Love’s Eternal Fire

Chapter 15: Midnight Stone

Kesiray's POV

We spent nearly an hour following Alpha Bastan and Luna Kivela around their pack. They showed us everything, from the rows and rows of homes to their training facility; everything was magnificent. This was my first time in another realm, and seeing the similarities and differences was interesting. Werewolves put a great deal of time and energy into training, whereas fairies preferred to learn from being in nature.

Alpha Bastan said their pack had over two thousand members, making my tribe look minuscule. Solaris and Savion seemed less impressed, but they seemed like they lived closer lives with the wolves than I did. Many people stopped to stare at the three of us, and some could be seen whispering behind their hands. It made me feel like I was under a magnifying glass.

"Don't mind them," Luna Kivela said, noticing the people staring. "They're not used to newcomers."

"Do you have a lot of non-wolves in the pack?" I asked as Bastan talked with Solaris about the hospital.

"Not many. We have a couple of witches and a hybrid or two, but that's about it. Bastan's father and grandfather rarely allowed anyone who wasn't a wolf inside the pack," Kivela explained. "I think that's kept many people from finding their fated mates."

"Are you and Bastan fated mates?" I wondered, hoping my question wasn't too invasive.

"No, his father held a mating ball just like Solaris' wanted to do. He picked me because we had been friends since childhood, and he knew we respected each other," she told me. "In time, we've grown very fond of one another." Fondness might have been admirable, but it wasn't love. I was looking at Solaris, who seemed so light and at ease compared to last night, wondering how things might have gone differently had we not met in the woods during the attack. Would he have become 'fond' of someone else when his dad decided he needed to take a chosen mate? I couldn't imagine my life without him and was so happy we had managed to find each other again.

"Was that something you wanted?" I asked. Kivela smiled, looking over at Bastan.

"I wanted to make my family proud. Being the former Alpha's daughter of the Red Willow pack, I always knew I would mate to an Alpha's son, even if that person weren't my fated mate," she said.

"How long have you two been together?" I questioned.

"Since I was eighteen. Bastan was twenty-three and now nearly forty," Kivela said.

"Do you have any children?" was my next question.

"We do, a boy and twin girls. I gave birth at nineteen to our son, Radoff, who's fifteen, and our two girls, Isolene and Caryara, are thirteen," she said.

"Are they in school?" I asked.

"Yes, you might meet them later if you come to dinner with the rest of the pack, though I understand if you and your mate want some time to yourselves. You are new mates, and it seems like you've only just marked each other," she winked. I touched Solaris' mark on my neck and chuckled. "Never let anyone tell you love isn't worth fighting for." Kivela gave me a glaring, serious look, wanting me to pay close attention to what she said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, wondering if she would tell me something about the future.

"Not everything is as it appears," she told me. "You and Solaris will have to fight for your bond."

"What? But we're marked," I told her, confused about what she was saying.

"That's all I can tell you," she replied.

"But..." I began wanting more than just a cryptic message about love.

"Kesi," Solaris said, standing with me and Kivela. "Bastan just told me that if we choose to stay, he can build us a house in the woods, and you could have a job teaching the young wolves about the elements in their school."

"That sounds amazing," I said, not taking my eyes off Kivela, who was still looking at me with raised eyebrows. "I still think we should keep moving, at least for a while. Who knows how far our parents will go to get us back."

"You'd always be welcome back," Bastan said with the first smile I'd seen since our arrival. He seemed to warm up to us much faster than I had expected.

“I’m sure you’re both starving after your journey and sleeping through breakfast,” Kivela said. “Lunch is still served in the dining hall if you want to eat.”

“Yeah, that would be great, actually,” Solaris said, looking at me for confirmation.

“Sure, I could eat,” I replied.

“We’ll take you there since we showed you a lot; I’m sure you don’t remember everything,” Bastan said. “We’d join you, but I’m afraid Luna Kivela and I have some business that needs our attention.”

The dining hall wasn’t very full; I’m assuming everyone ate much earlier, considering it was nearly two in the afternoon. Multiple buffet tables were still full of food, and everything smelled delicious. Solaris, Savion, and I piled our plates high before sitting at an open round table. More people looked at us, whispering to their neighbors. I wondered if this scrutiny would end, but we probably wouldn't be here long enough to figure it out.

