Chapter Notes: Caleb's POV

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- 'Your rescue; my undo. I'm not the one to save you. . .' -

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She loved me.

     My wolf stirred at the memory of Ava-Rain's admittance of her feelings the previous night. As I ventured into the den's backyard, my eyes remained glued on her figure off in the distance. About a mile or so away from the house, Ava-Rain was being kept occupied by Rickon and Declan, both of whom were in wolf form. We had returned to the den several hours ago, and upon our arrival I had made sure that Ava-Rain was settled inside of our bedroom—it was just after midnight at that point—before calling yet another pack meeting to discuss Angelie's warning. The discussion had carried on throughout the early hours of the morning and had not adjourned until well after dawn. But despite the lengthy meeting and its importance, my mind, every now and then, always travelled back to Ava-Rain's earlier words: 'I guess I've sort of been in love with you for months.'

     She loved me.

     After the hour I had given her to make a decision was up, I certainly did not think I would have returned to her confession of love. That hour had not been kind; it had almost driven both my wolf and I to insanity. Living in secrecy for twenty-three years, having to watch your back every minute of every day and fighting to maintain a balance between all four of the elements that dwelled inside of me, none of that had ever been as horrible or as torturous as that one solemn hour had been.

     A part of me had reasoned that Ava-Rain would choose me. That it would be impossible for her to walk away. That, despite me not being completely honest and truthful, she would choose me regardless. I was quite convinced that our fight would be easily forgotten, that we could put it behind us and move forward. But that light of hope had faded as quickly as the end of the hour neared. Doubt after doubt began to cloud my thoughts and judgment as fear overruled my emotions. Eventually, I became convinced, not that I was going to lose her but that I had already done so. That the protection I thought I was providing her with was, in fact, pushing her away. That I had, once again, deluded myself into believing that I deserved love.

     But, above all else, what I had feared the most was not her decision to walk away, but, in all honesty, her choice to stay. That hour had made me realize that keeping her at arms length, keeping secrets hidden in the dark, was not entirely done for the protection of my pack as I had said, but done for self-preservation purposes. I feared her decision to choose me because, if she did, I knew I could no longer keep the doors to who I truly was shut and locked. It would mean laying myself bare, allowing her entry into my flaws and faults, and giving her a front row view of the mental and emotional scars that blemished my mind, body and soul.

     'I choose you,' she had said.

     And just like that, my biggest fear had indeed come true. But it was Ava-Rain's confession of love along with my love for her that, together, turned that fear into power. I am Caleb Brandt. I am an heir of the four, and alpha of my pack. But it was not those titles that made me powerful. Titles did not equate to power. Sacrifice fueled power. Forgiveness fueled power. Friendship, trust, and loyalty fueled power. Desire and intellect. Acceptance. Happiness. All of those equated to power and every single one of those things had been offered to me, wrapped in the love—the ultimate and most powerful power—that my mate harboured for me.

     It wasn't until she had uttered the words that I realized it had been a missing piece of my incomplete puzzle. And if I ever hoped to complete that puzzle in this lifetime, I needed to hold on tightly to my newfound power and, for once in my life, take a backseat to control and allow myself to be guided. And, right now, I was being led to my mate, bearing the only gift I could offer her: truth.

     It was now early afternoon and the sun was shining particularly bright, almost as if it were offering a bit of peace to compensate for the previous night's wreckage. As I continued to make my way towards my mate and twin deltas, my wolf delighted in the sight of Ava-Rain's obvious enjoyment. She hardly looked as if she had made one of the biggest choices she would ever have to make only hours ago. In a sleeveless white dress which nicely accented her brown skin, her ebony curls flowing all around her thanks to the slight breeze and a bright smile on her face as the only accessory she needed, my mate looked perfect. Of course, the two wolves dwarfed her in size, but she looked completely at ease with the two of them hovered around her.

     She was running her hands through Declan's fur while laughing at Rickon, who was whining over being left out. My own wolf felt jealous. If her hands were to be running through anybody's fur, it should have been mine. When I was half way to them, both Rickon and Declan's heads turned in my direction. Simultaneously, they both moved to stand on either side of Ava-Rain, their attention now focused solely on me. When Ava-Rain followed their line of sight towards me, she smiled. Without pause, I returned the smile, wondering why I had not fought harder to return to her sooner. I don't think I would ever get over the feeling of completion whenever I reunited with my mate.

