42nd Moon: The Woe of Soulmates
Page 7
“Yeah,” Tsukiko nods, turning back to her experiment.
She pulls out the tube to reveal a dark red tube of solids.
“It’s a girl!” she jokes.
“What?” Jaiden chokes.
“Oh, nothing. I just thought it would be a creative baby shower announcement.”
“Oh,” the male realizes. “You should keep that in mind for the future.”
Tsukiko laughs, “My apparent soulmate already found someone else. I’m not sure what I’ll be needing this for.”
“Maybe you can find someone else too,” he says quickly.
After class, the fraternity only stands a ten minutes walk away. Once there, it turns out that the president has class for another hour, so the two work on their post-lab worksheets in the meantime in the fraternity’s common room.
“This bond breaks when the nucleophile attacks this,” Tsukiko explains to Jaiden.
“The what?”
“The nitrogen—” Tsukiko stops and looks at her wrist. “Hey, it doesn’t hurt anymore!”
“Let’s jot down the time. Maybe we can find a pattern,” Jaiden suggests, taking the opportunity to procrastinate on his reaction mechanism.
Just then, keys rattle at the front door and a high-spirited Darren enters.
“How’s Terena?” Jaiden calls in question as the other wolf turns around to hang up his keys.
“Good,” he responds.
“Looks like it,” hums Jaiden.
“What did I miss in—” Darren turns back around and stops mid-sentence when he spots Tsukiko across from his brother. “Oh, hi Tsukiko. What brings you here?”
Why does he look so nervous?
“My soulmark has been hurting, so Jaiden invited me over to ask Chan about it. I hope I’m not being a bother,” she answers.
“Your mark hurts?” he echos.
“It’s just a pulse, but Jaiden says it’s better safe than sorry.”
“Oh. Hope you feel better,” Darren says and shuffles towards his room, his hand rubbing his other arm up and down.
“Don’t you want to know what we did in lab today?” Jaiden reminds him.
“I’m uh, actually kind of tired. I think I’ll lie down first,” mumbles Darren.
Jaiden looks at Tsukiko and shrugs. “Does your wrist hurt again?”
“No, it’s fine right now,” she responds. “Chan should be back in the next fifteen minutes. Let’s finish this mechanism before then.”
Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, a head of dying bleached hair saunters through the door.
“Oh, hello Miss Tsujii. What are you doing here?”
Jaiden replies this time. “Her soulmark has been hurting.”
“They don’t usually hurt,” Chan frowns, knitting together his brows.
“That’s what I said.”
The alpha sets down his belongings and takes a seat beside Tsukiko.
“May I?”
The girl gives him her wrist.
“It looks normal,” he says after an inspection. “Does it hurt just where the ink is?”
“Yes, but it’s not that bad. I just feel a slight prickling sensation traveling down the pattern.”
“Well things soulmark related usually has to do with soulmates. When did this start?”
“After the back-to-school party you guys threw.”
“And Darren was where when it started?”
“In his room with Terena,” Jaiden fills in for his president. “And earlier, it hurt when he was with Terena at the hospital, and it stopped when he came back!”
“Your soulmate being with another girl doesn’t make the mark hurt though,” Chan objects.
“And it was fine during the party when he was with her,” adds Tsukiko.
“We can refer to the books,” Chan suggests, turning to face the lined shelves on the wall of the common room.
“I didn’t know people still read,” Jaiden grimaces at the dusty manuscripts but gets up to help nonetheless.
Chan lightly swats the younger boy behind the head. “For your information, I’ve been through almost all of these. The ones that should help the most should be the disease one and the pharmaceutical one.” He hands Jaiden the former. “Look through the soulmark section and see if you find anything.”
As the boys get to work, Tsukiko pulls the one next to Jaiden’s off the shelf. Safety and Advisories for the Canis Lupus Anthropos, it reads. She sits beside her friend and goes through the table of contents. After a while, they all have some results.
