CHAPTER FRICKEN 40!!!!!!

This is a massive deal for me because I never thought I could write a book for this long or stick to it or receive the support i've gotten from you guys it's actually unreal. We're at 384 THOUSAND reads, we're in the lists for romance and wolf books and honestly it just makes me wants to cry, i can't thank you guys enough. Please keep voting and commenting, I'd love for our family to get even bigger!

This chapter is A BIG ONE!!!!!!! in length and in content - massive point of the story and also almost 5,000 words but I wanted to treat you guys and celebrate hitting 40 chapters so I really hope you enjoy.

I loved seeing where all you guys were form - shout out to the americans, canadians, brazilians, australians and all you other guys who are across the world reading this book! It's honestly like a dream and I appreciate every single one of you.

I love you guys with all my heart.

Enjoy x

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I can't even begin to comprehend what she's telling me and for a moment I think she's joking, I want to believe she's joking, but I know she's telling the truth.

She can't see them.

"Elle are you okay?"

Was I imagining them?

No. Trent had showed me it.

"Why can I see them, and she can't?" I mumble, staring at the back of Trent's head and I put all my focus on him and trying to get him to turn around, to look at me and explain everything.

I want answers.

My fingers curl around metal and Trent's head snaps back to mine, his eyes ablaze with something I don't recognise, and it knocks the wind out of me.

Tell me what's happening to me.

Slowly, shock forms on his features as I glare at him, his brows pulling together and for the first time he looks completely lost for words and panic begins to set in.

What if he was supernatural?

For some reason the thought had never occurred to me, I hadn't really taken the time to even consider it but now it just seemed far too obvious.

The tingles he gave me when he touched me, the way he seemed to be so unnaturally beautiful and strong.

The invisible tattoo on his neck.

Trent cuts eye contact with me and turns around, his head leaning into Cole whose gaze flickers to me in panic as he tries to inconspicuously watch me, but I see him.

Cole must be too.

Automatically, I stand up, sights set on the two boys who are anxiously whispering, and I feel my feet start to move before a hand grabs me.

"Where are you going?" Kristie hisses as the hall starts to quiet down.

"I need answers," I tell her, and she shakes her head, yanking me into the seat beside her.

"Not right now, the principle is about to speak."

Right enough, Principle Knowles is hushing the crowd and walking to the front of us all, practically our whole year sits in front of him and I don't miss the look of sadness that coats his expression.

Dread sets in as he clears his throat and looks out at us all, so silent that I pin could be heard if it was dropped.

"Good afternoon seniors," he begins with a shaky voice, the teachers behind him all clumped together as they sniff and dab at their eyes with tissues.

Something has happened.

"I apologise for pulling you out your classes, I know that this is an important year for you, however I need to make an announcement."

Kristie's hand finds mine and holds onto it tightly.

"About twenty minutes ago a body was found in the woods outside of the school."

Gasps begin to echo around the room and a chill sweeps over my body as I digest his words.

Someone was dead.

Automatically, my eyes dart around the hall and look for anyone who is missing, any of my friends who might not be present.

"Where's Cam?" Kristie chokes out and I can feel my stomach drop to the floor, my soul shattering into a million pieces as I realise that I haven't seen his familiar head of ginger hair sitting anywhere.

"The body was of your classmate," he continues, and I don't even feel the tears that fall from my eyes but my vision blurs, letting me know they've started, "Your classmate, Ben Novach."

It's an awful feeling but relief sweeps over me, knowing that it's not Cam that's dead, but the feeling is shortly followed by sadness as I recall Ben over our school lives.

He was always the quiet one in classes, barely ever said much and never really got involved in anything we did in classes, but he was always kind and helpful when he could be.

How on earth did he end up dead?

"The situation is being treated as suspicious and so we need to advise you guys to stay out of the woods and to be alert. An email has been sent out to your parents and our school councillors have opened their schedules to provide support if needed. Your classes are cancelled for the rest of the afternoon."

