The Problem With Fairy Tales

Chapter 5

"You're my soulmate."

"And you're mentally stable," Valerie said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "So now that we've both said something that clearly isn't true, I'm going to leave."

This was all just too much.  Valerie already had enough stress with college, she didn't need to add a "mate" to the ever growing list of Reasons I can't sleep at night.

The dark haired girl pushed past Hayden's hulking frame, trying to act brave and confident, even though it felt like her world was being torn apart. Valerie was freaking out, and the scariest part was that she found it hard to walk away from the 6'2 male.  That just made her all the more determined to get away.

Hayden's body was craving to grab her arm, to keep her with him, but he knew that he had already pushed her too far.  So, with great effort, he let her brush past him and walk towards the door.

Valerie yanked the white door open with a bit too much force, and stormed out into an empty hallway.  Frantic to get away now, she all but sprinted down the corridor, hoping that she was going in the right direction.  What other choice did she have?

Right. Left. Left again. Down a flight of stairs. Right.

Gosh, this place was a maze.

The interior of the building almost resembled that of a fancy hotel; thick carpeting, white walls, bright lights.  But the weird thing was that nobody was around.  It's not like Valerie wanted to run into another psycopath; she had already reached her quota of crazy for the day.  It's just that she expected to at least have to dodge one person in this gigantic place.  But no, all that was here was the unsettling bright lights and unnaturally clean carpets.

Just when Valerie was about to give up and break down into a sobbing mess, she stumbled into a room that led to the outside world.  The only problem was, of course, that the room was full of other people.  All of which had pointed ears like Hayden.  

The chatter in the room died down upon Valerie's entry, and all eyes focussed on her.  The second thing Valerie noticed about the people - the first being that they all had freaking elf ears - was that they all looked like they could squish her like a bug.  Not necessarily with brute physical force - although the men and women were built like Olympians for the most part - but with shear confidence alone.  The way they held themselves and the careful calculation in their eyes made Valerie think that they were much more powerful than anything she had encountered in her life.

"I'm just, uh."  Valerie's voice sounded thin even to her own ears, and her mouth felt like a desert.  "I'll be leaving now."  And with that, Valerie walked out of the room with her head held high and her legs shaking.  She kept waiting for someone to grab her and tie her up in the basement or something, but nothing happened.   They all just watched her walk out with a sort of disdain and disgust that made Valerie sick to her stomach. 

When the dark haired girl arrived at the double glass door that led to the outside, a voice suddenly spoke up.

"We can't just let her-" The person didn't finish their sentence, cut off with a look from one of his companions.  Not waiting for an invitation, or, in this case, the opposite of one, Valerie pushed the door open and walked away as fast as her legs could carry her.

~

"I can't believe we just let her go," Caleb blurted as they watched the dark haired human through the glass wall as she awkwardly speed walked away.  They all flinched a tiny bit when she tripped over her own feet in her haste and stumbled.  Someone in the room snorted.

"Rules are rules," Maeve, the red headed female, said softly, not making eye contact with anyone in the room. "And the rules say that a member's mate is not to be harmed in any way."  Her explanation was unnecessary, of course, but it seemed like she was explaining it more to herself than to the others.  Convincing herself. Or at least trying to.

"Nobody was thinking of hurting her, Maeve," Rowan said a bit awkwardly, concern for both his friend and his best friend's mate.  "I think what Caleb meant is that we should just keep her here to make sure she stays quite. Not, you know, keep her quite." He dramatically mimed cutting his throat with his index finger to get the idea across. "Right, Caleb?"

"Yeah, right." Caleb didn't sound very reassuring as he crossed his dark arms and rolled his eyes.  "I just think it's stupid that we don't get a say in anything just because she's his mate.  This affects all of us."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that you're all so very happy for me," Hayden snapped sarcastically as he walked into the room.  Everyone jumped a bit at his entrance, a guilty look crossing all of their faces.  Hayden's jaw visually clenched in frustration.  "But until the Circle decides to change to rules, you're going to have to suck it up."

"It's not that we're not happy for you,"  Rowan said to his best friend.  The expressions of half of the people in the room begged to differ.  Someone snorted again.  Rowan pointedly ignored this.  "It's just that it caught us a bit off guard.  This isn't  a regular occurrence."  His sapphire eyes darted to Maeve, who had her gaze focused on the ground, and back.  "We all just need a bit of time to adjust."

Hayden sighed, dragging a hand through his light brown hair.  "Believe me, I wasn't expecting this either."  Finally meeting your soulmate was supposed to be the best day of your life.  So why was Hayden feeling so... heavy?  "I have some adjusting to do myself."