by Jaymin Eve
She blinked a few times. “How did you know…?”
I shook my head, staring at my socks for a minute. “I guess I just recognized your expression … my friend died last year.” She had committed suicide. Katie had suffered from depression, but at that time, I’d thought she was doing okay. When I got the phone call from her parents, I’d refused to believe it. It took me days to come to terms with what happened.
I still thought about her all the time – the sassy girl with long blond hair and gorgeous blue eyes. Technically, she had everything going for her. But depression did not discriminate; it took whomever it wanted and held on for dear life. She had fought hard, but in the end, the battle was too large for her.
It hurt still.
“It was my brother,” Star whispered, her almost navy eyes shiny. “He was killed fighting the resistance – members of the four houses that joined Laous’ team. We’re ferreting them out now, trying to determine how deep it goes in our houses.”
Her brother. A lump formed in my throat because her face held untold levels of devastation. “I’m really sorry,” I said, wishing there was something better I could say. The thought of losing Brad had tears springing to my eyes.
She nodded at me, swallowing hard. “Thank you, it’s … it’s not getting easier. If anything, it’s harder than ever, but we’re moving forward for Marsil. He would have wanted us to keep fighting.”
“We just need to make sure he’s the only casualty.” The masculine voice came from a hallway leading off the main living area. It was the voice of a rock star, deep rumbly tenors. He stepped out from the darkness, moving into the light where we were all standing.
Holy hell. Beautiful but deadly was exactly how I’d categorize him. His head was shaved, almost completely bald, which showcased his own set of dark red tattoos across one side of his head and down his neck. It looked like they were a similar style to Chase’s, the same symbols. That had to be something to do with their houses.
“Daniel, overlord major of House of Imperial.” Star introduced us. “He is bonded to Callie, the second secret keeper.”
Okay, that was interesting.
“Was Callie born in House of Imperial?” I blurted out.
Daniel paused, tilting his head at me in a completely unhuman way. “Yes, she was. Why do you ask?”
Don’t look at Chase. Don’t look at Chase. “No reason.” I shrugged in an attempt to act causal. “Just trying to piece all of the information together.”
Information like … was there a deeper reason I felt a connection to Chase? Callie and Daniel were bonded. She was born in his land…
“Ask all the questions you want,” Star said to me, moving forward to take a seat on a large one-seater chaise chair. “We have nothing else to do for the next few days until we receive word of where we move to next.”
With a sigh, I sank down into the long couch. My parents and Brad joined me, all of us looking exhausted and ready to call it a day – despite the fact it was about 8 A.M.
“Thank you.” I attempted a smile. “I have about a billion questions, but let’s start with … what’s an overlord?”
Daniel answered: “We have a leadership system which is a mix of your human monarchy and military forces. The overlord major rules over his house, and there are four houses in total. If they have a mate or betrothed, she or he will also rule in supremacy. This title is passed through bloodlines, like a monarchy. Next in line is the overlord minor, then we have admiral major, admiral minor, and it continues down in a ranking system.”
I waved toward his head. “So, the marks you wear, they’re something to do with being an overlord?”
He nodded. “Yes, a true inheritor is born with the marks, but if there are none to inherit, the marks can be added once you’re initiated.”
So that means … I turned toward the silent Chase, who was standing with one shoulder nudged into a nearby wall, observing everything. “Chase is an overlord m…”
“Minor,” he filled in for me. “My parents are still alive and well. I’m next in line to House of Leights.”
Great, he was a prince – kind of – too. Of course he was.
Star piped up then. “My father is the overlord of House of Darken, my oldest brother Lexen is the next in line. His draygone soul chose Emma as a mate.”
My entire world ground to a halt, and I knew I must look crazy, trying to breathe and blink and not pass out. Someone started to talk but there was a roaring in my ears. Eventually, I held both hands up and whoever was talking stopped.
