Turns out I wasn't able to get much sleep. I mean, I kind of suspected that I wouldn't be able to sleep after the conversation we just had. It was utterly ridiculous. At this point, I wondered where my life decided to become so crazy. A few weeks ago, I was just a cafe owner with a boyfriend and a normal life. I didn't have to worry about strange nightmares, rogue attacks, and cryptic messages. Not to mention, I didn't have to worry about my relationship with said boyfriend... or ex-boyfriend, now.

At least I had Joshua in this whole thing. He was the only thing keeping me sane, which is why I clung to him as we drove to my parent's house early in the morning. My hand was tightly gripped in his as I drove. Holding his hand had become my lifeline. He was just so comforting and grounding. Just a simple smile from him was enough to feel at ease, and I know it wasn't just because we were mates. Joshua was naturally a very calming person. Maybe it came with being a beta; Aaron was the peacemaker of our group and he was a beta, too.

"It's going to be okay. If Alpha James thinks they'll know what's going on, then we should trust him. And I'll be right there the whole time."

I gave a small nod as we drove up a very familiar driveway. At least, for me it was familiar. It quickly dawned on me as we got out of the car that this would be the first time my parents officially met Joshua as my mate. A small bubble of anger welled inside of me. Why couldn't things have been normal for us?

Why was it that we had to meet each other's families under such horrible circumstances? First I got hurt so we went to Joshua's pack, and now we had to confront my parents about something that might explain the nonsense Aaron was spewing a few hours ago. Why was it that I had to find my mate in such a weird way? Why was it that I hadn't even found the time to talk with Erin about our relationship so we could finally have some closure? It was all so frustrating and I worried Joshua and I were rushing. I worried that the only reason why we were working so well despite just mating was because we were in the middle of a troublesome period for all of us. Were we just clinging to each other because we needed to? Or was it our genuine bond?

A warm hand on my face drew my attention to the man in front of me. "Wren, what's wrong? You look worried."

I sighed, shaking my head. He didn't need to carry my worries; he didn't deserve to be burdened like that. "It's nothing."

Before he could push me any further, I added, "We should head inside."

Joshua remained silent and nodded slowly, letting his hand slip from my face to slide into mine. I pulled him to the front door, knocking on it after a split second of hesitation. The door opened not even a minute later to reveal my mom.

"Oh, Wren! What brings you here, honey?" My mom asked, a small frown forming on her face when she noticed Joshua.

Her eyes slid down to our conjoined hands and realization dawned across her face. "Great Goddess, is this...?"

I nodded, a tight smile on my face. "Yeah, this is Joshua. He's my mate."

I was surprised when tears began to pool in the corners of my mother's eyes before she was rushing to hug us. "My baby found his mate. I-I'm so happy. Wait, come inside, come inside. Miguel needs to hear the good news!"

By her surprise, I guess they hadn't seen Joshua and I walk into the packhouse together. Or if they did, it didn't click. We were all under the impression that I'd likely never find my mate, after all. It must be as much of a shock to them as it was to me.

My mother pulled us into the house, dragging us to the blue couch of my childhood. "Would you two like anything to eat? Drink?"

"No, Mom. Actually, can you get Papa? We need to talk with you both."

My mother paused at that but nodded nonetheless. "Alright. One moment."

A minute later, both of my parents walked into the living room and sat down on a loveseat perpendicular to the couch. "Before you talk to us, we just want to know," my mother said before I could start anything.

Knowing what they meant, I looked to Joshua. "It's nice to meet you both. My name is Joshua. I'm the future beta for Whitewater. Your son and I recently acknowledged our bond, but I already care for him a lot."

I wanted to laugh at how formal Joshua sounded but pushed it down. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Joshua. We cannot express how happy we are that Wren was able to find his mate," my dad spoke up, a smile on his face.

Joshua mirrored the smile. "I can't express how happy I am to have met your son."

"I suppose now it is our turn," my mother said. "I'm Nari, and this is my husband, Miguel."

"It's nice to meet you both," my mate greeted with a small nod.

"So, what is it that you needed to talk with us about?" Mom asked, resting her hands in her lap.

I wasn't exactly sure how to start, so I decided to tell them about my dream and what happened earlier this morning. "I had a very...intense nightmare last night and Joshua wasn't able to wake me from it. He called the packhouse and Alpha James, Dr. Milton, and Aaron showed up. They started talking about stuff that didn't make sense, but they said that you could explain it better."

"Why us?" Mom asked, a frown on her face.

"I don't know. They kept talking about how I was special. Alpha James said you'd be able to tell me about it. So, what's going on? Why would he say that you would know anything?"

The room went silent after that. I was completely shocked when my mother's face crumbled, leaving a vulnerable and pained expression behind. My father didn't look any better: he was slightly pale and looked like he wanted to leave.

"What's going on? What haven't you told me?" I asked in a whisper, feeling anxiety creep into my chest.

"Mijo..."

I turned to face my dad, staring directly at him. "Tell me. What's going on? Aaron was the one who talked about how I was special and he sounded crazy. So please, explain to me what is going on."

"Oh my Goddess, we're so sorry," my mother suddenly exclaimed, bursting into tears.

My dad immediately pulled her into a hug, murmuring quiet words to her as Joshua and I watched. My mom couldn't stop crying even as my dad let her go to speak for both of them. "Wren, there are some things we hid from you about your disability."

My disability? So is that what Aaron meant when he said my disability might be a part of how I was special? But how the hell was he supposed to know that? And why hadn't I, the person with the disability, been informed sooner? "Please, tell me. I need to understand," I begged them.

My father sighed, avoiding my expectant gaze. "Before you were born, we were warned that you'd be... different."