"I don't think many people even really knew Ben, let alone are going to grieve over him," Kristie mumbles sadly, shooting glares ahead of us.

I look around the room and see people with tears in their eyes but then I notice that a lot of them seem to not be overly bothered by what the principle is saying and have started whispering, talking about what they think has happened and their theories on it.

Disgusting.

Looking down in front of me I can see Trent and Cole with their heads pressed together, looks of alarm on both their faces and it piques my curiosity.

Why did they look so concerned about it?

As everyone begins to stand up and move around I notice more boys making their way to Trent and Cole, hushed words passing between them as they crowd round.

Some of the boys I hadn't really seen before, I suppose I never paid much attention to who was with Trent considering my attention was usually taken up by him, but they all had the same angry scowl coating their features.

They all also had the same tattoo.

The EXACT same tattoo.

My breath stops, my hands begin to shake, and my legs begin to tremble as I scan over every person standing with them.

All on the backs of their necks, shining out like some gang symbol is the tree, the simple line causing my heart to pound so loudly that I think it's going to turn me deaf.

Why did they all have the same tattoo?

"I need to find Cam," I release the breath I'm holding and spring up from my chair, ignoring Kristie's questions as I shove through the crowd, eager to get some answers from the one person who I know won't lie to me anymore.

I can feel Trent's eyes turn to me as I push past people, apologising as some complain but I don't spare him a glance and proceed to force myself out the room, my feet beginning to run as I get into the empty corridor.

What was he?

Why is someone dead?

Who killed Ben?

What if Cam was dead too?

Before I realise, I'm outside of the school, the fresh air knocking me back as it flies into my lungs and my head starts to spin, the questions filling my head as panic sets in and I struggle to barely breathe.

Where's Cam?

"Elle!"

It's as if a bucket of water is thrown over me as I spin around and look at the person running towards me, the look of relief on their face matching my own and I burst out crying as I run at him, the panic attack stopping as soon as his arms wrap around me.

"I thought you were dead," I sob, clinging onto my best friend as he hushes me, his hands holding me so fiercely that I'm scared to even try and move, "Why weren't you in the assembly, when they said there was a body –"

"Hey, hey!" Cam coos, as he pulls back from me and holds me at arm's length, his comfortingly smile gracing his lips, "I'm right here, I'm sorry I worried you."

I nod, feeling myself calm down as I look him over and that's when I notice the cuts all over him and the blood on his shirt.

"Cam, why is there blood on you?" I whisper, pulling myself out of his arms as the worst kind of thoughts flood into my head.

"Elle, it's not mine," he tells me, reaching out but I move out the way, fear pouring over me as I imagine the wolf that Cam becomes tearing into someone, his sharp teeth ripping through human flesh.

"What did you do?" I choke out, my hands shaking as I point at the scratches covering him, "Whose blood is that?" The silence between us is deafening as he watches me, shame overcoming him as he closes his eyes and breathes in deeply.

"It's Ben's."

A sound like someone drowning and choking for air reaches my ears and it takes my lungs burning for me to realise that it's me as I move back from him, trying to comprehend what he's saying.

"Did you kill him?" I ask so quietly that I doubt he even should have heard it if he was human.

But he isn't human.

"How could you even ask that?" Cam's nostrils flare as he half spits at me, "I didn't kill him, I was trying to save him, but hunters got him with wolfsbane and there was nothing I could do."

"Wait, Ben was a werewolf?" Regret floods through me as I look at the pained look that flits across Cam's features as he slowly nods, regret vivid as he looks away from me, clearly replaying whatever happened in his head. "Wait, did you say hunters?"

A dark look takes over Cam as his fists tighten and a growl emits from his throat, his eyes shooting behind me and the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention.

"What exactly are we discussing out here?"

