42nd Moon: The Woe of Soulmates

by Thea Chin

  “Yeah, of cour—” A scream makes Tsukiko whip her head back. All she can see though is the bright glow of a soulmark.

  “Faith!” cries Finley. Thrashing can be heard.

  Just then, another wind knocks everyone off their feet. The cart flies out of Tsukiko’s hands, and a clear bang cuts through the roar of the snow.

  “Irene?”

  Nothing but the urgent glow comes as a response.

  Tsukiko bites her lip. “Finley! Did you find Faith?”

  “N-no. I— I—! She—!”

  “Okay, it’s okay. She’s okay. Just stay calm, alright? She can’t be far. Some snow just fell on top of her. Dig around, and you’ll see a glow,” Tsukiko directs, hearing the panic rising in his voice.

  “Okay. Okay, okay, okay.”

  As he does that, Tsukiko fights her way to Irene. She winces in pain as snow turns to hail and begins pelting down on her body.

  “I’m right here, baby,” she can hear Finley gasping. He’s found Faith; that’s one silver lining at least.

  “Go get her back indoors,” she tells him once he is close enough to be in sight.

  He looks at her with a tight face. “But what about Irene? I can’t carry all of you, especially when two are not conscious enough to hold on to my fur.”

  “Go with just Faith and get help. I’ll stay here and do what I can for Irene,” she decides.

  “But—”

  She silences him with a shake of her head. “Come on, your soulmate doesn’t have forever like this.”

  He nods and tosses his soulmate on his back.

  “You sure you’ll be alright?” Finley asks one more time.

  “Yeah,” Tsukiko smiles assuringly. She raises her wrist. “I have a soulmate too.”

  Finley doesn’t ask again and transforms. As soon as they are gone, Tsukiko turns to Irene. She is no pre-med major, but the blueing of the girl’s lips cannot be good. She unzips her jacket and pulls her into it. With vain effort, she tries to trudge their bodies through the snow.

  “Come on,” she says to her soulmark. Or is it to the watch on her wrist? Tsukiko nearly laughs at the realization.

  However, neither beacons receive the first response. Instead, a head of messy bleached hair lands with a thud in front of them.

  Tsukiko does not even get the chance to speak before he does.

  “Put her on and put her arms in my mouth so she doesn’t fall. I can make it out of here with both of you.”

  She does as instructed obediently, too shocked at the turn of events to even notice the bracelet of light on Chan’s wrist. Mark, called upon by his necklace, meets his leader halfway and takes Tsukiko on his back, and they rush to the hotel through the storm.

  “Doctor!” Chan cries once he returns to human form. The crowd parts for him as he rushes Irene bridal style into the heated building. “I need a doctor!”

  Darren is seen waiting and fidgeting at the doorway while staring anxiously at the glow of his mark, but Tsukiko can care less about that now.

  “Where’s the front desk?” she demands.

  “P-past that lounge,” he answers, relieved but startled by her urgency.

  “We need them to find Dr. Lawrence’s room or phone number. I don’t know if an ambulance can get here in this weather.”

  “No, wait. Zeng can take care of it for now,” Mark interjects as Darren is about to take off for the offices. “He may be young, but he’s been studying medicine since he was born.”

  As if on cue, the said boy rushes by towards their suite where Chan has taken Irene. The rest of them follow and shut the door before curious onlookers pushed inside.

  Chan has her on his bed wrapped in every blanket and every jacket within the vicinity. That is all Tsukiko knows before Xie Ming orders everyone but Chan out of the room. Now, she is helping Finley ice Faith’s ankle as they wait for the medical staff the hotel is sending.

  They all turn when the suite’s door opens and closes, thinking help has arrived. Instead, they see Jaiden standing there with his jacket slipping off one shoulder and his tie tousled by the wind. They stay silent, wondering what he is going to say next.

  “Ki…” the name slips after a few seconds of stillness.

  His business-like expression softens as he stumbles over his feet to get to her and wrap her in an embrace. Finley and Faith exchange glances. Darren stares at his feet.

