Found You

Alec

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It had been almost an hour since I had left Elinora, but it felt like well over a decade. I wanted so bad to be the one to tell her everything. I wanted to show her my world, tell her all the old stories. I wanted her to see the other half of me. So many new wants for someone who had been adjacent to my world for years now. I had found my mate.

My mate. It felt so good to say that, finally. Though, I never expected to find her. Shifters, at least the ones I knew, were pretty convinced that mates no longer existed. Until Harley and Reese, I had never known a mated pair. They gave me hope that I would find my other half, but I never allowed myself time to daydream. The last true mates, designated by the moon goddess herself, were thought to have died in the war that saved my part of the world, my part of reality. The section of my existence where I felt safe, wanted and loved.

My biological parents used to tell me stories about the original Four--the packs that kept our ancient secrets safe. They each stood for specific values. Twilight's Halo was the last of the four to fall in the war. This pack was the most infamous and legendary, or at least that's what it sounded like when I was a kid. Their values were soft and emotional, including openness, spirituality, and empathy. For the most part, they stayed to themselves, focusing their efforts on passing down their faith to future generations. Other packs underestimated them, and it became their greatest strength.

Gypsy shifters and lone wolves alike have heard the stories of Twilight's Halo. Apparently, this pack had powerful magic in their favor. Most of the stories I've heard mention moonlight blessings on the Luna of the pack. More specifically, these blessings almost always include the ability to understand emotions or even affect other people's feelings. The old texts that I have read for myself are vague about this. I always thought it was related to telepathy or mind control.

There is more nonsense writing about a chosen one. One to unite the remaining blessed with gifts. This "chosen one" is always written having the ability to influence the emotions of anyone. They are also rumored to control the elements, among other powers. But so much is garbled by the spoken word. Most have forgotten about blessings in the centuries since the war.

My mind hadn't stopped spinning since reading that notecard. It made me wish I had access to more historical texts or that I had at least paid better attention to the tales from my childhood. Pathoseia sounded so familiar and so much like the powers supposedly lost with Twilight's Halo. I had never seen the blessing from the moonlight named in what I had read, and there was so much lost information. I didn't know enough to give her the truth she deserved, but I still felt a crushing urge to hold her when she broke down, asking for what had been hidden from her.

At that moment, it was beyond me. I would do whatever I could to give Elinora clarity. There was potentially a side of her stifled by forced ignorance throughout her life. The curiosity I felt urged me to talk to her and touch her, prickled under my skin, and bloomed within my stomach. I could only imagine the madness she must feel without answers. Elinora had been moments away from unlocking not only a portion of herself but of her mother and family. In just one night, she lost her whole world, so many integral pieces of her world.

I could never express my gratitude enough to Holly and Zin for bringing Elli here, unknowingly to me. Though an impatient voice in my head is still holding a grudge since this introduction could've happened ages ago. The only thing that really mattered to me since locking eyes with that girl was giving her solace. Whatever she needed, I wanted to be the one to give it to her.

A buzz from the phone in my pocket broke me from my contemplation.

A text from Reese, you comin bck 2 da partayy?? the girls r bck from the secret lair... but E did sneak away again

Anytime I needed to talk to Reese, I called. His texting read like that of a 13-year-old girl, and most of the time, I couldn't bring myself to decipher his vague and shorthand excuses for conversation.

'E'-you mean Elinora? wdym she snuck away? I replied quickly, hoping Reese hadn't become distracted in the twenty seconds it took me to type out a response.

I let myself stare at the chatbox, my leg bouncing until the anticipation demanded distraction. I decided to change into a different t-shirt, hoping I wouldn't sweat through this one. Reese's response lit up my lock screen by the time I had changed and applied deodorant. I read it as I left my room, making my way to the ballroom.

hehe she begged Har 4 a j & a lighter then tiptoed away, alone

A second buzz, if i were her, i'd b lookin 4 a balcony;)

I decided not to respond. If she were looking to smoke, there are only a few places. I pass by the ballroom, the music thumping inside, before making my way through the entryway. I check the front first and no Elinora. The bottom floor is the one she has explored most thoroughly, so I retrace my steps but overshoot the stairs to my bedroom. I find the back door and open it to peer out into the yard behind the house. The grassy space is full of shadows cast by toys and playground equipment. Still, no Elinora.

