Undeniably Chosen

by Shelly Crane

  When I looked up they were open-mouthed.

  “Oh, my gosh, Ave.” Laurelyn wiped under her eye. This is like a freaking romance novel. What happened next?”

  So I told them. I told them everything. By the time I was done, we were all crying, but I was smiling through them.

  Ember sniffed. “I would have gone in, too.” I looked up to meet her gaze. “Into the burning building.” She nodded. “I would have gone in after my significant. I mean…at least I think I would.”

  I tilted my head and sighed. I hoped that Ember would find her soulmate soon. She joked around a lot and she could be loud and fun and silly, but she was also be this loving, caring, passionate spirit. I think that’s why she wanted to find her significant so badly; because she was so passionate and loving.

  “Scruff feels rough and a little soft at the same time. It feels like…a little bit of pain with a little bit of pleasure mixed in.”

  She smiled crookedly and we leaned over to hug each other.

  “Your significant is coming, Ember,” I promised. Mom had taken care of that.

  “Thank you. And Ava, everything is going to okay.” She leaned back. “This summit…bullcrap. We’re all behind you. Just don’t show them any fear.”

  I nodded and hadn’t realized how truly distressed I was about it until she started talking about it. I hugged her hard. I heard Ember say, “Oh, get in here, Lore.”

  We all laughed and hugged each other, remembering what it was like to grow up together. Maria used to babysit us. We’d watch movies and talk about bonding with our soulmate one day, meeting him, what the visions would be like, what someone’s calming touch would like.

  After a while of lounging and TV, I asked what they wanted to do. I should have known they’d pick horseshoes.

  We had another Jacobson family get-together coming up tomorrow. We might as well practice.

  Ember was the queen of horseshoes, even throwing them behind her back. It was ridiculous. And the gloating…

  That was how Seth found us. It had been hours since I’d seen him. It was nearing sunset, in fact. I wondered what he’d been doing all day, but didn’t dare actually bring those thoughts to the frontline. There was this part of me, this part of my mind that I just couldn’t understand that was at peace with not knowing, with letting him do this. He needed to and for some reason, he couldn’t tell me the whys of it yet.

  I squinted as that stung, but knew that eventually he would tell me. I knew that with certainty.

  The girls’ widening eyes looked behind me and Ember’s eyes moved away to settled back on our game. That should have been my first clue. Ember had reached her limit of all things significant today.

  Arms reached around my waist and I smiled as his scruff rubbed against my cheek, forcing a calm-filled, ecstasy-inducing gasp from my lips. But when I heard his sigh, it wasn’t just one that was filled of longing from being gone all day. No, this was something else.

  I tried to smile as I whispered, “What’s wrong?” but he couldn’t see my face. The smile was for Laurelyn and Ember’s benefit and they’d already gotten the gist.

  Laurelyn mouthed, ‘We’ll go.’ She tugged Ember’s hand and they went back up to the house.

  I tried to turn, but he held me tight. “Just wait,” he sighed tiredly. “I just want to feel you like this.” He rubbed his cheek against mine.

  My heart pounded harder. “Seth, you’re scaring me.”

  “Everything’s fine, sweetheart,” he assured, but he stayed right there, just holding me, just…being.

  I couldn’t take it. “Baby,” I begged, “please.”

  He did this half-groan, half-breathe thing that lit every vein in my body on fire as he turned me to face him. He cupped my face. You would think that after so long, after so many times, that his skin on mine, his fingers across my face wouldn’t elicit such a delicious response.

  I fought it so my eyes didn’t roll to the back of my head.

  “Ava,” he said softly, “I…I wish you could remember.” I felt my breath catch. “I want you to remember,” he said, almost like it was a command. He looked awful. Like someone who had been through the emotional ringer today. He obviously needed me and whatever the “thing” was that we’d been dancing around, it was eating at him. And he needed me and I couldn’t be there for him because I didn’t know how to. I’d never felt guilty for something that I couldn’t remember. He shook his head quickly, closing his eyes. Gosh, he looked so tired and emotionally beaten. I wondered what they’d done to him today. “Sweetheart, you did nothing wrong. I just wish I knew how to…” He sighed. “I don’t want to… I’m afraid that if I go about it the wrong way that I’ll hurt you. That’s the last thing I want to do.”

