Solaris' POV
Kissing Malina felt good, not how I imagined kissing my fated mate, but I didn't hate how it made me feel. It was hard to ignore this pang of guilt I had in my gut, poking at me like it was trying to remind me of something. Stuffing it down, I broke our kiss and looked into Malina's green eyes.
"Follow me," I said, taking her hand in mine.
"Where are we going?" she asked breathlessly, getting up and clutching my hand tightly. I took Malina into the woods, seeing now as a good time to mark each other. Sure, it might not be as romantic as it should have been, but we needed to get this done to seal the deal and make my parents happy. Stopped a little ways in, I turned and captured her lips in mine, reaching to unzip her dress as she moaned into our kiss. She kept her arms at her sides to let her dress fall to the floor, standing in only her strapless bra and underwear. I had to say she was beautiful, with perfect curves and a small tattoo on her hip. Malina tugged my shirt from my pants and started undoing the buttons, her hands shaking slightly, so I decided to help her. While I did so, she only looked at my chest, licking her lips and smiling. Knowing she was enjoying what she saw, I smiled, too, grabbing her again. I pulled her in for another passionate kiss. Something distracted me; I heard a gasp and then an unfamiliar voice.
"What the fu*k?" Breaking our kiss, I turned my head to see what had caught us, but it was someone I'd never seen before. Long, light brown hair and perfectly round green eyes were glaring at me. This woman was a fairy, but how had she gotten past our patrol groups? Anger overtook me, thinking about what her kind did to Savion, and all I could see was red, my phone threatening to take over. Stepping in front of Malina, I sent a fireball hurtling toward this unwelcome intruder. She must have been prepared for it because a large dirt barrier appeared before her, absorbing the impact.
"Who's that?" Malina asked, grabbing her dress from the ground to cover herself. The dirt fell, and the woman looked shocked that I had tried to kill her.
"Solaris, it's me, Kesiray," she told me, taking a step toward me. This time, I sent an entire stream of fire at her, and she dove out of the way just in time. Taking refuge behind a tree, I stalked towards her, sending fireball after fireball at the tree, watching it come ablaze. "Solaris, stop!" she had to shout over the roar of the fire.
"You think I'm going to stop after what you did to Savion?" I yelled, preparing to dive around the tree and end this for good.
"Savion is fine! He's alive and with me!" she bellowed.
"What are you talking about? Stop lying to distract me!" I yelled, running around the tree and coming face to face with her familiar green eyes.
"Solaris!" someone else yelled. Turning again, I saw a sight I never thought I'd see. Savion ran towards me through the woods, but this couldn't be him. Savion was dead, and in our crypt, was this a ghost of some trick brought on by fairy magic? Right before he reached me, the wind blew. I was close enough to this fairy to catch her scent, and what I smelled nearly knocked me off my feet and stopped my heart.
At the same time, I felt a punch to my gut that knocked me backward, flashes and pictures playing in my mind. Snapshots of forgotten memories fly one right after the other. Playing together in a tree, sitting on a large branch eating, laying on a picnic blanket, her naked body under mine. I was running through the forest and flying through the sky at night, running away from our families. Clutching at my exposed chest, I felt the head rush of my memories flooding back to me.
Blinking and panting, Kesiray looked at me hopeful, while Savion appeared wide-eyed and ready to defend Kesi if needed. Shaking my head, it took me a moment to realize what had just happened. I had attacked my mate and tried to kill her; had she not been so quick, I might have succeeded. Guilt and shame overtook me, not understanding how I'd forgotten her. The realization that I had almost marked another woman also hit me hard; reaching up, there was no mark on my next that I knew Kesi had left.
"Oh my god..." I breathed, glancing around the tree at Malina, who had her dress back on and looked confused. "You... and you... Oh my god!"
"It's okay," Kesi breathed, seeing the change in me.
"No, I almost killed you," I told her, backing away.
"But you didn't," she said, following my movements. "You remember me?"
"Of course," I whispered. The tears began to fall from her eyes, and a smile came on her face, one that I had never seen before. As if we had finally seen each other after years of being apart, the relief her sigh let out was enough to knock me over. "What exactly have I missed?"
"We'd love to explain, but we need to get out of her," Savion said, glancing around nervously.
"How are you here?" I questioned, still unsure if he was standing before me. "My dad told me you were dead."
"He would have liked that, but no. They locked me in the dungeon after they brought us back from Midnight Stone," he told me.
