Chapter 42

Chelsea's POV

"Chelsea my dear! Oh how I've missed you darling!! Come here!" This little old lady came rushing at me before I even had a chance to respond.

She looked familiar but I just couldn't place her. Obviously she was related to me, but I don't remember ever meeting this lady in my life. I looked up at Ben with a look to say, 'help me' and he had to turn his head to hide the smirk and contain his laughter at the sight before him.

"Um hello?" I stumbled out.

"Oh dear me. I am so sorry. It's just been ages since I've laid eyes on you my dear. My look how you've grown! Such a beautiful young woman. How old are you now? 17…18?" She was just rambling on and on and on. I don't think I could've gotten a word in edgewise if I even tried.

"I'm 18 ma'am." I said while offering a soft smile.

"Ma'am? Who are you calling ma'am? Dearie please, call me Grams." She playfully slapped my arm. "Oh where are my manners? Please come in come in." With that she was more or less shoving Ben and I into the house. I saw Ben's eyes glaze over for a brief second and knew he must be mindlinking his father back in the SUV.

"Can I get either of you something to drink? Are you hungry?" She showed us to the living room and motioned for us to sit on the couch.

"Just a glass of water please?" I ask.

"Sure thing dearie." She snapped her fingers and a glass of ice water appeared on the table in front of us. I jumped at the sight of it just appearing out of nowhere, to which she didn't like. "I had a feeling this would happen." She said clicking her tongue and turning to walk towards a chair on my left side.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Your father was not very…what's the right word…happy? To learn that your mother was a hybrid. He eventually grew to accept it but it took time." She replied.

"I always remembered them so happy together. I never thought that dad didn't like mom for her other side." I said.

"Other side?" She repeated.

"Can we talk about this later? It's kind of a touchy subject for me." I asked.

She just gave me a smile and nodded her head.

"I will go get your things out of the vehicle." Ben said after an awkward moment of silence.

"Thank you." Was all I said before he stood up and turned to go. Ben knew the story of what I had been threw growing up. It angered him to know that he wasn't there to save me sooner. I tried to explain to him that there was no way he would've known and that I don't blame him for any of it. I'm just glad I met him when I did. After Ben was out of the house I looked back shyly at the older lady sitting next to me.

"Sorry there's just a lot that has happened that you don't know about and Ben doesn't like to hear about it." I said quietly.

"Why doesn't he like to hear about it? Does he not like our kind either?" She asked.

"It's nothing like that. I will explain everything when they leave." I said while shaking my head.

It was only a few minutes before Ben was coming back in with my suitcases. "Where should I put these?" He asked.

"You can just leave them there. I will take them to her room honey." The lady said with a smile.

Ben looked at her like she was crazy but went ahead and stacked them up where she said to and then came back over to me and sat down.

"Will you be staying for dinner?" The lady asked looking at Ben.

"I'm sorry but no. We have to get back on the road, as much as I don't want to leave." He said looking at me and lacing his fingers in mine.

"I understand. Please rest assured that I will do everything in my power to keep her safe. I will be putting a cloaking spell over this house along with a protection charm that she will wear around so nobody can track her." The old lady said.

"As long as I get her back when I come back." Ben said jokingly.

"Of course dearie. I am not one to stand between mates. If I was, her parents would've never been together." She smirked back.

"Well that's reassuring…I think." Ben responded.

The old lady just laughed and assured him that I would be right here waiting on him to return. She then left the room to give us some time to say goodbye. As much as I didn't want him to leave me, I knew he had to go.

"I don't care if you come back with no legs or arms, or even half a head. Just come back to me." I said hugging him tightly.

"Half a head huh? Is that even possible?" Ben asked while laughing.

"You would laugh at a moment like this." I said slapping his chest.

Ben pulled me back in for another hug, "I'd rather laugh with you than see you cry." He said and he kissed the top of my head.

After we said our goodbyes, I walked Ben to the door and watched him get back in the SUV and I stood there and watched until they were out of sight wondering when the next time would be before I would see my mate again. After this, I don't know how Gunner has held it together for this long. At least I knew where my mate was going and what was going on, for the most part at least. I couldn't imagine losing my mate only minutes after finding him.

With that thought I stepped back in the house and closed the door behind me. I turned around to grab my bags but they were gone. What the hell? I knew they just right here. Just then I heard the floor creek and I looked up down a long hall and saw the lady coming out of a room.

"I took the liberty of putting your bags in your room for you dearie." She said.

"What…but how…" I was stumbling with my words.

"Witch dearie." She chuckled while raising her hands up and wiggling her fingers.

Good thing to know this old lady had a sense of humor. Maybe this won't be so bad after all. I started walking towards her and she showed me into what was going to be my new room for the time being.

"I'll give you some time to settle in. How's….ranch chicken and some fried garlic potatoes sound for dinner?" She asked raising her eyebrow at me.

"That actually sounds good." I smiled back at her.

"Good. We need to fatten you up. You're way to skinny dearie. Dinner will be ready in about an hour or so." She said and started to walk out of the room.

"Now you sound like Ben." I chuckled and shook my head.

"Really? Well then I like him a little more now." She winked at me and then closed the door behind her.

I picked up one of my suitcases and started unpacking it. I brought mainly clothes besides the essential hygiene products and a couple pictures of my parents. I was about halfway done unpacking when I noticed a second door in the room.

"That wasn't there before….was it" I asked Athena.

"No definitely was not there before." Athena was now just as curious as me.

I slowly walked up to the door and turned the handle and cracked it open. I'm not sure what I was expecting, like Chuckie was going to pop out and stab me in the knee or something. I fully opened the door and what I saw was amazing. It was like every girl's dream!

