The salty smell of bacon and pancakes had me moaning in my sleep dazed state. My stomach growled as my mouth watered in anticipation as the taste of sweet food taunted my tastebuds. To top it all off, the familiar smell of coffee filled the air.
I couldn't help myself as my eyes snapped open. My eyes were immediately greeted by the brightness in my room from the bright and generous morning sun that slipped through my dark blue curtains.
I felt very rejuvenated after a good night's rest that I all but hopped out of my bed and made my way to the bathroom. I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth before making my way back back my bedroom to change into a pair of knee length, jean shorts and a white off the shoulder, frilly top. I slipped on my morning shoes and left my bonnet on before fixing my bed and opening the curtains to let the already intruding sunlight in before all but running to the kitchen to a sweet sight.
"Good morning." I greeted the couple who were making breakfast together. Damian was flipping the pancake in the pan while Mom was preparing the coffee.
"Good morning, to you too, Darling. You look cute." Mom complimented as she smiled at me. The funny thing is that she was wearing the same top as me, her jeans were also blue, but I'm not sure if they were long skinny jeans or shorts. Damian on other hand had also changed into a white muscle tee and some black jeans. I couldn't see the shoes from this distance.
"That you do, Sweetheart. Morning." Damian chipped in, making me smile at the normalcy of the situation. It felt like this is how it's always been, like I've had two parents all my life. It was a great feeling, even though I knew that it wasn't real, but a part of me wished it was.
"Thank you both," I smiled as I made my way towards the counter," How may I help?"
"No no, Chef Mel. Today is our turn," Mom tsked as Damian nodded in agreement. "How are you feeling?"
"Better," I smiled,"I'm still taking everything in though."
"That's understandable, " Mom smiled as she made her way to me and placed a plate and cup in front of me before placing a sweet kiss on my cheek. She then went back to where she was, leaving me with my plate of food and cup of coffee. I had two medium-sized pancakes in front of me with four streaks of bacon. My coffee looked appetising with its bitter, but sweet aroma that confirmed that Mom had added some sugar and was light brown due to the milk. "Eat up then we can go chat in the living room."
I nodded and took a bite of the slightly crispy but moist and salty piece of meat which immediately had my tastebuds tingling in excitement. Gosh, I love bacon. Before long, Mom placed the bottle of syrup and my fork and knife in front of me before taking a seat next to me as we ate in silence. The sweetness of the pancake went so well with the saltiness of the bacon that I had to swallow multiple moans while trying to eat at a normal pace.
Once everything was gone from my plate and all the liquid had been drained from my cup, I grabbed my dirty plate, cup and utensils and made my way over to the sink to wash them.
"May I add ours?" Mom asked as she indicated to the plates, cups and utensils in her hand.
"Sure." I shrugged, allowing her to put her dirty dishes in the sink so I could wash them too. Soon I had all the dishes put away and the kitchen countertops were clean so I made myself a cup of tea which I carried into the living room where Mom sat with Damian on the two seater chair. Damian had his hand gently placed on Mom's knee while Mom leaned against Damian with a content smile. I'm guessing this is what love looks like.
I went to the single seater couch and plopped down, nursing my cup of tea on my lap as I waited for them to start.
"Right," Damian sighed," How do you feel about yesterday? Are you convinced that you have soulmates?"
"Kind of," I honestly replied with a sigh," A part of me refuses to believe it though."
"Which is normal," Mom reassured with a soft smile," I didn't believe Damian when he told me about his kind or even when he told me I was his soulmate."
"How did you get the reassurance? When did you start believing him?" I asked.
She chuckled amusedly before giving Damian a look I couldn't understand. Damian simply shrugged in response.
"I showed her." He responded for her.
"One day while you were visiting your Grandparents, he came by and transformed in front of me. I thought I was going to faint, but one thing was for sure, I believed that he wasn't human. With time, I grew to believe that I was his soulmate too after I started experiencing the symptoms he said I would because of the mate bond that was urging us to get back together. To touch each other." She explained.
"What were these symptoms, Mom?" I curiously asked as I thought about those couple of times I had felt dizzy and nausea.
"They were different, but mainly I had dizziness and nausea. At some point, I fainted but luckily I was in bed. I had pains in my chest that made it difficult to breath sometimes. They were horrible," She blew raspberries," I couldn't take it anymore, so a week later, I called him and met him at a café. We spent the day together and many other days afterwards. I got to know him more and have not regretted nor tried being away from him for long since. "
I slowly nodded at her as my puzzle pieces came together. All those dizzy spells and nausea were caused by the so-called mate bond. That's why those moments came out of nowhere and left without a trace.
"As werewolves the pain is much worse, and if we try to ignore it, nature automatically assumes we are rejecting our mates. The pain increases due to that until it eventually kills our wolves and thus, us." Damian further explained.