"I'm so confused," I said, looking down at Kesi, who was still staring up at me with wonder.
"So am I," Malina said. I had forgotten she was here, but her seeing Kesi and Savion wasn't good at all. "How are these people?"
"Malina, this is my mate Kesiray," I told her.
"Your mate? But you just asked me to be your chosen mate," she reminded me.
"That was before I got all my memories back," I said. "Kesi is my fated mate and the one I want to be with."
"But she's a fairy," Malina said, sounding confused.
"Yeah, she is," I said, looking down at Kesi and taking her hand in mine. The familiar electricity shot through my hand and up my arm, warming and comforting me. When I looked back at Malina, she had a soft smile on her face.
"Look, I don't know exactly what's happening here, but I do know about fated mates and your special bond. You three need to get out of here before anyone sees you; I'll stall as long as I can," Malina said.
"Are you sure?" I asked, not wanting to put Malina in any danger.
"Yeah, I'll stay here and pretend to be with you. That'll give you a few minutes head start. If anyone asks, I'll make up some story to tell them," Malina said.
"Thank you," I told her.
"Go while you still can," Malina said, nodding. Keeping Kesi's hand firmly in mine, we took off into the woods with Savion behind us. I still felt terrible for attacking her, but I had no idea who she was, and I could only assume my parents had something to do with all of this.
"Where exactly are we going?" I asked against the wind as we ran.
"Far enough away to fly," Kesi yelled. "We have to go past the dragon lands like we planned, get as far from our families as possible."
"We're not going back to Midnight Stone, that's for sure," Savion yelled from behind us.
"I'd be happy if we never see Bastan again," I added. Faster and faster, we ran, trees turning to blurs, giant brown and green streaks as we passed. I didn't know fairies could run so fast, but Kesi didn't seem to have trouble keeping up; all the adrenaline must have been fueling her. We had the right idea when we first tried to run, but we ran into an unexpected obstacle: Kesi running out of energy. I had a feeling that wasn't going to be an issue tonight.
"We can probably fly now," Kesi said, the three of us coming to a skidding stop.
"Okay, we stick together, and we don't stop until we pass the dragon realm," I told everyone. Kesi and Savion nodded. "Once we get where we're going, you both have a lot of explaining to do."
"I think you do, too," Kesi said, giving me a playful shove. "Trying to mark someone else."
"Hey, that's not my fault. I didn't know who you were!" I teased. "I'll mark you right here and now." I grabbed her upper arms and pulled her into my chest, crushing my lips to hers for the first time in what felt like decades. Everything seemed right; the stars had aligned, and fireworks exploded where our lips met. Kesi had her arms wrapped around me, and I felt her entire body relax in my arms. Savion began cheering wildly behind us.
"Shh!" Kesi hissed, still trapped in my hug. "We don't know who's around here."
"Sorry," Savion whispered, still cheering, just without any sound. Spreading our wings, Kesi took my hand, smiling encouragingly at me. The three of us took off, soaring high into the night sky to try and stay out of sight. Flying always felt so freeing, like we could go anywhere we wanted. The warm air hitting my face filled my lungs, and I heard Kesi laugh beside me. We flew and flew, avoiding any place we thought might be a danger to us. Flying around the centaur land instead of over seemed worth the longer detour after what happened last time.
"We're passing over the dragon realm," I told them, noticing where we were. The good thing about being the clan leader's son was that I had been forced to study the entire supernatural realm in school, so I knew where everyone's territory started and ended, at least when the last maps were made. People were always fighting over land, trying to make what they had bigger. Unexpectedly, something hit me in the face, wrapping itself around my entire body, catching Kesi and me. It was a net; a large iron met, causing my wings to sink into my body, which caused me to begin falling from the sky. Kesi was experiencing the same thing, twisting beside me and trying to find a way out.
Glancing around, I saw Savion falling in his own iron cage. We were plummeting through the sky, the ground getting closer and closer, knowing the moment of impact was only seconds away. Before we hit, something large swooped over us and caught us. I saw a giant black dragon with our net in its talons, carrying us to safety or more danger; I wasn't sure. Another grey dragon has Savion, following behind us. The dragons set us on the ground, where our nets were surrounded by fifty people, the dragons who had carried us landing nearby and shifting back to their human form. A man came to stand in front of us, dressed in all black, matching his dark black eyes glaring at us.
"Now, who do we have here?" he asked, clicking his tongue.