Wulfric

Had I truly once thought my siblings were insane for jumping into their relationships so quickly, forgoing their immortality and the lives they'd led before? It was especially ironic, given I was now the person who wanted to eagerly dive into a relationship – even quicker than my werewolf partner seemed to.

Griffin had undergone some kind of transformation once he made the decision to keep me from feeling our bond for a while longer. He had gained confidence, both in us and in himself. I wasn't sure what to make of it. On the one hand, I was relieved he was feeling better. On the other, shouldn't he have been able to flourish even with a complete, reciprocated mate bond?

It only served as a reminder that he still didn't want to mark me, and I still had no idea why.

I tried not to think about it or worry about it overly much, but it wasn't always easy. It helped that I had the ongoing distraction of house hunting. Edmund and I had gone through all of the for-sale houses near to Griffin's pack lands, and had found nothing that felt like a home. Edmund said it was because I was being too picky, and maybe he was right. But the fact remained that none of these places felt right to me, and even if I couldn't figure out why, I wasn't willing to settle.

"You know," Edmund pointed out as we walked out of the last for-sale house that fit my constraints, "Griffin might appreciate having a say about where he lives, too."

My steps faltered and stopped while I considered that. It wasn't the first time I debated whether to get Griffin involved in house hunting, of course, but Edmund's tone indicated he thought I was making a misstep. So, it was worth reconsidering.

The truth was, though I had never been particularly afflicted by insecurities, I had a hard time not feeling cast aside by Griffin, even though he was everything a soulmate should be: warm, affectionate, attentive. I thought I'd feel unsettled as long as I lacked some tangible connection to him, be it Fen restoring my bond sense or Griffin finally claiming me as his mate. And some foolish, overly sentimental part of myself had this fantasy of presenting him with the perfect home for us, a tangible part of our future together instead of the fears and insecurities I knew Griffin felt when he looked forward. In that fantasy, he'd thaw toward future planning and any doubts he harbored about me would melt away.

It was childish, I knew. There was a decent chance that, even if I did find what I was looking for, it wouldn't be what Griffin wanted. Yet still, I searched.

I shrugged headed for my car. Edmund's exasperated sigh reached me seconds before he stepped into stride with me. "If you're so determined for this to be a surprise, did you at least consider what to do if Griffin wants to live with his pack?"

Yes, and it was a source of frustration because I didn't have a good way of getting around that. "There's not much I can do if that's the case," I pointed out.

"Perhaps not, but I know who can help," Edmund said, his tone taking on a teasing quality. "You know, Griffin's parents? They would also know how to go about securing a house or land within the pack's territory."

I opened my mouth to argue, but it was hard to combat good sense when I heard it. Though Griffin's parents had only ever been supportive of me, both in words and in actions, I still had a hard time facing them after everything I put Griffin through. "I'll think about it," I conceded. Though now that I'd exhausted my last option outside of pack territory, I was left with either waiting in the hope that something better would come along or accepting that I needed help.

"Great. Enough of all that. How about some burgers?" Edmund asked hopefully, and when I glanced over, I had to smile at how eager he looked for something we'd already had several times this week. Burgers hadn't existed in our time, and now that he'd discovered them, Edmund was obsessed.

I had anticipated this and was already planning on routing us past a burger joint on the way back to our hotel. I'd get Edmund enough food to tide him and Argo over for the night, then leave them to it. Tonight, I was finally meeting Griffin's best friend and cousin, Kitana. Apparently, she'd been going through some kind of personal crisis recently and things were finally calm enough for introductions to be made. It was another step into Griffin's world, so I was looking forward to it.

I was getting better at driving as a human, but I still hit the curb in the drive through after misjudging the turn. Edmund was gracious enough not to react, probably because he was going through a similar transition and it was harder than I ever imagined, adjusting to what may as well have been a new body with dulled senses and reflexes. Had the transition from human to vampire been as jarring? I couldn't remember, but I thought not.

We made it back to the hotel without further incident. Edmund clutched the bag of fast food to his chest and looked over at me, concern peeking through. "It will all work out, you know," he said hesitantly.

"I know that," I scoffed, though the words were good to hear all the same.

Edmund patted my arm and opened the door to get out. "Will I see you later?" he asked.

"I hope not," I said. I had every intention of staying with Griffin tonight, as I did almost every other night.

