by CC Solomon
“Does Phillip? I’m sure he got off on that.”
I stroked his arm around me, glad it was still there and that I hadn’t run him off. “Doesn’t matter what he thinks. I make my own decisions.”
“As long as you know I don’t share. I’ll make sure Phillip knows that, too. I don’t want him coming near you.”
I let out a deep sigh. “Fine, as long as you tell Raya the same.”
I’d figure out a way to keep my promise. Staying away from Phillip was my only option, but we were soulmates. We had to work together to fight what was coming.
How could I control my soulmate connection and keep the man I loved?
Chapter 27
I spent the next week searching for the lamp and officially moving back to Silver Spring to stay with Erik. I did secret searches in Faith’s, Lisa’s, and Felix’s places, looking for the lamp. I didn’t find anything but I was hoping I wouldn’t anyway. They were part of the Six so it wouldn’t make sense that they’d be an original soulmate, but I wanted to rule all my friends out first.
I went into every home I could think of like it was a full-time job but was failing miserably at my new gig. One week left and I’d be meeting my maker if something didn’t happen quick for me.
I’d found out, through Ed, that Phillip was also searching for the lamp. Phillip tried to reach out to me on several occasions but I’d blocked him from my mind and pretended I was too busy when he came to the pack apartment. I was staying in Erik’s home; there was no way I’d disrespect him by talking to Phillip.
The welcome back party that Saturday was held at a former wine bar that I didn’t recall being open the last time I was in town. It seemed to be turned into one of the fancier establishments, which fit the occasion, as this party was another pseudo-sophisticated event.
I put on a strapless, maroon gown I picked up in one of the few boutiques back in Hagerstown with credits I’d earned from teaching before I was banished. The store was filled with clothing collected during scavenging and a few newly designed items. I was pretty sure my dress was from the prior decade but it fit me well. The one lovely thing about the apocalypse was that no one was worried about setting trends, so people would wear clothes from any era they wanted and no one cared.
I swept my curly hair to one side of my head and held it in place with bobby pins I’d scored some time ago. I did myself up in my limited amount of makeup, then threw on some black heels and a peacoat since it was winter. Although, I had every intention on teleporting directly inside the place, since the temperature was ranging in the single-digit degrees at night. We weren’t even halfway into the winter and I was certain it was set to get colder as the pattern had become in the last several years.
The restaurant was semi-light inside, with light wood floors, wooden tables and chairs pushed near the wall, a marble bar countertop, and deep-brown walls holding black-and-white photo artwork. Recessed lighting lit the space and a DJ, near the left front corner of the room, played a rotation of music from various genres and decades. Waitresses and waiters walked around the space with trays of finger foods and drinks.
Erik stood beside me, dressed nicely in a pair of tailored navy-blue pants, a white button-down shirt, and a matching navy-blue jacket. His hair was slicked back and his beard was trimmed and neat. He looked amazingly healthy, compared to just a few days ago. The dark circles under his eyes were lighter, almost gone, and he had the coloring back to his skin.
A tinge of guilt reminded me that I had been the cause of him looking like he was coming off a week-long bender while I hadn’t suffered physically at all.
Erik leaned in to me. “I really want to take that dress off of you,” he whispered. “I plan to cut this reunion short.”
“Aww, that’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me,” I cracked.
I spotted Faith and Grace near the wall to the right, talking to each other and looking very cozy. Faith moved a strand of hair out of Grace’s eyes. Interesting.
I turned to see that Shayla, Henry, Ed, Felix, and Lisa sat far off at a booth chatting.
Raya and Carter walked over to us before we could make our way to our friends.
Carter gave me a tight hug and Raya gave the slightest of nods.
“Amina, will I see you at the pack run tonight?” She asked, then slapped her forehead. “Oh, that’s right, you’re not a were. Never mind. Erik will have to leave you behind.”
I glanced at Erik.
