2. Under The Moonlight.

DANE

I muster a little bit of courage. My hands tremble slightly as I clutch them harder around my cup, making the plastic shake as I speak.

"Cara, can we… can we talk?"

I can't even speak properly, or bear to even look her in the eyes right now, which I know will probably be looking worried because of me.

Guilt and shame envelopes me like an icy, cold, unforgiving blanket. Damn me.

"Ye-yeah… " she stutters slowly, quietly. "I also need to tell you something." She continues. "We can talk over there."

She sounds serious. Cara rarely sounds serious.

That catches my attention more, and I lift up my eyes to see her pointing at the newly renovated wooden cabin house just a bit far from where we are.

Back at the lake, Rhia and Alex are absently busy splashing water at Killian and fighting to dip his head into the lake. They seem to be lost in their enjoyment. I am sure they won't even notice Cara and I when we are gone.

"Alright."

After a few minutes later, Cara and I arrive at the back of the cabin house and settle down on the bench there.

The light of the full moon is shining down so bright on us tonight in the open space, and for a split moment, I wonder if the bright moon is a sign that Selene is laughing at me.

'She's not.' Storm's voice returns gruffly into my head.

'You don't know that. No one knows that.'

'I am sorry, Dane.' he whispers. 'I really am.'

His voice goes silent, and I feel him retreating into the back of my mind, giving me the space to gather enough strength to even form the words. To even speak.

A silent moment passes between Cara and I. What I am going to say next will break me into a million irredeemable pieces.

But I have to do this. I have to. Even if all the cells in my body are begging me right now not to.

I struggle to clear my throat a bit. "Cara, I—"

"I have feelings for you, Dane."

Her quiet, heartfelt words cut me off, whooshing the air out of my lungs instantly.

She… she didn't…

She didn't just say that she has feelings for me…. I must have heard what she said wrongly.

"Cara—"

"I… I tried not to tell you, Dane." I fight not to focus on her plump, glossy, light pink lips quivering as she speaks softly. "I really tried. I know this is against what is going on between us...”

She scoots closer to me on the bench, “But I can't keep on pretending that I do not want us to be more. Dane I—"

I jolt up from my seat, as if stung by a scorpion and realizing myself. I back away from the bench. Away from her.

Damn me. I should be fucking jumping and dancing and shouting to the whole fucking world like a mad happy guy who just got a yes from the girl he has been dying for years to have.

But why am I feeling this sting of pain? This fear? This deep stab of guilt?

Oh, I know… The painful truth rears up its head again, sinking into me….

The truth of the mate bond.

No matter how hard I try to fight it, no matter how evasive I try to be about it, or deny it, I just can't get it out of my head.

The mate bond is a sacred connection. A soul tie thicker than blood and deeper than life itself.

It binds two souls together. Forever.

Cara and I do not share that bond, and I do not think we ever will. I love her, so fucking much that I am willing to do anything to be worthy of her.

But she is too good of a soul for Selene to mate her to me. No matter how many times I pray and wish that things could be different.

She is the alpha's daughter, a beautiful and compassionate soul that deserves a worthy mate, and I am sure as hell that Selene already knows that too. One day, my Caramel will find the one. Her ‘one’.

And it possibly, definitely, will not be me.

So this secret, addictive relationship that we share is meant to be with ‘no strings attached’. Right from the very beginning.

But now, with her confession, I can't help but fear the confirmation that it is definitely heading nowhere but towards a merciless cliff.

A merciless cliff promising a dangerous fall for the both of us; a very dangerous fall that will only leave us both in nasty, irrecoverable pieces.

So she can't just tell me that she loves—

"Dane… " she calls out my name slowly, her voice cutting into my thoughts and dragging me back to this damned painful reality.

She stands up from the bench and begins to walk towards me.

I take a step back.

She pauses. Her hands by her sides fold into fists. Under the moonlight, her silver grey eyes sparkle with tears that I want to fucking wipe away.

I was right. I am breaking into a million irredeemable pieces. And I just dragged Cara down that abyss of pain with me.

And nobody is coming to save us both.

"You are not supposed to tell me that you love me, Cara. One day, you will find your mate who will love you, and you will forget every—"

"I do not want anyone else Dane! I want you!" She yells, her tears finally streaming down her cheeks.

The pain in her voice and the tears streaming down her cheeks cut through my entire being like a sharp knife.

Fuck me, I can't stand this anymore.

I close the distance between us as I rush over to her. I delicately cup her face in my hands, staring into those shiny silver irises of her eyes glowing with deep gray circular rings around their edges.

Her eyes have always meant something more than beautiful to me. Something definitely divine. So enchanting that I even fucking dream about them every fucking second.

I sniff back my tears as I gently wipe away the tears staining her soft cheeks with my thumbs.

Goddess…. this anguish is killing me. Tormenting me. I never knew a pain like this ever existed.

And now, it is burning and spreading through me like rabid poison.

At this moment, I do not know what to say, or do.

I just allow myself to feel the comforting warmness of her face as it seeps into my palms…..