  The wheels began to turn a little. “Seth—”

  “Seth. Oh, good, you’re back.” I rolled my eyes at my mother and turned to look at her. “I need you two to come inside and let’s talk about what’s going to go on with the summit.” I stared. She waved her hand to come inside. “Come on. I made corn nuggets. If you hurry, you can beat your dad to them.” She turned, not waiting for answer. Because not only was she my mother, and I respected her, but she was the freaking Visionary.

  I sighed and turned to Seth to find him extra smiley. “What are you so smiley about, mister?”

  He chuckled at the nickname. “You’re adorable.” He came to me, slicing the space between us into nothing. “We’ll talk, little bird,” he promised and kissed my forehead.

  Inside Mom force-fed Seth corn nuggets as we sat at the big dining room table and she tried to prepare us for the grilling we would receive. It was all technicality, it was all old rules and traditions, but that’s what our entire race and lives were built on, so we couldn’t just discount it and act like it didn’t matter, Mom said. This had to be handled delicately or else they’d turn on us.

  So we would just keep our head down and let Mom do the talking.

  “So their plane comes in tonight and then we’ll just head over in the morning. We’ll get one more night of good sleep at least.” She smiled. “Seth, I know this is going to be overwhelming. But this isn’t what our reunifications are like. Not really. So please don’t be discouraged and try not to be disappointed. Some of the council members lived in the palace almost all their adult life until I became the Visionary and did away with that. So…just try not to be put off by the old ways of our people.”

  Seth smiled tightly. “Growing up with my family, I don’t think there’s any risk of me being disappointed by these people.”

  I squeezed his fingers. What the hell happened today?

  He looked at me, our hands on the table between us.

  Gah, Ava, sometimes I feel like I’ve screwed things up beyond repair and then other times, it’s the only thing that makes sense to figure all this out. He breathed out his nose angrily. I don’t know what to do.

  I tilted my head, feeling hurt settle in my gut.

  You could talk to me about it.

  He leaned his head back, raking his free fingers through his hair with his eyes closed tightly. When his head came back down he came straight for me. He pressed his forehead to mine and sighed harshly, his teeth set, his lips open as he struggled with something that I had no idea about, because I didn’t know anything. But then two whispered words stopped me, stopped my brain from obsessing, stopped my body from moving.

  “I do.” He kissed my hair as he got up and stopped, his lips pressed there. “I will figured this out for us, sweetheart. I promise you.”

  Then he left me there to wonder what the hell all that meant. Mom was long gone. Not a minute later I heard Seth in the kitchen with her making the food for dinner to go along with the corn nuggets. I do… He does talk to me about it…and he wants me to remember…something. And he was upset when he came home from the Watsons today. Maybe they did something. Maybe there was some plot against me and he was working to stop it. Maybe that was why he wanted to go today and wanted to keep ever
ything secret from me.

  Maybe I was just going crazy. Maybe I should talk to Mom…but then she would bring Dad into it and then it would be a big mess of them trying to figure out what’s wrong with me. They wouldn’t rest until it was done and they wouldn’t be rational about it. They’d go straight after the Watsons. They’d start a war at a time that a war couldn’t happen.

  No. Seth was working on something. I just had to trust that he would figure this out for us, like he always promised.

  _ _ _

  “Ava,” Pablo crooned and hugged me affectionately. “So good to see you.” Pablo was Paolo son’s and had stepped in to take his place on the council. Or should I say he was ‘voted’ in, but it was almost unanimous. In their clan, Paulo’s family was like the Jacobsons—they were loved by all and were a fair and just family for the most part. Once the Watsons were gone and they were no longer under the thumb of Donald, they became a pretty thriving clan.

  “You, too. This is Seth,” I said and stepped back a bit to let them shake hands.

