Chapter 10: Acceptance

"Jacob! What are you doing here?" I heard a voice as the door opened. But the voice wasn't from the teacher's office, it was behind me. I turned around to see Valencia smiling at me. Without giving me a chance to speak she grabbed me in a corner to hide.

Hannah's POV

I opened the door of Mr. Martin's office to see someone move at the corner of my eyes. I was totally confused but I knew in which direction the shadow went. I walked quietly without making a single noise. To my surprise, I saw Jacob and he was with Valencia... well too close to Valencia. I hid just behind the walls so that i'm able to hear them but i couldn't hear anything so I took a peek at them to see what's going on and what I saw made me and Spark feel too heartbroken that we had to leave.

Valencia was trying to kiss him. "Boys are always and will remain the same!" I shouted as I came out of the building. "Unbelievable!! No wonder he didn't hesitate when I rejected him! He already loved her but he could've told me why? ... why didn't you tell me?" My legs couldn't hold me and I fell on my knees as I started sobbing. Suddenly I felt a touch on my shoulder, thinking it was Jacob I stood up and turned around to see my sister worried as always. As I saw Luna I couldn't handle the pain in my heart and I started crying painfully while hugging her tightly.

It took a whole thirty minutes for me to get a hold of myself but my sister and Luka stayed with me while Jacob was busy with someone else. 'Hannah you're infected and you touched your sister!' Only then Spark made me realise that I was poisoned. I told them everything and they promised to not tell Jacob because he would think that i'm trying to ruin his relationship with Valencia. Luka had a little bit of Lavender flower with him so I shared it with Luna. We walked back to our class. When I entered the class, everyone noticed that there was something off about me and they kept staring at me. Jacob was not in the class and I didn't care anymore.

A few hours later, school ended but I had to stay till dusk. Luna wasn't feeling that well because she was infected so Luka brought her home. I remained here all alone in class. I didn't really have anything to do so i kept on drawing and drawing. Mr. Martin was outside checking on me after every hour. "This is so boring! I don't even have inspiration to draw!" I whined at Spark. 'Wait! Thunder's here!' Her silence broke as she smelt her mate. I looked outside to see Thunder with something in his claw. It was a small box of juice."But I thought you were with your girlfriend!" He flew behind a desk and transformed back into his human form. I immediately turned away meanwhile he put on his clothes.

"What are you talking about?" Jacob asked. "Stop acting! I saw you and Valencia... kissing." I spoke sadly as I remembered what happened a few hours before. "Stop pretending like you didn't know!!" I yelled, tears started filled my eyes. "It's not true! I didn't mean to kiss her!" Jacob tried to justify while I started sobbing again. "So now you are denying that you kiss her! Do you realise how I felt when I saw you kissing her? Do you even know why I refused to be your mate? No! You don't! So leave me alone!"

"Wait! You had a reason for refusing the proposal?" He suddenly noticed as I blurted everything out in anger. "Yes. Valencia told me that if I agree to be your mate she's going to kill you." My voice cracked. "How does she know about all this?" Jacob asked in a confused tone. "I don't know I think she somehow saw me transform!" I said while wiping my tears. Jacob handed me the aloe vera juice that he brought but I refused saying; "I don't need your hospitality I can take care of myself!"

"Valencia is not my girlfriend! I don't know what has gotten into her all of sudden that she wanted to kiss me but I pushed her away! I did not kiss her." He finally explained. I was a bit convinced that he was telling the truth but i wanted to be sure about it. "I don't even know whether you are worthy of being my mate or not!" I yelled. My eyes changed as the a surge of anger came over me. "Then I'll do anything to convince you." Jacob held my face wiping away the tears. It felt good until we heard a noise in the corridor. It was Mr. Martin, I had completely forgotten about him. "You need to leave now! Hurry!" I whispered as I pushed him out of the window. "Don't forget to drink the juice! You'll feel better!"

"I will! Now go before the teacher comes here!" Just as he jumped out of the window Mr. Martin opened the door. "I'll keep you for thirty minutes instead of an hour and then you can go!" He closed the door and went into his office quietly but luckily I got to go a little early. I drank my juice and waited till it was time to go. I finally left the boring class to meet Mr. Martin. He told me that I was free to go. I rushed out of the school where I saw Jacob waiting for me. "You waited for me?" I questioned. "Yes!" He smiled at me. Before I knew, he hugged me so I hugged him back. "So now am I worthy of being your mate?" I nodded and a huge grin appeared on his face as he gave me a quick kiss on my cheek.

