Extra A Broken Heart
Sylvia didn’t always have a crush on Aegis. At least, not in the way she did later.?
Once upon a time, there had been another boy named Bengi Moore. Bengi had been her first crush, and he’d given her every reason to think that she’d been his.
He walked her to her classes, sang songs to her on his guitar while she waited for her mother to pick her up, and, when occasion called for it, walked home with her. To her young mind, this was black and white, plain as the smile on her face. She was dreaming of first dates, kisses, holding hands, even going so far as marriage, which was a very silly thing to dream of, because she was all of thirteen years of age.
Werewolf Hollow didn’t have a mall, but it did have a shopping strip down main street. When Sylvia and Ivy were walking along this strip, she experienced her very first- and of course, not her last- round of heartbreak.
The boy she’d been crushing on so hard was sitting outside a smoothie shop, making out with Brittani Choi.
Before Ivy could stop her, Sylvia had burst into tears, turned a corner, and made a run for it. She’d never been very good at hiding her feelings; Ivy knew she’d been crushing hard, and honestly, Benji had probably known, too. "Humiliated" couldn't even begin to describe how she felt.
Had Brittani put him up to it? For years, now, Brittani had made it her life’s goal to let everyone know she didn’t consider either Sylvia or Ivy her friends. Brittani was good at controlling things, at making people do what she wanted. Had she put Benji up to it? Or worse: had she detected Sylvia’s feelings and then convinced Benji to go for her, instead?
Sylvia hadn’t wanted anyone to stop her. She lost Ivy running through Main Street, but as she turned a corner blindly onto some road, she smacked straight into someone’s rock hard chest. Before she could hit the dirt, a hand had flashed out and caught her.
A teenaged Aegis Black was standing in front of her, amber eyes glowing the way all werewolves’ eyes did. For once, that stoic mask he always wore was broken, and he was frowning in obvious concern.
“Sylvia,” he said, surprising the heck out of her, because he was a full year older, and they’d had little reason to talk. “What’s wrong?”
Instead of answering, Sylvia just burst into tears anew, and, alarmed, Aegis sat in the dirt with her. When she’d managed to get control of her feelings, Aegis tried again. “What’s going on? Did someone hurt you?”
Maybe it was because of the very real concern on his face. Maybe it was because he was a virtual stranger who didn’t know her... or at least, she thought he hadn't known her. Whatever the reason was, Sylvia actually told him. She sat there with him on the dirt road and poured out her entire, humiliated heart to him, and the betrayal she felt at seeing this stupid boy suck face with not only someone who wasn’t her, but- of all people- Brittani Choi.
“I see,” Aegis said, grave as a cemetery. “That’s a pretty shitty thing to do.”
“I know,” Sylvia wailed. “Was it something I did? Was it something I said?” She could feel herself on the precipice of falling into a dark hole that she didn’t want to be in. “I know I can be a lot,” she sniffled, before Aegis could even respond. “I can talk a lot, and sometimes, I over-think everything, and I can be a little pushy about trying to help people, but I never mean it meanly-“
“Stop it.”
She looked up at him, afraid that she had basically just proven her point.
“There is nothing wrong with you, Sylvia Lake,” Aegis said. She had noticed before that he was good looking- who hadn’t?- but in that moment, her eyes widening, Sylvia felt like he was looking into her, seeing something she couldn’t see. “There is nothing wrong with you,” he said again. “Never change yourself for someone else. If they don’t want what you give, then you leave. There is someone out there who will want it, and they will want you more than anyone else in the world.”
She sniffled and gave him a watery smile, trying to ignore the way her cheeks and neck felt a little flushed. “That’s something only werewolves experience, Aegis. We don’t get fated mates.”
But he just chuckled. “Where do you think werewolves come from? Somewhere down the line, most of us were human, once.”
He helped her stand up, and she realized with a start that somehow… the pain hurt a little less. She looked up, and the sun shone behind Aegis. His expression was as dark as ever, a mixture of too-serious and too-intent, but somehow… what it really was was concern.
“How do you know who I am?” She asked suddenly. “We’ve never talked.”
Aegis hesitated for a moment, and then shook his head. “I know who everyone is. It’s my job… or, it will be, anyway.”
Sylvia regarded him. “People our age don’t really think like that.”
“I have to.” He was grave again. It made him seem almost ethereal; strong, powerful, solid and dependable... and about fourteen years old. “People will depend on me, whether I’m ready for them or not. Running from who I am won’t fix anything. Our pack needs me; I can’t change that.”
“Right,” Sylvia said softly. She sniffled, then gave him a small smile. “I don’t know how you did it, but I feel… freakishly better.”
“You just realized he wasn’t the one,” Aegis said, giving her a small hint of a smirk. “You’ve realized he wasn’t good enough. You’ll find the one.”
That heat flared up again in her neck, and Sylvia felt something deeper… more fluttering.
“Sure,” she breathed.
Aegis walked her back to Main Street, where she found a distraught Ivy. Sylvia watched him out of the corner of her eye as he turned to leave, a quiet and dependable boy that somehow, she couldn’t get out of her head.
“Wouldn’t it be something to be Aegis’s fated mate,” she said softly, and Ivy nearly lost it.
“You just got your heart broken by one boy, and you’re already on the next?!”
But Sylvia just shook her head. “This is… different. I can’t explain it.”
“Oh, yeah? Should I start planning the wedding?”
Sylvia made a face and pushed her best friend, who was now laughing. “I’m serious!”
“How’s it different then?!”
“I don’t know, I can’t explain it!”
“Seriously, girl, just slow down, would you? Focus on, like, Geometry or something.”
“Nooooo, thank you. Besides: you’re the one failing Geometry, not me.”
“HEY!”
They laughed and returned to their shopping; this time, they coolly walked past both Brittani and Benji, glancing at them imperiously (while trying to hold in their laughter) before moving along.
In her heart, though, Sylvia knew it was different.
It had to be.