“It’s a full moon tonight. But I’m not going with the pack,” he replied with a smile, grabbing my hand and squeezing it.
I leaned in to him. “You’re third in command. You have to run with your pack,” I whispered.
“I’m not leaving you.” His voice had a finality to it and was full of authority. However, he wasn’t the boss of me.
“I could ride a bicycle beside you all and keep up,” I offered with a grin.
Carter let out a chuckle. “We can make that happen,” he said.
Erik gave a grunt of laughter. “I’d like to see that but for some reason, I don’t think that’d be safe.”
“Go with your pack. I’ll be home, waiting for you. I promise I won’t leave,” I stated.
“Your honeybun won’t leave you behind again,” Carter cut in with an amused look on his face. “We’ll lock her in the pack apartment and keep a shapeshifter on watch.”
I shrugged and looked at Erik with wide, blinking eyes. “I’ve been confined to an apartment before. I’m a pro now.”
Erik growled but said nothing more. “Maybe. I’ll let you know,” he said before moving us on to the others.
“Where’s my brother and Phillip?” I asked, looking around as I sat down next to Ed.
At the mention of Phillip, Erik let go of my hand. “Going to the bar, want anything?” he asked us.
I asked for wine, if it was available, and Ed asked for another beer.
“Haven’t seen either, yet,” Faith answered. “Charles usually shows up to places late.”
Erik came back a few minutes later and stood to my left. He put a beer down on the table and slid it over to Ed, who gave him a nod. Then he passed me a glass of red wine.
“Your brother is at the bar,” Erik stated. “With Blake.”
I raised an eyebrow. “How chummy are they?” I asked him.
“Very,” Lisa spat. She shook her head and looked towards the bar.
I followed her gaze and squinted my eyes as I watched Blake grab Charles’ arm and give his bicep a squeeze. What the hell was going on?
The world I left had changed and I had too many things to focus on. I suddenly remembered the state I’d left Charles in. He hadn’t been coping well with being a vampire, but I had to remember that nearly three months had passed. Surely, that was enough time for him to get a better handle on things. Yet, I couldn’t ignore a nagging feeling that him being a mage and vampire made him a prime target for those who wanted to exploit him. Blake, who was chummy with Seth, being one of those people.
“Dear God,” I muttered. “How’d you let that happen while I was gone?”
Erik gave me an exaggerated sorrowful look. “I’m sorry, Mina. I was busy trying to find my mate and stop myself from going loupe. Charles’ love life somehow fell off my list of important things.”
I slapped him playfully on his chest and he held my hand to him before leaning in to my right ear. “Don’t leave me again,” he whispered. He touched his forehead to mine.
“I’ll never leave you,” I whispered back in earnest.
“You guys are giving me gas,” Faith cracked. “Glad to see you two together.”
“Me too. Well I guess I’ll just add finding out about this Charles and Blake thing to my growing list,” I muttered. I was slightly saddened that Charles and Lisa were no longer together and hoped Blake was only a temporary rebound.
The rest of the evening went by smoothly. As midnight approached, the weres left to go on their moonlight run. Erik had our group of friends all but swear
a blood oath on keeping an eye on me. He refused to leave unless Faith and Grace agreed to stay in the apartment until he returned.
Upon entering Erik’s apartment, Faith flopped down on the couch and Grace sat, daintily, beside her. “I’m so glad you’re back, Mina,” Faith said. “Erik was a grizzly bear while you were gone.”
Grace nodded in agreement.
I frowned. “Erik mentioned fighting to keep from going loupe. He was exaggerating, right?” I replied.
“Only slightly,” Faith answered. “He wasn’t eating. He was snapping at everyone. He got in a bar fight with a gargoyle dude. Almost started a war between the gargoyles and their allies, versus the weres with that one. I thought he’d kill Lisa.”
“It’s so beautiful how much he loves you,” Grace replied with a smile. Leave it to our resident Disney princess to focus on the bright side. The siren seemed to set herself on positivity autopilot.