I was blushing so hard. "We'd better go home now!" I grabbed his hand to come with me but he stopped me. "Give me your bag! I'll carry it for you!" He added with a gentle smile on his face. "I'm fine Jacob, I can carry it!" I pushed his arm to the side, continuing my way but he snatched my bag. "Fine do as you wish Mr Jacob!" I frowned at him and he smiled back at me. "Let's go in the forest please! There's still time till the sun sets!" My frown turned into a childish face. Unable to overcome my cuteness, he had no choice but to agree.

We walked towards the forest, at the same time, gossiping about ourselves when suddenly we heard a loud crash deeper in the forest but if we went deeper inside we would transform. We didn't even have much of an option anyways. Just as I was about to tell him that we need to do this together, he was already transforming. "Are you serious? There's no way you're going alone over there!" I frowned at him again.

"Of course I am going alone. I can't bring you along with me, you are too weak right now..." while he was busy explaining, I ignored him and went inside the forest. I started noticing the feathers on the back of my hand and eventually Spark took over my body. I waited for Jacob for a few minutes until he finally came. 'What took you so long?!' I mind-linked him.

'I told you to stay out of it! It might be dangerous for you!' He replied with concern. 'Can you please stop it!?' I yelled which literally made Spark mad because her head was exploding. Jacob remained quiet for some time after that. We flew quietly on a branch and we landed on it as silently as possible. 'There's no one her-' i was brutally interupted by Thunder who almost made me fall from my branch.

Something was about to attack me but he saved me. He was quite fast to turn around from his position and then grab that intruder behind me by the neck. It was a black eagle but it was not Luka. As Thunder was fighting the eagle I noticed another ready to attack him. I flew as fast as I could but I missed it and it got Thunder in the back. 'They seemed more experienced than us! We are not strong enough to fight them!' I mind-linked Jacob but he refused to stop and I couldn't leave him to fight them all alone.

'Luka! I need to call Luka!' I exclaimed as I realised. I mind-linked him and flew just at the black eagle behind Thunder. I got it right in it's wings but it was too weak for a move. Suddenly I noticed something in it's claws. It resembled a ring around it's right claw. 'How could that be possible I thought they left our territory?' Spark spoke in confusion. 'Mother!? But how can that be possible? Our parents left us 3 years before!?' Jacob immediately stopped as he heard my thoughts but my parents didn't. They didn't know about us.

'I have to do something and fast!' Feeling the urge to help him I had no other choice but make my parents attack me. I dived towards my mother's wings and grabbed them cruelly dragging her a few distance away from Thunder. He was struggling and was getting weaker. Mom finally decided to attack me as I let her go of my grasp. Once she followed me outside the forest and I turned around to grab her talons so that I can slow her down a bit for me to transform. It went as planned but mother still couldn't figure out; it's been years since we've been separated and she doesn't even have my scent now.

Noticing my body after I changed, I ran behind the bushes and she started diving towards me showing her claws to attack me. "Stop!" I yelled but she didn't stop. "Mother!" I shouted again and this time she did. She changed in front of me and my guess was right. She was my mother, she sprinted towards me and gave me a hug. "It's been so long since your dad and I left you! I'm so sorry if you felt lonely without us!" My mother replied as tears of joy dropped from her face. "It's ok i'm fine now but dad going to kill Jacob if we don't stop him!" I slightly shouted. "I'm going to mind-link him right now."

She gave me a warm smile which Luna and I missed for years. By the time Jacob and dad returned we had already put on our clothes and we were already inside our house. I had lent some of my clothes to mom. Luckily the boys had their clothes when they came home.

"Dad!!" I yelled as I gave him a big hug and he hugged me back with a big warm smile on his face. "What brought you here?" I asked bewilderedly. "Actually we came here to look for you and to give the leaders both a good and a bad news." Mother explained showing a slight worry in her expression. "The good news is that the Dark Orphan bird is dead and the bad news is that it was the phoenix who killed it and it will be coming for Roc." Dad continued the explanations. "Roc and Phoenix don't get along!" She added.

"Anyways why did you come to find me?" I changed the subject on purpose. "We just missed you!" My mother replied as a smile appeared on her face. "Where's your sister?" Father suddenly asked curiously. "She was a bit sick so I think she's in her room resting." They nodded and we walked towards her room. "Luna? Are you in there? Can I come inside?" I knocked waiting for her answer and she finally opened the door to see her parents first. It took her a second before she began crying on her mother's arms. We talked for a while and I even introduced them to Jacob.

They didn't really payed much attention when Luna introduced Luka to everyone. But the problem was that Luka is not her mate and she has a mate out there, she needs to be careful because she can be rejected if her mate sees him with another guy. "Your attack is quite powerful by the way! You did get me injured with that claws of yours." Mother said with pride. I nodded feeling a bit shy. "You had a fight? How and why?" Luna and asked, a worried expression covering her face.

