Jocelyn’s p.o.v. I never realized how protected we were from the war, we hardly ever heard stories about attacks and I know for sure that I have never heard a story like this. The only real thing of the war I ever saw, were the wounded Pack-members that I treated. Mom had insisted I would learn as much about medicine and tending to wounds, she had said it was important for a Gamma to have this knowledge. A Doctor isn’t usually traveling with Pack-members and my Mom’s family have always taken pride in being prepared for just about anything. I had tried to convince Indigo to join me, but she couldn’t stomach the blood and she decided to learn to cook even better than she already could. Our Moms were proud of us for finding a way to help out the Pack, even if we were still very young. Our Alpha was happy with everything we did around the Pack-house and the infirmary, he tried to encourage more Youngsters to lend a hand and that failed completely. Some of the females in our territory thought they should be waited on hand and foot, after all they held the power of choosing a Mate and they took advantage of that as often as they could. I know that leaving the territory was the only option we thought we had, but neither one of us was prepared for what we have seen and endured. Would I have chosen a life with Jack, knowing what I know now? Hell, No. I would much rather take this journey a hundred times over, than ever accept a life as Jack’s Mate. Doc had to help sixteen Wolves out of their misery, we found twenty nine bodies throughout the territory and I hate to think about the amount of females that might have been taken. Tonight I have seen the worst of the worst, tonight I have smelt the worst of the worst and I hope I will never see something like this again. Erylis is staying close to Griffin, she is awfully quiet and this is her way of dealing with what we saw tonight. “Are you okay, Jocelyn?” J hear Joseph’s worried voice ask in my head and I need to think about my response. “I know we are in the middle of a war, but doing that to another Pack and for what. For them to grab some females and force them into a Mate-bond they don’t want. I understand why the Goddess took away our only way of finding a true Mate-bond, but I doubt she was expecting us to deal with it in this manner.” I answer him after a few minutes. I know it isn’t really an answer to his question, but I don’t have an answer for him at the moment. Maybe I will have an answer for him later on or I might never be able to answer that question. He doesn’t repeat the question, probably understanding the answer I did give him and Erylis sticks her nose into the air again. She has been doing that ever since we got back on the road again, but so far she hasn’t smelled anything. “Jocelyn, why did you say that you understood the Goddess?” I hear Joseph ask after a while. “How many Shifters rejected their fated Mate?” I ask him, not really expecting an answer, but I do want him to think about it. “The Goddess paired Shifters together for a reason, they would balance the other out and together they would be stronger. However, there have been so many Shifters that rejected their fated Mate and for a variety of reasons. Rank, looks, power, wealth and a few others I have forgotten about.Shifters have disrespected the Goddess more and more over the centuries, ignoring the sacred bond she formed between them and their fated Mate. You can compare it to a parent raising a Pup, eventually they have to allow their Pup to make their own decisions and with that their own mistakes. This is the way the Goddess is showing us, that we need to make our own decision and our own mistakes and we are really screwing this up. I just hope she will take pity on us, before it is too late.” I answer him. The sun comes up shortly after that, but we haven’t reached our next stop yet and Erylis is enjoying herself as she runs in the sunlight. Joesph hasn’t responded to my explanation, he is probably trying to figure out if he agrees with me or not. Truth be told, I don’t care if he disagrees with me. It is the way it is and not everyone will have the same opinion on the subject, but if you are being honest with yourself, you know that I am right. I know the world isn’t perfect and I know that the world will never be perfect, but we need to make it as perfect as we can. Our Goddess tried to help us with that task, but I think she overlooked the Human part in the equation. Our Human part is much more complicated than our Shifter part, they allow the people around them to influence them and they allow them to force their prejudice on them. Worrying more about trivial things as looks and money to dictate their decisions and not to keep in mind that the Goddess paired them together for a reason. Most of them never realized what they tossed a side and how much it affected their lives and the lives of those around them. Some realized what they had done, but that realization always came too late and losing on both sides in the end. Their fated Mates had moved on, accepting a chosen Mate or getting a second chance Mate. In rare occasions the realization came fast enough and with a lot of work they managed to restore what they had tried to destroy. Our Goddess has been patient with Shifters for a very long time and I truly believe she has given us every opportunity to make amends, but I doubt anyone had really looked at the past. My Grandmother and Great Grandmother had kept track of every couple that found one another during the days of the Full Moon and they concluded that the Goddess had been pairing less and less Shifters together, until she finally stopped during my generation.Is there still hope for us? Will we ever find a way to find a true Mate-bond?