Ayn's Healing

Chapter 3 - Kari

I am so tired, every single muscle and bone and tendon in my body is tired. I drove my wolves to their limits today. We ran through the swamp, across cliffs, through the forest, I had them fight each other in pairs and formations, and then, to crown it all, I had one shift of border patrol up on the Pass.

The good thing is my wolf is finally quiet.

Before going into the house, I lie down on the black soil and close my eyes. I like taking this moment to breathe before I have to go in and pretend everything is ok, and I am not at all one step closer to going feral.
As I try to enjoy the slight feeling of relaxation flowing through my bones, a pair of hands cover my eyes. I grab behind me blindly and pull the creature above my head, slamming her body into the ground. It's my sister, of course, a bit dazed but laughing.

"K bro, you are never off guard."

"You should be careful M, one of these days I will break your neck by accident," I mumble and get up, sensing that my meditative moment is now over.

"Ah, but why would the Goddess allow you to do this to your favorite sister?"

"You are my only sister M", I grunt again. I love her with my whole soul, but right now I want to be alone.  "Remember also that this is the Goddess that allowed Lara's death."

"K, you heathen. There are second chances. It's been seven years. This is not on the Goddess, it's on you. Work too much, play too little." She chews on a twig looking at me from the corner of her eyes.

"I play enough," I say again, looking down. "I even went to all the stupid parties and gatherings mom sent me to last year. Except getting fondled by she-wolves with questionable manners, I got nothing."

"You can always choose a Luna."

"Shut up! I almost had a Luna and she was taken from me. How could I just "choose" another one, like a pair of socks? Hell M, do you even think before you speak?" I bark at her, unable to stop even as I see her crouching scared, and showing me her neck.

The rational part of me argues loudly that my sister is only trying to help. In our pack, we had some couples of chosen mates who were doing well. Wizards and witches, regular humans, did it all the time. Finding one's soulmate was a bonus, not a requirement for a fulfilled life. None of them expected the stupid fate to manifest itself.

I am mortified and I help Mia get up. We hug and I whisper in her ear – "I am sorry. I know you are just trying to help. But this whole pressure of finding a mate is getting to me. I am not even sure I want to go through the whole love theatre again."

"I know K," says Mia touching my shoulder. "I pray to the Goddess that she gives you a second chance. I also pray that, when that happens, it doesn't feel like a theatre, but like something sacred as the mate bond is meant to be."

As I enter the house, hoping that my mom is not around to see how flustered my sister is, the sweetest scent hits me and I feel my legs shaking.
It smells like fresh lime tree flowers and its source seems to be somewhere upstairs. I hear Storm stir inside me in a maddening way. "Mate" he howls, and I am more disoriented than ever. What is the wolf saying, what does he sense? Was the smell the work of his loneliness-crazed brain? Was he going to take control and was I going to lose my mind as my mother has prophesied whenever I came home alone from a party?
There is no mate in this house because only my family and the Betas live here. I shake my head thinking I probably should just brace myself and see the pack doctor for a check-up.

As I climb the stairs, The scent gets stronger and stronger and Storm is threatening to come out.

"Wolf, what is going on?"

"Your mate is here, your mate is here," he howls with a mixture of excitement and pain.

"Storm, that is impossible, there is nobody here. Everybody's downstairs waiting for dinner. " I am trying to remember if my mother hired some new omegas. Maybe one is up here cleaning or something.

"Mate," Storm whimpers and twists, making my head hurt.

The door next to my room opens and the most beautiful woman I had ever seen walks out, wrapped in a maddening gentle flowery scent. She is tiny and delicate and looks at me with surprised shiny brown eyes. 

I think to myself ok, this is it. I am hallucinating, I must have again skimped on sleep. Maybe I should listen to Mia's advice and go get laid with a chosen mate before I go completely crazy and see more gorgeous women walking around my floor like it's nothing. 

I blink intentionally to make the vision disappear when she starts talking:

"Hello, I am Ayn. Nice to see you...again." She gestures toward the guest rooms: "Your mom said it's ok if I crash in here..."

Ayn. Nice to see me again. I try to process what is going on. Ayn. Crashing here. My mom. And then, after I breathe a bit, I start remembering. There has been talking about this at dinner once. Ray's witch child was going to live with us for a while. Ray, my father's wizard friend, whose family was slaughtered ten years ago by rogues behind dark magic shields.

This fantastic young woman standing in front of me smelling delicious was many moons ago little Ayn, who played hide-and-seek with us in the summers we spent across the River. I seem to remember she had grass-green hair, but apparently, she grew into it because now it's a warm chestnut brown. I also note she grew into other things, like beautiful curves that peak through the simple grey dress she is wearing.  That was all nice and fine, but what was Storm saying?

"She is your mate," he declares again, wiggling his silvery tail.

"This cannot be, wolf. If she's Morgane and Ray's daughter she is a witch, not a lycan. How can you even feel the mate bond with her?"

"Her subspecies is not a limitation for the bond...Human, this is a female with great powers and she's looking at us. She introduced herself and you have not said a word. Please try to act normal because this is your mate and so help me the Goddess, if you drive her away with your weirdness I will take control and ..."

I shut off the link to Storm without listening to the end of his threats.

"I am Kari. Kari, son of Xander and Teresa." I say, extending my hand and wondering why did I feel the need to state my full name for this girl that I know since she was in diapers.

"Because you want to continue with "and you, Ayn are my mate"." Storm intrudes again, quoting the statement we use in Land Core during the mate bond ceremony. I put up the thickest wall between his growling and my thoughts, and focus on the sweet little woman in front of me.

Before I have a chance to hug her, her hand shoots out between us. I remember that hugs were not a thing when we visited her parents, so I accept her witch greeting. Her hand is miniature small in comparison to mine, but her grip is pleasantly firm. The tips of her fingers are dark brown and I must be staring, because she withdraws her palm and says:

"Sorry, my hands look unladylike. It's walnut, it doesn't come off easily. I needed it for my..." she immediately stops talking and stares down at her ballet flats. "Well, see you around I guess, Kari, son of Xander and Teresa." she resumes and makes a little waving hand gesture, as she walks past me and down the stairs.

I enter my room and crash by the door. When she held my hand I saw stars dancing around me, I felt my chest expand and my lungs truly fill with air for the first time in the last seven years. And then she said my name, in that guttural accent of her kind - where the r is all growly and soft - and it sounded so hot that I got weak at the knees.

But how can this be? She is a witch without a wolf. Why would the Goddess pair me with a witch? First, she mated me with Lara of omega descent. And now I get a second chance, but instead of it being a strong she-wolf to carry my pups and continue my bloodline, it is a tiny skinny witch girl?

"A tiny skinny witch of great powers," Storm states in a most reverent tone in my head.