     Once I reached them, I didn't waste any time taking Ava-Rain into my arms. "I missed you," I whispered before pressing a kiss to her forehead.

     She pulled away slightly and looked up at me. "You weren't gone long enough, if you ask me." I caught the mischief in her eyes before she playfully rolled them and turned herself around in my arms to face my deltas. "We were having the time of our lives, weren't we? Your alpha's totally ruining our fun right now."

     The twins only lowered their heads, though I knew they couldn't deny her summary of their time together.

     My arms slid around her waist and held her snugly against my body. "Clearly, your conditioning lessons are going to have to start sooner rather than later." That sassy mouth of hers definitely needed to be reminded who was in control.

     "Yeah, about those. I think I'm going to pass. I was enjoying my time with my deltas."

     "Your deltas?" I smirked

     "Yes, my deltas. Boys," both their heads lifted, but even though she had been the one to address them, their sights aimed directly towards me. "He may be your alpha, but who gives belly rubs as amazingly as I do?"

     In the next second, my twin deltas dropped to the grass with their stomachs exposed. Ava-Rain laughed and I shook my head.

     "See! I've trained them so well."

     "More like tainted them," I said and released her so that she could oblige the pups and rub their bellies. She dropped to her knees and simultaneously rubbed both Declan and Rickon's stomachs. The twins looked like they were in heaven, while I tried my damned hardest not to sprawl out on the grass as well and demand that she run her hands all over my body. And I was positive that was exactly what Ava-Rain's plan was. To make me squirm. To make me jealous. To bring me to my knees in submission and take back the 'punishment' I inflicted upon her of not being overly intimate with her until I knew that she would be able to handle it fully.

     "Alright, you two. Thanks for keeping Ava-Rain occupied, which I'm sure was no easy task seeing as this one can be a complete handful." Immediately, my deltas rose to their feet. "The others are heading out to do another sweep." And provide Ava-Rain and I with alone time. "Rickon, you'll go with Kane, and Declan, you'll head out with Chase." On that note, they were dismissed.

     Ava-Rain immediately rose to her feet. Before the twins could head back, she wrapped her arms around Rickon's neck first and then Declan's when he joined the two of them. Slowly and gently, she ran her hands through their fur as she embraced them both. She dropped her hand from Rickon's neck first, and as her hand on Declan lingered, she whispered something to him before releasing him as well. Then the two wolves walked off.

     She turned to face me then closed the space between us. For a second, I almost forgot that I had actually gone out there looking for her for a reason because I was too mesmerized by the display of affection she showed the twins. I had only been joking when I called her out on her referral to them as her deltas, but, even if not in the official sense just yet, they were very much her deltas as much as they were mine. She may not have been alpha female, but they treated and respected her as such.

     "You're amazing," I said admirably, "you know that?"

     She stepped closer and reached up to tie her arms around my neck. In response, I slid an arm around her body. "Doesn't hurt to hear it every now and then."

     "I haven't seen those two in peace while in each other's presence in a long time. Whatever you did to them, thank you."

     "They're awesome. You're whole pack is awesome. I'm just glad I get to be a part of the awesomeness as well." She smiled. "So, now that we have all of this land to ourselves, what shall we do with it?"

     I smiled and lowered my head until our foreheads touched. "Take a walk with me, please?"

     "Sure," she happily agreed.

     "Really? You're going to make it that easy for me?" My wolf stirred, knowing exactly what I was getting at.

     "Well, since you asked so nicely for once, I chose not to give you a hard time. Not that I ever give you a hard time."

     "No, of course not." My hold on her tightened, the space between us was virtually non-existent because I was holding her that close. "I just expected, you know, an exchange or something. Tell me, is there absolutely nothing that you want?" I felt the red explode through my veins, though I didn't let it completely off of its leash to avoid a repeat of the previous night.

     "I thought I was on punishment," she smiled. There was no way that she wasn't aware of the emerging fire consuming me deep inside. Her fingers found their way into my hair, her mouth millimeters away from my own.

     "Consider this a temporary reprieve." When the fire reached right where I wanted it, I called on the power of the green to keep it stabilized. "Close your eyes for me, Ava-Rain." She did. "Good. Keep them closed." I closed my own. "Now, relax. Open your mind to me and let me in. As you already know, the element of fire represents desire. Let me feel your desire for me. I know it's there. I know it's bubbling beneath the surface, but I want you to let the flames rise. Turn the heat up for me."

