CW for mentions of unhealthy relationships, as well as mention of a dub-con scenario.
In the very beginning, there was the Sun and the Moon, and they lived together in unison and peace. However time passed, and the Universe created the Earth and Man, declaring that the Sun and Moon were to watch over and take care of the Men.
They complied, and things worked well and smoothly. But the Moon and Sun slowly began to fall in love and neglect their duties, putting the Earth out of balance and night would be day and day would be night. The Men, fearful of what was happening called for the Universe to come and save them.
And so the Universe did, and it came and saw how the Moon and Sun were always together and how they no longer watched over man, and it felt a deep feeling of longing and anger. Furious, the Universe cursed the Sun and Moon to never be together again, and forever to be apart. Heartbroken, the Moon and Sun took to their respective parts of the sky, but it wasn't the end.
The Moon, realizing their neglect and carelessness, saw their faults and cried their tears onto Man, blessing them with a soulmate, someone who would always be for them, to love and cherish them for the end of their day, and may they never be separated again.
Of course, this was all bullshit. Nobody really knows what the real purpose or beginning of soulmates was, and there have been theories about genes and DNA, compatibility and energy, but it was all one of the larger mysteries of the wereworld that would likely never be solved.
Everyone would eventually find their soulmate at one point or another, so perhaps fate and magic did play a role into it. However there was a chance that you wouldn't click on your first meeting, which is exactly what had happened between him and Jacob.
Sophomore year he had bumped into the to-be alpha Jacob, however after that encounter he didn't hear from the other werewolf for almost another four years, until Jacob came back to the pack from an exclusive alpha camp, and during the celebration Asher had bumped into him, and... well you know the rest from there. Albeit they were both a bit tipsy, and-
"That's rape!" interrupted Raven, and Asher winced, motioning his hand for her to be quiet.
"It doesn't matter what it was," he said impatiently, "we were both inebriated (perhaps he even more so than I was), but I was just too young and excited that I had found my mate to question anything. The next morning we both woke up with a headache and regrets, some heavier than the other, and Jacob essentially told me to 'fuck off.'"
"Language," muttered Raven jokingly, trying to lighten the mood and Minty squeezed her hand.
Under the dingy kitchen light Asher watched Raven intently, realizing how tired she looked. All the moving and hiding really had taken a toll on her, it would've even taken a toll on a normal person. The space under her eyes seemed accented and darker than usual, and her skin seemed paler as well, even borderline sickly.
However even as tired and exhausted his daughter looked, she unconsciously leaned towards her girlfriend, and Asher could see that even just being near Minty relaxed Raven. He felt his heart clench a bit, was it allowed to be jealous of your own teenage daughter? She grew up so fast, and he didn't know what it meant from here. Raven brought his attention back to the table with a snap of her fingers.
"Anyhoo. Continue," she said, practically demanded. Leaning back in his chair Asher rested his eyes for a moment.
"So he tells me to get out, and I didn't see him for at least a week. I had assumed he was attempting to avoid me, and I was probably right. However the marks on our necks were still fresh, and eventually he made some... half hearted attempts to talk," Asher winced at the rather lame interactions between them, how their conversations were stilted and awkward, not at all how he imagined a relationship between soulmates would be.
"This... dance around each other went on for almost a month. Until I started to get sick, and well, I bought myself some pregnancy tests, and they tested positive. Positive for you," he said almost wistfully. "At first I was... excited. You would be what brought us together, and I would finally get my happily ever after I thought I deserved. But the more I thought about it the less it made sense, and I realized I didn't want you growing up there. It wasn't the environment I wanted for you. So I decided to run away, in secret of course so nobody would discover I was pregnant. If they knew about you, I probably would never be allowed to leave," he snorted. The alpha's daughter and mate? Fat chance they would've let him waltz out of there.
"Thankfully Jacob was usually either too drunk, too high, or just not paying attention to me to notice a change in my scent. I stayed isolated from most of the pack anyway, and the night I planned on leaving Grandmam and grandad caught me. They set us up with enough cash to last us for a while. And ever since then we've been running around like this, making sure Jacob doesn't find us again," he finished. "Any questions?"
Raven raised a hand, and without waiting to be called on she opened her mouth. "Why... why did you have to leave though?? You could've spared yourself so much pain if you just stayed, it couldn't have been that bad." Asher gave her a sorrowful look.
