Jewel had never felt so embarrassed in her life. She just had to slip, didn't she? Yeah, well, the universe probably hated her so much and decided to embarrass her in front of her mate and his werewolf and human friends.

So, they woke up this morning and then, after doing their stuff, they started walking. Jewel led them through the forest and after a while, they arrived at a river. The only way to pass was to jump at the rocks in the river. 

You know, like in those cartoon movies where the character had to pass a river and they had to jump from one rock to another to reach the end? Well, they were doing exactly that, and almost all of them succeed except one; Jewel.

Jewel just had to slip right at the last rock and she fell down. Of course, the river wasn't that deep, and even if it was, Jewel could swim. The problem was that the water was so cold. Like, the kind of cold that could be felt in your bones.

Everyone laughed at her, including Mason, but he was also the one who helped her get up. He was so sweet--no! Jewel couldn't be thinking about this. If Mason didn't want her to be his mate, then she should respect his wishes.

For some reason, she really felt that Mason actually wanted to accept her as a mate, but he needed a reputation to take care of. Or perhaps, he just held too much grudges over the witches and she was a witch, you know.

Either way, Jewel must be wrong and Mason was going to reject her anyways. However, she still couldn't imagine Mason rejecting him. It was unimaginable.

Jewel sighed, knowing that if Mason rejected her, it would be because that he wanted to; because it was his choice. He wouldn't be forced, like how he was forced to become her mate. He wouldn't be paired, like he was paired with her. He would be happier without her.

Oh, the sadness of knowing that your soulmate would be much happier without than with you. It felt so heartbreaking and every other negative emotion there was.

Imagining Mason with a girl named Maya, making out with her and everything, hurt Jewel deeply.

Jewel really liked it when Mason laughed, though. She felt when Mason laughed at her, it was a real, geniune laugh, and she loved it. She loved seeing Mason smile and laugh, because it made him seem like a little kid again. Too bad Jewel had never seen and might never see young Mason.

When Mason touched her as he helped her up, she felt tingles all over her body, from Mason's hand to her, to her head, then to her feet. It felt so wonderful. If only he felt the same way, but Jewel believed he didn't. Ah, the sadness.

'My non-existent love life,' she thought, a bit disappointed.

All her life, she had been saving herself up for her mate. She had never kissed, she had never done anything inappropriate for little kids, she had never dated anybody. All for her one mate that was now ignoring and rejecting her. He wouldn't even introduce her to his friends. 

Jewel didn't get why they wanted to the coven's cave, though. She knew that they wanted to save the people they kidnapped, but only with five people? What were they planning to do, kill the people or something?

After Jewel's embarrassing, slippery moment, a deer passed by and they decided to eat. Thankfully, Jewel remembered some spells that she usually used to make her food, because unlike the wolves, she wasn't used to eating raw meat. In fact, the first time she was kicked out of the coven, she ate raw meat from a deer and puked everything back out. 

She put that spell on the meat that Mason gave her. To be honest, Jewel was kind of watching him as he killed that deer. Yeah, the sight of your soulmate killing someone--or something--would be very frightening for humans, but not so much for supernaturals.

In fact, some women wanted their men to be strong and able to kill. Jewel wasn't sure why, but she got to admit that the sight of Mason sweating after catching that deer was kind of nice. Yeah, the view was good.

Dylan ate the food that he brought with him because just like Jewel, he wasn't used to eating raw food, but he never tried any. They looked weird, though, and Dylan would hesitate to eat them.

Mason sat down on a log, he sat beside of Jewel. The others decided to sit far away from them, because they separated when they were hunting some deers. They agreed to meet back on that river Jewel fell into after they were done eating.

'How nice of him,' Jewel thought. She needed to talk to him, whether he liked it or not. She didn't care if she got killed, but she really wanted to know what his actual plan was.

Jewel couldn't let Mason steal her heart and break it to pieces. That would be very-

She shook her head. She couldn't think this way. It wasn't healthy. What was she even thinking about? How could Mason sitting down beside her make her so worked up?

"Are you okay?" Mason asked, a bit of concern lacing his words. Jewel looked at him and their eyes met, and again, she felt sparks. They weren't even touching and she could already feel sparks.

Jewel shook her head, but she said 'yes' and looked away. She continued eating. Nevermind her talking to Mason about his plan, she couldn't even talk properly in front of him. She wondered how her mother could talk properly to his father, but then again she sometimes stutter over her own words.

Tears got to her eyes as she thought about the memories. Memories before she got out of the coven, memories before her parents turned their backs on her. She didn't care about the rest of her family because she was never close with them, but her parents...

"Jewel, are you okay?" Mason repeated his question. He was getting concerned now. He noticed that her eyes were getting teary and he felt the sadness that was radiating of her. He also felt her sadness mixed with confusion from their bond. He hoped that he was not the cause of those feelings, but he might have been a bit harsh. He forced her to tell him where her coven was without even asking what she felt, and she was his mate.

