Chapter 29 #2
Kai thought back. He’d admit to always feeling something off about himself.
There was a piece he hadn’t quite understood that hid for most of his life, but it wasn’t since the challenge—from the moment he met Isla—that something inside him had changed.
That piece became exposed and began to flourish.
“Maybe even a little before it. When we met.” Kai rested his elbows on his knees, brows drawn.
“But she… she makes it stop or, at least, calms it. She makes it bearable. I don’t know why—but I try to think of her when it gets to be too much.
” It was Isla who’d freed him from the fog last night… after he had nearly hurt her.
Olyvia smiled softly, a twinkle briefly coming to her eye.
“Well, you are a part of each other, and because of that, she has a connection to you, your wolf, and your power that no one else in the world does or ever will. You use her to temper it, but she may be the key to understanding it, too. Rather than trying to lull it, has she ever embraced it, tried to feel and figure out what it is?”
For all they’d done intimately, Isla had never dug into his power. Though…
“The coronation ceremony is probably the closest she’s ever gotten to that part of me.”
“I heard it was quite the spectacle,” Olyvia mused.
“It was.” Kai gnawed on the inside of his lip, trying to remember how he’d felt when the fire erupted.
A rush like no other; it was dizzying, intoxicating, and world-shattering like he’d been broken and reforged.
And then there was only her and him at the beginning and end of all things.
But there was a moment last night when she’d kissed him, when he felt himself unravel for her, and something inside him had pushed her away, not wanting her close.
He sighed. “Any ideas about what this is?”
Olyvia echoed his heavy breath with one through her nose.
“None that would have any merit. I’ll do some research and speak with my friend who’s a priestess—discreetly, of course.
She’ll know more about mating bonds than I do, in a spiritual sense, at least.” She ran her finger along the top of the wooden box.
“I feel for most, it’s just about romance and sex.
Then, for alphas and lunas, you get into talk about power, but there’s so much more to it when you think of it in a divine way.
Why the goddesses gave us mates in the first place, it must mean more.
Otherwise, why is it becoming so rare? Because they want us unhappy, or we’re misguided?
Are deities truly that petty?” Her eyes had grown distant as she spoke, her stare resting on the statues of the three goddesses by the window.
Milky cheeks reddened as she seemed to snap back to herself. “I apologize. I’m rambling.”
Kai offered a smile. “Don’t worry about it.
It’s interesting to think about. I’ll admit I was on team ‘mates are for romance and sex’ until this started happening.
Now, I want to know what the deities’ intent is with all of this.
” He rose to his feet. “Whatever you find out, if Isla or I aren’t available, which I imagine will be common for the next few days, you can talk to Jonah…
just don’t mention the bane or the power. ”
He’d have to tell him eventually—all of them eventually—but not yet.
“Jonah,” Olyvia breathed a laugh. “I haven’t seen him in years.
Even you and Rhydian haven’t been around until recently.
And, um, Ameera.” Another fidget with that braid, and the red tinting her cheeks deepened.
“How is she after Beta Ezekiel… or I guess, just Ezekiel… you—well, obviously, you know.”
Kai raised a brow as she rubbed at her cheek as if trying to wipe the color away. This was the most flustered she’d been all morning.
“She’s doing as well as she can, but Ameera won’t ask for help, and I try not to push her.
” Something struck Kai then, remembering how often Ameera had found herself at the sanctuary as they’d grown.
Sometimes, they’d thought she’d been dramatic with all the mending she needed—the boys may have been rough with her in sparring, but she was just as tough. “You two were close, weren’t you?”
A smile, a frown, and another tighter smile crossed Olyvia’s face before she waved a hand. “Yeah, but it’s been a while. We haven’t really spoken since she became a warrior.”
“Warrior general now,” Kai said, pride infusing his voice. Ameera might kill him for it, not being the biggest fan of people, but he offered, “You should reach out to her.”
Olyvia had since risen and moved to begin cleaning a spot on the table that was already tidy. “I’m sure she’s busy. I’ve heard she’s been shadowing your council.”
Goddess, word spreads fast around here.
Continuing to tout his friend, Kai said, “I want her as my beta.”
Olyvia halted and turned, her wide eyes blinking. “What an honor.”
Kai shrugged. “She deserves it.”
Something flashed in the healer’s eyes before they guttered, and without the bane in his system yet, Kai could sense pride melded with something like remorse.
“She does.”