Page 90 of Anaki

Before I opened my eyes and woke up in this world, an onslaught of Anaki's memories flooded me. Anaki, with a boy named Caelen whom he had grown up with. They appeared to be best friends and the only children close in age.

Anaki was the spunky, charismatic boy everyone loved. Everyone smiled because of him. He played jokes, he danced and sang to make those around him laugh. He spread love wherever he went. I smiled at that because he was still that same person today.

My Anaki.

Caelen, however, was more reserved. He was the silent observer and took his tasks seriously around the clan. He had desires to reach an elder positionfor others to see him as a leader.

Since they grew up together, Anaki took it upon himself to do everything in his power to make Caelen smile, and it appeared he did. Once they got older, Anaki’s obsession to make him laugh grew, and I saw how Caelen returned those feelings, but there was hesitation.

There was jealousy when everyone greeted Anaki first, instead of Caelen. They enjoyed his lightheartedness and ignored the hard work that Caelen tried to do for the clan.

Yet Caelen was still drawn to Anaki. I saw visions of them together and how they held one another in the forest's darkness. It was Caelen’s doing, hiding them from the world. Anaki’s memories revealed that relationships before mating age were frowned upon, but the intensity of those feelings that these two had was strong. Caelen was determined to keep his affection for Anaki secret.

Even putting him down in public.

Anaki was wild and free, and any time he was too loud or boisterous Caelen would scold him to be calm and compose himself. Anaki would brush it off, but I could see his young self with the hurt in his eyes. The same hurt I saw when I first met my dragon.

This was the pain that Anaki had hidden all this time from me.

I squeezed his hand as we came to a large stone that jutted from the soil within the forest. The sun was now high in the sky and a younger Anaki sat cross-legged on a boulder thirty feet away from us.

Anaki slicked back his hair. The sarong he wore draped around his thin waist, its rich, deep blue fabric shimmering like the scales of a dragon, a nod to his signature color. His muscles were well-defined.

Around his neck hung several gold chains, each one catching the light with every movement. More gold adorned his hips in a delicate chained belt, and his ankles and wrists jingled softly with every step, encircled byintricate bangles that I’m sure would dance when he walked.

Anaki had dressed to impress. My heart sank a little when I saw it. He had dressed to meet someone special.

“Caelen is supposed to return after being at the market. It’s been a month. He was supposed to return weeks ago. I haven’t shifted here yet. I’m close, though. Before you are blessed with your animal, your entire body changes,” he said to me.

I squeezed his hand. He appeared a little different from what he looked like now. Maybe a few wrinkles around the eyes, slightly tanner from being out in the sun. He was definitely wiser. “You looked handsome,” I commented. “All dressed up.” My voice was low, jealousy tinged within it.

“Caelen was my mate.”

I stiffened.

“Caelen was supposed to be my mate. I felt it for a long time. As I felt my body change, my smell heightened while he was gone, and I knew. When I sniffed his clothes, the overwhelming possessiveness came over me. I asked my parents what it meant, and they explained. They were… happy for me.”

I pressed my lips into a thin line and said nothing. This was Anaki’s story to tell. He needed to let it out, even if I was a second choice.

Anaki turned to me, both of his hands on my shoulders. “I’m sorry you are finding out this way. It was painful for me to tell. I didn’t want you to think—”

I covered his mouth with my hand. Before I could speak, the goddess interrupted me. “Every soul has a choice to accept or reject. However,” she raised her finger, “I never expected souls to reject such a gift. I should have had a plan for an event like this, but I didn’t.” She sighed. “Even gods make mistakes. However, I will tell you this: if I knew then what I know now about bonding human souls to supernaturals, I would have bonded you to Elena. Even if that meant you would have to have waited eighty-sevenyears to find her.” She didn’t look at us as she stared at the young Anaki. “I’ve made mistakes, and I am doing my best to rectify them for those who have suffered.”

“You are eighty-seven years old?” I gasped and slapped his chest. “I’m dating a dragon daddy?”

Anaki’s mouth dropped. “You seriously picked that up, out of all of what was just said? Not the whole, ‘I had a mate before you’?!”

The goddess covered her smile with a hand and shook her head.

I grabbed him by the hips and pulled him to me. “Last I checked, I took your virginity, so that means you’re mine. Right?”

Anaki’s shoulders visibly relaxed, and he placed his forehead on mine. He chuckled. “Yeah, Mama, that means I’m yours. You still have to bite me, though.”

I pushed and pulled on his hips to make them wiggle for me. “You can count on it, grandpa.”

Distant laughter echoed through the air, immediately capturing my attention. The Anaki clinging to me remained still, but my head swiftly turned toward the young Anaki who had risen to his feet. A broad, infectious grin spread across his face, and he leaped up with enthusiasm, his excitement palpable upon hearing the deep, resonant voice that unmistakably belonged to Caelen.

“He will be happy to have you,” Young Caelen said. “I’ll know he’s taken care of and get to see him often, as a friend, of course.” A male chuckled near him.

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