"What should we do with the rest of our day?" Savion asked, a fork full of mashed potatoes.

"I think we should use it to make a plan for the rest of our journey," Solaris told him. "We left without really thinking things through, and we need to be careful and cover our tracks so our families don't find us."

"Isn't it a little late for that? They have to know we're gone by now," I commented. "I was supposed to be planning a birthday party for my niece with my sister all day. She'll alert my parents immediately since I didn't show up."

"Most likely, but I think the first thing they'll do is try to track us down, and if they can't, I'm not sure what their next course of action will be," Solaris said.

"Probably trying to destroy one another," I commented.

"I don't know; it's not like either of our families had anything to do with us disappearing," Solaris said.

"Maybe this will make them come together, find common ground," Savion replied.

"Either way, we're not going back," Solaris said. "What they do now that we're gone isn't our concern."

"So, once we get past the dragon realm, we'll find a place to call home?" I asked.

"That's the idea," Solaris said. "That territory is unexplored and doesn't belong to anyone. We could start our clan or tribe for unwanted supernatural creatures."

"Between all our powers, we could do it," Savion smiled.

The three of us finished our lunch and returned to our rooms. We had agreed to stay in Midnight Stone for another two days before moving on. Solaris seemed to believe it would take our families a while to find us, considering they all thought Midnight Stone would kill anyone the second they set foot into our territory. I thought maybe that's what we would have to do: fake our death and let our families mourn their loss. Solaris had agreed that he would support it if we had to do that. The idea of my nieces crying at my funeral was gut-wrenching, but I couldn't keep living for the happiness of others.

Luna Kivela visited us shortly before dinner and asked if I would mind coming to help teach a class tomorrow. I agreed since assisting Gwena had been something I enjoyed. The young wolves were lacking in a fundamental understanding of the elements. Kivela thought it was vital for them to learn about everything nature has to offer since their Moon Goddess was considered the mother of all things. Fairies believed in elemental Gods and Goddesses, each holding dominion over a certain element and being responsible for the fairies' control of those elements.

"I can't believe they're trying to give you a job already," Solaris commented after Luna Kivela had left.

"It does seem like they're trying to get us to stay," I said.

"It's always an option if we can't make our way," he added. "I wouldn't mind helping train these wolves. Some of them don't look too good."

"You think the Phoneix train harder?" I questioned, changing into an oversized T-shirt. We had decided to stay in our room for dinner, and Bastan said he would have food sent up. Savion wanted to go down, probably to flirt with any unmated female wolves while we still could.

"I know we do," she joked.

"I still haven't seen you shift yet," I told him with a sly smile.

"We can change that tomorrow," she said, grabbing my waist and pulling me onto the bed. "I also haven't seen what you can do with your powers yet."

"I'm happy to show you tomorrow. Maybe you can come sit in on the class I will help teach. I can impress these wolves so they can stop whispering about us," I told him, straddling his lap and running my fingers through his hair. "Do you think Savion is happy he came with us?"

"I think so; he wouldn't have done it if he didn't want to," Solaris said.

"I just worry we're going to put him in harm's way," I told him.

"He understands the risk; we discussed all that before we left. Don't worry, he's here to help and protect us," Solaris reassured me.

"What did he do in your clan?" I asked, getting off Solaris to slide under the covers.

"He was a warrior; he started training when he moved to our clan, and he was one of our best ones," Solaris explained, climbing into bed beside me.

"I can see that about him. What clan was he in before?" I asked, snuggled closer to Solaris.

"He came from the northern clan. He doesn't talk about his time there much; I'm not even sure how his parents died. I never wanted to pry, and if he wants to talk about it, he'll tell me," Solaris replied.

"Maybe now that he's out, he'll be more inclined to talk about it," I said.

"Maybe," Solaris added.

"What happens if what we find on the other side of the dragon realm isn't what we think, and it's somewhere we can't live?" I wondered.

"Then we come back here or maybe try Blood Night. There's always the human world; we could try our hand there," Solaris suggested.

"I think I'd much rather live in a wolf pack than the human world," I laughed.

"Agreed," Solaris said, wrapping his arms around me.