The Inauguration

His instincts are never wrong. He always follows his gut, because it always leads him down the right path and it’s something he got from his mother. Their intuition was something that runs in the family and he got the better aspect of it, so it’s no wonder that his initiation led him to his mother’s room.

There he watched the interaction between Genhji and Solani. Any man could notice the tension around them, even a blind man could the tension on his skin. He heard Genhji’s words, and he knew she spoke true.

Genhji was a woman who delivered on her promises, if she said she would kill for you, then she would. Something….someone like that was rare to come by and yet here she was before. Genhji was family, a female that took the role of an older sister when he needed it the most and he wouldn’t know what to do without her.

He watched as Genhji closed the door to his mother’s room. Even though her eyes were filled with rage, he could clearly see the pain behind them, he could see how red her eyes are and he knew she had been crying.

Genhji walked away from Solani with a growl, clouded with rage that she didn’t see him and bumped into him. She looked up into his grey eyes and he smiled lightly at her green orbs. He wiped away the fallen tear, “oh Genhji,” he cupped her cheek and he heard her sigh.

“Tobias is waiting for you,” he kisses her forehead and watches as she leaves him.

He watches her retreating figure, all-knowing that his mate was still watching him. He turns and meets her green orbs.

She’s confused, that much he can tell, but at the same time he can see the uncertainty in her eyes. His wolf shook his fur feeling the buzz of electricity in the air. He walks towards her and immediately notices how she stands straight and her head titled upwards in pride.

He doesn’t do anything and he doesn’t know what to say but the words that come out of his mouth confused her.

“What are you doing here?” he said, standing just a few meters away from her.

He watches as she tries to catch her words, her eyebrows furrowed in confused and he so wishes to brush his fingers against them to calm her but he holds him and waits for her calculated answer.

“Well we are going to war and last time I checked you’re the one who invited everyone here,” she says and he loves the sound of her voice, “and either way I was meant to be here, you are my mate, aren’t you?”.

“Yes you are,” he agrees and smiles taking a step towards her, “but I meant what are you doing here, on the floor when the rest of your pack is on the field?”.

“Ohh, I-I….,”, she stutters looking for words.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do but approaching her in her vulnerable state is not the best option,” he advises her. Her eyes watch him closely and she sees understanding and he sees clarity in hers.

“I’m guessing you heard about the bathroom incident,” she mumbles.

“Mmmh,” he hums agreeing, ” I wouldn’t bother apologizing, she’s never going to forgive you and you know that yourself. So just stop”.

“Are you telling me this as my mate or Alpha?”, she asks.

“I’m telling you this, actually asking this of you as her brother,” he closes the gap between them, but she stares at his chest not meeting his eyes and he sighs,” you being here is testing her patience and by goddess does she have little patience, but she is trying but her resolve will break if you keep pushing, so stop pushing. You have already done enough”.

He shifts and turns to the door as he hears the paw prints of Hendrix coming up the stairs. The black wolf trots towards him, it rubs its fur against his legs and he smiles down at it.

“Come Hendrix, mum misses your company,” he opens the door and they both watch as the wolf disappears into the room and he shuts the door.

He turns back to her and gives her a small smile, “please refrain from coming up here,” and he begins walking towards his room.

He can sense her hesitation and he stops walking before turning his head slightly, "Ask the question Solani, I won’t bite”, he hears her heart skip and he couldn’t help the smirk that dawned on his face.

“What about us?”

“What about us?”, he asks.

“I’m your mate”, she states.

“Yes, that is undoubtedly true and if your afraid of me rejecting you. I won’t but I do ask you for a little time. We have a war to conquer and I have to convince Genhji that you are my soulmate and that she will have to support me even if my mate is you”, he smiles imaging the conversation and pleading he will have to do to convince Genhji to accept their bond.

“Okay,” he hears her mere whisper.

“Until next time mate,” he says walking down the hallway and disappearing around the corner leaving her enticing scent behind, although it lingers on him and he loves every bit of it.

***

He sat down on his bed, his shoulders hanging and his mind in turmoil. His mind and heart were torn. He didn’t know what to do from here.

What was the next move? Does he embrace the moon’s gift and love her? Does he ignore her and be happy with what he already has?

“I have no idea what to do goddess,” he whispers to himself, "I love Genhji, she is my own and yet I cannot help but want Solani as my own as well. I want Solani in my pack, I want her to stand beside me and my family smiling at everybody but if I chose her, then I lose Genhji, but if I choose Genhji, I lose my mate”.

He groans in frustration and turns to the balcony in his room. He leaps from the bridge and in the seconds he’s in the air, he shifts.

His bones break and reform in transitioning phase that some consider beautiful and others sinful. His paws hit the ground and he left the soft dust in the back.

He ran around the border for hours and before he knew it, the sun was peaking over the mountain, his wolf couldn’t help but let out a howl that resonated throughout the pack and soon enough a series of howls echoed his, they echoed his conflicted pain.