Moana
A few weeks passed after that. With each passing day, Ella became more and more excited for school, and I was just as excited. After singing my paperwork and getting the keys to my classroom, I then spent the next few weeks leading up to the start of the school year preparing my lesson plans, stocking up on supplies, and cleaning out the abandoned art classroom. On the morning of the first day of school, I woke up to Ella jumping on the bed and shouting. “Moana! Daddy!” she shrieked excitedly, jumping up and down and jostling both of us out of our sleep. “Wake up! It’s the first day of school!” I cracked my eyes open to see Ella standing above us with a wide grin on her face. Beside me, Edrick groaned slightly and finally sat up. “Alright, alright,” he said, rubbing his eyes and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. “Come on. Let’s all have breakfast together before your first day of school.” TMoana“You know…” Ella frowned and folded her arms, puffing out her chest confidently before I could say anything. After those little girls nastily called her a half-blood and shoved her, I had expected Ella to come to me crying and that I would have to send them to the headmistress’s office, and all on my first day of teaching. But instead, Ella stood up straight and took on a confident air that I hadn’t expected from her.“Buzz off,” one of the other little girls said, waving her hand dismissively. “We don’t bother with half-bloods. You smell.” She pinched her nose, causing the other girls in her group to giggle.“You’re really mean!” Ella replied. “Why do you have to say things like that? Didn’t your parents ever teach you to treat everyone equally and with respect?”The little girls giggled nastily at Ella’s comment. Even though Ella was confident, I was well aware of how school bullies functioned, and I knew that she wouldn’t
MoanaA few more days passed by after that. By the end of our first week of school, it seemed as though Ella and I both had settled in quite well. Ella was making loads of friends and loved her teachers, and I also enjoyed teaching. It finally felt as though I was living my childhood dream of being an art teacher, although I did find it difficult to connect with the other teachers. They weren’t unkind and did exchange pleasantries with me each day, but I could tell that they didn’t want to associate with me too much since they still thought that I was human. Maybe over time they would get to know me a bit more and would get over some of their biases. However, right now I couldn’t help but wish that my wolf would just emerge already so that I would stop having to deal with this sort of attitude from people. Unfortunately, however, it didn’t seem like Mina was getting a whole lot stronger. She seemed to be stagnating a bit at her current level of strength.“I
Moana“If you don’t mind me asking, what made Edrick suddenly decide to have a public relationship and announce you as Ella’s biological mother?”My eyes widened at Ethan’s sudden question. It was rather unexpected and, despite the gentle and curious tone of voice he used and the innocent redness in his soft cheeks, I found his question downright creepy. After everything that had happened with Ethan both leading up to and during the last party when he kissed me without my consent, I didn’t think for a moment that any sort of question like that wasn’t loaded in some way or another. The fact alone that he suddenly showed up at my place of work — and I didn’t even fully know how he knew that I worked here yet — was enough of a cause for concern.“Um… I mean, I am pregnant with his child,” I responded with a bit of a nervous laugh, and gestured at my belly — which had grown a bit since I last saw Ethan and now couldn’t be hidden terribly well under
MoanaI went home after work that day with an odd feeling in my stomach after my conversation with Ethan.All of it felt so… contrived. At first, I thought that he was just trying to make amends for what happened at the family party. But when the strange questions began, it became obvious to me that he was either fishing for information or he was trying to drive another wedge between Edrick and I. Maybe it was both of those things, or maybe it was neither. Either way, I didn’t know what to do.I didn’t know if I should tell Edrick about it or if I should just pretend it didn’t happen. Part of me felt as though the right thing to do would be to tell Edrick that Ethan had suddenly shown up in my classroom, but at the same time I was worried that he would tell me that I shouldn’t be teaching there anymore. Even though it had only been a week since I had begun my new job, I loved every moment of it and it felt as though my dreams were finally
MoanaAs I listened to Edrick playing the piano, I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face. I wished that I could see him, but if it made him too nervous, then I was happy to just listen. He played beautifully, and I hoped that I could always hear his music from then on.The song that he was playing came to an end, and was followed by silence. I didn’t realize it, but I had shut my eyes as I lost myself listening to the music. I opened them again and turned, expecting him to still be sitting at the piano, but he wasn’t.He was standing right behind me, looking down at me with those glowing silver eyes.Edrick was so close to me that I could smell his cologne coming off of his shirt and could feel his warm breath on my face. Being this close to him made me tremble, but only in a good way.“Edrick…” I whispered, looking up to meet his gaze.He stared down at me silently, with only his glowing silver eye
Edrick“I want to know the real reason behind why you find it so abhorrent to be intimate with me,” Moana said, chasing after me and grabbing my arm as I tried to storm out.What I said next was a mistake. I knew that as soon as the cruel words came out of my mouth, and I wished that I could take them back when I saw the look on Moana’s soft face.“Because!” I said, whirling around to face Moana. “I will never marry you! Not you, and not anyone, and I don’t want to give you the wrong idea! I don’t care that you’re my mate. The mate bond means nothing.”Moana’s eyes widened. She released her grip on my arm and covered her mouth with her hand, taking a step back. We stared at each other in shocked silence for several long moments before she suddenly brushed past me and ran out of the room.“God dammit, Edrick,” I whispered to myself once she was gone. I slapped my hand on the wall and cursed under my breath. I felt like
MoanaThat night, I tried to fight the tears. But no matter how hard I fought and tried to keep my head up, I couldn’t entirely stop myself from crying just a little bit.After all, I had just discovered that Edrick not only knew all along that I was his mate, but that he also still didn’t plan on ever being with me despite this. The thought of it made me feel incredibly sick, and I felt helpless. All I ever wanted was to give my baby the happy home life with two loving parents that I never got to have, and yet I had somehow managed to be the fated mate of someone who simply couldn’t even bear the thought of being with me. Was there something wrong with me? Was that why I had such bad luck in love?My wolf, however, was surprisingly quiet throughout all of this. Even though she supposedly released her scent and that was what made Edrick “lose control” and kiss me passionately, I didn’t feel much from her. In fact, when I reached out and tried t
Edrick“Oh, good. He’s waking up.”The first thing I noticed when I came back to consciousness was a splitting headache pounding in my skull. When I finally cracked open my eyes, squinting against even the dim light of my bedside table, I saw three figures bent over me. And, judging from the hardness under my back and the position I was lying in, I quickly realized that I was laid out on the floor rather than my bed.“Wh…What happened?” I muttered, noticing the distinct feeling of nausea rolling around in my stomach as though I had had too many drinks the night before and was now hungover.“Shh. You’re alright,” a male voice said. My eyes slowly came into focus, and the blurriness in my vision faded enough for me to see that my doctor was standing over me with a concerned look on his face and his stethoscope in his ears. Behind him, I could see Selina standing there with her arms folded across her chest and disappointment in her ey