  “Why didn’t anyone tell me?” he murmurs.

  “Jaiden, I’m not the one who’s hurt,” she reminds him gently.

  “I know, but you could have been. I didn’t know what to do when the secretary told me some guests from our suite got trapped in the blizzard.”

  She rubs his back, wondering if he still saw her as Leiah as he shakes in her arms. Snow continues falling outside. “I’m okay. Finley and Chan were there. Mark too.”

  “Mark too?”

  “Ah, yes. He made this watch for me that reacts to my soulmark,” Tsukiko carefully admits. “In case my soulmate doesn’t get to me in time.”

  Jaiden takes her hand to examine the accessory. “Why did he prepare this? Did he think you’d be in danger?”

  “I—”

  Xie Ming saves her by walking out of Chan’s room. “She’s awake.”

  Everyone crowds by the door, curious but not wanting to overwhelm the patient.

  Irene groans as she shifts in the bed. Chan stands by her side, worriedly looming over her body. Everybody can see it now, how the leader’s wrist glows in proximity to the barista.

  “Chan?” she squeezes out when she is able to open her eyes.

  He doesn’t question how she knows his name. “How are you feeling?”

  “Been better, but not awful.” She shifts her gaze to her soulmark then to Chan’s.

  “A-about this,” he tries to explain, “maybe we can talk about it after you recov—”

  “So you’re my soulmate.”

  Huh? A uniform confusion passes through the crowd outside. How does she know? It’s against law to tell someone not approved by the Council.

  “I-I guess I am,” Chan chokes through his surprise.

  A sigh. “Mom told me to stay away from you guys. She said Dad was a wolf who took my twin brother and left us, so I hope you understand the grudge. Who knew the whole Mu Alpha would be vacationing at the very spot that I’d be working though?”

  “I’m sorry,” Chan says uselessly.

  “It’s alright. I don’t even remember life with a dad; it’s why I can talk about it so freely now. But this whole soulmate thing, does it mean I have to date you now?”

  “Not if you don’t want to,” he assures her.

  She lets out a small breath of relief. “I’m sorry.” The whole room assures her that it’s fine, and Tsukiko can feel some weird stares on her too.

  “It’s understandable,” Chan’s eyes flicker to the scars she thought were given to her by a cat. He draws a deep breath in as if scraping his entire body for every last scrap of courage he can find and gives her a stare that silences his entire pack. “Can I talk to you though?” he asks, trying to keep his voice from squeaking. “Alone.” He eyes the people at the door.

  * * *

  Having been standing the furthest from the room, Mark’s ears pick up a noise from the hall. He slips away and throws open the suite’s door. He looks around a few times with his lips firmly pressed together only to see nothing there. He rolls his necklace between his fingers.

  T-33 Moons

  The night is dark when Darren and Terena welcome their new addition to the family. Not a sliver of moon can be seen that June evening, marking exactly nine moons since the baby’s conception.

  Tsukiko and the wolves gather into Darren’s room after the midwife permits it.

  “Look. Isn’t she beautiful?” Terena breaths.

  “Yeah,” Tsukiko says with a mustered smile. The rest of the wolves shift on their feet.

  “May I?” Chan asks.

  Darren transfers the baby i
nto his leader’s arms. Carefully, Chan inspects the child, and after an excruciatingly long minute, he returns her to her mother and turns to his pack.

  Everyone in the room leans a little towards him in anticipation.

  “No sign just yet,” he announces.

  A mixed murmur fills the room. Jaiden gives Tsukiko’s shoulder a squeeze and her a weak smile. She returns one of her own.

  “Only thirty-two months and twenty nine days to keep checking, right?” someone says.

  The rest of the room scolds him for the tasteless joke, but Tsukiko can’t help but bite her lip in agreement.

  “Miss Tsukiko Tsujii?” the midwife addresses as the others leave the room or occupy themselves with the baby.

  “Yes,” she replies, feeling a sense of deja vu.

  “Mister Darren Dust’s soulmate, correct? Tsukiko Tsujii?”

