Odelm knew what she meant—she needed tofeelwhat he did.
Closing his eyes, he blew open all his mental shields, packing away Kaede’s secret deep within him, where Selena wouldn’t be able to grab unless she forced herself to. She wouldn’t though—not with what she wanted.
She needed him to make her alive, to be the one to reassure her.
He had always been the one to question her about everything—why she had picked him, if he was good enough to sire hatchlings, why she wanted him to be Second, and now, if she still wanted him even though he had no tentacles.
Odelm cursed himself for how negative and insecure he’d always been. So it was no wonder she was frustrated with him after he’d constantly questioned her about him.
He needed to do better—and be the one she could turn to.
His bondbrother was the perfect Primary for Selena—and who he needed to model himself after. From now on, Odelm had to ask himself what Xylo would do because the male was almost always right.
“Tell me what you need me to do, Selena,” he whispered. “What else do you need?”
“I need some normalcy.” She let out a chuckle as she pulled away. “But I believe it will be a while before that happens. So for now, can I rub the healing balm on your back like Xylo?”
“Will I fall asleep like him?” He glanced at his nestbrother’s sleeping form next to them. “How do I know if it’s safe?”
“It’s safe,” Zyxel replied, his tone laced with annoyance. “Why do you keep asking me this?”
“Would it be better if we blindly accepted anything handed to us?” Selena countered.
“No.” He frowned. “But your Primary is fine.”
“And he’s asleep.”
“So? He needs sleep. You all do.”
“The healing balm is fine,” Oeta said, leaning against the pavilion pole. “I already tested it and told Xylo this. The only symptom it has is knocking out the patient, which is a given with most regen medicines. The Master Scholar should’ve known about it, but even if he didn’t, you know now.”
“So it’s safe for either of us?” Odelm asked, eying the winged female. She had always made him feel odd, and he didn’t know if it was because she was the strongest telepath he knew, outside of her father and Ryzen. “And is it safe for Selena?”
“Yes and yes,” Oeta huffed. “She could eat it and nothing bad would happen outside of a numb throat and stomachache from it reacting to her acids.”
“If you believe it is safe, then I believe you.” He reached for Selena’s silver hair and brushed it back, tucking it behind her ear. “Let me lay beside Xylo, and you can rub your balm all over me.”
“Thank you.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Selena
Tiptoeing into Kaede’s room, I was surprised to find him sleeping on his back, haphazardly strewn on his bed in the nude with nothing but a thin purple blanket covering his slit. An arm covered his eyes to block the sun from blinding him, though his shades were down, darkening his room.
Without the even, deep rise and fall of his chest, I wouldn’t have known he was alive, he was so quiet.
I stilled as I took in the view. It had been a while since I had just stared at the male who was now mine. I didn’t know if it was his demi-human nature that had always made me curious about him or the fact that he had always eluded me.
I had wanted something I couldn’t have, even though we were fated.
Now that I knew he had always been meant to be mine, our push-and-pull relationship made sense. We had both wanted and resisted each other.
But that was in the past, and I didn’t want to rehash old mistakes and regrets. We had learned from and paid for our actions.
We were now mates, and nothing could change that. At least, I hoped nothing could. Out of all my clanmates, only Kaede didn’t share a mental connection. He had mentioned that it bothered him in the past. He wondered how he could ever compete against those who were mentally tied to me.
“You are a queen,”Vowels pathed as if those words alone could solve my turmoil.“You have your nestmates’ mating spores inside you for me to use. It would take little effort to seal a connection with your newest mate, especially since he has an Oetsae too. If you seal mental threads to each other’s shields, REI and I would be able to work better in tandem because of the easy access you would have to each other’s minds.”