It was my own private bathroom, but it wasn't just any typical bathroom. This bathroom was like something from a fairytale. I actually pinched myself to make sure I was awake and actually seeing what I saw. There was a large vanity sink with a huge mirror above it when you first walked in. To the right was the toilet, and in the corner was the largest claw foot tub I had ever seen! In the opposite corner of the tub was walk in shower. This shower had one large shower head coming out the roof. Everything was trimmed in gold and if I could be made, it was out of marble. I must have been in there a while just gawking at everything because a old chuckle brought me back to reality.

"I'm guessing you like it?" She said still laughing.

"Like it? I love it! But how….nope never mind. Don't answer that." I said as I raised my hands and wiggled my fingers.

She just laughed even harder, "You're a quick learner I see. Good to know." She winked at me. "Dinner is done dearie. Come on, let's go eat." She motioned for me to follow her to which I obliged.

We were still at the dining room table eating quietly when she cleared her throat and I looked up from my plate towards her.

"How is dearie?" She asked.

"This is amazing!" I replied.

"Grams' cooking…nothing will ever beat it." She chuckled. "Do you mind if I asked you a few questions?" She asked.

I shook my head with a mouth full of food to tell her that I didn't mind.

"You know where she's going to go with this right?" Athena said in my head.

"I got a feeling." I knew what was coming so might as well get it over with I guess.

"I mainly would like to know what happened to my daughter. We lost touch some time back and now I can't seem to find her." She said with a sad look in her eye.

"I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but…" I started but she raised her hand to stop me.

"Did she suffer?" Was all she asked.

"No. She didn't even see it coming." I told her and I could see her whole body relax.

"Well I guess that explains why she hasn't been in contact with me and why I can't find her." She said before stuffing more food in her mouth.

I had finished eating and laid my fork down on my plate and wiped my face with the napkin. "If you'd like, I can tell you what happened." I offered.

"I don't mean to pry if it's too hard for you." She said.

"It used to be, but in my short amount of time with Ben, he has helped me comes to terms with it and I no longer blame myself." I said.

"Blame yourself? My dear child, why would you blame yourself?" She asked in borderline shock.

"We used to live in the Harvest Moon pack down south. When I was about 8 years old, I was at the park with some of the other children from my school at the time, and I was openly doing magic." She put her hand over her mouth in full shock now, but before she could say anything I held my hand up to stop her so I could finish. "I didn't know what I was doing at the time. I didn't have my wolf to guide me and nobody ever told me about magic. I was just making things float in the air. Well I guess the Alpha had caught me and he wasn't very happy. He kicked us out of the pack so my parents packed us up and we left."

"Is that when…" She started and I just nodded knowing what she was getting at.

"We were rouges. Mom and dad were out hunting one night and crossed a pack's territory line. After they were gone, I was constantly on the run. I was so young, I didn't know anything. I ended up with a pack of rouges who despised witches and when they found out about that side of me, they made sure to remind me every day of their hatred. I grew up basically hating that part of myself because of that. Once I got my wolf, Athena, she helped me survive until we finally got the courage to run away, and that's when I met Ben." I went to tell her about my time with Ben and the spell I did for Gunner to find his mate.

"Oh dearie I am so sorry you went through all of that all alone. I wish I would've known." She said putting her hand on mine.

"It's ok. There was no way for you to have known. Please don't blame yourself." I said.

"I know. It's still just hard to digest all that information. But on a brighter note, you said you did a projection spell? And you were successful?!" Her eyes lit up with this.

"Not doing magic for years, it took its toll on me. I'm not sure how long I slept for after that, but yes I was successful. At least…I think I was." I said shrugging my shoulders.

"It sounds like you were. That means you are very powerful and we need to get it under control before you burst dearie. I'm surprised you haven't yet!" She said.

"You mean you're willing to teach me?" I asked.

"Of course!!! I'm sure your mother would've have if she was around. Magic is not something to play with but if not used for long periods of time, even just the smallest of spells, it can build up and then things can get very ugly and I don't want that to happen to you. We can start tomorrow if you'd like?" She suggested.

"Well I sure don't want to be exploding any time soon. I would like to see my mate again." I joked.

She laughed, "Then it's settled. You start training tomorrow after breakfast."

"Sounds like a plan." I nodded my head and smiled at her.

"Why don't you go take a bath or shower, relax, and get some rest. I'll clean up here." She said.

"I can help clean up…" She cut me off before I could finish by just holding her hands up and wiggling her fingers. "Oh right." I laughed. "I will see you in the morning then and thank you for dinner. It was wonderful."

I got up and pushed my chair in and headed back towards my room. When I looked around, I noticed that my bags were gone. I started looking for them to finish unpacking when I noticed that everything was done and my empty bags were placed neatly in the closet.

"How the…" I said out loud.

"Magic remember." Athena said.

"You'd think I'd know this by now. Gesh."

"Well I don't know about you, but that big tub in there is calling my name, so if you don't hurry up, I'm taking over." Athena threatened, but jokingly.

"Yes ma'am. Good lord, I'm going I'm going." I laughed. I grabbed some underwear and my pajamas from the dresser that was just outside the closet door and went into the bathroom. All my soaps and brush, everything, was already placed in the bathroom for me, ready for me to use. It's like I've lived here all my life or something.

I started running the bath water and it didn't take long for the steam to start rising up. I got in and was able to actually stretch my legs out. I'm talking my toes, knees, and shoulders were all underwater at the same time! I didn't know that could even happen!

After soaking for a little while and then washing up, I got out, dried off, and put my pajamas on and then brushed out my hair. I headed over to the bed and did the soft test, where you place your hand on the bed and then push down a few times to see how soft it is. Once I realized this was probably going to be perfect like everything else, I launched myself into the bed. I was right, it was perfect! I pulled the covers over me and it didn't take long before I was asleep.