“Lucien!” Kylo exclaimed from the other side of the room, where he stood with Elwin and Ama.
His stare would burn a hole into my head if he were capable. I rolled my eyes, scoffing–as if this wasn’t how I acted all the time. My behavior was nothing new, and no one should be surprised or put off by it. This judgment from everyone was really starting to piss me off.
I tuned out his annoying scolding as I dragged Alexandra back against my chest as soon as Zurie ended their hug. Dropping my head on top of hers, I flashed my brothers a smile as Alexandra let out a sigh.
They were just jealous she gave into my whims of holding her whenever my more bloody desires rose to the surface.
“He’s very possessive of me, I’m sorry. It’s worse when we’re in a new area and he’s concerned for my safety. Please don’t take it personally.”
Wait. Was she seriously apologizing for my behavior? There was nothing to be sorry about. She was ours and I was hers. This was absurd.
Honestly, I should get some fucking credit for not ripping her out of Zurie’s arms the second it happened. I let her get a damn hug with my mate. That’s what our therapist Victoria would call growth.
Zurie’s eery, faintly silver eyes turned up toward me as she answered, as if it was for me and not my angel, “It’s completely fine, Alexandra. Ama and I know exactly what it’s like to have over-the-top possessive mates. It doesn’t offend me.”
Narrowing my eyes on her, I tried to discern if she was just trying to butter me up by not making a big deal of a situation everyone else seemed offended by. She held my gaze until I gave her a slight nod, dismissing the situation for now. Maybe she really did understand where I was coming from.
I’d be lying if I said it wouldn’t be nice to have someone around who didn’t think I was being childish, selfish, or annoying due to the way I was hardwired. While I played it off like nothing bothered me and I frequently tried to lighten the mood around us, the way Kylo, and sometimes the others, acted like I was a nuisance just for the sake of it grinded my gears.
This was how I was designed to be by Alexandra, and there was nothing I could do to change it, just like Elwin and Kylo couldn’t change their ways either.
My chest constricted with the thought of Alexandra possibly being embarrassed by my mannerisms, and I loosened my grip on her before taking a step back.
It fucking stung to think about.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I avoided her questioning gaze as she turned on me.
If she felt like she had to apologize for my behavior, it seemed like we needed to have a talk about how exactly I came to be this way, but that wouldn’t be done in public. I’d never allow our issues to be aired out in front of others. We’d always present as a united front, especially in a new realm with potential unknown enemies. I would never let anyone think we had a weak spot to be used for exploitation.
As Ama made her rounds of goodbyes, I tuned it all out until she came to stand by me. Leaning onto her tiptoes, I made note of the way she tried to evade touching me as she whispered into my ear, “There’s nothing wrong with loving someone as hard as you do, sweet boy. Don’t let anything make you think there is. Protect that heart of yours as fiercely as you do your mate.”
I felt a small pang in my chest as I watched her pull her winged necklace out and disappear, sucking the air out of the room for a moment as she went. When I watched her interaction with Alexandra in the dorm and saw the tenderness she pulled from my mate, I’d found myself feeling elated for them to have each other but didn’t quite understand it. I didn’t have the desire for a mother or a family outside of my mate and my brothers that Alexandra seemed to have.
But with just that one personal interaction with Ama, I suddenly felt the urge to spill my feelings about feeling like there was something wrong with me to her, and I knew deep down she would create a safe place for me to do so. I didn’t even feel this way with Victoria. In fact, I’d evaded the fuck out of her questions and desire to learn more about my mind and emotions during our session.
How did Ama possess the ability to make us feel so at ease and welcomed?
I wasn’t sure, but I did know that I was suddenly looking forward to the next time our paths crossed. Not just for myself, but for all of us. She seemed to pull things out of us that we suppressed and apparently had an innate ability to understand what she saw buried deep within each of us.
“Shall we sit and discuss your situation?” Zurie asked the room as she made her way past me, apparently expecting us to follow her.
I watched Alexandra’s mouth fall open as she turned to do just that. I followed her line of sight to a massive window in the room behind me, curious about why she was gaping.
Damn…I mean seriously,damn.
“Nowthatis what I was expecting,” I murmured to myself as I took a few steps into the kitchen.
There was something incredibly soothing about the view, somehow tempering my bubbling frustration and anger.
One long wall was simply a large, floor-to-ceiling window, showering the white, black, and gold accented kitchen and dining room in rays of warm, bright light.
While that sight on its own would have been really incredible, what truly would stick in my memory of this place was what lay outside the window.
A vast, purple sky illuminated by a golden sunset stretched from horizon to horizon as far as my eyes could see. Puffy, white clouds drifted across the purple expanse like ships on a vast ocean. Small buildings sitting atop some of the clouds dotted the landscape, their silhouettes barely visible against the fading light apart from the bright windows reflecting yellow and orange from the fading sun back at us.
“Do you ever get tired of seeing this?”
Alexandra’s question was soft, her voice full of awe as she stood at my side gazing out. I couldn’t help but glance over at her, softening already at the way she looked at that moment. Her eyes were wide, and her parted mouth let a faint sigh of adoration puff over her lips. The purple sky reflected beautifully across her creamy skin, helping me realize the reason I loved this view so much was because it was the exact color of her eyes.