     I kept my own mind entirely focused on locating Ava-Rain's desire. Like I explained the day before, our minds were automatically set on two different radio frequencies. Right now, I was simply trying to get her to open up her mind so that I could pick up on a wave, and, in return, she would be able to pick up on one of my own.

     "Now, I want you to focus your fire, Ava-Rain. Focus it in one spot." I placed a hand on her stomach. "Right there. You feel my hand? Direct your fire right there. Don't force it, just guide it." A minute or so later, my hand began to tingle and I knew it was because of the ball of Ava-Rain's desire that lingered inside of her, right underneath my touch. "That's it. You're doing great, Ava-Rain. Now, this is where the fun begins. I'm going to let you in now, so you're going to tell me what to do, okay?"

     "What? Caleb, I can't. I won't know how."

     "Yes, you can," I encouraged. "Just like I did with you. You need me to open my mind to you, right? Say it."

     I heard her take a deep breath, "Open your mind to me."

     I did as she requested, making sure the yellow refrained from building any barriers to keep Ava-Rain out. "It's all yours."

     "I feel it," she replied. "I feel your desire."

     "Where do you want me to focus it? Tell me where."

     Seconds later, I felt one of her hands slip from my hair, then she placed it on the center of my chest. "Right here. I want you to focus it right here."

     I led the tamed flame of desire right where she wanted it. With my free hand, I placed it on top of hers on my chest. She did the same with hers and placed it on top of mine which still rested on her stomach. Then, we instantly became linked through our mutual desire.

     "Allow the feel of my touch to keep you anchored and to keep my desire within your control. Focus on my touch. Can you do that for me, Ava-Rain?"

     Getting her to focus on my hand and my touch was only a temporary conditioning tactic, nothing more than a tool for the beginner that she was. Eventually, I would get her to the point where she wouldn't need my touch to keep her anchored, where she could hold her own against my elements and become a wielder of the four like a damned pro, but, for now, only baby steps would be taken.

     "I. . .I think so."

     "I need you to be sure. Are you sure?"

     "I'm sure."

     "Good.

     "Oh, my gosh. This is so cool—"

     I cut her off with a kiss. The connecting of our mouths forced our desire to engulf the both of us just like it had done the previous night. It was the kiss she had begged for but I had refused to give. And for good reason. Out of all the elements, fire was the most unpredictable and destructive. Desire, if not carefully monitored, could either be your biggest foe or your greatest ally.

     That was why I needed her to be conditioned. The amount of my desire that I allowed her to feel was obviously not to the extent that I felt it on a daily basis because that would definitely destroy her. But I needed her to learn how to control her own desire along with mine—even in the smallest of doses—in order to strengthen her internally;  mentally, physically and emotionally. Ava-Rain was a human and that meant that I would always have to be extra careful and in control with her because she was extremely fragile. She was not built like a wolf and, therefore, did not naturally carry the supernatural strength to withstand the power of the elements or their associated traits to the degree that my kind could. But I didn't doubt her capability of learning how to achieve her own internal strength, and, in turn, learning how to endure the weight of those same elemental traits that she felt to a human degree.

     "Amazing," I mumbled against her lips. Not only had Ava-Rain been keeping her own desire balanced, but she was handling the pressure of my own like a damned pro. As if wielding the red was nothing new to her. I would be lying if I said I wasn't impressed. Either I was going too easy on her or I had just simply underestimated her level of strength.

     As much as I did not want to, I broke the kiss but kept my head rested against hers. "Talk to me," I whispered and opened my eyes. "Tell me how you feel."

     "I'm pretty sure I could show you much better than I could tell you, Caleb." She reclaimed my mouth and I let her have free reign for half a minute or so before pulling away again.

     "Humour me." I smiled against her pouting lips. As much as I wanted to continue kissing her, I needed to keep her coherent to make sure that she—not the desire—was still in control.

     Ava-Rain pulled away and opened her eyes. "It's not like it was last night, when I felt like my entire body was on fire. I mean, I still feel tingly all over. I feel the warmth burning underneath my skin, but it's like a soft caress. Gentle. Not overwhelming or anything."

