Duality

< N I N E >

© Amber Kalkes 2014

"False Start" By Bikni Kill

< N I N E >

As soon as I make it to the tree line I fall to my knees. Everything caves in on me within seconds that I’m sure I’m out of sight. Keith, my mom, meeting Jack, finding out what he is, and the cluster fuck that has been this so-called ‘mate’ thing has suddenly become very overwhelming. I mean I’m tough but even I’m over my depth with this latest kick to the gut.

She’s perfect and I’m…me.

Still the fact remains that I care about Jack. More than I should, really. Shaking my head I try to stop my stupid sobbing but I’m one those criers that have to get it all out. So here I sit, in boxers and an oversized t-shirt as my soul mate talks to his lady friend of questionable origins all the while I sob in the woods. Really, it has been the worst week of my life.

“Wren?” Jack’s panicked voice echoes through the woods.

Okay, now it’s the worst week of my life.

I try to get myself to stop crying again and this time I succeed in only tempering it. Now I’m just hiccupping because that just so much better. Are you noticing my sarcasm? I hear someone’s hurried steps on the rotted corpses of the fallen leaves around me before they slow to a more cautious speed.

Ha! He should be cautious.

“Wren?” Jack calls cautiously as his hiking boots pull up to a stop before me. He kneels before me and cups my cheek in his large palm making my whole left side erupt in tingles. “I am so sorry.”

My vulnerability snaps in an instant as I glare up at him, “Your sorry?”

His face falls into a pained look when he sees that I’m crying like a weakling. “Shit, Wren, I didn’t know she’s come here. I called her to break up with her once I found you and she said she understood.”

“Really?” I laugh bitterly, “Then why doesn’t she know who I am?”

“She’s not a werewolf like I am. She’s human but her mother is a wolf so she knows about mates but can’t sense it like a wolf can.”

“How convenient.” I hiss.

He runs his hands through his hair in frustration before muttering, “I don’t know what to say to get you to trust me.”

“Tell me how long you were with her.”

He looks bewildered by the request but complies, “Six months and that was before the two months I’ve been missing.”

“So eight months.” I sigh before the last bit sinks in. “Wait, you’ve been missing two months? You were in that cramped cage for two whole months?”

“Give or take a week or more. I don’t know.” He says quietly looking troubled by it. “Everything was kind of a blur before you showed up. In my wolf form I’m not the most coherent. I’m in a more feral way of thinking when my wolf is in control like that.”

“Right.”

I stare at my bare thighs in thought but I can feel is eyes on me. I lift my head but close my eyes so I can stay neutral to this whole thing. So here are the facts I’ve gathered: He broke up with perfection because his wolf said I’m his soul mate. They’ve been together eight months but the last two he has been missing. He broke up with her as soon as he found me and yet she’s here. So whom am I supposed to be mad at?