Her Fire

09 ~ F*ck the fated bond

Deirdre arrives at the door of the cottage almost out of breath.

“What is this sh*t!?” She mutters to herself, annoyed at the familiar and unwanted feelings brewing a storm inside her. She can feel David’s blue eyes following her even though he can no longer see her. And now that she’s alone… she wants to see him again.

She misses him. The man who barely speaks and seems to be just as troubled as she is.

His scent is still in her nose, something familiar she can’t really remember mixed with that unique smell in the air when it’s about to rain. It makes her want to close her eyes and…

Oh, curses! Now she’s getting hives, and she is beginning to understand why.

“No… no, no, no, no, no… NO!”

Cursing destiny and the other gods, she goes to the fridge to get another bottle of iced tea, as the one she was drinking before going after Flint has already gone warm, and drinks it all in one go.

When she puts the bottle down, it is empty and she crushes the bottle angrily before throwing it in the garbage can. She turns around and sees her own reflection in a nearby mirror, frowning at her flushed face and her wild hair that has come undone. She looks furious, ready to explode and rightly so.

Near the mirror is a miniature godfather clock, the little pendulum swinging back and forth as if nothing is wrong and everything is as it should be. Deirdre grabs the clock, staring at it accusingly, gripping it furiously and imagining Time’s slim neck between her hands instead.

“I thought I was done with this sh*t!?” She shouts at it. “Why am I feeling this again!? I was promised another life with no fated mate! WHAT THE F*CK IS THIS, THEN!?”

Of course, it’s not going to answer—it’s just an ordinary clock—and Deirdre blushes when she realizes how crazy she must sound and looks to someone who has no idea what she went through in her past life.

Fire Goddess Deirdre, fated mate of Sky God Ouranos, unwanted by her own mate because he has already lost his head over the Earth Goddess Gaea who had a fated mate of her own, the Water God Oceanus.

Long story short, in his quest to claim the woman he wanted, Ouranos committed one of the most unforgivable crimes against Deirdre, the goddess he was fated to, to be free to love the one he has always pined for even though Gaea was never meant for him.

Gently, she puts the innocent clock back on the table and exits the house.

“I left Seattle for a reason and now another reason has appeared to torment me. There’s no way in hell I’m going to stay here if that man is indeed my fated mate.” She mutters to herself, determined to face David again and confront him.

Then she realizes he might not even know a thing about fated mates and she’d just make a fool of herself, blabbering angry nonsense to a stranger. And really, why should it matter? She did not confront the man who looked like her former mate Ouranos back at home, why should she bother asking this one?

She stops dead in her tracks and takes her phone out to call Matt but he seems to be busy with another call. Feeling restless and eager to leave, she turns back to the house and simply leaves him an audio message.

“Hey, Matt… I’m leaving. I’ll still pay in full for the duration I requested, but I’m sorry, I can’t stay. Call me when you can. I’d appreciate it if you can bring me to the nearest train station. I’ll be ready in five minutes.”

Luckily, she has yet to unpack most of her stuff so she merely needs to bring what few things she has brought with her back outside the door to wait for Matt. To her surprise, it is David who is waiting for her outside when she comes out with her luggage.

They stare at each other for a few seconds before Deirdre straightens her spine and raises her chin defiantly.

“What are you doing here?” She asks coldly.

“Why are you leaving?” He asks at the same time.

She grits her teeth and says nothing, stubbornly staying in place, determined to leave sooner rather than later.

He sighs, shoving his hands in his pocket. “Matt called me. Have I done something to offend you? I am not good with social niceties, so you must forgive my lack of finesse or charm. I apologize, whatever it is I might have done. Please. Stay. I won’t bother you anymore if that’s what you want.”

Deirdre winces, feeling guilty somehow. “It’s… it’s not your fault. I… I have personal issues…” She stammers lamely.

He chuckles darkly, his eyes sad. “It’s not you, it’s me, huh? That’s how we’re doing this?”

