The Seeing Mate

14

(Camila's POV)

I felt like a new fawn, just standing for the first time. I let Josh carry me down stairs, to the kitchen where he had a table full of food. That's when I realized how hungry I was. He sat me down next to the table.

"You made all this?" I asked.

"Hey don't sound so surprised, I did live alone after all!" he said playfully offended. I took a seat and he handed me a plate, then took his seat too. We ate in a comfortable silence for a while. Until the real world decided to creep in.

"Bracks, called while you were sleeping," he said. I looked at him.

"I don't know why he keeps trying. He had never been there before. Why now?"

" I honestly think you should hear him out, love, things change. People change."

I looked at him and felt something...

"He's on his way here isn't he?" I asked, then came the knock on the door. I glared at him. He gave me a serious look, but gave my hand a small squeeze before he went to answer the door. I sat there for a while, then slowly got up. I was feeling very light headed, but I shook it off and went to meet up with the men. When I got to the office, I could feel tension in the room. It skyrocketed when Bracks turned to face me.

"I'll be in the living room." said Josh. As he excused himself and walked past me. He'd be able to hear everything anyway, the beauty of wolf hearing. I looked right at Bracks for a moment, now realizing how everything had changed between us. Where I use to see him as my fun math teacher, now to know who he really was.

"I won't take up too much time, Camila." I could tell he was anxious but he kept his cool. Like a good second in command should.

"What can you possibly say that would make any of this better?" I asked, not sure I wanted to hear any excuse.

"The truth. Or at least from my side of things," he said, making the first move and taking a seat. I took a deep breath and followed suit.

"So let's hear it. What truth are you just burning to tell me?"

He gave me a small smile and shook his head. Then cleared his throat and looked right at me.

"I ran into Martha, when your grandmother had just died just days later. She was vulnerable and alone."

"So you wanted to comfort her?" I asked sarcasticly.

"No, Max had known about her a while ago, she had been in our city for a whole month."

"Her journal says she knew Max from when they were young."

"Yeah, they knew each other. I didn't know about her until that night."

"So you didn't grow up with them?"

"No, I joined the pack ten years later."

"Okay, so you finally met her. So what?"

"I hated her," he simply said, that shocked me, but I kept my face blank." at first, a psyche thinking she was all tough, but getting to know her. I realized...she was an amazing woman."

A warm feeling spread through me when he said that. Mom was a force to be reckoned with, even when she had nothing.

"How long was she with the pack?"

"She was with us for about a year, but about that time, Max and Natalia were having a hard time. They had been together for about a month or two. So Martha decided to leave. I...before I knew it I had fallen for her, like some damn teenage boy. I asked her to stay..."

"But she wasn't your mate."

He looked at me with some sadness in his eyes.

"But she was. I had been so focused on keeping her away, I didn't listen to my wolf and I fought it until that night. After that, she was gone."

"You never looked for us?"

"I did, I was going mad in my search! She had learned to hide and even changed her name from time to time. Until Natalia decided to run too, and then fate had those two together!"

I had to smile at the fact that somehow fate had done a full circle to bring things back to the pack and Mom.

"Why did Natalia run?" I asked, remembering what Mom had written.

"She was convinced that Martha had a child with Max, and that's why I was looking for her. She's always been insecure about Martha."

"But I'm not...she's the one that told me, you were my father." I said getting angry.

He looked confused, not sure what to say.

"I haven't told anyone about Martha and not even Max."

I looked at him.

"Josh gave me the journals. That's how I knew a little about you, but it was Natalia that told me you were my father."

"How would she know, unless Martha told her."

I shook my head, the lightheadedness slowly turning into a headache.

"No, Mom just told her that I wasn't Max's....something....something isn't right!" I said now my head in my hands. I felt like a vision was trying to come through but...something...something was stopping it from happening.

"Mila, look at me!" I heard Josh's voice, and the command made me look into his eyes. The vision came.

I was looking at Natalia with a knife in her hand, she was standing over me as she glared down at me.

"Camila!?" I heard and was back. Josh was shaking me a little.

"Your Dad...You need to go see your dad right now!" I shouted and Josh looked at Bracks and we all head down stairs.

"How long?" Josh asked me. I called back the vision but I couldn't get a fix on time.

"Let's just get there fast!" I said, now running ahead.

"Phasing. Our wolves will cut through the country faster." Josh looked at me, and I nodded. That would be the first time I've seen him change.

