Page 79 of Earth-Bound

Terrund continued. “But mating your fated mate increases your natural strength. It makes you the most powerful you can be. I believe your fated mate simply brings out the best in you.”

“So… you might get stronger?”

He chuckled. “I am already stronger, thanks to you. I can feel my power growing. I can reach out across the land and sense the plants and the animals and the soil for miles. I haven’t had this sort of power in years.”

“Oh, well, that’s good.” I grinned. “Glad I was useful. Hey, any time you want a boost of power, you let me know and I’ll take your ass again.”

Terrund’s face was a picture. He looked shocked and embarrassed by my crude words and yet there was a flicker of lust in there, too.

He spluttered, “It doesn’t work quite that way. I cannot gain more power from you now. It’s not a question of repetition, and nothing can bond us together more than our mating.”

“Shame,” I said, and leaned forward to press a kiss to his lips. Before I could sink into him and just make out forever, though, a thought occurred to me. “Hang on, why can I talk to the trees then?”

Terrund groaned and it sounded just a little bit like frustration that I’d taken my lips away from his. “Because you had that power inside you and, now we are mated, it is being harnessed.”

“Me? I never had any power.”

“No? You could not sense what the plants needed or know instinctively which soil was best for each flower?”

“Well, yeah, but that was just…” I trailed off. I didn’t know what that was. I’d always labelled it ‘weirdness’ and tried to hide it, so I wasn’t happy that Terrund had spotted it somehow.

On the other hand, he’d told me that he didn’t mind me being weird, so maybe it was ok that he knew.

“You have an affinity with the earth, Joe. I can feel it, and Arram felt it, too. Mating me just brought it out more. Meeting your fated mate makes you moreyouthan ever. Whatever you are at your core, that’s what our mating brought out.”

I wasn’t as good with words as Terrund because the only thing I could think of to say was, “Cool,” and began to walk again. My mind was busy but I felt calm, especially since Terrund’s hand was still warm in mine.

At the house, we went round and checked all of the windows and doors. They’d been replaced over the last few days and the plants were getting all the light they needed but no rainwater. Which, quite frankly, was best for some of them. I’d had to move them back and forth depending on whether we expected rain, because some of the little darlings didn’t like their soil to get sodden.

Now, as I walked into the rooms with them, I actually felt them emit joy. I looked at Terrund. It was his doing. They were pleased to be in his presence, just like I was.

“What’s that smile for?” he asked.

“Just thinking how great you are.”

He gave a soft chuff of amusement but, on the basis he didn’t challenge me, I knew he believed it. He could feel the little plants leaning towards him just as well as I could.

Together, we wandered round the ground floor of the house and checked the windows and spoke to the plants. However, the feeling I usually got when I was inside the house grew worse. It was a claustrophobic sensation that I’d long agoassumed was just my reaction to being inside four walls but this was different. Instead of being able to enjoy the sight of my mate smiling benevolently at the little ivy and the begonia, I had a churning sensation in my stomach.

As we walked up the stairs, I actually began to sweat.

“Joe? Are you feeling well?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” It was an automatic response, ingrained after years of not wanting to look weird in any way, of never wanting to admit there was anything wrong with me, especially things I couldn’t define in physical terms.

“Oh.”

I only took another two steps before I realised that wasn’t fair on Terrund. He’d made it more than clear that he loved me just the way I was, and that he was not only ok with all the weird unexplained stuff but he was weirder and more unexplained than anything I’d ever come across before. An actual earth spirit, who had claimed me with his hand pressed to my heart. I owed him more than a brush-off.

“Actually,” I said, “I don’t feel too good.”

He took in my face, which I could feel was strained, and the tense set of my shoulders. “Perhaps we should leave.”

I wanted to. I did. Only I didn’t want to leave any of those innocent plants in this house if there was something wrong with it.

“We need to get the plants out. Something in here is bad and I don’t want to leave them.”

“Hmm.” Terrund began to prowl around, searching through the rooms, and I saw his eyes glaze over. He was seeingwith something other than his eyes right then. At last, he said, “There is something malevolent here, but I do not know what it is.”

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