Chapter Twenty-Five

Regan’s POV

Needless to say, after that mind blowing kiss with Jasmine in my study, it became absolutely impossible to stop thinking about that.

Rage was being an absolute pain by replaying the kiss in our head almost non stop.

I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Other than that, I couldn’t stop thinking about how just one kiss had rendered me completely obsessed.

Unsurprisingly, Luke had noticed it when we had been training.

Or when we had attempted to train I supposed since he threw me around like a rag doll.

Like I said, Rage made it completely impossible to focus on anything.

It made me happy to know that Lena had accepted our relationship.

Frankly, I wasn’t as unconcerned about wanting her approval as I behaved.

Lena was important to me.

She was family.

And having her oppose to our relationship would have made me quite unhappy.

As it stood, I was glad to know she was accepting of it. Especially after seeing how happy it made Jasmine.

I had seen her at breakfast that morning.

As soon as she had caught sight of me, she turned a lovely shade of red and looked away.

I noticed Lena lean closer to whisper something in her ear that caused both girls to giggle.

Now all we had to do was formally tell Nana. And since she had been brave enough to tell Lena alone, I figured it was only fair that I saved her the worry and just told Nana by myself.

I knew the two places to find Nana after the midday meal were either at the healing building or in her garden just outside the woods.

Her garden was not so far from the building so I simply passed by the building and tracked her scent until it led me to her garden.

There, she was crouched down, tending to some herbs.

I approached her quietly from behind, knowing that no matter how quiet I tried to be, she would always be able to tell.

Nana was no ordinary werewolf.

“It has been a while since you have come here to seek me out”, she said, not turning or moving from her position. “Whatever you have to tell me must be quite important to have you come all the way over here”, she said.

“It is”, I agreed, coming to a stop a small distance away from her.

“Well, you might as well be of help while you seek mine”, she said, rising to her feet and turning to face me.

Her eyes studied my face briefly before she lifted a hand and pointed at a fallen tree trunk a short distance away.

“Carry that and follow me”, she instructed, and turned to lead the way into the woods.

I obeyed, making my way over to the fallen trunk and picking it up before carrying it after her as she led the way.

We walked for a short while before approaching a small clearing.

“Put it over there”, she instructed, pointing towards a spot under a large tree.

I did as I was told and put down the trunk and she made her way over and sat.

Smiling at her antics, I simply copied her actions and sat down as well.

“Well , out with it”, she said. “What was so important that you had to come over to my garden to find me?” She asked.

I took a breath, wondering why I was suddenly feeling worried.

“I have feelings for Jasmine”, I said directly, knowing it was no use beating about the bush where Nana was concerned.

“I am aware”, she said. “Anyone with eyes can see that”.

She waited as I tried to find the right words to describe exactly what I want.

“I want to know”, I began. “If you approve”.

She looked at me for a moment.

“Correct me if I’m wrong”, she said. “But it sounds to me like you are seeking my approval over your relationship with Jasmine”.

“That is because I am”, I said honestly.

She shifted so she was facing me.

“Regan, you are the Alpha of the Midnight Wolves pack”, she said. “You do not need the permission or approval of anyone to do whatever you want”, she told me.

I nodded my head.

“I know that”, I said. “But I want your approval all the same”.

She looked away before looking back at me again.

“Does my approval truly matter?” She asked finally.

I nodded again.

“It does”, I said. “As much as I hate to admit it, it matters the most”, I confessed.

A slow smile spread across her face before it faded again.

“You have it”, she announced. “Although I believe there is something you should know”.

Knowing Nana, if she had something to say, it was something very much worth hearing.

I turned to her.

“What is it?” I asked.

She hesitated.

“Before I tell you”, she said. “I must know exactly how you feel about her”.

I turned away at that.

“I honestly can’t put it all into words, Nana”, I said truthfully. “I cannot stop thinking about her and wanting to see her and touch her and hold her and just make sure she’s safe”, I confessed. “It actually scares me since I have not known her for too long and o already feel this way about her.”, I said and paused, hesitating on what next I wanted to say. “To be completely honest, I have been having thoughts of marking her and making her my mate”, I said.

Silence greeted my confession and I finally turned to look at her to see a smile on her lips.

She brought up a hand to cup my jaw.

“That is good to know, my dear”, she said, her eyes beginning to glisten. “You do not know how long I have prayed to the Moon Goddess for a second chance mate for you. And I am glad it is our Jasmine she has chosen for you”.

I smiled at that, relieved to see her acceptance.

