Commander Johnathan
Alex's POV
It's a little after ten the following night, and I find myself in Wolfhead Apartments, a place I never had to live in thanks to the extreme misfortune of my parents passing away and their home becoming mine.
Only Mated wolves get approval from the Elder Council to build a new home. It helps save resources, time and effort. And if my parents were alive to claim their dream home with their own goals and wants in mind, this is exactly where I would be living. The reminder makes my throat tight as I turn the last street from Johnathan's directions.
I want to get out of this place.
Thankfully, Johnathan doesn't plan on making me wait, the Commander already waiting outside dressed in dark jeans, a cardigan and a white shirt, his dirty blonde hair finger tossed into a million directions.
With his charming asshole vibe, no one would ever think he would be one of the highest ranking officers in Vollmond. Hell, half the time I'm not even sure.
I snicker to myself as Johnathan notices me and comes to meet me halfway, his dark blue eyes lined in eyeliner, the corners of them crinkling as he shoots me his most charming smile. "Beta Alex, the man of the hour! You ready for a night of espionage and booze?" He asks me with wiggling eyebrows.
'This man clearly knows how to party.' Tobias smirks, always one ready to kick his feet up and have a good time.
'You won't be saying that when I force you you deal with the effects of this Boys Night Out in the morning.' I grumble and he respectfully declines and promises to behave.
We'll see if that lasts longer than an hour.
After ensuring we have our back up gear hidden beneath our clothes, Johnathan and I head out, making our way through the man road past the Vilin check ins and the Capital until we finally arrive just outside of Revelia's border.
The road is thick with Supers and humans alike coming from all around Kaulike to party in Revelia. While the Magi themselves aren't really fond of anyone but their own, they welcome the wild legendary fun that comes with mixing Supers with drugs, sex and alcohol. Human are usually warned away from Revelia, and seeing how must substances there that are hard enough to knock a Witch on her ass, is enough to kill a human three times over if they don't know what they're taking, I can clearly see why.
We've seen the reports of it happening.
But I turn a blind eye to the human drinking pure Moonshine and the Vampire's Shadow Liquor, even knowing they probably won't be around to see the sun.
It's not my fault they ignored the warnings.
Johnathan is already eating it all up, smiling at a few Witches that share a ride on a broom, appearing to be twins. Another witch coming to land beside them. And of course it's purely for irony, Magi having plenty of ways to achieve travel and flight without the stereotypical human fairytale.
Being from Vollmond where wolves tend to spend all their time in their own packs and families, it's startling for me to see so many different types of people and Supers together. The only place that was even a bit similar was school, but that would never have been able to prepare me for the way that a Water Faerie-Vampire Hybrid is riding on the back of a pure blood Warlock, the two laughing along with their equally mixed friend group. In Vollmond, and other parts of Divine Country, there's always a stiffness in the air. This crushing weight of someone always watching over your shoulder to make sure you're talking to the right people, about the right things. Making sure they all have the right connections and make the right decisions. Because otherwise you're attempting to disturb our peace we fought the Daemons so hard for.
And we cannot let them win.
And here, here as we follow the crowd deeper into Revelia and towards the city of Pandemonium, here it feels alive. It feels free. Unconstrained. Like it doesn't matter who you talk to or hang around or who your Soulmate is. You're just living in freedom.
We find ourselves talking to a group of people that the Witches that just landed join, all of us chatting lightly and joking around for an half hour.
Casually an Enchanted girl with wine red hair approaches me and we talk for a while, and while at first I wasn't too keen on the conversation she let some information slip that instantly has my heart racing.
"Yeah, my neighbor got dragged away last night by some Vilin officers, only she didn't seem like my neighbor. She looked like her but... I don't know. It was weird. Figured it was better to come have some fun than sit there staring at her treehouse from my window." She attempts to joke while making small talk, but the way that her skin turns ashen makes me believe there might be more she's not saying.
She tells me her name is Kerna and I remind myself to tell Charlotte about her and her neighbor in the Star Mountains. Hopefully she'll be able to get answers.
Thankfully the conversation turns lighter as she flirts with me from afar as we all talk and while she's beautiful I feel no attraction towards her. A part of me feels guilty for leading her on, but if what she said is true, Satan might have her claws deeper and further reaching than we ever considered. The thought feels me with dread.
