THE LETTERS OF CONFESSION

I opened my mouth to find something to say, but Jonah stopped me, "Wait! Before you say anything... You need to uh... You need to see this. Come."

He suddenly reached out, his large hand encircled my wrist, sending a shock through me. I instinctively pulled back, but Jonah growled a little and tightened his grip. He half dragged me out to the games room at the back of the house.

We often hung out here together. Or rather, he often hung out with Ben here. Sometimes Savy and I would join them, if they were streaming a movie we wanted to see too. We did our school projects, Lycan study group projects, and even just studied for tests here too.

Tonight, the room was it's usual mess. I don't think Mum expected any guest to come here. But there was also a large cardboard box of sealed envelopes.

Jonah let go of me in front of the box, "You can't say anything until you read these."

"All of them?" I asked.

"Uh, maybe at least a few of them." Jonah said.

I sat down on the sofa. He sat next to me. The smell of him, his warmth, his broad shoulder, his muscled arm... They were all familiar to me, we've sat next to each other before, just like this. But now he felt too close. I swallowed. And just to have something else to think about, I looked into the box.

There must be like hundreds of letters, each with a name written on it with marker in Jonah's own handwriting.

I flipped through them tentatively.

"What are these?" I asked, even though I had a good guess.

"Love letters." Jonah told me, "From our fans."

"You mean our friends." I corrected him.

"Yeah, uh our friends, but they are our friends who ship us." Jonah explained.

Okay...

"Uh, just read one, Lizzy." Jonah was close to begging, "It was really hard to get them."

Yeah, I'd say. Only an idiot would do this.

I saw Savy's name and picked it out. Jonah looked hopeful and nodded for me to open it.

I opened it:

Dearest Lizzy, my BFF. Happy birthday. I'm really happy for you. Jonah is a really good guy, you would know that as well as I do, maybe even better.

But just one secret: He knew you were his mate for a long time now, but he wanted to get stronger and better for you first.

So I know Jonah will always care for you well. Don't torture him too much.

Love Savy.

I looked at Jonah, who just looked at his hands. He wouldn't meet my eyes, so I randomly picked the next one. It was from my own brother. I was honestly surprised Jonah even got Ben involved.

Ben's letter was short and not so sweet:

Lizzy. He's your mate. Haha. Ben.

I dropped Ben's letter on his lap. Jonah read it, "Hahaha. I guess that didn't help."

Even Alpha Kingsley wrote. His letter had his seal affixed at the bottom:

Dear Lizzy and Jonah,

Many blessings on your mating. A soul mate is a treasure to cherish with your lives.

Yours, Alpha Kingsley.

I'm not sure Alpha Kingsley really understood what purpose this letter was. But I didn't blame him - who the heck gets his Alpha to write a love letter on his behalf? But I was starting to get into the groove of it now. Next letter was from my Dad:

Dearest Lizzy

Jonah is a good wolf. He is young, promising, and strong. He will protect you and I will be able to retire in peace.

I love you.

Your dad.

I felt the tears fill my eyes at the end of the letter when I read the words my dad never said aloud. I mean I knew... But he never said.

Mum wrote:

My dearest Elizabeth,

You've grown so quickly into a beautiful woman. Treasure your mate. I know Jonah treasures you deeply.

I was very thankful and relieved when I first heard he was your soulmate. Jonah is an incredibly loyal and good wolf.

I wish you all happiness with him.

With all my love,

Mum.

And then just a random pick, I got Carlie. I felt Jonah tense next to me:

Oooohhhh Lizzy,

U so lucky girl! Congrats!

Ps. If you dun wan him, gimmie.

XOXO, Carlie

I laughed at that. Carlie never failed to disappoint.

And then there was Laura's letter

My dear Lizzy,

On the day you were born, I brought Jonah to visit your mother. He was five months old and he smiled for the first time when he saw you.

On his third birthday, he told me that he was in love with you.

Call it a mother's intuition, but I knew the both of you were meant for each other. I might be his mother but I always remember that you

were the girl who taught him to smile just by being born.

