Chapter 8
Flying.
Henley
MATE?
Blaine’s mate.
Even an hour later, I’m still reeling from the news that Blaine just met his soulmate.
A phoenix.
Everybody is giving Blaine and his new mate privacy to talk. They’re down the beach a little ways. But I still notice that everybody keeps glancing at them—at least it gives them somebody else to look at besides me.
Blaine and his mate look adorable as they sit close to one another. The girl, whom I have yet to meet, keeps giving Blaine shy smiles. And Blaine… I’ve never seen him look so happy before.
Will glances from them to me. “I’m going to be stuck around two newly mated couples now.”
“Maybe your mate is here too,” I say, wiggling my eyebrows.
He rolls his eyes. “You know it’s not normal to meet your soulmate at eighteen, right?”
I shrug. “I was seventeen. And Blaine is eighteen. So, who is to say you won’t meet your soulmate soon? Parker said fate has a way of making you meet your mate exactly when you need to.”
“I don’t need to meet my soulmate right now,” Will says. “I’m happy being here with you and Parker. I am happy with my duty of being his beta, even if it’s not with the pack.”
He doesn’t break eye contact as he says it.
I suck in a sharp breath. “You’re saying you would move here?”
He nods. “I’d gladly accept you as my queen, Henley.”
This, coming from Will, means a lot, because he was the one who tried to get me to leave when I first moved. He tried to say I wasn’t welcome in the pack. It hurt a lot at the time.
I need to not talk about this right now, though. I’m still… processing.
I clear my throat and glance back at Blaine and his mate. “Parker and I aren’t that bad anymore. We’re married now. And we’ve been together almost a year.”
Will snorts. “You’re worse now that you’re married.”
“We are?” I focus my attention back on Will.
“Yes, because you two do that thing where you flirt through your mate bond,” Will says.
Ah, we do that frequently.
Parker, who went inside to call his dad to tell him about Blaine, is apparently listening to my conversation with Will because he says, You usually start it.
I do not! I say, defending myself.
Will groans. “You’re doing it again, aren’t you?”
My cheeks warm with my embarrassment. “Sorry.”
“I get it,” Will says, waving a hand. “If I were mated, I’d use the bond to talk to her too.”
I frown. “You’re disappointed that it wasn’t you?”
He sits up straighter. “What? No, of course I’m not disappointed it wasn’t me.
I’m happy for Blaine. And I’m happy for you and Parker.
Like you said, fate has a way of knowing the exact moment that we need to meet our soulmate.
If I don’t meet her until I’m thirty, I’ll be fine with it.
Until then, I’m going to enjoy being single. ”
I study Will for a moment to see if he’s being honest, but he doesn’t seem unhappy.
“I’m sort of glad I never knew that I’d have a mate bond,” I admit. “I don’t think I would’ve been very patient. I would’ve wanted to meet Parker even sooner.”
He snorts. “Because you’re a hopeless romantic.”
I grin at that. “Maybe.”
“And would it have made a difference when you met Parker? Even after you found out that Parker had a mate waiting for him, you still couldn’t stay away from him.” Will raises an eyebrow, as if he’s daring me to argue.
“I know you hated it, but I couldn’t help it.
There was this pull to be close to him.” I shrug, not knowing how else to explain it.
“I think that some part of me deep down knew he was it for me, even if I didn’t know he was my soulmate.
But you’re right. I don’t think I would’ve been able to stay away from him, even if I knew the truth from day one. ”
“I’m sorry that I gave you such a hard time.” He frowns, looking down. “I wish I hadn’t acted that way.”
I grin. “It’s okay—it sucked at the time, but I know that you were just looking out for Parker.”
“I was looking out for you as well,” he admits.
I know he was, even if he was a jerk about it.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Uncle Ferno approach. I turn to face him.
“Are you ready to go flying?” he inquires.
My heart races as I sit up straighter. “Yes.”
“Then let’s go.” He extends his wings and takes off from the ground.
I let my wings out, groaning at the feeling of them being free for the first time in over a week. I mumble a quick goodbye to Will before I take to the sky. My guards do the same, but I feel so good that I don’t even care that they’re following me.
Maybe it’s a good thing that you have guards. I can never protect you when you’re flying, Parker says through our bond.
Of course, Parker would think that.
We’re not talking about it right now, I say.
You’re going to have to face it eventually, but you’re right. You shouldn’t think about it right now. Enjoy your flight.
I hate it when Parker’s right.
I can hear his chuckle at my thought. It echoes through my head and makes my stomach tighten.
I love him so much.
As I fly over the island, I look down at the land. From here, I can see how big the island is. My uncle’s house is the largest. It sits directly in the center of the island. All the other homes make a U-shape around it, giving my uncle epic views of the ocean from the back.
Uncle Ferno flies beside me. “Phoenixes are sworn to protect their monarch. That’s why everybody’s homes surround yours.”