My voice was a breathless whisper: “Are you telling me that the first secret keeper is mated to an overlord of Darken. The second secret keeper to an overlord of Imperial. What? H-how?”
I was destined to be with Chase…
That had to explain why he affected me so greatly. I wasn’t weak – it was beyond my control.
“Yes,” Star said with a nod. “Both of them are bonded in a way which makes them true mates. A soul-deep bond. We believe it might have something to do with the timing of the secret keepers and overlord minors being born, like all of you were born in a similar year and under the same moon. Maybe the great gods thought this time the secret keepers needed extra security to keep them safe.”
No! No! No! No! And hell no! I did not want that. Predestined bull. I controlled my own life. No one else had that right. Unable to stop myself, I looked up to meet glittering green eyes. Chase’s expression was unreadable. He didn’t look angry, but there was something there that told me he was as confused about this as I was. Neither of us said anything. He didn’t confirm that he felt the same connection I did, and I wondered if it was mostly on my side.
“What’s a draygone?” I heard Brad ask, and it was enough to pull me from my own head.
I looked down to find my hands clenched, nails biting into the soft flesh on my palms.
“It’s like your dragon myth on Earth,” Daniel offered. “Lexen can shift his form to a half-beast, half-Daelighter version.”
Guess that explained the beasts. They had dragons … no big deal. And Lexen was like a … werewolf but in dragon form. Also … no big deal…
My breathing was increasing rapidly. I was going to embarrass myself if I didn’t calm down soon. “I need a moment,” I said, somehow keeping my voice even. “Is it okay if I step out onto the porch?”
My dad took a moment to look at Daniel and Chase, who were no doubt the authority here, being princes and all. Both of them nodded and I shot up in my chair. “Don’t wander off,” my dad warned me. “If you see anything weird at all, get back inside immediately.”
I wasted no time bolting from the room. Brad half-rose from his chair but I shook my head at him. I really did need to be alone.
Chapter 7
Running away to get some air was becoming a thing for me. The excitement I’d felt earlier in the car was fading away again under my panic. I was acting very bipolar in my emotions, freaked out one minute, excited the next. Seriously, how was I part of this Daelighter world? With true mates and bonding. I mean, who even used the words mates and bonding? This entire thing was too much like a fantasy novel for my liking.
I was not born on Earth!
Technically … I was an alien? Even if I had human DNA? Wait … was my DNA still human? I was born in House of Leights for a reason. They needed the secret keepers to be in fetus form for a reason, so that we could be born in the waters of Overworld. Which must have done something to us…
Rubbing at my temples, a headache was threatening to explode behind my eyes. It was just a light pounding now, but I recognized the signs from the few times I’d ended up with a migraine. Too much stress, teamed with no sleep, was taking its toll.
Light footsteps sounded behind me and I turned expecting it to be my mom. She was the only one who moved so stealthily, but instead it was another girl, who looked to be about my age. Her shoulder-length platinum-blond hair was the sort of color that most of my friends spent hundreds in the salon to achieve. Her
s looked natural though.
“Oh, hey,” she said, blinking a few times as if she’d just noticed me there. “I didn’t expect anyone to be out here. I like to escape all the chaos on occasion.”
Samesies, strange girl. Samesies.
As she stepped closer, we both examined each other.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m Maya.”
“Callie.” She held her hand out to me.
A sliver of excitement had my stomach flipping. Not in the same way Chase affected me, but in the way that made me think this was someone who understood what I was going through.
“You’re the second secret keeper,” I said as we shook hands.
She smiled, turning her face from pretty into beautiful. She had a very Jennifer Lawrence look about her, and I could definitely see what had Daniel so enthralled. I hadn’t missed the way his face softened when she was mentioned.
“Yes, and you’re our third,” she declared. “Emma is going to be very excited to meet you. She thinks the four of us have a destiny to be best friends and family. That we’re all tied together.”
She was blunt in an enchanting way. Like she wasn’t sure how to hold a conversation without just saying everything she thought. But there was no malice in her words.
