Aurora’s P.O.V
I walked into Caroline’s room with the little gift wrapped in brown paper pressed tightly against my chest, my knuckles tapping lightly on her door even though I knew I never needed to. Caroline’s voice rang out, a little muffled but still sharp.
“Come in!” When I stepped inside, I found her crouched over her suitcase, stuffing in another folded top with that usual neatness she had. She looked up at me and immediately frowned, her lips curving into a half-smile. “Why are you knocking? Since when do you knock? You usually just barge in and scare the life out of me.”
I laughed softly and held up the gift. “I didn’t want to disturb… just in case Damien was over.”
Her eyebrows shot up, and she let out a small chuckle as she rose from the floor, brushing her hands on her jeans.
“Really, Aurora? If Damien was here, you think I’d let you just walk in after knocking? Please. I’d bolt the door and put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign.”
I snorted, shaking my head as I extended the gift toward her. “Well, lucky for me you didn’t. Here, I brought you something.”
Caroline’s eyes softened as she took the little package from my hand, but instead of unwrapping it right away, she reached for my wrist and tugged me toward her bed. “Sit with me first,” she murmured.
I nodded, sitting down at the edge of her bed, and she settled right beside me, close enough that our shoulders brushed. She turned to look at me, her expression growing serious, her voice quieter. “Aurora… are you really okay?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. My throat closed up, and before I could stop it, I felt hot tears spilling down my cheeks. I quickly pressed the heels of my palms to my eyes, shaking my head. “I’m sorry,” I whispered hoarsely. “I tried not to cry, Caroline. I swear I tried. But I can’t help it.”
Her hand slid over mine, gently pulling my hands away from my face so she could see me. “Hey, don’t apologize,” she said softly. “You don’t ever have to apologize to me for feeling something.”
“I just…” My voice cracked, and I took a shaky breath. “I don’t want to make this harder for you. You’re leaving in two weeks, and I know it’s supposed to be exciting. California, college, a new start. I don’t want to weigh you down with my stupid tears.”
Caroline squeezed my hand tighter, her own eyes glistening though she blinked quickly, refusing to let them fall. “You’re not weighing me down, Aurora. You’re part of why I’m even strong enough to do this. Don’t you get that?”
I sniffled, staring down at our interlocked hands. “But what if when you go… things change between us?”
She leaned forward, her forehead almost touching mine. “Things will change, yeah. They always do. But not us. Not the part of me that belongs with you. I don’t care how many miles there are between us, you’ll still be the first person I call when I can’t sleep. You’ll still be the one I tell everything to. Don’t you dare think distance is going to erase you from me.”
I let out a broken laugh, wiping at my cheek with the back of my hand. “You make it sound so easy.”
I watched as Caroline stepped forward, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, and before I could even say anything, her arms were already around me. She pulled me into a hug so tight that for a moment I couldn’t breathe, and her voice trembled when she whispered against my shoulder,
“Aurora, I know how difficult this is. I swear, it’s difficult for me too. I don’t want to leave. You think I do, but I don’t. Hell, I remember when I was so terrified of even accepting Damien as my mate because I knew what it meant. It meant leaving my pack, leaving everything I ever knew behind.”
She pulled back slightly, her hands still clutching my arms, as though she was afraid if she let go, I’d disappear. “But now… now I feel like I have to. I want to grow. I want to find out who I am outside of all of this. I want to explore my chances, explore myself, explore who I truly am as a person.”
I took a deep breath, staring at her, my throat tightening at the raw honesty spilling from her lips. “Caroline,” I said softly, brushing a strand of hair away from her face, “you don’t ever need to explain yourself to me. You’ve always been brave, even when you thought you weren’t. And if this is what you want, if this is what will make you happy…then I’m happy for you.”
Her lip quivered, and she shook her head. “But I’m scared you’ll hate me for leaving. That you’ll look at me like I abandoned you, like I abandoned everyone.”
I squeezed her hand firmly, grounding her. “Never. Don’t you ever think that way. Do you know what I see when I look at you? I see my sister, my best friend, my confidant. And I see someone who deserves to step out into the world and find out who she is. I could never hate you for that. If anything, I’m proud of you, Caroline.”
Her eyes brimmed with tears now, spilling down her cheeks, and I reached for the box that I had gotten her and finally opened it for her. When I pulled it out, the tiny pendant caught the light, the same pendant that belonged to my mother, the one I had been wearing all this time. I held it in my palm between us, and Caroline’s breath caught.
“Aurora, no… you can’t. That’s your mother’s,” she whispered, shaking her head furiously, pushing my hand back toward me.
But I didn’t let her push it away. I closed her fingers over it gently and looked her straight in the eyes. “She left this for me, yes. But she left it with the wish that I’d never feel alone. And now that you’re going away, I want you to have this. When you’re out there, when you’re exploring who you are, when you feel alone or lost, I want you to hold this and remember that you’re never truly alone. That no matter where you go, a piece of me, a piece of her, will always be with you.”
Caroline’s mouth opened and closed, like she wanted to argue, but the words never came. Instead, a sob tore out of her throat, and she clutched the pendant to her chest. “Aurora, I don’t deserve this. I don’t… I don’t deserve you.”
I reached up, cupping her face, wiping away the tears that stained her cheeks. “Stop saying that. You deserve everything good in this world, Caroline. You’ve always deserved it. And I need you to carry this with you, not as a goodbye, but as a reminder that this bond between us doesn’t break, no matter how far apart we are.”
She nodded shakily, biting her lip. “I promise I’ll take care of it. I promise I’ll take care of myself. And I promise I’ll come back, Aurora. No matter how long it takes, I’ll come back.”
“That’s all I need to hear.” I told her truthfully.
“You’re sure?” she asked again, her voice almost begging me to say no, to take it back so she wouldn’t feel the weight of responsibility. But I reached forward and helped her clasp it around her neck, smiling as I whispered, “It looks perfect on you. Just like I knew it would.”
The moment the pendant settled against her chest, Caroline’s arms went around me so suddenly that I staggered back a little, laughing through the tightness in my throat. She held me so fiercely I thought she might never let go.
“Aurora,” she whispered into my shoulder, “I swear to you… when I come back, I’ll give this back to you. I’ll return it with all the love and memories you’ve given me. But until then, I’ll take care of it for you, in your place, like a piece of your heart I’m carrying with me.”
I closed my eyes against the sting of tears and squeezed her tighter, whispering back, “That’s all I could ever ask for. Just promise me, Caroline, that no matter what happens, you won’t forget that I’m right here waiting for you.”
She pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes, her hands still gripping my arms as if letting go might break something between us. “I could never forget,” she said fiercely. “Even if the world changed, even if years passed, this pendant would remind me every single day of who I am, of who we are…sisters, no matter what.”