  “Good to meet you, sir.”

  “Likewise, young man.” He looked at him closely. “Good strong grip. I like that.”

  Seth’s nervous laugh made an appearance. It really was endearing. “Thank you, sir.”

  I could tell Seth was nervous still, but not as much as before. Last night we cooked as a family and ate as one. He got a heaping dose of Jacobson culture—how my family interacts with one another on a regular, daily basis. Ember and Laurelyn stayed again and we just showed him how it was in the family. I hoped he was enjoying himself and he seemed to be. We all sat by the fire in the den that night together, drinking hot tea or cocoa, and just told stories about each other. Seth just listened, soaking it all in. Anytime there was a story about me, I could physically feel him tense behind me as he perked up to listen.

  He and I sat on the big brown and teal club chair together. He sat down and had beckoned me to him, letting me sit next to his legs and lean back against his chest. His hands had coasted up and down my arms all night. When I shivered, I could hear the smile in his voice when he pressed his mouth against my ear and growled, “Goosebumps. Check.”

  I hadn’t known what it was for, but it was so hot.

  That night, I had been whipped into such a frenzy from his warm palms coasting down my skin and his cryptic messages that when we finally decided to go to bed, there wasn’t a whole lot of sleeping going on for a quite a while.

  It was a tame make out session, but still hot nonetheless. The way he kept his hands purposely flat on the bed beside my head, as if that would keep me safe.

  And this morning had been hectic. When we stood outside the room, I could tell he was nervous. I was nervous for him. But I needed to say something. He was my significant and it was my job to protect him, even if it was from a room of old people with judgy opinions.

  “They don’t matter in our world,” I whispered, getting his attention. He looked over, gripping my fingers tighter. I took his other hand in mine, too, and tugged him to face me so he had nowhere to go, our fingers laced together, our gazes colliding. “Those people in that room,” I nodded, “yeah, they’re important. They’re our people. But in my world,” I whispered and got as close as I could get, “it just doesn’t matter. Do you understand that?” I looked into his blue eyes and waited for him to really connect. When he sagged a little relaxing, I knew he was with me. “Do you understand that no matter what goes on in that room this weekend that you’re mine and that will always be so?”

  He let a long breath go as if he’d been holding it, letting his forehead rest against mine. His eyes opened and blue collided with brown once again. I bit my lip, feeling the sting of tears in my eyes. I didn’t know what they had planned for him, but I hated that I couldn’t protect my significant from this.

  He leaned back just a little and looked at me with awe and adoration. “Aw, my little bird.” He took my chin with thumb and his fingers, tugging my lips from my teeth, leaning in. “We talked about this. Especially going into this room—people are going to be watching me, right? You can’t drive me crazy with that lip, Ava.” My mouth fell open with a scoffing laugh. “What?” He grinned. “Don’t act like you don’t know what you biting that lip does to me.”

  I arched my brow and felt my teeth automatically reach for the corner of my bottom lip. It was like a security blanket. He gave me a wild look as he watched me release my lip. “See,” he said triumphantly.

  “Shut up,” I said, pushing his stomach. Gosh, it was like pushing two by fours it was so hard. “And just kiss me.”

  He shook his head. “I love every side of you. There isn’t a side of you I’ve met that I haven’t fallen in love with.”

  My heart clenched.

  “You’re going to be great in there,” I told him. “Don’t worry about anything. Not only is my mom on our side, but my family is behind us. Regardless of the other night, they’re still ready to fight for us. I know you’ve never had to deal with the council before. Just be respectful. And be yourself. They’ll love you in no time. And I’ll fight them if we have to. I will fight them if it comes to that, to the end, until they understand that they can’t take you away from me.” I cupped his face with both hands, loving his scruff on my palms and tried to smile, but I felt a little bit teary. “You just charm them and don’t worry about anything. You’re this amazing man and I know they’ll love you. If it comes to it when they make their decision, then we’ll show them what a mistake that is.”

