Wild Magic Three: The Shade of the Earth- a M/M fantasy shifter romance

The Origin of the Wild Mages

******Hi all! Welcome if you're new, welcome back if you're here from my other stories!! This is the third and second-to-last book in the Wild Magic Series and features Robert, one of Prince Lhiam's keep guard's, introduced first in By the Light of the Moon, and Sami, a bobcat shifter introduced near the end of The Dark of the Sun. Though my Wild Magic Series is connected, it's not necessary to read all of them, or any of them in order, though there may be spoilers from past books.

For once, there aren't any trigger warnings in this story. Just maybe rough sex, because Sami's a little... catty during sex. But Robert loves it (eventually), so... ;P Also, violence and gore, though idk if that's a trigger really, just a head's up, I guess.

This is a M/M (gay) fantasy romance featuring gay sex, knotting, gay-for-you (aka a straight man falling for another man but still being very much straight), fated mates, and May/December (age gap— Sami's exact age is unknown, but he's around 25 and Robert is 43) themes.

Anywho, enjoy!!*****

Ravin, daughter of Alma and Leba, created to be goddess and queen, protector and guardian of the beasts of the wild, grew weary of the violence beget upon her creatures. To her, the humans her mother and father had created to populate the world were cruel and capricious, killing her beasts without scruple, simply for fear or sustenance.

Upset at the imbalance she perceived, Ravin took a male and a female human, and a male and a female beast, two of her first and favorites, and combined their souls. She needed an ambassador, a creature both man and beast, both human and monster, to be her right hands. To protect the wild, and keep safe that which she ruled over.

The first wild mages were beings of immense power, able to shift into any form they so desired, and they bred and created many more of their kind. These first, primordial and immortal wild mages were forever after called Ravin's Guardians. With each new generation, a little bit more human was infused into the mages, until they had the soul of a beast that could take only one form. This Ravin had planned, for it ensured that each of the animals in her kingdom had a proper ambassador that would look out and care for them alone.

As time passed, her wild mages grew weary of their duties, for they were alone and misunderstood. They couldn't fully join their counterparts in the wild, for they had the mind of a human. But neither could they only live among the humans, for their animal instincts and beastial qualities turned many humans away from them. They were ostracized and in some cases hated for the way they were born and the way they lived.

Ravin, a benevolent goddess, kind and fierce in her loyalties, consulted with her mother Alma, goddess of creation. Together, they created the mates to Ravin's wild mages. The man or woman, usually human, who was the perfect half of the wild mage's soul. The one being in all of creation that could not only love and accept the wild mage in all their differences and unique needs, but stand by their side and aid them in their duties as Ravin's right hand and ambassadors.

Finding a mate was always rare— something to be coveted; a connection prized above all else. And when it is found, when the two or more become as one, it is to be held onto and never released. For so has Alma and her daughter Ravin ordained it to be.