Another morning sun greeted the couple with their usual morning breakfast banter, but Skylar had to leave early. Excusing herself about pending work, she was swamped last night and logged in at the company earlier than her usual arrival. Employees greeted her with politeness and were still swept off their feet over her mysterious facade as she waltzed smoothly in her company toward her lift. Alone and inside the lift, she began calling someone, a werewolf friend back home.
On the phone:
"Why are you calling me so early in the morning?"
"It's almost seven, Ayed." Skylar refuted, rolling her eyes as she entered her private lift, heading to her penthouse instead.
"Still, it's early when you can call around nine or ten."
"Whatever. I need to know something, wolf thing." She bluntly said, catching the man on the other line's attention.
"Hm, that's new but alright, I'm all ears."
"Can a werewolf shifter send a strange feeling of familiarity to some humans or other creatures on their first meeting?" She asked and stepped out of the lift, entering her penthouse.
The penthouse felt warm but too quiet in the morning, but she ignored it and got the file she hadn't finished last night. She was about to leave without checking the penthouse when she heard Ayed's response.
"Are you referring to a werewolf's bond?"
"A bond?" she asked, frowning, almost stopping in her tracks when Irina appeared on her side.
"Yes, a bond. It's the same with vampires, but around them, vampires called it a blood bond, which I think has many forms too. Anyway, since I don't know much about them, to werewolves, is more like humans when it comes to the aura and vibe, but only deeper, and mostly, it includes scents…"
"Scents? How is the scent involved around the bond?" Skylar wondered, catching the intriguing part for her.
Skylar kissed Irina's cheek, mouthing her greeting, not even caring if she could hear their conversation. Irina chuckled with a nod before giving her a box of freshly baked cookies and brownies for her snacks. She smiled, mouthing her thanks before leaving the penthouse, still talking to Ayed on the phone.
"Yes, scents have a strong effect on werewolves. They – we could tell what type of bond we could have to a person, like having a bond between a pack, a family, friends, somebody to respect and follow – like what I felt for you, you're my boss, my leader, my alpha.
"That's sound one-sided, but it's still strange to me to feel a pull around him when we just met." Skylar deeply thought and entered the lift before responding, "I'm flattered to hear that. But how can I tell what bond I'm making with a werewolf?"
"Hm, since you're changing, it would be easier for you to feel it. Feel the bond that is forming. The bond strengthens more as we spend time touching the person. However, when it comes to a mate or a lover, that's a different case."
"Okay, how different would it be?" Skylar wondered, intrigued even more, and walked to her office once the lift opened on her floor.
"To us, werewolves, we need to be fully and sincerely accepted before getting intimate with our lover and marking them or each other as ours. Like marriage in human language, but mating and marking our lover is a sign of marriage to us. That's why it is the greatest pain to us, werewolves, when we get rejected after doing it than before it could happen. Aside from being rejected by the pack or the society, this case is mostly the cause of the rogue's existence or the deaths of werewolves."
Hearing that, Skylar stopped in the middle of her office when something ached around her chest. It cracked something, causing multiple scenes from her painful past, her marriage with Vincencio, and lastly, the mysterious Night Hound she met to run through her mind. Subconsciously, she placed her free hand and squeezed it, hoping the ache would subside.
"Why it sounds…familiar?" She thought, trying to recall where she had heard it before, but her mind was not giving her an answer until Vincencio's face flashed. "Vince…"
"Alpha? Sky, are you still there?"
"Y-yeah, I'm still here just thinking." She answered, snapping out of her thoughts.
"Okay, but can you tell me what made you ask about it?"
"Oh, I just met a werewolf last night. He's covering his entire face, but I felt oddly familiar with his presence, yet at the same time, not. He was like a mysterious mist passing by whenever he felt like it. I could easily talk to him despite meeting for the first time, which is very rare in my case, and you knew that." She shared with him what she had just encountered, making Ayed curious but intrigued.
"True, so what about this man?"
"I don't know…But I felt a strange pull toward him, like what I felt for Vince, making me think that I'm just missing my husband badly to the point I'm seeing him in that man. But what made it odd was the time when we shook hands. I felt like something was binding me, pulling me in, and reminding me of my husband even more. It's confusing me." She continued, making Ayed chuckle amusingly, obviously, understood what she was confused about.
"Alpha, are you sure you didn't know, or are you just dodging what could be the answer to your question?
"That's…I never considered…" Skylar thought, caught off guard by a teasing question before asking what he meant there. "What are you talking about?"
"To me, it sounds like they were the same person."
"That's impossible, Ayed…" she softly said, not believing the possibility, but Ayed cut her off.
"Impossible, or you just don't want to consider the possibility that I'm right?"
Skylar quietly stood still by the window, looking at the vast morning sky. She didn't know what to say as it hadn't occurred to her mind until Ayed mentioned the possibility. Her heart was beating hard, her hands slightly trembling about it, followed by a heavy sigh.
"C-could it be?" Skylar thought softly, scared of what-ifs running inside her mind, but hoping for something good.
