stale·mate (boyxboy)

Ace (One Year Ago):

Hallan Maddison is a menace. He's rude, arrogant, and incredibly dense. Every time we walk into the same room all I can feel is this incredible need to set him straight. He seems to think that just because he's some hot-shot rugby player he has some divine right to be a moron, or something. It's infuriating.

We had another altercation in the cafeteria earlier today, because the jackass and his friends were throwing around a rugby ball and ended up hitting some freshman, and nearly giving him a concussion. He didn't even have the decency to apologize.

I slammed my way into my house and let out a frustrated groan as I fell into the couch.

"You're gonna ruin the sofa if you keep throwing yourself onto it like that," Sidney, my oldest brother, says from the kitchen. I groan and roll over to glare up at him.

"Sid, can you not? I've had a really shit day."

"Aw, teenage angst just wearing you out, little bro?"

"Sid, I'm serious." He smirks at me and rolls his eyes as he looks down at the stove to stir some kind of sauce, I guess.

"Oh, had another run in with that Maddison kid?" With a nod and a heaved sigh I sit up and walk into the kitchen. I pull myself up to the counter beside Sidney and he laughs at me. "It's impressive, Ace. You're only sixteen and you already have a nemesis!"

"I turn seventeen tomorrow," I state dryly. Sidney grins and stirs what appears to be homemade chicken tikka masala.

"And tomorrow you'll be just seventeen with a nemesis! It's not quite as impressive. But just think! Tomorrow you could find your soulmate!" I scoff.

"Please, Sidney. The likelihood of finding your soulmate is already low, but to find them on my birthday would be astronomical. They would already have to be seventeen, and look into my eyes for more than five seconds. You sound like a cheesy soulmate romance novel," I tell him, pushing my glasses up my nose. He smiles.

"Maybe," he says with a shrug.

"Hey! Are you making curry?" Our younger brother, Grant, slides into the kitchen with a giant grin on his face as he sees Sidney at the stove. He throws his hands up and spins around. "Yes!" Sidney smiles. Grant runs over to us and jumps onto the counter beside me. "So, did Hallan piss you off again? S'that why you slammed the door like a big ol' toddler?" I roll my eyes.

"Don't tell me you didn't hear about it," I tell him. "Just because you're a freshman doesn't mean you aren't in on the most recent gossip at King's Cross." He beams.

"Yeah, I totally heard the whole thing from Finn, but I know she skimped on all the details. I wanted to ask you after school, but you ran off to your stupid art club so fast I couldn't find you. So, tell me. What'd the big oaf do this time? Did he threaten your delicate virtue?" I snort and shove Grant's head to the side.

"Please. He was just an ass, and some kid got hurt. I bet he didn't even feel bad about it." The conversation ends there and before long our dad and my other older brother, Charlie, get home. The baby of the family, my sister CiCi, graces us with her seven-year-old presence just in time for dinner, but has urgent fairy-princess business that makes it impossible for her to stay to do the dishes. We were all very surprised.

.^.^.^.

School had been going pretty well today--Finnley gave me a gag gift full of bullshit soulmate paraphernalia, and Hallan's less-douchey step-brother Owen gave me a birthday card--until I was leaving campus after a required drama meeting, since I'm painting their sets. I was rounding a corner when I literally ran into the devil himself. Okay, maybe Hallan isn't that bad, but it's a near thing.

It suffices to say, the following minutes are going to be heated, violent, and probably angrier than strictly necessary.

"Watch where the fuck you're going, Demenok!" he shouts, shoving me back into a wall. My glasses are askew across my face and I can only make out a blurry image of Hallan.

"It's not my fault you're as big as a house, Maddison!" I spit back. He seems to freeze, and it gives me enough time to fix my glasses and push them up my nose before I notice that Hallan's hands have tightened around my shirt. His eyes are downcast and his face is scrunched up. I snap my fingers in his face to bring his attention back to me, and he seems startled. "Do you have something else to say, or was that all of your wit for today?" I ask.

Our glares meet and before long my heart gives an almighty lurch against my ribcage. My entire body goes numb save for where Hallan is gripping my shirt, his knuckles brushing against skin. Soft, overwhelming tingling sinks into the skin where his hands are.

His gaze drops down to my chest and his eyes widen, his entire body freezing.

"What the hell--?" I'm about to ask what he's going on about when I can hear his heart stutter. I look down to his chest as his skin begins to glow in time with his heart beating. My breath catches in my throat. That only happens when you find your...

My eyes snap up at the same time that his do.

"Fuck," I say as he gives a solemn nod.

Of course Hallan Maddison is my fucking soulmate.

A/N: Okay! So this is my first werewolf/soulmate story, I hope I do it okay! Please let me know what you think! This is gonna be about the soulmates, and everything, but it'll also have an action-based plot as well, so have no fear!! Not only that, but I also wanted to address a couple serious cliches and pet-peeves of mine in the Werewolf genre, so beware!! Picture on the side is Logan Lerman as Ace