Chapter 58

MIra

It had been a week since Irene’s sentencing, and I was back at the hospital.

I wasn’t avoiding it, exactly, but I did take advantage of the “family in hiding” motif and give myself more days to myself than I might usually.

Earlier in my life and in my career, I spent all the time I could in the hospital or a clinic somewhere. I had made friends with a midwife so I could accompany her on house calls to assist in deliveries. I kept myself busy, occupied.

That way I was never alone with my thoughts.

Now, there were so many other things that were pulling me away from that routine.

I enjoyed downtime, reading for pleasure on top of my research. I found more time to run and explore the wooded trails and commune with Nature, searching my spirit for echoes of the wolf that I had lost.

I was also finding more time to spend with Dominic, even just simply sharing space together. The Pack gossip was still rampant after all the drama within the Alpha family, so when we did not have to leave home we wouldn’t. It was even nice just to sit in silence hunched over our own work.

Returning today, the hospital seemed just as I left it and also as if I had never been there before. Cinda reminded me that the work of the staff is cumulative, and even those who spend the most hours there don’t always contribute more.

“Don’t go thinking that you’re not needed here and you can just disappear whenever you want,” she admonished me. “I need you around here once in a while even just to keep me sane.”

“I missed you too, Cinda,” I said to her. “And I was actually thinking about you this week, while doing some other research.”

“Okay you really need to learn how to take time off,” Cinda said to me with concern in her eyes.

“It’s a personal project,” I explained, rolling my eyes gently at her. “What did you think I was doing for a week? Knitting?”

Her laughter echoed off the tiles around us, drawing some attention from people passing in the hallway.

“I guess not,” she said, shaking her head. “So what’s the research? Anything spicy?”

“Um, sort of, maybe,” I stammered, thinking that Cinda and I might have different definitions for ‘spicy.’ “I’ve been getting kinda hooked on old lore, mysticism, some of the stories that come from the ancestors and the spirits that created werewolves and our power.”

Cinda squinted a bit as I spoke. At first she seemed amused, but her face grew more serious as I went on.

“I know so much of it is just legend, spooky stories to scare young pups,” I continued, “but some of it, I don’t know, it seems…possible.”

“I bet it does,” Cinda said gravely. “You just need to decide how far down that rabbit hole you want to go, because you might not come back up.”

“I think it’s pulling me in, honestly,” I confessed, looking away for a breath. “Do you believe in coincidences?”

“Not for a minute,” she answered quickly.

“Right, me neither. And with all these things happening— around me, to me— it feels like something bigger is at play.”

Cinda nodded slowly, listening carefully before taking her turn to speak.

“And the more I learn about these old rituals and trials of power and playing with destiny, the more I wonder about my own past, and my path forward.”

I was rambling now, emotions brimming, and if I stopped talking now I might start crying.

“And I just wonder how I got here, you know? Am I meant to be? Or will I fail?” I was closer to Cinda now, lowering my voice but not losing the urgency. “Do you believe in Fate?”

Cinda cocked her head to the side, narrowing her eyes at me.

“Of course, Mira,” she said confidently. “It is the only thing we can rely on— that we are not in control.”

Somehow, that was comforting.

“Fate takes us to many places, to many roads diverging down different paths,” she said softly. “We try to be mindful in our choosing, but the choices are provided by a higher power. Nothing that is for you misses you.”

Her last words stuck with me.

Nothing that is for you misses you.

Fate was following you along, carrying the book of your life. You could read at your own pace, but each chapter must be completed.

“I believe it was Fate that brought you to me,” Cinda said, taking my hand. “Obviously you’ve done great things for many people here, but being my friend is clearly the most cosmically important.”

Before she could protest I reached out and hugged her.

“I totally agree,”I said as we squeezed each other.

“I guess I had Dominic to thank for that too,” Cinda said as we broke apart, “for bringing you here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Maybe you two are Fated Mates and that’s why you get all goopy-eyed when you see each other and stop listening to anyone else in a six-foot radius.”

“I do not get—“

I was interrupted by her laughter. We started to walk down the hall, I was starting my rounds, and she had paperwork to fill out.

“I’m just saying, if you haven’t seen it in your storybooks yet, you should look it up,” she told me. “It’s a rare occurrence these days, the bloodlines far too broad and modern civilization taking so much of the magic out of our lives.”

She sighed, a small moment of reverence given to the good old days.

“But every so often, I’ve heard gossip of a Fated pair,” she went on. “Sharing thoughts, powers, a deeper connection and understanding of one another than any love could bring between two people.”

I felt myself blushing at the idea.

“Most will keep it quiet though, fearing retaliation.”

“Retaliation?”

“Oh yeah,” Cinda scoffed, “a regular witch-hunt. Back in the day? There were groups who thought Fates Mates were freaks, an abomination on society. Others wanted to figure out how it happened, and would kidnap and torture couples in order to discover the secrets of their bond.”

“That’s horrible,” I said. My whole body was suddenly very cold, as if I had been frozen in a block of ice and trapped.

“And maybe it isn’t true, but people have done far crazier and more gruesome things to one another in the name of ‘science.’”

“Mmm,” I hummed.

“I don’t think any of that could happen today,” Cinda said, lightening her tone. “Way too much tech and surveillance and investigative work to run away with young lovers and dig around in their souls.”

I gulped.

“Anyway, I’m heading down,” she said, pointing to a stairwell. “Catch me before you leave?”

“Sure,” I said to her back as she walked away.

I was still fixated on our conversation as I wandered around the wing, checking in with patients and other staff.

Cinda’s words had been told as an old wives’ tale, science fiction shared around a campfire.

But for me, they told a story that was all too familiar.