The Tormented Soul

Aleera's POV
Later that evening, I was sitting on my bed with gray leggings and a loose black tank top. I have been sitting here doing nothing
since I smacked Darius on his face. I looked over to the bedside table and noticed something there that wasn't there before. I
moved closer and I saw a book. After all the commotion from yesterday, I had totally forgotten that Celia was going to let me
borrow her book, it must be this one. The cover looked interesting and I turned it around to read on the back. The genre was
young adult and supernatural and the book was in a small series and the series was named hush hush written by Becca
Fitzpatrick. I decided to give it a try since I had nothing to do. As I started to read the first chapter I was shocked.
‘I WALKED INTO BIOLOGY AND MY JAW FELL OPEN. Mysteriously adhered to the chalkboard was a Barbie doll, with Ken at
her side. They’d been forced to link arms and were naked except for artificial leaves placed in a few choice locations. Scribbled
above their heads in thick pink chalk was the invitation:
WELCOME TO HUMAN REPRODUCTION (SEX)’
This was the weirdest thing I have read in a long time and it was in chapter one. What kind of book has Celia given me? But I do
remember she told me to keep reading, that it was weird in the beginning. So I continued to read.
‘His black eyes sliced into me, and the corners of his mouth tilted up. My heart fumbled a beat and in that pause, a feeling of
gloomy darkness seemed to slide like a shadow over me. It vanished in an instant, but I was still staring at him. His smile wasn’t
friendly. It was a smile that spelled trouble. With a promise.’
It was starting to be more interesting, Celia was right. As I was about to turn the page a knock on the door interrupted me. I
looked over to the door and sigh. I put the book on my duvet and went to open the door. They have been knocking over and over
again all day. Let's see what they want this time. When I was almost at the door the knock came again but the sound came from
behind me so I turned my head to the glass door and there he was, standing outside. I sighed and walked over to the glass door.
As I got closer to the glass door I could see that he was wearing black jeans and a white shirt that hugged his upper body so his
muscles were on display. After I opened the door I could hear music out on the balcony. I did not say anything to him, I just
looked at him with a frustrated stare.
He looked at me before he decided to talk. "I was wondering if you would like to join me for dinner out here on the balcony?"
I looked down at the floor before I sighed and shocked my head. "Did I not tell you earlier that I didn't want you near me and no I
don't feel like eating. I am not hungry."

"I do remember and I insist you join me. I know that you have not eaten the whole day and you need to eat otherwise you will
starve yourself."
I knew that he would not give up. I sighed and answered back. "Fine, I will join you."
I followed him out on the balcony and what I saw out there was something I did not expect at all. There was a round table with a
white satin cloth and on top of it were white and red roses and there were lit candles in the middle of the table. I looked at him,
what was this? He said dinner, nothing fancy like this.
"What is this? I thought you said dinner." I asked him and pointed to the table.
"I wanted to have a dinner date with my mate. I thought I could do it so it looked cozy and not boring and I also thought we can
take this opportunity to talk to each other and get to know one another, but you don't need to talk about the stuff that hurts to talk
about."
He is not giving up on this mate stuff and now he wants us to talk so we can get to know each other. I sighed and walked over to
the table to sit down when I heard the music more clearly.
‘Don't... Don't close your heart to how you feel... Dream... And don't be afraid the dream's not real...’
"It's Johnny Logan with the song Hold me now." He said to me and I just nodded to him not knowing anything about the singer or
song.
He was a gentleman and pulled out the chair for me and I sat down as he pushed the chair closer to the table and he sat down
on his char right in front of me. I looked down and saw a plate with food on and it was something I have never seen before or
eaten, at least nothing I could remember. I must have looked confused while looking at it because he spoke up.
"It's Beef with Ramen Noodles"
I nodded, it looked so yummy in my eyes. I still had some problems eating but as Celia had said to me I have made huge
progress. The first bite was so good, the taste was so amazing. I continued to eat in a slow-pace so I could enjoy it.
We did not talk so much as we ate our dinner. sadly I did not eat it all up, but i had eaten around half of the plate and i was happy
about it.
"What is your favourite color?" He asked.

