Damien climbed into his shower, having long hair meant you had to do proper hair care. Meaning Damien couldn’t get away with just a shampoo, he had to use a conditioner as well. Especially with as thick as his hair was. He wanted to be able to brush his hair without ripping it out of his scalp all the time.
Damien used a brand Alora preferred, one discovered because of his mother, Luna Ember. Damien’s mother had noticed how bad the condition of Alora’s hair was one day. When Alora was asked what she used to wash it with, his mother was outraged, because all Alora ever had to clean her hair with was bar soap.
Damien’s mother went through several different brands before they found one that Alora naturally gravitated to, finding it to be her preferred brand. The brand didn’t just have shampoos and conditioners. It had skin care products as well. So Damien and Ember made sure Alora had what her parents wouldn’t have bought her.
The brand was good for both females and males, so a lot of the products given to Alora, Damien used as well. Alora loved the smell of coconuts, so whenever Damien was missing her, he would use the coconut oil shampoo and conditioner she loved. Just to carry that scent with him throughout the day.
Damien shaved his face and brushed his teeth in the shower to save time. Hopping out he wrapped his hair in one towel, and another around his waist after drying his body. Damien flossed and swished some mouthwash, being a supernatural being did not make you exempt from proper dental care.
Damien towel dried his hair and weaved it into a braid that rested on his shoulder. There was a pocket door that led from the bathroom into his walk-in closet. So it was easy for him to grab another pair of slightly loose black cargo shorts and a dark navy blue v-neck sleeveless t-shirt.
Dressed, Damien walked out of the closet though its bedroom entrance. Grabbing his phone off the charger, he put it in his pocket and headed into his sitting room. Damien was sitting in one of the large chairs and putting on a pair of black canvas slip-ons when Xander came in.
Xander walked in with his wet hair hanging loose down his back, wearing a sky blue loose v-neck short sleeved t-shirt and a tan pair of loose cargo shorts. On his feet were a pair of sandy brown colored distressed canvas slip-on shoes.
With a wide bright smile on his face, Xander opened his mouth to greet his Alpha, when they heard Damien’s phone ding several times. With a frown on his face Damien looked down at his phone. He had a few messages, two from his father, and one from his brother Darien.
“It’s early to be getting so many messages at once isn’t it?” Xander asked, feeling concerned, more so when his own phone dinged multiple times.
Xander pulled out his phone and looked, his mother, father and little brother had all sent him messages. Opening the messages and reading through them had Xanders stomach dropping to the floor. Xander, feeling weak with shock, abruptly sat down in the chair closest to him.
Coincidentally the chair was across from Damien’s so when Xander raised his eyes, he was able to see that Damien was looking at a picture on his phone. There was a mixture of anger and sorrow, expressed only in Damien’s eyes, as he looked down at his phone.
Damien had opened the message from his father first, and the picture caused an uproar within him. It was Alora, but there was blood on her mouth, and a smaller female with fiery red curls was whipping the blood from Alora’s mouth with an expression of sorrow.
There was a dark red hand print on Alora’s cheek. This detail told Damien, Alora had been hit hard enough in the face, to cause blood to drip from her mouth. Anger welled up within Damien, he wanted to know who dared to injure his Starlight. Focusing on the picture and all the details, Damien became aware of what Alora was wearing in the picture.
Alora wasn’t wearing her usual track pants, instead she was wearing a short pair of shorts that bared her long beautiful legs. Her hoodie wasn’t zipped up to her neck, it was left open. Alora was only wearing a tank top that bared her stomach, showing off more of her delicious caramel colored skin.
Wanting to know why his father had sent him this picture, he scrolled down the message sent with the picture. Damien’s emotions became a chaotic mess as he read each word his father had sent him. Damien forced himself to look at his brother's messages next. Knowing it would contain more details about what happened to Alora.
After reading his brother’s message, the storm of emotion inside Damien simmered down some, but remained chaotic. Alora had met her mate today, that mate had not been him, but the mate she was given rejected her, and Alora had rejected him back.
