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40. Long Distance Conversation
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
Aline's Choice 41. A Lot Can Happen in a Few Days
Note to Reader: I apologize in advance for the multiple points of view and the time skips here. - Alexander (Mei’s vampire ex-boyfriend) - The day following the bizarre encounter in the forest. I worry over every word. I even ask my assistant to look over the letter to make sure it reads OK. She smiles after she scans it. She tells me not to fret, that it's fine, and urges me to re-read it only once to make sure it says precisely what I want it to. So, I do. Dear Talu, I guess by now you know it's me. On my way to France, I stopped in town to hunt. I hadn't intended for anyone to know. I stumbled onto something that you should be aware of. I thought I caught Mei’s scent. It was late. I followed it, thinking she, or you, might be in trouble. I know it's not any of my business, not anymore, but I was worried and old habits die hard. Instead of Mei, I found a lynx. I tried to hunt it, but I think it shifted, into something else - a bird, maybe? Do you know something about this? I
Aline's Choice 42. Gobsmacked
-Jian- Not available?... Not anymore? I'm shocked into silence for a moment before finding my voice. "What the hell are you talking about, Mei?" Didn't she know how Aline felt about me? Or how I felt about Aline? "We think she imprinted, Jian." Mei looks triumphant, happy for her friend. We? Who's we? "She found her imprint in Syracuse?" I stare at her, gobsmacked. "Yes, but he's here in San Francisco." She tosses her hair over her shoulder and sends me a curious gaze. I swear I am going to rip this guy apart if I find out who this so-called imprint is. "I don't understand." Mei shrugs and shakes her head. "They're staying away from each other. Or, at least, he's staying away from her. Stefan's got work to do here in the City. I don't think Aline’s happy about him at all. And she's still not calling him her imprint out loud. But I can tell you clear as day, Jian, she's definitely not free." Stefan. The name rings a bell. It's not a name you usually come across in
Aline's Choice 43. In Desperate Want
-Aline- "...you'd better pray that I'll still be here waiting for you." His words rip into me. I gasp. The cruel lash of his harsh riposte steals my breath away. My fingernails engrave crescents into my forearms, hugging myself for self-comfort. The tears that earlier threatened, release in a torrent. My mascara, I know, runs in unbecoming dark streaks down my cheeks. For once, I don't give a damn. I can't believe the words Jian hurls so vehemently at me. His letters. His e-mails. The promise of his voice on the phone. These all kept me sane. He keeps me sane. Jian promised he'd be beside me when I was ready to move on. What about his promise? He promised he wouldn't give up on me. No! My mind shrieks. He can't take these things away from me! No! All at once, I realize Jian is all I have to keep myself from drowning in the torment of this unwanted... thing. I can't make myself call it an imprint. The sound of the word is the last nail p
Aline's Choice 44. Unexpected Comfort
-Aline- I crumple to my knees, not caring in the least that I am muddying this damn $300 dress. Sobs wrack my body as I grieve for a love I’ve only just realized I can't live without. I wail against an imprint I can not make myself refuse. I feel the sudden heat of two hands cradling my wracking shoulders. The warmth is not human. I silence myself, drop my hands to my lap, and turn to look up, eager to discover who's standing behind me. "So now you understand the force of an imprint." I stare at Jian's mother as though she's sprouted another head. She is the last person I expect to see, the very last. How can she know about my terrible secret? "I know what you are, Aline Kam. I know because I have been you." I shake my head. She can't possibly know because she can't possibly be a werewolf. She stares at me and answers aloud the unspoken question relayed by my head shaking. "But I am, Aline. I know what you are going through." She
Aline's Choice 45. Mother Knows Best
-Asena Cai- (Jian’s Mom) I find my boy sitting in the darkness out in the backyard. From the kitchen window, I take in the sight of him. He's still wearing his tuxedo, his tie undone, the wine colored swath of color hangs around his neck against the white-white of his shirt. His dark hair is in wild disarray around his so familiar, handsome face. There is heartbreak in his expression, so happy only hours ago. My heart cries out for him. I rush upstairs to change and make my way to sit quietly beside Jian. I say nothing as he hangs his head. I watch the steady drip of silent tears fall onto the back of his large, strong hands. In the moonlight, the drops glimmer against his naturally tanned skin before sliding into the dark green grass beneath our feet. I wait for him, offering him my strength simply by staying beside him. I know my son. He does not want me to witness this weakness. He never did as a boy and I know it pains him more as a young man to know I am watching. "It hurt
Aline's Choice 46. The Other Guy
Aline left for Syracuse without a goodbye from me. I knew I couldn't see her again without groveling and I refused to do that to myself. After all, a man has to preserve some dignity. I haven't spoken to anyone since Lance’s wedding and it's been a couple of weeks. So, now it’s February, and I am still so pissed I can't see straight. In the weeks since the wedding, I didn’t hang out with my pack brothers or hit the clubs with friends from work. Instead, I torture myself with my new, self-imposed daily task of overseeing the actions of this man, Aline’s imprint. The guy I’m convinced will not only take away the woman I love, but who also wishes to rape our land. So, maybe I'm being a touch too melodramatic. But I am miserable, and therefore, I'm entitled to my feelings. I kick the dirt at my feet. Through slit eyes, I take measure of Stefan and decide he is my my unofficial love rival. On looks alone, he could claim Aline as his own. He could do so just as soon
