Zak snorted and pulled me into a sweaty embrace. "Okay, boss."
I sighed and smiled into his neck. He smelled amazing. And his arms wrapped around me were warm and soft...
Fine. I'd admit it. Maybe this fated mates thing wasn't the worst thing in the world.
14
Zakariel
"...sleeplike a rock. Are they always like this?"
A vaguely familiar voice spoke somewhere nearby through the haze of sleep.
"Can I kick him? Will that work?" the voice asked.
"No," another voice said bluntly.
The second voice was familiar enough to drag me into consciousness. I sat up with a groan and rubbed my eyes. There was a large, warm body next to me. Kamari.
The events of the previous night came back to me like a slap in the face. Aniceslap in the face.
Two figures were standing over us. One was Mistral and the other was Nautilus. I went from half-asleep to fully alert in a millisecond.
"Granddad!" I cried. "You're awake!"
Nautilus gave me a small smile and nodded. He looked like he was going to say something before Mistral cut him off.
"Technically he wasn't sleeping," the harpy said. "But I guess we can't expect you mortals to know everything about spirit physiology."
Ignoring Mistral, I shook Kamari. "Wake up!"
Mistral tapped his foot impatiently. "I still think it's weird how they spend half of their lives passed out," he mumbled to Nautilus as if we weren't there.
"Uh, I can hear you," I said before going back to my task. "Kamari, wakeup!"
Kamari jolted upright with an endearing scowl on his face. He was instantly alert and pissed at the same time. Glaring daggers at me, he said, "I don't care if wearefated mates, if you ever wake me up like that again, there had better be a damn good reason--" He stopped, eyes going wide when he saw Nautilus. "Oh. That. Is a very good reason," he added quietly.
I snorted.
Kamari leapt to his feet and bowed. "Nautilus, it's an honor, I--"
"Hey, Granddad," I said, waving.
Kamari shot me one of his trademark glares, which only got cuter every time I saw them. I could kiss him again if my Granddad and sort of great uncle weren't standing right in front of us.
"Zakariel," Nautilus said, giving me a nod. "It's good to see you again. You've grown so much." He turned to Kamari. "And this young man..." A mischievous sparkle lit up his eyes. "I knowwhatyou are, but please tell mewhoyou are."
Kamari flushed, standing straighter. "My name is Kamari. I'm an orca shifter who lives on the coast, in the waters under your domain."
Nautilus sighed at the mention of his domain. Even though he had a dragon's head, it portrayed very humanlike expressions. Right now he looked exhausted. I noticed his mane and whiskers weren't flowing as dramatically, either. Being unconscious or out of commission or whatever the spirit version was called obviously took its toll on him.
"Yes, I'm aware of what's going on," Nautilus said wearily. "Has Mistral filled you in on the details?"
Mistral's chest feathers puffed out. "Of course I did."
"Let me rephrase that. Did he do itwell?"
I held back a snort. Even Kamari looked like he was trying not to laugh. Mistral, however, seemed unamused.
