Her Pureblood
I stood up, too excited to remain still. Li stayed where he was, his eyes followed me as I paced the room.
"Who is she?" I stopped and asked, there was no need for more elaboration.
"That's not my secret to tell, little bro." His eyes smiled, clearly enjoying it. I didn't know what he saw on my face, but he lifted both hands, palms forward, surrendering.
"Do you want to hear the end of that story or not?" He asked, as evasive as ever.
"Go on." I decided to drop it for now. He nodded, his entertained expression from earlier disappeared, and his features became serious again.
"At first, I thought you recognized me, which explained why you didn't run for the hills or at least started hiccupping like the white pup," he paused, "she never left your side, even then." He smiled warmly each time he spoke about the mysterious she-wolf. "But then, I realized something terrible, you had the same expression I saw a while earlier on mom. You had become a ragdoll too."
He took a deep breath. And so did I.
"The only part of you that wasn't… hypnotized, was your eyes. They followed your little white friend no matter where she went at that time."
And I forgot all about her as if she had never existed.
"I somehow decided that I needed to shift back and carry both of you to wherever dad was!" He narrowed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief, clearly beating himself up for his decision back then, that, or doubting his IQ.
"Thankfully, dad mind linked me a minute before I shifted back into my human form, otherwise…"
He stared at my toes.
".. The pack still talks about this often, the sight of a medium-sized red wolf that should neither have shifted nor existed, covering a little pureblood with a severe case of frostbite, and the youngest she-wolf to have ever shifted in their history." He said, amused again.
I found that anecdote disturbing.
"Did I have to do something with the fact that she shifted earlier than usual?" I asked, half knowing the answer already.
His face dropped, but his eyes were determined.
"It was pure instinct, she shifted because she sensed you, then recognized you, and then somehow felt your willpower being manipulated." He declared, startling me.
"What the hell Li? What am I to her for all that freaking sixth sense stuff to happen to a pup? Why would she go out of her way like that for me?"
What was so important about me again when it came to a different set of mythical creatures altogether this time around?
"I'm a pureblood, after all?" I was aiming for a statement, but it ended up coming out as a question instead.
He hesitated.
"It doesn't matter what you are, you were both that young, still, she felt a connection that strong towards you."
I snorted. "Next, you'll start chanting songs about love at first sight?"
"It's not love at first sight, it's just a pull that lets you know how good it would be for a certain two to hook up together, that's all there is to it." He rubbed his chin, contemplating a better explanation probably.
"Are you talking about chemistry?"
He looked satisfied with that word. "Why not call it that?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. It looked like he was willing to call bananas apples as long as I gave the 'pull' he spoke about a second thought.
"And that, little bro, is how things got kind of decided for the two of you."
I opened my mouth to ask for more details, but he didn't let me.
"Look, I already told you, bonds are indecisive, think of it more as an indicator instead of something that's set in stone."
I decided that it was fair enough, for now, we had more important things to discuss anyway.
"By the time dad and I took you back to the rented house, mom was sound asleep. She woke up with no memory of what happened and freaked out when she heard about it all from dad and me...You were different." He paused, "You were completely out of it for weeks to come. We never stepped foot in Anchorage ever again after that. Not until he wrote that note, asking me to set up a funeral and take you back here with me. That's it."
He stood up abruptly.
"Now it's your turn to explain what happened in that forest."
"THEO! LI! THE COLD SANDWICHES ARE GETTING COLD~" Sophie shouted all the way from the kitchen.
""Later."" We said the exact same thing at the exact same time.
***
"How about Master Chef, hmm?" Liam kept trying to monetize sparklers' cooking talents as we were about to finish our third round of dinner.
"Hah! She'd win that in a heartbeat!" I was just not ready to share her talents with the rest of the world though.
Sophie giggled. "I'm off to change guys, are you sure you don't need help cleaning up?"
"Naah, you cook we clean, that's a fair deal right there," Li said.
Olivia called Liam a while ago, she said something about having to leave town with her husband all of a sudden for a couple of days, she asked if Sophie could crash at our place instead of staying alone at theirs.
It was the least we could do for them.
I gave her my room and decided to stay in the living room while she slept up there. Li never offered to give his space, which was a tad odd considering how much he liked Sophie too.
Sophie stood up, then hesitated.
"Are you sure it's okay for me to stay in your room?" Her cheeks were extra rosy tonight.
"Of course, sparklers! Didn't you sacrifice your pink room for us the other day?" I laughed at how pink that room was. She picked a potato chip from over the table and threw it at me. I caught it with my mouth, easily.
"Fine! I'm off to bed then!"
"Sweet dreams," I wished sincerely.
"You too!" She beamed at me.
Oh, I had other plans for the night, they didn't involve sleeping.
Once I was sure Sophie had gone to my room, I told Liam everything about what happened in the forest that day. When I was done explaining everything as detailed as possible. I arrived at a possible outcome that I had contemplated all along, even as a ghost in that dimension he threw me at.
"I think I know who took mom away from us. And we need one hell of a plan to bring her back, Li"