Chapter 15 #3
His lips curved in a smile. “Properly, they are named Cor Meum, Guadium Meum, Mea Flamma, and Passio Animae Meae—or My Heart, My Joy, My Eternal Flame, and Passion of My Soul.”
“That’s really sweet.” I paused. “She didn’t realize?”
“Well, to be fair, his first restaurant had already been built long before we even met. But we did meet because of the restaurant. I told him of a conversation I’d overheard from one of his employees while I’d been having dinner.
The employee was planning to steal from Roarke.
How was I supposed to know the name of that restaurant—even before we’d met properly—was also meant for me?
” she asked with a shrug and a slight smile.
“It was for my future mate, which ended up being you,” Roarke said softly.
“Yes, but you didn’t know that at the time,” Emrie shot back with sass, and Roarke laughed and kissed the tip of her nose.
I don’t know what pulled my eyes in his direction.
No, I did know. It had something to do with my dreamscape abilities, though I wasn’t sure how when I wasn’t in the dreamscape.
Still, I felt a spasm of pain coming from Alpha Riggs.
The room became surreal and slightly misty, like it sometimes did in dreams, and when I turned to Alpha Riggs, a golden, glowing string led from him to me.
The string was hard to ignore, but I didn’t panic, because I was sure it had something to do with my burgeoning abilities.
I would ask Elandor and Alaric when I got the chance.
So, I tried to ignore the bizarre atmospheric oddities for the moment and took a second glance at the Alpha. There was pain in his eyes as he looked at Emrie and Roarke. I felt instinctively that it wasn’t jealousy.
It was intense loneliness—a loneliness so all-encompassing that I could tell he was literally in physical pain. My heart broke at the naked pain, but I felt like I was the only one in the room who could see it.
Why was I the only one who could see it?
I was so heartbroken that Elandor must have felt it, because he reached out to me.
What’s wrong?
Alpha Riggs… he’s in a lot of pain.
Elandor skimmed my thoughts, then sighed.
Alaric and I are also concerned. He’s an unusually strong alpha. We think because of that, the absence of a mate weighs more heavily on him than some.
In the human world, we know that people can actually die from a broken heart. It’s called takotsubo cardiomyopathy, I said quietly to his mind.
Elandor thrummed, and the ache in my heart eased some. We’re almost done, treasure. We’ll be back soon.
I nodded dumbly, like he was in the room with me, then blushed when the whole room noticed.
“She’s talking with Elandor,” Emrie said in a loud whisper, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
She really was adorable. I kind of wished we could live in this area.
It felt like Emrie and Consort Mia could become friends if the friendships had more time to develop.
Visiting often would have to be enough, though, because we more than likely would be living in Alaska.
It was where we both lived, and it was where his company was headquartered.
"I thought, before you came, that only mated shifters could do that," Alpha Riggs said.
I shrugged, fiddling with my glass. “Elandor tells me it’s because his class is mythical.
He said that most other shifters can speak and have their own being and personality, but not like a mythical shifter.
We’ve had entire conversations. Long ones.
” Heck, he could probably quote poetry to me, not that I necessarily wanted him to.
I already knew he was basically a genius and could converse intelligently on every topic I opened with him.
Roarke nodded as if this was the case for him as well, and Emrie glanced at him in surprise. “You too?”
He took a sip of ice water and ran a thumb against some of the condensation on the side of the glass. “Probably not as strong as the Prime’s dragon, but yes. My dragon is very aware, and we have conversations with each other frequently.”
“How did I not know this?” Emrie said with a frown.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and drew her closer. “You did, sort of. I just never really talked about how present he is with me all the time. You knew, though, that he wanted to meet you. That he wanted to talk with you."
Emrie’s brow puckered in thought. "I guess so. My bear probably understood that better than I did, because I didn’t catch the clues."
Something internally pinged again, coming from Alpha Riggs, and my eyes were drawn back to him.
The golden tether between us was gone. It had disappeared the instant the dreamscape had stopped bleeding into reality, but I kept getting a sense of the Alpha, and I thought I knew why.
One, he was hurting, and Elandor had said that because of my power over the dreamscape, and me being the Prime’s mate, it would be my responsibility to help those that were tied to me. And two…
“You have one,” I breathed in sudden understanding. “A very present shifter half.”
And that’s when Alaric walked in.
“You do?” he asked politely, although I somehow knew that he’d already picked up on the truth about Alpha Riggs’ shifter half—he must have known almost instantly upon meeting him—but I didn’t think anyone else had.
Alaric set a bag with what looked like the name The Magic Crumb on the side of the bag down onto the table in front of us.
When he opened it, there was a glorious chocolate cake in a see-through, plastic dome container.
The cake was loaded with delicious-looking chocolate frosting.
I watched as he served a thick slice onto a plate, grabbed a fork and napkin, and handed them to me.
I swallowed, staring down at the cake, and then at Alaric. How had he known that I was craving chocolate cake?
Well, obviously Elandor had told him what I was craving.
"Thank you," I whispered, touched.
He kissed the top of my head in response and sat down next to me.
Alpha Riggs still hadn’t said anything in response to Alaric’s question, but when Alaric looked at him, he nodded.
“You’re strong, then,” Alaric said.
Roarke snorted, and Alpha Riggs shot him a wry look—which Roarke ignored. “He woke my dragon enough to rouse me a little after the battle a few months ago. Nothing disturbs my dragon. Certainly not piddly amounts of shifter power.”
“I… am unusually strong for a bear shifter,” Alpha Riggs agreed hesitantly.
“And you’re happy here?” Alaric asked, eying Alpha Riggs with sudden seriousness.
“No, don’t take him away from us!” Emrie yelped, then covered her mouth with her hand.
And then, as though she couldn’t help it, she beseeched Alaric with a squeaky “please” before covering her mouth again.
Roarke comforted her by rubbing her back, though he looked concerned Alaric would move Alpha Riggs out of the Clan as well.
Obviously, not for himself, but possibly for the Clan. Certainly for his mate.
Alaric shook his head. “I don’t plan to take him away or move him. But his strength is almost wasted here. A bear shifter who’s strong enough to have a very present shifter half would make a strong Regent.”
“I will go wherever you need me, my Prime,” Alpha Riggs said. “But, if I get a vote, I’d like to stay here in Moonhaven. It’s my home.”
Alaric nodded, and the charged conversation immediately eased. Emrie dropped her hand, giving Alaric an apologetic wince, and Roarke was suddenly eying the cake in my hands.
“Is it any good?”
“It’s divine,” I assured him.
“Are you up for sharing?” Emrie teased.
I looked at my cake mournfully, because of course I would share. I just didn’t want to.
Alaric’s smile tipped the corners of his lips. “I got two. The other one is in our room. I had to fend off salivating bears, but I managed.”
I looked at him, wanting to kiss him again, but refrained in front of everyone. “You did good, Prime,” I said fervently instead.
He laughed, and wrapped an arm around my waist, gently pulling me a bit closer. "Anything for my mate."