Chapter 13

-Juniper's POV-

We didn't go back to school that day. We spent most of the afternoon learning about Chang Leung and consoling Canta.

That day was three months ago.

Within the last three months, the two of us have grown stronger and closer. We spent every class together, and she would sneak out with Loche, only to meet up with Kavi and I at the park or the shops. We all went bowling once, that was pretty epic. Of course, Loche beat us all very easily. We went out for ice-cream, and we went to the cinema to see cheesy romance movies.

She was walking me home at around six in the afternoon. It was the night of the full moon, so I had been incredibly clingy and borderline possessive the entire day. She held my hand, swinging them between us as we walked slowly. I wasn't even sure what we were laughing about, but it was an effortless joy which connected the two of us.

We stopped outside my door. I turned to her, feeling slightly shy for a reason I wasn't aware of.

"Thanks for walking me home, you really didn't need to do that." I tucked hair behind my ear as a sudden breeze sent it straight into my eye.

"I'd rather stay as far away from my house as possible," she said with a small laugh. "But it also makes me feel better to know that you're home safe." She smiled and leant against the brick which made up the wall of my house.

I didn't know what came over me, but I leant in for a kiss. We hadn't kissed since that time outside of the bowling alley, and that was just to ensure that we knew what we were getting into. I would blame the moon, but I couldn't. The moon couldn't have created the butterflies which fluttered in my stomach when our lips met.

It was bittersweet.

She had one week before she would be given away to Chang Leung.

I wasn't allowed to accompany her when she went for her wedding dress, and that was the only thing which Chang had allowed her to choose for herself, after giving incredibly strict guidelines. But, like everything, she looked stunning in it.

"Let's run away," I said, without thinking. I was surprised when my words reached my own ears. I braced myself for laughter, but it never came.

"I wish we could," Canta admitted quietly. "But they'd find me, they, my parents and Leung, have very powerful people on their side."

I bit my lip and nodded; she had been far more rooted than she had been before this ordeal. I didn't know her too well, but I was observant enough before we studied English together. I knew that she wasn't one to think realistically, up until now.

"I suppose it's the Romeo and Juliet talking," I tried to joke. My voice was weaker than normal, and anyone could tell that I didn't find any part of this humorous. "I wish we could though."

Canta sighed and nodded. "At least this way, we don't have the same end as them." She shrugged a bit. Her eyes were cast on our hands. The sentence made me feel awful and selfish, because I wasn't so sure.

I had done more research into soulmates, and I talked to my parents about them after they came home drunk on the night of their anniversary. They had told me about werewolves they knew who had mates. It was rare that the soulmate bond was fully connected, and that ended in one of the people involved passing away somehow. The thought lingered over my mind, a constant reminder of the possible future.

I didn't know what to say, but my hold on her hand tightened. I pulled her in for another kiss, which she accepted. I then let go of her hand and wrapped my arms around her. "It's happening too soon," I muttered.

"It is," she agreed. She had her arms wrapped around my waist, and she lay her head on my shoulder. "Far too soon. But it's better this way."

I knew what she meant, but I disagreed. She thought that if we had less time together, then we were less likely to get attached. But I knew we were far past that.

"I've got to go," she muttered, not letting go of me.

I laughed lightly and dropped my arms, but she still didn't move. "Canta," I said with a smile. "I don't think your parents would appreciate me dragging or carrying you home."

She groaned. "They don't appreciate anything, so why not?" I didn't know if she was being serious or not, but I decided to lighten the atmosphere a bit.

"Alright then," I said and swiftly pulled her arms from around me and picked her up bridal style. "Where do you live? I began to walk back down my steps and opened the gate with my foot, catching it with my hip and letting it cling close behind us.

"Juniper, what are you doing?" Canta asked with an adorable squeal. She wrapped her arms around my neck and clung to me for dear life. "Let me down."

"Taking you home, silly. You asked 'why not', so I'm taking you home." I headed down my street and nodded to a person as they passed, causing their curious eyes to move away from us.

"I was kidding, okay? Let me go, I'll walk home myself. Then nobody would end up getting killed." Her voice was nervous, more nervous than it should've been.

After a moment of exaggerated thinking, I put her gently on her feet. "Think about what I said?" I asked in a whisper. "I don't want you to go. But if you have to, let me go with you."

Tears gathered in her eyes, but they didn't spill over her cheeks. She looked down and nodded. It didn't give me much hope, because I may have just pressured her into agreeing, but it was enough to settle my aching heart.

She began to walk backwards. After a few paces she looked up and met my eyes, putting a small smile on her lips. "I'll probably see you tomorrow. Love you." She waved and turned around.

"Love you too," I replied with a wave, even though she wouldn't see me. We had said those words a few times, but it didn't mean anything serious, at least, I didn't think it did. I knew that there was a part of me which felt it, but I didn't know what kind of love it was.

I turned on my heels and headed back to my house. I opened the door to find my mother standing with her arms crossed, an unimpressed, yet excited, look on her face.