"Nevermind It's a long story," we said at the same time and we giggled at each other's action. My parents had also built a house in our territory telling us that we need to live without our foster parents but that would be hard because they don't know anything about us. "You'll have to tell them the truth!" They muttered. At first we were anxious but then we decided to do it. Later that day, my foster parents came home. They were confused at first but then we explained, "Mom... These are our real parents and we are not what you think we are! We are half eagles and humans." I spoke anxiously.

"We already knew it my dear!" She put her palm on my face giving me a warm smile. "How did you found out?" Luna asked. "I once came home early and saw you transforming but I knew that you would do nothing to us and you girls are so bad at hiding secrets!" I could help but cry after what she had said. I haven't felt so attached to her till that day. "Thank you so much for taking care of us!" Luna thanked our foster mother while I kept crying in her arms. "Thank you for taking great care of our daughter!" My mother gave her a hug in a token of thanks.

Jacob held my hands to comfort me while my parents went in a room and talked for a while.

Luna went in her room with Luka and I didn't know where to go. "Let's go in my room." I suggested shyly. He nodded and we walked towards my room. The closer we were getting to my room as we were climbing up the stairs, the faster my heart was beating. 'Nervous?' Spark asked with a huge smirk on her face. 'Yeah!' I replied.

I opened the door and we sat on my bed. "So... how's your wounds? Did it heal?" I asked. "It's healing right now it'll take one day I think!" I replied putting her hands behind his neck. "Maybe if I put some first aid, maybe it will heal faster." I got up and brought the first aid that was on my desk. I opened it and put some bandages on the claw marks. As I stood up to put the box back in its place, I couldn't feel my legs and fell heavily on the ground. Jacob rushed to lift me from the cold floor. "Are you okay?" He looked at me with a worried expression. "I can't feel my legs and my arms, they're in pain." I whimpered. He lifted me in bridal style and placed me gently on the bed. "Thanks!" He smiled and sat next to me. "Rest for a while and the pain will go away." I nodded and he left my room.

After a few minutes, the pain stopped so I walked out of my room to ask my parents about the death of the Dark Orphan Bird. I opened the door to see both my parents talking. "Sorry to disturb you guys! Can I ask you a question?" Mrs Courtney looked at me curiously. "Yes my dear," she replied in a gentle tone. "You told us that the Dark Orphan Bird was killed by the Phoenix but how did the phoenix survived the poisoned claws?" Their expression immediately changed from happiness to seriousness.

"The Phoenix has the ability to reborn itself from it's ashes. No matter how much the Orphan bird kills it, the Phoenix kept coming back through its ashes. The Phoenix is a shapeshifter like the Orphan bird." My dad explained. If the Phoenix can revive itself then it's immortal, Roc won't have a chance against him. "But then how's Roc going to fight it?"

"That's why we are going to tell him! Tomorrow we will be heading towards the castle once and for all!" My dad ordered. My foster parents didn't really have anything to do with this so they only gave me a good luck hug.

The following day, Luna and I set off first because my parents had to talk to Mr and Mrs Taylor, my foster parents about something. 'Good morning Griffin! Sorry to disturb you we've got some good for us but a bad news for Roc.' I said as I landed on the perch that was in front of their throne. Roc immediately turned his face towards me as I mentioned his name. "What is it?" He flew down to the nearest perch in front of me. 'The good news is that the Dark Orphan bird is dead and...' Luna said but she stopped in the middle of the sentence. '... the bad news is that a Phoenix killed it and now it's looking for you' I continued.

"A Phoenix is looking for me! Seems he wants war!" He flipped his wings, the feathers on his back were fluffed up and he started spreading out his tail feathers. It made me a bit uneasy to be in front of him. "Don't mind Roc, he's a bit angry right now." Hippogriff jumped down from his throne breaking the serious atmosphere between us. "So I heard that you found your mate Hannah!" Griffin must have read my mind. Great I'm exposed before even telling them! 'Yeah and it's Jacob...' I said hesitantly.

Griffin remained silent for a while and continued,"You mean Jacob Griffin?" I nodded my bird face. 'Do you know him?' He seemed to have known him for a long time. Wait why do I have a feeling that they are related?

"Kind of! He is my son!" I replied happily. So I was right then, he's the son of Griffin. 'Have you ever talked to him?' Jacob never talked to me about his real parents. "No I've haven't meet him but I still remember him when he was small." I could see his happy face behind his eagle form.

Just then two black eagle came, it was my parents. 'Your highness!' They bowed as a sign of respect. "Your daughters have already told us about the news." Griffin explained with a kind smile. I couldn't help but smile back at him.