Chapter 8 #2
“Okay, fine. So you’re the apex predator,” I admitted. “What does that have to do with me?”
Calindra let out a soft breath and cupped her hand over mine like she was preparing to give me some bad news. “That’s harder to explain.”
“Go ahead and give it a shot.”
I had a feeling that particular idiom didn’t quite translate since the healer’s brow furrowed slightly. Still, she managed to successfully infer the meaning.
“The fact that there are so many men means that there aren’t enough mates to go around,” she explained.
Well, that sounded like a bummer…but still, not my problem.
“And I take it you guys mate for life?” I asked.
“That’s right. I forgot that your kind doesn’t.”
“Some of us do,” I snapped far too defensively.
Sure, my parents were long divorced, and so were about half of my friends and family. A couple of them were even on their third or fourth marriages now, but that didn’t mean we were all bad at commitment.
“I didn’t mean any insult,” Calindra assured me. “It’s just that our kinds have very different bonding rituals. Because of the disparity between men and women, precious few alphas are chosen by the Fates to be paired with mates.”
“The Fates?” She couldn’t be serious. “You’re not talking about the mythical Fates, are you? The three ancient goddesses?”
“Just because something is old doesn’t mean it’s not true.
” Calindra gently patted my hand, as if I were the one whose beliefs needed indulging.
“But yes, those are the Fates I’m talking about.
They are the ones who choose which woman an alpha is destined to bond with.
Then, when they both come of age, the goddesses send both mates a dream of the other so there can be no doubt who they were meant for. ”
As courtship rituals go, it sounded decidedly unromantic.
“But what if they don’t like each other?” I asked.
“They always do.”
“Okay, but what if one of them is already in love with someone else?”
“That never happens.”
Never? I was pretty skeptical.
“Come on, it must have happened at least once.”
But Calindra shook her head, her long white hair dancing around her shoulders.
“I don’t think you understand,” she said.
“Once the Fates have made their choice, the pair’s bond is set.
They become inseparable. They dream only of each other.
They are constantly aware of the other’s presence.
They become one in all ways, to the point where it is physically impossible for them to mate with another. ”
I gulped past the knot that was quickly forming in my throat.
She couldn’t really be trying to say that was how Tauren viewed me. Because it certainly wasn’t how I felt about him.
I mean, sure, I had weird dreams.
And, yeah, Tauren was hot.
Even now, just thinking about the way I’d felt in his arms—both excited and comforted at the same time—made me shift against the mattress.
The sensation was almost as electrifying as the rush of heat that swept through me when I looked into those fathomless dark eyes of his.
Like I was losing a sliver of myself while taking on a piece of him at the same time.
But that didn’t mean anything.
“I’m sure all of that is true,” I said, pushing those indecent thoughts out of my head. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I am not a ferus!”
“No, you are not,” the healer conceded. “And that’s why it’s so exciting that you’re here.”
“Exciting for who?” Because that definitely wouldn’t be the word I’d have chosen to describe the last twenty-four hours. “This situation is my literal nightmare.”
A look of genuine contrition flashed over Calindra’s face as she gave my hand a comforting squeeze. “Of course. My apologies. It’s just difficult to hold back my emotions when we’ve been awaiting your arrival for so long.”
“Because you think I’m going to mate with Tauren?”
If I sounded incredulous, it was because I was. This was madness.
Absolute madness.
“I understand that you’re frightened,” Calindra said. “But you have to understand just how important your connection to Tauren is. He is the only alpha to have ever dreamed of a kirre mate.”
She said that as if it were some kind of shocking reveal. Like she expected me to gasp or faint or cry tears of relief.
But all I could do was shrug. “Okay, and…”
“And it changes everything,” she continued.
“You see, for the last three generations, our population has been declining. My gran bore six children. My own parents had three. And after thirty years together, my mate and I were only blessed with a single child. These days, some bonded pairs haven’t been able to conceive at all.
The ferus are dying. It’s possible that within two or three more generations there will be none of us left. ”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said honestly. “Do you know why it’s happening?”
“Opinions differ,” she said. “Some think it is a punishment from the Fates for a lack of faith. Others believe that your people are deliberately polluting our air and water in the hope of sterilizing us.”
Those sounded like some Grade A conspiracy theories—just like the ones the nut jobs and extremists like to peddle back home.
“But what do you believe?” I asked Calindra.
“That this is a sign from the Fates for both our kinds to change our ways,” she said. “That the ferus and kirre have been separated for too long and that the only way to save ourselves is to come back together.”
Yeah…that wasn’t going to happen.
“Listen, I really am sorry about your infertility problems.” I shook my head sadly. “But that’s going to be one hell of a hard sell on my side of the Wall. We’re doing just fine over there.”
“Are you?” Calindra’s eyes narrowed with doubt.
“You’ve pumped so much waste into your world that it’s almost unlivable.