But I push it aside as we make our way down the avenue making our way slowly towards the bar towards the end of the street, passing around a few flasks that were brought.
It's nice to finally be doing something useful. The feeling warms something in my chest as Johnathan talks up to the identical Witchy Twins with matching Runes.
There's a magic shop that claims to do readings, the young Enchanted girl that's been trying to get my attention for the past ten minute pulls at my hands, with the encouragement of a smirking Johnathan, winking at me as she goes to follow Johnathan and the twins through the flap. There's a few pillows sitting on the floor around a small pot and a few smoking herbs that are lit around the space. Looking around, I spot a Warlock that's floating in the air, his emerald green cat like eyes glowing brightly as the Runes do the same, glowing that same eeire green light. His legs are crossed beneath him and strings that seem to move with images that are too blurry to make out dancing along them. I notice then, that the man that I thought was a pure Warlock is actually a Hybrid, his left eye a beautiful silver cat eye, the glow brighter than the left, visible when he goes to see who entered his space.
After a moment he seems to snap out of it, both eyes dimming into an ordinary emerald and silver, his pupils nothing but slits.
His descent from his cross legged hovering is graceful and slow, the man landing softly on his feet before he goes to the lounge space surrounding his cauldron. I sit down next to the Enchanted, offering a slightly worried smile in answer to her excited tugging on my arm. I look across the space at Johnathan who shrugs and makes a motion to go along with it. Which I plan to, but something tells me, probably the way he seems to smug with himself, that Johnathan's head might not be on the mission right now.
The Warlock gets into the middle of the circle and mutters a few words too low even for me to hear before he closes his eyes and turns a few times.
He stops in front of a girl with golden flecked black eyes and raven black hair who giggles with shock when she realizes the Warlock chose her. Without opening his eyes, the man states in a raspier voice than I expected, "Your brother acts against your will and has cemented his fate. Do not despair, for he will find a way to break the curse, in time." He says and I watch as the Fire Faerie goes white as a sheet before stumbling off of the pillow she was resting on and running out of the tent, the sound of her Super speed kicking in deafening over the silence.
The Warlock goes around turning one smoking disbelieving face into another struck by shock and unease. And I just watch the time, my ears peeled for any gossip or anything mentioning the Shadows or possessions but so far, nothing.
That is, until the Warlock stops right in front of me, the sight of his knees coming eye to eye with me startled me from my daydreaming. Slowly, I raise my eyes to his, anxiety rushing through my veins as I think about all the things he will tell me. Maybe about my parents. Or my sister. Maybe some news about Artemis returning soon. All would be welcome. Or even information regarding my current problem. I square my shoulders and try to prepare myself for anything.
"You will find your Soulmate after the Moon sets for the night. But this is not your happy ending, but the beginning of everything." He says, but his words only fall on deaf ears.
All I heard is that tonight, after midnight, I will finally, finally after all this time, meet my Soulmate.
The Warlock does one other before demanding payment, everyone forking over a few coins and while some stay to ask some questions, I head towards the door, motioning towards Johnathan to leave the twins alone and follow. And while he does so reluctantly, he listens and follows, the two of us waiting until we're down the road between buildings before speaking.
"So, it's finally you're time, huh? Think they're a Magi?" He asks casually like the revelation of what the Warlock just said doesn't have huge life impactful implications.
"Who knows? Seems like all the Supers are represented in Revelia tonight." I mutter, halfway involved in the conversation.
When James asked for volunteers, something within me pushed at me to go despite Toby's loud annoyance with the prospect. But now, I see that it was Celeste sending me a sign that this is the path that I'm needed on. After all this time of praying, hoping, and dreaming of one day fighting my soulmate and being able to give them all the love and support that I missed out on. Maybe now, after all this time I can finally feel the warmth of someone's touch, love and affection.
"That Warlock really has you messed up, huh?" The Commander asks a few months later.
"Of course. I don't even know if he's telling the truth, but on the off chance he is, wouldn't it fuck you up, too?" I ask, surprised by his questioning. Tobias managed to fall asleep the moment he promised no more trouble. Apparently that is code for 'this shit is boring, I'm taking a nap.'
For me it's a no brainer.
Finding my soulmate has been my only dream and goal for some time now.
And I wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that dream.
