My Savior (7 page)

Darian stood, knocking his chair back. He squared his shoulders, facing his commander. "I don't need a mate."

Aiden raised an eyebrow and jerked his head toward Meryn. "I remember thinking the exact same thing. Sometimes you have to accept the gifts Fate gives to you."

Keelan glared at Darian before turning to her. "I'll show you up to your room, it's right next to Darian."

Darian stared blank faced at Keelan. "Leave it be, Keelan," he warned.

Keelan smiled wide. "No, don't wanna," he said in a singsong child-like manner.

Darian looked down at her. "Do what you want." He turned away from the table and walked out the door.

"Will he be okay?" Amelia asked nervously.

Gavriel nodded. "We all went through something similar upon finding our mates. We will talk to him later. This is your home now."

His words sank in. "Good Gods! I live here now. How will I get my makeup orders?" She tried to keep the conversation light. She hated it when everyone worried or got upset. Living her life as an empath made her a human barometer for emotion, the happier people were around her the less anxious she was.

Meryn waved a taco at her. "Don't worry about deliveries. All the mail for Lycaonia goes to an outside post office box. Assigned teams go and collect the mail every day and bring it into the city where it is sorted into post office boxes here. Ryuu gets ours for us. It's how I get the Nerd Block subscription boxes Aiden got me for Christmas."

Amelia heaved a huge sigh of relief. "Thank the Gods; I was close to calling this whole mating thing off if I couldn't get my makeup."

Meryn nodded. "I could see that impacting life. I'd die without my geek stuff, especially since I'm trying to decorate the nursery with cool gear instead of typical baby stuff. Do you know how much baby boy stuff is decorated with bears? It would just be weird."

"You mean like giving little girls human like dolls?" Rheia asked sardonically.

Meryn paused and laughed. "I guess that's kinda the same, I never thought of it like that."

"What are you decorating in?" Amelia asked.

"It's going to be a
Star Wars
,
Doctor Who
mashup."
 

"That sounds cool."

"What if you have a girl?" Rheia asked.

Meryn frowned. "It would be a
Star Wars / Doctor Who
mashup, why?"
 

Beth carefully bit into a taco, careful not to get anything on her fingers. "Don't try to make sense of it, Rheia, it's Meryn."

"Girls can like
Star Wars
and
Doctor Who
," Amelia argued.

Beth nodded. "Of course they can, but I don't think a two-month-old will be able to operate the interactive Death Star she ordered."

Amelia laughed. "That is awesome."

"Don't encourage her," Beth laughed.

Meryn popped another kale chip into her mouth. "Are you okay? I mean about Darian."

Amelia dug into her dinner. "He won't be able to say no forever. I'm just as stubborn as he is."

"Maybe we should meet tomorrow and come up with a plan of attack," Meryn suggested.

Amelia nodded. "Good idea."

The men exchanged concerned looks.

Beth buried her face in her hands. "Two of them; there's two."

Gavriel rubbed her back. "There, there dear."

Amelia looked over at Meryn and winked, and Meryn winked back.

"Gods help us all," Aiden muttered biting into his ninth taco.

*****

"Here you go," Keelan said, indicating the room next to Darian's. Now that she was up here, it hurt knowing that they would be in separate rooms, without saying so much as 'goodnight' to each other. Keelan opened the door and showed her around the two-room suite.

"Did you need help with the suitcases?" he asked, pointing to the large, silver rolling case.

Amelia laughed. "That's my makeup."

Keelan blinked. "And?"

"Just makeup."

"Wow. You promised Meryn and Beth makeovers tomorrow; would you like me to float this down for you and put it in Aiden's office?"

"Why Aiden's office?" she asked confused.

Keelan laughed. "It's actually Meryn and Beth's office, but Aiden would be in a foul mood for hours whenever we called it that, so we just call it Aiden's office to keep everyone happy."

"That would be great. I've never really mastered floating."

"What is your gift?" Keelan asked, sitting on the bed.

"Well, besides the generic stuff like candle lighting and fire balls, I'm an empath. I can use earth magic, though I haven't used that since I was a kid. I almost triggered a major earthquake when I was two. Caiden had to bind my powers since we lived close to a fault line." She sat next to him on the bed.