“Says here shellfish may cause itchiness and sometimes a rash,” Jaiden offers.
“The dorm dining hall isn’t fancy enough to serve shellfish.”
“Nothing here on pain,” Chan reports. “There’s just general ointment suggestions for irritated skin.”
“I think I found something,” Tsukiko says, raising her hand as if she were in grade school. Both wolves lean over to read the page. “It says ‘Irritation may occur when a soulmate is around a child of his own blood but not of his partner’s.”
“That’s ridiculous. Darren knows the rules. He would never have done such a thing like having a kid with Terena,” Jaiden scoffs, returning to the wall for more books.
Tsukiko continues reading. “Although not a crime, those who engage with someone other than their own partner such as another’s Soulmate or a wild Homosapien, puts their—”
Chan, who, to no one’s attention, has been sitting ghastly still with all color drained from his face, suddenly slams the book closed on her hand. Both Tsukiko and Jaiden look at him in more shock than anything.
“Fraternity meeting tonight at eight. Do not be late,” he tells Jaiden, taking the book from Tsukiko and walking out the room.
“You don’t actually think—” Jaiden throws down whatever he was holding and goes after his leader. “Chan!” he yells. “Where are you going? There’s no way he would do that! He’s my best friend, and I know he’d never do something like that!”
Tsukiko stares wide-eyed after the two with questions running furiously through her mind. Should she continue researching her symptoms? Is she expected at or even invited to the meeting since this is her matter? And most of all, what happens if Terena really is pregnant?
The last thought stabs a knife through her heart. Her own soulmate with a family that isn’t her own—Tsukiko curses herself for letting that thought hurt her heart like it does.
* * *
“SHE’S WHAT?”
“I’m sorry…”
“WELL SORRY ISN’T GOING TO CUT IT! YOU HAD ONE RULE, DARREN, ONE! HOW COULD YOU BREAK IT?”
“It was an accident! I-I was drunk, and she said it’s the only way she’d believe I love her. Besides, there’s still a chance nothing will happen, right?”
“BUT THERE’S STILL ONE WHERE SOMETHING MIGHT! DID YOU STOP AND THINK ABOUT THAT?”
“Fischer, calm down. You’re starting to turn. Matthews, make me an appointment with the Council.”
Tsukiko slowly steps away from where she can be seen. Maybe she wasn’t invited after all, especially since they started early without telling her.
She hears someone slumping into a couch as Chan continues. “What is your plan, Dust?”
“I don’t know,” he admits, “but I’ll be getting my promotion at Destiny soon, so I think we can raise the child.”
“And she still doesn’t know you’re a wolf, right?”
“No…”
“Do you think that’ll change her perception of her future with you?”
“No, of course not. We’re in love!”
Chan sighs. “There’s no changing what has been done now. The situation is what it is, so we’ll get the clearance to tell Terena the risks she’s taking with the child and let her decide what her next steps are, understood?”
Darren hangs his head. “Yes, Chan.”
“Understood?” the alpha asks again, this time to the rest of the room.
A few murmurs ripple amon
gst the boys. Chan scans the room as they give their replies. The members have looks of anger, confusion, and worry, but they all nod obediently to their president. All except one.
“Han?” Chan calls. “Are you alright?”
Jaiden slowly lifts his eyes to meet Darren’s. Behind his tranquil posture, Chan can see the fire in his eyes.
“I believed in you, Dust. How could you do this?” His voice is soft as if he is still waiting for his friend to tell him that this is all just a joke.
“Jaiden, I only did what I had to for Terena.”
“Terena, Terena, Terena. What about Tsukiko? She’s why you had that rule in the first place. You know what would happen to her if you got that witch pregnant! You’ve killed her, Darren. You’ve. Killed. Her!”
“HAN!” someone cries.
There’s a sound of a table being knocked over and the lamp it was supporting shattering on the floor. Grunts, curses, and threats fill the house.