"Would you care to explain what that was?" she asked, nodding towards the door which I had closed behind me.

I felt blood draining from my face. "Not really," I brushed off and tried to move past her, but she blocked the path to the stairs.

"That wasn't an option," she said and shook her head. She grabbed my wrist and began to pull me into the living room. "Your dad's still at work, so tell me everything." She sat down on the settee and pulled me next to her.

"There is really not much to say," I told her honestly. "There's nothing which would come out of it."

Her expression turned to one of disapproval. "You don't kiss someone like that and hope nothing comes out of it." She pointed a finger at me. "I taught you better than that. Is this why you mentioned soulmates the other week?" Darn her for being smart.

"Yes, it was, but it's not now. It's nothing, okay?" I tried to keep my voice light, but I sounded defensive, even to my own ears.

"Not okay," my mother denied and shook her head. "Sweetie, do you really think you could be mates?"

I heaved a sigh. "I know we are, but that doesn't mean anything will happen."

She failed to hold back a squeal. "Tell me everything. Is she from your school? Is she human? What does she study? What's she like? What's her name?"

"Mam, she's engaged," I finally said. I didn't know why I had let her go for so long without interrupting her sooner.

My mother's mouth opened, and it remained open until I reached over and closed it for her. "She's engaged?" mam repeated. "Engaged? To who?" Her hand curled into a fist whilst she took my hand in her other one.

"She's engaged to someone called Chang Leung; he lives in China." My grip on her hand tightened and I resisted the urge to growl after the sentence. I had been thinking about nothing but the situation for the past three weeks, but saying it aloud makes the entire situation more real.

"Juniper, she can't be much older than you, she's in your year." Mam's eyebrows knitted together in thought.

"She's sixteen, and has her parents' permission, so it's legal. Her parents were the ones to arrange it."

My mother's jaw locked, and anger flared in her eyes. "So, what you're telling me is that you're in a relationship with a girl who is already sworn to someone else, against her will?"

I nodded and bit my lip. I didn't know how my mother would deal with this information. It felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I didn't realise I was keeping this a secret until I began to spill my guts to her.

I hadn't noticed the first tears fall. It was only when my mother pulled me into a hug, and I let the sobs escape did I comprehend that I had begun to cry.

"I don't know what to do," I told her, even though it didn't feel like I was talking. "I don't want to lose her."

My mam began to rub my back soothingly, whispering in my ear that she wouldn't let me lose Canta, and that everything's going to be okay. The front door opened, and my dad came in. He didn't say anything before joining the hug. He sat on my other side and wrapped his arms around the both of us.

"Listen," my mam said after a few minutes., See pulled away from the hug and cupped my cheeks. "You're not going to lose her, we will try everything in our power to make sure that you two end up together, if that's what you want." She had a look of understanding in her eyes.

"What do you know about mates?" I asked again, it might make a bit more sense to both of them now that I was bringing it up after bursting into tears like this.

My mam sent my father a look before she cleared her throat and moved me so that my back wasn't facing my dad.

"I know a fair bit," my father admitted. "Your aunt had a soulmate."

It was my turn to be confused. I sat back in the chair and looked at him fully, examining his expression carefully. "I have an aunt? Do you mean Aunt Corina?"

My father nodded, shifting awkwardly, just like he did every other time my aunt was mentioned. "Yes, she had a soulmate, and the two were as thick as thieves. He wasn't what you would call ideal. He was a gambler and too arrogant for his own good. He messed with the wrong person, and there was an entire werewolf pack hunting him."

"Your grandparents begged Corina not to get involved, but she was in love," my mother added. "The two of them died together in the middle of a fight. They had a bond which meant they couldn't abandon the other."

"Why couldn't he just give up the gambling?" I asked after a moment of silence. "If he loved her, why couldn't he give that up for her?"

"Sometimes, there are things you can't get out of. That might not be things which are as serious as getting legally married to someone else, but they loved each other and were together until the end. Their love still remained, even when it seemed like the whole world was against them."

"That doesn't matter," I declared, standing up so suddenly that the entire room began to spin. "It doesn't matter if all they had left was love. They died. It doesn't matter if they were together or not, because when you die, you'd be together anyway. I'm not going to make our love into a tragedy, even though it's already becoming one. Even if we get in trouble or have to spend our entire lives fighting. We'll always go back to each other, but we'll be sensible."

My parents were silent the entire time I ranted. I was pacing, but they just watched. Neither of them tried to stop my movements or ramblings. They just watched with wide eyes.

"We are going to end up so far away from each other, and that is beyond our control. But what we can control is how much of each other we have in our lives. She wouldn't run away with me-" My mother gasped dramatically- "But we can talk to each other every day. We can make sure the other has enough good memories which they won't want to let go of. We can pretend like the world's going to end tomorrow, because it will."

I didn't know where the dramatics came from, but I suddenly felt determined. We had created many memories since our first date, and we would continue to do so until she was ripped away from me.