Soulmated

by Sara Summers

  Maybe then I wouldn’t have given up on him.

  He and his mom had a quick conversation about where they would go out for lunch to celebrate the start of his movie, and then he came back into the room.

  “I’ve got a few errands to run before we leave for our flight this afternoon. Do you want to come?” he checked.

  It was sweet of him to ask and sweet of him to make an effort to be with me, but it was too little, too late.

  I was done.

  “No thanks.” I shook my head.

  His smile faded a little.

  “Things will be better when we get to Atlanta.” He promised me. It sounded like he was still trying to hold on to the hope I’d already let go of. Logan didn’t want to compromise or face off with Laren, so he’d decided things would magically be better when we were living in Atlanta.

  But she could still control plenty of our lives without being there.

  I thought it was at least good that he realized things weren’t fantastic. That was a miracle, since he’d been acting like everything was fine and dandy for ages. Maybe, if he realized things were bad, there was hope that he’d come around and change everything.

  If he did, though, I wouldn’t be there to see it.

  “You’re coming to lunch with me and my mom, right?” he added.

  “Not this time.” I shook my head, giving him another small smile. Apparently he didn’t remember the 30-day expiration date I’d put on our relationship if things didn’t turn around. Either he’d forgotten it, or he’d just decided I didn’t have the guts to leave my superstar celebrity soulmate.

  “Alright. I guess I’ll see you when I come home to pack.” He didn’t wait for an answer, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “Bye, Emma.”

  “Bye, Logan.”

  Watching him leave, knowing it was likely the last time I would see him… it was bittersweet. Bitter because he was my soulmate and I’d spent my whole life waiting to meet him. Sweet because it was incredibly difficult to live with and fall in love with a man who I knew would never put me first.

  I heard the front door close and knew his car was driving away. Part of me wanted to cry at the idea, but most of me felt sure that I was making the right decision.

  Logan was supposed to be my missing piece. He was supposed to make me whole, to make me stronger and happier. He was the other half of my soul.

  But I had to choose myself over him. I couldn’t spend my life coming in last, I just couldn’t.

  Arthur came upstairs a few minutes after Logan and his mother left, just like I’d told him to.

  “Are you sure about this, Emma?” he asked. I could see, in his always-stony gaze, the concern. Arthur cared about me the way both Ty and Kyle did. I guess that was a little ironic; me going to New York with my soulmate and leaving with yet another father figure.

  The irony was even more real when I thought about the way Logan didn’t have any real father figure in his life while I now had three.

  “I’m sure.” My smile was sad, but it was a smile. “I’m ready to go home.”

  My plane ticket had been booked for two weeks, and I’d memorized both the flight number and the time it left.

  Arthur carried my two big suitcases while I grabbed my colorful purse and the carry-on.

  We rode in the cab to the airport in silence, both Arthur and I sitting in the back. I didn’t ask why didn’t take the car he usually drove because it didn’t matter anymore. I was leaving my soulmate, and my aching heart was the only thing I could really worry about.

  While my heart was aching, I knew that walking away was for the best.

  Arthur and I got out of the cab at the airport. He pulled my big bags out of the trunk and joined me on the curb, a duffel bag over his shoulder that didn’t belong to me. I put my sunglasses on, and he did the same.

  “What are you waiting for?” he checked, gesturing for me to walk inside the entrance.

  The cab drove away, and I frowned.

  “Aren’t you going back to the Lush’s house?” I asked.

  “I’m going to the Cage with you. Laren wants me to keep you safe, whether that’s in New York or Atlanta or Washington.” He explained.

  I shook my head and smiled, but walked toward the entrance of the airport without an argument.

  “You’re going to be so bored in the Cage, Arthur. My dad is the Alpha of the wolf pack in my town, if anyone tries to hurt me they’re going to get torn apart by massive shifters.”

  “Hey, I get paid just for being there. Maybe I’ll catch up on the latest books.” He shrugged.

  I laughed.