Jewel didn't reply and instead of getting angry like he usually did, Mason took her hand in his bigger one. He squeezed her hand reassuringly. Of course, he felt the sparks that went all over his body, but he had always been good at hiding his emotions. However, he would not deny that the sparks that he felt was very fantastic.

Jewel slowly whispered, and if not for his amazing hearing ability, Mason would have not heard it. "Why do you keep messing with my emotions?" she asked, and Mason couldn't be more confused. He was messing with her emotions? How? Wasn't she the one who was messing with his emotions instead of the other way around?

"Why don't you just reject me?!" she asked with a louder tone, surprising Mason. Now she was facing him with tears all over her face. She wiped them furiously. "All I ever wanted is to have a family, just like my parents did. I never wanted my mate to be a werewolf. I never wanted my mate to play with my emotions and give me mixed signals, while at the end, he's going to reject me, anyways! So, just reject me now!"

Mason spent the next few seconds to recover from his shock and deliver the words from Jewel's mouth into his head. After he understood, he wiped the tears that kept on pouring from her eyes. He hugged her and she was too powerless to even try to move. He kissed her forehead softly, as if she was a fragile glass, and she might break any moment.

"I'm not going to reject you, Jewel. I cannot. I made a promise to someone, that one day I will introduce them to my mate, and I promised that I will always make my mate happy. And Jewel, don't ever think that I was trying to give you mixed signals or whatever, I just needed some time to think. I'm sorry, okay?" Mason tried to explain.

Jewel had already finished her food while Mason's food got stolen by some animal.

Jewel sighed softly. "You did not talk to me at all ever since yesterday when we first met," she reasoned.

"Yes, and I regret that. As I told you, I needed time to think. Now, I've come to the conclusion that you are a very kind and nice witch. Actually, I've came to that conclusion since yesterday, when you told me that you got kicked out of your coven because you defended a werewolf. I know you aren't like most witches, you aren't like the witches that kidnapped--or killed--my family. I have hopes that maybe one day, we'll have a nice, happy family, perhaps better than your parents did. So, what do you say, Jewel, um, I don't know your last name.." Mason smiled sheepishly.

Jewel giggled, even though she had tear stains on her face, Mason still found her beautiful. She was a princess to him. "Miller," she replied.

"Jewel Miller, do you accept me, Mason Wilson, as your mate?" Mason asked, smiling.

"Your full name is weird," Jewel commented. Her eyes shone happiness through the tears that were still visible.

Mason rolled his eyes. "Yeah, they rhymed. Now, will you answer me?" he asked again.

"I thought you don't have to ask someone to accept you as their mate, though? I thought you only need to state that you reject them," Jewel commented.

Mason shrugged. "I like to be different. I am one-of-a-kind, you know?" He grinned, showing his teeth.

"Yeah, sure, sir, Mason Wilson." Jewel chuckled, still finding the name a bit funny. Mason rolled his eyes playfully.

And even though Jewel would really like Mason to announce to his pack members that she was his mate, she knew that finding her old coven was more important.

---

"Is it just me, or do you guys also feel the happiness that radiated a few metres from here?" Robert asked like it was the most casual thing ever. It was possible for werewolves to feel emotions that other people usually radiated, but it usually was only from the people they were near to, not the people that were a few metres away from them.

"Did that witch, Jewel, kill Mason or something, and now she's very happy about it?" Tom added, again sounding like it was normal.

"I'm not sure, but you guys don't have to sound so happy about it," Betty said, "I'll try to mindlink him now."

"We're not happy about them killing each other, we're just happy about our food," Tom explained, though that didn't change anything from Betty's point of view.

Betty could also feel the happiness that radiated a few metres from here, and from her guess, it was where Mason and Jewel were supposed to be. She didn't want any of them dead, because if Mason died, they'd lose their soon-to-be-alpha, and if Jewel died, they'd lose their guide to the coven's place, wherever it was.

However, the happiness felt almost as if it was enchanted by some kind of magic, like it was a witch's happiness. And the happiness seemed to come from the pure joy of being happy, instead of being accomplished after killing someone. Like, the person had not been happy for a long time.

Betty could also sense another emotion that was laced with the happiness. Perhaps, love? Or hope? Betty couldn't quite put a ring on it, but she knew it was not something that you felt after killing someone. Because Betty had killed a lot of witches and other creatures out there, and every time she did, she would feel little bit of guilt and some other negative emotions, and these feelings, that was probably felt by Jewel, didn't represent those at all.

Betty was about to mindlink Mason when her message got cut off by Dony's. 'Hey, is everything okay out there?' he asked.

'Yeah. We managed to find someone who could guide us to the witches who kidnapped Alpha Mason's parents,' Betty said. She didn't respect Dony as much as she respected Mason. Mason was her alpha and therefore, she refused to call anyone else--including Dony--alpha.

Betty could feel that Dony was nodding. 'Okay, that's good. At least you weren't going around in circles like how I assumed at first. Good luck on your search. See you when you get back.' Then, Dony blocked of Betty's mindlinks.

'How rude,' Betty thought. She sighed. Oh, Dony, if only he knew how many hours they spent, circling that one, cursed tree.