Edmund rolled his eyes good-naturedly and left, leaving me to find my way to the bar where I'd be meeting Griffin and his cousin. It was thankfully familiar to me, as it was one of the places Griffin had taken me on our first date. I was almost half an hour early, but I went inside, anyway, intent on securing a table and maybe getting an appetizer to tide me over until Griffin and Kitana arrived. Only, they were already here.

Even without his scent to draw me in, I still caught sight of Griffin within seconds of stepping into the bar. All it took was a quick scan of the room, and my eyes latched onto him. I watched his nose twitch and a deliciously warm feeling flowed through me at the way I so wholly captured his attention just by entering the room. It was clear he was surprised to see me here so early, but that didn't keep him from jumping out of his seat and making his way to me with long, eager strides. The affection in his eyes mirrored how I felt every time I saw him, and it was natural to wrap him up in my arms as soon as he was in reaching distance.

Griffin tucked his nose against my neck for just a second or two before shifting upward so he could greet me with a kiss. It was quicker than I would have liked, so I chased his lips for one more before we separated.

"Hello," I said. "I hope I'm not ruining your plans, showing up so early." This was said teasingly, since it was impossible to doubt my welcome after that reception.

"Not at all. Kitana and I were just catching up. Come on, let me introduce you."

Griffin took my hand and led me toward the back tables, where a pretty woman with dark hair that curled down her back and warm brown eyes smiled up at me. "Well, there's no question of who you are after a show like that," she said. "You must be Wulfric. I'm Kitana, this one's cousin."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I responded, almost falling into the booth onto Griffin as he tugged me down to sit with him. I reached out a hand to shake, but withdrew it after Kitana stared at it with an odd expression for a few seconds too long. Her eyes, which had gone unfocused when I reached toward her, widened and caught my hand before I could withdraw entirely.

Griffin and I exchanged confused glances while she leaned in and delicately sniffed at my forearm. Though, Griffin's confusion evaporated as he seemed to figure something out. His face broke out into a massive grin and he watched Kitana eagerly.

She shook her head a couple of times, and her eyes finally focused on me, though they still looked a little shellshocked. "Sorry, that was weird. But, um, you smell like my mate."

I looked to Griffin, feeling utterly horrified. I couldn't smell like her mate. I was his. And the last thing I needed was Griffin feeling insecure because of another werewolf, especially one he was close to, staking a claim over me. But Griffin didn't share my horror. No, now he looked positively giddy.

I was clearly missing something.

He finally stopped smiling at Kitana to glance at me, and he laughed when he saw my face. "Oh, honey, she didn't mean that you smell like you're her mate. She meant, you've had contact with her mate recently enough to pick up their scent on you."

Oh. Oh! "Edmund. He's the only person I've seen today, other than our-" My mouth snapped shut before I could say the word "realtor." I quickly covered up the near-slip by adding, "He touched my arm when I dropped him off."

Now that I thought about it, he'd patted right where Kitana had been smelling.

"Edmund?" Kitana asked eagerly.

"My brother."

Kitana clapped her hands and looked to Griffin again. "It's happening! Remember when we used to dream about being mated to brothers?"

Griffin laughed. "Yeah, only in our dreams, they were built Latin men who didn't mind walking around shirtless with their muscles oiled."

Kitana waved that off. "That's beside the point." She looked to me again and was obviously about to say something, her eyes bright and warm, when her joy vanished and she was left staring at me in alarm. She almost looked on the verge of tears, and not the good kind. What could have possibly caused such a drastic shift?

"But... Griffin, he said you and your brother were just freed from a curse you didn't want to break. He said it's been really hard on you."

I felt a little uncomfortable, knowing that this woman who was mostly a stranger had such intimate information about my life. Of course, I didn't begrudge Griffin for talking about it. This had been his struggle as much as it had been mine, and I was glad he was seeking out support if he needed it. But must she come out and talk about it?

Griffin slid his arm behind my back so he could pull me against his side. "I got the sense Edmund was happy to have the curse broken," Griffin said, and I nodded in agreement.

"Edmund is ecstatic to be human again," I assured Kitana. I was starting to see why werewolves made such a big fuss about their mates even before finding them. Kitana had never laid eyes on my brother, but she still cared deeply enough about him to sag into her seat with relief that he hadn't undergone a recent trauma. "In fact, I'm not sure ecstatic is a strong enough word. I'll have to caution you, however. You do have some competition. See, he's recently discovered cheeseburgers and he can't seem to stay away from them."