Your water is drying up. You’ve poisoned the air to the point that it’s dangerous to breathe.
Your crops wither with rising temperatures.
Do you truly believe there will be any kirre left in a hundred years if something isn’t done? ”
“Fine.” As much as I didn’t want to admit it, she had a point. “But I don’t see how my being in the Wilds is going to change any of that.”
“You and Tauren are the start of something massive,” she said. “You might be the first, but there will be more. Many more.”
“I wouldn’t bet on that,” I said skeptically.
“And yet I am,” she shot back. “The two halves of humanity need to be reunited. Our connection to nature can solve your environmental problems, and your kind’s physical adaptability will allow us to survive.”
“Wait—you’re not talking about using us as breeding stock, are you?”
I pushed myself back up on the bed, ignoring the twinge of pain in my side. There was no way in hell I was pumping out babies for anybody, let alone some giant alpha.
“It wouldn’t be like that,” Calindra tried to assure me.
“Really?” I shot back, my skepticism on full display. “Because you already compared us to cattle.”
But the healer kept hold of my hand, her gaze only becoming more earnest as she met my angry stare.
“This has nothing to do with you and me, or how our kinds have viewed each other,” she insisted. “This is the work of the Fates. They’re the ones who have chosen this path. They’re the ones who bonded you and Tauren together. They’re the ones who gave you your dream.”
My dream.
How could I have forgotten about that?
“But my dream isn’t like Tauren’s,” I said, fully aware of how desperate I sounded. “There’s no lover or mate. It’s just a nightmare where I scream in fear and pain. How do you explain that?”
For the first time, Calindra appeared to be at a loss for words. After a long moment of silence, she finally straightened her shoulders and shook her head.
“I can’t,” she said. “I can only assume the dreams work differently for a kirre than for a ferus. Perhaps your prey-like nature causes your mind to fixate on possible dangers.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. She was starting to sound like the doctors and therapists back home.
“Or maybe those Fates of yours are trying to say that I’m not destined to become the mother to some new generation of humanity but to die drowning in a puddle of my own blood.”
Across the room, the door flew open, slamming against the solid wood wall with a deafening boom.
“Enough!”
Tauren’s sudden shout made me jump clear off the bed.
Heart pounding hard and eyes wide with fear, I landed on my feet and skittered backward, tucking myself into a defensive position in the corner—though the pillow I still gripped in front of me made a horribly ineffective shield.
Calindra’s reaction to the alpha’s arrival wasn’t half as intense. She simply closed her eyes and let out a sigh of resignation.
“Tauren,” she said his name with a calmness that was beyond me. “It’s all right. Hannah is fine. We were only talking.”
Huddled against the wall, my eyes flashed between them as I tried to draw in one short, shaky breath after another.
“And now you’re done,” he snapped.
Opening her eyes, Calindra stood and turned around to face the furious alpha.
“I know this is difficult, Tauren, but Hannah needs to hear this,” she said. “She needs to understand.”
“And she will.” His voice was as hard as granite. “But not now. She’s upset and needs to rest.”
From behind, I watched as Calindra’s statuesque shoulders fell slightly. Clearly, she knew this was a battle she couldn’t win.
“All right,” she conceded. “But I’ll need to check her injuries again soon.”
“Why?” Tauren demanded. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” Calindra shook her head, but there was no mistaking the concerned expression on her face.
“If anything, her healing is progressing at a remarkable rate. Even faster than any ferus I’ve treated.
The fractures have already started to fuse.
If it keeps going, she may be whole again in less than a week. ”
Less than seven days to heal broken ribs? That couldn’t be right.
“But that’s good news, isn’t it?” Tauren asked.
Calindra paused, glancing at me one more time before answering. “I certainly hope so.”
Well, that wasn’t exactly the reassuring prognosis I’d been hoping for.
“Should I continue with the tea and herbs?”
“Yes,” Calindra said with a nod. “You’ll need to reapply the herbs and rewrap her ribs as well. I’ll be back in the morning to check on her.”
In the morning? My heart started to hammer. I reached out and grasped the woman’s arm.
“You can’t leave.”
Calindra turned to me with compassion in her eyes. “It’s all right, Hannah. I promise to be back at first light.”
I shook my head—hard. “Take me with you.”
Even though both people in front of me were ferus and therefore brutal killing machines, I felt a hell of a lot safer being alone with one than the other.
But no matter how sympathetic Calindra might have seemed to my pleas, she still reached over and gently peeled my fingers off her arm.
“You belong here,” she said. “With Tauren.”
She couldn’t honestly believe that, not after hearing about my dream.
But sure enough, she started moving toward the door.
Tauren stood to the side, his long arm holding it open for her. She nodded to him in thanks before giving me one last glance over her shoulder.
“I’ll be back first thing in the morning, Hannah,” she said. “I promise.”
Then she stepped out the door as I shivered in the corner—totally alone with an angry alpha.