"My soulmate."
I'm sorry what?
"W..Wh...What?" Is all I managed to say. To say I was shocked was an understatement.But he just keeped looking at me like I was miracle happening before his eyes,his hands holding my face so tenderly.
"You are my soulmate." Atlas said again.
"Hello, earth to Kaya!" Yelled Saf in my mind knocking me back to my senses.This is not happening, he's lying.I don't feel anything. If he were truly my soulmate I would feel the bond.
"Yeah nice try buddy."I said as I moved his hands from my face and took a step back. His hands fell to his sides , confusion all over his face.
"You don't feel this?" He asked me.
"Look, your little trick could work on a human but obviously not on a she wolf."
"This is not a trick." He says as he tries to touch my hand again but I take another step back. To that I hear him growl.
"Hey girl this round is on you." Said the girl as she passed me a cocktail.
"All rounds are on me." Atlas said as he waved to the bartender.The girls seemed very excited by the news and then proceeded to dance.I have to admit I was bit struck by this situation,but at the same time I feel like I could use this to my advantage.I turned my back to Atlas and faces the table as I drinked the awful cocktail.
"What's the new plan?" Asked Saf.
"I'll have to improvise but one thing is clear, I'm getting this wolf home." I responded Saf as I felt Atlas's hand sliding around my waist.The sensation of his touch was sensual,and now with him pressed to my back I could smell his perfume. It was a mix of sandalwood, sweet peach and something I couldn't detect.I placed my hand over his and for a second I could feel him jump like he was just touched by electricity.He's growel vibrated through my body but at the same time there was nothing there.Removing his hands from my body I turned around to face him.
"Please, don't put your hands on me unless I allow it first." I tell him, the look of disbelief all over his face.
""I don't understand how you don't feel this, my entire body is currently on fire, every cell of my body wants to touch you.I want to drown in your scent... you dont feel that?" Atlas says as he brushes his hand through his black hair.
He looked different than the photo in his room. He had a beard now and I have to say it suits him so well, instead of a suit he was wearing black pants with a white shirt. Unbuttend so you could see the necklace he was wearing, and rings on his fingers.
"I'm sorry but no."
"Well I like his wolf so far, he can't really reach me." Safire commented. "That's because he is not our soulmate." I tell her back.
"I can't believe it, my Goddess. 32 years I waited for you, while everyone around me had their soulmate at 18, I ... just when I lost all hope I found you."
"I'm 22 and I don't have a soulmate, but neither do my siblings and they are older then me."
"You should be able to feel this... this.."
Goddess help me, I just want to get this job done.
"You know you could ask me my name first?" I tell him.
Of course, my apology. My name is Atlas Stryker and you are.." He said as he extended his hand thords me.
"Kaya." I say as I shake his hand.
"What, no last name?" He asks while still holding my hand.
"You haven't earned it yet, how about you bay me a real drink first."Atlas gave me a crooked smile, one I have to admit was sexy but not enough to make me forget my mission or his soulmate claim.
"Shure, what would you like to drink?" He said as I pulled my hand out of his,the lost of my touch seem to irritate him.
"Whiskey, neat." I say.
"You definitely are my kind of she wolf." He said before turning and asking the bartender for two whisky.
"Now is our chance." Said Sad.
"I know I just need to find a way to get him outside, dragging him throw the entire club would be problematic not to mention suspicious."
"Well that shoud be eazy,just tell him you wonna go outside.I have a feeling he will not leave you alone." Saf said, and I had a
feeling she was not wrong. "Here is your drink." Atlas said as he rejoined me.His green eyes dancing all over my face as if he were trying to memorise it.
"You know what, I could really use some fresh air."
"Me too." He said in an instant.
"What did I tell you."Said Saf victoriously.
Even though he was walking behind me he used his hand to clear the path around me as the werewolfs danced around us. Finally outside we walked to the parking lot where we put our glasses on the hood of my jeep, Atlas continued to stare at me.
"What? Do I have something on my face?" I asked him while I pointed to my face.He nodded his head.
"Yes you do,a whole lot of beauty." I couldn't help but to laugh at that.
"Goddess, that probably sounded very cheesy. I'm normally not like this."He confessed.
"What do you normally sound like?" I say as I take a sip.He was about to say something when his phone started to ring.
"Give me a minute please, don't go anywhere." He said as he gave me a crooked smile before turning to answer his phone.I put the strain of my hair behind my ear and concentrated my hearing so that I could hear the person on the phone.
"What is it Shaun? I'm in the middle of something."
"This is important you have to come back, the Luna send someone after you."
"Shaun my mother already sent Goddess knows how many man after me, so far she has not been successful." Atlas said and it made me jump a little. "Now is our chance Kaya, dump the mistletoe in his drink while he's not watching." Saf yelled inside my head.It made me work fast, I took the mistletoe out of my bag a quickie dumped it into his drink.Thankfully it dissolved pretty quickly as Atlas continued his conversation.