I added that both for my own amusement and because I was fascinated to see Kitana's reaction to more information about my brother. Griffin swatted at my thigh playfully, and Kitana laughed.

"You know, the burgers here are pretty decent," she said. Her tone made it clear the comment was meant to come across casually, but there was too much underlying excitement for that.

"Oh, is that so?" I asked.

Griffin had no appreciation for my teasing, and he released his hold on me to dig my phone out of my pocket. I watched as he unlocked the phone with his own fingerprint, which I didn't realize had been programmed into it. Then he navigated to my texts and typed in all caps, "THE BURGERS HERE ARE ORGASMIC, COME JOIN US," followed quickly by sharing the location of the bar.

"He'll never believe I sent that," I pointed out.

"He doesn't have to," Griffin said. My phone buzzed and he glanced at the screen before holding it up for me to see with a smirk.

"Griffin, is that you?" Edmund had responded. It buzzed again. "I'll be there soon."

"He's coming?" Kitana asked. Griffin nodded, and laughed when she said, "I'm going to go freshen up."

Kitana left the table with her bag, and Griffin laughed again. "This is amazing. Isn't this amazing?" he asked.

"Yeah." In fact, the more I thought about it, the happier I was. Edmund had made it clear that he longed for a close relationship. He wouldn't do better than being with his soulmate, who seemed like a really sweet person so far. Though the ramifications made me dizzy.

If the curse hadn't been broken, would Edmund have never met Kitana? Surely, they would have met at some point. Kitana was too close to Griffin and I was too close to my brother for them not to. So, would Edmund have broken the pattern and found his soulmate before his time? What would that have done to him? Or would Kitana's ability to recognize him have been dampened?

It was starting to seem likelier there was some driving force, some agent of fate, playing with the strings of our lives. Because Edmund hadn't met Kitana before his humanity was restored. Even though, as I'd already acknowledged, they probably should have.

"Griffin? What was it, exactly, that kept your cousin away from you while we were figuring out the curse?" I asked.

If he was confused by the shift in topic, he didn't show it. Griffin explained, "Oh, it's a crazy story. You know how Kitana's adopted? Well, she ran into her biological brother. He freaked out about a stranger smelling like family, turns out he had no idea he had ever had a sister. So after they exchanged contact info and made plans to get coffee, he went to his parents looking for answers. And it turns out, Kit was never meant to be adopted out in the first place! Her uncle wanted his own kid to be the eldest grandchild because I guess their grandparents are loaded and he thought they'd inherit more that way, and Kitana was a few months older than her cousin. Sorry, this is a lot. Are you following?"

"Well enough," I answered.

"Right. So, the uncle took Kit and dropped her off at another pack out of state with a letter saying she was an orphan." Griffin's eyes were wide when he finished his story and I stared at him, having a hard time comprehending that something like that could happen in real life.

"That's... barbaric."

"Yeah. Well, it all came out into the open when Kitana stumbled on her brother. So she's been spending time with her birth family and even now, she feels really guilty whenever she's with them because she feels disloyal to my uncles. And she feels guilty when she's with my uncles because she feels like she should be spending time with her birth family. She's actually kind of a wreck right now, not that she'll let on to that with you."

"Is it such a good idea to bring Edmund into this before things settle down?" I asked.

Griffin waved away the question before I even finished asking it. "No good comes from keeping mates apart, Wulf," Griffin said. "Besides, don't you think it helped to have me around when everything was happening with your dad?"

The question was asked casually, but I could see how much my answer mattered to Griffin. I offered him the plain truth: "I shudder to think of the state I'd have been in without you, Griffin." I pressed a kiss to his temple and Griffin snuggled against my side with a happy sigh.

"I love you so much," he sighed, then went very still. "Um, sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"I love you more," I answered.

Griffin tipped his face up to look at me, his cheek still pressed against my chest and his eyes full of wonder. "You do?"

I pulled him away enough to cup his cheeks and pull him in for a thorough, tender kiss. "Yes."

"You are so getting laid tonight," Griffin said after another searing kiss. A shiver ran down my spine and I desperately hoped this would be it, the night he claimed me as his own. For now, I clutched Griffin to myself and enjoyed simply being together. The rest would follow.