I knew it, the moment I saw Ian with Kade and his family, I knew that he told them all about my past, and now Kade will reject me and-

"Grace!" I stopped in my tracks when I heard Kade's voice calling my name. I turned while sniffling and trying to wipe away my tears before he came closer.

I thought I did a pretty good job of pretending to be happy with my fake smile but then he asked, with that adorable confused expression of his, "why're you crying?" I matched his expression of confusion with a fake one of mine.

"What are you talking about? I'm not crying." I said and winced as my voice cracked at the end, making him roll his eyes.

"Sure you weren't." He said, not believing me at all. "Now tell me what's wrong." He demanded in a stern expression. I shook my head, "everything's fine Kade."

"One thing I've learnt about female behaviour is that when they say that they're fine, they're definitely not fine." He countered, then his expression softened into one of worry, "please Grace, tell me what's bothering you. One minute you were standing where I left you and the next you were gone. Is everything alright? Did someone do something to you?"

"You spoke to Ian, right?" I asked him, and he nodded, still confused.

"The one from the Dark Moon Pack? Yeah, why?" He asked.

"So you know about my past, don't you?" I said, fresh tears forming in my eyes.

"Yeah, so wh- Grace, do you really think I'll care about your past and leave you when I've finally found you after so many years of waiting?"

I looked away, ashamed, and nodded.

"That's what everyone told me you'd do. They said that you'll never love me once you find out that I-"

"Grace, I don't care about all that, all I care about is that your alive and here, in front of me, that's what I care about."

I shut my eyes, a tear leaking down my cheek and shook my head, "I'm sorry Kade, but I can't come live in a pack just yet, you might accept me and my past but the pack might not and t-then- then they'll-" I stopped when my voice cracked. "So, if you don't want to wait, I understand. If you want to reject me and mate with a girl fit to be a Luna, a girl who's not broken, someone who's not- me, it'll hurt, but I'll understand. If-"

"Stop." I gulped back the words tumbling from my mouth and looked up to see Kade's face full of hurt and pain, and it killed me that he was feeling that because of me.

"Please stop, Grace. You're so beautiful." He said as he cupped my face and wiped me tears with his thumb, giving me a small sad smile.

"Don't you ever say that I'll reject you, because I won't. And not just because you're beautiful, but because you're strong, whatever happened in your past, it was enough to make you doubt yourself, but you survived through it. And I understand if you find it hard to be among a pack right now, so I'll wait, I've waited for 7 years to find you and I'll wait for the rest of the eternity for you. In fact, I'll wait right here with you, to help you through whatever it is you're going through. What I saw back at the café, if you have to face that all the time, then I don't want to leave you alone, ever. I'll stay with you till you feel that you can come back with me, and I'll help you every step of the way."

When he finished, I was speechless, wondering what I did to deserve an amazing mate like Kade. He gently wiped away the last of my tears, making me smile.

"You don't have to stay with me, Kade. Your pack needs you-" I started but got cut off by Kade.

"You need me more. My parents can take care of the pack for a while." He said as he started leading me to the café. I bit my lip, thinking of reasons he can't stay with me.

I sighed and shook my head, "what about Faith? She'll be really sad if I take away her brother like this."

"Faith is a smart girl, Grace. She's really mature for her age, she'll understand. Besides, you're not taking me away from anyone." He said, stopping in front of the café. "And to be honest, I'm doing this for myself as well. If you get nightmares or get hurt and I'm not here to comfort you, to protect you, I'll never be able to live with myself."

I opened my mouth to protest, to give him another reason to go away, but what Kade said next shut me up,
"I know what you're thinking, Grace. There may be millions of reasons for me to leave, but there's one reason for me to stay." He said, "You. And that's a good enough reason for me."

He looked at me expectantly, waiting for an answer. I sighed in defeat, knowing that I'm not going to win this argument.

"Alright, I guess, if your family is okay with it, you can stay." I said, looking at him in exasperation.

Then he smiled that brilliant smile, with dimples and all, his eyes shining with happiness and amusement, and that made my heart melt.

~~~~~~

I hugged my arms closer to me as I watched the men unload the luggages out from the car and sighed.

"Kade, I don't think my room is big enough to keep all your stuff. Why do you even have so much luggage? We're not going to be staying here forever." I frowned at my mate who was currently glaring daggers at Fulton.

"I'll keep all my stuff in the luggage and take out what I need." He mumbled absentmindedly, not taking his eyes off of my boss, "isn't there any other place you could work? The town library seems like a good place to work, and you like books, right?"

"This is the only job that pays me well and provides for a room for me to live in. Every other job is either volunteering or has a low pay that's not enough to pay my bills and rent, trust me, I've tried." I told him, and pointed a finger at him as I saw him open his mouth, "And don't you even think about suggesting to pay for me. We've already had this discussion, Kade."

"I know, but I still think I should pay for something. I mean, I'm your mate, I've waited for seven years to find you, and now I can't even spoil you properly." He pouted, almost making me cave in. I narrowed my eyes at him, knowing he was trying to guilt trip me.

"Don't try the puppy dog eyes on me, Kade, it's not going to work." I said, looking back at the car and away from him. I heard him sigh and say, "alright, fine. You win this one, don't look so happy, mate, you won't always win." He walked closer to me as he said this, effectively trapping me between himself and the doorframe.

I gulped and blushed at his close proximity, but before anything could happen, I heard my boss calling my name, and he sounded very, very angry.  Turning to face him, my suspicions were confirmed when I saw him glaring in my direction.

"Cece, what the hell is this?" He asked, gesturing to the two men taking the luggages up to my room. I gulped in fear, knowing how far he can take things when he's angry. But before I could answer, Kade pushed me behind him protectively and glared down at the man.

"I'm going to be living here with her, is that a problem?" He asked, with a menacing look. I could only see the side of his face from where I stood, but if that was anything to go by, Fulton is in for it if he pushes him any further.

Thankfully, before things could escalate, Kade's father, Greg, stepped in and took control of the situation.

"Mr. Foltun? Can I speak with you about my son's living arrangements?" He said as her dragged my boss away to the counter. I sighed in relief and looked up at Kade as he turned to me. Smiling softly at him, I tugged at his hand and led him outside.

"Come on, let's go shopping for a bed for you to sleep in. There's an IKEA not very far from here." I said, trying to distract him, but stopped in my tracks, "wait, what about the meetings? You need to be there for them, right?"

Kade nodded, "yeah, I do, but they don't start until tomorrow. The first days are usually get togethers and introductions." He informed me.

"Will I have come as well?" I asked, worried that I'll have to face my pack, my past in the near future. But I relaxed a little when Kade shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, you'll have to come as well but we can leave if you start feeling uncomfortable. Mom and Dad understand what you've been through and will gladly take over the meetings for another year." He said, smiling down at me.

I smiled back but inside, I felt very guilty about having to put them through this. I know that introducing your son or daughter future alpha is a matter of great pride for parents, and why wouldn't it be? It shows that they have proved themselves in front of the werewolf council, both physically and mentally, and have worked hard to get the position.

I hated the thought of taking something like that away from Greg and Denise, so I made up my mind, no matter what happens, no matter how scared I am to face my past, I'll attend and sit through all the meetings tomorrow, for my mate's sake.

~~~~~~~~~

A/n: hey guys, I know this isn't very long but I wanted to upload something. I'll be coming back to this later to edit it and add some things.

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-Vivi.