Adam's Pulse

Part 15

Owen nodded.  “But not the way she is connected with you.  If Ally takes in their blood, she binds them together forever.  She feels what they feel; they feel what she does, but if Ally only allows them to take her blood, she simply accepts them as one of her own.  She can communicate with them telepathically, control them, but that is as much of a connection as they have.  It is the same with mated pairs.”

“Owen,” Ally snapped, her sharp voice making Owen close his mouth.  “Just tell him what you are.”  Her eyes softened slightly.  “He’s not ready for the rest.”

Adam looked towards her and frustration ate at him.  How much longer did she think he wouldn’t be ready for her news?  He was tired of her thinking he was weak, tired of her thinking that he needed to be kept in the dark.

“Tell him, Ally,” a quiet voice whispered, and it took Adam a minute to realize that the voice belonged to Amaya.  It sounded so dead, so unlike the woman he had joked with before Blake’s death.

Ally shook her head.  “I will when the time is right.”

White eyes blinked, seeing nothing, but taking in everything.  “The time is never right.  Owen can tell his story, but you need to tell Adam the rest.  Please, Ally.  You know just as well as I do how fleeting life can be.  Can you honestly let him keep the burden on his shoulders while he still has a life to live?”

“You don’t understand,” Ally said in a slightly defeated tone.  “Telling him this will only add more burdens to his shoulders, not lessen it.”

“But it is his burden to know,” Sebastian said.

Letting out a sigh, Ally leaned further into Sebastian, allowing the man to hug her tightly.  “Fine.  When Owen finishes his explanation, I will tell Adam about his past, nothing about his future.”

“Agreed,” Barron said before anyone else could interrupt.  “I don’t think Ally should tell him anything, but if she is being forced into saying something, nothing of his future should be spoken of.  We all know what that information could do.”

“Agreed,” Sebastian said, and was quickly echoed by both Amaya and Owen.

“Agreed,” Adam said sarcastically.  “Seeing as it’s my life, I think I should have the winning vote.”

Owen laughed as if Adam were joking.  “They all said you were a funny guy.”

“Funny,” Adam repeated before shaking his head.  “Just tell me your story.  If I’m not mistaken, I was supposed to be charming a certain human.  The faster you speak, the quicker I can get out of here.”

“As you said earlier, I’m a product of Marcus’s attempts to bind the wolves to the leopards.  He thought with the two of them together, he would be able to defeat Ally.”  Adam nodded along as Owen repeated parts of his story.  “My mother was a wolf, my father a leopard.  When the two of them mated, my father fell in love, but my mother refused to take his blood.  The relationship was one sided, and when my father learned my mother had imprinted on another, it broke him.  He exiled himself from our pride, and I have not seen him since.  With my mother breaking her part of the alliance, the wolves backed out of the other stipulations.  Why would they want to work with Marcus when they could simply wait until the man failed and then swoop in and defeat all the leopards?  The rivalry between the species would be gone because the only species left would be the wolves.”