Chapter Nine
Their visit to the Fae Realm didn’t exactly go according to plan.
The moment Zander and Kami teleported to the great hall of the Winter Palace, he stalked over to where Micah Volt was sitting at the long dining table and slammed his fist into his face.
The surprise attack startled everyone in the room into a stunned silence.
The blow had knocked the new King of the Winter Palace off his chair. He sat up where he had landed on the ground and rubbed at his jaw. “Oww! What the fuck?”
Zander hadn’t been planning on attacking him.
In fact, a few seconds ago, he had been mentally reminding himself to behave.
He’d been determined to make a good impression and avoid any unnecessary tension to help ease Kami’s nerves about returning to the Fae Realm.
Friendliness had never come naturally to him, but he could at least be civil.
Obviously, he had fucking failed.
In his defense, Zander’s love for Kami completely eclipsed any semblance of logic or self-restraint.
Her mere existence had completely altered his life.
She made him feel emotions he hadn’t known he was capable of, transforming him into someone he barely recognized.
Whenever she was near, the careful facade he usually presented to the world dissolved, replaced by raw instincts and a fierce urge to protect her at all costs.
As soon as they arrived, all his carefully laid plans for peaceful greetings dissolved the instant the painful shadows of Kami’s past flickered through his mind.
Returning to the place where she had suffered so many injustices had overwhelmed his senses, and before he could stop himself, he had lashed out.
His reaction was not simply a matter of impulse.
It was a reflection of the profound bond they shared.
During their time together, he had reviewed most of her memories through their bond.
His goal had been to understand who she was in order to be a better mate to her, but he was unprepared for just how deeply her pain would affect him.
After witnessing all of the sick, twisted things her birth mother had done to her, he knew what she had told him was only the surface of her true suffering.
Her psychological wounds surpassed any of the physical scars she’d ever received.
While the marks on her body had been healed with the magical waters in their home, her mental scars were far more difficult to erase.
Despite her insistence that she had moved on, the dark shadows of her traumatic experiences still lingered in her mind.
They resurfaced in moments of vulnerability and threatened to overwhelm her with fear and doubt, influencing how she saw herself and the world around her.
No amount of magic could wipe those memories away completely, nor could soothing words undo the emotional turmoil left behind by her birth mother’s betrayal and cruelty.
Her father turning away from her had also hurt her far more than she wanted to admit.
While she didn’t blame him, the resentment for being blamed for something she hadn’t done was still there.
Zander knew that was the main reason she had expected him to deny their mating. If he had chosen to hate her because of her connection with the Goddess of Illusions, she would have accepted it. She had also been prepared for him to blame her for what had happened with the curse.
If he had done so, it would have been unfair to both of them.
He knew emotional responses were rarely logical. The process of healing her psychological damage would be ongoing. A mindset couldn’t be changed overnight. All he could do was offer her his unwavering support and continue to prove that he loved her and valued her above all else.
Even if she were able to completely move on and let go of her past, he wasn’t sure he could.
The depths of his feeling for her made it almost impossible to suppress his reactions when it came to her well-being.
He would never forget anyone who had caused her pain.
Because of that, Micah Volt had earned a punch to the face.
“Why in hellfire did you hit my mate?” Jackie demanded, placing herself in front of Micah as if she could shield him from additional attacks.
Zander considered issuing an apology, then thought fuck it. He might as well be brutally honest if they were going to be family. If his first impression was the worst, it could only go up from there.
“Were you aware that Kami was still being tortured by her birth mother after you were mated?”
His calm tone cut through their outrage like a knife. After they were mated, Micah had put a stop to the crazy goddess punishing Jackie. He’d made it very clear he would bring the wrath of hellfire down on her if she ever hurt his mate again. But that had left Kami to deal with her alone.
To be fair, Kami hadn’t told them about all the punishments she had received while Jackie and Crispin had been away at school. Still, Zander was furious that they hadn’t done anything to stop it.