Aline's Choice 47. Something to Consider
-Aline- I'm wrapped up in an oversized cashmere sweater, legs curled beneath me on the wicker loveseat on the back porch in Syracuse. Even my werewolf's body heat can't quite keep me warm against this cold, empty feeling inside. The night of Lance’s wedding keeps replaying inside my head as I stare, unseeing, out into the upstate New York winter. The mid-winter chill is so much more here than in the temperate winters in California. My hands cradle a cup of now tepid tea. I hear a door open and turn to greet Bella, only to grimace at the crazy, blonde bitch who steps out onto the porch. In my peripheral vision, I watch Felicia gracefully fold herself into the wicker rocker kitty-corner to my seat... too near. For two weeks, I've avoided her. Now, I am too tired and melancholy to bother getting up and leaving. Besides, I got here first. I huff out a cloud of hot air against the freezing morning, showing my unhappiness at her undesired company. There is no sound other than our combin
Aline's Choice 48. Lessons On Love
-Jian- "What do you know about the archaeologist?" my voice is a low growl, frightening even to me. I've just stormed into Talu’s room, having left Lance, who proved himself a worthless fool, spouting on and on about how an imprint is never wrong and imploring me to leave Aline alone so she can get on with her life and find happiness. "Hell if I will!" I cursed his useless hide as I slammed out of his house an hour earlier. Stupid Lance! Using this Stefan guy to assuage the guilt he feels for breaking up with Aline the way he did. A little voice in my head suggested I'd recently done the same. Maybe hurt her even worse. But as I made my way to Talu’s place, I roared at the tiny, nagging voice to just shut the hell up. Now, I glare at my best friend. Talu’s expression is impassive at the onslaught of my tumultuous, emotional verbal assault. My eyes track him as he moves to the desk in his room. He pulls out a manila file folder that reeks of bloodsucker. My n
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Aline's Choice 52. Chocolates Do Not Suck
-Aline-{Valentine's Day Eve} I've decided I'm a moron, believing that a singular thought would make him, the spitting image of Chris Hemsworth, magically appear in my room, or, at the very least, at my front door. I'm a blithering idiot. But not as big an idiot as Jian, though, so that’s some consolation. Ugh! I slap my palm to my forehead and shake my head. Hell, I don't even know if Stefan's in the same time zone, never mind whether he's next door with Felicia right now! I finish my internal self-condescension and finally shower, change, and put my hair up. I'm pleased to discover my mane is now long enough to put up again. Clean, and no longer feeling maudlin, I pad barefoot into the living room. I think about making tea. I squinch my face. I hate tea. Since Lance’s wedding, though, I've been drinking tea. Drowning myself in it, really. Someone at school told me that it would be soothing. It is. Soothing, I mean. But it tastes like flowers. And right n
Aline's Choice 51. No Backing Down
-Jian- I sit on a log watching Stefan’s blond head as he carefully dusts off something that looks like a wooden box. He sets it aside with patience I do not possess. He does not open it, but moves instead, to pick up another artifact and clean it. It's unnerving to watch how exacting his movements are, almost loving, even reverent. "Jian, did you know your name means 'to see?'" Stefan's tone is casual and conversational. I look at him as he bows over whatever he holds in his hand. "What? Did you find that in one of my ancestor's artifacts that you pulled out of the ground?" Stefan lets out an appreciative little laugh at the annoyance in my voice. His eyes still focus downward as he carefully removes dirt from a crevice in yet another wooden box. "No. I looked it up on the internet." I stare at him open-mouthed. "You're cyber-stalking me?" "What?! No!" His gaze whips up to meet mine. Then he smiles and he's even more good-looking than before. The si
Aline's Choice 50. Of Curses and Legends
Readers Note: This chapter hops between Aline and Jian's point of view to explain the mythology. Thank you for understanding. -Aline- "So she cursed him - us- forever," Felicia says, her voice suddenly quiet. "She left him impotent among humans and shifters, unable to father children, one of the primary duties and the greatest of all blessings given to the clan's leader. But to make matters worse, he was to walk the earth attracted to the most deceitful and conniving of all human women for eternity." My brows knit as I process this information. Impotence, doesn't that mean…? Felicia lifts her index finger and then allows it to droop. Wide-eyed, I lift a hand to cover my open mouth. Poor Stefan, indeed! "How long?" "Too long, really," she says with a sigh, a wry smile on her face. "It's been so long we've lost count. At least through the Middle Ages. As you might imagine, it frustrated him through the first hundred." My eyes must be the size of dinner
Aline's Choice 49. Werewolf Puberty
