Damon's Soulmate

Genesis

Nix pulled the blonde girl into a hug. “You couldn’t wait, I assume!”

They giggled.

Amora hugged her even tighter. “I missed you, best friend. You owe me one!”

“Come on in,” Nix invited.

“Not so fast,” a familiar voice behind Amora spoke up.

Nix gasped. “Oh my god! Jake!” She pushed Amora aside. “Out of my way, weirdo!” She dashed to the guy who welcomed her hug eagerly.

“Hey, sport,” he murmured with a wide smile. When they parted, his eyes swept all over her.

“Wow, squirt, look at you! You’ve always been pretty, but now you look tantalizing!” He finished with a wink.

Nix slightly blushed and slapped his chest. “Oh, you big flirt, you!”

A sudden low growl brought everyone’s attention to the stairs where Shaun stood watching them, his hands crossed over his chest, with a smug face and a raised brow showing his displeasure.

Brothers! Nix rolled her eyes as she turned back to Jake and tugged his hand toward the entrance.

Amora was already settled in the kitchen talking away to Genesis as she drank juice comfortably, feeling at home.

“Hello, Mom.” Jake went to hug Genesis while Nix strolled to the fridge to pour him a glass of milk. Jake had always preferred milk over any drink.

“Jake, I’m so happy to see you. How have you been? How is your dad?” Genesis inquired.

“I’m okay, he’s fine. He invited you guys for dinner at our place.” Jake was Amora’s brother. Phoenix’s family was close to them, and they frequently had get-togethers.

He was tall at six foot one, with an athletic build and the same blue eyes as his sister.

He inherited his dark brown hair from his father, while his sister had their late mother’s straight blonde hair.

Since their mother passed away when they were still toddlers, they grew attached to Genesis and saw her as their mother.

They called her Mom too.

***

Nix

Graduation Day, a few months later…

It has been a peaceful day so far. Mom hasn’t been well for a month now. It saddens me that she cannot make it to my graduation, but she has to rest and get well.

I chose to be a lawyer because of her, while Shaun chose to take after Dad in business.

Speaking of Dad, he has not been home for four months, and we haven’t heard from him. It is actually the reason why Mom is not well.

My instincts are not calming either, but I’m holding onto hope. We’ve tried to reach Alpha Derrick, who is my father’s best friend and alpha, but we cannot get through to him either.

Home has become dull since we are all worried and cannot shake the bad feeling in our guts.

Shaun is here in his fancy dark blue suit. He looks a bit stressed and serious, probably from work and, well, he is always serious.

Since Dad has not come back home, our businesses here need to be supervised, and with Mom’s depression, Shaun stood in. He’s working hard, and I’m so proud of him.

We get our alone time sprinting in parks to let our wolves out for a stretch on weekends, then sometimes he manages to attend dinners we have with Amora’s family.

I smiled at him as he waved at me while I climbed off the stage after receiving my award. I strolled straight over to hug him. “I’m so glad you came!”

“Wouldn’t miss this for the world! Congrats, little sis, so proud of ya!” He pulled back to kiss my forehead.

I smiled and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.” I grinned.

“How is Mama?” he inquired.

“The same dark cycles, doesn’t talk much.” I sighed. “I hate seeing her this way.”

He nodded. “It’s going to be all right, sport. Do not worry!”

Right on cue, Amora chimed in. “Heeey!”

I laughed and hugged her.

“Hey, man!” I heard Jake greeting Shaun. I instantly felt nervous, and butterflies started to explode in my stomach.

Yes, so, I like Jake. Shoot me! I’ve always had a harmless little crush on him. Then again, who wouldn’t? He’s kind, charming, good in the kitchen, and ooh, so handsome!

My feelings for him made me unavailable to any other guy out there.

I know he likes me too, he’s just a bit shy. But I’m thankful he never brought up the subject.

Since I shifted, I’ve known I should have a mate, and it’s not him. I would have recognized him already.

I wouldn’t like to hurt him when the time I find my mate comes. So, I’m okay with how we are now.

I let go of Amora who looked at me knowingly and stalked to him for a hug. “Hey, Jake!”

“Hello, cutie. Congrats!” he mumbled as he held me in a teddy-bear embrace—and, oh, he smelled good! I could feel my face heat up as I let him go, so I looked at my feet.

When I decided to look up, I found him staring down at me, and for a moment, I saw a flash of emotions pass through his eyes.