Darien's message let Damien know that even if Alora’s mate hadn’t rejected her, she still would have rejected him. Damien didn’t know how to feel about that, but at the same time, he understood why Alora would have done it. After all, Matthew had been her sister's lover for a couple of years now.
It felt like something heavy was trying to crush his heart at the fact that he wasn’t Alora's mate. Although he never let himself acknowledge it, Damien had always hoped Alora would be his destined mate. It made him want to run home and rip Matt to pieces for being destined to Alora.
Damien tried to tell himself it was wrong for him to feel that way. He told himself he should just accept the fact that Alora was never meant to be his. While reeling from everything, Damien somehow managed to forget he wasn’t alone in his mind, at least until Zane let out a snarl of anger.
Thinking Zane was upset at finding out Alora and Xena had been destined to another, Damien tried to comfort him*“We’ll find our destined mate someday.”*
*“We already have!”* Zane snarled at him.
This shocked Damien, how could he not know they had already met their destined mate. *“How? When?”* Damien asked him.
*“Her! They are our mate, our female, they were never meant to be his!”* Zane responded, still snarling.
Damien froze, feeling the world tilt on its axis again. *“How were they never meant to be his?”* He asked his wolf.
*“They have always been ours, from our very beginning. Mate was placed under a strong binding spell after her birth. A rejection was necessary to break the spell, now our mate's missing piece will be back.”* Zane told him in his growly voice.
All this shocked Damien further, but at the same time, it made him feel lighter, because the female he so desperately hoped was his mate, was actually his mate. Damien didn’t doubt his wolf’s words, Zane had never spoken a lie to him. If he said Alora was their mate, she was their mate.
“Damien…” came Xander’s shaky voice.
Damien looked up and saw a look of confusion and pain on Xander’s face. Xander was holding his phone out to him. “My mom, dad and brother sent me messages I think you should read.” Xander said, his tone solemn.
Damien looked at Xander’s phone for a moment, before taking it from his hands to read the messages he had indicated. After reading them, Damien’s emotions went into another tail spin. Not only had Alora been under a spell, so had Matt, at least that's what it sounded like.
Again Damien wondered at the Moon Goddesses plans for them. It seems two spells were broken today by a tragic event. One he wished Alora hadn’t had to go through. ‘How much pain has she gone through, that the breaking of a mate bond didn't even make her flinch?’ Damien wondered.
Zane whimpered inside of him, Damien could feel his longing to go home, so he could wrap his furry body around our mate and comfort her. It didn’t startle Damien at how easy or how right it felt to refer to Alora as their mate.
Silently Damien handed Xander’s phone back to him. Xander had observed his best friend and Alpha while he had read those messages…and for the first time, didn’t know what Damien was thinking.
“Damien?” Xander said in an inquiring tone.
“The bond between them was completely broken with the double rejection, it can never be rebuilt.” Damien said in a calm tone.
This statement and lack of reaction from Damien confused Xander. “Is that all?” His voice sounded a little stressed.
“Alora is now my mate, your brother should stay away from Alora from now on.” Damien said in the same calm tone.
Xander stared open mouthed at his Alpha. Damien had just dropped a bomb with his lasts words, and was acting as if it was nothing. Xander, annoyed, frustrated and reeling from all of this, stood up abruptly.
“How the fuck can you just droop a bomb on me like that and treat it likes it’s nothing!?” Xander shouted his question dramatically.
Damien’s lips twitched with amusement at the animated reaction from Xander. Zane was in his head rolling around inside Damien, laughing. Damien restrained his amusement, doing his best to keep looking like he was unbothered. Only because he knew the more he looked unbothered, the more irritated and animated Xander would become.
However, as Damien watched his Beta rant, he could no longer hold back his amusement and burst into deep laughter. Xander looked at his friend with narrowed eyes, now he understood his Alpha’s attitude.
“You asshole!” Xander said with a snarl. “You’re just fucking with me now!” This reaction only made Damien laugh harder.