“Raya tried to break our bond and become his mate. To save him.”
Faith rolled her eyes. “That bitch.”
Grace patted Faith on the knee. “Luckily, you have such a loyal man,” Grace said with a wistful smile on her face.
“I sort of feel bad for befriending Phillip.”
“And yet, you’ve changed him for the better.”
Faith snorted. “Is he going to stay that way, now that Mina’s back with Erik?”
Grace’s eyes widened. “How long can your spell last? Especially, if you can’t go near Phillip.”
“Good question,” I replied with a shrug. “I was hoping forever. At least until we can really break it.” I wasn’t prepared for the possibility that my spell could wear off and no longer work. We were accepting Phillip into our inner circle. If he went bad again or even became a follower of the first soulmates, we’d all be in big trouble.
I left Faith and Grace to chat in the living room while I went to my bedroom to change into leggings and an oversized top.
I sat down on the bed, feeling tired from the day’s events. There were so many things I missed about the Pre-world. One of them was the spa. It’d always been a good, if temporary, stress reliever. “I would love a massage,” I whispered to myself.
“I can help you with that,” came a voice.
I turned and Phillip was suddenly beside me. I let out a yelp. He reached out and grabbed my hand and before I could pull it back, we were being whisked away to a different setting.
“What the hell!” I shouted as I looked around. We were no longer in Erik’s spare bedroom but in an apartment living room.
“We’re in my new place. I was debating kicking the pack out of my apartment building, but I got a penthouse and it’s just as nice,” Phillip replied with a shrug. “Anyway, I just needed to get a moment with you.”
I took my hand back. “Phillip, we don’t need to do anything to call attention to ourselves. Erik’s already on edge because of how close we’ve gotten. And if Grace and Faith find I’m gone, they are going to get Erik and he will flip the hell out.”
He sat down on the arm of the couch. “How’s the search for the lamp going? I’ve come up with nothing. I still have to get to Seth’s and Blake’s places somehow. Although we know the soulmate in the States is female, it could be any one of Seth’s sister wives.”
He wanted to talk about non-relationship things. That was okay, I could handle that.
“That would certainly explain their complacency. For one of them, it could all just be a ploy. And the female soulmate may not actually be in this area like you believe. Maybe you’re reading too much into Ahmed’s words.” I let out a deep sigh.
“He couldn’t tell us directly, but I know he was trying to give us hints. He said we needed to return home and he made a point of mentioning how our friends would be focused on finding us rather than what the mobile soulmate was up to. Why would they have a role at all in finding what she was up to if she weren’t nearby?”
I scratched my head and looked up. “Okay, so if she was nearby and our friend’s attention wasn’t focus so much on finding us, then they would pay more attention to anything off around them. However, as long as we were away, they would be ignoring signs or clues that focus them on any impending threats.”
“Exactly. That’s what Ahmed was getting at. It’s why I believe the soulmate is closer than we think. If she were in another country, it wouldn’t matter if we were here or not because we wouldn’t know what they were up to. But if the soulmate is here or close to here, we would be cognizant of strange things going on.”
“That’s a big assumption.”
“You got anything better?”
I shook my head. “No, nor do I want to ignore that line of thinking. Better that we at least rule it out.”
“Exactly. Look, Amina, I need your help with something.” His eyes grew serious.
“Sure, what?”
“I want to heal the people I’ve maimed. I’m talking about the ones who have lost limbs, eyes, tongues. I can’t regrow that sort of thing on my own.”
I nodded and smiled. “I’m not sure if our power can let us bring body parts back even together, but we raised animals from the dead and cured blindness before we even joined so… I’ll go on this healing campaign with you.”
He tilted his head, an eyebrow raised. “Corazon, it’s not like… I can’t lie to you, can I?”
I shook my head. “Help everyone you can, Phillip. I’ll help any time you need me to. After we find the lamp that is because if we don’t none of this matters.”
