The Two

"Destiny?!" Alek shouted with confusion when she saw the person coming out of the portal.

"Lady." The personal witch of Alek's grandmother, Vibia Mutsuki, bowed her head to show respect as the shells of the spell of the portal melted into the air.

The future head returned the bow out of habit that made the both of them continue bowing until Alek broke it.

"I thought Gemma was coming..." The shifter mumbled.

They were in the middle of the forest back of the Minazuki house, and nobody saw the portal or heard Alek's scream. Complete natural security and privacy.

"She is out of the country with lady Vibia to a conference so I was ordered by sir Rin to come instead." She then looked up with clear cornflower blue eyes. "Did you want Gemma, first miss Minazuki?" She seemed sad saying that.

Alek immediately held her hand out in a defensive position and said, "That's not what I meant. I thought you weren't used to the portal and stuff so..."

"Ah." The witch looked down. Her slightly messy carrot red hair circled her tiny, fragile face gently. "I don't know why but when I think of you or your siblings, I can easily lead a portal to you. So I no longer have a problem with portals, at least for you people."

"Really? Congratulations!! I'm happy for you." Alek reached for Destiny's small pale hands with hers and held them softly. "You are improving with your powers and yet I'm still figuring out how the heck those animals fit inside my body."

Destiny giggled cutely before saying, "Miss, they are spiritual animals. And also they reside specifically in your mind and not the body physically. They are there yet they are not, physically and mentally."

"Just like mind. We know that the mind exists but don't know where or how. We just know. What a creepy yet interesting world." Alek's eyes shone like a scientist in need, and the witch just turned the corner of her lips upward.

They were so similar but so different. They were going to make a good pair.

"Well, first miss Minazuki, let me portal you to the watchtower. Sir Rin and Jin are waiting."

"I feel weird you calling me that. Could you call me by my name?" The girl asked before the other could chant the spell for portals.

"I'm afraid not. You are superior than me and I respect you. So I mustn't call you by your given name."

"But we are of the same age."

"..."

"Okay," Alek raised her hands in the air and continued, "But, I really want to get to know you so I hope we can change that in the near future."

Destiny looked down with happiness. Finally, she was getting a friend, and that friend was the next head of Minazuki, who was also new to the world of supernaturals. She had someone to share her struggles with. Although she wasn't sure if Alek really meant it, it still made her happy. Also, Alek didn't look like that type that said out of pity.

"Understood." The witch answered and felt the girl squeeze their joint hands for confirmation.

Destiny chanted a spell after assuring her and brought her in front of the watchtower fifty-nine where the twins waited.

"Hey, Alek!" Jin greeted his cousin with a hug, thinking his brother would greet her after him or at least say something, but none of that happened.

When they ended the hug and turned to face Rin, they saw an expression of his that they had never seen.

Rin was staring at the witch, Destiny as if he was facing a goddess. His mouth was even forming a perfect 'O', quite adorable considering how strict he appeared all the time.

He looked like a deer in a headlight, but those eyes weren't blank like the animal. They held so many emotions that even the clown Jin could see them from a mile away.

His twin's eyes were filled with admiration, love, longing, surprise, pride, possessiveness, affection, passion, tenderness, devotion, stupidity, foolishness and dumbness. Maybe he added the last three words, but still, that was a lot.

Castor then finally noticed that there was someone who had the same look as his brother had now and pieced the pieces together. No wonder his brother was antsy and weird since the werewolf incident.

Pollux was far from being brought back to reality even when Alek sneezed out of nowhere loudly.

He was so concentrated on looking at the petite girl in front of him that the other two knew that he wasn't aware of their existence, and the same went for Destiny.

The difference was that Destiny seemed to have no idea why she was looking at the shifter in that way but still looking at him.

The two were in their own world that Jin and Alek didn't want to break in.

"Should we leave them be?" Asked Alek.

"Yeah," Jin answered, and together, they left the love birds outside in the burning sun. They'll come back to reality... in about a few minutes... or maybe in hours.

After the two walked away, the shifter and the witch unconsciously walked toward each other as if they were pulled by force stronger than earth's gravity.

When Destiny was just a step away from Rin, he breathed, "Hi..."

"Hi..." The witch also breathed the greeting while looking up. She was staring into the other's eyes that she was drawn to as if they were black holes.

His eyes were a little darker than honey brown which went along with his dark skin tone. Those were the colours of the floor of the cave she lived in just six months ago.

The colour of the soil and leaves she gathered to keep her warm in the cold forest. The colour of the tall trees that blocked the sunlight from seeping into the forest looked like monsters to her at night.

