“Is that what your parents say?”
“I know they were a destined match,” he growled. “But that gift died out a long time ago.”
“Did it? Did you not meet another who’s also mated in the old ways?”
He stared at the mage, the air in his lungs almost flattening. “Aethan.”
“Aye.”
Feeling as if he’d been shot in the chest, Aerén lowered his shields. He searched for her—for the bond, a thread of anything deep within himself…
And there.
A warm golden light glowed deep in his soul, one he never felt before. Now the light slipped smoothly to the core of him, merging with his soul’s essence—
A flash of white light flooded him, sending him back a step. He jerked, feeling as if he’d been tasered.
“It’s why you soul-join during intimacy. It reduces the jolt like you’ve been shot through the heart.” Allatus smirked. “It is good, no? I had suggested to the current Elyon you would fare better away from Empyrea. I thought on Earth, but the Elyon is a hard-head and was worried you would kill innocents with that temper, so a cooling period in Exilum, with Reynner, was needed.”
The damnfossers! He scowled.
Allatus shook his head, smiling. “Isawher with you when you were but a youngling. I just didn’t know when she would appear. When she nearly died as a child, I felt compelled to save her. Then, a year before Reynner met the first Chosen, Eve, IsawLeyathi again in a vision, and I knew you had to be there, on Earth, too.”
“You didn’t think to tell me all this?”
Allatus lifted a white eyebrow. “Why? With your state of mind of never mating at the time, more interested in killing all the rebels and Darkreans, you had to work for her. You can thank me later.” He glided off, his navy cloak billowing behind him.
Aerén glared, still in a daze, then he didn’t care about the whys. A smile started deep within him as the warmth that was all her flooded him. He was too damn happy.
He rubbed his chest.
There you are, caeli mea.
His joy grew.
He dematerialized for the cliffs, scanning for his mate. As he reformed, terror squeezed his heart, then stone-cold anger took over as the rebel lunged for her.
The ground trembled—
“Aerén!”her scream rent the air, and she slipped over the cliff.
No!He ignored the rebel struggling to find his feet and leaped over the cliff after her.
Aerén jerked to a stop halfway down. A thick white rope coiled around Leya, keeping her from crashing into the dangerous rocks below.
Not rope. Snake. His heart thundering in his ears, he dove for her. “Leya.”
The serpent’s head swayed toward him, but it didn’t attack.
“Aerén!” she choked out, her eyes wide with fear, their silvery mating glow still visible in her irises. Blood oozed from a cut on her swollen lip, a bruise marring her cheek. Fury burned through him.
“It’ll be all right,” he said, sending a soothing calm through their mate bond. “Give me your hand. I’ll take you up—”
Her throat moved as she reached out to him. The moment he grasped her hand, the coils gave way. Aerén hauled her to him, and her arms wrapped around his neck like manacles.
“I have you,me’morae!” He shot up then settled her on her feet a safe distance from the edge of the cliff and the damn, unmoving rebel.
Her face was ashen, the glowing white speck in her irises bright with fear.
