The Ripple Effect

"Angel, you're going to want to wake up now."

I smiled as his cool breath fanned my hot cheeks. There was nothing like the safety I found in his arms. My mate could always calm me, and it was so great to hear him again. I reached up with my good hand and pressed my palm to his cheek. A contented purr-like sound filled my throat.

Sophie, I think we should wake up so we can keep moving.

Regina!

I opened my eyes quickly, feeling so rejuvenated. I could feel my broken bones starting to repair themselves, and I was sure that Regina was to thank for that.

The smile vanished from my face.

Luca's eyes were closed, and a small, almost unnoticeable smile played across his lips. I jerked my hand from his face as a horrible blush filled my cheeks.

"I'm so sorry! I thought I was with Orion!" I squeaked, shaking my head furiously. "You two sound horribly alike!"

He smiled. "Hey, I'm not complaining."

I made a stern face at him, but he just laughed.

"We're at the edge of the border. I was hoping you could mind-link Orion and tell him that we're directly north of the pack house. I can't go back in there...not on the chance that everyone still hates me. But if you tell him to come, that'll eliminate the need for me to go back there."

Orion? Orion, can you hear me?

Sophie? Sophie! Please, that's you, right? Are you okay?

I smiled into the connection. Oh, how I missed him so much.

It's me. I'm fine. But did Rein make it back to you okay? And Jonathan and Brian, they're alright, too?

They're fine, just a bit shaken up. Sophie... Did Daniel take you?

Yes... And you can stop hating Luca now, because it was all Daniel.

I know.

You.. You know?

My mother told me everything, Orion whimpered into my head. I wish that she would have fessed up to this beforehand. I lost my brother over this...

What if I told you...that Luca is with me. He saved me, Orion. I almost fell to my death—

What!

—But he saved me. I mean, I did fall, but he was there to help me back up so I didn't lay there and die. We're actually just north of the pack house, so you can come apologise!

Stay there. I'm coming right now!

The connection disappeared, and I smiled to Luca.

"He's coming. He really wants to make up with you."

Luca smiled, but that smile held the weight of the world.

"That would be great, Sophie, but...I can't be here when he gets here."

I blinked twice. What?

"It just wouldn't be a good idea. Look, I'd be really grateful if my reputation gets cleared, but I can't stay here."

"You can be a part of the pack again!"

"No, I can't. Sophie, I... It would be too painful. I need to go and make a name for myself. I just can't do it here."

"Why not!"

Luca grabbed my hand in his, and the jolt that jumped between our skin startled me. The painful smile on his lips made my heart ache for reasons I didn't quite understand. Then he brushed his thumb across my cheek with a heavy sigh.

"I can't stay, Sophie. I can't watch my mate be with someone else, and I can't steal her away from him either."

"Who... Who's your mate, Luca?"

He swallowed what appeared to be a painful breath.

"Luca," I repeated, more sternly. "Who is your mate?"

"I'm going to go take care of Daniel, and then I'm going to run as far as my legs will take me... Goodbye, Sophie."

He stood quickly, but I held firmly onto his hand. An exasperated sigh rolled off of his lips.

"Sophie—"

"You can't just leave like this!"

"Would you come with me?"

I froze.

"Would you abandon Orion, the man whom you've come to love so strongly that you didn't even notice he wasn’t Fate's intended mate for you? Would you leave the family you've made with him? Would you leave Jonathan here and take Brian and Rein away with us?"

"I can't—"

He smiled sadly.

"We don't all get a happy ending, Sophie. The fact that you wouldn't drop everything to be with me... That says that the bond you have with Orion is much stronger than the bond of mates. I never stood a chance. Maybe in another world, in a world where Daniel didn't exist... Maybe you could have looked at me like how you look at my brother."

"But I don't understand! Orion is my mate!"

He shook his head, and he reached out. I was frozen, mesmerized, as his thumb brushed over my lower lip. Sparks ignited throughout my entire body, and the mark on my neck burned vigorously—like it was punishing me for its existence, like I had chosen incorrectly.

"You love him, Sophie. You love him for reasons stronger than Fate. I could take you, but I couldn't do that to my brother, even if it means I have to suffer knowing that my mate loves another man and I'll never have her—not like he has her. The mate bond is a pull, but that's all it is. It was that pull that drove you to believe I was innocent for so long; it was the reason that you hadn't condemned me when the rest of the world had. But love... Love is something that grows from a small seed, that is nurtured until it becomes a tree so mighty that not even the strongest of axes could sever its roots. It's something that takes time—time that we could never have. You can ignore the pull that we share. You can ignore it because you love Orion, and that's not something I could ever compete with."

