CHAPTER 4

War, fire, echoes of crying children and wailing mothers, alongside growls from werewolves forced Aliyah's eyes open; they were merely dreams of her pack's invasion.

Aliyah realized she wasn't in the woods any longer. She raised her head a little and soaked in her new environment. She was in a room and this forced her anxiety to increase, as she realized the possibility of the Rogues finally catching up with her.

Slowly she got up from the bed and approached the window, pulling the curtains aside. This didn't seem like the rogue's territory, this was a well structured pack.

Suddenly, the door opened and the moment Aliyah stared right at the person who had stepped in, she felt the winds knocked out of her body.

His presence not only excited her, but he was one of the most handsome men she had ever laid eyes upon. Muscular, pointed jaw and long hair falling right at his back. His eyes got her locked on for a moment, as Stacy kept on howling for joy.

"Hello...Mate." At the sound of his voice, her entire sense of reasoning struck in almost immediately; the man standing right before her, was her mate!

"I see you are up already." He held a tray in his hand, which he dropped on the table and slowly walked up to her.

As he got close, Aliyah could smell his scent, and it was the most beautiful thing her nostrils had ever breathed in. Despite his amazing features and his alluring eyes, there was something about his persona that didn't seem quite right.

"How are you feeling now?" He asked holding up Aliyah's hands, but she flinched almost immediately and stepped back a bit from him.

"I am sorry if my action was a little bit stupid. I guess I am a little bit excited that I can finally hold my mate." Aliyah was captivated by his smile.

"Let's do this the proper way. I am Raphael, what is your name?" For a moment Aliyah stared at him, wondering if it would be okay to say her name.

'He is our mate!' Stacy rarely speaks to Aliyah, but in this moment, upon hearing her voice, she realized they could form a little bit of connection. 'You have to let him know your name Liyah.' She urged on.

"My name is Aliyah." She finally voiced out and this got him really impressed, judging from his facial expression.

"I never thought a day would come, where I would be holding my mate in my arms. When I saw you lying unconscious in that hole, I thought to myself, I could have been there for you." His statement sounded so assuring, but Aliyah had a gut feeling about him.

"You took me from the hole?" She asked.

"Yes and you seemed to have been absolutely exhausted all the while." He chuckled a bit, holding her hand and this time she allowed him.

"You don't have to worry about anything again Aliyah, you are safe now." Even though he sounded so sure, there seemed to be a hint of doubt portrayed in his eyes.

"Thank you." He smiled patting her back and eventually getting up from the bed side. Aliyah watched closely as he poured out content into the cup and handed it over to her.

"Here, it should strengthen you a bit." She stared at the dark substance in the cup and became skeptical for a moment.

"You really think I would hurt you mate? Here, let me have it." He asked, stretching his hand to grab the cup. He took a sip of the content and eventually handed it over to her.

Seeing his way of assuring that the content was safe, Aliyah eventually gulped the liquid, which tasted like milk.

"I knew you were going to like it." He pulled the cup away and sat back down on the bed. They kept staring at each other for a moment.

"In here. you are safe. Like I said earlier, I would show you around the pack, when you are strong enough. For now, you just need to sleep." She couldn't find the urge to close her eyes.

"I can't sleep." Aliyah finally voiced out. "Everytime I try to sleep, the nightmares keep occuring." She stared into space as she continued speaking. "Their cries, the growls, the fire, everything is stuck in my head." Raphael wiped away the little drop of tear off her eye.

"Water Wave pack?" Aliyah looked at him for a moment and shook her head to say yes. "Indeed the story is quite saddening." His demeanor at this point showed there was something he knew that he couldn't tell Aliyah.

"Don't you worry, staying around your mate would help you forget it." Aliyah looked down her chest and realized her pendant was no longer across my neck and began to panic.

"Oh! About that, I kept it on the big shelf over there. It is beautiful by the way." Raphael stated, seeing her short anxiety.

"I would leave you now, take all the rest you need and when I come back, we can walk around the pack and I can introduce you to.... Well, my parents." He stuttered at the ending, showing his skepticism further. As he stepped out the door, Aliyah became curious to know what exactly he was hiding.

Stepping out of Aliyah's room, Raphael sighed, realizing that things may not really work out as he had hoped they would.

'You don't have to listen to her, we finally meet our mate and even if there is a long history between them, we shouldn't care.' Andrew, Raphael's wolf revealed. Slowly, he headed towards his mother's chamber.

The place was completely warm upon entering and as a routine, she was reading up pages of her favourite historic book.

"I guess she is awake?" She asked, not taking her eyes off the book.

"Yes mother, and I have to admit that she is the prettiest she wolf I have ever seen." She paused in an attempt to flip the page of a book and looked up at her son.

"Listen Raphael, I am your mother and you need to understand the complications here. That girl you claim to be your mate is part of the Water wave pack and you know the history book already." Raphael was pissed to be reminded about history.

"Damn with the history! I finally have a chance to feel love and I am being reminded of history?" His voice was a little bit loud at this point, but he could care less as he kept voicing his frustration to his mother, who remained quiet.

"All I can say is, you will have to let your father know about her when he returns." She finished off and returned back to her history book.

She was clearly revealing the reality of things; his father would be fast determining his beloved mate's fate.