"Two powers, that's impressive. I have two as well. Premonition and air magic. I can float things or harden the air to create a shield. My brother, Kendrick, has four," he said proudly.

"You have the same powers as my eldest brother, Caiden. I knew Kendrick was powerful, but had no idea he had mastered four. I don't think anyone back home does either." Amelia was shocked. Even the elders usually had only mastered three.

"The guys here know and now you. He's very secretive about his powers. He said all he wants to do is record our history and read the archives."

"We need more men like your brother. Council politics are obnoxious. To use Meryn's Hogwarts analogy, it's like all the elders do is stand around whipping out their wands, trying to see who's the most powerful." Amelia had seen politics at work back home every time Caiden tried to get something for the unit warriors. Their first question was always how many prestigious bloodlines served in the units.

"So that hasn't changed, huh? The politics was one of the reasons I left Storm Keep. I couldn't live there anymore and keep my mouth shut. Kendrick is fine. He can just bury his head in some dusty manuscripts from a thousand years ago about the disadvantages of using water magic in an arid climate, but when it comes to people living in the here and now, he just doesn't care."

"You said you got into a disagreement with Kendrick before you left, what was it about?" Amelia turned and sat crossed-legged in front of him.

Keelan leaned back on his hands. "He didn't want me to join Alpha."

"You mean he didn't want you to be a unit warrior?"

He shook his head. "No, he didn't want me to join Alpha. He said he had a dream and that I would die as an Alpha Unit warrior, but here I am nearly two hundred years later, alive and kicking."

Amelia nodded enthusiastically. "Tell me about it! My brother Caiden practically ordered me to come back to Storm Keep because he saw me quote fall into darkness unquote."

Keelan laughed. "Premonitions are so vague, they might as well be useless. Well, for the most part they're vague." His voice got quiet and his expression became serious.

"What is it, Keelan?"

"I'll have to remember to thank Fate later for bringing you here, not just for Darian who has been like a brother, but for me as well."

Amelia raised a brow.

He smiled softly. "No, not like that. You're a witch who isn't a unit warrior. You've lived in Storm Keep and know how it can be there. Hell, you even know my brother. You'd understand..."

"Understand what?"

"The frustration our magic can cause."

"I take it your frustration is around premonitions?" She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees.

Keelan nodded, and his eyes became unfocused. "I've been having the same nightmare every night, and every night, I try to change what happens in different ways, but nothing helps. I just wish that whatever or whoever is trying to send me a message would just come out and say it."

"You mean instead of 'fall into darkness', 'avoid assholes running stop signs'?" she asked.

Keelan laughed, his eyes coming back into focus. "Exactly! I knew you'd understand."

"All we can do is what we can, when we can. We'll face whatever it is to come, and if we get stuck, we can always call our brothers." She winked at him.

Keelan stood and stretched. "You know what? You're right." He turned to leave and paused. He turned back to her. "Darian really does care, you know?"

"I do know. Empath, remember?" She tapped her temple.

He winced. "Gods, that has to be awful. Remind me to kick his ass later."

"It wouldn't be so bad if we'd just met, but I've been dreaming of him my whole life. What if he just doesn't want me?" That was her biggest fear, that she wouldn't be enough to make him want to live, that her shortcomings would destroy his soul.

"Don't think like that. When I first moved in, I thought he was the noblest man I had ever met. You think Gavriel is courtly? Darian outshone him the way the sun outshines the moon. But over the years, it's like he just got tired. Nevertheless, I refuse to believe that who he is at his very core has changed. In his own way, he is protecting you. It's so ingrained in him to keep you safe that he won't risk you, not in any way, not even to save himself."

"I won't lose him, Keelan."

"We won't. I'll do anything I can to help. It's my hope that we can be friends as well."

She got up off the bed and gave him a hug. "I think we already are."

Blushing, he smiled. "Get some rest. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a long day."

"Premonition?" she joked as he walked toward the door.

He turned around and winced. "Darian is denying his mate, Meryn has vowed to help and I have a feeling you'd encourage her antics. Tomorrow is going to be a long day," he repeated. He walked over, grabbed her makeup case by the handle, and wheeled it toward the door. He turned and gave a wave.

