ALPHA: Heir Of The Four

Chapter Sixteen | Part I*

Submission.

'Establish a connection,' it ordered.

My head lowered immediately to Ava-Rain's, an act that had not been carried out by my own free will. I couldn't explain why, only that when our foreheads touched—connected—it felt right.

'Steady the waters,' it commanded next.

The blue.

When I thought it impossible for my racing heart to drift from its raging battle cries into a soft murmur, it only made sense that I couldn't have possibly been in control. Being calm was the last thing I ever would have been able to achieve while the fate of my mate's mental state hung in the balance, and every second that Ava-Rain remained unconscious was another second that brought the possibility of losing her forever closer. But I managed to do so and called on my wolf to do the same. Together, we channeled our sparring emotions, molded them until they all became one and locked it up.

'Feed the flames.'

The red.

Even with my emotions locked up and out of the way, there was still a list of desires standing in the way of doing what needed to be done. Of course, in that moment I desired many things. I wanted my mate back. I desired her safety. I desired to see her brown eyes staring back at me; to feel the warmth from her touch; to hear her whisper she loved me; to tell her that I loved her and knowing that, without a shadow of a doubt, she could hear it. But there was only room for one desire. One desire to represent all the others, to be the voice and leader of the rest. One shot to see to it that all of those desires would be met. And that was my desire to be what Ava-Rain needed me to be in order to save her.

'Soar on its wings.'

The yellow.

I once told Ava-Rain that our bond as mates provided us with the ability to pick up on each other's feelings and emotions. That we fed off of each other when our emotions were in synch because emotion recognized emotion. It was the day she had been brought to the den to be introduced to my parents and the pack, when my anger had been able to hijack her through her own anger.

But thoughts did not work that way, even with the bond. I couldn't read Ava-Rain's mind anymore than she could read mine. I could only make a guess or be steered along the right path to conclude what her thoughts might be with the assistance of the ability to feel her emotions. Unless you were an heir of the yellow and a true master of your element, entering another's mind to learn their thoughts—even if that mind and those thoughts belonged to your mate—was impossible. Or so I had once believed until that guiding voice inside of me told me—reminded me—that possibilities were bred from impossibilities. I was no master of the yellow, but I had what was required to get inside of Ava-Rain's mind. I felt it.

'Take root in her veins.'

The green.

Ava-Rain was mine and I was hers. We belonged to each other. We existed for each other. That was a truth. A fact that was far too big to ever be understood entirely yet comprehensible enough not to be disputed. To define mates as being two halves of one soul was the most basic of definitions that barely scratched the surface onto what it truly meant in its entirety. Your mate was your completion. Your beginning and your end. Your life and your death. They were the air in your lungs, the blood in your veins. Ava-Rain existed inside of me just as I existed inside of her. And it was now time for that part of me implanted inside of her to wake up.

Steady the waters—I called on the blue.

Feed the flames—I called on the red.