"I could've stayed. But the pack, there were things that happened there I didn't want you to be around. Even though I never witnessed it firsthand I heard rumors and saw how they treated omegas and even other pack members. Being the daughter of a delta and an alpha there was a high chance you would've been safe, but I still didn't want to take the chance that you would be born omega, and what they would've done if you were. And Jacob, I didn't think he was the type of person who would've been a good father or influence for you."
Raven blinked and thought about it for a few moments, before slouching back in her chair, seeming satisfied with the answer. "Anything else?" asked Asher. Raven shook her head in a 'no,' but Minty stepped forward instead.
"Well, what are you going to do now?" she asked. Asher blinked at her for a moment.
"What do you mean what am I going to do?"
Minty leaned forward and took a bit of the remaining sushi, and she waved her hand at him. "I mean, what are you going to do? You clearly can't just run around and avoid your problems, because that worked so well for you last time," she said sarcastically. "So what will it be? Will it be an epic get-back-at-your-ex plan? I love revenge plans, the last time that Jerry-" Asher cut her off with a shake of his head.
"I don't plan on doing anything. They're here to look for mates right? Well I'll just let that happen and wait for it to blow over," he explained. Minty leaned back and rolled her eyes with a 'lame,' while Raven reached forward to grab a napkin.
"No," said his daughter, and Asher looked up.
"Excuse me?"
"I said no," she stated matter of factly, wiping her fingers off on the napkin in her hand. "We all know the stories, how a wolf will 'always end up with their true love' yak yak yak, and we can't let that happen. If you just sit here and 'wait for it to blow over' there is no way it's going to work."
This time Asher was the one to roll his eyes as he pushed his chair forward to playfully flick Raven in the forehead. "Oh really?" he asked, amused. "And what grand plan do you have oh-wise-one?" Raven glanced at Minty.
"Simple, we can make his life here a living hell-"
"No."
"-or you date around and make him jealous-"
"No."
"-or you can pretend to date him and then break his heart and smash it into pieces." Asher raised a brow at her, and Minty groaned, smacking her mate in the arm.
"Raven!! That's a horrible idea, have you even read the stories? Of course he's going to 'pretend' date, and then end up falling in love," she moaned. Raven teasingly shoved back against Minty.
"Hmmmm we'll see about that... what do you say dad?" she asked. Asher raised his hand to his face to examine his fingernails which had suddenly become quite interesting.
"I don't know... on one hand it would be fun to mess him around a bit, on the other hand that is a lot of effort and if I just sit back it'll pass. Eventually."
"Come on!! When was the last time there was a bit of drama in your life? And besides, we all know you won't fall in love with him, and you're just going to sit back and let this guy who's made your living life hell for the last decade romp all over you?" exclaimed Raven, getting more and more worked up as she stood up, slamming her hands on the table. "Besides, we know what alpha's are like. He'll chase after you like a fresh piece of meat and will never leave us alone," she said. "We have to act now, and we should act fast!!" she finished, with the soft sound of Minty's applause in the background. Asher pursed his lips together for a moment, and his eyes flicked to the clock.
"Well... you're right. You know what, I'll think about it ok? Meanwhile, it is now quite late and the two of you should be getting to bed if you want to have a sleepover in the future," he hinted, and the two teenage girls scrambled to get up and ready for bed. Asher watched as Raven bounded up the stairs, but Minty stayed behind for a moment.
Turning her head to look at him, her green hair swayed around her head and she made a face. "Whatever you do Mr. Asher, I'll support it. Though I do agree that revenge is the better option, just don't do anything stupid mk?" she asked, then ran up after Raven before Asher could say anything.
Blinking in a daze for a few moments, he looked at the stairwell, at the kitchen table, then back at the stairwell. With a sigh Asher began to clear off the dirty napkins and leftovers off the wooden surface, stowing away sushi for another day and depositing chopsticks into the sink to wash. As he was in the middle of his business, he glanced up to the sound of someone rapping against the wall.
There stood Rooch, leaning against the kitchen wall in all his muscular-and-scarred glory. He waved at Asher, "mind if I help myself to some of that sushi?" and Asher shrugged.
"Go for it."
Leaning back into the kitchen chair and kicking his feet up on the table, Rooch studied Asher intently as Asher suddenly realized how close they were. He couldn't remember the last time he had been in such a... domestic scene. It almost felt like normal life.
Clearing his throat, he stowed away the last of the cutlery and turned to look at Rooch.
"So... finished with all your 'guard-y' stuff, I guess we should head to bed now," said Asher weakly, but neither of them moved. After a few moments, Rooch straightened up, taking his feet off the table.
