Forbidden Mate: Awakening

After dressing up and filling my stomach with a piece of bread and some veggies, I went on to find out if it was really Don I heard. I asked a guard stationed in the hallway, “Hey, please, is Don really back?”

He looked at me with a blank expression on his face, “Don? Yes, mistress. His room is just downstairs, on the third block.”

I nodded, showing gratitude and turned in the direction he pointed. My chest beat out for some reason. They were so many questions I wanted to ask him. So many slaps I wanted to give him. So many answers I wanted from him. So so many things.

I arrived in front of the door and breathed out momentarily. This was it.

I knocked on the door twice until someone told me to come in.

When I gently opened the door, I saw him sitting on the chair, lighting a cigarette. Everything went silent. The cigarette fell from his mouth and he inhaled the smoke making him cough out.

I slowly closed the door behind me and walked up to him, feeling a heaviness in my heart. I could tell he was shocked and burdened by guilt. He should be. He had made his anger and ego almost turn this grove upside down and made my dad hate Adrian. He should feel guilty, but also, I needed to know why he disappeared.

He remained silent and we simply stared at eachother. I refused to sit down, well, it wasn’t normal I ever came up to Don for a talk.

Something about how he was now was, different. He didn’t seem like he would yell curses at me like he would normally do. He seemed more meek and quiet.

He couldn’t bring himself to talk to me normally, so I decided to lend him an ear. I stood there quietly, giving him the space he needed to collect his thoughts and find the right words to say.

His voice shook as he finally spoke, “Lily, I… Are you real? Am I going crazy right now?”

What was he talking about? I was confused. “Of course it’s me. Are you shocked to see me?”

“No, it can’t be. My mind is…playing tricks on me, again.” He laughed hysterically and rubbed his head.

I looked at him, worried, “No, Don. It’s really me.” I held his shoulder but he flinched back. “What’s wrong with you?”

His eyes shook and he broke down crying, covering his face with his palms. It was really weird seeing him this way. What had really happened to him?

“I can’t believe what happened. I should have protected everyone better. It’s all my fault.” His voice broke.

“What do you mean, Don?”

“It’s all my fault…. I betrayed everyone, because I was pissed…I got myself into more than I could handle.” His voice was deep but filled with emotions.

“Just tell me everything, Don. It’s so strange, the way you’re behaving…what happened to you? Why did you disappear?” I slowly sat down in front of him, ready to listen.

Maybe he was just faking this act or maybe it was real. I didn’t know. I just decided to give him a listening ear because he had a lot of explaining to do.

He calmed down a bit, and started talking, “The vampires ambushed me while I was on patrol near their territory. That was a day after that saga with you and Adrian.” He said with a hint of guilt in his voice but never looked at me directly. “They knew I had information and they wanted to silence me.”

“Information on what?”

He hesitated before speaking, “They didn’t tell me directly but they just wanted me to tell them about the pack and our strategies in battle.”RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

I pondered for a while and he continued, “They have been amassing their forces to prepare for an all-out attack on the main pack. They had planned to strike during the next blood moon because they believed it would give them an advantage, but the attack never happened.”

The blood moon. I remembered Adrian. Wasn’t that the same night Leo performed the ritual?

“I was able to escape and that’s when I saw you, but just a glimpse as I was running by a room. I knew you were alive and I tried to tell them but they all thought I was crazy.”

Looking at how he was now, I wouldn’t be surprised they thought he was crazy. His mannerisms had changed a lot too and I doubted if it was the Don I grew up with I was talking to.

Still, I listened carefully, understanding how sorry he felt. Though I wanted to reassure him, I knew that right now, my role was to offer comfort by simply being there to listen.

“Don,” I said gently, “We’re all facing a tough situation, and it’s not just your fault. We need to support each other through this. Blaming yourself won’t help us now.”

He looked at me with grateful yet sorrowful eyes. “Lily, I… I feel like it’s my fault. I should’ve not sided with them or said too much, not give too much information because of my life. I let everyone down.”

Sided with them? Did Don side with the vampires? I would have to ask father what he meant by that.

I reached out and gently put my hand on his shoulder. “Don, we’re all in this together. We all make mistakes and sometimes miss things. But thinking about the past won’t change what happened. What matters now is how we move forward and work together to find a solution. We cannot avoid this war at this point. If you gave them any info at all, it doesn’t matter right now. What matters is how we need to counter attack them and protect our people.”

Don took a deep breath, his shoulders drooping. “You’re right. We can’t change the past, but we can learn from it. I promise to do everything I can to make things right, to protect our pack. I really promise to do better this time”

A small smile appeared on my face as I spoke, “I know you will. And just for the records, I have forgiven you for what happened with Adrian that time.”

He smiled awkwardly and nodded, “Thank you. I know I’ve mistreated you so badly in the past and -”

“There’s no need for you to bring that up again.” I quickly said, “The past is the past. Seeing you now, I can only imagine the kind of torture you had to pass through. They really did break you.” I said almost pathetically.

Don stared down and I rubbed on his shoulder.

“Thanks for telling me everything.”

“Thanks for listening.”

As our conversation came to a close, a sense of understanding settled between us. Though Don still carried his guilt, I hoped that my words had brought him some comfort and reassurance.

What we needed now was to come together to face the common enemy not to fight ourselves.

A guard came in and told me my father wanted to speak to me, about something important.