     "That's good. Last night, I lost it with you and let you feel too much." My wolf scoffed, refusing to accept that it was too much because he still believed it hadn't nearly been enough. "I've never been as in control as I am right now. But you really did handle it better than I expected. But fun's over and you're punishment is now," I kissed her a final time while we were both still under our mutual desire's influence, "reinstated."

     Just like that, the connection was snapped, causing both of our minds to return to their different wave lengths. My hand dropped from her stomach and picked up her hand still pressed against my chest. I dropped our intertwined hands to my side, and together, we began to walk in no particular direction. "Not bad for your first conditioning lesson."

     "I guess I can painfully admit that I have an okay teacher."

     I looked at her to see that bright smile of hers flashing at me. "Well, I'm the only one you'll ever have, so I guess you have no choice but to accept it."

     "Accept you," she corrected.

     I smiled, pulled her into my side and placed a kiss on her temple. "Me."

     Minutes later, we ended up in front of the mass of trees that covered half of the land. Picking no tree in particular, I led her towards it and positioned her in front of me before slowly backing her against the tree's trunk.

     "Accepting me means accepting a lot more than you once thought." She opened her mouth, probably to reiterate that I was not going to get rid of her so easily, but I kissed her silent. "I know you said you chose me. By doing so, you gave me more power than I ever thought imaginable. And it's crazy because this whole time, from the moment I met you, I knew you'd be my greatest weakness. And you are. But you're also my strength, Ava-Rain. You give me strength just as much as you make me realize my own. And a part of my strength comes from our history.

"I am what I am. I am what I was born to be: an heir of the four. And I accept what I am, even though others aren't so willing. And the reasons as to why that is traces back to the time after the First War. Do you remember where I left off when I told you the story of our origins? The third and final alliance?"

     She nodded. "The merge between both the Air and Earth pack and the Fire and Water pack."

     "Yes. The alphas decided to combine the two packs into one, and together they ruled over their kind. For decades after the First War, they managed to live in peace. Many pure bloods came out of hiding and joined them, which greatly aided the repopulation of wolves. Even the two alphas had been gifted with their mates. The alpha of Air and Earth was mated to a female from the Fire and Water pack. The alpha of Fire and Water was mated to a female from Air and Earth. Their union eventually resulted in each female giving birth to a son. And those two sons—Chogan and Chayton—were the first ever heirs of the four.

     "They were born during a time of peace and rebuilding. The First War destroyed so many of our kind and almost wiped mixed bloods off the face of the Earth. But the birth of the first heirs of all four elements was taken as a sign of rebirth, power and strength. Chogan and Chayton were believed to be the saviours of our kind, gifted with immeasurable power by Luna. But it wasn't until they grew older that the power they had been told their whole lives existed deep inside of them finally awakened."

     At that point, we were both seated on the grass across from each other. Ava-Rain had her head resting against the tree trunk, eagerly awaiting for me to continue with the story. My delay to continue, I guess, was caused by my looking for a sign, for a glimmer of fear in her eyes. Maybe a hint of disgust or skepticism. We had already treaded far past the point of no return in our relationship for her to ever doubt the existence of werewolves, but, for some reason, there was a part of me that refused to let go of my need to believe that, although I had her here and now, I could not hold onto Ava-Rain forever.

     Deep, deep down inside of me, there still lingered a bleeding wound that had been caused by my past belief that I could have what did not belong to me. But Ava-Rain was mine, she did belong to me, so why was it proving to be so hard for me to accept it fully? Why was I spewing promises to never let her go, to never allow her to walk away, when I wasn't even sure if they were promises I could keep? Why was that part of me deep, deep down inside—that's sole purpose was to see to my demise—not allowing me to accept that my love for my mate and her love for me would prove strong enough to overcome everything?

     "Caleb?"

     Ava-Rain's voice immediately pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked at her only to see confusion and a slight trace of worry written all over her face. She quickly pushed herself to her knees and closed the space between us. Due to my legs being outstretched on the grass, she had no choice but to straddle my lap, though I'm quite certain that her attention was solely focused on her concern for me rather than her current placement.

     She took my face in her hands, brushing her thumbs along my cheeks. "What's wrong? Where'd you just go?"

     Naturally, my arms slid around her waist, securing her place on my lap. I stared into her brown eyes, not seeing any of the fear, disgust or skepticism that I thought would be there. "To a place I can only hope you never have to see." My arms tightened around her. "And, you should know, you're not doing me nor my wolf any favours by assaulting me like this."

