Page 89 of Anaki

I still had a month to feel mine. I felt possessiveness over him, but Caelen was much stronger than I was. More muscular. He would be a great protector and, most of all, a great mate. I thought he had so much weight on his shoulders.

“Were you worried I would get upset? Is that why you didn’t bring it up?” I asked.

Caelen nodded, still not looking me in the eyes. “I won’t be able to come by later, we are leaving early. Before sunrise. I’ll miss you, though.” His cheeks turned pink. His skin was a beautiful olive, and he had dark hair with salmon-colored streaks running through it. I couldn’t wait to see his dragon.

“I’ll miss you, too.” I smiled widely at him and grabbed his hand. “And if someone else is your mate, I’ll be happy for you. We will still be the best of friends. Alright? I care for you and want you happy.”

Caelen took a deep breath and nodded.

And I meant it. If the goddess gave him to someone else, then I would have been happy.

Jolted from my thoughts when I heard Elena call. She came out from one of the massive trees that shaded an area almost completely. Her eyes were wide as she took in the unfamiliar foliage that was vastly different from Earth. “Anaki?” Her hands intertwined with themselves, knotted around her stomach, while she steadily stepped to the next tree as if to hide herself from anyone else's view.

She was here, in the very heart of my world, where I had spent my formative years. My throat constricted painfully, parched and raw as I struggled to summon her name. A surge of panic suffocated my words. I knew the inevitable was upon me. She was about to uncover everything, and the thought clawed at my insides. If only I hadn't been so reckless, so consumed by the feverish urgency to claim her, I could have told her all of this. She wouldn’t have to have seen—

“She still would have had to.” The goddess stepped beside me. “In order for her to fully understand what Locke has created, for the broken souls of his club and to help her sister, she needed to see.”

I gritted my teeth to keep my mouth from biting back. This was just embarrassing.

Elena scanned the forest and, spotting us, her heart raced as she sprinted over. Her plain dark blue dress didn't do justice to her beauty. She quickly embraced me, ignoring the goddess by my side.

“Where are we, and why didn’t you say anything when I called?” Her head darted to the Moon Goddess, her eyes widening. “And who is she… oh.” I watched her eyes widen, and her arms tightened around me. “Is she?”

I nodded. “Yeah, this is the goddess your abuela prayed to.”

“Do I bow, pray, or something?” she whispered to me.

I chuckled. “Probably, but I’m still in shock myself.”

The Moon Goddess smiled and shook her head. “No, let’s forget the formalities. I think there is enough repairing on my part that warrants no formalities.”

Elena tilted her head in question.

The goddess let out a sigh. “While I have given your dragon the ability to speak Anaki, even he could not speak to your mate about the true purpose of the Iron Fang. Instead, he used his tongue for pleasure and not what I had intended him to use it for.”

Both of our faces turned a bright red. Elena buried her face into my chest while I had to regard the goddess with my own.

The Goddess smiled until she laughed and waved her hand. “I understand, you both are caught up in the bond, it is understandable, but now our time is short, and dangers are coming. Now walk with me.”

Elena and I both looked at one another while the goddess gave us her back.

“But we just bonded, aren’t we supposed to be on a honeymoon?” Elena whispered. “Like I’m still sore.”

“I can carry you,” I whispered back.

“But what about round two?”

“Are you coming or not?” The goddess turned with her eyebrow raised.

Elena’s shoulders slumped. “We can do more later. I guess upcoming danger trumps more sex.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Elena

Igrabbed Anaki’s hand and laced our fingers together. The world we walked through I knew was not of Earth. I stayed quiet as we walked barefoot together and kept my thoughts to myself.

Anaki’s emotions were like my own. I felt his worry and guilt. It was strange to feel someone else’s emotions; it was very separate from mine.

---