FOUR HUNDRED YEARS LATER
Dexter's Pov
"When I am reborn, I will be born as a bookstore owner. Promise you'd find me?"
Even in four hundred years, those words sounded fresh in my mind and rang in my head over and over again. Ever since Maeve's death, I had devoted a part of my life to finding her reincarnation. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, years into decades and decades into centuries and yet, I couldn't seem to find her anywhere.
I had managed to come across a few humans that took the exact likeness as Maeve but none of them were her. Legend had it that whenever a person was reincarnated, they were born with the scars from their previous lives as birthmarks. Maeve had one of those scars. The one she had sustained when she was shot on the thigh by the pack's soldiers when she mistakenly crossed our border and ventured into our pack after her kingdom was burnt to the ground by Isabella.
And so far, none of those exact replicas had the scar. But I was never discouraged and kept searching. I searched my pack, the human world and even hired some spies to keep an eye on the other packs in case she was ever reborn there. I wanted so badly to believe that she was alive.
My soul would never be complete without Maeve by my side. Living as an immortal and navigating through the pains of losing someone you love was more of a curse than a blessing of immortality. Even though a part of me wanted to blame Maeve for her death, I blamed myself instead. Maybe I should never have neglected her for some stupid council meeting. Maybe I should have been with her just like I had always done. Guarding her, protecting her from the evil that lurked around.
Especially from the evil of Queen Isabella. That greedy, ambitious, rogue witch that had rebelled against the Tredanon kingdom after she was sent on exile because of her mischiefs. After Maeve's death, I almost went mad but her last words comforted me and kept me sane for the past four hundred words even though it was an impatient wait.
And so, I had spent a half and quarter of my four hundred years searching for her in every bookstore, library and book cafe I could find. Sometimes, the thought that maybe I had lost her forever scared me but I learned to tame those thoughts. I would find Maeve. I would find my Luna, help her remember me and bring her back home.
"Sir. Your order." I was interrupted from my thoughts by the voice of the barista. I was in a book cafe under the disguise of getting a coffee, once again hoping to run into the real incarnation of Maeve. But I was once again greeted by disappointment. She wasn't here.
"Thanks." I pushed some dollar bills into her hands, ignoring that she had been stealing glances at me all the while she was making my order. It was something I had grown to get accustomed to; the occasional glances stolen at me by women whose eyes appraised my looks. But ever since Maeve's death, none of those things moved me. I would trade anything in the entire world to get another chance for Maeve to look at me that way instead of them. I would kill a thousand armies just to be able to be reunited with her again.
As soon as I stepped out of the book cafe, I was greeted by a heavy downpour.
"Shit." I cussed at myself as it rained on me and regretted taking my car to the mechanic this morning. If I was at the pack, not a single of the rain would have touched my body. Everyone wold have been struggling to put an umbrella over my head. But at this moment, I was not in the pack but in the human world, trying to find the four hundred years old soul of my past lover. As ridiculous as it sounded, it was my reality.
A crowded bus halted by the roadside right in front me and rain drenched passengers scampered into the bus. I considered the possibilities of making use of public transport and as I entertained the thoughts of it, I imagined Kain's laughing face, mocking an Alpha for sharing public transport with 'weak, pathetic humans' just as he would call them. I didn't let it get to me. First, I needed to get myself out of this rain before I would find a safe place to summon the portal and return back to the pack.
And then, return the next day to continue with my search. A search I never get tired of.
With another self-embarrased sigh, I struggled with the passengers to get into the bus too, trying as much as possible to avoid getting caught in their struggling and shuffling, lest the wolf in me got pissed and snapped their heads off.
"Hey, sir. Get out of my way!" This time, it was a female voice that referred to me as she yelled from behind and struggled to brush past me. And oddly familiar voice that I hadn't heard for hundreds of years. A small, delicate flowery tone. Even though it sounded aggressive right now.
I looked beside me as the short frame of a brunette tried to force her way into the bus, roughly brushing her body against mine. When she finally raised her head to look at me with furrowed pissed off brows, I felt my heart stop beating that instant.
Those big beautiful electric blue eyes that used to stare lovingly at me every morning in bed. Those same eyes that were glaring at me right at this very moment. A heartstopper, regardless.
"Are you deaf, mister? Or are you lost in your good looks?" Her sharp, harsh tone jolted me back into reality. "I said, get the fuck out of my way. I am running late for work."
When she figured I wasn't going to move aside anytime soon, she pushed past me and hurried into the bus. The rest of us followed in immediately and I was lucky enough to find a seat directly opposite hers. I observed her entire physical features as she busied herself with her phone. Her hair was the same, exact colors as Maeve. Dark chestnut brown ones.
Only that they were tied up in a messy bun, unlike Maeve's, which were always styled in long, cascading curls. Her small rosy lips were the same as Maeve and so were her freckles.
I did not let my hopes get high at the striking similarities. Most of the girls I had met in the past with Maeve's face had more than one striking similarities with her. There was only one way for me to find out if she was my long dead lover. My eyes traveled to the ends of her plain, knee length gown. If only she would raise the hems of that dress just a little, I would be able to steal a look at her thighs and find out the truth. But I knew that would be a difficult task unless the gods chose to be merciful at this moment.
It frustrated me that Maeve's scar had to be on her thighs of all places? Who was the dumb soldier that gave the order to shoot? I should probably fire him when I returned back to the pack.
By the time I looked from her dress to her face again, our eyes met. She had caught me checking her out. Well, according to her narrative. Her eyes squinted and she eyed me terribly. She looked like one who would be so quick to call someone out for sexual harrsasssment.
Fortunately for me, before she could open her mouth to throw accusations at me, the bus came to a halt and a few people dropped out. She got up from her seat. Perharps this was her bustop. As I began to wonder how I would get my answers since she was leaving the bus, the gods decided to be in my favor this time arond.
An obese, grumpy man roughly brushed his body past her, causing her to lose her balance and fall, landing directly over my legs.
"Hey! Watch it!" She yelled at the man and struggled to adjust the hems of her dress that had rode up her thighs. My eyes landed on them and there it was, staring right back at me. Maeve's scar.
My lips parted slightly and my heartbeat tripled in rhythm. I couldn't take my eyes off her thighs. For the first time in four hundred years, I felt the time stopped running. I could see no one else, hear no one else. Except for me and the girl with Maeve's scar on her thigh.
"Pervert!" The girl's high pitched tone pulled me back into reality and the next thing, she hit me across the face with her purse before running away and out of the bus.
My hand felt for my cheek where she had just hit me and I rubbed against it to soothe the pain.
Oh, well, that wasn't the reunion I imagined after four hundred years of being away.
My eyes landed on a plastic ID card on the floor of the bus and I reached down to pick it up. Maeve's face was on the ID card. She seemed to have dropped it while running away.
Hermione Peterson. An Intern at a university. Aged twenty two. Living at The Pedro High Rise Apartment. Flat number twenty eight. Seventh floor.
A small smile of victory crossed my lips. I had found my missing rib after four hundred years of searching and waiting.
Hermione Peterson, you are mine now.