His voice has an edge to it that I've never heard before and it makes me jump as I turn around and face him, my feet taking me further from him and back to Cam.

"None of your concern, Trent," Cam spits and I watch as Trent and Cole snarl back at him, their faces morphing into an animalistic glare, "I didn't realise the pedigrees would care about anything I have to say anyway."

Pedigrees.

Cole takes a step forward threateningly, but Trent's hand shoots out and stops him, his eyes flicking to me and my astonished glare as he holds his best friend back from running at us.

"You're right," he comments nonchalantly, his whole demeanour suddenly changing in the blink of an eye and Cole looks at him questioningly, "I don't care what you have to say usually, but I'm sure we can discuss things another time."

His eyes glance to me again and then down at my neck, as always, his eyes finding the necklace sitting there perfectly.

The same way the wolf looked at me the day I found it.

"Let's go get the other boys, we need to go home," Trent orders Cole who shakes his head slightly, fists clenched as he watches Cam.

"But Alpha – "

"Now."

The word is spoken with so much authority that it shakes me to the bone and all I can hear is it repeating over and over in my head as I think about how often people have listened to him or followed his orders.

Alpha. Like an Alpha male.

Like the Alpha of a pack.

I watch Cam out the corner of me eyes and take in how on edge he looks, the tension in his body incomparable to anything like I'd seen before.

He would only do that if he was really scared of someone.

Or something.

Trent and Cole turn without another word and begin to walk away, and I step after them, ignoring Cam's hand as he reaches out for me.

"Alpha," I shout, and the two figures freeze in front of me, their bodies shooting upright and their muscles frozen in shock, "Were you ever going to tell me that you were a werewolf or was I meant to just figure that out on my own?"

I almost can't believe the words that have come out of my mouth, it's as if I'm watching myself saying them, trying to stop them from being heard but I know that they're true.

Trent was a werewolf.

Trent spins around and comes towards us before I can even take a breath and I stumble back into Cam, using him as a way to keep myself upright.

"What did you just say?" He hisses, eyes ablaze as he looks at Cam, "What have you told her?"

Now I can see it perfectly. The feral way his features morph with his emotions, the broad back that seems to hunch up in defence. The deep breathing that echoes a growl after it.

"He didn't tell me anything about you," I state, pulling his attention back from Cam to me, "Like I said, were you ever going to tell me?"

Trent's hot breath fans over me face as he glares down at me, the emotions running through him so quickly that I don't know what he's feeling but anger seems to seep through it all.

"It's not something you should know," he mutters darkly, "You could be killed for knowing about us. This isn't a world that I ever wanted you a part of. Not yet."

My heart thrums as I watch his perfect lips speak to me, the fear behind them sneaking through as much as he tries to hide it and it's like I can see into his soul – the genuine fear causing a knot to form in my belly as I stare into his eyes.

"Look, you don't have to worry about her," Cam interrupts, cutting off look between us as he pulls me back and beside him, "She's not your problem."

Cole lets out a light laugh at Cam's comment which makes him look at him in confusion as his arm that's in front of me falters a little.

"Unfortunately, she is my problem," Trent retorts without even sparing Cam a glance and my toes tingle as he watches me, a small smile tugging at the edge of his mouth and I feel myself blush.  I turn and look at my best friend who I'm surprised to find is staring at me with his mouth popped open, his forehead creased as he watches me.

"You said you didn't really know him," he whispers, accusation lining his words as he steps back from me and guilt seeps into my bones at the betrayed look that he gives me, "You promised me you'd stay away from him."

I sigh and reach for him, my heart breaking as I watch the pained expression that mars his face, "I don't know him that well, and it was before you got back from your trip and then we fell out and then – "

"That's who you got the necklace from," he whispers, eyes trained to it and I frown and shake my head, "That's whose been listening to you."

"No, I found the necklace, I wasn't lying about that," I retort, "And no one has been listening to me, right?"  Shooting a glance at Trent who only scratches his head in response, wincing at my words, I immediately know that there's something he's not telling me. "What does he mean?"