  The kiss I laid on him was of the slow, torturous variety. He groaned and gripped my back, my shirt slipping and moving under his hands as he tugged me closer and moved me against him since he couldn’t reach my face.

  “Daggum, Ava,” he finally muttered when the both of us could no longer breathe.

  Being scolded by Seth was the highest compliment.

  And now, as I watched him face a room full of people who were about to judge him for his last name alone, I was so proud of him.

  “Yes,” Pablo continued in his serious voice. “I hear congratulations are in order.”

  “Thank you,” I said and smiled brightly, taking Seth’s arm. “Mom is ecstatic, of course.”

  He hesitated and I knew this was the start of the judging, the questions, the part where I would have to defend Seth, the part where I was about to get really pissed.

  “Oh, yeah?” he asked, his accent lilting a little on the crescendo. He still had his smile pasted on, but his questionable eyebrows were now in place. It was like a Mr. Potato Head where he pulled the expression he wanted out of his back pocket and fixed it on perfectly. “Well, to be honest I would have thought she would be a little upset to find her daughter imprinted with a rival clan,” he said gently, even going so far as to suck the air through his teeth like you do when you tell someone bad news. “Especially between the Watsons and the Jacobsons. Their rivalry is legendary,” he said in a flourish. “We’ve never had two clans to hate each other so much. So for this to happen between these two clans…we never would have even dreamed. So I’m just surprised when you say you’re mother is happy.” He gave me a little sad, smiley, fake, nose-scrunched look. “If she can find happiness in all this mess, then that’s amazing!”

  And there’s another expression, pulled right out of his Mr. Potato head butt.

  Seth snorted next to me and then coughed into his hand several times and waved off Pablo’s concern. I just kept on my fixed small smile, because if I did anything else, I might scream.

  I took a deep breath and squeezed Seth arm in my hands, using him for my strength. Seth reached over and put his hand over mine on his arm, letting his touch soak into my skin. I was so upset that I hissed a little when he touched me. I let my eyes swing up to his and his jaw was set. He was angry, too. His thumb ran over my knuckles. He knew what his thumb did to me. I smiled at him and then looked back to Pablo.

  I gave him a small smile. “If she can find happiness in all this mess? Sir…I found
my soulmate, just like you did, just like my mom did, just like everyone here did. I walked into a coffee shop and met the person that was intended to be mine. I don’t see what a last name has to do with it—”

  “Now, Ava.” He held up his hand and I stopped out of respect. The summit could take up to three days depending on how long they needed, and until the decision was made, I would show respect and make sure that they saw that we were just like any other significants in this room.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Let’s just let Seth go schmooze with everyone and have some lunch, shall we?”

  “If that’s what you want, sir.” He took a breath, standing a little taller, and I could tell that my being so obviously nice while it was so obvious that I was angry on the inside was getting to him. “It was nice to see you again.”

  I tugged Seth away before I had a chance to hurt anyone. I breathed in deep as we walked away. Oh, God, please don’t let everyone be so blunt about their disdain for our relationship. I wanted to cry. I looked to the wall to my left so no one would see that I was fighting tears. The way Seth looked at me—it was obvious to anyone within a two mile radius that he adored me, that he had a protective sense for me, that he looked at me like a Virtuoso man looked at his significant woman. So why wasn’t that good enough?

  I felt Seth’s fingers on my jaw, pulling my face to look at him. We had stopped walking. I hadn’t even realized. The conference room we were in was impersonal and there wasn’t anything in there but a few tables, a bunch of people, and a small stage. It was dimly lit, enough for us all to see each other, but dim enough so that you didn’t feel like you were under a spotlight the entire time you walked across the room.

  So when Seth’s hand palmed my cheek, I didn’t think anything of it. When Seth moved into my space, I didn’t think anyone would notice. When Seth pressed his forehead to mine, I didn’t think anyone could really see or would be paying attention. When Seth’s other hand wrapped around wrist, his thumb rubbing over my tattoo, and he began to murmur words of love and comfort to me, his breath puffing against my cheek and lips because his mouth was so close to mine, I pretended like it mattered not a bit in this world.