I wandered back to the ballroom, not wanting to spend hours searching through every balcony and alcove. I entered the makeshift club my friends had seemed to create, searching the crowd for any of my 6 cohorts. Spotting Holly through the crowd of people, I happened upon just the people I wanted to see.

"Well, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news," Zin started with a mischievous glint in her eye. "But Nora made a run for it."

"Yeah, I asked her blood type, and she decided it was best to go home and start packing," Holly continued the joke.

"Oh, totally. Because you two wouldn't be upset at all right now if that were the case," I returned, calling the bluff. "Why do you just assume I came here to ask about Elli?"

The two girls gave each other a side glance before Zindra crossed her arms and asked, "Alright, well, why are you here?"

"What? I couldn't find two of my best friends at a party just to hang out with them?" I pondered, wanting to win them over with my boyish charm but knowing they could see through my bullshit from a mile away.

"Well, you can," Holly conceded, "but you don't usually. You don't ever come to these parties to hang out. You host them, come say hi, and then go back to the hobbit hole you call a bedroom."

"I still reserve the right to kick you out of that room you have here but never sleep in," I had enough banter. "Where's Elli?"

"HA!" Zin threw an accusatory finger my way, "I knew it. You were absolutely eye-fucking Nora earlier. You've even resorted to her cutesy nickname!"

"Cutesy?" Holly cut in, "Is that why you call her Nora?"

"Yeah, I just think the name Elli is juvenile," Zin responded, seeming to forget my question.

"Okay, one," I began, hoping they would stay on topic. "I was not ′eye-fucking' Elli," adding air quotes to signal my annoyance, "and, stay with me here; where is she?"

Zindra scoffed, "Whatever. We don't know where she is. She just took the news that her two best friends in the world are mythical creatures like a champ. Elinora deals with things in isolation; she'll come to us when this settles or when she has more questions."

"Yeah," Holly continued, "I'm sure with the way Elli's mind works, she's going to process and come back asking for the proof."

"So, this whole time, you guys had no idea where she had gone?" I asked, exasperated by this conversation.

"NO!" Zin exclaimed, matching my attitude. "Nora got her own personal pre-roll from Harley and then took off exploring. I'm sure she found a balcony to settle down on while she thinks."

Holly giggled, "I hope she doesn't accidentally open someone's bedroom while they sleep! She's nosy and doesn't know which are occupied."

"Well," I said, slipping my hands into my pockets. "I would say thank you, but you didn't help at all. I'll see you guys later."

Cutting the conversation short, I spun on my heel and headed for the exit. I knew where she could be, but it was a long shot.

Just before I was out of earshot, Zin yelled, "If you find her, use protection!"

Even though I knew that Zindra sought out this exact reaction, I rolled my eyes. Though I shouldn't even be entertaining the idea, I let lustful thoughts of Elinora creep their way into focus. She was so damn gorgeous and mine. Even if she didn't understand it yet. I didn't want my imagination to run wild, so I slammed that train of thought to a halt and found my way back to the stairs, which led to some of the bedrooms.

I decided to take a chance on my hunch. A silent tug guided me back to the door of my room. I took a deep breath, turned the handle, and stepped inside. The tantalizing smell of amber oil and jasmine entered my senses, and I knew she was here.

She had found my balcony. I wonder how we had missed each other. Maybe she had found the hall before I left my room, and right after I left, she flipped a u-turn and found herself here? I don't know. I could sit here and play out the scenarios in my head of how I missed her showing up in my room, or I could go out there and see if she wanted to talk.

I took a deep breath and opened the door to the balcony. Elinora jumped from her seat in surprise but noticed it was me and immediately softened. It warmed my heart to know I made her comfortable because she already felt like home to me.

"Jeez, you scared me!" Elli exclaimed with a hand clutched to her chest, the other holding a lit cigarette.

"Well, you're the one standing on my balcony," I countered.

"I know it's your balcony," she continued, "but I figured you'd be at the party."

"You figured wrong, Elli. I've been looking for you. I wanted to make sure you weren't freaking out."