     She smiled softly before dropping her gaze along with her hands from my face. "Sorry." She went to move but I kept her in place.

     "It's fine," I pressed my mouth against her throat, assuring her with a quick kiss just above the base of her neck.

     "I think I'm beginning to further understand the whole being drawn to each other concept. Being led without thought or question. Just following."

     I smirked because that was exactly what the pull was like. Unconsciously touching, automatically seeking out the other's comfort, offering comfort without thought or delay. Two halves of one soul, once reunited, refusing to be separated. "Sweet yet terrifying, isn't it?" She nodded in response, then placed both of her hands on my shoulders. "Now, where was I?"

     "You were saying that the power inside Chogan and Chayton awakened."

     "Yes, they did. And I'll give you one guess as to how that occurred."

     The ultimate and most powerful power.

     Without a second of thought, without a second of contemplation as to what it could have been, Ava-Rain released a big smile, hinting that she knew exactly what the reason was. As always, her bright smile conjured my own, and I sat there, enjoying the warmth and glow from her smile that put the sunlight radiating all around us to shame. She dramatically threw her head back, facing up to the sky. "Love!"

     I chuckled at her excitement. Although I wish I could have enjoyed it along with her, the story—she was very soon going to learn—did not carry half of the excitement she harboured. But for a moment, I allowed myself to be sucked into her happiness and enjoy the bliss before her ignorance was destroyed. "Yes. Love. They found their mates, who just so happened to be human. Today, that's hardly a big pill to swallow anymore, but back then, it was literally unheard of. Apart from the Original Four and the humans chosen by Luna as mates for their descendants until there were enough wolves to start mating with each other, no wolf had ever been mated to a human. Ever. So, you had the very first heirs of the four and the very first human mates. And, to make a complication even more complicated, their mates weren't just any sort of humans. They were hunters."

     Slowly, Ava-Rain's smile receded, but did not vanish altogether. "Hunters?"

     "It's a term we use to label specific humans aware of our kind, whose sole purpose is also to maintain the balance between the worlds."

     "Like The Council?"

     "Yes, only hunters have been around almost as long as werewolves and thousands of years before The Council was ever created. Like wolves, they've been gifted by the hands of Luna. They do not carry any power of the elements inside of them, but they are stronger and faster than normal humans and are, too, considered to be children of the moon. They're both sworn to maintain the balance, but where The Council's main focus is, of course, our kind, the hunters' main focus is, naturally, protecting humans.

     "Despite their title, they don't go out of their way to hunt werewolves with the intention to kill unless necessary. They're more like trackers. A highly trained, pure blooded hunter could spot a wolf in a crowd within seconds. They're warriors in every sense of the word. Today, wolves have established a sort of a love-hate relationship with the hunters. If we don't bother them, they don't bother us. But, back then, the relationship between wolves and hunters was much closer and stronger and we considered them friends and allies. So long as no harm was unnecessarily brought to either world, peace between the two was maintained and firmly upheld. That is, until Chayton and Chogan found their mates."

     Her hands slid from my shoulders and up along the back of my neck to settle in my hair. It was probably unconsciously done on her part, but the comfort derived from the small action had not gone unnoticed. "I'm guessing this sort of set the precedent for why wolf and human pairings are so taboo? Because my gut's starting to tell me that this story does not have even the slightest bit of a happy ending."

     "The story of Chayton and Chogan and their mates—Huyana and Amitola—are the premise as to why the sole idea of an heir of the four scares The Council. Why The Council is extremely adamant about human mates being assessed for legitimacy. Remember what our kind believed the birth of Chogan and Chayton would bring? They were deemed as saviours of our world, only what we needed saving from were foes as old as time; two of the deadliest warriors, both of which can never be destroyed. Any guesses?"

     With raised eyebrows and a look of bewilderment painted on her face, Ava-Rain dove straight into deep contemplation as to what those two indestructible foes could be. Every couple of seconds, her mouth would open to reveal a guess, and each time a look of defeat would mar her gorgeous face and force her back into silence.

     Pulling my arms from around her, I outstretched my arms behind me and slightly leaned back on my hands. When she opened her mouth for the fifth time, I smirked and decided to intervene before she drove herself insane. "Time's up."