  “Yes.”

  “I need to speak with you for a moment.”

  “What is it?” a hostile voice interjects before Tsukiko can move.

  To her surprise, it is not Jaiden who is challenging the Council’s representative, but Mark. Even Jaiden who has been by her side the entire time looks taken aback at his big’s burst of anger.

  “I was just going to go over some formalities with her on behalf of the Council now that her soulmate has had a child with another woman.”

  “Fine, but not alone.”

  The midwife lifts her chin. “I’m afraid you do not have a say in this, Mister Mark Matthews.”

  “But is it allowed?” Jaiden inquires, feeling his brother’s tension.

  She twitches. “I suppose it is, but only one of you.”

  She points to Jaiden, and Mark nods at his little. The three step out of Darren’s room in search of somewhere quieter. Both undergrads are nervous after Mark’s outburst earlier.

  “We will now begin,” says the midwife once they have sat down in a study room. “You shall see that this is rather simple and not warranting of the fiasco back there.” She pulls out a few pieces of paper and slides them across the table.

  Jaiden, who is standing behind Tsukiko, reads along with her.

  “This is what is expected of you as a soulmate,” the midwife says. “Of course, all of this only applies if the child is fortunate enough to be a wolf. You may take the time to read over it. All I have to say is to remind you that you may obviously not subject the child to harm. Understand?”

  “I would not think of it,” replies Tsukiko.

  “Good. There is usually an… incentive for soulmates in your position to hurt the baby. Just remember when you feel these urges that if she is what we hope she is, we here at the Council value the members of our endangered species very seriously, especially our females, and you are nothing but a disposable human.”

  She leans forward as she says the words tauntingly. Jaiden takes a step forward and places an arm in front of Tsukiko. The older woman scowls when he does so and straightens back up.

  “Well then,” she concludes. “For longevity.”

  “Wait,” Tsukiko calls before she can leave. “I-if the child really is a wolf, is there no cure for the soulmate?”

  “Not one that has been effective,” she answers with almost a smirk.

  “So there have been trials? Experiments? There have been soulmates who met the same fate?”

  “Of course,” she blinks and turns to Jaiden. “Don’t you know? I thought you would, seeing how one of your own brothers is a child of such an affair.”

  T-31 Moons

  “Nothing. How can there be nothing?” Tsukiko lets her book flip to a close as she pinches the bridge of her nose. The bang shakes the Mu Alpha library a little. “You would think there would be some report done on the research or at least on the ones for President Dust’s soulmate since he must be affluent enough to sponsor proper research.”

  Jaiden who is reading something of his own across from her flicks his eyes up over his book. “You can’t find them? Not even an abstract?”

  “No,” she huffs. “I can’t even find the case file for the human mother; there are some cases around the time period, but many of them are classified.”

  “Can we not just ask Silva? I mean, if she’s telling the truth, she could be Dust’s twin sister.”

  “Or any other wolf’s. She’s not even originally from this area.”

  “True, but then why are you so sure the midwife was referring to Dust?”

  “There was a picture on his desk. You know, that day when we went Destiny after eating cheesecake at Yellow Brick? I saw a picture of him and his father, and the older man did not have a soulmark.”

  This is news even to Jaiden. “Now that you mention it, he never talked about his family even when we were still friends. Do you think he knows anything about his father’s soulmate?”

  “It’s not like we can just ask him.”

  “It’s for his own soulmate though,” Jaiden frowns. “Don’t you think he would if push comes to shove?”

  “Perhaps, but the push hasn’t come to shove yet,” Tsukiko yawns and picks up her papers once again. “Thankfully.”

  Jaiden sucks in his lower lip, wanting to change the direction the conversation is heading. “Did you find anything else while you were at the office? Like in the lab you went to? Maybe there are other clues.”

  Tsukiko freezes at the mention of that event, rubbing her head as she tries to bring up the said occurrence. “I… I don’t remember.”

  It is the truth, but she immediately regrets her reply upon Jaiden’s response.

  “Again? I don’t think this is normal, even if you had amnesia once,” he points out.