Trent's mouth opens and then closes again a few times as he tries to come up with an answer and a sickening feeling throbs through me.

Our bubble pops as the front doors of the school open and people begin to pour out, the area around us suddenly becoming noisier and a whole lot less private.

"Look can we talk about this somewhere else?" Cole asks, his eyes nervously watching every person that so much as gets close to us, "If we've learnt anything today it's that we're not safe so I suggest we talk this all out at the pack house, agreed?"

I can feel Cam ready himself to argue about the location, but I hold my hand up to him and nod at Cole, my own eyes darting around and looking at the people watching us.

"Agreed."

I don't even look at Trent as I follow Cole to the car, pushing past him on the way.

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The car journey was tense to say the least. Even Cole didn't try to talk or make a joke and instead just put the radio on, letting the music drown out the uncomfortable silence surrounding us all.

I had tried to talk to Cam when we first got in but the look he gave me and the devastation on his face was enough to shut me up and leave him be.

I didn't know what was going on with him but the anger I was feeling at Trent was kind of outweighing that issue.

Had he been spying on me?

When we arrive at the 'pack house' I'm still gobsmacked at the sheer size of it and it takes me a moment to remember who lives here and how dangerous this all might be.

I grab Cam's hand as we go to walk to the front door and stop him from entering, my worried gaze meeting his.

"Is it safe for us to be here?" I whisper to him and he scoffs, ripping his hand from mine.

"Don't worry, Trent would never hurt you."

He disappears inside, and I'm left staring after him, my mind trying to process how his view on Trent could have changed from telling me to stay away from him and that he was a bad guy to willingly letting me enter his house and reassure me that I'm safe here.

And boys say that girls have mood swings.

We follow Trent to the kitchen and I am comforted a little by the familiar sight of it but I notice that Cam's eyes are surveying the whole place as if planning out an escape route, clearly he believed Trent wouldn't hurt me but it wasn't the same for him.

"You're not in danger here," Cole growls at Cam, looking offended but Cam just rolls his eyes and sits down at the bar.

"Sure, I'll believe that after I survive being here."

I'd never seen Cam like this, the way his shoulders were slumped and the sarcastic tone to his voice. He was always positive and comforting – this guy was a stranger.

My fingers curl around the necklace as I watch him, my heart yearning for the best friend that seemed to be slipping away from me and I see Trent turn and look at me, making me drop the necklace in a second.

"What is this thing?" I ask, and everyone is silent around me as I wait for them to answer, the guilty looks evident on the two boys who are trying not to make eye contact with me.

"It's like an emotional radar," Cam announces, clearly bored of waiting for the boys to start, "Think of it like a tv channel that someone can tune into and see how you're feeling, or a radio station that you can broadcast what you're thinking."

I look at him in shock, thinking that maybe he's joking, praying that he Is as I look at Trent and Cole, half begging for them to tell me he's lying, and it was just a plain old necklace.

But no one says anything.

How was this possible.

"Can everyone hear it?" Embarrassment washes over me as I think of everyone around me secretly laughing at me and my whirlwind of emotions.

"No," Cole answers and after a pregnant pause he continues, "Only the person who gives it to you."

"But that doesn't make sense," I retort, confused at how that meant Trent could feel me, "I found this in the garden, no one was there except –"

Except the wolf.

If I didn't believe what they were saying about the necklace before, I do now as I watch Trent's head snap up to me, the shock that's flowing over me evident in his face.

Trent was the wolf I saw.

He was in my garden.

He was watching me.

"Why do I have this?" I ask, my eyes not leaving the boy who knuckles are turning white as they clutch the side of the island, "Why did you want me to have this?"

He doesn't say anything and just watches me, as if debating over what exactly he's going to admit, and my blood begins to rush into my ears, my eyes unwavering from his and my palms begin to sweat.