She used sarcasm in a sad attempt to cover the distress in her voice, "Oh, me? Freaking out? Never. My two best friends are imaginary monsters from all the books and movies I love so much. I possess some ancient magic that no one seems to have any information on. So, yeah. What could I possibly have to freak out about?"

She took a drag off of her drug of choice, continuing, "Honestly, the craziest part of all of this for me is that I don't feel scared or upset or even surprised at all! For whatever reason, the half of me that is losing my shit on the inside is completely overshadowed by the half of me that somehow, deep down, knew that this world existed all along."

"Holly and Zin didn't tell you?" I questioned, recognizing how it feels to have two sides of yourself waging a war of emotions.

She sighed, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. Turning her attention back to me, "What more could there possibly be?"

"I guess maybe they don't know," I started, realizing that I had the most connection to our ancestry and the stories from the past out of the seven of us. "Pathoseia is a gift that has never been named outside of the inner circle within Twilight's Halo pack from centuries ago. Or, at least, I assume that pathoseia is the same gift this pack's Luna was rumored to possess. I don't want to get your hopes up because many of the stories concerning Twilight's Halo are beyond lost. I only know what my parents told me before I lost them."

She gave me a look of sympathy, though the glint in her eye told me to hurry along to the point.

"Alright, to possess this gift, you have to be a shifter like Holly, like Zindra, like me. Not only that, but if it is what I think it is, you're the remaining bloodline of Twilight's Halo."

I waited on her response, but she just took another hit. Silently inhaling and exhaling, I watched her wheels spin. Her face looked conflicted, deep in thought. Then, she laughed. A joyless sound, but it still made my heart flutter.

"Are you saying I'm a werewolf?" Elinora continued her fit of laughter, "Okay, smart guy. How come I've never changed into an animal? Like, ever?"

A part of me wanted to respond to her cockiness with a snide remark of my own, but I knew now wasn't the time. "Besides any hybrid with a vampiric bloodline, shifters don't change for the first time until they see someone else complete the shift. So, at least when packs still existed, adults would shift in front of a child during their early teenage years, before their bones fuse. Once your bones fuse as an adult, the shift becomes infinitely more painful, at least that first time."

She contemplated this for a second. "My mom mentioned before she left the night she gave me the news that she thought since it had skipped her, it was basically gone forever. I thought she meant pathoseia, but do you think maybe she couldn't shift, and that's why we lived so normally?"

I ran a hand through my hair, "I don't know, Elinora. It's possible. I don't know any parent that knowingly passed the trait down and waited so long for their child's first shift."

Another hit, "I think it makes the most sense to me that she just assumed I was human, too. When I started showing more definite signs of the gift, she probably started gathering resources. I could bet that's why she finally bit the bullet and agreed to a divorce. She needed freedom from my father to show me the world she thought she lost."

"I wish I had all the answers for you, Elli," I sighed. I stood up a little straighter, realizing I had called her by one of her nicknames. She didn't seem to bat an eyelash at my use of her sweet, shortened name, but it felt amazing to use it aloud with her.

The silence that followed consumed the moment. She finished the pre-roll from Harley before throwing the filter into a plastic cup she must have brought with her from the party. We sat there for a time before I recalled one of her earlier comments.

"Hey," I began, "when I first walked out here, you mentioned that you knew it was my room, my balcony. How did you know?"

Elinora turned to me, a bit of pink tinging her cheeks. She pushed her hair back behind her ear, dropping her hand to her lap to meet the other. Making eye contact, she said, "The smell. Sandalwood and peppermint. I recognized it from meeting you earlier. I opened your door and immediately knew."

All I could do was stare. This girl had no idea she was a wolf, yet everything I had seen from her told me she let her senses and instincts guide her.

"I'm sorry if I overstepped my boundaries," she continued with more hesitancy in her voice. "I just needed a quiet, comfortable place to think."

"No!" I exclaimed, startling myself a bit with my outburst. I cleared my throat, "No need to apologize. I am glad you found a place you felt at ease. Especially after having so much dropped on you in one evening."

I didn't comment on it to Elinora, but the fact that she felt comfortable surrounded by my scent made me want to burst at the seams with enthusiasm.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted your processing of the night," I added. "I can leave you to your thoughts if you'd like."

