Chapter 28

SOMA:

Crickets chirping. Halfmoon glowing. And the only being with actual flesh and blood walking about under the shade of nighttime is me.

Might be dark everywhere but lights were provided to hide one through. Without any of that, I know I could still find my way about the place. Only that I could get lost once or twice because I am not too familiar with the premises.

I wasn’t the only one out. Not at all. A few times, since I stepped out of the room assigned to me which has Cassie in it as well, I’ve come in contact with a few warriors acting as guards around here. Asides from the fact that most of them would recognize me for my identity, I wasn’t walking about in an ungodly hour. So since it has been all good.

Desperation or whatever. I can’t say for sure what’s my giving for heading out to seek the man that got me all worked up... again.

Again, and again, and again. Yet I still want to talk out the issue binding us together. I need to get it off my chest. Probably even affirm what should be between us.

Tonight’s the night he makes a decision about us. If he does not want anything to do with me, he probably should let me know now because I’m definitely tired of trying to force things supposedly between us. The thought of knowing I could be the only one feeling the pull is another thing I need to reconsider.

He should be here, I say to myself inwardly as I arrive at the usual location I find him guarding. But no sign of him yet. Except that I could draw out his scent already. I think he’s in hiding. Could be one of the things they do to keep themselves hidden while on duty.

“Luis?” I call out to him, trying to whisper and at the same time make my voice a little clear. A bit contradictory but it should work.

And yeah, it did work, because out of the shadows came his reflection staring right in my direction. I won’t deny that it is one good skill to blend with the shadows. Wish I could learn something similar to that.

“It’s me... Soma.” I tell him as a means of clearing my identity to him.

“I know,” he says. “But what are you doing out here by this time of the night?”

“It’s not even eleven yet,”

“The nights get dangerous from this time. You shouldn’t be outside now,”

“Do I look like someone who cannot take care of herself?” I quiz, already sounding annoyed with him again. He must have pulled my trigger today without him knowing. “A ninety percent chance that I would get myself free if I happen to find myself in an unfriendly situation. The ten percent less chance is if silver and bane are involved.”

He does not give me a response so I simply help myself to seat on the mini stairway. But I’m of the highest doubt that he would join me in sitting so I simply stare ahead. And how was the breeze around here? Magnificent, just like I called it the first time I was here, although at the crack of dawn. Different timing, sane old cool air.

“I’m here to talk about us once and for all. And you sure as hell are going to listen to me,” I announce, not wasting time because I do want to get any issue about us done and over with.

“Is this going to be worth my time?”

That... that was so uncalled for.

I turn my head to look at him, anger flooding my face and every part of my being. “You really should be mindful of your words, Luis. They come out as insulting most times,” I snap at him while glaring hard.

“It was never my intention, and so I apologize. I only want to know if it is something I would be okay discussing. Most especially something I would not be put in a tight spot for,”

And there he goes about with his words that would make me feel I’m the one giving him the biggest if inconveniences. Whenever he goes like this, I mostly do not have a choice but to become calm. I think the thing I need to do now is to get to know him first. I need to understand how his attitude works before I even want to know if this would even be close to working.

“Do you have time to sit?”

His expression switches to contemplation. Yeah, I can see he’s started to reveal emotions well now and it sits well with me.

“I don’t know,” he says. “I still have to be watchful of my environment.”

“What about I activate my hyper senses for you, would it work to cover the area along with you?”

“That would mean you will be reacting to the slightest of movements. Wouldn’t that be inconvenient?”

I smile a little. “I was trained in the ways of movement detection during my early combat days. Don’t worry, I can easily spot the difference between movements around an area,”

But I was skeptical because I know how vulnerable I’ve become of recently. I’m not comfortable saying I would be helpful in detections but I’m sure I could help out even if it’s just a little.

A while later and he decides, “Okay, I’ll sit.” He then comes to join me where I’m seated, choosing to leave quite the distance between us. Doesn’t feel cool but I might just have to make do with it.

“Did Leonard make you leave earlier this morning?”

“What’s that?”

I raise my brows at him. “You left all of a sudden in the middle of our conversation in the morning. Why?”

“Oh,” his face twitches a little. “I had something I had to catch up with. If I didn’t leave I would have been late for it. And no, it wasn’t Beta Leonard,”

“What was so important that you had to rush back like that? Weren’t you on your way to the pack training initially?”

“I was... but then I had no choice.”

He was not being entirely sincere, but I cannot try to force the words out of him. He has his reasons for what he did and it should be none of my business.

I blink my eyes and then look away from him. The momentum from the breeze suddenly hitting my face brought a unique sensation into me. If this was a fairytale, I would have started a song about his beautiful nature was.

“So, have you decided?” I throw the first question at him as a start-up to the reason I came to see him. That was moments after the sensation of the cool breeze hit me.

“I haven’t,” he admits. “But I don’t plan on rejecting because I don’t think that’s the right thing to do. Hasn’t ever crossed my mind,”

“What then is going to happen? Are we just going to keep staying this way? Keep acting like nothing is between us?”

I feel his gaze on me but I choose not to look back at him. It could just be him trying to make a thing out of the moment so maybe I should just let him do his thing.

“I have not really thought about that. I’m still very much undecided how to go about everything so it’s going to be hard for me to come to a decision,”

My eyes were closed when I start to say, “I’m sorry if this is not what you wanted. I’m sorry if I’m causing the biggest inconvenience you have ever gone through. But it’s not my fault everything’s like this. No matter how hard I try to fight off the pull, it keeps coming back stronger. If I could, I would forget there is anything I share with you and move on but I can’t.”

“And I’m not asking you to,”

Slowly, I open my eyes. And it is with the same slow motion I turn my head to look at Luis’s face to confirm if I heard him right. Everything — the words, his tone, the execution — was smooth. And I’m totally in awe.

“Did you just say that?” I have to ask.

“I did. And I meant it,”

Well, well, well, Soma. Guess coming out kind of violent to him did some retouching to his feelings. Not bad.

“So...”

“Perhaps you should give me a little more time to go process everything. I know I’m not making a bad choice by having a little confidence that everything seems to be going on fine, but I still have to be sure about what I’m about to get myself into. It has always been about me. And I hope you know that?”

“Do I? Of course I do. Why else would you think I called you a coward?”

The weird reaction from him shows he is trying to relax himself around me but at the same time, he’s trying to cover up. I’ve seen through you, mister.

“You know what I think? I think we need to spend a little time out together so we could get to know each other better. I know you haven’t concluded yet but until then, put that in mind that you’ll be acting like a gentleman. And I won’t be taking no for an answer,”

“A gentleman? Can I even afford your bills?”

“I don’t do expensive, so yes, you can afford my bills.”

I then proceed to look ahead and let the overwhelming feeling take a hold of me. It felt better this time around because the whole discussion with Luis actually did go well. With the look of things, it might be official already but I will not be quick to conclude yet because a little thing could change his mind.

At least it was good that I decided to reveal my true nature to him. That way he could get a glimpse of what he is about to get himself into. Something definitely good.

“I have your hotline so I’ll be in touch with you,” he says just as I stand up to my feet.

“Hmph, I’ll be banking on that,”