Page 45 of Bound By Destiny

“I get you,” Destiny chuckles, and the sound is luminous.

I clear my throat, hating the heat that burns to the very tips of my ears. Great. Now I sound like a bumbling idiot.

“I have to admit though, I’m always grateful for the clingy ones like Sriracha,” I point out, admiring the creature’s beautiful red fur. “It’s been really nice having her around for so long.”

She nibbles Destiny’s finger in curiosity, only to lap it affectionately with her tongue a second after.

“I understand,” she laughs. “She’s so sweet.”

So are you.In fact, I can’t think of many things out there that make me go fuzzy inside like the sight of my mate with an adorable red panda.

“It’s because she knows you saved her,” I say quietly. “Sriracha was terrified of the tornado. You’re her hero.”

Destiny smiles, but it’s a little stiff. “I’m not exactly a hero,” she mumbles. “I think of it more as a payback for the deaths I caused.”

Her words strike a chord within me. Though I’m eager to veer the conversation towards more romantic territories, I know this is something I can’t let pass – especially if she’ll be gone tomorrow.

“Destiny, you have to let go of that guilt,” I sigh.

She looks at me in surprise. “Oh you’ve already helped me a lot, and rescuing all these little guys from the tornado gave me a sense of closure, in a way. But there’s no denying I made a bad call when I was seventeen.”

She’s not finished with her sentence that I’m already shaking my head. “When you told me your story,” I explain hoarsely, “there’s something I understood, and that I never told you.” I pause. “Did you ever wonder why you got me as an instructor, and not someone else?”

Destiny’s eyes widen. “No, actually. Is there a particular reason?”

I nod gravely. “The Guild made us volunteer for jurisdictions, and I wasn’t too interested. I figured it didn’t matter anyhow since the chances of a new phoenix were so slim, so I picked a spot at random on the map.”

Her jaw drops. She searches my gaze for answers. “And where was that?”

I stare into those violet depths, pouring all my sincerity into them. “It was Catalina Foothills.”

Her hand drops, much to Sriracha’s disgruntlement. Destiny merely gawks at me for a few moments, too stunned to say anything.

“What I should’ve told you, is that as convoluted as it seems,” I explain huskily, “there was a reason you had that accident in Colorado. It was just the first link in a long chain of events Fate had planned to lead you to me.” I let that sink in for a few moments, until I add: “so Destiny, it wasn’t your fault, see?”

But before she can respond, the barn doors swing open. A dozen people swarm my vision, each face more unwelcome than the last.

“Is she the new phoenix!?

I groan. Didn’t we have an hour left?

“They arrived early,” Luciana comments apologetically. “I tried to keep them waiting, but everyone was just too excited to meet Destiny.”

Destiny

The ten other members of thePhoenix Guild of Reinsertion and Resurrectionare a friendly, if not slightly rambunctious lot. I don’t know what to think of the way they all jumped on me like a bunch of ecstatic kindergarteners. I even caught one of them pulling one of my curls to test its springiness.

They also have a lot of questions, like whether I used to eat a lot of hot sauce compared to other humans or if I liked to play with matches as a child.

“Nonsense,” a tall blonde man, more stately and quiet than the others, interrupts. “The phoenix gene is hereditary, as we all know.” His twinkling blue gaze falls upon me. “You’re Thyra’s descendant, right?”

I smile, shaking hands with the man. “So I’ve been told.”

Dane clears his throat loudly and swings an oddly possessive arm around my shoulders. “Aleixo, this is Destiny,” he drawls none too enthusiastically. “Destiny, this is Aleixo Phyrros, the quack doctor who identified you as a phoenix and the leader of this group of nutcases.”

As I take in the man’s personable, clean-cut appearance, I nearly burst out laughing.

Bad breath? Crooked teeth? Rude?

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