"I'm going outside," Cam growls, disgust clear in his voice as he stands up and heads for the door, not once sparing me a glance and Cole jumps up in his seat, following right behind him.

"Yeah we'll just wait outside."

Before I can speak the two of them are gone and the slam of the door behind them signals that Trent and I are utterly alone in kitchen.

"I gave you the necklace as a way to look out for you," Trent suddenly speaks, his voice low and controlled, as if he's holding back, "As wolves in a pack we can contact each other mentally, it lets us look out for one another, it keeps us safe."

So he wasn't just mentally spying on me like pervert, he was doing it out of kindness. I don't think I could be mad at him for that.

He slowly moves round the counter and steps towards me, his hands now uncurled as he takes a deep breath.

My heartbeat pounds.

"Why are you looking out for me?" I whisper breathlessly as he gets closer to me and I begin to feel the heat of his body reach mine, the tingles already starting to develop across my skin as his golden eyes watch me, shining with an emotion I can't read.

"Because although I didn't realise it, my wolf did. He knew something was wrong and I knew I needed to look out for you, I needed to know you were safe."

He reaches me and gently raises his hand, brushing a finger along my face and across the bruise on my cheek, my eyes fluttering closed as he does.

"With the necklace I could feel when you were scared, or in pain," he audibly gulps as anger flickers into his voice and I open my eyes to see him close his own as if trying to stop a thought, "That's why I was so annoyed at myself when I realised you got hurt and you weren't wearing it. If you were wearing it then I would have known, I could have stopped him, I could have- "

"Shhh," I coo, placing my hands on the sides of his face as I pull it up from looking downwards, my soul aching as I see the devastation and disappointment he feels for himself clear as day, "That's not your fault," I tell him softly, brushing my fingertips across his jaw, watching how it unclenches as I do, "I appreciate you looking out for me, but you don't have to, that's not on you."

Trent's eyes open at my words and a fire in them burns as he looks over my face, making a warmth flood through me and go to certain parts that have been dormant for a while, the intensity of his eyes making my tongue go dry.

"It is on me," he tells me, his arms snaking themselves around me waist and pulling me into him carefully, as if he was waiting for me to stop him.

But I didn't.

And this seems to give him the confidence to pull me flush against his body and say what's been on the tip of his tongue for so long.

"Remember I told you about Koi No Yokan?" he asks and I nod.

How could I forget?

"The knowledge upon meeting someone that you're destined to fall in love," I reply and the small smile that takes over his lips makes my heart flutter as if there's a thousand wings in it.

"Well wolves have a similar thing, something you've probably heard of but for us it's real."

Before he even says the word, I know what it is, my mind flashing back to the conversation I had with a certain neighbour not hours ago.

"Soulmates."

That sneaky tea drinking bitch knew.

"We usually refer to them as mates. It's not a fairy-tale for us," he tells me almost looking nervous, "It's real. Wolves have a second part to themselves, a person that evens them out, balances the good and the bad and supports them in a way that allows them to excel. A wolf that never meets their mate, won't ever have true happiness."

My head feels light as I try to take in his words and believe them, but could I?

"Trent, I don't know if-"

My words are cut off as he lowers his mouth to my neck and places a kiss on it. It's as light as a feather but my whole body reacts to it, shivering under his touch.

"It's easy to spot your mate, even if you don't your body does," he whispers, his breath fanning over my ear and my body melts, his voice like velvet dripping through me.

"The tingling across your skin when they touch you," his nose trails down my neck and across my shoulder, his hand reaching up to gently hold my neck.

"The draw of their scent whenever they're near you."

Trent smelled like a forest freshly after it rained.

"The way you remember every small detail about them."

His golden eyes that shine like the sun.

"The way that your entire body wants them even when your mind doesn't realise."

His words make me aware of how tightly we are pressed together, and I can suddenly feel every inch on him on me, sinking into my pores like a drug.