"No, not really. Finding my Mate has never been that pressing of an issue for me. My Ma and Pa didn't find each other until they were in their mid thirties. My Pa is from Vinshore where things are different. He had a whole other life before he met my Mom. He knew who he was as a wolf, a man and a Super by the time they found each other. Same goes for my mom." He answers as cool and nonchalant as ever as he shrugs.
It's something that I've always admired about Johnathan.
The way he's able to be so confidently himself by himself without the approval or admiration of anyone. Even in such a prestige position, he won't let his Warriors call him anything but his name.
He doesn't take himself too seriously like many wolves do.
Probably why James had the foresight to make him a Commander.
"Now, we can't make midnight come faster, so let's just get inside the bar Charlotte told us about to we can find this bartender. If it's Fated, it'll happen." Johnathan assures me before leading me towards a bar named "Horned Hangover".
Classy.
✨✨✨
Thirty minutes later, I've had three shots and managed to peel off over five girls that have all asked in their own ways to show me a good time.
My stuttered flattered responses has sent Johnathan on several laughter spirals that I did not appreciate, but the cheeky bastard got a drink thrown on him after a badly timed joke which made up for it in the end. Now, we sit at the bar as Derrick, the bartender that showed up less than ten minutes ago, attends to the small crowd that gathered between changing shifts.
For now we don't try to order anything, only watch and make ourselves seem too drunk to notice to care what's happening around us, listening to everything around us.
Finally after another ten minutes, the crowd has cleared and there's only Johnathan and I and a Vampire that approaches the bar only to turn and lean against it, eyes surveying the crowd. I keep an eye on him as I wave down the bartender, Charlotte's description of him perfect as always. Which she's not sure about what exactly he knows, but he's spent enough time talking to well-connected people to not know anything.
"What can I get you fellas tonight?" Derrick asks as he approaches us with I'm what I'm sure is an award winning smile.
Though in all honestly neither the conversation nor the sketchy looking Vampire have my attention, instead, I'm waiting for twelve to hit, my eyes scanning the crowds, my legs bouncing in anticipation.
I can hear Johnny chatting the bartender up, trading innocent information James already approved of for more relevant news.
Even still I can't force myself to listen. I'm about to give up when suddenly the Vampire at the other end of the bar is approached by someone. My eyes flit over and I find a Incubus with auburn messy curls framing an oval shaped face with michevious green eyes and fox ears and tail that make my lips curl up in the corners.
He's beautiful.
I can tell he's an Incubus, and it doesn't bother or phase me one bit. All I know is that no one else in this club compares.
Before I can think about it or even realize what's happening, I'm raising from my stool and making my way around the bar, my eyes only for the Incubus who's very essence seems to shimmer in blessed light as I draw bear with bated breath. The Vampire sees me coming first and frowns before motioning to his friend just as I step close enough to get a whiff of him.
Cinnamon and roses.
His scent smacks my in the chest, squeezing my heart as my chest explodes and my body seems to come alive for the first time.
My Soulmate.
My Mate.
I've found them.
The Incubus looks at me in what seems to be curiosity and something else, but I dismiss it as I just take him in. My throat gets dry and the words I've been practicing to myself since I was fifteen somehow gone in the face of reality. All I can manage is with a stilled breath, reach for his shocked face, disbelieving that he's real. That this moment is real.
But the moment I go to touch him, to confirm that my wait is over, I watch as his face crumbles in understanding before being overcome clear despair and disgust, the emotions so clear and unmistakable, his silence may have been screams of refusal and rejection as he recoils away from my touch.
Without hesitation I watch as the love of my life, the Soulmate that I was created to protect and love, pushes away from his friend and runs into the inspecting crowd that continues to party, oblivious that my world finally was whole before being ripped apart. And I stand there, stunned, unmoving, staring into the sympathetic face of a Vampire stranger who sighs, and throws a 'sorry' over his shoulder before disappearing after the love of my life.
Is this a cruel joke?
Was that Warlock in on it?
Because I don't think I understand what the fuck just happened.
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You know what, I wasn't sure how I was going to do this chapter, but I like this a lot. I also like how they met better and all reactions. If you've read the OG then you know what J mean when I say, Chloe deserves some redemption after that first meeting lmaoo.
Thoughts?
Comments?
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