☽◐⬤◑☾

I woke up to the ping ping pinging of my phone. I bent over the side of the bed, unplugged the phone from it’s charger, and then laid back down. My phone was going ballistic. I unlocked the screen to find text after text from Arrow. I scrolled to read the first one. 

I’m halfway to you. 

Just took the exit. 

Only an hour off. 

I’m stopping at Wawa, want anything?

Fable?

Are you still sleeping?

It’s 9:00, you have to wake up

Wake up

Wake up

Wake up

And it just kept going and going. In fact it was still going. 

Shut up.

I wrote and he sent a smiling emoji back at me. 

Good morning Sunshine.

Fuck you. I responded. And get me a donut.

He typed: k. And I turned off my phone. 

I stared up at the ceiling. I didn’t have that moment where I couldn’t remember what had happened the day before and then it all came crashing down. No, that didn’t happen, in fact, most of my dreams were comprised of it, of him. I wondered, still slightly asleep, if he had dreamed of me. 

I sat straight up. Ok, I need coffee.  

In the process of downing a lovely cup of liquid caffeine, my phone rang. I had, thankfully, brought it with me to the table. I didn’t check the caller ID, too occupied with my mug. 

“Fable Walker.” I answered, phone at my ear. 

“Hello my darling older sister.” I smiled, rolling my eyes. 

“And good morning to you, Echo.” She giggled. 

“Mom told me you found your mate.” I gave a nice un-opinionated “huh”. She sniggered over the line. “Mom also told me that you tracked him half-way across town.” I growled at her mocking tone. 

“Mom needs to stop telling people stuff that doesn't concern them.” My younger sister laughed. 

“It’s better for your sanity, Fable, if you just accept that mom likes spreading gossip more than birds like worms.” I sighed. She was right, I knew it. That was why I hadn’t wanted to ask mom about it. But she was the only mated person I knew. And I definitely wasn’t going to ask dad about my instinctual need to claim a stranger. 

“What are you and the witches up to today?” I asked, hoping for a change in subject. Echo groaned. 

“We’re up in Maine. Some idiot decided it’d be cool to train a vampire to be his guard dog.” I winced. 

“How many?” 

“12.” I could hear the pain in her voice. Banshee or not, death was death. “They were all in the building so we’re blaming it on a gas leak. Now, we just have to magically fix it so that it looks like it could be blamed on a gas leak.” I chuckled somberly. Vampire feeding scenes are messy and definitely don’t look like gas inhalation. 

“I don’t envy your job.” I intoned. She tsked. 

“Well, I don’t envy your life.” She paused, letting the insult hit. I found I couldn’t really argue. “Arrow texted me, said he was heading towards you.” I nodded though she couldn’t see it. 

“Yep, mom’s decided that I need a babysitter.” Echo paused and her voice grew serious. 

“You know if you need help, all you have to do is ask.” I smiled. 

“I know, Echo. Thank you.” 

“Of course.” I could physically hear the seriousness leaving her tone. “Now, are you really not going to go after your super hot wolf-ish soulmate?” I rolled my eyes.

“You don’t know he’s super hot.” She scoffed, offended. 

“Of course I do, Fable. I know these things.” I shook my head smiling in spite of myself, not that she’d ever know. “You need to do this Fable, your love life is in dire need of an intervention.” I tsked. 

“My love life is fine.” 

“Your love life is nonexistent, literally.” 

“I don’t need to listen to this. I can just hang up.” Echo sighed. 

“You have two options here. You can either hang up or listen to my advice.” I hung up. A few moments later my phone chimed. 

Well fuck you too.

I chuckled and turned off the phone, taking another sip of my coffee. A few minutes passed and it chimed again. 

Come on, Fable. Give him a chance. You deserve happiness.

I sighed and responded.

Thank you. Love you. Have fun in Maine.

She sent me a winky emoji and responded. 

Have fun with Lupin.

☽◐⬤◑☾

By the time Arrow arrived I was on my second cup of coffee. I had gotten dressed and brushed my caramel-blonde hair into a ponytail. My younger brother walked in the door, rather unceremoniously. I had heard him pull up, so I wasn’t surprised. My entire family had a key to my apartment, though I hadn’t given any of them a key. 

He smiled at me, his blonde hair disheveled and clothes crumpled from the long car ride. As I drained the last of my coffee, he handed me an iced vanilla latte and two boston creme donuts. Sometimes, I love my siblings. 

He sat down opposite me, at my small square kitchen table, pulling out his own, old fashioned donut. He took a bite and watched me as he chewed. I waited until he swallowed. 

“Why are you running away from your super hot wolfish paramour?” And sometimes they’re a pain in the butt. I dutifully ignored him, taking a large bite of my donut. He smiled and leaned back in the chair. “I’ve just never known you were adverse to the aspect of love.” I glared at him and swallowed hard. 

“I’m not against love, Arrow. I just don’t believe that a person is predetermined to love only one person.” I huffed and drank my latte, it was good. Arrow cocked his head at me. 

“So you're against the idea of soulmates?” He scoffed. “You are aware our parents fell in love as strangers, right? They’re mated, same as you.” He shrugged. “It worked out for them.” I glared at him and sat back in my seat. 

“That’s all well and good, Arrow. But I can’t fall in love with a stranger. I don’t know him.” He shook his head, smiling. 

“I know how to fix that.” I rolled my eyes at his obvious pleasure with this whole thing. 

“You know your job is to make sure we stay apart.” He tsked, waving his finger back and forth. 

“No, my job is to make sure you don’t succumb to your instincts and that everything you do is based on your own will.” He bowed slightly, awkward while sitting down. “You seem to be in perfect control.”  I cringed at his words. In the hour it had taken him to get here I had tried to leave three times. Two of those times just planning to go back to where I had first seen Lupin and seeing if I could find his scent again. I just needed to smell him. It’s one of the oddest urges I’ve felt, the need to smell him. Typically, I don’t smell people. 

The third time, I had every intention of marching down to the Wolf Den and just demanding his presence. I was halfway out the door when I regained some semblance of sanity. I decided to make myself another cup of coffee and thought of tying myself to the table. I had been sitting there questioning if it was really that bad of an idea, when Arrow had arrived.

I eyed my brother now, he watched me with understanding and sorrow. He reached across the table and took my hand. 

“It’s not the Bond you're against, it’s the lack of control.” I chuckled mirthlessly. 

“How do I know what's my will, and what's the Bond’s? How do I tell the difference?” He looked at me for a long while but didn’t have an answer. I nodded solemnly and he smiled. 

“So what's on the agenda?” He asked, leaning back in his chair. I sighed.

“Movies and junk food. I have an exhibit on Friday but you don’t have to come.” He wiped a hand across his forehead and sighed, relieved. 

“Thank god.” I kicked him under the table and he yelped in pain but smiled all the same. I took a bite of my donut. Today was tuesday. This upcoming exhibit was big and grand and Arrow would hate it. Salem might have liked it and Echo would love it. I was indifferent, it was work, I had to go, even if I didn’t want to. I sighed and stuffed the rest of the donut into my mouth. 

“You go pick the movie and I’ll order Mexican food.” He smiled, overly enthusiastic, hopped off the chair and went to select a movie. I smiled and stood up to find the menu.