Page 88 of Anaki

This was too real.

“I don’t want to be here,” I stated, and put my hands on my knees. “I don’t want to venture into the forest anymore.”

The goddess placed her hands in a praying position and turned back to me. “Your mate has almost completely forgotten the abuse of her past, you know.”

I looked up at her, and my breath came in small pants.

“She doesn’t remember she was beaten, she just remembers she was in an abusive relationship, just like—”

“Journey’s pain,” I grunted and straightened to stand next to her. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because it will be the same for you, Anaki. Already, your memories are fading. It will get worse before it gets better. You do not feel pain because of the rejection; you feel pain because of the lies. Your strong empathy is something you've likely already discovered. You feel with your heart, your soul. You love everyone in this future pack. You are this club's heart and soul. You see what others don’t.”

My chin wobbled, and I took my hand to rub it to keep it away.

You can’t cry in front of the goddess, you twat.

My dragon grumbled in agreement, and I got the courage to take a couple of steps closer to her.

We traveled deeper into the forest. It was to a secret place where Caelen and I would go.

I winced. How long had it been since I thought of his name? Decades. So many years since I even thought of the name that had haunted me. I referred to him as athey, just a person in time. He no longer existed, so why even think of his name now?

But he was a person. We grew up together in the same clan, which was unheard of. Dragons were not fertile creatures, and fledglings were few andfar between. One fledgling born every ten to twenty years from a mated pair. There weren’t many pairs to begin with, and not many fledglings in my time. We were a small, water dragon tribe, and when Caelen and I were born just a month apart, our parents saw it as a blessing.

Two fledglings to play with one another.

We became close. While we were young, we were the best of friends. Where one went, the other followed. As we grew older, in our pubescent years, it wasn’t friendship we held for each other, but something deeper. We had developed feelings. We didn’t know if it was due to lack of females, to hormones, or to the idea of wanting to express ourselves, but we knew we could do nothing about it.

Male to male mated pairs were unheard of, but if the goddess gave it to us, why would it be banned? That was my thinking. That was my hope.

I was more open with my feelings and ideas, hopeful that we were mates. Caelen, not as much.

One evening, long after many had gone to bed, we sat at the shoreline. We often did this, as it was our time alone to contemplate what we wanted to do once we had received our dragons.

We both wanted to travel, beyond the large lake, find larger bodies of water to swim in, and find other clans to speak with. Even dare to find other clans of dragons, such as fire and air.

This night was different. Caelen was distant. He wasn’t laughing, not his usual playful self. Normally, he would have me pinned to the sand and playfully kissing my cheek. This night he was stoic, rigid. Nervous.

His birthday was a week away. I felt it in my bones that he was meant to be mine. I couldn’t be sure, I’ve never had a mate before, but surely he felt something if I felt it, too.

“What if we are mates, Caelen? Wouldn’t that be amazing?” I laced my hand with his. “Then we wouldn’t have to fight our feelings anymore. Wecould go where we want, when we want. We wouldn’t have to worry about anyone else or what they say. The goddess put us together, and that is all that matters.”

Caelen said nothing and stared over the water.

“And we find our own cave together and curl up to stay warm. We wouldn’t have to hide to cuddle.” I snorted out a high-pitched laugh and laid my head on his shoulder.

Caelen brushed me off and stood up.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I stood up with him and put my hand on his shoulder. “Is something the matter?”

“My birthday is next week.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Father wants me to go with him to the market.”

I bobbed my head. It was a tradition when you came of age that you get to go to the markets with other shifters to see how to trade. He was old enough to go, so it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. “That’s great. Are you leaving soon? That’s quite a journey on foot.”

Caelen cleared his throat. “Yeah, tomorrow. Sorry, I didn’t tell you.” He didn’t look me in the eyes, but Caelen could be like that. He was shy at times, but only near other shifters if I showed possessiveness. I understood his request to keep our friendlier side a secret. Unmated were not to touch anyone but their intended.

Caelen would always sneak into my cave later and curl around me to tell me he was sorry when he had brushed me off in front of others. He was only looking out for us, as he was our protector. He had big feelings now. Especially since his dragon was approaching.