different, it didn't mean that he wasn't hurt.

It had been written all over his face ever since he had entered the room.

"These past few months were difficult for me." He took in a deep breath and took my hand in his, kissing my knuckles one by one.

The action in itself was so intimate, and he held my gaze while doing that, which made it more intense. My cheeks warmed.

But I knew what he was going to say next was not going to be just as romantic.

"Knowing that you were with him all this time, it was not easy for me to remain composed. I could see that you were happy, and I am ashamed to admit that I couldn't digest how you could be happy with him. I was so mad at you at first, and then I just resigned to the grief. Things have been ruined between us, right from when we met."

I nodded at him, grimly.

"You are right. We need to stay away. Learn to forgive, forget and move on so that we can start afresh."

My heart broke inside me - I had just lost one mate and a huge part of me wasn't ready to let go of Adrian. Even though the human part of me knew that I needed to be away to be able to be myself again. I wanted to be independent. I didn't want a man to be the one driving my emotions.

And I needed to get a grip of everything that happened to me in the past few months. I needed to prepare myself for the responsibilities that I was going to take on if I returned to the kingdom.

I needed time with my parents, too. I wanted to be a child again, learn about the supernatural world right from the beginning and listen to them while they told me stories of their pasts, myths, prophecies and other things that I never got to know about.

I wouldn't be able to do all of that if I stayed here with Adrian; and he knew this, too.

I couldn't look at him for some time, afraid that I would start crying and will change my decision to be away from him.

"Moon, love," his deep voice creating the same tingle that I would never forget and the feeling of his hand in mine sent warmth to my veins, "Don't make that face. We both know it's the best for us right now."

"I know," I replied to him, "It's just...difficult. We can finally have each other - no one else is in the picture, you are not bound to anyone else. I'm afraid that..."

I couldn't just say it.

"It won't happen again, Moon. No one will take your place. Neither in my heart nor in the kingdom. Everyone knows you're my mate and along with me, every Werewolf in this Kingdom will be waiting for you to come back and take the throne. So no, there will be no woman other than you in my life, love."

My cheeks warmed; of course he would know what was going on in my mind.

"Come here," he muttered and I immediately clambered into his lap.

He held my face in his palms and slowly his face came closer to mine, his intent clear.

This was probably the first time we both were somewhat sober and in our right minds. I let him cover my mouth with his, and I relished the moment; the soft, careful kiss, his thoughts full of love and his focus to only make me happy.

My fingers made their way to his hair, and tugged him close to me, so that I could deepen the kiss. I wanted more of him; I wanted to tell him that I loved him despite everything.

I wanted something - a memory - so that I would never forget that I have someone to come back to in this Kingdom.

Never had a kiss been this soft and careful - it ignited bittersweet emotions in me.

The kiss didn't remain soft for too long, it became passionate and animalistic, and we ended up making love on that small hospital bed, keeping with us a token of each other - a beautiful memory - before we went our ways to move on.