"I have always loved black, red, and white." I answer back.
He nodded and asked another question. "Sorry to ask this, have you always been against finding your mate?"
I looked at him first before I shocked my head. "No, my dream was to find my mate. I have always loved the idea of having a
mate, someone that would love me the second he saw me. I had planned to give him everything but as everything has been
taken away from me I am ashamed of myself and that I can't give him anything and it breaks my heart that I can't give you what
you want."
"I don't want you to be ashamed about it. You should know it's not your fault that it has been taken away from you. They took it
without your permission and they will pay for it, that I can promise you. You should know that I do love you and want you even if
they have taken all the things you wanted to give me. I fell over heels in love with you the night I saved you."
I could not hold back my smile. I had a warm feeling inside me and it frightened me. We did not say anything more for a while,
we just sat there looking at each other until he broke it.
"Can I ask you something?" He asked me.
"Yes, you can, but if I answer it is up to me." I said back to him.
He nodded "What do you think of dancing?"
Wow, that was not what I expected him to ask. I was silent for like a minute before I answered back to him.
"I liked it when I was a child, my mother used to dance with me in our living room, but it all changed after she was murdered. I
have not danced since then. Why do you ask?"
Instead of answering me he picked up his phone and typed something in, I looked at him confused, then the music changed in
the speaker to slow music. What is he planning?
He got up from his chair and reached out his hand to me. "May I have the honor of a dance with you?" I looked at him in shock.
"I don't know, it was years ago. I don't know if I remember how to dance." I said back to him with a shy smile.
"Give it a chance. You can do it." He said to me and I knew once again that he would not give up so I sighed and took his hand.
As he took me away from the table to a place with more room to dance I could hear the lyrics from the song.

‘Ooh Ooh Ooh
Love's my religion but he was my faith
Something so sacred so hard to replace
Fallin' for him was like fallin' from grace
All wrapped in one he was so many sins
Would have done anything everything for him
And if you ask me I would do it again’
He placed one of his hands on my waist and the other one was holding my hand. As it was so many years ago, I did not
remember where I should place my other hand. I guess he noticed and grabbed it and placed it on his shoulder. As he moved to
the song I was trying to keep up even if it was slow dancing, but as I said it was years ago, I had to try to remember how the
steps were.
He must have noticed how stiff I was. "Alea, relax trust me, let me take the lead and just flow with me"
I relaxed as much as I could and followed his moves. Not long after I was relaxed completely and we moved around the balcony
as air. He also insisted on a second dance. After the dance, he pulled back but he was still holding me.
"Alea, I promised that I would not push you at all, but can you tell me something about you? I have no idea who you are or where
you are from. It kills me not knowing anything about my mate."
I looked up at him, I thought to myself, what can I tell him so he can stop pressing me.
"I will tell you something, on one condition. You will not ask any more about me or my past until I am ready to tell you. You need
to understand it hurts me like hell to even think back."
"I promise that I will wait until you are ready to tell me more, unless I feel that I need to know to keep you safe."
I sighed and got myself free from his hold and leaning against the balcony railing looking at anything but him. I could feel tears
rolling down my cheeks. Just the thought of him knowing just a little bit about my life hurt me a lot. What will he think about me
after I have told him?

“My life was perfect until I turned 11 years old. My mother was murdered just months after my birthday. After that, my father lost
everything about himself and he locked me up and kept me as a prisoner in my own home. The first person to rape me was my
own father, then he tossed me around to the others in his pack. The night you found me was the first time I managed to escape.”
When I managed to find the courage to look up and face him, all I could see were pain. He moved closer to me and placed his
hands on my cheeks to wipe my tears away. At the same time he looked deep into my eyes.
"What is your real name?"
I looked down to the floor, here it goes, let see what happens now.
I took a deep breath, and looked up at him again.
"My real name is Aleera Hawks and my father is Isaac Hawks, the alpha of the Moonlit pack."