James' POV

'Meet me at the Café tomorrow at 10. I owe you a conversation.'

I stare at the text I sent Jessica last night, knowing that Saturday mornings are the only time during the week that she's not busy doing something else. Her father constantly has her doing research and studying for when she eventually takes over his seat at the Council.

Anxiety pools in my stomach as well as anticipation. I've been avoiding this conversation but Zee was right, it's not fair to anyone if I tried to hide from this.

Not to mention the thought of an Alpha running from feelings is enough to make my own warriors give me a side eye that I don't need.

I school my breathing, taking a deep breath and rolling out my neck, earning a few pops, to help calm myself down. Two minutes and a few more deep breaths later, I see Jessica open the door to the Hybrid owned cafe. The wolf-vamp asks if she wants anything, but Jessica waves her off and looks around the cafe until she finds my strained face.

Reminding myself and my heart to stay calm so Jessica doesn't notice something is up and get upset, and cause a scene.

Precisely why I picked a public spot, less likely to end this in a fight or argument. I have other things on my mind that I need to focus on, not her. Not anymore.

'Wow, James.' Is all Sloan says and he doesn't offer an explanation as she approaches and I go to stand up to greet her.

Her brows are already arched in exepectation, her mouth set in a thin line of impatience and I realize that this is going to be an uphill battle.

"Hey Jess, thanks for coming." I greet her and she just hums in acknowledgment before sitting down. I take my seat across from her and search for a way to start, feeling completely unprepared for this conversation.

'I know I never cared for Jessica deeply because I knew it wouldn't last, but even I would be able to handle this conversation better than you. Men.' He scoffs at me before he decides to take his leave, my wolf leaving me to deal with me owing mess myself. Typical. 'You need to start taking responsibility James. You're supposed to run the Autumn Falls pack, and yet you can't even handle a conversation with your supposed girlfriend. Sad really.' He sighs before fading away.

With red cheeks and a burning sense of humility shooting through me, I clear my throat and decide to go for it, knowing that I have no choice but to get it over with.

"So, I know that I have kind of been MIA for the past week or so." jessica scoffs and rolls her eyes at the admission, majorly unimpressed at my attempts at apologizing. "That was completely unfair of you and you didn't deserve that." I start, but before I can continue, she cuts me off, her eyes flickering lightly between her sweet green eyes and black, her wolf, Jasmine not a fan of mine at the moment either apparently.

"James, I know we were never as close as you Alex and Zee, but I thought that we were close enough and had an understanding that as long as we were honest with each other, we would be compassionate and understanding without judgment. You took that choice away from me while avoiding me. I'm sure you forgot that my birthday was this week." She snarls at me, but it isn't one of anger and violence, but of hurt and pain. My chest feels like it's hit with a ton of bricks, guilt racking my stomach. Knowing that I need to stop this before I hurt her any further, but also not wanting to talk about something that might make her even more upset, I settle to apologize, hoping to save Cody for another conversation, preferably after he's turned eighteen. 

"You're right, Jess, and I'm sorry. I haven't been totally honest with you. I want to break up." I tell her, avoiding her eyes, though I can't avoid the sharp but expected intake of breath and the way it pulls at me. "Between my parents planning on being around more, becoming Alpha in a few months, and with a bunch of things that have come up with the pack and crime, I've been so busy and it's only going to get worse. Not to mention all the preparations you have to go through in order to become a Council Member. It's all been weighing on me and I don't have it in me to upkeep a relationship." The unspoken words are as loud as the chatter around us.

I don't have it in me to maintain a relationship, because you're not my Mate and you never will be.

It was the truth, well, part of it anyway, but I can tell it still hurts. I grant her the respect of looking her in her eyes and see the pain swimming in the sea of her tears. Shame hangs over me like a cloud as I watch a single tear trace her cheek before it's wiped away with a look of heartbreak and resentment.

"Well, I guess I should thank you for coming to me in person. I understand. I'm sorry your going through it." She tells me, but I can tell she's hurt.

Because it's all just excuses, and we both know it.

But she won't force me to tell her what I won't voleenter. She always told me it tells you more about a person, what they're not willing to say verses what they do.