She stares at him and realizes he is right. She is being unfair. Sighing, she drops her bags and walks towards him, stopping just beside him to say “Walk with me.” before heading back to the hills of blue flowers.

They walk in silence, him walking quietly behind her and they stop right where they stood before. They stand there watching the purplish-blue sea of lupines for a few minutes before she sighs and decides to go straight for the jugular.

“Who are you, really?” She asks. “I want the truth.”

“Davide. I did not lie about my name.”

She narrows her eyes at him and he looks away uneasily after a few seconds but says nothing.

“And you are… my fated mate?” She hazards a guess.

He seems to turn to stone, staring at her in shock, probably expecting any other question but that.

“My nose is not as good as it has been before, when I was an elemental deity, but… I recognize the same pattern of having a fated mate. I had the unfortunate experience of having one in my past life and…” She takes a deep breath before going on, turning back to stare at the view. “...your scent lingers even though you are no longer around…you make me… feel some things I’d rather not feel again…I am asking you one last time… are you my fated mate?”

He seems to struggle for an answer before simply nodding.

Fury burns deep within her. Not again. No… not now. Not ever! In her desperate attempt to escape meeting her former fated mate, she seems to have run straight into a new one.

Destiny can really be a stubborn bit—

“What are you? A wolf shifter or… something else?” She asks through clenched teeth.

“What are you?” He counters back. “You don’t smell anything but human.”

She chuckles, ignoring what he said. “I bet that you’re a shifter, with an acute sense of smell like that. But what kind? Wait… don’t tell me… Wolf. You’re Flint.”

He shakes his head. “No… I’m not Flint.”

“Oh? That’s strange, there’s another wolf, then?”

He sighs. “I’m human… with a wolf spirit. I am Davide. Flint is my wolf.”

She frowns. “Isn’t that the very definition of a wolf shifter?”

“In the old times, maybe. Nowadays, I am nothing but a failure.” He mutters.

“What do you mean?”

He takes a deep breath, staring unseeing at the sea of blue flowers, and says nothing.

She sighs, guessing she won’t be getting anything from him anymore without her giving something back in return first. “I lived in the period of ‘The Before’, during the dawn of creation, so I probably missed many things between the end of the hidden and forbidden history and the years after and frankly, I was not very interested to learn about the fates of the shifters after my rebirth, so I’m really clueless.” She admits quietly. “I am… I was… the fire goddess in my past life. I was reborn, given another chance as a human, brought to this modern age by Time herself.”

“A fire goddess?”

She snorts. “Not a fire goddess, but THE fire goddess. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one, the first and only daughter of Light, unless somebody pretended to be me after my… after I was gone.”

He frowns, his mind going back to the books he has read in the past. “The written histories never talked about THE fire goddess… There were fire priestesses and flame spirits… but as far as I remember from the books, there was the One Deity right from the very beginning.”

Deirdre rolls her eyes. “That’s my grandson. The hidden history is known only to a handful of people now. We have graduated from legends and myths and have been completely forgotten.”

He stares curiously at her. “How come you remember?”

She smiles darkly. “Because I chose not to forget.”

He blinks. “Isn’t that… counterproductive? How do you start anew… if you carry old memories with you?”

She glares at him, her temper flaring. “You don’t know what I’ve been through. I chose not to forget so I may protect myself better, since my fated mate, the one person who should have loved, defended and protected me, was the one who betrayed and k!lled me himself. That will not happen again!”

He stares at her and Deirdre can feel him struggling with the words again.

“I will never betray you. I’d rather die than hurt you.” He finally whispers.

She looks away, the ocean of remembered pain overwhelming her as she sees a flash of compassion in his eyes. She doesn’t need his pity.

“I’d rather end up in prison defending myself than allow that to happen again anyway. I am sorry, David. You have to understand, I have nothing against you, I don't even know you well enough to make a quick judgment, but I will not accept another fated mate. I refuse to. I have been given this second chance, supposedly free of those wretched chains of the cursed bond that had imprisoned me for an eternity. I will not let anyone stand between me and my freedom this time. Especially not someone that somebody else chose for me again.”