Mine to Protect Chapter 11: THE TRUTH

*Hazel*

I just can’t wrap my head around it. How can I be a werewolf? How can the life I’ve lived be a complete lie? Everything I knew, everything I went through, now takes on different meanings.

I keep scrolling my memories, trying to find clues to this new truth, but I am still clueless, nothing ever hinted at it. How did they manage to keep it from me, for all these years?

“Why?” I manage to ask through the tears that are threatening to spill.

“We needed to keep you safe, honey. This was the best option at the time. No one would have ever thought of looking for you among humans. It was the safest plan.”

“But you could have at least told me!” I protest, talking louder than intended.

“You were so little, you wouldn’t have been able to control it; and then the years passed by, and we kept postponing the inevitable. We knew that sooner or later the truth would catch up with us. And now seems like the right moment.”

She gives Alpha O’Brien a meaningful look, and then asks him seriously, “Can I trust you with my daughter’s secret? I have spent my life trying to protect her, and I need to make sure that I am not putting her in harm’s length, entrusting her secret to you.”

“I will guard it with my life, and I will help you protect her, with everything I have. So will my Beta and my pack.”

Mom smiles, satisfied by his answer, and motions for me to take a seat.

“I still have a lot to explain, sweety, it’s better if we seat down.”

I comply willingly, because my legs feel so shaky that I can’t stand much longer.

I sit between my parents, and dad immediately encloses me into a side hug, it feels nice, it gives me the strength I need to keep listening on.

Mom continues, “Since Hazel was little, we gave her wolf-suppressants, to suppress werewolves’ commune abilities, as well as to cover her scent.”

“This explains why no one ever noticed she was a werewolf,” Alpha O’Brien comments.

“Yes. And you were able to smell her because she is your mate, so her scent is amplified for you. Other werewolves would not be able to smell out she is one of them,” Dad inputs.

“Regarding her wolf, we had to do something drastic. Her wolf holds great power, we were not sure the suppressants could keep her powers at bay, and we could not risk having her shift and being seen by someone. The eyes of the enemy are everywhere. So, we found a witch and asked her to bind Hazel’s wolf. That’s why she hasn’t shifted yet, although she is already 23. Her wolf can be unbound only by the mark of her mate. We wanted to be sure that when her wolf is released, she will have someone strong to protect her unconditionally. Her abilities will bring any kind of danger her way, on top of the prophecy, which is already quite ominous in itself. She needs protection and support.”

Mom suddenly stares deeply into Alpha O’Brien’s eyes and asks him worriedly, nearly pleadingly, “Now that you know the truth about Hazel, are you still willing to claim her as your mate? You are aware of the dangers that await you ahead. Are you ready to protect her with your life?”

Although I think her question a little extreme, I find myself holding my breath, anxiously waiting for his answer. Will he back off now that he knows I am trouble?

“I have waited to meet my mate for a lifetime; now that I have found her, I want her by my side every day of my life. I will love her, cherish her, respect her, protect her and support her every step of the way. I won’t allow a single person to endanger her or hurt her.”

I can tell that his words are spoken with sincerity, and I can’t help but feel flattered and touched by his reply. Having a handsome, rich, powerful man claiming that he wants to spend his life with me, ready to lay his life down for me, doesn’t happen every day. I just wish he wasn’t a werewolf, and that he wasn’t proposing under these dire circumstances.

I don’t really know what to feel about this whole ordeal. Me, a werewolf, I still can’t make peace with that. I’ve been stomped over by werewolves all my life, sometimes I have actually hated them, and now, I discover I am one of them. Will I become like them, now that I know? Will I become what I despise more?

“Hazel, are you alright?” the Alpha asks me. “You look quite pale.”

Am I alright? Physically, kind of, apart from the bump in my head and the mighty headache; mentally, not so much. It’s just too much to take in; I feel a little like I’m drowning in my own thoughts. Nothing feels real anymore.

“I think she needs some fresh air,” Dad suggests.

“I’ll accompany her,” the Alpha offers.

And without even knowing what I am doing, like I’m on autopilot, I find myself strolling outside, with the Alpha who today saved my life twice, and whom I now know is my true fated mate.

I kind of feel stupid now for laughing in his face at the restaurant, when he shared his theory; he wasn’t so far from the truth. And all the times he tried telling me that I was his fated, and I wouldn’t believe him. Gosh, this is so embarrassing.

A light cool breeze makes me shiver and sneeze, I was so out of it that I forgot to put on a jacket. It’s autumn already, and it gets quite cold in the evening.

Snuggly warmth drapes around me, when the Alpha places his suit jacket on me.

“Here, this will help you warm up a little,” he says kindly.

I awkwardly mumbled a thank you, and resumed walking. His jacket is embedded with his fragrance, and I can’t help taking in a few whiffs. He smells too good; I have to stifle a moan of approval.

I hear him chuckle behind me, so, I guess he caught me, and the next second, I feel his breath close to my ear.

“You smell delicious too.”

He inhales eagerly the scent on my neck, and then places a few soft kisses there.

Is he going to mark me now? I mean, I know that the mate thing is confirmed now, but don’t I have a say in it?