Soul Mate by Roxie Ray
Cal
Ialmost couldn’t believe what I was seeing…or not seeing. One second, Olivia was there, absolutely owning Malachi like the boss she was, and the next, she vanished into thin air. I bolted to my feet; Malachi still seemed to sense her or something, dodging something, speaking to her — but a few moments after that, he slammed into the ground. “Liv?” he called, and I think my pulse might have tripled.
“You lost her!?” I yelled, storming to the middle of the training ground. Maren was only a few steps behind me, looking just as concerned as I did. “What did you do?! What the hell did you do to her!?”
“Cal, no!” Maren squeaked, grabbing my wrist before I could get any closer to the prince.
“I did not do anything,” Malachi growled, looking around the room instead of at me. “Clearly, Olivia has learned to wear her shadows.” He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. I growled and jerked my hand out of Maren’s grasp.
“That’s great,” I snapped. “Fucking great. Is she okay? Is she here?” What if she couldn’t get them off? What if she wasn’t here at all? I ran through fifty different scenarios in the space of a minute, stalking around the room and sniffing. It was truly as if she disappeared. I was about thirty seconds from absolute hysteria when Liv appeared at one end of the training room, naked as the day she was born. I realized, almost peripherally, as if someone told me and I didn’t actually see it with my own eyes, that her clothes were in pieces nearby.
“Liv!” I wheezed, storming over before anyone else could get near, wrapping my arms around her before I could stop myself.
She hummed quietly, reaching up to press her fingers around my nape. The motion was intrinsically soothing, in some way, and she huffed. She almost sounded…amused.
“Cal…” she said, giving my hip a little pat. When I didn’t move a muscle, she sighed. “Cal, love, I’m fine. I’m totally fine. You can let me go.”
“You disappeared,” I grumbled, pressing my mouth into her naked shoulder. My eyes flashed and I glanced around; Malachi had turned himself around and was staring very determinedly at the wall. Good. “Like…into thin air, Liv. Like a fucking magic trick.”
She sighed and shook her head, finally giving me a gentle squeeze. “I’m right here. I was here the entire time. Malachi could see me until I shifted, even.”
“Well…” The prince was starting to say something, but I wasn’t interested.
My brows furrowed. “You shifted?”
“Well, I didn’t rip my clothes off in a fit of rage,” she replied. I could practically sense her raised brow, even if I still had her squashed against my chest. “I shifted. That’s when I was able to knock the prince over. I think even he lost track of me,” she said, and I frowned a little.
“What if you didn’t come back?”
“I mean I did, didn’t I?” Liv countered. “Cal, I’m not going to float away. I promise. Please let me put some clothes back on.”
My scowl deepened and I squeezed her closer. “But, Liv, what if you didn’t. I don’t think I could…”
My mate made a shushing noise, squirming enough to get her hands around my face. She cupped my cheeks gently and gave me a gentle kiss, her green eyes searching my face. “Cal, look at me. I am promising you I’m not going to disappear, no matter what happens. Even if we get separated, I will find my back to you no matter what. Okay?”
“…Okay,” I muttered a moment later, wondering if my father had ever promised my mother the same thing. A promise he would have gone back on, given everything we’d learned. The thought made me uncomfortable. Liv was nothing like my dad. She’d given me no reason not to trust her promises. If she said she would always come back…I’d have to take her word for it, even if I hated the entire idea of that, of being helpless.
Someone cleared their throat behind us and I finally let Liv go; Maren stepped in quickly, having gathered up what she could of Liv’s clothing. She also produced a new shirt.
“Where’d that come from?” I asked.
Liv gave a sheepish chuckle. “I might’ve ripped clothing before. Just a precaution.”
Malachi finally reapproached once my mate had gotten clothes back on. My skin started to prickle at once, and some part of my hind brain screamed at me to get between him and Liv. She was my mate! She had disappeared!
Some slightly more thoughtful part of my mind realized she was my alpha and resisted the urge. Liv made a low noise, and I could sense the sharp giggle of amusement in her bond. At least I knew I made the right choice.