"Wolves! Werewolves?" I blinked furiously, thinking that I had misheard.
"Yes Princess, we are werewolves. Our wolves share our bodies with us which enables us to transform or as we refer to it, to shift," Damian explained. "Let me elaborate." His blue eyes turned a darker shade as he opened his mouth, allowing me to fully witness the unexpected sight of his canines elongating until they were sharp enough to easily tear through skin.
A gasp left my lips as I clutched at the cup in my hold to try and calm the fear in me as my heart raced.
"He won't hurt you, Honey. I promise, he just wants to show you." My mom softly reassured as she most likely saw the fear and horror that was planted onto my features. A few seconds later, his canines shortened back to their normal size as his eyes went back to their normal ocean blue.
Just like my mother, I now believed that he was not normal. I'm not sure about the werewolf part, but at this point, I partially believed that too.
"We live in what we refer to as packs and I am the Alpha, meaning the head of our pack. My mate is the Luna. She just as I rules the pack, but unlike me, she also nurtures it. Without a Luna, a pack is weak because one can only rule with brute strength for long before fear drives the pack members away. The Luna rules with compassion, which balances the firmness of the Alpha. Then we have the Beta. The beta is the second in command as well as the the Alpha's aid and advisor and his mate is known as the Astral. An Astral supports the Luna and is equally compassionate towards the pack, it's just that they aren't very dominate as compared to the Luna and Alpha. But in dire situations, An Astral can be as authoritative and dominant as the Luna," He stopped to let everything sink in which was fairly easy to do, I admit.
"Thirdly, we have the leader of the military known as the the Delta. He is also in charge of the safety of the pack through exercising border control around the pack. His mate, the Luminary protects the Luna, the Astral and their children." He finished.
"What is a mate bond fever?" I curiously asked.
"Well, that's the time when the wolves get heat flashes, body ailments and such due to being seperated from their mates for too long." Damian responded.
"Is that the only kind of bond there is?" I asked.
"Not exactly. There is the pack bond which is shared amongst all the members of the pack then there is the family bond shared between families. As an Alpha, I am overly protective of my family, but with the help of my Luna, the urge to always be there to protect them is controllable." He responded.
"Mel, can I be honest with you?" Mom suddenly asked with a nervous look.
"Yeah?" I cautiously responded.
"The reason to why I moved us here is not actually because of my job. Yes, I got my dream job of being a Primary school teacher but that's only because of Damian." Mom nervously explained, but I remained calm because I genuinely felt no anger or malice towards her.
"As an Alpha, I always feel the need to be with my family and being away from you guys never sat well with me. When I met your mother, it was on a business trip I had so the deal took me two weeks. I was able to spend time with your mother during that time and even after for two more weeks after my deal was closed because I had my Beta take over during that time. Unfortunately, as an Alpha I also need to be with my pack so I had to come back afterwards. I stayed in touch with your mother over phone calls and tried to visit at least twice a week, but it took a toll on me knowing that I was not close to my mate and obviously it took a toll on her too without knowing it. " He paused.
"Soon after, he told me about his little secret and during my freaking out, I told him to never come close to me again," She paused to apologetically smile at Damian," We didn't see each other for a whole week and some after that."
"I understood that as a human, the bond didn't affect her as it did me so I decided to give her some space. But, that didn't mean even for a second I was over my mate." He lightly growled.
Mom playfully rolled her eyes before giggling as she placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.
"We get it, Alpha," She playfully stuck her tongue out at him. "So, afterwards you know I called him over. We talked things over during that day and we arranged for you and I to move. Unfortunately, it took us a month to sort out everything, but here we are now. Together."
"And..." Damian nudged.
Mom shyly looked away with a sparkle in her eyes. I could tell that she'd need some time before she said what she needed to say.
"What is to mark?" I curiously asked.
"When we mark our mates, we bite them at a certain spot and this normally occurs during intercourse which is what we refer to as mating. I won't lie, the bite hurts at first, or at least so I've heard." Damian explained.
"Why don't I see the bite?" I curiously asked.
"Well, since you're human, the bite is not visible to you. However, after you are marked by your mates, a certain venom enters your body which allows you insight on some secrets of the supernatural world, such as mate marks," Damian explained, which sounded kind of cool. "So, are you ready?" He referred to Mom who shyly nodded.
"So, there's something else I need to tell you," She softly cleared her throat. Seeing Mom's distress, Damian gave her knee a quick squeeze before she continued,"Soon you and I are going to move to the Alpha's house, because of our positions as Luna and daughter. Annnd," She dramatically trailed off," Because I'm pregnant." She squeaked.
Before I could control myself, a wave filled my vocal cords before it came out in a yell," What!"