And we both know it.

"I'm sorry, Jessica." I tell her and I mean it, but I can tell it doesn't matter. All the times she was there for me after my father hurt me, her own experience with her father a mirror reflection. All the times we studied for Pack Exams together. All the times she came hunting with Alex and I and raced through the fields. All the times we cuddled in bed, whispering what we hope our Mate is like to each other, holding each other in place of the piece of our missing Soul.

All the memories we've shared between us for this past year and a half comes flossing through me along with guilt.

She gets up, a watery smile and spilling eyes staring down at me, making me feel smaller than the fabled pixies. "Yeah. I'm sorry too." Is all she says before walking away and out if the door, leaving me feeling like shit as I remember the promise I made her so long ago. One that only fills me with shame as I remember it now.

"I promise, Jess. You won't have to be alone while we wait for our Soulmates. Until one of us finds our other half, I will stand by your side and help carry this hellish burden we have to lead our people. And when we do, we'll all introduce each other and stay friends for forever." I had told her one night after we had cried together after finding Jessica beaten and bruised, her fathers expectations of her success in helping lead the pack too great for any one person.

I feel like shit but I don't stop her as she crosses the street before she blurs with her enhanced speed racing towards Vollmond.

With a defeated sigh, I stick around for a few minutes wanting to give her a head start, as my wolf judges me, his silence louder than any lecture he could give me.

After a few more minutes of self misery and pouting, I snap myself out of it, placing a tip on the table and leaving the cafe so I can take care of business I've been avoiding for too long.

Pushing aside worries of Jessica, I tap into my own super speed, my legs pumping with staggering speed as I race around walking pedestrians and other Supers out for a run. With the speed, my senses also increase their processing speed allowing me to easily maneuver around people, objects and the terrain as I race out of the Capital and through Vilin until I finally reach the familiar smelling forrests of Vollmond flow through my nose.

I slow down to a jog and make a beeline for the packhouse, hoping that Zee and Alex are there.

When I arrive at the cabin, there's a few wolves training, playing and just lounging on the yard, taking advantage of the rare warm spring afternoon, the high sixties sun feeling great on our winter adjusted skin. I make my way up the steps, stopping to address some wolves concerns and say hello to a few, before passing the massive mud room and making my way towards the stairs and the offices on the second floor.

At the top, I enhance my hearing, not really wanting to have to walk down the hall to check both offices. Luckily, I smell and hear the faint traces of Alex and Zee, the sounds coming from my Beta's office as they discuss the closing of the sign ups for the Pack Race. I head down the hall, stopping on the door to the right of the Alpha Office at the end of the hallway, the door slightly ajar with voices trickling through the crack.

I open the door and smile tightly as Zee and Alex turn around to see who it is, a smile and a nod all the acknowledgment I get before they're back to their discussion. I laugh to myself a bit, knowing that they're the only two in the entire pack that doesn't bag an eye or stick to protocol in regards to my status and position. To them I will always just be plain old James. The same way I want Cody to see me.

As they wrap up their conversation, Alex finally turns towards me with a scrutinizing eye and a small smirk on his lips.

"You look depressed. Wanna tell me or should I start guessing ?" He asks and I give him a side eye before looking to an amused Zee as she writes down the last of the notes Alex and her agreed on.

"I wanted to follow up on the increase in crime you guys brought to me the other day and I also wanna tell you guys, finally, what happened yesterday at tea." I tell them, guilt still pooling in my gut over jessica which I try to ignore.

Alex and Zee share a tense look before Zee nods, typing something up on her computer as Alex turns towards me with a serious look.

"We already knew that things were getting worse at an exponentially high rate with an increase of crimes that we only see twice or three times a year here. Well, it's gotten worse. Early this morning there was a report about a rape near the Warriors Headquarters." Alex tells me and I go still.

"Who the hell would be brave or stupid enough to pull that kind of shit so close to Headquarters?" I ask, my mind spinning as more pieces get added to the already insanely difficult puzzle that's been thrown our way.