She turned to Malachi. “You were able to see me when I pulled the shadows over me, weren’t you?” she asked, clearly looking for some confirmation. When he nodded, she continued. “That’s what I thought. When I shifted, that’s when you lost track of me.”
Again, Malachi nodded. “Correct. I could still feel you, though. I assume that was you, tackling me.”
Liv smiled demurely. That’s my girl, I thought, doing a poor job at hiding my own grin.
“I was still here the entire time, I assure you. I could see you all, you could feel me. I barked once, though. And I saw a woman.”
“A woman?” Malachi sounded as puzzled as I felt.
My mate nodded. “Yes. I’ve seen her once before. When…when everything went wrong, actually. When I almost died. It was a very bright place, bright and warm, and this woman appeared from the forest. She told me to come back.”
Malachi folded his arms over his chest. I’m not sure I’d ever seen the prince look thoughtful up until this point. He didn’t pull it off particularly well, in my opinion. “Did she say anything to you this time?” he asked.
Liv shook her head. “No. I shifted to try to ask her who she was, but…” She trailed off with a shrug, motioning to the three of us. “She was gone, and you could all see me again.”
“How odd…” said Malachi, rubbing his chin. “I have never experienced anything like that. I will have to consult with Finola. If you will excuse me.”
I just shrugged, but Liv nodded. “By all means.”
We werequiet as Malachi left. Liv was picking at her torn shirt, grumbling under her breath. “You know, for all her crafting, Lisa never bothered teaching me how to sew,” she sighed.
Maren slipped back to her side, taking the soft pink tee in her hands. “I know how to mend things. I can actually do basic alterations, too. Nothing crazy, but, like, you know I was always thrifting when we were living together?” She paused long enough for Liv to nod. “Yeah! Most of those things are a little big or awkward. Anyways. You want me to show you how?”
“I would love that!” Liv beamed.
Honestly, it was as if this were just another day. As if her training hadn’t resulted in her disappearing from sight, however temporary. Even if I wanted to be upset, it was hard to maintain when Liv was so relaxed.
The door opened and I glanced up, ready to tell Malachi to go bother someone else. Instead, Corin walked in. I could feel my shoulders relax at once; the witch looked as smug as she always did, and I smirked right back.
“Hey, Rover,” she greeted me.
“Glenda,” I replied, ignoring the confused looks Maren and Liv shared.
“Glenda!” Corin laughed. “That’s a good one.” She walked over to join us. “Maren, you invite everyone to dinner yet?”
“Dinner? I’m pretty sure I just had breakfast,” Liv said, frowning. “Nice hair, by the way.”
The witch flipped a braid over her shoulder. If I didn’t know her, I might have assumed she was a forest witch, dressed in earth browns with her hair done in a green ombre. “How do you manage to change your hair so often?” I asked. I swore it was a different (wild) color every time I saw her. (Pink, blue, purple, now green… I was pretty sure the only reason it hadn’t been red yet was because Erik wore it best.)
“I’ll never tell,” Corin replied loftily. Her smile gave away her amusement. “Anyways, no, dinner is not right now. We don’t usually do a big dinner for all the shifters because there are so damn many, but I guess Erik and a few of the others brought down a few does this morning. He asked if I could help him roast them.”
“You’re roasting several deer?” I couldn’t really picture that, much less imagine Erik doing anything but getting in Corin’s way.
“One day you’ll stop doubting me, Calum Meyers,” Corin said, sing-song. “But that’s fine. I don’t mind being an underdog. Now. If you’re feeling well enough to train with the prince, Liv, I think you’re well enough to meet the rest of these wolves. They did come here for you, after all.”
Liv seemed to pause for a moment. I’d told her about the alphas, but maybe it sounded different coming from someone you weren’t sleeping with. Not that I’d really sugarcoat anything; that’s how you made sure someone was underprepared.