Tsukiko can hardly process the fight that is happening. Her mind is going a mile a minute trying in vain to make sense of what she had just heard. She’s been killed and Terena is carrying Darren’s child?
A stray tear rolls down her cheek. She has made up her mind to give up on her soulmate, but perhaps that is the only part of her that did. Another tear follows the first.
She tries to wobble away through her crying from the hall before any of the wolves can find her eavesdropping, but her mind is too busy thinking about not thinking about that one thing: Terena’s pregnant. She’s done everything she can to get over her feelings so why, why is she acting like this?
In her uneven steps, she reaches for the wall for support. It turns out much closer than she thought it was through her blurred vision, and a bang echoes down the hall.
Upon the noise, the earlier commotion dies instantly.
They all know who made it.
They all know she heard them.
They all pray she hadn’t.
The grandfather clock sounds loudly against the silence of the moment. Then, after a full minute, quick, purposeful steps approach her.
When Tsukiko is at her weakest and her knees are about to buckle from under her, a steady pair of arms supports her weight and brings her to their main body. That is when she lets out her first audible sob.
“Dar… ren…” she croaks in pain.
The grip around her tightens and stays there until she has cried herself to sleep.
* * *
When she awakens, Tsukiko finds herself in Jaiden’s room. She can’t quite remember why she is there, but she has a feeling she doesn’t want to remember, and the sheets are tucked under her chin so comfortably, she just wants to fall back asleep.
As she is about to do so, the door cracks open.
“Miss Tsujii?”
It’s Chan. Tsukiko inwardly sighs and tries to push herself up with her hands. A pain shoots up her arm as she does so. She collapses back into the mattress as memories start returning.
“I’m sorry for listening to your conversation,” she apologizes first.
Chan helps her up and arranges the pillows to help her sit more comfortably. “I didn’t want you to find out like this, but you do have the right to know.” When he’s done, he takes a seat on Jaiden’s desk chair.
“So…” he begins. “What did you hear?”
“That Darren…” she starts with uncertainty, “has gotten Terena pregnant…”
Chan lets out another sigh, and the girl suddenly feels bad for the young man who has to bear the weight of an entire pack of college boys on his shoulders.
“And do you know what that means for you?” he asks.
Tsukiko shakes her head slowly as the haze of memories continue sharpening. “Jaiden said… Jaiden said I’ve been killed, but that’s all I know.”
Chan bites his lip and claps his hand over hers. “Do you know why we have soulmates?”
Another head shake.
“This… isn’t going to be easy to hear.”
And so, he tells her about soulmates.
All werewolves carry three sex chromosomes: W, X, and/or Y. The growth of just the latter two is not supported by the soulmate’s body, which is predisposed with antibodies that target such embryonic cells. Some werewolf gametes, however, are mutated and carry an additional W sex chromosome, and soulmates’ sole purpose is to carry children with such a mutation. Most normal humans have antibodies that work against the W chromosome instead, but of course, there are mutations with those too.
And that’s where the trouble arises. If another person is able to carry a werewolf child, the soulmate loses her purpose and is no longer needed. After the child’s existence is stabilized, the soulmate’s will cease to be.
“And when is that?” Tsukiko inquires, trying to hide the tremor in her voice.
“The fetus’ 42nd moon.”
* * *
It took a few weeks to get Terena approved for the information, but it has now been done. The room holds their breath as the Council’s representative returns to the Mu Alpha house to announce the Council’s decision about how to proceed with the “illegitimate” baby.
“Terena Taylor and Darren Dust will be delivering their baby as expected. Tsukiko Tsujii will be compensated for her loss accordingly.” The representative from the werewolf council closes his briefcase. “For longevity,” he wishes them as he sweeps out of the room.
Jaiden’s chair cracks under his grip as he watches Tsukiko cast down her gaze and bite her lip. Terena engulfs Darren in an embrace while the other werewolves come up to Tsukiko to offer reassuring words.
When they have all left, Jaiden finally approaches Tsukiko.
