The Threat - Part 2

~ TARKYN ~

His friends tried. While they waited for Gar to bring Rika, Jayah brought him food and drink, and they pulled out the chairs so they could all sit in an intimate circle.

Gar directly across from him, dwarfing his chair, but looking the most relaxed in the room, while Rika took the seat at his side, her hand on his thigh. Elreth was alongside Rika, and for the first time, Tarkyn saw the sisterhood between the two. Both fierce in their own ways, though Rika was far happier left to herself and her projects, while El wanted to control everyone and everything. Then Aaryn next to his Queen, his arm slung along the back of hers, but his eyes cutting between her and Tarkyn.

These were his friends, his dearest allies and the most powerful Anima in Anima. And they were all listening. Tarkyn knew there was no point holding back. He poured out his heart.

"The moment I saw her… there was something in her scent. I was only half-awake. I was dying, and still I could feel it, the way her presence… dragged at me!" He shook his head as the mated pairs in front of him looked at each other and touched their mates. "When I woke up in that cave, I tried to resist it. My instincts were up, but they were at war with themselves. The circumstances seemed so wrong. So dangerous. But her? She pulled me so strongly I couldn't deny it even to myself."

He shook his head, buried in the memories of that moment—had it really just been the day before? "We almost completed the bond then, there. But… she told me about the differences for her people. And they're frightening. I'm not clear on the details, but their bond seems to be more… physical than ours, somehow. At least from what I've heard others explain," he added with a quick look at each of them. "I know that we have a bond," he said, his voice intense with conviction and he met each of their eyes before he went on. "What I don't know is if we're forming the Anima bond… or whether their bond is the same as ours, but because their bodies are different, it has different impacts? I can't tell."

Elreth sat back in her chair. "Different bonds or different influences, regardless there is clearly a difference. My concern is, what if she gains some control over you through this?"

"My brain isn't changed. My heart—my intention—isn't changed, El. Only my body and… the draw, the drive, it's powerful."

The males both snorted, shifting in their seats.

Elreth rolled her eyes and muttered something about alpha male bullshit. But before she could continue, Aaryn raised an eyebrow.

"El, if you're going to hunt with males, you're going to have to eat the fruits of our power, too. Or do I need to tell everyone about how… eager you were to learn the breadth of our bond?"

Gar and Rika laughed. Elreth's cheeks pinked. "Shut up."

Tarkyn swallowed his own smile—they'd all observed the changes in Elreth when finding her mate opened her eyes—and her body—to the joys of the bond. He cleared his throat and tried to cover his smile so she wouldn't point her frustration at him.

"Look," he said as the others chuckled. "The point is, the bond is real and tangible. It's not a deception. But I can't ignore that it might be different. I just need some time alone with Harth to explore what's between us, and what she knows."

Elreth sighed. "I don't know, Tark. We don't know her yet or what she's capable of, who she's loyal to. What if she's capable of hurting you?"

"She's not!" he insisted. "She's already had opportunity to go against me and she hasn't—her heart is for me, El. But just like me, she's protective of her people."

"Precisely my point," Elreth said dryly.

Tarkyn sighed. "El… if there was anything within her or her kind that would harm Anima… I will learn it. I will find out. But have you forgotten that Gar scented her for truth? She wasn't lying about the bond and her heart for me."

Elreth looked at Gar, who tipped his head back and forth. "I'm pretty confident," he clarified. "I don't think she lied. The scents are slightly different, but still seemed pure."

Tarkyn wanted to bite something. Why couldn't anyone see this as clearly as he did? "My vow of truth and protection will not fail. If I am alone with her and learn anything that could harm the Anima, I will tell you, El. You have my word!"

"Not if you're being controlled by some Chimeran bond-leash."

"I am not leashed!"

Elreth leaned forward, her face concerned rather than angry. "Honestly, Tark, how would you know? How can any of us know? You can speak in your mate's mind, and she in yours—how would we even know if your loyalty is… eroded? How do we know that she can't insert her own thoughts as yours and turn your head without your knowledge?"

Tarkyn, bitter bile rising in his throat, struggled to hold back his anger.

"I get it, Tark," Elreth said gently, but her voice still unwavering. "My concern is, if I give you time alone with her, you will complete the bond. I am at fault if I give room for that to happen when it harms you—as much as you care for me and our people, you are one that I need to protect! And if I let you have her alone… it will end in the completion of the bond."

"I hope so," Tarkyn said honestly. "I've waited to find my mate my entire life. I don't want to resist that."

"Tark—"

"No, you listen to me, El. You're right. You're right that you have to protect. But so do I. And she's one I need to protect." He shook his head. "Imagine that I told you Aaryn was harming you. Or that he was going to hurt you if you let him close. Could you even have fathomed that back then?"

"It was a very different situation."

"But not inside! Not within you! The bond I feel with her is real and true and I will not deny it."

Elreth sat back in her chair, biting her lip.

Tarkyn waited.