     She released a deep sigh of defeat. "Two foes that cannot be killed, that the first and only heirs of the four—apart from you—were supposed to save your world from?" I nodded.  "And this ties into their human slash hunter mates?" I nodded again. "I have absolutely no idea. Tell me."

     I leaned my head in closer to hers, bringing our faces mere inches apart. "Good and evil." At that precise moment, a slight breeze decided to grace us with its presence. A couple of curly strands of her hair blew into her face, and, due to our closeness, I noticed the shudder that ran through her body, though I wasn't quite sure if it was a direct result of my admission or the slightly cool caress of the wind. I raised a hand to her face, first brushing the loose curls out of her face and behind her ear before settling it on her cheek.

     "Good and evil?" She questioned, though the look, along with the tone of her voice, didn't suggest any disbelief, but rather harboured curiosity and genuine interest. "They had to save your kind from good and evil?"

     "Precisely. But here's the even better part. They were the saviours, but what we needed saving from turned out to be. . ." I paused, more so to irritate her than for dramatic effect. ". . .them."

     She cocked her head to the side, then narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You needed saving from the saviours?"

     "Good and evil dwelled within them from the moment they were conceived, hibernated inside of them after their birth and as they grew from pups into adulthood. But it wasn't until they found their mates that the good and evil locked away deep inside of them awakened. It was uncaged by love."

     "Wait—what? Are you seriously telling me that them finding their mates woke the good and evil inside of them? These two saviours were actually the enemies?"

     "There are probably hundreds of different accounts of the story of Chayton and Chogan, but the basics haven't changed. And I won't get into the whole story—we'd be here all day otherwise—but yes, Amitola and Huyana awakened the good and evil inside the two wolves. And yes and no, they weren't actually the enemies. Each did not carry both good and evil inside of them, but, rather, each carried one or the other. Chayton carried the power of good and Chogan carried the power of evil.

     "Basically—and here's the part where I decide to save the details for another time and summarize—both Chogan and Chayton committed an act with their mates that resulted in the power of good and evil being unleashed. It's not unnatural for a wolf and their mate to exchange blood during mating. It's called a blood bond, and it's probably the most intimate act that mates can partake in. Again, true mates are two halves of one soul, which binds them together as one in a spiritual sense. But the blood bond makes them one in a physical sense. Neither Chayton nor Chogan fully mated with Amitola or Huyana, but they did form a one way blood bond with them.

     "Chayton, to save Amitola's life, gave her his blood. An act of good. In secret, Chogan, who did not want to be overshadowed by Chayton's obvious powers, took a blade to his own mate, Huyana, and gave her his blood to heal her. An act of evil. For the first time in our history, it had been revealed that an heir of the four carried the power to heal—to restore life—in their blood."

     Her mouth parted slightly, I assumed, in surprise. "Caleb, are you saying. . ."

     "No," I quickly replied and shook my head. "I don't have the power to save a life."

     And that was a lesson I had learned the hard way.

     "When Chayton and Chogan saved the lives of their mates by reviving them with the power of the four that lingered in their blood, they implanted that very power inside of them. Amitola and Huyana became the first human heirs of the four. Amitola, born from good, and Huyana, born from evil. And there has never, ever been a time in our history in which wolves harboured the literal power to control their elements, But Amitola and Huyana's rebirth gave them the power to surpass not only their mates, but every wolf to have ever lived."

     "You're not about to tell me that they were actually freaking wielders of all four elements, are you?" A smile escaped her, her excitement had returned tenfold. Her hands, once again returned to their earlier spot on my shoulder as she barely tried to contain herself. "Okay, I'm sure I shouldn't be this excited knowing that this doesn't have a happy ending and that obviously no good came from this, but, seriously, these two, human hunter chicks were badass, weren't they?"

     I laughed. "If almost destroying each other and our kind makes them badass, then yes. They had full control of the elements, and—again, extremely long story short—almost unleashed another war on our world after both of their mates died fighting to destroy the other. Eventually, Amitola was able to lock away Huyana's powers of evil inside of her, but by doing so, also locked away her own powers of good within herself."

     I then dropped my gaze from hers. Plucking one of her hands from my shoulder, I held it to my mouth to plant a kiss on her palm. "So, you see why my parents chose to keep my existence a secret? Why The Council would never rejoice upon learning what I am anymore than they'd rejoice in learning that I found a human mate?"