Until this moment, she thought this colour was the colour of her painful past. The days she spent alone and scared for some reason she didn't know.

She thought those colours would remind her of her past, but that wasn't at all true. Somehow, the colour reminded her of different things.

Like how the leaves gave her warmth on the coldest nights and mornings, how the scent of the trees gave her a slight sense of comfort and how the dirt on her body chased away scared hunters away, thinking she was a cursed monster. If she hadn't covered herself in the dirt, she didn't know what could have happened to her.

Probably sold as a sex slave or just shot and killed. If that was the case and there was a choice, she'd choose the latter.

The important thing was that those were the colours that accompanied her during her lonely times and kept on encouraging her to live through the hard times, giving her hopes that tomorrow would be better and someone was going to save her, and those hopes came true.

Destiny was more drawn to those black holes than the actual black holes. Even a tornado wouldn't be able to make her tear her eyes off the other's eyes.

She then slowly took a deep breath to feel something spark inside of her brightly.

He smelt of the ocean. Deep, calming and fresh. She even thought that she heard the waves.

His scent went through her body naturally like blood carrying oxygen yet engulfing her softly and firmly.

Everything was comfortable. She felt as if she was part of the ocean, part of him. She felt that she belonged there. That she was supposed to be there.

Rin stared into the girl's eyes. Her clear eyes that he thought he could stare at them forever and never get bored.

Her eyes were something that he had never seen. They were soft yet sharp but also kind. Soft as the blue sky, sharp as the ice in the south pole and kind as the sea.

To him, her eyes were the oasis in the middle of the desert. He just realised that he had been thirsty all his life in his desert and finally found the oasis that he had been looking for. She was his life.

The way the eyes looked up at him... He had everything to say but nothing to say at the same time. His mind was congested with words, but none of them was good enough for it.

He breathed in her scent and felt the tingle from the tip of his hair to his toes. She smelt of soap and... magic. Spicy magic that was a little tickly.

He took another deep breath in and confirmed that there was another component in her unique, attractive, bewitching scent.

It was the smell of blackthorn. He knew it was the flowers since his mother grew them in the backyard of their house and also because he loved what the flower symbolised. Fate. Blackthorns symbolised fate.

He actually had a plan to gift his mate in the future the flowers if he met them but he didn't expect his mate to actually smell like blackthorn. Smell like fate.

Was this God telling him that she was truly his and only his mate? That they were meant to be together?

Rin slowly brought up his right hand at the same time as Destiny did on the other side.

They both reached for each other's faces slowly with care and instinct.

When the skin made contact, they both took a sharp intake of breath in unison. The tingles they were feeling from their fingertips were unexplainable. Something that they wanted to feel forever and never let go of.

This was what people meant by 'Mates are more than just lovers. Connected by mind and heart, chosen by the soul. They were soulmates.'

The two closed their eyes to take in the feeling and when they opened them again, they were back to staring at each other.

Pollux leisurely brought down his face closer to Destiny's face while not breaking eye contact and stopped when his face was in the mirror position of hers.

They could feel the other's not-so-relaxed breathing with their cheeks and lips. Their intimacy and all the exploring of each other's eyes and the scent were making them lose part of their sanity.

Just as Rin was going to lean in more, they both got a call in their mind.

Gemma was sending messages to Destiny through her mind in form of a spell while Rin received one from his grandmother checking in on him.

As soon as they were done with the mind link, the fog that hid their sanity was cleared and they both jumped away from each other with a deep blush.

"sbcrkmf..." The witch mumbled something incoherent under her breath and ran away from the spot to God knows where while Pollux stopped himself from chasing after her as also he was confused why he did that.

Rin turned towards the building like a robot in need of a new battery and looked at where he was supposed to be in a long time ago as he hid half of his red face with an arm.

What was he about to do to her?! He was so angry at himself and embarrassed. First of all, they had only met a few days ago and didn't know each other well. Secondly, he didn't ask Destiny for her consent. And thirdly, he was about to do it in front of a watchtower, where many, many people went in and out.

Him a second ago was stupid. Very stupid and had done something disgusting and unforgivable. He had to apologise but he needed time to calm himself first.

So Rin took a deep breath in and out. After tapping himself on the cheeks he decided to deal with his cousin's situation first and think about this later.

-----

Destiny closed the door behind her and sat down on the floor as if someone had stopped controlling her and she was a strengthless puppet. Good thing her room had a lock and a shield that allowed no supernaturals to peep, including Rayna, Gemma and Vibia.

She looked at her hand that touched the second sir Mutsuki and brought that up to her French rose-coloured lips.

"Were we about to...kiss...?"