The Ember In The Dark
Ch. 4

I woke up in the nurse's office. My head felt like it was splitting open. I had the worst migraine of mylife.

“Dear Goddess. I thought I would never get to come out." A voice in my head echoed.

“What the fuck?'

Suddenly an image of a light gray wolf, with a large patch of white over it's right eye came to thefront of my mind. The wolf had one blue eye and one gold.

“That's one way of greeting your wolf." She laughed. “It's been so hard not being able to talk to you.I've been with you all this time, Ember. I'm sorry I couldn't come out till you found our mate.’ Sheexplained.

I couldn't believe my mind right now. Was this real? Had my wolf really been lying dormant all thistime? I'm not just human? Tears started to pool in my eyes. I was so happy.

"Ember are you okay?" Toni's voice brought me back to reality. I quickly wiped my tears away. Ididn't want him to see that.

"Yeah I'm fine. What happened?” I asked him.

"Well Reep came forward and called you our mate and then you just passed out.” He gave me asmirk that swirled the butterflies in my stomach.

I remembered it all now. That horrible ringing in my head. That's what is causing my massiveheadache.

'Sorry that was me breaking through the barrier. It weakened when our mate found us, giving me away to come through. My name's Talia.’ She told me.

'What barrier?’ I asked her, confused.

'The one created for you. To keep you safe from dark magic. I'll explain more later. Breaking free hastired me, so I need to rest.’ She disappeared then, before I could say anything else.

My already sharp senses felt even more enhanced now. The smell of mint and wet earth hit mestrongly. It was absolutely intoxicating. I sniffed around the air trying to replace where the smell wascoming from. I found myself sniffing Toni

"Why do you smell so nice?" I asked him, stupidly. That's such an embarrassing question. I slappedmy forehead. "Ignore me. I'm obviously not in my right mind." I shook my head.

"I don't think I could ignore you even if I wanted to.” Toni chuckled. "I smell nice to you because I'myour mate Ember. You smell so intoxicating to me too.” He explained, I looked at him through thecracks of my fingers.

"l do?" I asked him.

"Yes, very much so.” He smiled at me.

He grabbed my wrist pulling it down from my face. His touch had me feeling dizzy all over again. Icrave his hands on me more than I would like to admit.

'Ash! I need you. I'm in the nurse's office.’ I called him.

I can't be alone with Toni right now. I don't know him or my wolf that well. I know you're supposedto trust your wolf, but I am not sure I do, at least not yet.

“What the fuck? What happened?' Ash's voice was full of worry.

"I'll tell you when you get here.’

'I'm glad I have a free period this hour." He mumbled, but I could tell he was making his way here."Are you sure you're okay?" Toni's eyes studied me as he asked.

"Yeah, you should go back to class. Ash is on his way now.” I told him. Toni scrunched his eyebrowsat me.

"Are you sure?" He wanted to stay, I could tell.

"Yeah. I'm good. Ash has got me covered.”

Toni nodded his head. He was still concerned, but he was kind enough to respect my wishes.

"Just so you know it's 4th period now. Lunch will start in 20 minutes and I'll be waiting for yououtside. We need to talk.” He told me, standing up.

"Okay."

My heart raced at his words. No wonder mom can't seem to keep her hands off her mates. It's hardto resist thr urge I have to just jump on him and kiss those pink lips of his. He gave me one last lookbefore leaving the room. I sighed laying back on the bed. I didn't expect my first day to be thiseventful.

"Ember?" Ash's voice called out.

"I'm here." I yelled back at him. He opened the curtain with a crazed look in his eyes. He was inoverprotective mode.

"So what happened?”

"Ash!" I sat up excitedly. He was the first person I wanted to tell. "I got my wolf."

His face went from confused, to disbelief, to shock and then finally happiness.

"Are you serious?" He squeezed me into one of his big bear hugs, the ones that leave my lungsgasping for air. I tapped his arm, reminding him I need to breathe. "Sorry." He told me as I took abreath. "I'm just so happy for you. It's about damn time!" He yelled.

"Shh! People will hear you." I couldn't help the smile that stayed on my face though. "She told mesomething concerning though.” I bit my cheek thinking about it.

Ash took a seat in the chair Toni had been sitting in earlier. He furrowed his brows at me, listeningclosely.

"She said she had been behind a barrier. The barrier was created for my safety according to her. Shewas able to come through because it weakened when I found my mate. I don't get-" I started beforeAsh interrupted.

"You found your mate?!" He shot up from his chair excited again. I gave him a look and he sat backdone. "Right, sorry. Continue.”

"I don't get how a barrier was created. By who? And why? And does that mean that I have magictoo? I'm really confused.” I admitted.

"My turn?" He asked and I nodded my head. "Okay, first let's take a moment to celebrate that youfucking got your wolf." He smiled so big and I smiled back. "Second, you better tell me who yourmate is! Lastly, could you not just ask your wolf these questions?"

"She is dormant again for a little bit. A different kind of dormant than before. I can feel her still, butshe's unreachable. She said she needed to rest after coming out. So I can't ask her anything rightnow. She said she would tell me everything when she is rested though. I just don't know. I'm notsure I trust her." I admitted picking at the sheets under me.

"Listen, your wolf is the person you can trust the most. No wolf has ever wished to harm theirperson. They live in us, if we're hurt they are hurt. You can also tell when your wolf is lying to you. Itgives you a stomach ache. The bond between wolf and human is sacred and must be respected byboth parties. You need to trust your wolf or you're going to end up with a whole other set ofproblems.” He cautioned me and I was grateful for his wisdom. "Don't think I didn't notice youavoiding the mate question.” He arched an eyebrow expectantly.

"It's Toni." I whispered, my cheeks blushing. Ash laughed, slapping his knee.

"Well damn, Ember. I always thought I would replace my mate first. I gotta catch up.” He joked, and Irolled my eyes, smiling at him.

The bell rang at that moment.

"You feel up for eating?" Ash asked me.

"You know I always am." I smiled.

I am always eating. I feel like I can never be full. I'm always down for food.