"Alpha, I know there are a lot of things happening in your life right now. Your normal life with vengeance is now involved with the changes around us, night creatures. However, Alpha, before you make any decision about this matter, feel them first. Clarify it. You're lucky if they were the same person, but if not, I hate to say this, but you have to choose, your husband or the werewolf you met."
"That's what I'm afraid of, making myself choose." Skylar dejectedly responded, leaning her body against the window's post with a troubled mind, catching Ayed's attention.
"That's something, Alpha Skylar."
"What are you saying?" She frowned.
"You said you don't want to choose between them. Are you saying to me that the pull you felt for the werewolf is a mate bond?"
"I'm not sure, but somehow it felt like that, and Vincencio's face flashed when I feel it." She honestly replied to what she felt around Night Hound.
"To me, Alpha, I feel they were the same person. But only you could tell. Watch them carefully, feel them, and maybe from there, you would be able to tell the similarities or their difference. However, you should use both your mind and heart in doing this because, remember, what I said earlier, rejection is the only way to set both parties apart from the bond before it escalated intimately."
"W-what will happen if a werewolf is rejected?" Skylar carefully asked, stuttering a little, fearing something that she could regret later.
"It's not one-way feeling, Sky. If one of you got rejected, both of you will feel as if you're being skinned alive inside and out, but surviving it will be worth it. Both of you will be freed from the bond, but it will take some time to heal from it, and I'm not scaring you, but you need to know this. When rejected, some werewolves don't heal from the pain, while some do and love once again; however, only a few manage to have second chances in finding their mates."
"So, what can you suggest after hearing everything?" She coldly asked, not trusting her judgement at the moment over the matter at hand. She was still nervous, frightened of hurting someone she loved or felt connected with.
"Hm, I suggest you keep the option that your husband could be the same werewolf you formed a mate bond with open. Carefully observe how they act around you, whether with or without you, toward somebody, or whenever they are having difficulties controlling themselves when your safety is at risk. Just watch them and feel both bonds you were feeling since only you could answer what's troubling you."
"He's right. I'm the only one who can tell them apart…But I hope they were the same." Skylar thought, sighing heavily, hopefully before responding to Ayed. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Ayed."
"Anytime, Alpha. Best of luck on figuring it out."
"I'll find it. I won't be a general if I'm not clever at handling this matter." With determination and shaking hands, Skylar still decided.
***
Her day around the company moved smoothly, the same; however, at night, and being the Rose Slayer, she found herself at Midnight Guardian's boss's office. She sneaked inside, without being detected, and let herself in like she owned the place, wandering.
"He's neat and…" Skylar muttered in amusement, but something passed her nostrils, making her sit on the boss chair, feeling oddly familiar. "…you smelled like him…"
Each gentle touch from her fingers was familiar, making her mind play everything the MG boss does around his office. She found herself smirking beneath her mask when she felt a presence approaching the office. She didn't move from her seat, and instead, she just waited, and Night Hound entered, not surprised.
"Start liking my office, Rose Slayer?" Night Hound asked with a lilt of amusement in his tone, removing his coat, and she watched him carefully, amused too.
"I do, and if we got closer, I might invite you to my lair." Rose Slayer said, smirking as she felt the challenge.
"I know you would." He responded amusingly before he went serious and asked. "But what brings you here?"
"Nothing, but to observe." She replied honestly, making the man sternly look at her before coming closer, leaning in, and catching her breath away. "Why did you make me feel like I'm talking with my husband?"
"Just observe, or do you want to clarify something?" He guessed like he could read her like an open book.
"How?! No, I'm not giving in." She thought, composing herself before daring him head-on. "So, what will you do if I do neither?"
"Nothing. I loved the attention you're giving me. It's flattering because a famous killer kept her eye on me." He chuckled as he grabbed the files on his desk and checked them in front of her.
"And you're not afraid that I might kill you at the end?" She guessed, still studying him, trying to learn something.
"No, not at all." He replied, shaking his head before writing something in the file and showing it to her.
"And what makes you think that?" She asked curiously, checking the file as well, and it was about her next target. "Emerson Junes, the fuckboy third lieutenant. How did he get this?"
"You just won't, but I'd admit I'm scared of you." He answered with vulnerability in his tone, making Rose Slayer stop reading the file in her hand.
"Hm, that's interesting. Go on, elaborate on that. I'm listening." She said, curious about his sudden softness, making the man lean on his desk beside her.
"I'm not scared of being killed by you, but I'm scared you'll ruin me once you know my truth." He admitted something raw, causing a little confusion in Rose Slayer, but he was still intrigued to know this MG boss better.
"He sounded like Vince." She thought after hearing the same reason, but she didn't show it and just wondered. "Your truth? That you're a werewolf?"
"No, something else." He chuckled softly before he gently grabbed her chin, making her look deeply at him.
"You sounded like you knew me before we even met." She softly said, feeling his warmth suddenly spreading with familiarity in her body.
"At first, yes, I don't know you, but that night it changed everything and made me understand something, making me desire to help you in every possible way. And I will do it in a heartbeat, Rose Slayer." He said firmly, but there was also a hint of softness and honesty in them.