ONE STEP INTO HAPPINESS

SEBASTIAN

A week had passed since I met Bella and cured her. Mother is still thinking if she wishes to work with me. My relationship with Isabella had developed beautifully and harmoniously. Even if she was not my mate, we were getting along just wonderful. In a similar situation was Vicky as well. In my last link with her, she told me about the man with whom she was sharing her life, and she sounded happy. I was also happy for her.

I knew Teague for a long time and even though he was not her mate; he was someone I trusted to take care of my little sister. I always teased her that way as Mother told us she was born two minutes later than me. Victoria became stronger, reliable for her own pack. It was a long and heavy path, but my Vicky has always been fierce. We were indestructible together, but now she proved to herself and to our kind that she was strong and ardent in every decision she took.

Today I visited Mother and maybe have closure on what I have asked her. I was worried about her. Also, Vicky agreed with me. I bought a new house in Bellingham for me and for her, and I intend to take her tonight. Deep in my mind, I knew I had to take Isabella, too.

While waiting for Mother, I listened to the bees buzzing around the blooming flowers in the garden. It was the place where I grew up; the same place where Vicky and I bounded into the most charming moments of our lives. We were siblings for better and for worse. This bound was a sort of union of our souls and if we lost that, it was like we lost our lives; it is worse than death.

That reliability we had, a trust that was always there, built in us and sustained us throughout the years. She was my baby sister, from my bloodline; my accomplice in everything, my co-conspirator. I remember one time when we ran in the garden she fell because of me and hit herself pretty badly.

Mother heard us as she was screaming at the top of her lungs. I was scared as Father would hear us, and he hated crying people, much less weeping children, so I figured he would punish Vicky, as it wasn’t the first time. His punishment was severe for a child-like us. It would be a week of full heavy training, no contact with one another, not even for the meals.

Our luck was that Father was gone hunting, and there was only Mother at home. Even so, Vicky told her I wasn’t to blame, that I wasn’t even around and that she just ran and fell. We were suffering partners, and we covered each other up just to make our lives easier.

Being twins, we were like the same soul, and heart only split in two. Vicky was the joyful one; she was safe from Father’s treatment. Despite that, she had the same missing bond with Mother just as I had. We weren’t allowed to feel her cuddles and caresses, as we were considered weak. One episode that remained imprinted on my mind was the day he ordered us to fight each other just for him to see who was the strongest; who was worthy of becoming the next Alpha? I knew he was doing this for his amusement, as he always told me I was next in line, and he would not allow a female to lead a powerful pack as it was the Kielders; just because he chose me to start the fight, and I refused to attack my own flesh and blood, I was severely punished. And not with training. No, that was easier; but with my confinement in the castle’s dungeon without seeing the daylight, and they only visited me for food and water.

The ugly part was when the full moon arose. I had to deal with my inner demon alone in my cell, face it, and then drive it away. This cycle lasted two weeks. This damnation was supposed to last a whole month, but Mother stepped on my behalf and they set me free. From that moment on, I thought she practically saved my life.

Father in my vision was a tyrant that wanted to strengthen us and we had to endure and get out of it alive. During the process, something bad happened. He always said he was not to blame; it was us who were too damn weak.

These flashbacks remained so deep in me and I am sure in my sister’s soul too that we never really grew apart spiritually, only physically. Sometimes the memory of her made me sad, but at the same time, I knew that her decision to part ways was rational. I didn’t blame her for leaving. I blamed myself for not standing up to Father when I had to. Maybe this whole outcome would have been different.

“I’d give a nickel for your thoughts, Sebastian!” a warm soft voice wrapped me from wherever past reality I was in and brought me right back to the present.

I shifted my gaze from the tree, where Vicky and I competed to climb onto the gentle creature that had settled next to me. Too close, I would say. Again, that vanilla scent was turning me into someone else. This time she had a short red dress falling over all of her curves and letting her shoulders free for me to admire; and the way she crossed her legs right under my eyes, involuntarily biting her lower lip while staring at the same tree, governed my ability to think straight.

“You wouldn’t like my thoughts, Bella.” I tried to pull myself away from my guilty, sinful thinking.

Suddenly, almost abruptly, she placed her hand on mine. I couldn’t understand how a simple hand touch could lift millions of electrifying chills from my brain to my every extremity. “You just can’t do all of this on your own, you know?” she muttered and looked right into my heart, penetrating every layer of my soul.

Was she implying I needed someone? Because if she did, that would be an invitation I would not refuse.

“Do you have someone in mind?”

I knew I provoked her with this question, but it didn’t bother me, and from what I could see, she didn’t mind either. But I think the surprised one was actually me. “As a matter of fact, I do… me!” Bella whispered in my ear, and the confidence in which she said it left me breathless.

Suddenly, we were so close that the weight of her beauty fell on me without warning this time. I could breathe her in, as she was inches away from my lips. We stared at each other, tempted to step in a passion that ignited our bodies. It was like the promise of truthfulness, of primal desire and lust that was living inside of us.

Her breathing was in tandem with mine, refusing to part away, and closing even more the distance between us. Slowly I brushed her full lips with mine, the very ones I longed for from day one; there was no innocence or tease in my actions, but fiery unleashed ardent passion.

And the one thing that was driving me crazy was that she had no intention of freeing herself from my hypnosis, but kept coming closer until there was no air or space left, only a consuming craving for her.