Chapter 18

SOMA:

“Urggh,” I groan as I struggle to take off the right pair of shoe from my foot. The struggle to get it off me was real but I have no idea why it was this difficult. And just like that, with a little force, I end up ruining the pair by ripping it off my foot.

I couldn’t say anything other than stare at the mess I’ve made. It was a total mess because there was no way in heaven’s name that I could use the pair again. Not even through a repair because the amount of tear it has on it was nothing to write home about.

Maybe it is just me but everything around seems a little off point. More like not the way I roll kind of thing. Probably the reason I could not hold handle the pressure that cans with it which resulted in me being a little too extra.

Relax your mind, I instruct myself mentally as I get up to my feet so I could take off my top and other things on me. Without ripping anything apart, hopefully, this time around.

Just before I could begin the process, a knock resounds on the door. Yeah, I could not tell who was there but something gave away the person and it was none other than my best friend that I might have started not making him aware of things surrounding me.

Am I being a bad friend already? I won’t mostly say I am. Let’s just say I have a purpose for doing what I’m doing. Something like trying to figure out myself first before taking things a little further. Mark could always help out but I wanted to solve the issue myself. But after what I heard today, it might be about time someone else hears about this from me.

“Come in,” I call out audibly without showing any form of wanting to have a conversation with anyone at the moment. Even if that anyone was my best friend.

The door starts to creak open until Mark’s head pokes into the room. I notice immediately that he has his focus on the ceiling and I have to look up to see if there was anything on it that would warrant him looking up. But there was none despite taking my time.

“What is it?” I have to ask him instead when I look down from staring at the ceiling.

“I think the ceiling needs a new painting. Or what do you think?” he says and I am forced to look back at the plain white top. There was nothing wrong with it to warrant a new painting.

I have to shrug soon after because there was still nothing from the ceiling that would affirm why Mark commented on it. “Looks fine to me,” I say. “What makes you think it indeed needs a new painting?”

“It’s noting, nevermind,”

And he looks down from staring at the ceiling to shifting his focus on me. He seems kind of weird with the way he actually looks at me that it has me thinking he wants to say something that could be intense. Maybe not too intense but he sure does have something to say.

“So...”

Not a good start but it was the only thing that came to mind immediately after I notice the weirdness all over him.

“So, what’s up with you? How did the company go today?” he asks and then starts to walk into the room fully as he has been more like peeping into the room since his arrival.

Light steps follow from him into my room after he shuts the door behind him and I just have to watch the way he comes in. Feels kind of weird that it has this sensual vibe attached to it but I will not allow that to possess my thoughts because it was damn too risky.

He doesn’t stop until he gets to where I’m standing which was directly in front of my bed. Gives me a quick hug and then proceeds to take a seat on the bed.

“The company went well, I guess. Only thing is that something I was not planning for eventually happened,”

“What was that?”

I do not answer him straight because I still have to take off my jacket. I can’t stand the heat that’s being generated in my body. And undoubtedly the room is cool with the conditioning inserted somewhere around. But it was not helping matters.

I was already out of the jacket all refreshed when I give Mark a response, “Nothing much. Just something way out of my schedule,”

“And you are not going to at least say what it was?”

“I don’t think I want to, Mark. It’s nothing I want to talk about. There’s nothing to even talk about,”

I think Mark wants to put me in a tight spot like the last time. He knows I’ll be adamant about not wanting to talk. Even I’m pretty sure he has the biggest clue already as to what really happened today and that is the reason he wants to know about the details.

“No, there is a lot to talk about. Lately, you have been keeping a lot of things from me and it actually has me wondering if we are starting to fall apart. I’m supposed to be your best friend, remember?”

The guilt, dammit.

“Why are you being this insisting though?” I ask, trying not to look at him.

“Because I have to. Just tell me what happened and we’re all good after that, I promise. I’m not going to bug you after that,”

I try not to sigh from his adamant attitude. Yes, he has every right to be, but if he knows how uncomfortable I am right now, then he wouldn’t want to get on with this.

“I’ve been having this feeling, Mark. This weird pull or something that I cannot place my hands on. I cannot explain what it is because even Rainia has no definite idea about it,”

“What is this about, Soma?”

“Do you want to know why I do not want to talk about what happened today?” and then I turn around to look at him, my hand on my hair as I loosen the ponytail. “It’s because I think I might have found my mate, but I do not know how to go about it because it’s complicated.”

His initial reaction does not sit well with me. I can’t seem to put my finger around it but it seems to be something I would never expect to get from him. Perhaps I should say he should have been glad about it. Well, he’s a guy. Emotions differ.

“And does what you said correlate with what happened at the company?”

“It does... because he was in the company today.”

And then he goes quiet. I know better not to say anything yet. It’s more like I’m giving him the moment to process what I’m telling him and hoping that he gets every bit of what I have to tell him. Because there is a lot to say.

“Who might this wolfling be? Is he or she someone I know?”

My face scrunches into a frown. “What has a ‘she’ got to do with this?”

“You have not confirmed the identity to me so I could always wonder if a ‘she’ is involved,”

“It’s a ‘he’. And you have seen him before. But I won’t say you know him.”

“Who is he then?”

“The warrior I stalemated in a fight at the Dark Moon pack... that’s him.”

“That same one you couldn’t stop talking about?”

“Yes,” I say, “he’s the one.”

“Start explaining the complicated situation in it. I’ve still not seen what’s complicated about being a mate to a warrior from a rival pack. Or better still, a warrior that went toe to toe with you in a spar,”

And that is when I go sit with him on the bed. “Mark, telling you it’s complicated is because it truly is. I’m sure you have been listening to what I said because I told you I couldn’t understand what I was feeling yet I still mentioned having a mate in that warrior. Don’t you think that sounds contradictory?”

“I was about to get into that but I wanted it to be something you would mention willingly. And now that you have said it, can you tell me what the problem is?”

It’s not going to be a bad idea if I talk to him about what I found out earlier today. Mark could guide me through the whole thing, I’m sure of that.

“After I realized I was feeling the strange pull, I didn’t make much out of it until we got to the Dark Moon pack—”

“You meet him somewhere before we went to the Dark Moon pack for the meeting with Alpha Tyrone?”

“The clubhouse, yes. He was the ‘him’ you thought I was blabbering about. Told you I knew what I was doing,”

“Okay?”

“So, I went to sort of confront him when I saw him at the Dark Moon pack and later I realized something that he could not feel the same pull that I was feeling. Made it seem like it was one-sided because I was sure about the pull leading to him. We scheduled a meeting for today so I could get an understanding of what was going on and he announced something that I would never expect to hear...”

I go with the sudden pause to pique his interest and apparently he already has interest fully in what I am telling him.

“Why did you stop?” he asks. “Tell me what you found out,”

“He does not have a spirit wolf...” I announce, getting ready to say something else but I get beaten to it.

“You cannot be with him!”