It was her time to blurt out her denial, "No!" She said, seeming to surprise herself in the process. "No, you can stay. I have more questions now, anyway." She giggled, "Besides, this is your room! Who am I to kick you out?"

I joined her with a chuckle of my own, "I guess you're right."

What she didn't know is that I would do anything she asked of me, within reason, of course. I was already head over heels in love with her and her blushing coyness. I was more than content to sit here all night answering any questions she had, so long as I could stay this close to her.

"Well, come on then. Fire away." I prodded, anxious to answer her questions.

"Okay, first. How painful will my first shift be?" She asked, adding, "If I can even shift."

"You can definitely shift if you possess that blessing," I confirmed. "And considering you are an adult, it will be excruciating." I grimaced at the thought of the pain she would have to experience to finally let her wolf out.

She seemed to follow the same train and mirrored my cringe. "Is it worth it?"

I pondered this, taking my time to think about the way it feels to transition, to become my wolf. I found myself reminiscing about the feel of the wind through my thick coat and the forest floor under my paws. Everything was simple as a wolf. Simple and instinctual, free from the burdens of the human experience. I didn't want to see her first transition. I don't think I could physically handle seeing her in that amount of pain, but I still answered, "Definitely. The feeling is completely indescribable. It feels liberating and completely natural. I know when I let my wolf out, it feels more and more like this human mind is a cage."

Elinora immediately asked, "Can we try tonight?"

I knew this was coming. She needed tangible evidence, and none of us could give her that without potentially causing her undoing.

I scratched the back of my head, "Elli, I really don't think that's a good idea. Your two best friends are downstairs getting drunk, and I think it would be best to be surrounded by the people you love during that first shift. It will feel like an eternity of your bones breaking and cracking to reconfigure your skeleton; you need support from your inner circle to make it through something like that."

She crossed her arms indignantly, "We don't even know for sure that I am a shifter. I could see this magic you all claim to have and never have a reaction. We won't know unless we try."

I allowed myself to copy her attitude, "Look, you don't have to believe us, but my bet is that you would've left by now if you thought we were a bunch of compulsive liars. I will not give you the proof you are asking for, not tonight anyway. This should be planned out--something you should be prepared for. If you have other questions, I will try my best to answer them or write them down so I can later. But I will not be shifting in front of you. I can't be the one to do that to you."

Arms still crossed, she immediately fired, "Why can't it be you? Why are you already so enraptured by me? Why do I feel so allured by you? What 'things' do you have to tell me that Holly and Zin don't feel comfortable voicing? Tell me the truth. I can feel the truth, and you're dancing around it."

Her words struck me. Is this what had her so frustrated? Out of everything she realized tonight, this was her focus? I was on cloud nine. Elinora had just admitted she felt the bond. Even without recognizing it for what it is, she noticed it. She had just admitted to reciprocating every deafening emotion I had felt since laying eyes on her. Holly and Zin knew we were mates, but they either wanted her to figure it out or me to tell her. I decided to continue matching her impertinence.

I shot back with a sly smirk, "You said you've read all the books and seen all the movies. I know the emphasis. I know how they describe werewolves to teenage girls. You tell me why we are so enamored with one another."

Though the confidence hid any ounce of insecurity, my heart was racing. I ached to hear the words come out of Elinora's mouth. My wolf was shaking with anticipation watching her face heat to a bright red, reaching the top of the ear she had revealed when swiping her hair back.

She decided to play dumb, looking down and responding with a stutter, "I-I don't know. Like I said, I may not even be enchanted or blessed or whatever you call it."

I took a step forward. Her eyes darted to mine, but she didn't back away. I took another and another. She only started an attempt to escape my advances when only 10 inches remained between us. I continued my small steps toward her until I had her pinned between me and the balcony railing.

Elinora gulped, her breathing shaky and shallow. "Wha-What are you doing?"

Before applying any logic to my actions, I reached out a hand, my fingers finding her cheek. I toyed with the hair that had fallen into her face before curling it around her other ear. Though her eyes showed the intensity of her nerves, they almost fluttered closed at my touch, enjoying the skin-to-skin contact. I didn't allow her to question her involuntary response as I pressed a kiss to her cheek and stepped away, giving her back the space I had taken.