I don't want to show off, but my son is a good boy. He helps around the house, and he never comes home late without texting. He never complains, and he always tries his best and you can trust him to do whatever he promises.

And of course, I'm very happy the goddess gave you to my son. You are a beautiful and intelligent and capable girl. Actually, I'm not surprised my son fell in love with you. I think he's very lucky to have you.

I tried my best to train him for you. He knows how to take out the trash and run errands. He can also do basic laundry and doesn't mind handwashing dishes. But I am sorry, he is a very bad cook. And he is very messy. He never remembers to put the dirty laundry in the basket...

Jonah snatched the letter away and crumpled it, "Uh, I'll pick up the laundry."

"I don't pick up my own laundry either." I told him with a shrug.

"I'll pick up your laundry too." He offered.

"No thanks." I laughed.

I reached for another letter but he reached out to catch my wrist again, "Uh, no, wait."

He let go of my wrist. I waited. He took out a letter from his jacket, "Read this one."

The envelope said "JONAH".

"You wrote yourself a recommendation letter?" I raised my brow at that. Seriously, he was an idiot.

"Uh, more like a confessional letter." Jonah said.

I opened his letter:

Dear Lizzy,

You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met. I've liked you for a long time. I always get tongue tied in front of you and I end up doing stupid things, but I just really like it when you laugh. I like the way your eyes will sparkle and your dimples appear.

I think you're smart and funny and honest all the time. And when you're angry, you're really cute, like a bunny kind of cute. So I like making you angry, but I'm sorry if it makes you hate me.

Because I'm your mate. So I shouldn't be making you angry on purpose.

Plus I know I'm not cool or suave like the guys in the story books you like to read. I'm not hot the way Ki and Harvey is. Like I've never even kissed a girl yet because I only ever wanted to kiss you.

I know you don't feel the same for me, but I really care about you and I want to be your Mate, I was really happy when I dreamed about you the night before my 18th birthday. And it's not just because you were beautiful. Or because you were VERY beautiful.

I feel jealous whenever another guy gets too close to you. So I always help Ben beat them up. Sorry about it, but not to them. I'd still do it. But I know maybe you and Savy wondered why none of the guys ever asked you out. That was our fault.

Since I'm confessing, I think I should tell you about the time you shifted for the first time.

Actually, I was the one who found you and carried you to Ben. I wrapped you in my jacket. I swear I didn't touch anything. Then we carried you home and Ben told you he carried you in your wolf form so you wouldn't be embaressed about it.

I just wanted to be honest with you about that, so Ben can't use it to blackmail me anymore.

I really hope we can try out this soul mate thing together.

I love you.

Jonah.

By now, I didn't know where to look anymore. What the heck.

And I think Jonah got the wrong idea about what a confessional letter was. (It's to confess your love, not your wrongs!)

Suddenly, another letter got pushed in front of my face.

"LIZZY"

My own letter.

"Uh, I hope you wrote something nice. Maybe I should have checked them first." Jonah said.

Gee, you think?

He was looking desperate, "Last one, I promise."

I had written the letter late last night, just so he wouldn't nag me about it today. I hadn't thought much about it, just scribbled whatever that came to mind till it looked like a decent word count. It was a stupid idea to begin with.

I opened up the letter and read:

To Jonah's soul mate,

It's true, he is an idiot.

But he is also a very good friend. He doesn't shy away from danger or hard work. He is loyal and true and faithful. He will eat anything you cook. He can earn his own keep. He can't be bullied.

But most of all, you must know this, if you're the girl who is Jonah's soul mate, you're the luckiest girl in the world.

Because Jonah is the guy who would make you laugh when you feel sad, bring you dinner if you can't cook, drive out to fetch you if you're late home, and tell you the truth when you're confused.

PS. He thinks you're very beautiful.

Yours, Lizzy.

By now I'm crying.

"Oh, s***. I really blew it this time." Jonah groaned.