     "Caleb," she whispered. Lifting my eyes to meet Ava-Rain's once again, I accepted the touch of sadness that lingered inside of them. She leaned in and rested her forehead against mine. "The Council is stupid if they are unwilling to accept that an heir of the four is the most beautiful and sacred union to ever come to exist. It gave me you," she said barely above a whisper.

     "Despite all the ugly that it caused in the past?" Not even I could deny the destruction caused in the past because of the existence of all four elements dwelling inside four beings. The Council had every right to be concerned, but had I not the right to exist?

     "You're not Chogan or Chayton, and I am not Amitola or Huyana. You are Caleb and I am Ava-Rain. I don't plan on dying anytime soon, so you may want to hold off on any plans of resurrecting me."

     "I already told you that it's impossible. And before you ask me how I know, it's because I've tried and it didn't work. I failed. No such power exists. Not for me."

     It wasn't anger that had come over me so much as it was my guilt, sadness and pain from a past loss, along with those same exact feelings resulting from keeping Ava-Rain in the dark again, that had managed to surface. And because I refused to want to deal with any of it in that particular moment, I knew I would have to if I allowed Ava-Rain even one glimpse of any of those feelings. So, when I shifted her from my lap to the grass, it wasn't done because I wanted her away from me but because I needed her to be away from me. I needed to silence any questions she might have had before she could even ask them.

     "You lost somebody." She said more as a statement she already knew to be true than as a question.

     I hated this. I hated being hot and cold with her, turning on feelings one minute then shutting them off within the next. It wasn't fair to her, but—as selfish as it may sound—it wasn't fair to me either. I did not want to relive past memories or talk about them. Not yet. So, instead of turning to give her the attention she deserved, I kept my eyes lowered to the grass and tried to call on any power of the green to keep my scattered emotions under control. Earth was, after all, the element of stability and I would take whatever it was willing to offer me in that moment.

     After minutes of nothing but silence passing between us, Ava-Rain rose to her feet. Finally allowing myself to acknowledge her again, I turned and looked up at her. She brushed down the skirt of her dress before reaching her hand out to me. "If you want to shut me out, that's fine, Caleb. Really. But, at least provide me with a good excuse not to talk to me. Get up."

     I took her hand and allowed her to assist me to my feet. Once I did, she closed the space between us and pressed one of her hands over my heart. I stared down at her and watched the goosebumps cascade over the exposed skin of her arms. Either she was cold or a great amount of adrenaline was coursing through her veins.

     "I want to see you." Her eyes lifted to mine. "Your whole life you've had to hide your existence. Stay hidden in the shadows. The forest clearing from my dream, it wasn't just my safe spot, it was yours as well. Show me who you are."

     "You want to see me in wolf form?"

     "I've only ever seen you in wolf form in my dreams. I think it's about time that I see you in reality." She smiled softly, her hand slipping from my chest up to my face. "Besides, in wolf form you won't have to talk or answer any questions, which I can already tell you don't want to do. So, I'm giving you a pass. Your temporary reprieve."

     "As if I need your permission, human." I smirked and crossed my arms over my chest.

     She dropped her hand from my face and crossed her arms over her chest in response. "Let's not pretend like I don't control your leash, wolf."

     A chuckle escaped me and before I knew it, I had Ava-Rain pulled against my body. I knew what she was doing. It went back to her vow from the previous night. This was Ava-Rain acting good on her promise to accept all of me, the good along with the bad, truths along with the secrets. Instead of allowing my refusal to reveal what had pushed me into silence to become some sort of road block in our relationship, she instead turned it into a speed bump.

     "So, you're my protector then? As I was yours in your dream."

     "No," she smiled and shook her head. "Everyone has demons, Caleb. Everyone has a past and a history that they cannot change even if they wanted to. All we have is here and now. You may not be able to change history, but you don't have to let the past determine who you are today. I'm my own saviour, right? Well, you're your own saviour, as well. You need to find a way to let whatever's haunting you go, but you don't need to do it alone. I'll always be by your side, being the only thing I know how to be to and for you. Your mate."

     Everyday, in some way, shape or form—whether it was an argument or a resolution; a disagreement or agreement; a touch or a kiss; a story of our history shared, a secret exposed or withheld—I was reminded that, no matter what, being my mate was all I would ever need Ava-Rain to be.

     Nothing more. Nothing less.