The Countdown

That's F*cked Up

I woke up feeling as if someone had just pulled something out from under me, and had to hold my hand to my chest to make sure that I hadn't just had a heart attack or something equally as frightening. The tv still flickered with the movie and I knew that by the looks of the screen it was only about halfway in, maybe a little further.

Luke was nowhere to be found, and I was taking up as much of the couch as my short frame could manage. I twisted around to look over the back of the couch, but he wasn't there either. After a moment's hesitation I got up and made my way over to the hallway. Empty.

It made sense, the house was larger than any I'd ever seen before. I ran my hands down my face and yawned, preparing to go search the place for him. I wasn't totally sure what I would do when he was found, but I didn't like being alone in such a big house, especially given that I still wasn't comfortable navigating the house by myself just yet. I hadn't even made it out into the hallway before I heard the soft ringing that increasingly got louder.

I fumbled for a few seconds before grabbing the phone and answering it. Before I could say anything someone on the other end was speaking.

"Luke you little fucking shit head open up the goddamn door before I break it down."

"Uhm," I checked the phone for the first time, noting the name associated with the number that had called, "I'm not Luke."

There was a grunt, "Sorry about the language, who are you?"

I ran my fingers through my hair and scratched the back of my head, "Sang, you're North?" I asked, and when I pulled my hand back out of my hair the phone nearly dropped out of my hand.

The timer on my wrist had somehow started, and had hid zero right before my eyes. Another one of the sections filled in complete black and I felt sick. I swallowed back the bile in my throat and took a deep breath to reassure myself.

"Please tell me you have the same mark I have," the guys said bringing my attention back to him, "Because if you don't I'm staring at my brother, and that's just fucked up on too many levels," he breathed out.

****NORTH POV****

As I pulled up to the family house I stared at the doors for a little bit. Luke had told me the girl he had over wasn't his soulmate but at the same time I felt like he was hiding something from me. Nevertheless I had grabbed the gloves from a store along the way and had come anyways. If she was his soul mate, I was placing my bets high that she had a friend over as well, and that friend was my soul mate. The clock on my wrist was finally coming to the few minutes, and I had sped all the way here once realizing the girl wasn't at the convenience store, because the only person there had been a balding, beer belly asian guy and I wasn't about to stick around and wait to see if he'd been given a match yet.

It was stupid, letting a goddamn watch control my life but at the same time Mr. Blackbourne, a man who had never believed in the watch had called me earlier to tell me that I needed to listen to my watch. Listen to a watch. I knew he met his girl earlier today, and figured she was probably off to Florida with him, but I didn't ask questions because he was in between flights and didn't have time for my 20 questions. Besides I wasn't like that. Not about to go getting all soft just because he had.

I tried to push that out of my mind but it started to dominate my thoughts as I approached the door. This was definitely new, I thought to myself while wiping the sweat from my hands onto my jeans. I turned the knob and was confused for a few seconds when it didn't turn all the way. A few seconds went by and I started to feel panicked. I was locked outside and she was inside.

How I knew she was inside I wasn't completely sure, but I felt a strong tug towards the house and going anywhere else seemed foolish. I hit the door a few times but when Luke didn't answer I flipped out my phone and began going through the many cameras. Victor needed to hurry up and upgrade them so only the ones that detected body heat worked, and we wouldn't have to go through this every time. It was the one bad thing about such a big ass house.

I quickly grew frustrated with the cameras and decided to just call the little shit.

It rang once, twice...

I almost thought he wasn't going to pick up but then I heard the click.

"Luke you little fucking shit head open up the goddamn door before I break it down."

"Uhm," a feminine voice said, and I knew it definitely wasn't Luke's, ""I'm not Luke."

I grunted, no shit.

"Sorry about the language, who are you?" talk about bad first impression, I just cussed this poor girl out because my soulmate was in there and Luke was playing games.

There was a pause, and I grabbed my keys out of my pocket, feeling like a major dumbass for not thinking of them in the first place. The girl on the other end spoke again, ""Sang, you're North?"

Her voice saying my name felt like how I imagined putting the right glasses on for the first time. Everything became clear, and I was suddenly pissed off that I'd missed so much of life living blindly. While I stood there Luke threw open the door and gave me a weird look, and then his eyes fell to my wrist and his eyes widened, a look of horror crossed his face. I looked down at my mating mark. I wanted to swear but somehow I refrained.

"Please tell me you have the same mark I have. Because if you don't I'm staring at my brother, and that's just fucked up on too many levels," I breathed out.