Filed to story: The Chosen Saga Novel PDF Free
“He will return it dearie. When you are up for it anyways.” Brooke patted her hand once again.
“Brooke, I let him in, and he killed me, I am not going to be foolish enough to allow him to get that close again. Next time I won’t come back from the ether, that I can promise you. Every time I go there it becomes harder and harder to come back and be treated like absolute garbage.”
“Dearie, I hope you will hear him out,” Brooke started.
“No, I am done hearing out and forgiving people. I am done. I do not need a mate, never mind four of them. Only one seems happy about it but I am sure River will wake up and realize I am not worthy of anything either.” Araiya got up and stalked into the bathroom. “Miss Brooke, can you send word to Talon and Shavon for me please.”
“Of course, dear, whatever you need.”
Once she was alone Araiya had a hot bath and dressed in her leathers. She braided her hair over her shoulder as she stared at her reflection. She looked tired, her power glyphs were dull; Araiya just had to admit to herself that she looked broken. This was supposed to be the start of her extraordinary life; instead, it was just more of the same. She rubbed her face and left the bathroom and put on her boots.
A knock sounded and Talon and Shavon entered. “Araiya, are you okay?” Shavon came over to her.
“Yes, but I have to get out of here and I need you two to help me.”
“Leave? Why?” Talon leaned against the door.
“I can’t be here Talon; I can’t do this anymore. I have you guys, I don’t need mates. I definitely do not need mates who don’t even want me, so I want to leave. Without anyone here knowing. Miss Brooke gave me a book about the Al’ta Moir, and I figured I would follow her advice, and go to the original keep to find out about my own powers. Once Mac erupts, my powers will find me, I don’t need to be here to see them returned. On the other hand, I do have to figure out the dreams that I keep having and how I fit into this picture.”
“Fit into what picture? What does that mean?” Shavon looked between them.
“Why am I here? Why am I the only one with Spirit? Why do I get to talk to the Goddess? Why do I get to come back? There are a million questions and zero answers. I have no idea what I am doing, something or someone is chasing me. I just came into my power which before two weeks ago I didn’t even know existed.” Panic started to creep into her voice. “I just turned twenty-one and I have died more than once since the Choosing. Do you hear that? I have fucking died twice in two fucking weeks. That doesn’t bode well for my long game here Shavon.” Araiya wiped her face and sat at the end of the bed. “I need answers. I would like you guys to come with me. I am obviously not wanted here by my so-called mates. I want to find my own path, and I have my own mystery to solve.”
“What else could you need answers to?” Talon walked over and put his arms around Shavon.
“My mate bonds.” Araiya groaned into her hands.
“What about your mate bonds?”
“What does your mate bond feel like?” She dropped her hands and looked at her closest friends.
“Our mate bonds. When I first saw her, I just knew that we had a partial mate bond. Like a part of my soul wanted to be with hers. Like a tug.”
“No not at first, right now, what does your mate bond feel like right now?”
“I don’t feel anything Araiya.” Shavon sat down next to her. “To be honest I never felt much with the mate bond because I don’t have a lot of power. I felt the first punch and then it dulled down to just my emotions for Talon and the relationship that we built together.” She reached out and grabbed Talon’s hand. Talon smiled down at her.
“I still feel a steady pull to her, but my power level is higher than hers. What are you really asking here?”
“Okay so when I was in the ether the Goddess had me look at my mate bonds. I have chains that wrap around my center of power. Even now I can picture my mate bonds like that. The deeper the bond the brighter the chain.”
“That sounds amazing, so you can visually see how strong your bonds are. I wish we had that. I would feel more secure if I did.”
“Well, the thing is I have six chains.”
“SIX! That is insane, I thought you only had these four guys, which I should state should be impossible. We only get one mate and a few potential mate bonds, but you can’t have more than one full mate bond.” Shavon jumped up and started to pace.
“Well, my mate bonds are different. One is covered in darkness. One is completely dull, and then of the four that have snapped into place only one is actually bright.”
“River?” Talon questioned.
“River,” she confirmed.
“How is that even fair, not that I don’t love you babe I do, but why do you get six freaking mates?” Araiya shrugged her shoulders and then walked over to her cloak. She handed Talon the book that Brooke gave her. “What is that?” Shavon walked over to Talon while he was going through the book.
“It is a diary of sorts from the Al’ta Moir. Talon, can you read ancient Draconian?”
Talon shook his head “No, only the Enforcers still remember how to read the language. I know the All-Mother died only a few hundred years ago, but all of us were still alive. We should all remember but once she went to the ether, some things were wiped from everyone’s memory. This being one of them. No one knows why.”
“Exactly why I need to go find my own answers. I will not rely on these men.”
“Wait Araiya, okay I know your first meeting didn’t go well. It couldn’t have gone worse to be honest.”
Shavon snorted. “That’s the fucking truth.” Talon glared at her and she shrugged “I don’t know what you expected me to say. One of them killed her and another taunted the rest. That’s fucking night and day from when we became mates.”
Talon blushed and turned back to Araiya. “Yeah, it was bad, but I have known these guys my whole life and they are the best. Even Zeph didn’t used to be a huge douche bag, or so I have been told. He has always been the douche canoe we have all grown to hate from the very first memory I have of him, but River, Mac and Terran talk about how Zeph used to be growing up. They miss how he used to be and always hoped that a mate would bring him back.”