6

“I understand that you don't wanna go to the castle because you don't understand our way of life. How would you like it if I took you somewhere else?” he asked as he looked at her knowing that that was probably one of her biggest fears. he had already uprooted her life bye having her taken the way that she was. He had not really thought the entire plan through when he had begun the orders for it. All he could think about was his own desire to have his meat by his side.

“like where?” she asked if she looked at him knowing that he could take her just about anywhere in the world and it still wouldn't matter. She would always feel like she was an outcast because she didn't know where she came from or even what her family was really like. Everything had just been ripped from her. Everything that she knew that was familiar was gone.

“there's a cottage on the outside of the village. We use it to house gas but I believe that you can fall under that category. That way you and I can get to know each other and that we can also figure out everything that had happened in the past. I know my mother is interested in meeting you but I didn't exactly tell her that I found you. You weren't easy to find.” He said. “They moved around a lot. Even though I knew that you were somewhere near the last place I couldn’t even get a good reading on where you really were.

“You really searched for me?” Desi asked as she stopped walking and looked at him closely.

“I had too.” Gabriel stated as he looked deep in her eyes. “Desiree regardless of how you and I are connected there are two things you have not taken in to account. The first is that you are the sitting head for the second house in charge. There are no others but you in the family. When the war happened it was like the entire line was wiped from the planet. Second you are my mate. We had the blood ceremony before the war or at the very start of it. We are one. You were not raised with the ways of our kind. I do understand that but it does not change that even if I took another lover, it would never be right.”

“What do you mean?” Desi asked as she had heard about how others rejected their mates and they got to move on. Often through an entire pack.

“When a mate is found. That is one thing. However ours was destiny by our birth’s. We were always supposed to be different. Some have a mate ceremony. Humans would call that a wedding. We are from the two ruling families though. We had a blood ceremony. They are very much the same but in a way completely different. Our blood was merged together. That only means that we have a much deeper connection. To be honest it was the only way I found you. I could call on that connection and it led me to where you were.” He stated as he took her hand in his and then began to led her on. “I do fear though that you and I have a lot of things to talk about. The more we are here though people will see and what to know all about you.”

“I don’t want to talk to anyone right now.” She said softly.

“I know.” He chuckled as he tugged on her arm. “The cottage where I will take you is safe from other people for the most part.”

She followed him with the breeze kicking off the water and even though they were no inland on the small island it was still tangy from the salt air. She had thought about this place before though it was only in dreams that must have called out to her. Gabriel was one thing she seemed to understand instinctually. He was there in front of her and knew the answers to the questions she never would voice.

He was smiling as he enjoyed touching her hand. Though he had lived his entire life alone and without his mate he wanted nothing more to explain everything to her. She had wondered what she was really was in life and she had been told she was nothing by every pack. No one would claim her but she was the princess to everything. Next in line only to her mate.

She could have all of them wiped off the planet if she chose to. She didn’t want to through. She knew there could be no more blood spilled. She was still reeling from the fact the woman she thought was her mother was not. Though in all the things she had done she was. She had helped Desi. She had cared for Desi. Even her brother who didn’t like her she now understood why. Everything made perfect sense but the emotions of those things were still going through her. She had not had time to process everything.

That would take time. Time she knew that she really didn’t have. Gabriel would give her what he could but he was also unknown. She really didn’t know how to handle the fact he was her mate. He had searched for her and brought her back home to the island they were now on. The last thing she wanted to do was rush into something with a member of the royal family. That would be too much.

She sighed as they passed the castle and then further down the lane they were on she spotted a small roof. “Is that where we were going?”

“it is.” He chuckled. “You couldn’t possibly remember why that place is special to the both of us.”

“I don’t. I don’t think I do though.” She said as she looked up to him.

“On the day of the blood ceremony we had to stay there.” He said as he looked down. “Because you were still an infant at the time we had other people there. Though that is the first place we were actual mates. If you had stayed here that would have been the place we first became true mates when you were old enough.”