Before I could read him, he abruptly pulled my nose to annoy me.

“Hey!” I objected as he chuckled. His blue eyes sparkled, and I couldn’t help but grin back at him.

I heard a throat clearing and turned back to see Shaun, as always, hands crossed over his chest with a raised eyebrow. He didn’t like it. I rolled my eyes.

Amora scoffed. “Would you warm up and stop being Daddy Eric most of the time? We already get it—you’re clones, so don’t be too uptight for our sake!

“Look at you! Do you even have a girlfriend?! Ugh, so boring!” She held her waist, glaring at him.

These two had never shared a pleasant conversation, ever. They showed affection toward one another through bickering.

Jake and I chuckled, earning a glare from my clearly annoyed and tired brother.

Shaun lazily looked back at Amora and shrugged. “Can’t help it. I only have one sibling left! And it’s none of your concern whether I date or not, dumbass!”

He turned to me. “Come here, sport.”

I obediently went to his side, and he snaked his hand over my shoulder.

“You guys can join us at home. We have a dinner celebration later.” While he said that, Uncle Allan, Amora’s father came to join us.

“You kids go ahead—I’ll be there later on!” He looked at his daughter. “I promise, cupcake. Something came up, and it needs my immediate attention.” He hugged and kissed her.

So, we parted ways after taking some pictures.

When we reached home, I shot up to Mom’s room. I found no one inside when I entered. Her scent wasn’t strong either. Where could she be in her state?

As if sensing my distress, Shaun strolled in.

“What’s the matter, Sport?” he inquired.

“Mama—she’s not here!” I replied as he scanned the room until he saw an envelope on her dressing table. I saw it too, so I rushed behind him toward it.

He picked it up and opened it. He read it quietly for a few seconds, and I read his expression.

He paled.

Panic flashed through his green orbs.

I froze.

“Kaka…what is it?” (Brother…what is it?)

He stayed quiet for a moment, recovering from his shock. Suddenly, he started to tear the letter into pieces.

Now, this was not right.

“SHAUN!” I shouted.

It seemed to have brought him back to reality for a bit. He swallowed hard, trying to let out the words I’d been dreading to hear.

“She went to find Father.”

I felt my legs weaken. “WHAT?” Terrible thoughts started running through my head. What if they learn about her? What if they get to her? Oh no, no, no.

“NO, NO, NO!” I screamed.

Jake and Amora came rushing in.

“Nix, what’s wrong?” Amora came running to me.

I cried. I ran to my brother and hugged him. “We have to find her, brother! We have to!”

He held me as he fought the tears. I could feel him tense, his wolf on edge. He wanted to shift.

So, I held him tighter, calming down his wolf while I told him, “We are going to find her and bring her back home safe.

“She’s all we have left now that we don’t know what happened to our father. God! What is happening to us? What did we ever do to deserve this?”

Jake took me from Shaun’s hands and led me out of the room, with Amora following suit toward my room. When we reached it, she offered to bring me a glass of water.

I thanked her, and she exited. Jake gave me a comforting hug.

“Hey, what’s the matter, hmm?”

I started sniffling as tears rolled down my face. “I’m worried, J.”

He cupped both sides of my face with his palms and looked me in the eyes. “Hey, shh! Everything is going to be all right. We’ll find Mom, okay? Okay?”

I nodded.

Suddenly, I started having these feelings. As I really took the time to look at him, I felt the familiar butterflies in my stomach again.

I couldn’t help it with him being so close, so I tugged my hand at the back of his neck and pulled him toward me. I crashed my lips onto his for a kiss.

I’d always wanted this. I’d always wanted him. It felt good to have him near me. To feel him like that. His lips were so…so…

“Oh!”

A moan escaped my lips, and it gave him a chance to slip his tongue inside and deepen the kiss. Oh, that was it! Did he know how much he affected me?

I heard him groan, and I smiled victoriously against his lips. I affected him the same way he did me.

We heard a loud gasp.

“Well, suck my boobs and call me Candy!” Amora muttered, standing in the doorway.

I pulled away to watch Amora at the door. Her eyes were wide and her jaw slack. Amusement was written all over her face.

“What did you see, squirt?” Jake’s threatening tone almost made me giggle. But I couldn’t. My mind was bursting with so many things at once.

“Nada!” Amora quickly replied innocently as she avoided eye contact with him.

She pressed her lips into a thin line to stop herself from bursting out loud with laughter as she brought me a glass of water.

