"I would, unless you had already made up your mind." 

She gave him a crooked smile. "You are more like myself than I thought. I guess I should warn you: sleep with another girl one more time and you will lose your mate forever." 

He grinned. "Are you jealous?" 

She scoffed. "Of cour-" She stopped talking, sprinted and tackled a person who was hiding in the bushes.

"Chris?" Anna asked. "What are you doing here?" Anna got off him and helped him up. 

Caleb rushed to her side. "Care to explain, Chris?" 

"I was going for a run and heard some noise so I decided to check." 

Anna crossed her arms above her chest. "So you decided to hide your scent and keep listening to our private conversation." 

He shrugged. "I was just curious, sorry." 

Anna glared at him. 

"Go away!" said Caleb. 

Chris ran away before Anna could say anything else. 

She turned to face Caleb. "How much you think he heard?" she asked. 

"I have no idea. He is acting weird lately. I have to talk to him." 

Anna sighed and massaged her temples. "Be careful around him. I do not trust him." 

Caleb smiled. "He is just stubborn, but I will keep my eye on him if you say so." 

Anna took out her phone to check the time and noticed there was an incoming call. She picked up.

"Yes, Marcy?" Caleb stiffened beside Anna. 

"I have been calling you for a while. Caleb is with you right? We were supposed to have dinner together but he never showed up."

"Yes, he is right here. We were talking. Sorry." 

Marcy giggled. "Oh, you were talking. That is good. Take your time; Just tell him to come back once you are done talking. Bye." She hung up.

"You should go back home." Anna put her phone back in her pocket and began walking back to the pack house. "Isn't it weird that she seems to want us to spend time together?" asked Anna. 

Caleb shrugged. "She always does weird things. Rumor has it that she was called the pack witch before she became the Luna." 

Anna stopped walking and touched her chin with one hand. "I have been meaning to ask: your mother is an Alpha's daughter as well, right?" 

Caleb nodded. "My mother's twin brother was the Alpha of this pack, but he and Samuel's father were killed in a Rogue attack soon after he took over. My uncle had not found his mate and had not children. The third in command was supposed to take over, but he too died under mysterious circumstances." 

Anna kept walking. "That is so sad. I am glad I asked you and not Marcy or Samuel. It seems like a sensitive issue."

They reached her car. "Do you need a lift?" Anna asked. 

He beamed at her. "You came to spend the night in the pack house didn't you?" 

She nodded. 

He sighed. "I do not want to bother you and my house is really close. If I say yes, it would be only an excuse to spend a couple more of minutes together." 

Anna played with her car keys. "So?" She giggled. 

"So, yes. Wait a moment." He got his backpack from the porch and walked around the car to the passenger side. 

"What is it with the different flowers and love notes?" Anna asked keeping her eyes on the road. She saw him from the corner of her eye as he blushed and turned to the window. They reached a red light. 

"Well." He opened his backpack from which he took out a thick old looking book. He turned pages until he reached one that said: 'The language of Flowers.' 

"The night that I... screwed up, I did not sleep thinking about how could I communicate what I wanted to say when my words would obviously not reach to you. This book was in my library; I remembered reading the chapter about the meaning of flowers a long while ago." 

The light changed and Anna kept driving in silence.

"There it is!" said Caleb. 

"What?" Anna jumped on her seat and swerved left as she thought Caleb had seen something on the road. She furrowed her eyebrows when she realized there was nothing there. 

"You were frowning again! It actually annoys you every time you realize that I am not a complete stupid."

 Anna sighed. "You could have gotten us into an accident. Thank God there were not other cars around. It would be easier to believe that you do stupid things because you are a stupid kid." 

He put the book back in his backpack. "I will stop doing stupid things?" 

Anna chuckled. 

"We are here," she said. 

He pouted. "Time to go back to my broken pencil life." 

She tilted her head to the side. "What?" 

He smirked. "You know, pointless without you." Anna groaned. 

"This is the last free pass I give you on cheesy pick up lines." 

He chortled. "We will see. I am just happy we are talking again. This is the part were I kiss you goodbye, by the way." 

She flicked his forehead. "Go to sleep, you have school tomorrow." 

He got out of the car. "Thank you for not hating me," he said as he walked away.

 "What am I doing?" Anna said to herself as she drove back to the pack house. Her head was clouded with doubts. She wanted to stay mad at him, but she was not. She felt her breath hitch and the constant thoughts made it difficult to concentrate, so she connected her phone to the sound system and began singing 'Downtown' from J Balvin. The lyrics, which he found funny, kept her mind off the mate drama for the rest of the ride.

Anna arrived at the pack house and went to her room. She laid on her bed and turned off her phone. Xander had been texting her again. For the first time in a long time, she had no idea of what to do. One thing she loved to do was to imagine future scenarios and have imaginary conversations; That way she was always prepared, but now she could not even imagine what the people around her would do next. She used to be sure that Xander would be there when everyone turned her back to her but now it was like she did not even know the real him. 

And Caleb, Caleb was even more mysterious. He was always hot and cold. Just one week ago Anna almost rejected him and convinced herself that she hated him; Just this morning she tore apart his note and decided she had had enough of his games; Just tonight she laughed with him and for a moment saw him as someone she could love. 

She hated the fact that even after everything that had happened he seemed so transparent. She played with the ring in her collar with one hand, raised her other hand and counted the charms in her bracelet. They were tiny, but each of them had a special meaning.

"Everyone deserves a second chance..." She lowered her arm and covered her eyes as tears rolled down her cheeks. "But I am so scared." She sobbed. "I do not want to hurt again." Anna chuckled and wiped off her tears to no avail as they kept streaming from her eyes. "Nobody wants to give their heart to break. I am no special." She sunk her nails in her wrist. 

The pain put her at ease. It reminded her that she was alive. After everything that had happened, she was still there; She could breath; She could smile; She could get hurt. "Putting yourself in front of another person is terrifying, but if I run away from everything that scares me, what would be the point of living?" She wiped off her tears and sat on the edge of her bed. 

"What am I doing?" She smiled. "I am alive right now, and that is the only thing I know for sure. I can keep on living." She went to her bathroom and washed her face. She saw her red puffy eyes on the mirror but smiled anyway. "See? Like new," she said as she played with her hair. 

'Do not cry Anna,' said Larentia. Oh, you are talking to me again?  Anna pulled her hair up in a messy bun. 'Even after what happened my first instinct was to forgive our mate, but you deserve happiness. I do not want you to be tied up to a person who hurts you constantly because of a voice inside of your head. So, I will be silent unless you really need me.' Anna sighed as she put moisturizer on her face and neck. Thank you, Larentia. I appreciate your doing this. Anna found herself in silence again until her stomach growled; All the drama had made her forget dinner. She decided to get something from the kitchen.

As she sat on a barstool eating cereal someone walked in the kitchen and helped himself with a bowl of cereal. He sat next to her. "We meet again so soon, Anna." 

A/N: OK, now I can go to sleep. My work is done for today.