Chapter 2
Zephyr
"Shit,Zee.Whatnow?"
Zephyr glanced at Zenith seated in front of the mirror, oiling her dark, long hair. Her five-year younger sister was what everyone called a stunner. She had a naturally petite, modelesque figure that everyone in their social circle appreciated, soulful eyes that made men line up the streets, and mannerisms that would put a queen to shame. But appearances were deceptive. Zephyr knew she was also the girl who had tried to kill herself when she was younger for reasons unknown, the girl who fought some kind of demons in her mind every day, the girl who had immersed herself in social justice and working for a non-profit organization—Survivors of Los Fortis—that dealt with victims of assault and abuse and rehabilitated them. If there were angels on earth, her sister was one of them.
Zephyr volunteered with her on the weekends, styling and cutting the hair of the ladies at the SLF center. People always underestimated the power getting a makeover could have on one's psyche. She had seen women shed tears after a haircut, women with harsh, traumatic pasts shedding their grief, their histories, their conditioning after cutting their hair, if only for a moment. It empowered them, made them feel like a newer version of themselves who didn't have to let their pasts dictate their futures for a second, and while it wasn't a big contribution in the grand scheme of things, Zephyr loved that first emotional catharsis they had immediately afterward.
She pulled her sunflower earrings out of her lobes and dumped them on the dresser in her room as Zen watched her with curious eyes. Zephyr had spent the last few minutes updating her sister as they both went about their nightly rituals.
"I don't know," she answered, walking over to the single, large window in her room, the white gossamer-thin drapes flying inward with the wind. Her room was a reflection of who she felt she was inside—colorful and chaotic, with pretty printed sheets on a queen-sized bed, white painted walls with a plethora of photos, indoor plants sprucing up the corners, and knick-knacks from everywhere scattered haphazardly all around.
Rainbow.
He'd called her a rainbow. Once upon a time, he’d called her sunshine, back when her hair had been blond. She liked rainbow better. Looking around, she realized her room reflected that name. Her sister's room was the opposite, all organized and minimalistic and done in pastels.
They both rented an apartment in the city, at walking distance from both her salon and the SLF center. Their parents lived in the suburbs where they’d grown up, where her father still worked at the same accounting agency he’d been working at for thirty years. Daily commute for work had become both expensive and troublesome when she’d started at the salon, so Zephyr had moved out soon after, her sister following once she’d finished her graduation.
Flopping down on her bed, Zephyr started putting lotion on her arms as Zen massaged her own scalp with her fingers, the routine comforting for both of them after a long day.
"I can’t believe he doesn’t remember you." Her sister rubbed the strands. "By the way, you need to tell Mama about Alec. She needs to stop planning your wedding in her head with the toad." Zen had always been anti-Alec.
Zephyr snorted. "Fat chance of that. She wants me ‘happy and married and rich’, with a son-in-law she can boast about to the ladies at the club."
"Also true."
They stayed silent for a while, contemplating. Zephyr knew there was no way she was going to go through with the relationship with Alec now, but she didn't know how to shield her parents from the fallout. Knowing Alec, she knew he would take a rejection as a hit to his pride, possibly making her mother lose the social status she’d gained by association. For Zephyr, he would probably have her name smeared all over the city. She wouldn't be surprised if he came after Zen's reputation too, especially knowing she was adopted into the family. It wasn't looking good. She had a wonderful life, a great family, and though her mother could be very influenced by what others said sometimes, she was a great mother.
"Forget Alec for a second." Zen's feminine voice broke through her musings. "I still can’t believe you saw Alpha, your Alpha, after so long. I mean what are the odds that you’d follow Alec and find your lost love? I thought he’d left town. You really saw him?"
Zephyr flushed slightly, the kiss fresh in her memory. It did seem insane in retrospect.
"Saw him. Jumped and kissed him, and then he kissed me. The way he fisted my hair..." her voice trailed off as she fanned her face dramatically.
Zen fanned herself too, grinning. "He sounds sexier. And Alec really saw that?"
"Alec and at least fifty other random strangers."
"Damn. What’s he like now? " Zen asked, a mildly dreamy look on her face. That was the one thing they both had in common—they were both hopeless romantics, Zephyr a bit more hardcore and Zen a bit softer, but hopeless romantics nonetheless. Moreover, Zen was the only other soul who knew about Alpha.
"Huge," Zephyr recalled, her heartbeats escalating at the memory. "Solid. He just held me with one arm the entire time. Can you imagine?"
"The toad would never!" Zen giggled, tightening her hair in a bun. "Is it still there? The spark?"
Yeah, it was there alright. “It was more intense. I don’t know if that’s because we’ve both matured now but it’s… there. I know he felt it.”
"Tell me more. Let me live vicariously through you."
Zephyr finished putting the lotion on. "He’s really scarred now. I can't even imagine what he must've gone through to get them all. He was handsome but now he’s… wild. Dangerous. Someone you don’t want to mess with. He's also got an eye patch."
Zen stilled, her arms up on her hair. "Eye patch?"
"I swear I'm not making that up," Zephyr chuckled, capping the bottle of lotion and setting it on her nightstand. "He looked like a pirate, except hotter and cleaner and better-smelling. Though I don't know what pirates smelled like—possibly the sea, also can you imagine the—"
"Did you just say scarred and eye-patched?"
"—stench on board with all the—"