Amelia laughed as he walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. She looked at her one lone suitcase and wrangled it up into the chair. Unzipping it, she pulled out her toiletry bag and her nightshirt and headed to the bathroom. She got undressed, breathing a sigh of relief when she removed her bra. She slipped on her nightshirt and pulled her long brown curls back in a hair tie. Reaching into her toiletry bag for her face wash and moisturizer, she started her nightly routine.

When she was done, she folded up her jeans and shirt and walked back into the bedroom. She opened her suitcase and dropped her clothes inside. Staring at her wardrobe, she sighed. All her tops were either black or white. Her bottoms were either black slacks or jeans. Normally, she didn't mind her monochromatic look, thinking it was edgy, but she didn't want her new friends to think she was wearing the same thing over and over again. She definitely needed to go shopping soon. She looked around the room and found her tote bag on the dresser. She fished around the large bag until she found her phone.
 

She got comfortable on the bed and leaned back on a stack of fluffy pillows. She knew the conversation she was about to have would be hard, but it had to be done. She opened the phone and pressed the speed dial number for Caiden. He answered on the first ring.

"What's happened? Are you hurt? Are you dead?" he demanded.

"Dead? Yes, I'm calling on my ghostly iPhone, you idiot." She rolled her eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, young lady. You never call this late, what's happened?"

How does he always know when I do that?

"Well, you know how I said I would be leaving first thing in the morning?"

"Yes?"

"Yeah, that's not happening."

"Why? Do you have a flat? Is it car trouble? Are you being held hostage?"

"How do you go from flat tire to hostage situation?"

"Well?" he demanded, ignoring her perfectly logical question.

"I found my mate! Isn't that exciting?" She held her breath and mentally counted down.

Three...two...one...

"What!? That sonofabitch! Waiting until we weren't around to swoop in and steal my baby girl!" He called out to their brothers, "Kyran! Tristan! Get Packed! We're going to Lycaonia to beat some fae bastard's ass and take back our baby girl!"

"What!?" she heard Kyran shout.

"Motherfucker!" Tristan yelled.

Amelia stared up at the ceiling. Yeah, they wouldn't complicate matters at all.

"Freeze!" she barked into the phone. A second later, there was silence. "Listen, I'm a grown woman; please don't interfere."

"You're barely grown and only because you're half human. I thought we agreed you wouldn't mate until you were two hundred," Caiden argued.

"No!
You
told me I couldn't mate until I was two hundred. I have met him. He's my mate. Get over it."

"Shifty, blond bastard. I bet he makes shoes or something," Caiden grumbled.

Amelia pinched the bridge of her nose. "Cai-den!"

"Yes?"

"Where am I?"

"Lycaonia."

"And..." She waited to see if he would put two and two together.

"Oh Gods! You're moving!" he practically wailed.

"Can she do that?" Kyran demanded.

Fuck my life right now!

"
Lycaonia is the city of..."

"Shifters," Tristan answered.

"Exactly!" she exclaimed. "What type of fae live in a shifter city?"

Silence.

Silence.

"Do you have the roster?" she heard Caiden ask.

"Right here," Tristan shouted. "Okay, so her fae bastard mate could be Larik Li'Mileren from Beta, Barak Ri'Anvial from Delta, Alanis Vi'Kilernan from Epsilon, Sulis Ri'Orthames from Zeta, Gods, if that is her mate, then he isn't getting the two hundred bucks I owe him."

"Tristan!" Caiden barked.

"Right. All that's left are the brothers Darian Vi'Alina or Oron Vi'Eirson."

Amelia sat up straight. "Wait, how can they be brothers if they have different last names?"

"Gods, it's one of those two surly assholes," Kyran groaned.

"Which one is it, baby girl?" Caiden asked.

"How are they brothers?" she repeated.

"From what I've heard, they were raised by the same foster parents. Now, which one?"

"Darian."

She heard them swearing softly.

"Is he treating you right?" Caiden finally asked.

She felt her eyes fill with tears. She wanted to cry and tell him it wasn't fair, that all her life she had wanted her mate and now he was denying her. She wanted her big brother to fix it, like he always did, but she knew he couldn't fix this. She smiled through her tears.