I swallow hard.
My home? Not his? But I don’t want to ask because I’m too afraid of what his answer will be.
Later. I will ask him later. First, I need to talk to Parker.
All of this is… a lot. And I refuse to make any decisions without talking to him first. But I know that I will eventually have to face this—and sooner rather than later.
“Do you know who Blaine’s mate is?” I ask as we soar above the clouds.
“Yes, her name is Keagan. Her older brother is one of your guards. Their family has always been very loyal to the crown. They’re strong. She will be a good mate for him.”
Keagan.
I try to look for her among the vast number of phoenixes flying around us, but I can’t spot her. It’s not surprising, considering the way our guards fly around us in a tight circle.
“She didn’t come,” Uncle Ferno says, correctly guessing what I’m doing. “She opted to stay and talk with her mate some more. You can meet her later tonight, if you wish. I’m certain she’d be more than happy to make your acquaintance. After all, you are her princess.”
My stomach tightens at the reminder of my new title, but it’s easy to ignore as we fly.
Other than the time that we visited the dragon shifter’s island and I had dragon escorts, this is the first time I’m getting to fly with others.
Though I’m not sure if I count the time I did fly with dragons because the dragons couldn’t communicate with me while they were shifted. This is a whole new experience.
I’m sorry that you’ve had to miss out on this, Parker says through our bond.
Yes, but if I allow myself to have this, then it means Parker would have to give up his pack. He’d give up running with his pack in wolf form. And the pack means everything to wolf shifters.
You mean everything to me, Parker counters.
My heart swells.
I know this is something I’m going to have to talk to Parker about. I can’t keep ignoring it and putting it off.
Tonight, I tell him. Once we’re in our room, we should talk.
Yes, is all he says back.
Because he wants me to enjoy this flight, and so I do just that.
I get why Parker loves running with his pack.
Because this is what it’s supposed to be like.
The feeling of being with others like me.
Knowing that I’m not alone. For a long time, I didn’t know that there were other supernaturals like me.
I was convinced that maybe I was the only one left.
But meeting Uncle Ferno and coming here changes everything.
This is what it’s supposed to be like. It makes me wonder how lonely I will feel when we go back home and I’m forced to fly alone. I am careful to keep the thought hidden from Parker, but I have a feeling he already knows anyway because he knows me better than I know myself.
We stay in the sky for hours—until long after the sun has set and the sky turns orange, then pink, then dark blue. Later that night, when I land before Parker, he takes me in his arms and kisses me deeply.
He’s happy, I realize. And it’s because I’m happy.
Parker has always wanted me to experience what it feels like to run on the full moon, but it’s not something he can give me. But this… this is what he feels on those runs. The sense of belonging. Of family. Of rightenss. And I get it now.
So, how do I go back to how it was before? And how do I not go back knowing how much this equally means to Parker?
But, as Parker has said, fate doesn’t make mistakes—not when it comes to mates. Parker and I are meant to be, and I have to trust that everything will work out as it should.
The sound of a throat clearing has me pulling back from Parker. I grin when I see Blaine standing there. He’s holding hands with a beautiful blonde woman—his mate.
“I would like you to meet Keagan, my mate.” He grins widely as he says it, and Keagan does the same. “Keagan, this is my alpha, Parker, and his mate, Henley.”
“Princess Henley.” Keagan curtsies.
I try not to cringe. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I do,” she says as she stands up from her curtsy. “Maybe you don’t understand, but your aura burns brighter than everybody else. It shouts your heritage. Magic chose you to lead us. So, I do have to honor you as my princess. One day, you’ll be my queen.”
I swallow hard.
They said that about my aura earlier, but I didn’t realize it was that distinct. And now, I don’t know what to do with that knowledge.
Later, I remind myself. I know that I need to talk to Uncle Ferno. He’ll explain everything. But not tonight. Tonight, I want to enjoy being with my friends. I want to enjoy Blaine meeting his soulmate because this is a really big deal.
Some would consider being a princess a big deal, Parker says through our bond.
I ignore him and look at Blaine. “I am really happy for you.”
Will walks over, and Blaine introduces him to Keagan. He gives her a nod and a quick hello. I grin, thinking about how quiet he was when we met. If I hadn’t pressed him so hard, he probably never would’ve talked to me.
Yes, you do know how to push Will’s buttons, Parker muses.
He’s like the brother I never had. I smile up at my mate.
He leans over and presses another kiss to my lips.
“You’ll get used to them,” Blaine says, presumably to Keagan. “They recently got married and completed their mate bond.”
“I wouldn’t count on getting used to it,” Will mumbles.
I raise an eyebrow at Blaine. “Now that you’ve found your mate, I find that you’ll have little room to complain.”
His cheeks turn pink.
Keagan laughs, her blue eyes lighting with humor.
Will groans. “Heaven help me. I’m not going to survive being around two freshly mated couples.”