We got outside and Bracks was already going through the change. Josh slowly followed suit. As I watched, I was mesmerized and terrified at the same time. The way their bodies popped and cracked, their body parts turning into wolf legs and bodies. I went and grabbed my coat. When I came back, two fully changed wolves lay panting and breathing heavily on the snow. The black wolf looked up at me, then got to his feet and shook off the last aches. Then bend down for me to climb up on his back.

His fur was so warm and thick. I got on and buried my face in it, as he turned and ran full speed toward the pack house.

Their speed was amazing, as I could see everything speeding past me. The cold hit me but I held on for dear life, even when I was wishing I had brought something to cover me a little more. Before I knew it, we were at the house. I quickly got down and ran for the door. Knocking hard, Shawna opened and I rushed in.

"What are you doing?!" she called as she ran behind me. When I reached the door, I barged in. " You can't....oh, my god!"

Shawna and I were looking at a pool of blood and Natalia was sitting right in the middle of it, rocking back and forth. Max was on the floor not moving and the dagger was in his back.

"Natalia, what have you done!?" Shawna shouted as she ran forward and checked Max.

"He wouldn't tell me the truth....he wouldn't tell me the truth." she was twitching and shaking as she spoke.

Soon Josh and Bracks came in, in just sweat pants. Josh ran to his dad, as did Bracks.

Bracks checked Max for any sign of life, but looked at Josh and shook his head once. Josh got to his feet and went toward his mom, grabbing her by the shoulders. She seemed to come back to now.

"What the hell did you do!?" he yelled at her. She shook her head and seemed to realize what she had just done.

"I..Josh...I don't ...."

"Why did you kill him?!" he shouted. I suddenly had an idea and walked into the room, placing a hand on her head, but I felt a stab go up my arm, making me jump back. Josh let go of his mom, and held me. We both looked at my hand, a black stain was on my palm but it slowly disappeared.

"Ahahah, naughty little girl, don't play with things you don't understand!" Natalia looked possessed at that moment. I looked at Shawna and she nodded. We both jumped forward and with Shawna's magic and mine. I was able to see who was casting the spell while Shawna broke the bond. I saw the man from before, the one that grabbed me by the throat when I found Natalia. Then we both let go, Natalia slumped to the side and was out.

I was breathing heavily and shook a little.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Josh, looking at me.

"I'm not sure, but we'll definitely find out." I said, looking at Natalia's unconscious form on the floor.

Josh begrudgingly picked up his Mom and took her to a different room, laying her carefully in bed. I could see his anger and his sadness. I went to stand next to him, as we both stood there looking down at his mom's sleeping form.

"Josh, I'm sorry." I said, now feeling guilty for not seeing what was coming before.

Josh picked up on what I was feeling and looked at me. Then he turned and hugged me tightly.

"It's impossible to know everything, Mila, and in this case you're fighting against evil magic."

I just nodded but let him hold me. This wasn't about me, or not all about me. Whatever this was, it was bigger than just honor killings. Somehow, I felt like I was looking at the truth right in the face, but wasn't seeing it. After a while, we pulled apart and walked into the kitchen.

"I let the others know, they didn't even know," said Bracks as we walked in.

"The spell was strong enough to block the pack as a whole, whoever these people are have great power!" said Shawna, who looked a little pale.

We all sat there for a moment, then Bracks stood up looking at Josh.

"I won't take his place," Josh said suddenly.

"You are his son and only heir, Josh, we need you."

Josh shook his head like he was trying to shake something off and turned away from us.

I got up and went to him, wrapping my arms around his waist.

"You have time to think, but he's right."

He took a deep breath, and a low growl rumbled in his chest. I tightened my hold.

"First things first, let's put him to rest before we start handing out duties." He said, turning to look at Bracks, who nodded and headed outside.

Josh looked down at me, kissed my forehead, and followed Bracks outside.

"Come on, help me get Max ready."

I turned to look at Shawna so fast, my neck actually cracked.

"I don't need to see him...naked, do I?"

Shawna fought back a laugh, and shook her head.

"No, just help me clean him up."

I followed her to the basement, where Max was laid on a kinda table. As I looked at him, my thoughts started to wonder.

"Why didn't he fight back? He's ten times stronger than Natalia. Why not take the knife away?"

Shawna looked at me but didn't answer until she had a bucket filled with water, and tossed me some sponges.

"A mate is more or less the only weakness a wolf has, Mila. Once mated, it's impossible for a wolf to willingly lay hands on his mate."

I looked at Max's expressionless face, and started to dabbed him clean.