Before I could even think about moving, his lips brushed delicately across mine. The motion was brief and swift, but my entire body jolted with the hot blood coursing through my veins. Luca slammed his eyes shut, and a tear trailed down his cheek.

"Luca, please—"

"Goodbye, Sophie," he whispered, choking on the simple words as he slipped past me.

He shifted, and I watched as the wolf disappeared into the forest. A part of my heart broke into tiny pieces. Tears filled my eyes, tears that I would cry for that man for the rest of my life.

"Goodbye, Luca," I whimpered after him, watching until the black dot disappeared into the distance.

I was suddenly pulled into a pair of strong, warm arms. A disoriented cry escaped my lips as I was lifted from my feet and soft lips peppered kisses across my tear-stained cheeks.

"Sophie, thank God you're alright!" Orion choked, brushing his hands all over my face and wiping away the tears before he could even see them. "I was afraid I'd lost you forever! I... I love you so much, Sophie! I don't know what I would do if you were just gone!"

My body hummed quietly, and sparks tickled at my fingers. But these sparks did not consume me, they did not make my blood run hot nor did they make my body jolt like Luca's touch had done to me only seconds before. I swallowed one last shaky breath before bottling the heartache and loss that coursed throughout my body even still. Perhaps it would stay with me forever.

But I smiled softly as my hands sought out this gentle man's face. His stubble tickled my palms. Orion's eyes softened incredibly, and a broad grin lit up his lips. I could see very clearly that when I touched him, he felt the sparks take control. He reacted to me as I had reacted to Luca. I was his mate, and that was so painfully clear.

"I love you, too," I promised, sealing the words with a kiss that made my lips tingle ever so softly.

Yes, I loved Orion. Maybe Luca was my mate, and maybe Orion was not what the Fates had intended for me. But this man... Luca said we shared a seed called love. And though our seed had been planted in a hole that was maybe a bit too small, the plant had grown fervently nevertheless. It had grown despite the less than ideal conditions, and it had grown into a flower that didn't fit inside its initial pot. So we moved the plant into the sun, into a pot so large that it could grow and grow. And now, now the plant was a mighty tree that shaded our life together.

No, Orion would never give me the sparks that my true mate could give me. But Orion was the reason that my heart did beat, and that was all that mattered.

"Where did my brother go anyway?" he asked, looking around. "I owe him my life for saving you!"

"He... He said he had to go. He said he was going to take care of Daniel and then go start his own pack."

Orion's smile faltered for only a second.

"I'm sure he has a lot to deal with. And I'm sure he'll be back when he's all settled. I'll see him yet, don't worry. And I think it's time I pulled out that picture of Luca and I from my dresser and put it above the fireplace, where it belongs. We're brothers, after all. Then he'll come back, he'll see our picture on the mantle, and it'll be like no time has passed at all," Orion told me, such hope in his eyes. "It'll seem like just yesterday."

I smiled. Yes, Luca would get settled. He would find a pack and he would find his mate, Fate or no Fate. Then we would see him again. If Fate had messed up by promising me to two wolves, then it just had to mess up again—but this mistake would make Luca way happier than I could have ever made him. And Orion would make me happier than any silly Fate's mate could make me. I knew that now, and I was more sure than anything that Orion was my world, my everything.

"Orion," I whispered, trailing my finger across his jaw. "Remember when I said that one day you would have your pup?" He pulled back with a jerky motion. "Well..." My cheeks burned bright red. "I'm ready—if you're ready to be a father."

He pulled me into his arms quickly, again peppering me with kisses and quiet promises. He whispered that he loved me, that he would always love me.

I whispered it back, and I meant every word. Even though he wasn't born as my mate, he had become my mate. And mates stick together for life, through thick and thin.

And I wouldn't change anything about us.

"Maybe we'll have a baby girl," Orion was babbling, grinning as he pulled me into his arms and carried me back to the pack house. "Or another boy. Or we could have both! What do you think, my love? Of course, I'd be happy with any healthy pup that we have. I love you so much, Sophie. Have I told you that? I just..."

I smiled, resting my cheek on his chest and listening to the erratic beats that were far from that perfect, soothing lullaby that had filled my ears only hours earlier. That just made me smile even more. Perfectly imperfect...

This world had hope, and this hope would spread to everyone—just as it had spread to Orion and I.

And it would spread to Luca, too.

He just has to believe, like I do.

~Fin [Part One, see author's note!*]