"On one of my first tours I met this were," he began, and Asher leaned back against the counter. He's opening up to me, he realized. Well this is all moving rather fast but I won't complain.
"There was... a misunderstanding with communication and transportation and we would be stuck in this small village for a while. I was going around and talking with the locals, when this guy comes up. He's this big dude. Very large and strong, and definitely an alpha, but all he does is offer me some water and invites me back to his house to talk.
So I follow him back, and he fixes me some food and it's a very nice, quaint house. It turns out he had come from America and was in this village to explore his heritage or whatever. The point was, we became friends. I never asked why he didn't lead the local pack, or what he was doing here, but over time we got closer.
Then one day, he makes a move on me. And heck, it's been a very long time since I've been with anyone, you follow? And I had lost any hope that I would find my mate, so I went along with it. And we all had a very fun, randy time, and it happens again. And again. And I found myself in this comfortable lull, just living out here with this dude and it wasn't like we were needed anywhere. But then,"
At this point Rooch paused to pick up and fiddle with a napkin, and his eyes close for a moment, as if remembering himself back under that hot, unwavering heat, with this strange alpha, in the middle of nowhere. He clears his throat and continues.
", but then... one day it goes wrong, and he bites me," he says bitterly. "He marks me, which we didn't agree to and never talked about, but I didn't think about it, and I move forward to mark him in return, but at that very moment he stops and halts all the hanky panky, pulls his ass up and leaves."
Asher's mind blips for a moment. One-sided matings were uncommon, but not unheard of. However they were often frowned upon since there was no complete bond, and the one who made the mark has a sort of power over the one who was bitten.
"Afterwards, I was furious of course. This dude now has a window into my mind, of course I'm angry. And I go run after him, but he's nowhere to be found. So I slink back to the troops and spend the night uncomfortably with this bleeding, unfinished bite mark in my neck. But the next day he approaches me and apologizes, and makes it up to me, and like the fool I was I fall for it.
But after that night... he changed. He was more controlling and possessive, and whenever I mentioned trying to complete the bond he would get angry, angry to the point I was almost fearful of him. And then one day the other guys drag him out and arrest him, because it turns out the reason we were stuck here with 'communication issues' was because this scumbag was messing with our technology, to purposely keep us, keep me there.
And then life goes smoothly after that, or as smooth as one would expect, and the first thing I do when I get back is I search this guy up and try to get all the information I can on him. And guess what?" says Rooch, spreading his arms, "turns out this guy, who gave me a one-sided bond and toyed with my mind for months has a wife. He has a wife and two kids, and was hiding out in that village on 'vacation.'" he finishes spitefully. Asher felt a wave of... pity? Empathy? Pass through him as he stared at the other man.
"And with this unfinished bond and no way to track this guy down, I ended up serving way shorter than I intended to, and getting sent back early. Because I was sick, and I was dying Asher. I was dying because of my bond, and only being back here around my pack has fixed that," he finishes, and now he was the one looking at Asher with pity in his eyes. Asher felt himself shy away from Rooch's gaze.
Lifting an arm, Rooch briefly pulls away the collar of his shirt to reveal amongst a variety of other scars, a moon-white bite mark that rested right along his collarbones. Asher winced and reached out to touch it, but then snatched his hand back.
"I- I'm so sorry," he said with a whisper. Rooch waved his hand.
"It doesn't matter anymore, I've gotten over it. But I just want you to know that you aren't alone, and I know how it feels, and so many of us know how it feels and we're here for you," he said intensely, staring into Asher's eyes. Asher swallowed. "You're so strong for going on for all these years, I don't know how you did it. But you also have to know it isn't healthy," he said, squeezing Asher on the shoulder. Flinching back, Asher stumbled away from the kitchen table.
"Thank you," he managed to force out, "but I'm- we are doing fine. If I need your help and pity I'll be sure to find you," he said, suddenly feeling so tired and angry at being so vulnerable and laid out. "Good night."
--
Well isn't that sweet. Changes to previous chapters include minor grammar changes, as well as moving the timeline a little bit. It's nothing major, but basically all that was changed is it takes a month for Asher to leave his pack after realizing he's pregnant, because people don't just get pregnant in a day. As well as some backstory on Rooch here!
*jazz hands* don't forget to vote, and leave a comment about how you feel/think! Constructive criticism is always appreciated, as well as any speculation on what may happen next.