  “It’s too bad you’re not twenty years younger, you would be a good soulmate.” I grinned at the middle-aged man, whose face still didn’t budge. I’d yet to make the man laugh or even smile, but I was still pretty sure he liked me.

  “Twenty years ago I was with my own soulmate.” He said.

  I stopped in the middle of the airport, ignoring the people complaining around me. The action got people’s attention, and they started to recognize me. A few took out cameras, but I didn’t care.

  With my sunglasses on and my favorite white shirt and light blue shorts, they could take as many pictures as they wanted.

  “You’re a shifter?” I was pretty sure that I would’ve noticed the cotie if his answer was yes.

  “No.” Arthur shook his head. He didn’t stop moving, so I had to resume walking to stay with him.

  “Then how did you have a soulmate?” I wondered. As far as I knew, humans had only just barely been able to become soulmates with shifters. Besides, if his soulmate had been a shifter he would’ve turned into one too.

  “I fell in love and we chose to be each other’s soulmates. No shifter magic required.” Arthur didn’t look at me as he spoke, his black sunglasses covering the eyes that I knew wouldn’t give anything away anyway.

  “What happened?” I felt bad for not knowing this before.

  “She was a teacher. There was a shooting in her school and she protected her students with her life.”

  He was still straight-faced.

  “That’s why you became a bodyguard.” I sighed and shook my head. “I’m sorry, Arthur. That’s terrible.”

  “It’s like you said, she’ll always be my soulmate. Distance doesn’t change that.” He said firmly.

  I knew then that we were talking about me and Logan again.

  “Distance doesn’t change anything.” I agreed.

  The conversation was over, and we walked through the airport together.

  I took pictures with people while I waited for my plane, answering Logan’s fans questions openly when they asked where I was going and why Logan wasn’t with me.

  “I’m going home.” I smiled. “Back to the shifter Cage. Logan’s not here because he has a movie to film. You can find information about that on his social media sites.”

  When they asked if I was planning on joining him in a few weeks, my smile faded a little.

  “No, I won’t be joining him. No more questions please.” I turned away from the person and the video camera on their phone.

  My phone began vibrating in my pocket a few minutes later.

  I’d gotten a few texts from Logan after arriving at the airport, but I hadn’t bothered looking at them. He would act worried and blow up my phone with questions and phone calls, but when it came down to it, he wouldn’t drop the movie and he wouldn’t leave his fame-filled life.

  He could call and text me as many times as he wanted, but I knew he wouldn’t show up at the airport and beg me to stay with him or tell me he was leaving with me.

  Logan had chosen his life over me. That was alright, that was his choice, but I wasn’t going to pretend that our relationship could go somewhere anymore.

  I took a few more pictures with his fans before Arthur and I boarded our plane. I was in the first group again, and sat down in the first-class seats again.

  “Did you tell Laren that I was leaving?” I asked, having a
feeling that Arthur wouldn’t have booked us first-class seats without instructions from Queen Lush herself.

  “She saw the tickets and asked.”

  “And she didn’t tell Logan.” I shook my head, looking out the window. It was clear that Logan hadn’t realized I was planning on leaving, based on the way my phone continued to vibrate in my pocket.

  I moved it into my purse without looking at the screen.

  Arthur pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen, showing me Logan’s name.

  He answered it, straight-faced.

  “What can I do for you, Logan?” Arthur spoke normally, like the two of us weren’t going rogue and ticking off my pansy of a soulmate. We could piss him off as much as we wanted, both of us knew he wouldn’t do anything about it.

  Arthur put the phone up to his left ear, right next to me, and I leaned in so I could hear the conversation.

  “Where are you taking my soulmate?” he demanded.

  I grimaced at the tone in his voice. He was panicking. I don’t know why, but I didn’t think he would panic. I thought he would be mad for a little while before just accepting my decision with a resigned “there’s nothing I can do”.

