A Luna's True Mate

Chapter 5: Talking

-Lauren-

Tobias saw right through me when I was younger. He saw how lonely I was and how much I hated being in the life I had been given. He rescued me in some way. When he turned me away, I actually came back the next day, making a stupid joke about being older now.

It made him laugh, but he didn’t send me away—not that he offered me a drink either. No, we just started to talk, and that was really how we met. He had taken my breath away, and the more time we spent together, the more I realized there was a good chance he was my mate.

My parents couldn’t allow it, though, and it eventually tore us apart. Why was I thinking so much about him now? I had put the past behind me. I knew I had lost my opportunity to feel true love before I even had the chance to truly experience it, but was Logan my second chance?

Or my first chance? I was not sure how I should perceive it, since Tobias and I barely got a chance to even figure out if we were mates before I was sent off to get mated to Connor.

I tried my best to forget it all. I tried my best not to think too much about Tobias, because if I did… I pressed my eyes hard together, but the tears slipped out anyway and rolled down, making the pillow wet.

I had promised myself a long time ago that I was done crying. I had promised myself the tears were wasted because I couldn’t change the past.

But now, I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I simply couldn’t stop sobbing. I just cried and cried, trying to keep the sound of sobbing down, as I mourned a time when I was happy, had real friends, and had a boyfriend who was ready to put everything on the line for me. I cried until I finally fell asleep.

***

“How about here?” Angela suggested.

She was holding onto me again as she led me out of the hospital and upstairs. Rider had mentioned it was just fine for me to go for some small walks and get out of the depressing place. Not that it was depressing for him. It was pretty much his playground.

But for someone like me who had been trapped there for months, I needed to get out. So, Angela led me to a small living room where the fall sun shone in and lit up the nice little room. She helped me sit down, and I thanked her.

“Do you want some water?” she inquired.

“Oh, just a little.”

She quickly ran off, and I smiled as I watched her disappear. She was just so good, my daughter, and it made me feel proud. She had left the door open, though, and soon an orange cat found me, jumping up onto the sofa and starting to purr.

“Oh, hello,” I greeted as I ran my hand down her head and body, and she only purred louder. “You’re my little savior, aren’t you?”

I was only joking when I said it. She had just been the first thing I saw when I woke up, so I thought it was rather funny to call her that. But she meowed loudly when I said it, like she truly wanted credit for me waking up.

“You’re rather cute, actually,” I remarked, scratching her neck and chin. “What’s your name again?”

“I hear she is called Little Diva.”

I turned my head, and I gasped a little as Logan stood in the doorway, looking at me. It was like time once again stood still as we watched one another.

“W-What are you doing here?” I finally asked.

“Sorry, I probably should have given you a warning,” he replied, closing the door. “I told your daughter to give us a moment.”

“Did you tell her why?”

Logan shook his head, but I knew, with how clever my daughter was, she would figure it all out soon enough, and it scared me a little. She experienced enough hardships because of her father and me being sick.

She didn’t need this in her life either. I was done being a burden. When I got better, I would… I would… What would I do with my life? Connor was gone. Angela lived in England with her mates and children. Chris was gone too. There was just me, all alone.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he remarked as he held out his hand towards the sofa in front of me.

I shook my head. “Go ahead.”

He sat down, and the cat quickly jumped from my couch and walked over to his, where she joined Logan, and he started to pet her, probably because he didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t sure what to say, either. It was all very confusing. I had never thought I would meet my mate this late in life, but there he was.

“It was probably a lot to take in just moments after you woke up,” he said softly.

“That we are mates?” I inquired.

He nodded, and I felt relieved that one of us had said it out loud. It shouldn’t be a dirty secret. It was the truth that we were mates, and we shouldn’t be ashamed of it.

“It certainly shocked me,” I admitted.

“It shocked me too,” he said with a slight smile.

“Have you told your kids?” I inquired.

He shook his head. “No, I’ve only confided in a friend. He advised me to come here and talk to you, which was my plan all along,” he explained.

“It’s a good plan. We should talk.”

“And yet, neither of us know where to begin,” he remarked, making us both smile a little.

“I guess I never thought I would get a second chance,” I confessed.

“Can Connor really be considered your first chance?” he questioned.

I just shrugged, unsure if I should tell him about Tobias. My family and Connor were the only ones who knew. Of course, I had some upper-class friends who knew I had hung out with the wrong crowd, but they never knew what Tobias meant to me.

“I guess if we aren’t counting just true mates, then you would be my third chance,” he remarked.

“I’m very sorry about Victoria,” I expressed.

“It’s years ago now,” he said, though I could still hear the pain in his voice. “And I had a good mate.”

“Camilla, right?” I remembered.

He nodded.

“I remember her a little.”

“That’s surprising. You probably only saw her once or twice before you stopped coming to the parties,” he remarked.

“They weren’t really my taste,” I explained.

He slowly nodded, as if trying to understand why they weren’t to my liking.

“It’s interesting to think about, though, that we were in the very same rooms when we were younger and yet never knew we were mates,” he mused.

“Back then, you were mates with Victoria,” I pointed out.

He nodded. “I know, but still, to think we would end up here now.”

“Do you... regret it?” I ventured.

He seemed taken aback by the question, but it was important for us to figure out if this was something we wanted to explore or if we wanted to end it now.

“I’m not sure what to feel,” he admitted honestly.

“I don’t either...” I trailed off.

“You’ve been through a lot,” he acknowledged.

“And so have you,” I responded.

“But I was never mated to a...” He hesitated, struggling to find the right word.

“You mean a sociopath?” I finished for him.

“Yeah...” he confirmed.

“I know what many think of him, and I can’t say I ever really liked him, but it was for different reasons…” I trailed off.

“Different reasons?” Logan probed.

“He had kindness in him, but it slowly disappeared,” I stated, sidestepping Logan’s question.

“I find it hard to believe,” he admitted.

I nodded. “I’m aware, but I was tied to him, so I know,” I asserted.

“I choose to believe you then,” he said, offering a smile.

His words felt comforting. It felt good to be heard and not always ignored by my mate, though I knew I was partially to blame for Connor always ignoring me. I had chosen to resent him for being the one my father chose, even though he only found out about Tobias after we were mated.

Tobias... where was he now? No, I couldn’t dwell on the past. I needed to focus on the future.

“So, where do we go from here?” I asked, turning my attention back to Logan.