  “I think it’s just these pills. They have a sleeping side effect to them, and it’s been hard concentrating,” she tries to explain.

  “I thought they were supposed to help your condition, not make it worse.”

  Tsukiko avoids his gaze, unsure of what to say.

  “Try remembering something. Anything. Was there some trigger for your memory loss? I mean, you remember school material just fine, so why are you forgetting things related to Destiny? We have to find the root of this. Maybe start with figuring out why the photo is the only thing you remember.”

  That is true. Why is the photo the only thing Tsukiko recalls? The next thing she remembers after that is eating ice cream that Darren told her she asked for.

  The more she thinks about it, the more her head hurts, so she takes another pill as prescribed. “I-I can’t; it hurts to try.” She shakes her head from one side to the other. “No, no, you’re right. I should try, shouldn’t I? To see if there’s any more hints at least. Okay, I’ll try.”

  Jaiden’s heart wrenches seeing her face scrunch in pain upon his suggestion. He goes to sit by her and pulls her closer to where he can massage her scalp. “Wait, just relax. The pain can’t be good. What did Dr. Lawrence say?”

  “Not much,” she yawns again. “She just told me to take the pills every day or when I get a headache.”

  “You know what? We don’t have to remember right this moment just to look for hints. We can go back to the lab if needed.”

  Tsukiko nods sleepily. That sounds like a good idea to her half-conscious brain right now.

  “There is one thing I wrote down before I forgot it,” she mumbles under Jaiden’s soothing touch. “I don’t know what it means, but it’s similar to my medical file number.”

  “A number? What is it?”

  Tsukiko pulls away and fishes for her phone. A few taps later, she shows Jaiden the series of digits. The way his face drains of color is enough to snap her back into alertness.

  “Do you recognize it?” she questions.

  He nods slowly. “Anywhere. I just never thought—never hoped—I would see it again.”

  Tsukiko patiently waits for him to continue. Her head aches as her mind races to place the information together, but she ignores it.

  “It’s my soulmate’s patient number. The one St. Valentine’s gave it t
o her when they admitted her for the first time and then… and then pronounced her dead.”

  She can barely keep her eyes open as she wills an image to surface from the abyss of her lost memories. An image. No, a label. She sees it. She remembers it now.

  “Your soulmate…” she breaths haggardly. “Leiah. Leiah Takeda?”

  Jaiden blinks in surprise. “Her last name. How did you know that?”

  A scream tears out of her as she tries to remember again. Her body falls to the side, but Jaiden is quick to catch her. In a panic, he unscrews her bottle and presses another liquid tablet into her mouth. It works much more quickly than usual drugs, but both of them are too relieved that it does to question it.

  “I don’t know,” she says, slurring her words heavily after finishing the glass of water Jaiden brought to her lips. “I… I can’t remember.”

  “It’s okay,” he whispers gently into her ear as his chest squeezes seeing her like this. “It’ll be alright.”

  * * *

  One of the reasons Jaiden has Tsukiko sleep in his fur is so that he immediately knows when she wakes up. Before she can leave and bury herself in soulmate texts or chemistry, he takes his keys and drags her to his car, demanding that they visit the hospital. Tsukiko does not resist; she too is rather concerned about the intense headaches from earlier.

  “Going for dinner?” Mark asks as he passes by them in the hallway.

  Jaiden looks up from tying his shoes and replies before Tuskiko can stop him. “The hospital, actually, although we should stop for some food first, Ki.”

  Marks face drops from hearing the response. “The hospital? Tsujii, what are you thinking?”

  “My head hurt a lot earlier. It can be dangerous since I have a history of amnesia,” she answers simply.

  “You know what we saw in that clip!” he hisses quietly.

  “What’s the matter?” Jaiden stands to be closer to them, wanting to hear the conversation as well.

  Tsukiko shoots Mark a panicked glance which makes him scowl.

  “Where’s your watch, Tsujii?” he says instead.

  She jumps quickly on the new subject. “In my backpack. Let me go get it.”