Both Jackie and Micah turned pale, and their gazes flickered over to Kami.
They scanned her thoroughly from head to toe as if searching for injuries.
There was a moment of confusion as they took in her changed appearance, then their eyes widened with shock when they both noticed the unique mating mark on her neck.
As if seeking comfort from their intense scrutiny, Kami moved to his side. He automatically linked their hands together and pulled her closer.
Micah’s gaze caught that action. His jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth, then he slowly rose to his feet. “I should have noticed the signs. I’m sorry, little sister.”
“It’s not your—”
“He’s right,” Jackie admitted in a clipped tone. She sighed, and her voice softened when she spoke directly to her sister. “Even though we were spelled not to speak of those things, I should have found a way. I should have done more to stop her.”
“Yes, you should have,” Zander agreed bluntly.
“Don’t blame them,” Kami pleaded through their bond. “It was a difficult time for all of us.”
“This is exactly why I suggested therapy,” Crispin muttered from where he was sitting at the table hunched over a bowl of some sort of soup. “We’ve all been screwed up by that crazy goddess’s spells too much for any of us to remain sane.”
“We never claimed to be sane,” Jackie said dryly.
“Let me introduce everyone,” Kami jumped in, trying to break the tension.
As she began rattling off names, Zander took the time to peruse some of their thoughts.
Was that a violation? He was sure they would think so, but he called it a simple threat assessment.
They were nervous about meeting him. Rightly so.
However, he didn’t sense any real animosity or hatred from them.
Zander already knew who everyone in the great hall was from his review of Kami’s memories.
The group was dressed casually in jeans and T-shirts of various colors.
From the look of them, no one would guess the Queen and King of the Winter Kingdom, a fae prince, and two apex alphas were seated at the table.
While Kami and Jackie had taken after their father with pale blonde hair and ice-blue eyes, Crispin looked more like Queen Bianca Frost, with a lean build, dark blond hair, and gray eyes.
Since he was attending medical school in the Human Realm, his hair had been cut short, and his pointed ears had been glamoured to look more rounded at the top.
Lia Sparks was the Apex Alpha of the Alicorn Shifters but hadn’t yet come into her true powers. She had thick black hair, a beauty mark in the shape of a heart next to her right eye, and eyes an interesting shade of silvery purple that were a known trait specific to alicorns.
Sitting across the table from her was Kellen Cruz, the Apex Alpha of the Wolf Shifters.
He was a big male who almost rivaled Zander in sheer size.
His arms were covered with tattoos, and he had hair that was an unusual mix of dark gray, white, and black.
Zander felt some of his apex alpha powers pulsing off of him.
As his powers grew stronger, he would have to learn how to control that better.
Zander knew Kami was very fond of them and considered them close friends.
He was able to relax once he realized just how loyal the shifters were to her.
They both credited her for helping them acclimate into the supernatural community, and they had built a solid friendship from the very first day they had met.
Jackie’s thoughts were a little hostile toward Zander, but that was to be expected.
He’d hit her mate, but he had pulled the punch so he wouldn’t cause any real damage.
It was just enough to teach the young one a lesson.
Jackie and Micah loved Kami. Both of them had proven time and again that they would go to extraordinary lengths to ensure her safety and happiness.
Whether it meant standing in front of her or offering emotional support, Jackie had tried her best to protect her little sister.
Her protective instincts weren’t born solely out of familial obligation.
They were a manifestation of a deep, unbreakable love cultivated through years of shared hardships and triumphs.
The sisters’ bond was a source of strength, not just for Kami and Jackie, but for their entire group of friends. Their support for one another served as an example, creating a sense of unity that spread throughout their close-knit circle.
Micah would have loved Kami simply because his mate did, but she had earned his loyalty when she had welcomed him into their family without hesitation.
Kami had never judged him for being a metal mage-dark angel hybrid, nor had she questioned his place by Jackie’s side as the next rulers of the Winter Kingdom.
She had been their best supporter, and he would always appreciated her for that.