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“Just get it over with,” I say.
“I can’t. I’m afraid to.”
“So you’re going to torture both of us by holding on to something we both already know?”
“What?”
“It’s alright,” I say. “I understand. I won’t get in Airos’s way.”
I climb out of the pool and scoop up my clothes.
“Wait… Kalistratos, no. You’ve got it wrong.”
The steaming water drips from my body as I walk across the tile. I know I’m acting like a foolish wounded dog. This isn’t how an alpha should conduct himself, but the pain is blinding and has me gripped in a way I’ve never felt before. How could I suddenly feel so much for an omega I just met?
The gods are cruel. They always have been. If this was all put into place by the Great Phoenix, then perhaps he is the cruelest of all of them.
The room is dim when I open the door, but I know it’s not empty.
“Alyx,” I say, announcing myself.
I see his form in the darkness as he exhales and gets to his feet, stretching his arms high over his head. Then, his silhouette slowly shrinks away until he disappears behindthe bed. I light the oil lamp with a tap of my finger and as the room fills with a dim glow, Alyx pads over to me and hops up onto the table, tail flicking slowly this way and that.
“Settled your mind?” he asks.
“Not a bit.” I sit down and reach for my knives and whetstone. The map is not in my satchel.
“I’ve given it to Airos,” Alyx says. “He says he can find a spell which will decipher its runes.”
“Good,” I say flatly.
Alyx raises his rear paw and gives his thigh a few good licks. “Intriguing. You’re not upset I entrusted him with the map?”
“I trust you know what you’re doing. Anyway, it’ll be on you if he steals it.” I smile wryly.
He blinks slowly at me. “I believe he’s right. We’ve been brought together for a purpose.”
“You believe that whole fated guardian shit?” I say. “No, never mind. You’ve always been easily romanced.”
“Hey,” he warns. “Leave my past out of this.”
I apologize with a quick look before casting my eyes down onto my blade. I swipe it quickly across the stone, testing its edge with a pluck of myfingertip.
“Something happened when you had your little tantrum back there,” Alyx says. “Tyler glowed.”
“Tyler what?”
“He got pissed at Airos. He glowed. You know what it reminded me of? A phoenix.”
“He’s a human,” I say, holding up the knife to examine the edge.
“Yes. But there might be something more. The baby he’s carrying. If that story is true, then that child could be a phoenix.”
I consider this as I move on to my next blade, careful not to let my expression give away how I feel. Our clan’s light is dying out. We’re scattered, void of contact. There may not be any omegas left. What Alyx is saying seems so impossible—but I remember what I felt when I first met Tyler, that feeling of a phoenix flame inside of him.
I slip the knife back into its sheath. “He got pissed at Airos, you said? What was that about?”
There’s judgment in Alyx’s stare. He exhales. “Take it from someone who knows what love looks like—whatever you think is happening between them… Well, you shouldn’t think too hard about it. After all, it’s not your strongest quality.”
