"You said something about a wildlife reserve?" Kamari asked.
His question was a welcome distraction. "Yeah. That's where our pack lives. My dad's actually the legal owner of it, whatever that means. Human society lingo, am I right?"
Kamari chuckled. "None of it makes sense to me. I've been wild my whole life."
"Me too." I picked up a handful of black sand and let it seep through my fingers. "You've never been curious, though?"
"Never. What use do I have for humans? I have enough to keep my hands full here with my omegas."
I shrugged. "It's not the humans I'm thinking about. There's shifters living on the down-low in human society, too. I guess I always wondered if my fated mate could be among them."
Kamari shot me a sideways glance. He chose his words carefully. "Finding your fated mate is quite important to you, isn't it?"
"It's everything," I replied, turning to look at him. That spell melted over me again, turning my skin warm despite the cold air drifting over the water. It was like when I looked at Kamari, the rest of the world went out of focus. I wanted to shake it off but I couldn't move properly, like my body was under someone else's control.
What is wrong with me?
"Well," Kamari said, standing up. "We better get going if we're going to find Nautilus."
The motion broke my intense concentration and I sucked in a sharp breath, careful to keep it quiet so Kamari wouldn't notice.
"Yeah," I said, only half registering his words. It took my brain a second to catch up. I joined him on my feet. "Right. Guess we should explore the island, huh?"
"That's the only lead we have so far," Kamari said grimly. "I wish we had some kind of clue."
He sounded exhausted. I didn't blame him. Not only was he not feeling well physically, but being helpless was terrible. Kamari trusted Nautilus to keep the waters calm and safe, and now he'd disappeared. It was almost enough to make a guy annoyed at his own grandfather.
"We'll find him," I promised. "He's not the type to run off for no reason. He cares about his domain."
Kamari sighed, like he was afraid to believe me in case he was let down. "I hope you're right, Zakariel."
"Zak. Just call me Zak."
Kamari's face screwed up like there was a lemon stuffed in his cheeks, yet he still tried it out. "Zak," he said slowly.
"There you go." I grinned. "Do you have a nickname, too? How about Kam?"
"No," Kamari growled.
"Kalamari?"
"Don't push it."
"Okay." I got up and stretched. "You feel well enough to move? We can stay here and rest until you feel better."
"No resting." Kamari got to his feet, dusting the sand off himself. "I don't need it. Nautilus and my omegas are more important."
I looked him over for signs that he was still sick, but unless he was amazing at faking it, he seemed fine. "Well, that's not true, but--"
"It is true," Kamari snapped. "You don't understand. The omegas at the haven need me. I'm the only person they have."
I furrowed my brow. "Wow, that's kind of selfish, don't you think?"
Kamari's jaw dropped. "Excuse me?"
"No offence, Kamari, but give them a little credit, why don't you? They're not helpless kids. They're all grown men, right?"
Kamari was speechless. A shadow fell over his expression like he wanted to drop kick me into a volcano. "What would you know about omegas, wolf?"