Her smile slowly faded from her face and she dropped her hand from my cheek back to the other on her lap.

“But you should know that it would not be easy”, she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked, feeling apprehensive at her tone.

She took in a breath and let it out.

“When Jasmine first came here”, she began. “There was something about her. Yes, it was clear to see that she had been abused but that was not what awoke my curiosity”, she said. “Have you ever seen her back?” She suddenly asked me out of nowhere.

I frowned, trying to recall and wondering what her back had to do with anything.

Finally, I shook my head.

“No”, I answered. “I have not”.

She nodded, then continued.

“There are markings on her back”, she said. “At first I thought they were scars until she had told Lena that they were her birth marks, that she was born with them. But there was something familiar about those markings. It was like I had seen them before. So I went back to my old book of spells and I found one marking in particular that was all too familiar”, she disclosed before turning to look directly at me.

“I have told no one about this, but you should know if you wish to be mated with her. You might have to protect and defend her someday”, she said.

“What did you find out?” I asked, eager and impatient to find out.

“One of the markings I saw on her back was a containment spell”, she finally disclosed.

“A containment spell?” I repeated in confusion. “What does that mean?”

“It means”, she said. “A spell that is placed on someone to restrain or imprison something in them”, she explained.

I looked away, confused about why Jasmine would need a so called confinement spell.

“But it suddenly made sense”, she continued, bringing my eyes back to her. “It explained why she doesn’t have a wolf”, she said.

I frowned again. “I do not understand”, I confessed.

She leaned closer as if to tell me a secret.

“If a containment spell was placed on Jasmine when she was a pup, it would explain why she has never had access to her wolf”, she explained. “Jasmine refers to those markings as her birthmark which means she was born with them. While I may not know of the others or what they might mean, I am almost certain that Jasmine was not born with the mark of a containment spell on her. It must have been placed on her sometime after she was born”, she said. “What I wonder, however, is why whoever placed it on her wouldn’t want her to have access to her wolf side”, she said, wondering aloud.

It made me think as well.

If what Nana was saying was true, and I had never had a reason to doubt her, someone had cast a spell on Jasmine to ensure she could not transform into her wolf.

But why?

Why would someone wish to do that to her?

I decided to ask Nana instead of wondering.

“But why would anyone wish to do that to her?” I asked.

“I have thought about that as well, my dear”, she said. “Several possibilities have floated through my mind but I don’t know which one to believe”, she confessed. “Jasmine had shared with us that her parents had been killed while she was a young pup so those markings, which I suppose already included the containment spell, had already been there before her parents had died. It makes me almost believe that her parents had put the containment spell on her”, she said.

“But why?” I asked, getting frustrated.

“I’m afraid we may never know their reasons”, Nana said. “But if I, as a mother, had to place a containment spell upon my child, I would have only one reason for doing so”.

“And what reason would that be?”

She looked me right in the eye as she replied.

“To protect her”, she said firmly. “I believe her parents were trying to protect her from something or someone, I’m afraid I do not know which”, she said.

The revelation didactic sit right with me.

The thought that someone wanted to harm Jasmine to the extent that it had caused her parents to put a spell on her to protect her did not sit well with me.

Rage was already growling at the thought of someone harming her and I completely agreed with his reaction.

We would not hesitate to destroy anything and anyone that tried to harm her.

What frustrated me more was that I had had no idea or clue as to what had happened to her. I didn’t even know that her parents had been killed, I had simply thought she had been abandoned.

To think that I was willing to kill for her when I never even bothered knowing anything about her did not sound right.

But if I was being honest, I hadn’t bothered to find out anything about her past because I simply didn’t care about her past. The only thing I cared about was that she was now with us and safe.

But now discovering that I would have to know about her past in order to protect her was something I had never thought of.

I was not going to ask her anything until she was willing to tell me. I was grateful that Nana had cared enough about her to look into her birthmarks and even their meaning. It confirmed her acceptance and affection for Jasmine.

“I have already sent word to an old friend of mine in the West”, Nana informed me. “It will take a long time before I get a response. But until then, we will protect her with everything we have”, she promised. “After all”, her face suddenly broke into a teasing smile. “She is going to be our Luna”, she finished.

A smile broke across my face as well, and probably for the first time in a really long time, I leaned across to place a kiss on her head.

“I forever bless the day the Moon Goddess brought you into my life”, I said, though truthfully yet something rare as well.

As I pulled away, I caught her blink back tears.

Instead of saying anything, she simply took my arm and rose to her feet, pulling me to do the same, and linked her arm through mine as she led us back the way we had come.