"This time the Luna send someone special and I wasn't able to find out who beacuse Jeffrey made it imposible."
"Thank you for the heads up Shaun, but right now I can't talk.Ill call you tomorrow."
"Atlas as your future Beta, I highly recommend you to come back.Becoming the Alpha is your destiny, there is no point at running from that."
"I think I just found my destiny." Atlas said as he ended the call.
"I assume you heard all of that." He asked me.
"I did." There is no point in lying.
"So now you know I'm the..."
"Future Alpha of Black river pack, I already knowed that. I belonge to the Black river pack, you are going to be my Alpha."
I held my head high as I looked him in the eyes.
"And now you..." He said as he walked closer to me. "You are the future Luna of Black river pack."
"No I'm not." I say as I trying to move away but am quickly pined to the jeep door, Atlas's hands on each side of my body. He has me pined, but his hands are not touching me.
His eyes are pure fire, and so is his body.
"Becoming Alpha, as cowardly as it sounds , it made me scared. I was afraid not of the responsibility as is. I felt like my freedom was being taken away from me, but now in this moment in front of you...I see how foolish that was because from the moment my eyes laid upon you the last thing I want is my freedom. I want to be chained to you."
His eyes lit up in a beautiful orange color as he hovered just inches from my face.Alphas had red eyes,alphas
to be orange ,betas blue and omegas yellow. Green was very rare so much so there hasn't been any in the last 300 years.
Atlas's eyes seem to have fire in them, it was hard not to look at him. I have to thank Saf, hearing her purring in my head made me shake my hand and lose the eye contact.
"I think I could use that drink right about now." I say as I push past his hand and grab my glass. He smiled at me while shaking his head.
"I think this deserves a toast." He said as he took his glass from the houd.
"To you, Kaya."
"Bottoms up." I say as I drink the whisky in one go, and so does Atlas.The burn of the whisky hides the taste of mistletoe.
"To my beautiful soulmate, may you never leave my side."He says as he lowers the glass, grabs me by the hand and yanks me thirds him. Our lips collide, and for a brief moment as he swinged me against the jeep,maybe from the shock I let myself be kissed by him.I have been kissed before, many times. But this kiss filled my skin with goosebumps.My hands were against his chest and I keep thinking that Atlas thinks I'm his soulmate and as soon as I felt his lips leave mine in search for my neck I couldn't risk him marking me.He is not my soulmate, I say to my self as I pushed him away from me. Either the force was stronger than I imagined or the mistletoe started to work as he crashed against the other car.
"It's the mistletoe, I could feel his wolf weakening." Said Saf.
As Atlas's eyes glazed over I ran to his side and grabbed him,puting him into the jeep wasn't an eazy task he is one heavy werewolf.By the time I have dim all buckled up he was totally passed out.
"We better get on the road, can't really risk him waking up now can we." Saf said.
I jumped behind the wheel and start driving as soon as I stole one more glance at Atlas.
"So are we going to talk about it?" Asked Safire.
"About what." I say, my eyes focused on the road ahead.
"The kiss that happened moments ago."
"What is there to talk about?" I say as my grip on the wheel hardens.
"Ohh you definitely felt it, I did too. But I imagine you can't explain it any better then I could."
"I admit it was strange, it was something I haven't felt in a long time not since..." I put my hand over the pendant on my necklace.
"You know he was not your soulmate either, right? He was just a friend,honestly you shouldn't even wear that necklace.
"I promised, you know that." I say.
"I know, like I know everything. I growed up with you." Sometimes I forget I never had to wait for my wolf, Saf was with me since I was a baby. Five hours later I was approaching the packs manor, Atlas still profoundly asleep making noises here and there.It has passed 6am, the sun was starting to show on the roof as I parked my jeep.
Jeffrey came running out along with the "royal" guards that went to my house. Behind them came the Luna.
She opened the jeeps door and pushed the hair from Atlas's face.
"My foolish boy." She said so quietly even I almost missed it.
"Jeffrey get Atlas inside now and do it discreetly, the Alpha will arrive in matter of hours. Atlas needs to be ready." She told Jeffrey and he simply nodded his head to the man and they went to take Atlas out of my jeep.
The Luna turned to me.
"I take it there were no problems."
"No Luna."
She presided to hand me an envelope.
"Your paycheck."
"Thank you, Luna." I say.
"Thank you for your services, if there is anything I can do for you or your family just let me know." She offered.
"Just one thing Luna." I say.
"Yes." The look on her face showed curiosity.
"Don't tell Atlas where to find me."
Luna nodded her head,she probably thought I was afraid he would take repercussions against me when in reality I'm hiding from his so called soulmate bond.With my task finished, I hopped into my jeep and was headed home.
"Time for life to go back to normal."