Jake stood and moved away to let his sister occupy his place. I could feel my face heat up more with every passing second under Amora’s scrutinizing gaze.

“Well, I doubt you’re still thirsty after my brother’s generous donation, but I still have to make sure you do not get dehydrated. What are best friends for, after all?”

Oh, how I wished to wipe that evil smirk from her face.

Great! I’m a now walking tomato, just great! I hid my face in my palms as she giggled. I heard Jake’s footsteps retreat from my room.

“He is probably looking for a glass of milk to calm his hormones.” She laughed.

“Stop, please! Gawd!” I hit her with my pillow as she continued to laugh. I fought myself not to smile at her, but I lost the battle.

“Was it three minutes? God, you two!” Amora continued to make fun of me. I knew what she was up to! This wasn’t quite a shock for her since she knew I liked her brother.

She also knows her jokes always lighten up my mood.

“Amo, thank you.” My mother’s face abruptly came back to my head again. The thoughts, which were clouded for a few minutes, came back with full force.

My poor Mom. She was in that alien country, going to the pack my father’s chosen lived in… It was like seeking out the angel of death himself.

That woman would kill her off, and the thought itself terrified me. It hurt me more that I couldn’t share this with my best friend!

“But my mom…” That was the only thing I could say to her. It hurt.

“She’s going to be fine! I promise.” She comforted me, and I embraced her.

The dinner didn’t push through. Jake, Shaun, and Uncle Allan planned for tomorrow’s flight to the USA.

As much as I wanted to go, Shaun, the overprotective brother of mine, demanded I stay back with Amora and Uncle Allan.

I didn’t get the chance to talk to Jake, and it gave me a kind of relief. What I did was wrong, and I knew I should make things right before they got out of control.

I had a mate out there—it wouldn’t be fair to both of them. I felt so torn. What if I would never meet my mate and Jake loved someone else?

I felt something was missing deep down, and Jake wasn’t the right piece of the puzzle. Was it the fact that he was too gentle? I didn’t know.

Thinking about him distracted me from my worries about my mother. When my thinking went overboard, Amora always knew what to say and do to lift my spirits up.

As long as Amora is here, I’ll be all right.

It had been three days since they left, and I talked to Shaun twice, but he was still tracking Mama. He told me to keep calm and he’d call whenever he had news.

Amo had always been here to cheer me up.

A week later, they came back with Mom in a bad shape and a bundle of bad news.

Apparently, the pack went into war with the neighboring pack, The Shadow Pack, whose alpha was on bad terms with my father’s alpha.

The Shadow Pack won and slaughtered all the top-ranked wolves and took over, our father included. Mama lost herself after finding out and went into shock.

She was nearly caught at the pack borders, but luckily, she escaped with the help of an omega who was going back from grocery shopping. Shaun found her after tracking her whereabouts.

Since he’s the spitting image of my father, the patrolling wolves recognized him as our father’s son without struggle and tried to warn him of the danger if he were spotted by the wrong wolves.

He told them of his purpose for being there, and they told him about a strange black woman, a human who, by his descriptions, could be the one he was looking for.

They relayed to him how they nearly caught her and how she escaped.

He later found the omega and mother. But all that wasn’t easy because he was a lone wolf with no pack scent, which set pack wolves on edge.

Some could mistake him for a rogue, and that could have created even more problems. The only thing that helped him was his face. Our late dad’s face and forward manners.

I don’t know how he managed to fool Jake, but here they are, home with Mom, and I am more than thankful.

I didn’t take our father’s news well either, but I refused to leave my brother’s side. We had to take care of our mom now.

I don’t know how he managed to cover our nature from Jake.

Mom was in a horrid state. She didn’t talk. She didn’t eat. Gone were her sweet smiles. The only active expression on her face was sadness and tears. She had nightmares.

Everything was falling apart.

It had now been a week since Shaun came back. He’d lost weight due to stress. I found him crying in his room two nights ago. I didn’t say a thing, for there was nothing to say.

Seeing this strong man crying in front of me broke my heart. I went to him and hugged him. No words were needed.

At the top of his nightstand is our family picture. All six of us. It was just last year that you’d only hear laughter in this house, but now, it’s the opposite.

Happiness and laughter were our language, but now it’s tears, pain, loss, and sadness.

My brother cried himself to sleep as I brushed his blond strands away from his face. I looked back at our family picture and my eyes stung as tears flowed.

I hoped we would overcome this.