Soul Bond

‘’Finally, we are done for the day.’’

‘’Stupid, we have loads of assignment to do at home.’’

‘’I’m so tired.’’

*murmur* *murmur*

Among the crowd of high school students was clover walking alone with her fingers around the straps of her bag pack. The day was nearing its end little by little, meaning that it was the closing hour of school. The time to return home had come for the high school students.

Normally, clover would have been feeling down and hesitant to return from the mortal world, but….her mind was occupied with a registration form safely hidden in a note book zipped in her bag pack.

‘Finally….I can leave….’ Clover thought, her heart thumping in ecstasy. The main reason why she didn’t give up on herself despite her tragic circumstances had finally arrived on her doorstep. Every shame, every embarrassment, every pain, every breakdown, that she had gone through was worth it, just to arrive with her long-term goal right in the palm of her hands.

‘Mother….’ Clover’s mind vividly and unconsciously went to a picture of her mother that she had secretly hidden in her room.

‘’Right, I have to tell mother about the good news.’’ She whispered to herself, hastening her footsteps out of the rowdy mass of students.

****

‘’Finally…’’ Clover sighed aloud, feeling pleased that she in the familiar territory of the dense forest. Soon enough, she would reach the borders and then she could finally tell her mother of the good news.

Steeping out the elevator, Clover walked ahead, swiping her card over the card reader until the roaming red light turned green for her to push through the silver rods.

‘’Haha….’’

‘’’Do you know what he said next?’’

‘’What? Tell me.’’

‘’He said he loves me, that he has been waiting to find me his whole life. Do you know he went to the mortal world one time just to find me?’’

‘’So lucky. I wonder when I will find my mate…’’

‘’Still using that outdated name? It is soul bond now. Soul bond.’’

‘’I still prefer using mate. I really wonder why the elders changed a lot of….huh?’’

‘’..um...’’ Staring at the two female werewolves who stopped their chatter at the sight of herself, clover forced a smile on her lips, hoping to seem as if she wasn’t eavesdropping on their conversation . ‘’Good evening. I am Clover from Ravenhowl clan.’’

Unlike the early hours of the day, the receptionists were on their seats. Another new set of different faces from the previous receptionists that she had always encountered in the past.

Perhaps these receptionists were recently hired.

‘’Ah...the runt has returned from school.’’ Completely opposite from the previous jovial atmosphere, the smiles on their lips relaxed into thin lines, and the females frowned at the arrival of the new person, clover. One of them even sneered, looking down on her.

‘’Announcing her name like she’s in kindergarten, the schools in the mortal world must be really worthless to be instilling such childishness.’’

‘’Yeah. It’s not like she isn’t popular in the clan. Does she think we are stupid or something? Even the entire werewolf society knows of her existence.’’

‘’I wonder why she wasn’t banished…such an embarrassment for the clan and the Alpha.’’

‘’I wonder how the Luna keeps up with caring for a cursed child.’’

‘’The Alpha’s also pitiful, having one of his bloodline with a cursed fate. At least, he has the successor.’’

‘’…..I-I’ll write my name and leave now.’’ With her hands nervously gripping the ends of her checkered shirt, clover still forced the smile on her lips to be permanent until she leaves the building.

‘’Hey runt, you should be grateful that our Alpha has not banished you.’’ One of the females glared from behind the wide glass.

‘’You are so right, betty.’’ The other female followed as well. ‘’Don’t even think for a second that you are part of the clan. I am sure once our successor is back from the academy, the Alpha will surely do something about you.’’

‘’How old is she, Charlie?’’

‘’Probably our ages or older.’’

‘’Does that mean she will have a mate?’’

‘’Soul bond, Charlie. And what do you mean? How can a cursed runt like her have a soul bond? She doesn’t deserve one!’’

‘’Also Charlie, The Alpha and the first Luna was a mistake according to the oracle!’’

While the females named Charlie and Betty discussed amongst themselves, Clover had already neared the double doors. Her eyes shifted to the side, catching the sight of an unfamiliar built from the back through the glass.

‘His shift must have ended….’ Clover thought, walking through double doors, and never halting her steps to turn back. If she were to look back just once to confirm her thoughts, she would be welcomed with an unspoken resentment if the person wasn’t actually who she wanted to see at the moment.

