Word Count: 1771

~Avia

I find Isaiah standing outside the compound, staring off into the small woods that flank it.

He wears the shadows like a cloak, not looking my way as I approach. My heart pounds wildly, stomach fluttering. I'm frightened he will tell me he won't forgive me, that he doesn't want anything to do with me.

But I'm also frightened he will tell me he does want to be with me, and everything will go back to being complicated.

He continues to stare straight ahead into the darkness as I lean my back against the wall of the building next him. "I don't even know your name."

"It's Avia," I whisper.

"Avia," he mouths, testing my name out on his lips.

I've become so accustomed to hearing him call me Kenna that my stomach flips hearing my true name. I never thought we would get to this part, where he knew my name before his reign as Alpha has been taken down. But it feels right, as if the last puzzle piece has been slotted in to confirm we truly are mates, because the feeling that overcomes me hearing him say it is like nothing else.

"I didn't even know my own mates name, and I've known your for months," he says, summoning a deep breath. "Or I thought I knew you, at least."

He looks down at me, and there is nothing familiar about the look in his eyes. It's cold, vacant. He feels betrayed, let down by me, after everything we have been through. I want to comfort him, but I'm not sure what else to say other than blatant honesty.

"Trust me, I didn't want to hurt you," I assure him. I decided very shortly into moving in with him that I wanted to spare him from the worst of what the rebellion would do.

He frowns. "And when did you figure that out?"

"Early, actually," I murmur, shuddering at the cold breeze that billows past. Isaiah seems unaffected by it, too busy in his own head. "Within the first week I knew I didn't want you dead, like I had before."

He digs his hands into his hair, looking wild. "Why? Why lie to me, when you knew I was falling in love with you."

Love. I don't when I fell in love with Isaiah, but I know I am. I think the entire time I was falling in love with him, but I refused to acknowledge it. Even when I found out we were mates, I didn't want to think about what that meant about the feelings I had for him.

"Because I hated you. I had to do this mission, and in the beginning I wanted to, so bad," I admit, shrugging my shoulders sheepishly.

He exhales through his nose, surprise gleaming in his eyes. "You hated me."

"Your father killed my parents. Both of them, in a horrible fire I barely survived. I hated you for being his son, for being the Alpha," I explain. I used to see my dying parents in Isaiah, but now I only see it in Kit, who is the true monster who took many lives that night with no mercy whatsoever.

Isaiah's eyes crease gently, the look of regret in his eyes something I want to see in Kit, not him.

"Avia..." he breathes softly, turning to face me.

"It's okay, I know now that it was wrong to put my anger on you, when it's your father's fault," I mutter.

After my parents died, I was so angry I could have burned the whole world down. Nothing could sate me, until I met Malin, and she gave me the idea for the rebellion. Having thrown myself into it, I didn't believe there was any other fate to follow than the one that would bring me revenge. Even if I had to die for it.

I had no idea finding my mate would even be a possibility. If I did, back then, I may have been so angry I wouldn't have cared. But now, Isaiah has softened my resolve, made me realise that I couldn't see the bigger picture.

"I can assure you, I've never liked my father. In fact, I don't consider him my father any longer, and I haven't for a while," he tells me.

I could collapse with relief.

He can't like his father if he is in the rebellion. And strangely enough, we are now on the same level, when we never have been before. I've always worried about what he would think of me once he knew about how I felt about his father, and now to know he feels a similar way is like lifting a weight off my shoulders.

"I don't know how you do it...You stayed in that estate for so long, listening to al those people tell you what to do." I would have exploded in a moment. But Isaiah has always been good at being patient, thoughtful.

It's how he has continued to want me when I continued to push him away, wanting him, and then not wanting him.

Moonlight drenches the sharp contours of his face as he looks down at me. "It's easy to do when I know what I'm fighting for."

I grab onto his hands, not sure I ever want to let go. "I'm sorry Isaiah. I'm so sorry."

For a moment he's just silent, and then he untangles my fingers from his, and grabs my shoulder, tugging me into an embrace. My eyes flutter closed, as I fall into his chest, feeling his arms press around me comfortingly.

"Shh, it's okay. No more secrets now, okay?" he breathes into my hair, kissing the top of my head. I nod, beyond relieved that Isaiah finally knows who I am, and he doesn't hate me for it.

"I like the sound of that," I murmur.

Isaiah's hands keep locked on shoulders as I step back, his eyes roving over me.

"I can't believe you're my mate." He smiles slightly, as if sharing an internal joke with himself. Maybe he once dreamt it to be true, only for it to be confirmed that night on the beach, when I thought my world was ending. "I mean, I suspected for some time, but now it's confirmed..."

"I can hardly believe it either. But I'm grateful," I admit. I've spent so long feeling as though this is a problem, that I need to escape in order to protect myself. Now, for once, there is a glint of a possible future with Isaiah, as long as we can navigate what comes next in our relationship.

"You are?"

"I've been fighting my feelings for a long time. I knew I couldn't be with you, because of your engagement to Elise, because of what I had planned. I thought maybe after, if you forgave me, we could be together..." I admit. My hopes seemed foolish at the time. I wasn't even sure I deserved to be happy like that.

"We are here now, and how I feel about you hasn't changed," he assures me, running his thumbs against the bare part of my neck, letting me shiver at the feeling of the unmistakable sparks that flutter across my skin.

I let out the breath I hadn't realised I had been holding. "It hasn't for me either."

His smile suddenly drops, and a serious look comes across his face, akin to the one he wears when tending to his Alpha duties. "We will have to return to the manor, like nothing has happened. Everything will have to go back to the way it was."

"So we can't be together?" I ask, frowning. For one, selfish moment, I was hoping Isaiah and I could make up for the months we have been messing around, always wanting each other, but never truly giving in...

He grimaces. "Publicly, at least."

"I hate that," I grumble. Malin is going to murder me, but I don't even care. Isaiah may be right, we can't be together in public, but it doesn't mean I don't want it.

Isaiah moves his hands to either side of my face. "I know, but Kae has some good ideas. I think we can really make a difference."

Change. That's exactly what this Pack needs.

"Okay, I trust you," I say. And I mean it, I trust him. I know he loves his people, this Pack and is going to do everything he can to make it better. Even if it is at the expense of his own father, who would rather have his own power, and watch everyone burn for it.

We are silent together for a moment, staring into each other's eyes, both visualising our futures. Just Isaiah's touch alone is enough to make up for all that him and I have been through these past months.

"I really want to kiss you," he murmurs, gaze dropping to my lips, where he runs is thumb lightly over them, contemplating just going for it.

I breathe in ever-so-slightly. "I won't stop you."

He smiles, appearing relieved, before he leans in.

He hesitates for a moment, long enough to leave me yearning, before he presses his lips to mine, and my knees threaten to give out from under me. This is what it is meant to feel like. Even the softest kiss is enough to render me completely useless.

My mate seems to sense my oncoming fragility, and twists us so my back is against the compound wall, and he's in front of me, arms wrapping around my waist so he can hold me up.

And for a blissful moment, I just allow myself to melt into his arms completely.

He pulls away, but only slightly. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to kiss you, Avia."

I grin, pressing my hands into the back of his head until he is kissing me again.

I want this forever.

🖤••🖤

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I have a brand new story called IMMORTAL PRINCE now available on Radish, and soon on Wattpad (:

"Tomorrow, we don't have to speak of this again." I hardly know what I'm asking. I just know I want whatever it is.

He watches me with an intensity that I know only he is capable of. "Put my hand where you want me to touch you."

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~Midika 💜🐼