“We don’t have—”
Liv cut me off with the shake of her head. “I know, Cal. Thank you.” She reached out to grab my hand in hers and give a gentle squeeze. “I really am feeling better, though. Maybe we can go back and take a nap before dinner… But I would like to meet them. All of them. We wouldn’t want them to think they came all this way to work with someone who couldn’t even be bothered to meet them.”
I frowned, but I knew she had a point. We could only tell them she wasn’t well for so long before they either thought we were lying, or the alpha really was that sickly. Both would end in nothing by disaster. “All right,” I finally agreed, giving a little nod. I looked over to Corin. “Where is this dinner, exactly?”
“The woods, duh,” she laughed, waving a hand. “Where else could I possibly dig pits to roast venison?”
“To what?”
Corin rolled her eyes. “Gods, you city wolves. You heard me. Now, you hold on to that curiosity, and come see us all around six, okay?”
“Okay,” Liv agreed, and I gave a nod. If nothing else, at least there would be food.
“Cal? How do I look?”
I looked up from The Road. Corin had lent it to me when I’d been keeping vigil at Liv’s bedside. Honestly, I struggled to read then, even if I appreciated literally anything that kept me from turning over the ‘what ifs’ again and again. I found the book interesting, though, and asked if I could finish it before I returned it.
I’m glad I picked it up when Liv said she’d just be a minute, because I’d almost finished Section 3. “You look really fucking good, Liv. Where the hell has that been hiding?”
She had dark skinny jeans on and black leather boots. She was wearing a muted pink plaid and a lacy tank underneath; her blonde hair was put up in a bun, and she was wearing makeup for the first time since we’d come to the institute. Casual and sexy. It said, ‘I’m not a threat but I’m not here to mess around’…which was probably exactly what she wanted to say.
Liv’s face broke into a smile and she walked over, bending to press a kiss to the top of my head. “Good! I just really want to make a good impression, you know. I’m not here to lord over anyone, but I don’t want to look like… Well, I don’t want to look like just another alpha’s daughter, either.”
I blinked and tried to reel my thoughts back in. “You sure we have to go to dinner?” I asked, setting both hands on her hips. My book had already been discarded as I tried to tug her into my lap. “I’m sure I could make something here if you’re hungry.”
She laughed and swatted my hands away with her slim fingers. “Stop that. We told Corin we’d be there. Can you imagine what she’d do if we stood her up?”
An offended witch? I shuddered at the thought. “I’d rather not,” I grumbled, finally getting to my feet. “Do I need to change before we go?” I was in my jeans and a plain tee; I didn’t own much else outside of that. I rarely paid attention to it, honestly, but…
“Absolutely not,” Liv said, cutting off my train of thought before it could go somewhere ugly. She grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together. “You look great. I think we are going to make a good impression, don’t you?”
All I could do was nod. As far as I was concerned, Liv looked like a dream — even if she wasn’t my mate, I was pretty sure I’d think she had quite a presence. I paused for a moment as she led us towards the door, brows furrowing together. “In all seriousness, Liv, are you sure you’re okay with this? You’ve already done a lot today, and there are a lot of wolves. It’s not… They’re not…” I struggled to put my thoughts into words. It just seemed unfair, to me, that Liv should have to go from ‘pack wolf’ to ‘alpha of alphas’ without so much as five minutes of training.
She looked over her shoulder and gave me a small smile. “It’s not going to be easy,” she agreed, squeezing my hand again. “That’s why I need you to come with me, Cal. I think I’m getting braver, but it’s not exactly an easy process. You help me be strong when I need to be.”
I made a face, but let her pull me out the front door, closing it after me. “I don’t do anything out of the ordinary,” I grumbled, frowning at the back of her head.
Liv laughed softly. “Exactly,” she said. “You remind me of what I’m working for. Little moments like this. Like last night. Like running through the woods. I remember that, and it’s easier. I’m fighting for you, and for me, and for us. And for other wolves who just want to live their lives. So what you do for me is really, really important, Cal. I hope you remember that.”
I ducked my head as the corners of my mouth tugged upwards. “Yeah, I… I’ll do my best, babe. I’ll do my best.”