“This destiny business is getting kinda old, don’t you think?”
A tendril of curtness crept into my tone, but she didn’t seem offended. She leaned back against the railing and observed me like I was some sort of science experiment. “What do you mean exactly? Being chosen as a secret keeper wasn’t a destiny thing, it was just timing. Our families were one of the few in on the alien secret, and our mothers just happened to be pregnant at the right time. All four keepers had to be born in the same year.”
Mimicking her pose, I leaned back, keeping a few feet between us. “I’m not talking about the secret keepers stuff, but that still could be destiny if you think about it. What if we were conceived at the exact right moment to fulfill this fate, blah, blah.”
Callie chuckled, propping her feet out a little as she leaned further back. I noticed she was wearing black Converse, a mirror to mine that were by the door. She also wore a pair of jeans and a simple white shirt. We were actually twinning really hard right now, and for some stupid reason, that made me feel a bond with her more than any of the destiny crap.
She watched me closely, no doubt seeing the mess I was. “I’m going to guess that just like Emma, you had no idea about this world.” Her unusual stormy-gray eyes narrowed on me. The way she was staring made me slightly uncomfortable. Like she was seeing too much.
“I knew nothing,” I confirmed. “Which is kind of stupid considering my parents literally work in the government agency which deals with Daelighter and human relations. They said they were going to tell me soon, but that it was important to them that I live a normal life for as long as possible.”
Shadows crossed Callie’s face. “I spent my days moving every three to four months, living with my crazy mother who blamed aliens for everything that was wrong in the world. I would have liked a few years of normal life.” She shook her head, a half-smile back on her face. “Turned out, aliens are the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“Daniel?” I guessed.
Her face lit up like I’d handed her a limitless credit card and her own private plane, Christmas and birthday all wrapped into one huge moment. “Having someone like Daniel in my life … there’s no comparing it to anything else. Emma will tell you the same.”
I snorted before I could stop the rude sound. She blinked at me, and then raised both eyebrows.
“Sorry…” I said quickly. “I just … I’m not really down with this whole soul mate thing. I mean, does Daniel love you because of some stupid destiny? Or does he love you because of you?”
“I love her because of both,” came the deep voice from across the porch. He’d clearly come in search of her and had heard the end of our conversation.
Despite the fact that he’d been answering my question, his eyes were all for Callie.
“That’s the funny thing about fate,” she said, moving toward him like she couldn’t help herself. “Sometimes it knows better than we do about what is absolutely perfect for us. What will fulfill us. I don’t care how Daniel and I found each other. All I care is that we did.”
She pushed into his arms then, and as his lips gently brushed across her forehead, her eyes closed and the contentment on her face…
Turning away, I stared out into the forest again, giving them a few moments’ privacy. They were doing nothing but hugging and it still felt like such an intimate moment.
I could have that?
My inner voice, a part of me hidden deep down, the part which was never satisfied with any of the guys I’d ever dated, or with my life in general, made me wonder if I had been waiting for Chase.
“Oh. Em. Gee!” The shriek had me spinning around to find a pretty redhead heading in my direction. She was wearing a white shirt, black jeans with torn knees, and black Converse. What was this, the secret keepers’ uniform?
She stopped right before me. “I’m so glad you’re finally here,” she said with excitement. “And you’re totally beautiful, and tiny. Plus, I love your hair. I always wanted to get purple through mine, but it just wouldn’t go as well with my red tone.”
This had to be Emma, the one enthusiastic about us being one big happy family.
I smiled, and it didn’t even feel forced. “It’s nice to meet you,” I told her with sincerity. Knowing that both of these girls had been through the same thing as me, sent relief through me. I felt less stressed all of a sudden.
“This is perfect…” Emma ran her hands through her long wavy hair, her blue eyes sparkling in happiness. “Now we just have to find the last secret keeper before that asshole Laous. Then the four of us will be a team.”
I smiled again. How did these two make me like them so quickly? I’d never had that happen before.