  “I assume you’ve seen the pictures of her at the airport.” Arthur ignored the question. “Someone recorded her answering your question, so why are you calling me?”

  Good old Arthur wouldn’t beat around the bush.

  Logan swore.

  “Put her on the phone.” He half-commanded, half-begged.

  Arthur glanced at me and I shook my head.

  “She’s sleeping.” He told Logan.

  “I can feel exactly where she is all the time, Arthur. I know that you just boarded the plane two minutes ago. She hasn’t fallen asleep in two minutes.” Logan growled.

  “I’ll tell her you called.” Arthur hung up on Logan, and I raised my eyebrows.

  “Doesn’t he pay you?”

  “Laren pays me.” He shrugged.

  I adjusted my sunglasses and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, leaning my head against the side of the plane. Arthur had taken the aisle seat, doing his bodyguardly duty and putting himself between me and any possible threat.

  When the plane began to move a few minutes later, I clutched the armrests. My month in New York hadn’t done anything about my fear of flying.

  The plane drove down the large roads, getting ready to take off, and I knew I needed a distraction if I wasn’t going puke or pass out.

  So even though I knew it wasn’t a good idea, I pulled my phone out of my backpack and looked at the screen.

  I’d missed 18 calls from Logan, and a dozen texts.

  Ignoring the phone calls, I opened up the texting app.

  There was a variety of messages, from “What are you doing,” to “Why are you leaving me,” to “I love you Em”.

  I closed the app and looked back out the window.

  It vibrated again, and I looked down.

  The text said this:

  “Please come back to me. You’re my soulmate and you mean everything to me, Emma. Please, come home.”

  I opened the app again and hesitated for a moment before texting him back. I replied with,

  “You chose your life over me. If I really meant everything to you, you would’ve tried to compromise with me a month ago. Hope you made the right decision.”

  With that, I shut off my phone and leaned my head against the side of the plane.

  Twenty-Two

  There was a car waiting for Arthur and me when we got off the airplane. I was grateful, for a few minutes, that my soulmate was super rich because I couldn’t wait to get away from that airport.

  Flying really didn’t agree with me.

  The drive back to my parents’ house didn’t feel too long with Arthur in the driver’s seat and me in the passenger’s. We’d spent too many hours that way for another few to feel long.

  “Is there a hotel near your parents’ house?” Arthur asked when we were getting close.

  I laughed.

  “There’s not a hotel in my parents’ town. They’ll kick my younger brother out of his room so you have a bed to sleep in.” I looked out the window at the forest that I knew so well. While the tiny town still felt like home to me, it didn’t look the same through my city-stained eyes.

  “They won’t mind?” he checked.

  “My parents are the Alpha and Omega of our pack, they’re used to taking care of strangers. You’ll probably leave ten pounds heavier than you are now.”

  My gaze never left the trees.

  I thought it would feel good to be going back home, but now that I was on my way… I don’t know, it didn’t feel the same anymore. I was a different person than when I’d left a month earlier, one that I wasn’t confident belonged in Mount Edge.

  Arthur asked me a few more things on the way there, and I didn’t mind the conversation. He asked easy questions with easy answers, and it was nice for something to be simple again.

  He pulled up in front of my parents’ house, and my dad was outside before Arthur could even put the car in park. I jumped out as soon as we stopped, hurrying around the car to throw my arms around my dad’s neck.

  “Hey, Em. We sure missed you” He hugged me tightly. I heard everyone else come outside but didn’t stop hugging my dad.

  “Hey.” I tried to fight back the tears that surfaced in my eyes.

  I had a new respect for the way he treated my mom. Ty and Leah had such a good relationship that they had always made it look easy. I had obviously learned that wasn’t the case.

  I hugged my mom next, and then each of my brothers.

  “What happened to your hair?” Artie lifted a strand of my new hair, with the lighter pieces strewn throughout it. “And your eyes?”

  His obvious disdain toward the change made me laugh.