"Different how?"

"Special. You would be special, and therefore in danger from the moment you were born. So, we searched for a way to protect you from this. We didn't want you to be in fear for your life every day, so we found a way to lock that piece of you away. But, the price... the price was your sense of smell. More than that, actually; it was your ability to feel bonds."

"But I've begun to feel them a bit more. I can feel Joshua's bond with me and I feel the sparks mates do now," I tried to say in an attempt to prove them wrong.

My mother nodded, this time speaking instead of my dad. "You were supposed to slowly regain it after you mated, but it wouldn't be the same. We had hoped to completely remove what made you special, but it wasn't possible."

"Why? Why would you do that?" I asked, feeling the anger from before welling up again. "Why would you set me up for pain and loneliness for years? And because of what? Because you were afraid I'd be in danger? You took away a piece of me that made me a werewolf. You robbed me of something that I should've never lived without!"

The longer I talked, the angrier I became. By the end of it, I was practically yelling as I stood up despite Joshua's pull on my hand. My parents couldn't look at me. "What was it?"

"Huh?"

"What was it that made me special?" I asked them, my free hand clenching into a fist.

"You know how magic created us and other species like us?" My father began. "Well, the Goddess blessed a very select few with more magic. They helped her to keep balance in the world."

"Where is this going?" I asked.

This sounded like a fairytale. Blessed? By the Goddess? We all knew the Goddess created us and many other species with some sort of magic, but werewolves weren't known to possess magical abilities. That's what seemed to be the case right? These blessed people were magical. It sounded crazy even inside my head.

"As the generations continued, we all noticed that the Blessed weren't creating other magical offspring. Instead, gifts were almost erratic, as if handpicked by the Goddess herself."

It didn't take a genius to put the rest together. I slowly sat down in shock, not sure what to say. "So... I was blessed?"

"You still are, Wren," my mother corrected. "We were wrong to try and remove a blessing from the Goddess, but we were scared for your life. Miguel had heard of Blessed being murdered for being special and getting caught by hunters and the like. We didn't want that for you."

After a moment of silence, my mother sighed. "We know this is a lot to take in. It was a lot for me to take in when your father first explained it. But it's true."

"Did you guys ever plan on telling me this?" I asked softly, finding that the anger burning in me had suddenly dissipated.

I felt defeated, lost, confused. So much was going on - too much. It was all just too much. I couldn't keep my thoughts straight as I tried to process this new information. I was special? Me? The boy with a disability? It was all because my parents tried to remove what made me special. I wanted so badly to be angry at them and yell some more, but I just couldn't. All I wanted to do was leave. Leave everything behind and just go back to my life before this.

"We did, mijo," my dad said. "We were going to make sure you knew, but we just didn't know how or when to bring it up."

"We're so sorry, Wren," my mom added quietly.

"We need to go."

I felt my parent's gaze on me when I mumbled those words. "What?" Dad asked.

"We need to go," I said more loudly this time, standing up.

Joshua silently followed me and my parents sprung up to join us. "Wait, Wren, we should talk more about this. Don't you have questions?" My mom pleaded with me.

I couldn't look her in the eye. The urge to run away was overwhelming, so I quickly pulled Joshua towards the door. In less than a minute, I was backing up out of my parent's driveway to try and escape my problems. I didn't know where I was driving - and to be honest, I don't think it was safe for me to drive when I was so distracted - but I knew I just had to leave. I needed to escape all of this madness. It was just too much at the moment. There was so much piling on top of me and I wanted to scream, cry, yell at the world, and curl up into a ball and ignore it all. My chest began to tighten as my mind played back everything that had happened over the last few days. The tidal wave inside of me was slowly drowning me, pulling me down as I struggled to remain calm.

The next thing I knew, my foot was pressed hard on the gas as we shot down the thankfully empty road.

"Wren!" Joshua exclaimed as we went well over the speed limit. "Slow down, slow down!"

I ignored him, needing something to distract myself from the overwhelming feeling of helplessness I was experiencing. All of this was happening around me and I had no control over it. That was the part that probably scared me the most. I had no control over what was going on and I felt like everyone around me was just constantly lying to my face. It felt like my entire world had been flipped upside down. I didn't know how to handle it.

"Wren, please!"

Joshua's hand reached out and grabbed one of mine practically glued to the steering wheel. Based on his tight grip, he was worried. Immense quilt crashed into me, making me feel even worse. Joshua didn't deserve any of this. He deserved a normal life with a normal mate. Why was he still with me? Why didn't he just reject me and find happiness somewhere else? All of the good times we'd had over the few weeks I'd known him seemed to pale in comparison to the disasters that had continuously popped up and currently filled my mind.

My foot eased on the gas as I pulled us off the road. We remained silent, Joshua's grip on my hand still present. My heartbeat echoed in my ears, but I tried to focus on Joshua.

"Wren, talk to me, please. Tell me what's going through your head," Joshua begged, his voice strained with worry.

He deserved so much more than me. Nonetheless, I opened my mouth to try and explain to my mate the hurricane of emotions tearing me apart.

~~~

Y'all, all this drama is tearing apart our poor boy ;~;

So... the cat's out of the bag :P Wren and a bunch of others are blessed by the Goddess. To be honest, I never intended for this plot to be the way it is now XD

This story was supposed to be a fluffy standalone, but I got too attached and decided to spice things up a bit lol. I hope y'all like it and don't feel like it's rushed or forced. There's still more to explore now! I'm not even close to finished (well, the book is ending in a few chapters but the story itself won't be finished just yet).

Stay tuned for more insanity and please stay healthy and safe!

Thank you so much for reading <3

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