Once Upon a Child of the Stars

Thirty One- Boiling Point

We leave the house, taking the same path as before to get to the wonderful water source. The walk is fairly silent as we wander down passed the forest and to the spring. I am ahead of Xavian, and I can feel his eyes on my body as we travel. I am sure I looked damn good from behind, but he could have tried to not make it so obvious that he was looking.

As we come to the water's edge, the first one to jump in is Kaedian. With the next splash of water, I toss myself into the water. My body is fully covered for a minute and I see a body enter the water just feet from me. I push myself through the water and let the air flow through my lungs. I look over to see the large figure of Xavian smiling at me like a teenage boy who has way too much confidence in himself.

I am sure if mates were not a thing, Xavian would have women all over him. I know they probably look and swoon now, but none would even attempt to court him as mates are law especially on Hellian.

I could not help but wonder to myself if I were to choose someone other than Xavian if I could have children with them. I know Hellians bodies will not conceive a child if it is not the child of their mate. As a mate of a Hellian, I wonder if my own body knows the same rules, if it would conceive a child of someone else. I am half human also and they have children with whoever they please, and Dyspherians always have multiple connections.

I am thrown out of my thoughts as something, or rather someone, grabs my foot and pulls me under the water. I look around while I am under the cool water and see just who I expected; Xavian. I shake my head and roll my eyes and swim away.

I was confused to say the least. His playful and seemingly innocent attempts to keep my attention on him were so polar opposite of how they were back on Hellian and I was not comfortable with any physical contact until I straightened out the situation. I had a bad feeling that there was something more to his actions rather than him trying to be a good mate to me.

The time we spent at the springs was not too long, as a storm randomly began to roll in. The clouds began to dim the sky and ultimately drop the temperature. We dried off and began the walk back to the house.

The men simply carried their towels while my own was wrapped tightly around my body. It was no longer warm and summery, it had turned breezy and chilled, causing my body to shiver as we traveled. Suddenly, I felt my body get pulled to a much warmer, larger one. I look over to see Xavian looking down at me, no visible emotion. It was as though his instincts had taken over and that was to keep me warm even though there was clearly no real threat that the cold held towards me.

The walk was fairly silent, only Kaedian and Raegar speaking to one another while we walked. The rain came quickly, drenching our already wet bodies once again. We pick up the pace, as we know how dangerous being out in a storm on Dyspheria can be. They can be anywhere from a light drizzle to a treacherous downpour with lightening and dangerously high winds. We quicken our pace, my body still pulled tightly against Xavian's warm body.

Then, the rain stopped hitting me. I furrow my eye brows and look over to see a large, black wing wrapped around us like an umbrella. I can not help the light smile that crosses my lips at his instinctive protectiveness over his mate.

We finally reach the house and just as we get inside, a loud crack of thunder fills the skies over the Lycan territory. I can not help but think about how much I used to hate the thunder as a child back in our kingdom. I remember back to how my father would pull me close when I was little and hold me until the storms would pass.

"Luminara?" I hear Xavian's voice bring me away from my memories. I snap my vision up to the man known as my mate but I stay quiet as my heart begins to ache as I miss my family as I had done so often in the past few months. I notice the silence and look up to see Raegar and Kaedian also looking at me, with what looks like pity in their eyes. I do what I had done for a while now, and moved away from Xavian and went to Raegar's arms. I hug him tightly and he does the same. I feel his strong arms wrap around me in comfort and he begins to whisper to me.

"It's going to be okay. We can go back to your kingdom as soon as the storm ends," he whispers. I nod and pull away.

"Thank you," I say softly and he responds with a simple nod. I turn to see Xavian with a pained look on his face mixed with what can only be described as anger and jealousy. I ignore it as I am still soaked and cold, and I turn away and go off to my bedroom silently.

I hear through the walls the voices of Raegar and his brother as I begin to peel off the wet clothing stuck to my body.

"You need to keep your hands off her, Raegar," I hear Xavian seething.

"Don't be a fool, Xavian. She came to me. She comes to me! Obviously you are the blind one. She is crying out for the love and comfort she needs, and you tore her from her family and kept her captive and mentally abused her. As far as I can see, she will never run to you," Raegar retorts.

"I am not asking you. I am telling you. Keep your distance from her. She is mine! I don't care if she wants me or not. I don't care what I did before. Now, she is mine and she always will be," Xavian growls out. By then I had changed into dry clothes and had enough of listening to Xavian's possessiveness.

I burst out of the room and storm out to the arguing men. I go right up to Xavian and explode.

"You have no right to say I am yours. I might be your biological mate but I certainly am not your emotional one. You have done enough shit to me and I am not about to accept your changes just because we are on my planet or whatever. I don't know what your game is but I am not falling for it," I yell at the Hellian king.

"You are mine! Nobody else can have you! You are not supposed to run to him for comfort! You are meant to come to me! You are mine and only mine!" Xavian roared.

"If I was yours and you cared about me or what I did, then you would not have taken me against my will, isolated me, told me to my face you did not want me. You would not have done any of that," I state firmly as tears begin to boil over in my now purple eyes.

"You have no idea who I am or why I do the things I do," he growls back at me.

"Maybe I don't, Xavian, but I sure as hell know that I did not deserve anything you did to me. Some of those things are not forgivable. Simple fact is, no matter what new facade you have, you are no mate to me. And I don't know if you ever will be," I state firmly, tears now trickling down my face as my temper and emotions get the best of me.

I see Xavian gritting his teeth with unknown emotions swirling within his eyes, while Raegar stays silent and looks at me as though all he wants to do is comfort me. I shake my head and look down while I wipe my tears away.

In my frustration I decide to walk away. I keep my eyes down and turn and go back to the room that I consider my own, despite the two pairs of eyes I know remain on me as I walk away.