  “They tried to turn me into a city girl.” I shrugged. “I guess it kind of worked.” I smiled, gesturing to my outfit and the purse hanging off my shoulder.

  “Well I think you look fantastic.” Leah winked, pulling me in for another hug. “We all missed you, Em. Especially the twins. Ask them how many fights they got into while you were gone.” She narrowed her eyes at her sons. Cody at least looked sheepish, but Tanner looked proud.

  “You got into fights? What the heck?” I raised my eyebrows. They had never been into fighting before unless it was just for fun, and that was just wrestling.

  “Some guys in the pack said you were a traitor for going to New York. We beat them until they took it back.” Tanner shrugged. “It’s going to be a rude awakening for them when they find their own soulmates in the middle of some city.”

  “Oh.” I grimaced. I hadn’t thought about the way my pack would feel about me having a human soulmate. Though technically he had become a shifter the first time we touched, he wasn’t one of us. There could be no doubt about that.

  “Who’s this?” My mom changed the topic, surprised to see Arthur with me.

  “This is Arthur, he’s my personal assistant.” I joked. Everyone looked confused, so I felt a little dumb for saying it. “I’m kidding, he’s my bodyguard. Lots of people hate Logan’s family.”

  “Your soulmate couldn’t protect you?” Tanner asked, like that was ridiculous. Where we came from, it was.

  My mom elbowed him in the side.

  “It doesn’t matter.” She assured me, wrapping her arm around me. “Come on inside, Arthur. I made ravioli.” She smiled at my bodyguard, leading me and everyone else inside the house.

  While it felt good to be home, the house felt smaller than I remembered. I felt guilty for thinking that, but a month in Logan’s house had changed me more than I realized.

  We sat down at the kitchen table to eat (there was an extra chair for Arthur, of course, though he didn’t say much) and everyone caught me up on the details of their lives.

  Apparently the government was trying to integrate shifters back into the world by giving everyone cars
and modern cell phones and TVs and things. It was a work in process, but they were making a little headway.

  My dad asked what I’d been up to, and I pulled my phone out of my purse. When I turned it on, it blew up with texts and missed calls.

  “Sorry.” I turned the volume off, hurrying to find the button that turned off the vibration while the device all but exploded with texts. My face flushed as I saw that they were all from Logan, apologizing and telling me to call him.

  When it finally stopped vibrating, I pulled up the pictures and handed the phone to my dad. He and my mom looked through the pictures, my brothers leaning in to see too.

  “Why did random people want to take pictures with you?” Artie wondered.

  “Logan is famous, he has a lot of fans. They wanted pictures with me because I know him.” I skirted around saying that the strangers only cared about me because of my soulmate.

  I heard my phone vibrate—I hadn’t found the right setting to turn it off I guess—and cringed inwardly.

  “Logan is asking you to call him.” Artie told me.

  I nodded and looked away, not wanting to say reply. If I replied, my brothers might ask me more questions that I didn’t want to answer.

  “Here, Emma.” My mom handed back my phone. “It looks like you had a lot of fun.”

  “I guess.” I nodded, looking at the clock. It was only 8, my parents’ time, but I was adjusted to New York time and it was 11 PM there.

  I yawned, and it was only partly an act.

  “Well, it’s been a long day. I’m going to turn in.” I hugged everyone one last time before I went upstairs. As I walked up the stairs, I heard Artie say,

  “She seems different.”

  Closing my bedroom door, I leaned against it and shut my eyes for a second. My brother was right, I was different. I wasn’t the same girl I’d been a month earlier. I was still me and I still loved being a wolf, and my parents’ house still felt warm and familiar, but it didn’t feel like everything I could ever want anymore.

  I opened my eyes and saw my old room, and I grimaced. I didn’t fit there anymore, not really.

  Putting my purse down on the dresser, I pulled out the pack of gum and mints I’d come to love and left them out where they were easy to access. My gaze caught on the ring I’d been wearing since the night of our elopement party. At first I’d thought it was too large and glittery, but it had grown on me.