He grinned and there was something more than platonic affection sliding across his eyes. My hand ached to touch him but I crossed my arms instead, disturbed by my reaction. He still had that pull over me. I’d have to set a time limit when it came to being around Phillip.
“I need to get back before Erik finds out I’m gone and goes apeshit.”
Phillip nodded. “It kills me.”
“What does?”
He looked in my eyes, searching them. “Seeing you with him.”
“Phillip… He was in pain without me. I feel like shit.”
“So, you’re going to stay with him to save his life?”
“I’m staying with him because I love him. Nothing changed.”
“If we were together in Ireland longer, we would have—”
“We don’t need to talk about that. We were roommates for three months and that’s it.”
Phillip stood up. “Is it that easy for you? I’m in love with you, Amina. I know you love me too. I know it.” He balled his fist and looked away from me.
I felt bad. I thought of our time in the past three months. In time, I believed I could have fallen in love with him. Now, all I wanted to do was forget my months with Phillip and keep it as platonic as possible. I still loved Erik.
Suddenly, a heavy sinking feeling weighed on my chest and I struggled to let out a relaxed breath. Tears welled in the corner of my eyes. I fell onto the couch, my legs going weak. A heaviness of depression engulfed me, suffocating me. What was wrong with me?
“I don’t feel right,” I gasped, confused at the sudden change in my emotions.
Phillip moved over to me and wrapped me in a hug. “I’m doing this to you. You’re feeling how I feel. I’m sorry.”
“How?”
“It’s part of our bond.”
I pushed away from him. “You projected your feelings onto me? You can do that?” How I continued to underestimate Phillip was confounding to me. He was never still. He would always be ahead of me, because he would constantly be on a quest to reach his full magical potential.
“I’m sorry, Amina. I wasn’t thinking.” He ran his hand across his face and turned from me. “I can’t help myself when it comes to you.” He balled his hands into fists by his side again, holding in something I could only feel. Frustration, anguish, anger.
I tentatively reached over and grabbed one of his fists, loosening his fingers. “You can’t use your magic on me, Phillip. I care about you but I do
n’t want to be controlled or guilted into anything. I know you didn’t mean this, but you have to gain better control.” I looked down at our hands, now interlocking. I could feel our shared power and it was almost dizzying. I’d have to break us apart soon. “You have a goal now, to take back the town and make it better than it was before. You should focus on that. Along with finding the whole lamp and fighting the bad soulmates thing”
“I can do all of that better with you,” he said, voice soft.
“I’ll still be here,” I replied.
“But you won’t be mine.”
I looked up into his eyes. I shouldn’t have done that. Those eyes, full of emotion and tenderness, were what had trapped me in the first place. I shook my head and looked away. I couldn’t be with him. As much as Phillip affected me, my love for Erik was too strong. Apart or together, Erik stirred my soul. I would never be Phillip’s.
Phillip sighed and nodded as if understanding everything I hadn’t said.
He looked towards his living room windows. “Tell him I’m sorry about whisking you away.”
“He won’t know.”
“Of course he will.” Phillip smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes. Those were still sad.
Chapter 28
As I feared, Grace and Faith knew I’d been missing and had freaked out. Luckily, I found them before they went to alert Erik and company, who were still frolicking outside the border, hunting down bunnies or something. Although I told Phillip Erik wouldn’t know, I knew better. I just didn’t want it to be his problem. I would take the hit. One way or another, I’d have to explain to Erik that Phillip and I had to work together in some capacity to fight the first soulmates. We just had to figure out a way that was less sneaky and more open, even if it pissed off Erik. Sneaking behind his back just made things worse.
Unsurprisingly, before I could even say a word, Erik could smell Phillip on me when he returned. Damn, those were nostrils!
“He came over?” He thundered.
Faith and Grace quickly exited and I unsuccessfully tried to follow.
“He actually just teleported me away,” I said in a nonchalant tone.