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“For what?”
“Just letting me touch you and hold you… That alone makes my heart feel full.”
My vision snagged on Roderick, dismounting and practically skipping towards the cliff wall. A welcome relief to the sensation of the tether being pulled taut between us. I’d have thought that fulfilling the bond would have alleviated some of that tension, but it hadn’t. It only made it that much stronger. I couldn’t help but intuitively feel as if it were the tether pulling at me and demanding that I give up everything that I still held back from him… Like my heart.
Both a plea and a demand, it wouldn’t settle for anything less thaneverything.
When my eyes return to Nakoa’s, his face has gone pale, and he seems to starethroughme. As if his mind is elsewhere…
“Darling, you’re just in time for dinner,” a velvety female voice chirped to him. Nakoa blinked, giving a subtle shake of his head before he tried to give me an encouraging smile before his gaze lifted to his mother -
The tall woman with bronzed skin and silver salt-and-pepper hair standing in a doorway of a jagged cliff face of the mountain dressed in pastel and dark blues. Her arms opened wide and Roderick practically leapt as he swooped her up in his arms, squeezing her tight. She gave a throaty, fully-belly laugh in a way that would have sounded maniacal if it wasn’t for the sheer joy and warmth it radiated. I couldn’t help but smile watching them. In all my years, I had ever seen such exuberant affection.
“Mommy,” Roderick sighed.
“My sweet boy,” she replied affectionately, petting his hair as she beamed from ear to ear, eyes closed.
I glanced to Nakoa. “Is that really his mother?”
“Basically,” Nakoa smirked, chuckling as he pulled me in her direction. “… Roderick’s parents were both killed during the war. She took him in when he was little. Thought he was a wolf pup at first glance. Found him rooting around in the garbage outside a tavern in Darrporr,” he added quietly.
My brows leapt even as my heart gave a painful twang of empathy. The rest of Nakoa’solana kah’heiapproached his mother, eagerly embracing her before entering her cliffside home.
When everyone had ventured inside, her eyes landed on us. Her broad grin fading slightly as emotion seemed to swell in her breast, eyes darting between the two of us before they very clearly dropped to our ams as if searching for oursoulboundmarks. Her brow pinched at the sight of their absence, though she said nothing. My arms were, thankfully, covered by the sleeves of my fighting leather, and she didn’t seem too concerned that my hands were bare of them.
“Mother, this is Mareina. Mareina, this is my mother, Leilani.”
I stepped out from the arm Nakoa had wrapped around my waist, extending my hand towards her and bowing slightly. “It’s lovely to meet you.”
“I’m so happy you’re here, sweetheart,” she said softly, taking my hand in both of hers and pulling me into her arms. Energy, soothing and filled with love, seeped into me at the contact. My body immediately relaxed, and the knot I hadn’t even realized was in my chest loosened.
“Thank you for hosting us, as usual… Have you begun cooking already?” Nakoa asked.
Leilani gave him an admonishing smirk as she stepped aside, ushering us in.
“Well, it’s about damn time you came to visit me, finally.”
I turned to look back and find Pumpkin and Chihiro grazing alongside the other horses.
“Don’t worry, they won’t wander too far. There’s a ward,” she added, patting me on the shoulder as Nakoa pulled me inside behind him.
Staring in awe, I gazed around at the floor to ceiling windows that looked out on the forest and mountains surrounding her her home. Nakoa had mentioned his mother was a powerful witch but for her to have enough magic to keep a place this big under a constant glamor, have magic left over to live freely,andas a human… I couldn’t help but be a little floored.
“Why don’t you work on dinner with everyone while I give my new daughter a tour, darling?” Leilani asked.
Nakoa glanced between the two of us for a moment, a question in his eyes. I squeezed his hand in affirmation.
“Before you do, I need to discuss something with you…”
Leilani’s brow pinched with worry.
“Mareina gave me some alarming news that Zurie is sending some of her army to hunt down and quell members of The Uprising. Would you be able to portal me to warn them?”
Leilani gave a swift nod. “Yes, certainly…”
Leilani gave me an apologetic look before she stepped a few feet away and began murmuring ancient words, and the curved window of a portal began to appear.
Instantly, my heart spiked with fear for Nakoa’s safetyandMalekai’s.