Author’s note: There are a lot of point-of-view switches between Jian and Aline in this chapter. Thank you for understanding!__________________-Jian-(in San Francisco, at Talu’s house)Talu’s warning pounds in my head. I've been wallowing in self-pity for two weeks. He's right. I'm not proving myself much of a man here. And he is now allowing me to show myself worthy of Aline. I sigh and stare pointedly at the sheaf of papers he removed from the manila envelope. "So, what did the leech find out?"My gaze shifts warily between the papers and Talu. "First, let me tell you what Mei’s ex- told me." And so he tells me how the bloodsucker was hunting in the woods during a stopover to Europe at the same time the terrible twins paid Mei a visit. That was also the same night Talu was with Aline on a jet plane bound for Syracuse.####-Aline- (in Syracuse at her place)We're still on the porch and I'm mulling over Felicia's suggestion.“So, why not both?”Her words bounce aroun
Aline's Choice 48. Lessons On Love
-Jian- "What do you know about the archaeologist?" my voice is a low growl, frightening even to me. I've just stormed into Talu’s room, having left Lance, who proved himself a worthless fool, spouting on and on about how an imprint is never wrong and imploring me to leave Aline alone so she can get on with her life and find happiness. "Hell if I will!" I cursed his useless hide as I slammed out of his house an hour earlier. Stupid Lance! Using this Stefan guy to assuage the guilt he feels for breaking up with Aline the way he did. A little voice in my head suggested I'd recently done the same. Maybe hurt her even worse. But as I made my way to Talu’s place, I roared at the tiny, nagging voice to just shut the hell up. Now, I glare at my best friend. Talu’s expression is impassive at the onslaught of my tumultuous, emotional verbal assault. My eyes track him as he moves to the desk in his room. He pulls out a manila file folder that reeks of bloodsucker. My n
Aline's Choice 47. Something to Consider
-Aline- I'm wrapped up in an oversized cashmere sweater, legs curled beneath me on the wicker loveseat on the back porch in Syracuse. Even my werewolf's body heat can't quite keep me warm against this cold, empty feeling inside. The night of Lance’s wedding keeps replaying inside my head as I stare, unseeing, out into the upstate New York winter. The mid-winter chill is so much more here than in the temperate winters in California. My hands cradle a cup of now tepid tea. I hear a door open and turn to greet Bella, only to grimace at the crazy, blonde bitch who steps out onto the porch. In my peripheral vision, I watch Felicia gracefully fold herself into the wicker rocker kitty-corner to my seat... too near. For two weeks, I've avoided her. Now, I am too tired and melancholy to bother getting up and leaving. Besides, I got here first. I huff out a cloud of hot air against the freezing morning, showing my unhappiness at her undesired company. There is no sound other than our combin
Aline's Choice 46. The Other Guy
Aline left for Syracuse without a goodbye from me. I knew I couldn't see her again without groveling and I refused to do that to myself. After all, a man has to preserve some dignity. I haven't spoken to anyone since Lance’s wedding and it's been a couple of weeks. So, now it’s February, and I am still so pissed I can't see straight. In the weeks since the wedding, I didn’t hang out with my pack brothers or hit the clubs with friends from work. Instead, I torture myself with my new, self-imposed daily task of overseeing the actions of this man, Aline’s imprint. The guy I’m convinced will not only take away the woman I love, but who also wishes to rape our land. So, maybe I'm being a touch too melodramatic. But I am miserable, and therefore, I'm entitled to my feelings. I kick the dirt at my feet. Through slit eyes, I take measure of Stefan and decide he is my my unofficial love rival. On looks alone, he could claim Aline as his own. He could do so just as soon
Aline's Choice 45. Mother Knows Best
-Asena Cai- (Jian’s Mom) I find my boy sitting in the darkness out in the backyard. From the kitchen window, I take in the sight of him. He's still wearing his tuxedo, his tie undone, the wine colored swath of color hangs around his neck against the white-white of his shirt. His dark hair is in wild disarray around his so familiar, handsome face. There is heartbreak in his expression, so happy only hours ago. My heart cries out for him. I rush upstairs to change and make my way to sit quietly beside Jian. I say nothing as he hangs his head. I watch the steady drip of silent tears fall onto the back of his large, strong hands. In the moonlight, the drops glimmer against his naturally tanned skin before sliding into the dark green grass beneath our feet. I wait for him, offering him my strength simply by staying beside him. I know my son. He does not want me to witness this weakness. He never did as a boy and I know it pains him more as a young man to know I am watching. "It hurt
Aline's Choice 44. Unexpected Comfort
-Aline- I crumple to my knees, not caring in the least that I am muddying this damn $300 dress. Sobs wrack my body as I grieve for a love I’ve only just realized I can't live without. I wail against an imprint I can not make myself refuse. I feel the sudden heat of two hands cradling my wracking shoulders. The warmth is not human. I silence myself, drop my hands to my lap, and turn to look up, eager to discover who's standing behind me. "So now you understand the force of an imprint." I stare at Jian's mother as though she's sprouted another head. She is the last person I expect to see, the very last. How can she know about my terrible secret? "I know what you are, Aline Kam. I know because I have been you." I shake my head. She can't possibly know because she can't possibly be a werewolf. She stares at me and answers aloud the unspoken question relayed by my head shaking. "But I am, Aline. I know what you are going through." She