The morning after is always the quietest.The storm inside me hasn't gone anywhere, but at least now I know which way it's pulling. I pull my sweater tighter around my shoulders as I stand by the mirror, staring at myself like I'm supposed to recognize the girl looking back. Strong. Brave. Determined. Goddess, I wish I felt like any of those things.Saf’s presence is a gentle hum in the back of my mind, a low, constant pulse of reassurance. She's calm. Which is more than I can say for myself.Behind me, the door creaks open."You're up early," Thalia says, leaning against the frame with a steaming mug in her hand. Her hair's a mess yet she wears it so beautifully, the clothes Atlas got us suit the new her. Tho I never saw her wear that much black before."I'm not sure I even slept." Not after the rude awakening I had. Atlas stood by my side until Thalia came back with the tea. I had a few sips and spent the night staring at the ceiling. "But neither did you. I know this new wave of en
"Even I don’t know what I’m to face,” Kaya says, her voice steady despite the storm brewing behind her eyes. “But I do know where to start."I take a step closer, watching the way her shoulders square themselves, the way her chin lifts like she's walking into a fight she’s already accepted she might lose.“Where?” I ask, even though I already feel the answer coiling in my gut like a warning.Kaya doesn’t look at me. Her gaze stays fixed on the night outside, as if she's speaking more to the dark than to me. “When I was younger,” she begins, “I spent hours reading. Old books, dusty ones no one else wanted. I was obsessed with history, especially late werewolf history, the forgotten kind.”That catches me off guard. “Late history?”She nods. “The kind they don’t teach anymore. The kind they buried.”There’s something haunting in the way she says it, something ancient and worn. Her fingers clench the windowsill like she’s holding onto the edge of a memory that still burns.“I remember a
I bolt upright.It’s not just a sound, it’s a shockwave that rips through the calm and hits me square in the chest. It’s her. I don’t even think, my wolf is already lunging forward in my mind, claws unsheathed, heart racing like war drums. My feet are moving before I even know where I’m going.I burst into the hallway, my senses flaring, Sky snapping to life with a roar in my head. The moment I reach her door, it’s already swinging open from the force of my shoulder slamming into it.Thalia is standing in front of the window, blocking Kaya's path. When Kaya lunges forward, Thaila pushes her back with a force that slams her body against the wooden frame of the bed, dropping her to her knees. I step in front of Thaila, using my body as a shield between her and Kaya."I wasn't trying to hurt her," Thaila says. "I was trying to stop her from going out the window... again." She says, and I turn to look at Kaya, slowly getting up from the floor as if waking up. "She was in that trans again.
The air in the room shifts when Kaya stands, breaking the comfortable stillness between us. I feel the weight of her footsteps lingering in my chest. I stay on the couch, staring at the space where she was just moments ago, her warmth still faintly radiating on the cushion next to me.I know she’s still sorting through everything, trying to figure out what I mean, what she means to me. But even if she doesn’t have the answers yet, there’s something in the way she trusts me that makes me believe in what we have. Even in silence, I know she’s here with me, in a way that no one else ever has been.Sky, however, doesn’t give me the space to wallow in the quiet for too long."Claim her." His voice is a growl inside my mind, not angry but demanding, like the undercurrent of a storm. "She’s yours. Ours. The moon goddess gave you the soulmate bond, she wouldn't see you wrong for claiming it."I rub a hand over my face, trying to shake off the weight of his words, but it’s not working. There’s
The kiss didn’t fix anything. But it softened something that had been sharp between us. We didn't speak much after. We didn’t need to. The silence was warmer now, draped over us like a shared blanket rather than a wall. We sat on opposite ends of the couch, knees close enough to touch, sharing the last of the pasta from the pot like two kids who forgot what being guarded felt like.When I glance over at him, I notice how relaxed he looks. And being near him like this, it brings a stillness to my chest I didn’t realize I’d been searching for.Peace.That's what it is.Not fireworks or soul-deep magic. Not the invisible thread of fate that everyone says soulmates should feel. Just quiet, steady peace. And goddess, I didn’t know how much I’d been missing that.Saf stirs gently inside my mind, not her usual cheeky self.“You feel it, don’t you? Even if it’s not the bond. He calms the storm in you.”I nod to myself, then turn to him.“Atlas,” I say softly, and he lifts his head like he alre
Atlas stands near the window, arms crossed, posture deceptively relaxed. He hasn’t said anything since Thalia walked out of that cellar like some kind of elemental force. I don’t blame him. I haven’t said anything either.Not until now.“She’s stronger than we thought,” I murmur.Atlas doesn’t look at me right away. “She is.” Why does he feel so... distant all of a sudden? Just yesterday, he wanted me, my soulmate, he said. Usually I can read people very well, it's part of my job description, knowing their next move, but since Atlas avoids my eyes, I dont know, I can't even guess what is happening inside his head."Woman, you wanted space, he gave it to you." Saf says, her hum low inside my head. "Or are you regretting that decision?" I grit my teeth at Saf’s comment, but she’s not wrong.“I didn’t ask him to vanish into himself,” I whisper back, not aloud, just in my head, though the frustration simmers all the same. “I asked for space. Not a wall.”Atlas finally turns toward me then