"How intoxicated you feel around them."

His lips leave a trail along my neck and up to my jaw where he stops and pulls back.

A soft mewl leaves my lips and I blush when I realise, not knowing why I did it but he seems to, and he smiles a little, his thumb gently touching my lip.

It felt like so long since he had been this close to me, so long since I'd felt his arms wrapped around me and his lips on mine and all I can think about is the fiery hot need that he entices from me in one touch.

His nostrils flare and the smile leaves as he pulls me so close that our lips are only a breath away.

"You know the necklace is very good at projecting emotions, but I can smell your desire without it."

Heat flushes through me at the passion behind his word and their meaning and I go to look away, but he stops me, bringing my head back to him and forcing me to look into his eyes.

"Never be embarrassed around me, you are the most perfect creature in existence and knowing that you want me is more than anything I could ever imagine, don't ever hide it from me because it just shows that you feel the same way I do."

My breaths come out short as my stomach coils.

He wanted me just as much as I wanted him.

"Tell me, Elle. Tell me that you're mine, just as much as I am yours."

Fear begins to creep up on me as I look at him and how perfect he is, how unattainable he is to me.

"I'm damaged," I manage to choke out, tears pricking my eyes, "Why would you want me?"

Fury takes over his expression as he holds me close, but I know it's not at me, it's at those who have hurt me.

"You are not damaged. You will heal, and I'll be there to help you. You are more than what you see in yourself and I will spend every day showing you that if anything, I don't deserve you. I don't want you to ever think for a moment that I don't want you, that for a second of my life I am not longing for you and going mad with desire when you just so much as walk in a room."

His golden eyes are burning, like embers in a fire and I sink into him, feeling his fingers touch my bare skin where my top has ridden up and it shoots electricity to my core.

Pure desire.

"Tell me you believe me," he whispers against my lips, "Tell me that you know in your soul that you're my mate."

His breath hitches.

"Tell me that you're mine as much as I am yours."

All feelings of doubt are gone from my being as I look at him and I mean really look at him, seeing the vulnerability on display as his voice begs for me to admit it, to let him know that this wasn't just him and that I wanted him as much as he wanted me.

That I needed him.

"Yes," I whisper, wrapping my hands around his neck, "I'm yours."

The moment around us holds us in silence as we just watch one another, my words drifting through the air. Finally, he lets out the breath that he's been holding, and he pulls my lips to his, the fireworks igniting through my body as he wraps me in his arms, pulling me so far into him that I wait for us to become one.

"And I am yours, mia dea."

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Hello! Ellis from the future here: 

There's still plenty of this story to go (surprise you're only halfway) and it's filled with plot twists, mushy scenes and some action that you won't want to miss! I REPEAT - THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE BOOK! 

To read the rest of Golden (which im super excited to say) you'll have to go and purchase it on Amazon where it is now PUBLISHED! EEEK! 

It will be available to buy from the 28th of June 2021! 

Just search 'Ellis Marie' or 'Golden' on amazon to get your copy in ebook, audiobook or paperback! 

You can also check out the bonus chapter in Trent's POV at this link:

https://www.amazon.com/My-World-Mate-Mia-Dea-ebook/dp/B097F5YL2P/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=ellis+marie&qid=1624543546&sr=8-1

Or by searching my name OR the book 'My World, My Mate, Mia Dea' 

And to the new readers - I really hope you come and join the family and get the book - i'd love to know what you think and I'd hate for you to miss the rest of Elle and Trent's story! 

Silver (the sequel) will be getting uploaded here on wattpad so if you plan to read it - getting the books a must or you may be a little confused. 

ALL MY LOVE 

Ellis Marie 

X 

P.S. ALL THE CHAPTERS AFTER THIS ARE ABOUT GOLDEN BEING PUBLISHED AND/OR PROMOTIONAL/INFORMATION CHAPTERS