Emma dropped back to lean against the rail next to me. She was taller than me by quite a few inches but wasn’t as tall as Callie. I was feeling like a real shorty around all of these people. I mean, the men alone were at least a foot taller than me. Most of them even more.
“Were you a cheerleader, too?” I asked her randomly, wondering where all of her pep came from.
A deep masculine chuckle sent goosebumps over my skin, and I turned to find the second hottest guy I’d ever seen – tied with Daniel – stepping out through the open doorway. Chase was the hottest, but that was not something I was ready to deal with, so I’d go back to the newcomer.
Tall, dark-haired, with a face carved from the gods, and a huge, well-muscled body, he could have been the perfect man, but there was way too much scary there to ever interest me. His intensity, the way he moved in an almost animalistic way, I knew this had to be Lexen. Weredragon.
His chuckle faded off, and he stared at his girl in a way that almost made me blush. “Let’s just say that Emma is not exactly athletically-inclined.”
Holy hell. The chemistry between the two couples was explosive. Made sense now … that feeling I got whenever I was near Chase. It was a lot, and I didn’t know how to process it. Even worse, I had no real idea if it was the same for him or not. I didn’t know him well enough to tell yet; he seemed to be good at hiding his emotions.
Emma distracted me when she sighed. “First Callie is a ninja who can climb ropes, kick ass, and enjoys jogging. And now I find out you’re a cheerleader. Let me guess, you can do a dozen backflips and the splits.”
I gave a half shrug as a small burst of laughter escaped from me. “You got me. I’m really into the gymnastics side of cheer.”
She pouted so dramatically that everyone laughed. And I joined them, feeling like I was part of this world for the first time.
“I’ve been teaching Emma some self-defense,” Callie added. She was no longer in Daniel’s arms, but they were still very close to each other. “And she’s helping me with my rea
ding.”
Emma beamed. “I’m a total bookworm, I love fantasy stories.”
“I love to read,” I told her. “Sci-fi for me. I’ve kind of fallen out of the habit in the last few years. Life got busy in high school, but I’d like to find time to start up again.”
Her eyes and face lit up, and now she was the one with the credit card and private plane. “I have the best series for you to start with,” she burst out. “Oh my God, I have at least six favorite fantasy worlds that are so good you’ll never stop reading again. I can’t wait to have a book friend to talk to.”
Callie groaned. “Don’t get her started. She will literally chat your ears off for hours about all the books.”
“All the books,” Emma chimed in, her smile lifting her cheeks high as she took no offense to Callie’s scrunched-up face.
“You’re not a reader?” I asked Callie.
She shrugged. “I can’t really read. Words get all muddled when I stare at them. Letters move around. I’m probably just too stupid. But … Emma is determined that I live in these cool worlds, so we’ve been trying to figure out a way to help me.”
Emma left my side so she could throw an arm around Callie. It was clear they were great friends. I wondered how long they’d known each other.
“You’re not stupid,” Emma groused at her. “You need to stop saying that. You have dyslexia. It’s an actual condition which makes reading hard for you.” She turned to face me. “Callie is ultra-smart, seriously. She basically taught herself everything, and I’m pretty sure she did a better job than the hundreds of teachers I’ve had over the years.”
Callie pushed her away gently, but there was a twinkle in her eye. She adored Emma, and I got it. It was hard not to like her. She was funny, and quick-witted, and super-nice. Both of the secret keepers were. I felt like an outsider, the one who didn’t know the jokes, who hadn’t done the miles to earn her place yet. But a part of me wanted to stick around long enough that I became a true member of this group.
“One of my friends back home has dyslexia,” I said to Callie. “She had to do a bunch of therapies, and they use a computer program to change tone and depth and color of letters. It helps her immensely. She told me it never really gets easy, but it does get easier.” I quickly hurried to add, “And it definitely doesn’t make you stupid. She gets better grades than me, if you’re judging on that sort of thing.”