"I'd still like to know, even if you think I wouldn't be pleased with what you would tell me," Eric replies. We talk as we walk back in the direction we came from while the others walk behind us, hoping Ella will meet us quickly with the car.
"You once told me something that my mom said to you before they went to war with the dark wolves. Do you still remember what you said?"
"Of course. As if I could ever forget that..."
"Yeah... You told me my mom said, you and I only have each other now. We can only trust each other above anyone else. Do you understand that, Thor?... We have each other so you're not allowed to keep your worries bottled in. You have to say them out. You have to free your mind of all worries so it doesn't worsen your situation" He says seriously.
I nod in understanding
"I was thinking about Ivar and Ella's relationship when I found myself wondering why the relationship between my mate and I had to be so different."
"Different how?"
"Well, didn't we have a special mate bond between us?... I wasn't alone then, you were also present alongside Uncle Elias when the seer said my mate and I had a special mate bond. I remember clearly he told us we would achieve great things together.
My mate and I plus you and your mate. The seer told us we would together achieve great things. Tell me you remember, Eric. I know you said there are some things you can't discuss with me if I can't remember... I remembered this. I just want you to confirm to me that I'm not hallucinating. That my imagination is not playing tricks on me."
"No, your imagination isn't playing tricks on you. You remembered right." He looks at me briefly as he replies softly before turning his attention back to the long road ahead of us
"Then could it be the seer was wrong about this!? About me having a special mate bond? About my mate being one of the strongest she-wolf the world has ever seen?" I ask, hoping he will clear some of the big balls of doubt that have been weighing heavily on my mind since yesterday.
"The seer, wrong?..." He asks back, chuckling in disbelief. "The seer has never been wrong, Thor, never! And you know that."
"I know he has never been wrong before but he's clearly wrong now!" I reply, frustration obvious in my tone of voice.
"He was wrong about me having a strong she-wolf for a mate and he was clearly wrong about us having a special mate bond." I insist
"Okay. Why do you say that though? What did you notice in your mate that made you conclude that the seer was wrong about her?"
"Because apart from being attracted to her essence, I didn't see anything special about her. Nothing the seer told us is exhibited in her...
She's far from being strong. I realized how weak she was yesterday from the way she acted like a scaredy cat in my presence.
And when I needed her essence to sleep, she was so scared she wanted to bolt when she saw my eyes. She was only able to relax a bit when I told her to sit by the door. My mate was supposed to be strong in the face of danger but she's the complete opposite. She's a coward!...
I'm feral Eric! Apart from her cowardice, she was supposed to be my comforter. Help me get better, not run away from me! That isn't who the seer told me she would be! Instead of comforting me when I needed her, she couldn't wait to get away from me! What do you have to say to that? Do you still think the seer isn't wrong?"
I'm clearly frustrated but it seems to me like Eric isn't taking me too seriously since he smiled through every one of my complaints as if he's happy that I'm not happy with my mate.
"This is my life we're talking about Eric! A very serious matter, yet you're smiling."
He chuckles some more
"I understand your frustrations, Thor, believe me, I do. There's a reason why I'm smiling even though you're worried about your mate and so many things. The reason for my smile is why I don't want you to worry about anything anymore. Why I'm very sure everything will be okay...
What I'm saying in essence is that, even though you don't understand anything right now, even though the most important part of your memory is locked away, I'm happy that I clearly know every one of the memories you locked away. I know everything about your mate. I know enough for both of us, man, that is why I don't want you to worry.
I want you to always have it in the back of your mind that I'm clear on everything that seems like a difficult puzzle to you and I will remind you when the right time comes. So you really have nothing to worry about.
Just one month... A month is all I ask for and I promise all these will go away. In fact, since the issue of your mate affects you so much, I want you to leave everything that has to do with her to me. Can you do that? It's going to be just for a month, do you trust me enough to leave everything that has to do with her to me? You'll let me make all decisions that have to do with her?"
His eyes burrow into mine as he asks. He doesn't even need to ask me that. He knows I would never question his decision over anything
"You know I trust you, man. Do whatever you think is right." I reply and he nods
"Earlier, when we were inside my room, I was going to explain something to you but we got distracted. I wanted to let you know something so you'll at least have an idea of what's going on. You won't be completely in the dark, remember?"
"Yeah, tell me."
"Okay but before I tell you anything you have to understand that I'm giving you incomplete information. Whatever I give, you'll take and you'll have to promise me that you will not stress unnecessarily over it. Do you promise?"
I consider what he said for a while before I nod my head in agreement. Incomplete information is better than nothing right? And the thought that I can always fill in the blanks by myself later makes me smile.
"Let's hear what you have to say. Get on with it"
He smiles.
"I'm holding you to that, man. You promised you won't go crazy, you have to honor your promise"
"I will. Don't worry about it"
"Okay." He nods. "You're right about one thing. That part of your memory that you blocked off is very important. It's not only important to you alone, it's also important to us all. I'm talking about your team and the pack as a whole.
I exhale at this little but important piece of information he just shared with me. Wondering what happened to me. How I could have forgotten something so important to the extent it made me feral...
"You're wrong about one thing though..." I heard Eric say and I forced my attention back to our discussion...
"It isn't that part of you that's making you act wild. You're feral because something else is trying to make you forget that important part of you. That was why you couldn't access that memory in the first instance. It was that thing that frustrated you to the point where your mind couldn't take it anymore. Pushing you over the edge."