The Fall Ball
Chapter 60

(Rose)

I wake a little when I feel the bed under me. I let go of Ash, he k****s my forehead and stands up. I smile at him.

“You need your rest, I am going to change and then I will come lie with you.” He tells me, I nod in response. Too tired to try to talk with him, I just roll over and snuggle into the blankets and pillows. A soft sigh leaves me, I hear Ash laugh as he walks into the bathroom with his clothes.

A few minutes later, he walks out in a pair of sweatpants, sitting dangerously low on his h**s. I blush as I notice him watching me. He caught me checking him out. He laughs and climbs into the bed behind me.

He wraps his arms around me and pulls me closer to him, he is spooning me from behind. I try to steady my breathing and heart rate.

“I am all yours and you can stare at me all you want.” He whispers into my ear while kissing my neck. I blush even more.

“Thank you for being there for me today. And thank you for all that you and your family is doing for me.” I tell him.

“No problem, I will do anything for you.” He tells me, I smile and roll over to face him. He smiles and k****s my nose, I giggle and place my head on his chest.

This feels right. This is where I am meant to be, and no matter what life throws at me, I will make it.

I feel my eyelids getting heaver. I look up and give Ash a quick k**s.

“Good night, sleep well.” I tell him while snuggling into him.

“Good night my sleeping beauty.” He says while kissing the top of my head.

I fall asleep quickly.

Soon I am in the void… I hear my name being called and look around and see Selene.

She smiles at me, “Hello Rose, how are you feeling?” She asks me.

“I am feeling pretty good. I am a little shocked at how fast everything happened. But overall it was a good experience and I love that Ash was finally able to see Lilly.” I tell her.

She smiles and nods at me. “Since Lilly is special, your shift is different than others. I was there to be sure that the pain was not too much for your human part to handle.” She tells me.

We walk a little while. The void is such a strange place, it is just darkness. But you can see things around you, like the trees or the river… it is all different shades of dark. There is no color, it just is.

We walk and sit under the tree by the river. It is peaceful and relaxing. I feel a breeze and just sit and think. So much has happened to me in such a short time. I thought i knew where my life was going, but now i have so much that i don’t know.

I look to Selene.

“What do I do?” I ask her.

She smiles at me. “You take this one day at a time. You train and focus on learning your gifts. This way you can protect those that you love,” she says.

“I plan to start training tomorrow, as I received a gift that i do not like,” I say. She laughs.

“Most start with the mind reading training. it is a great gift when used for its purpose. but be sure that you only use it when needed. it is exhausting to hear everything that someone thinks. And peoples thoughts are not always nice.” She says.

“So I noticed. So my understanding is that the mind reading will only work on the same species?” I ask.

Selene nods at me. “Correct, it is a gift given to help protect you within your pack. It can help let you know if someone has gone against you and put your pack in danger. This way you can protect yourself from the inside out. Everythig has to start somewhere and people keep the biggest secrets in their head.” She says.

“However being able to read peoples minds can also be a curse. You will hear things that you may not want to know. Things that can hurt you or your friends, but is not a danger to the pack. And you don’t want to invade peoples minds all the time, as people will distance themselves from you.”she says.

“I think this is going to be very heard to get under control…” I say while looking at the water.

“With patience and practice, you will get this. You are a very strong person and Lilly would not have chosen you if she didn’t believe you had the fighting spirit to handle it all,” Selene says while standing.

I stand up with her. She reaches out and gives me a hug.

“I am here to help as much as I can. I can not give you all the answers but I can help you to replace them. Lilly is very smart and will be able to take the lead in the training when needed. She has some memory of her pasts, but not all of it. And this time is different, she has a mate. that has never happened before.” Selene says.

“I don’t know how to handle having a mate either. I thought I was human with no mate not too long ago. So once I mate and mark Ash none of my gifts will work on him?” I ask.

“That is correct. It is a blessing and a burden. I will advise to mark him when you feel it is right. Do not rush into it. You may want to wait until you know what all of your gifts are.” She tells me.

“Should I tell him why I want to wait?” I ask.

“He is your mate. He will listen to you and respect your wishes. It is always better to be honest with each other.” She tells me.

She gets a smile on her face.

“It seems your time here is done. Ash is trying to wake you.” She tells me.

“Thank you,” I say as I start to drift back to reality.