I nod again, agreeing with him. “The timing isn’t a coincidence, either. I just checked the walls before granting Maliki entry into the maze, and I didn’t sense Demeter then. However, she somehow reached out…”
“After Serapina experienced pleasure,” Morpheus says, finishing the statement for me. “I agree. The timing isn’t coincidental.”
At any other moment, I wouldn’t appreciate how like-minded my cousin seems to be to me. But right now, I can’t deny the usefulness.
“Be quick,” Morpheus tells me, clearly aware of what I was about to say.
Thus, I don’t even bother voicing my intention to go alter the maze. We need to check on Serapina immediately, which means we don’t have another second to spare.
I have half a mind to go to her first, just to ensure she’s okay, but I focus on my task. If there was an issue, my familiar would have alerted me. I also trust in Maliki’s ability to protect our mate. He wouldn’t even attempt to handle Demeter on his own; he would simply take Serapina and shadow.
He’s not an arrogant fool. He’s resourceful and intelligent. And I know he’ll put our mate’s safety first above all else.
He’s been doing it for over a year.
Hence his challenging me at every turn.
It just took me too long to realize the intent and purpose of what he was doing, and what we had become over the centuries.
A mate-circle.
Well, I see it now.
And I’m… trying to embrace it.
Disappearing into my network of power, I visit the death world and search for the strands of energy protecting my intended’s labyrinth.
A few of them are no longer black, but tinged with strands of white.Life.
They’re not exactly visible or tangible, the roots ones I see inside my mind’s eye more than in reality. Yet I touch them anyway, my power weaving through the damaged threads to dismantle the intrusion.
The foreign energy hisses at my dominance but slowly dies, a reaction I find exceptionally appropriate.
Then I weave in a new presence—one I never expected to invite into the sacred place I made for Persephone.
But I don’t hesitate.
Mostly because I can’t. Serapina requested Morpheus’s presence, even went as far as to suggest it might be wrong to play with more than one mate. And I can’t help but feel responsible for leading her to that assumption.
I never wanted to share Persephone, and she never expressed a desire to be shared.
However, Serapina is different. Perhaps because I ensured she met Maliki first. Or maybe because her soul was always meant to be protected by a circle of mates, not a single Alpha.
Which suggests I fucked up two thousand years ago.
My stomach churns at the notion that Morpheus has been right all along.
Persephone never wanted anyone else, I think as I add his presence to my magical web.But I also never asked. Does that make me a bad Alpha? Selfish? Wrong?
I swallow, not liking this trail of ponderment.
It’s not useful.
There’s nothing I can do to change the past, only the future.
And I’m…My hand hovers over the final enchantment, my eyes closing as I push Morpheus’s presence into the wards.I’m trying to make amends.
Swallowing, I straighten my spine and turn to find my cousin standing right behind me.
