Exiting the bathroom I can see Alek lounging on the bed, if I were human I would assume he hadn't heard me come out. But I'm not human. I knew with his sensitive hearing there was no way he could have missed me coming out.

"Hey I say as I walk over and sit on my side of the bed facing him with my legs crossed. He still doesn't say any thing but he looks over at me and smiles slightly, letting me know he's thinking. Most likely about whatever it is he needs to discuss.

"I" we both start to say at the same time, but he motions for me to continue. And I reluctantly agree, " I don't know how to do this." I admit to him and I can see him giving me that look as if to ask what don't you know how to do? "Any of this really, I don't know how to talk about my feelings, because the only one I've ever done that with is my mom, and I don't know how to be a good girlfriend, because your my first boyfriend and it seems like I'm doing a really shitty job of it so far and I don;t even really know how mai relationships are supposed to work or if they're any different from human ones. And I don't know how to heal from what feels like this giant wound in my heart, because I've never had one this big, and the last time I had one at all my mom was there to make it better." And just like that I had spilled my soul to Alek Petrov, I had told him almost everything that had been bothering me lately and I don't know what I had expected him to do, but it wasn't what he did.

"I don't think I do either." he replies as he raps me in his arms so he's now sitting up slightly and we're both leaning against the headboards, " I don't think I do either. But I know that together we can make it through this. I can help you heal like your mom did when your dad left, and I can teach you about mai relationships because that is one thing I do know a lot about. Valentina made sure I was well educated on those so that I wouldn't worry when I started getting the feelings, I can't believe that I forgot that you didn't know. I'm so sorry. And I don't know how to talk about my feelings at all because you're the first person I've ever even tried to with. And, I don't think you're a terrible girlfriend if anything I'm the terrible boyfriend. I'm controlling and protective, and I don;t let you hang out with your friends alone, and, and I'm scared to love you because I'm scared to let anyone, even you have the power to break me like this again."

And he had said it, the thing I had wanted to say when I told him what was wrong, but was to afraid to say. We were scared. We were scared of each other, and we didn't want to be, but we were because we were scared that the other would die or leave and that they would leave us broken again.

"I'm scared too" Is all I say. And he pulls me closer to him. As I cry into his chest, something that isn't all that uncommon for us, but then something happens, I feel teardrops on my head too, and when I look up I see that Alek is crying. And as many times as I have broken down in front of him, I have never ever seen him break down before, he's always tried to be strong for me, and to hied his emotion deep inside himself, hide it even from himself, but he's finally letting it go. And it is then, looking up into Alek's eyes, watching him cry for the first time, that I know that we are healing. And that is the first step towards a healthy relationship, because broken people can't be in healthy relationships. And those are my last thoughts as I drift to sleep in Alek's arms as we both cry about the ones we have lost.

When I woke up a few hours later Alek was awake, he was just laying there, holding me, watching me, and playing with a small piece of my hair. And that's when I noticed it, he had a smile on his lips. Not a big one, just a teensy tiny almost not even there smile, but it was there, and that was the first time I had seen him smile since Jasmine and Valentina died. And it made me smile too.

"We never did finish talking." he said to me as I stretched out my swore muscles and turned over to face him. "You said you don't know about mai relationships. And if we're going to have one, that isn't okay."

"If we're going to have one?" I questioned slightly worried that he wasn't ready to have one after al, or that he didn't want to have one with someone as emotionally fragile as me.

"If you want one with me once you know how mai relationships work, I know I want one with you, but I also know that it is a lot to take in considering you have been tought how human relationships work, and some of the things in mai relationships are the exact opposite of what they are in human ones."

"I'll always want a relationship with you Alek, I, I think I love you, and that scares me but I know it's true, but what is so different about mai relationships and human ones?"

"I think I love you too. But they are very different mai are slightly more..." he trailed off looking for the word, " primal I guess is the best way to describe it. We are more protective of the things we love than humans are, it's part of the reason that we used to protect humans, we are protective. The only downside to this is that sometimes when humans get this protective it's because they don't trust the one they love. But with mai, it's because we don't trust anyone with the ones we love."

"So basically all the mai are overprotective like you?" I asked not quite sure I understood, because Valentina had never seemed quite this protective over Jasmine and I knew she loved her.

"well no. not quite. I think it's because I was your protector before I was your boyfriend, and because of all the people that have betrayed us, but I am way more protective than most other mais. And I'm sorry for that I know it means you don't get to spend that much time with Amy and Paul like you used to, especially if I'm not there watching."

"Alek, it's okay I understand, it actually makes me feel a lot better about some of the things I have been feeling. I, I don't like to be away from you for long periods of time, because it scares me. It makes me feel unsafe even though I know that with all the training I've had I can probably protect myself I feel way safer with you here, and I also worry about you getting hurt, that's why I haven't complained about not being able to stay away from you. It scares me too." I said burying my head back in his chest, I wasn't crying like last time we were in this position, but I still felt upset, and holding Alek always made me feel better.

"So" I started trailing off towards the end, "does that mean that our relationship is considered healthy in the mai world?" I questioned him hoping his answer was yes.

"No, I don't think so, not yet anyways. I think that we have to be less scared of giving the other power before we can really consider it healthy, but I also think it's getting there. Because even though I'm scared of you hurting me, I know the only way you could hurt me is by dieing the nineth time, because you would never willingly leave me. Just like I would never willingly leave you." So I guess we aren't healthy yet, but he was right, we're getting there, we're healing. And for now that is enough for me.

Authors note:

This is the longest chapter I have ever written and i'm actually relly proud of it, but ti is also the last chapter for this story so please review telling me which one of these ideas I should use for my next story! THANKS FOR READING NOW PLEEAASE REVIEW!

1. She needed to go, she needed to get out of here and not look back, she needed to get out of this place with so many bad memories, and she could tell he needed to too. That was why she was currently sitting in here room packing a suitcase full of anything and everything she might need and writing a note to her mother to explain. She knew her mother would be worried but she needed this, she needed this summer to escape, they both did.

2. "Alek, what happened last night?" she asked when she woke up, staring at me, and the way she was looking at me I knew I couldn't tell her, so I lied. "I have no idea all I remember is going to that club and trying to forget." was my simple reply, not a complete lie, but also not the whole truth. We did go to a club last night, but it wasn't me that was trying to forget, it was her. And when she had drunkenly asked me to make her forget it last night, I hadn't been able to say no.

3.I am Chloe King, a sixteen year old girl. I am also Chloe King, the uniter of an ancient race called the mai. It's my job to save us all, but sometimes I wonder who's going to save me.

p.s. what rating should I make each of these stories?