‘’Ah...What am I thinking? If he was the one, he would have called me Miss by now…’’ She mumbled to herself, jogging across the road to the other side, without looking for sign of incoming vehicles.

Though it was rare for werewolves to use vehicles like humans, they were still used regardless since the werewolf society somewhat resembled the mortal world.

Stepping over some pebbles, clover ventured deep within the dense forest. Her body going through the thick forest, and her feet avoiding every stones and pebbles that could make her trip without looking down. Her head mindlessly avoiding long branches of the thick trees and thin slimy-looking vines of long lengths. Clover didn’t bother to change to her beast form when she knew this part of the forest like the palm of her hand. Even if she was not in her beast form, this human body of hers was one with nature.

‘’….Soul bond…’’ A murmur escaped from her lips. Despite being physically present in the forest, clover’s mind was elsewhere, specifically on some of the words from the Charlie and betty.

A soul bond.

Originally known to be mate in the past, but was changed by the elders for a reason not known to the werewolf society.

The werewolf society was somewhat like the mortal world, and the werewolves were somewhat like humans. If it weren’t for the beasts within them, perhaps they and humans wouldn’t be so different.

Just as human could reproduce another of themselves, werewolves were the same. If humans called their younger ones babies, werewolves referred to their younger ones as pups.

However…. For werewolves to creates pups was a little different from the humans.

Unlike humans who were given choices, werewolves were not as free as them. Everything was decided for them from birth by a goddess.

Their status, their fate, everything including their future had been decided by one goddess.

In the werewolf society, all werewolves from birth were fated to have a soul bond, the other half of their souls.

In the history known, their goddess, her name known to be Selene of the moon created werewolves as one soul to be divided as two half souls.

One half soul was a male, and the other half was a female.

The two half souls would always yearn to be one again, thus creating a connection between them known as Soul bond.

That is why werewolves could not just be together as the connection between them was never there. Even if they come together, defying the fates of their soul bonds would lead to eternal punishments by their goddess, Selene of the moon.

One of the punishment known to the entire werewolf society is the inability to reproduce.

In the other words, a pup could never be possible between an unfated pair of werewolves as it was never to exist in the first place.

‘…but I exist…’ Clover pondered about the knowledge she had of a soul bond. Her late mother and father were clearly soul bonds for her exist….yet…her stepmother and her father....

In the past, clover had never thought of her soul bond. Her heart and mind never bothered to acknowledge the existence of her other half. However, now that those receptionists brought it up, she couldn’t but wonder about the term ‘soul bond.’

If this common knowledge about a soul bond was real…then what happened to herself?

Her mother and father were clearly soul bond for her to exist…right?

But her step-mother and father were also soul bond for her step-sister to exist.

Who was the real soul bond for father, her late mother or her step-mother?

Who was her father’s real daughter, her younger half-sister; her father’s perfect heir…..or herself, a runt cursed from birth?

‘Also Charlie, The Alpha and the first Luna was a mistake according to the oracle!’ The voices of the receptionist both in the mortal world and here, echoed in her mind.

’Someone whose birth was cursed from the beginning is never to be pitied, Giselle.’

‘’….Shut up….’’ Clover whispered to no one. Her steps had halted a while ago in the midst of her deep thoughts. She didn’t need the world to be reminding of her cursed birth.

‘’Sh-Sh…..’’ Clover was unable to complete her words. Behind the black glasses on the bridge of her nose, welling tears started to drop on the forest floor. Her shaky fingers curled in tight fists, exposing the frustration and helplessness she felt in her poor situation. Her lips tightly pursed in, steeling herself not to make a sobbing sound.

‘Mother….’ Her only desire was to tell her mother of the good news, but she was reminded of the reason again, why she must never have been born. She couldn’t share such happy news with a sad mood like this!

This was the main reason why clover always hesitated when returning from school. Even though she knew and had experienced such ill-treatment from many, Clover’s heart was still made of glass, always breaking from their harsh and unfair words.

Perhaps it was because she realized that her age was the right and perfect for finding her soul bond, that she was a little sensitive.