Rejected - The Enchantress

As soon as everyone begins climbing out of the car, I take off running into the forest, letting my feet take me to the only place I can think to go with my storming thoughts. As I step through the brush, I take in the sounds of the flowing water, the sight of the colorful blooming flowers that are lit by the beams of moonlight that are cutting through the trees. I sit on a large, slanted rock and draw my knees to my chest while I focus on the ever flowing stream. Nadia had that this was a new beginning, but why is it that the past has been haunting me for my entire life? I hear the sound of someone approaching, but I can’t bring myself to look up and meet the eyes of the person intruding on my solitude, knowing only one other person knows of this place. The idea of how he feels about this is even more terrifying than my own feelings bout it all.

“Caitlin, can I join you?” I fold my arms over the top of my knees and rest my chin on them, giving a single nod.

“What are thinking right now?” I take a deep breath and as much as I just want to keep my thoughts to myself out of fear that he might be thinking the same things, my mouth betrays me.

“I’m a fucking monster. I am worse than a monster. I am hurt innocent people…children! How the hell could they forgive me for that?! What the hell am I supposed to do with all this? How can I trust myself to not become that monster again? Learning about her past…my past…I get how it happened, but that doesn’t exactly make it okay. She should have killed me. She shouldn’t have given me the chance to become that again. I shouldn’t be here…alive…with you and your people. I should leave and I should find a place where no one can find me and where I can’t hurt anyone.” He walks closer and kneels down in front of me.

“We are more than our past actions, Caitlin. The things you did, sure they were awful, but they don’t define you. In the last eighteen years, you have shown that there is more to you than everything your past life had become. When someone has been shown nothing but contempt and evil, how can you not expect them to succumb to darkness when they have never been allowed to stand in the light?

“I am glad she didn’t kill you. I am glad that fate showed her another path for you. I want you here…I trust you and I will continue to trust you and want you here. Do you know why I went to the Mitchell’s for dinner that night? Why I chose to visit the coven?” I shake my head, too overwhelmed to vocalize a response.

“We travelled almost one hundred miles out of our way to get there because I had a dream. The goddess, Selene, she came to me and told me that I needed to go and she said that there would be someone there, an orphan, that I needed to save. She told me that I needed to be her beacon in the darkness. When I overheard Andrew talking to the high priestess about his troublesome foster child, I invited myself to their house for dinner. That is why I had been so insistent on meeting you when I got there.” There is a brief moment of silence before he sighs heavily and continues.

“I had never expected to be so affected by you. I hadn’t known who you were or why I had been sent for you…not until the second I saw you. The moment our eyes met for the first time, I knew I wouldn’t ever be able to leave you there. There was no part of me that would have been willing to leave without you. I would have burned the whole coven to the ground if that’s what it took.” My eyes instinctively seek out his, the weight of his words causing both confusion and an unfamiliar heaviness in my chest.

“Why? Why would you risk such a thing for me? I don’t deserve to be saved.” He takes my hand in his with his gaze firmly locked on mine.

“Because there is nothing I wouldn’t risk for you. I know that you can’t feel it and that is infuriating, but the goddess sent me to you that day because she knew I needed the other half of my soul. She knew what I was about to do and she was saving me from a choice that I didn’t want and in turn, she was saving you from being sent down the same path you were forced down in the past. She was giving us both a chance to start a new chapter in our lives.” I am struggling to make sense of everything he is saying, so I ask the first question that comes to mind.

“What choice did she save you from?” He smiles and it makes my heart skip a beat.

“Once I returned home, I was going to contact the council and let them know that I would agree to let them arrange a mate for me. I knew it was what was necessary for the strength and future of the pack, but it would never be what I wanted.” The fell of his hand wrapped around mine is sending warmth through me. My next question is one I believe I know the answer to, but I can’t fight my need to hear him say it out loud.

“What am I?” His smile widens and the emotions in his eyes are swirling like a hurricane.

“You are everything, Caitlin. You are my light in the darkness as much as I am meant to be yours. You are the hope I had long thought to be lost. You are the other half of my soul, the better half. You’re my mate. You are a gift from the goddess when I had thought she had forsaken me.” I can see the glistening of unshed tears in his eyes and the weight on my chest vanishes when the only emotions remaining in the silver pools of his eyes are love and longing.

“You have known this whole time…why are telling me now?” His smile falters as he contemplates his answer.

“Being mated to someone that is not a wolf comes with certain challenges. I was worried that if I just laid it all on the line, I might scare you away. I wanted to win you over the way normal people do, but I will admit that it has been a challenge to not tell you sooner. My wolf has been begging me to claim you since the moment we met. When those rogues attacked you…I almost lost it completely. Since then it has been complete torture to be away from you.” His confession makes sense when I look back on his behavior. The way he looks at me, the subtle touches, the fact that he is the first person who has touched me without making me feel uncomfortable or afraid. While his confession makes my heart race in excitement, there is a nagging voice in my head that is trying to cast a shadow on the light in my heart.

“What would your people think if they knew your mate was the Dark Enchantress? How could I ever stand at your side when they will either fear me or hate me?” His free hand rises up to cup my cheek and his smile is completely gone now.

“Caitlin, my pack has survived many dark times. We are no strangers to the darkness that people are capable of, but we all know that people can change. We know that we cannot judge others by their past actions.” My head drops down and I squeeze my eyes closed, silently trying to chase away my doubts, but failing.

“Syrus, we aren’t talking about bad choices or redeemable mistakes. I hurt people…children for fuck’s sake! That isn’t something that you can just forgive and forget!” He pulls me down the rock and wraps his arms tightly around me.

“Damn it, Caitlin. You are the only one who won’t forgive your sins. Forgiveness is not the same thing as forgetting. We all remember our sins, but it is the actions and choices we make now that define us. The only person who can continue to punish you for your past is you.” I narrow my eyes at his confident tone, still unable to see how more than a century of sin can be so easily forgiven.

“What if the darkness takes hold again? What if I can’t fight it?” He pushes me back until our eyes meet.

“After what you went through in that past life, I can’t blame you for succumbing to the darkness. No, it doesn’t erase the things you did, but it wasn’t really a reflection of you. It was a reflection of the unspeakable heartache and torment you were forced to endure. What if all you needed was to be loved? What if all you need now is to be accepted? What if the only thing you needed to fight the darkness back then is the one thing you are being offered now? The day of that battle, you were given a second chance and, while things began much the same as they had the first time around, I want to ensure the remainder of your life is basked in light. You cannot change the past, Caitlin, but you have the ability to take control of your future.” A brief silence passes between us before his lips crash into mine. His kiss is both gentle and filled with longing and need that overwhelm my senses. My body feels like it is overheating from the intensity of it all, only cooling when he finally breaks the kiss.

We return to the pack house after spending nearly another hour by the stream, enjoying the quiet and sneaking a few more heated kisses before returning home. As it turns out, most of the pack had already figured out that I was Syrus’s fated mate, leaving me the last to discover the truth. He still made the announcement and even though it was not a surprise to them, they still celebrated the news as if it were the first time they had heard it. For the first time in my life, both this one and the one that preceded it, I feel welcomed, accepted and loved.