“Hi, Jai—”
He cuts her off with a tight hug. “I can’t believe it. The Council, they don’t even see soulmates as humans, do they? ‘The sole purpose of a soulmate is to reproduce with her wolf.’ What is that nonsense? You could be a doctor! An astronaut! A— a— a—.”
“Jaiden, I’ll be okay. I mean, there’s still hope that their child is human, right?”
Jaiden pulls back. “Sorry. I’m supposed to be comforting you and here you are, comforting me instead.”
She rubs his head right where he likes it. He stays silent for a few moments before he picks up her other hand and traces his thumb over the mark Darren has on her.
“Are you scared?” he asks.
“A lot of people have to go before they get the chance to grow old. Like those with cancer, for example, except I’m lucky enough to not have to spend my last days in a hospital.”
Jaiden reaches for a pen behind her and starts putting ink over the design on her arm. “Are you angry? At Dust? At the whole system? At me?”
“Why would I be angry at you?”
He stays silent and lets his pen fall to his side. She looks at her wrist to find another shape on it. It still looks like it fits in one of the werewolves’ patterns, but none which she can remember. Jaiden looks upon it wistfully.
“Jaiden, you can’t blame yourself for this,” she says when he doesn’t reply.
“How can I not?” he opposes softly. “I could have even stopped him. Maybe got him to break up with her or something once we realized he’s found his soulmate, but no! If anything, I encouraged them because I was too selfishly trying to—” His eyes flicker to the design he gave her.
“Jaiden?”
“I just wanted to be loved,” he says inaudibly. He lifts his eyes back up, though they stop before they reach hers.
“I…” he leans forward with glistening eyes. “… can’t take it anymore.”
He grabs Tsukiko’s wrist with the pattern he drew and flushes it against the surface behind her with one hand. The other he snakes behind her back. Tsukiko doesn’t know how to react. She just lets him do as he pleases, and he parts his lips slightly as short, uneasy breaths escape between them and—
“Han!” someone calls from down the hall. Footsteps are approaching.
Jaiden
shifts his body to the side and pulls her into another hug instead. Her heart breaks at what he says next.
“I can’t lose another one,” he whispers, tightening his hold on the ink on her wrist.
* * *
That night, as Jaiden is stepping out of the house, a voice stops him.
“Would you actually do it?”
“Do what, Dust?” Jaiden sighs flatly into the shadows.
“Kill the child—my child—for her,” Darren answers as he steps into view. “I just want to know. That’s understandable, right?”
Jaiden clenches his fists and grits his teeth.
“You’re considering it!” scoffs Darren. “I can’t believe it! You’d kill your childhood friend’s baby for some random girl from chem.”
“And I can’t believe you’re killing your soulmate just to mess around with your girlfriend! Have you thought about this like that, Dust?”
“I am not killing anyone. That’s what Terena said. Besides, there’s still a good chance the child’s human.”
“And if it’s not?” Jaiden challenges. “What are you going to do then?”
“Well I— I—”
Jaiden pushes past his brother.
“And are you any better?!”
Jaiden freezes in his step.
“What are you going to do once my child’s dead?” Darren continues upon seeing the effects his words have. “What are you going to do with Tsukiko? Date her? Marry her?” Darren walks up to the shorter male. In a lower voice, he presses on. “Everyone knows why that’s why you’re so worked up about this. If the child is a wolf, you’d disobey Chan and the law just to try to have what you can’t.”
Darren slowly creeps Jaiden’s sleeve up his arm, revealing monochrome skin. Jaiden snatches his hand away with a snarl. Darren steps back and looks the other wolf dead in the eye.
“Look,” Darren states. “I’m not saying that what I did was right or that I don’t regret anything. I’m just saying that you don’t have the moral high ground, so stop being such a hypocrite. The cards have been dealt. All we can do now is play with them.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re the dealer and your girlfriend has a straight flush.”
There is a pause. “I suppose you’re right, but if you try anything, you best watch out.”