Not to mention, rapes are insanely rare, not just in Vollmond but in Kaulike in general. And more often than not it's some lowly human hybrid forcing themselves onto weaker Supers and other humans. Since all Divine Children get Mated, it's all but a myth in Divine Territories. And hearing that it was so close to our own police forces makes me highly unsettled.

"We've been trying to figure that out. The victim is still in shock in our Hospital. The only things she's been able to communicate are simple mumbled words like 'shadows', 'devil', 'invasion' nothing that really stuck out. Seemed like a bunch of usual Divine propaganda the Angels try to spread to all of us Divinites." Zee explains as she prints out the report and hands to me to go through. I flip through and scan a few pages, my mind spinning out of control until I decide to come clean.

"Honestly, you guys, I'm not so sure it's propaganda. What I was trying to tell you guys is that we're not the only ones having problems with a sudden and unusual surge in multiple crimes. I talked to Lord Azrin of House of Mind and the Faerie Lord admitted that Melamar has been having the same problems. He's starting to distrust the other Houses. Maybe what's going on here is more than a wolf thing." I tell them and there's a confused but thoughtful gaze that catches their eyes and there's a bit of silence before Alex breaks it.

"What if whatever it is that's going on, is happening everywhere, even our sister pack and Vilin?" Alex asks, as if he knows that's the last thing possible that I could want.

"If that's the case, then us all being unaware, uneducated and misinformed is only going to serve whoever it is, better, if there's even this enemy, which I'm not convinced there is." Zee counters with a pointed look as as much as I want to agree with her.....

"Wait, there's something else I haven't told you. While I was at the Tea, I also ended up having an interaction with Lady Ciara of House of Spirits. She uh... she read Art, me and Azrin a prophecy." I tell them, nerves tickling my stomach as if even thinking about the prophecy put me on edge even if I don't know what it means.

"A prophecy? What, you mean like some old hag with a crystal ball telling you some made up riddle about the future?" He asks and I roll my eyes before reminding him.

"You forget that we're not talking about humans or some random Faerie. We're talking about the Leading Lady of one of the most important Houses in the Faerie Kingdom. They've used her visions and information to their advantage for hundreds of years." I tell him and his cheeks tinge red in embarrassment though all he does is nod his acknowledgment and gesture for me to continue. "Okay, the prophecy went like this:

Fangs, paws, mana, horns, and magic
if these cannot become one, the result is tragic
blindfolds, missing pieces and keys
the official story isn't the one to seize
after three hundred moons, darknesss persists
uncovering of history will cause hearts to shift
All as one the united stand tall
As the oldest source of evil finally falls
wait for the dawn breed by the briefest of nights
for the fifteen warriors that show the world their might.
the ages long fight will come to a close
As a phoenix from the ashes, a new age rose."

When I finish there's a beat of silence that same magical feeling and tingling sensation in my head as if the magic that seared the words into my memory are doing the same to them. Also as if Ciara made it so that once you hear it, you'll never forget.

Alex is the first to speak up. "Sounds like there's something coming. And if we don't come together and fight, everything will be lost." He surmises and I have to agree that seems like the gist of it.

"Then the first thing we need to do is start branching out towards our sister pack to see if they've been dealing with the same stuff we have. And from there we can connect with the Faeries and at least the Vampires." Zee agrees.  We plan out a few things, going over and over the prophecy but we can't figure out any details, only coming to the same basic conclusion as before.

After about half an hour of going in circles I finally call it quits.

"Okay, okay we're getting no where. Let's just put a pin in it and return to it later. Not like we'll forget. In the meantime, have some of our best warriors look in on things around the pack, checking in on an unusual stories or leads. I want a report in two days." I tell them and they acknowledge the command before they get to work, giving me a wave as I leave the office.

I decide to go for a run to clear my head, and as I race through the woods and enjoy the warm afternoon air, I can't help but wonder just what's on the edge of the horizon.

I only hope that whatever it is, Cody and my pack can get through it unscathed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okayyyy next chapter done. the books are so similar and yet so strikingly different I love it. Can't lie, this Unattainable is definitely my favorite.

Thoughts?

Comments?

QOTD: whats your favorite kind of museum?