Chapter 14
“It was an accident!” Mirah screamed as Shayden’s cold hand wrapped around her waist. She felt her body bend in unnatural ways as she was shaken and thrown into every solid surface available. She felt Shayden’s otherwise hidden claws extend. They dug into every single piece of exposed flesh. Blood now coated the trees and boulders that her body went repeatedly flying into.
“Shayden, STOP!” It worked. Her body slumped to the ground. She knew this was a complete over-reaction. But then, she knew Shayden and the pain she now felt. Mirah had practically just ripped Shayden’s mate from her arms. She was lucky to still be living.
“You told her that she was my mate and she ran away from me? She finds me that repulsive?” Tears slipped from Shayden’s eyes.
“No. Shayden, she’s angry because she thinks that since you didn’t tell her yourself… well, she thinks that you do not want her.” It was hard to get the words out. Mirah’s throat was badly damaged.
“She thinks I do not want her? Why? Because I have not yet claimed her? She thinks I hesitate because I am looking for a way out of it? Tell me this is not true, Mirah!” Shayden knelt in front of Mirah. Her face contorted in anger, disbelief, regret, self-hate, and so many more. Shayden was an emotional storm right now.
“Yes, Shayden. Nixie ran away because she’s hurt. I really thought that you had told her about the bond you both share. I truly am sorry. Please, go find her.” Mirah would heal within the hour, Shayden knew this, and so Shayden left, running as fast as she could, to find her mate. She searched for over an hour on land before she decided to unfold her wings. Night-flyers mainly flew at night because during the day they were so noticeable. Shayden stripped the clothes from her body. Her wings began to grow from the flesh on her back; it was as if the flesh was being pulled from her. The transformation took only a minute, but it was a minute too long for Shayden. She was so anxious to take off in search of her mate that she only bothered with the shorts and t-shirt she had been wearing. Her underwear were left in dust as her wings carried her from the ground. The fleshy wings changed colour as she flew; they took on a blue-black hue and the ends grew to sharp points.
“Nixie!” After a further two hours of scanning almost every surface of Falls Plain, she began to scream her mate’s name. She perched upon a high branch in the tallest tree she could find. She would take this moment to scan, again, the area below her.
A scream to her left. Another shortly after, to her back. Two different voices; two very familiar voices. She did not have to think. She would go in the direction of her mate’s voice. Mirah would understand. Shayden hurt to know she was deserting her friend, but she also knew that Mirah would do the same, should she be in the same position.
The air beneath her wings was harsh. Every breath was fire in her lungs. Shayden closed her eyes and thought of her mate. She thought of the soft skin of Nixie’s right thigh. There, invisible to all humans, was the etching that marked her as a night-flyer mate. The unique blue-purple shades around the etching signified that she was the mate of a royal night-flyer.
Below she saw two figures. She heard strangled cries to her right; the place where she had originally heard Mirah. In front of her, now, was her mate and a mysterious male figure. She dived. Nixie looked up to watch in awe as Shayden’s determined form grew closer and closer with each passing millisecond.
Shayden’s body collided with the strange man who had scared her half to death a few minutes before. Their momentum carried them into a large tree, which promptly snapped in half, and slammed them into the one directly behind it.
“Stay away from my mate!” Shayden’s anger was deadly. It penetrated Nixie’s confused thoughts and sent her body forward at a surprising pace.
“Shayden, wait!” Nixie ran around the fallen tree to find Shayden’s hand wrapped around the poor man’s throat. His feet dangled above the ground. He did not seem freightened.
“Release me.” His voice was mystical. It had an ethereal quality to it. It felt like smooth ocean sand slipping through your fingers or warm salt water lapping at your feet.
Shayden didn’t budge. The man’s eyebrows rose. Clearly he was used to people doing anything he told them. With a voice like that, it was hard to imagine anyone being able to say no. Shayden, however, seemed to become even more angry than before.
“Shayden, let him go, please. He has not harmed me.” Her eyes snapped towards me.
“Yet. How do you know this Nymph will not attempt to harm you as soon as I release him?” her grip on his neck tightened. His eyes widened considerably. Nixie rose one perfect eyebrow at Shayden.
“A nymph?”
“Yes. This one is a water nymph. Also known as a merman. They reside-“ The man spluttered and wriggled to get his airway unblocked.
“Let. Me down. Will explain. Myself.” Shayden considered it, decided against it, but eventually let him go when she turned in the direction of her mate. Nixie’s eyes clearly said, ‘let him go, or else.’
His feet hit the ground with a thud and he coughed and spluttered as her tried to regain his breath. “Was that truly necessary?” Shayden took a threatening step towards him and he quickly stumbled back to land on his buttocks. “Clearly necessity doesn’t matter.”
“I think you better just shut up. If you make her angry I won’t stop her next time.” Nixie rolled her eyes and placed a hand on Shayden’s shoulder. She had a lot to discuss with her, but right now she was just ecstatic that Shayden had practically blown a fuse at the man who she thought was trying to harm her mate. Her mate. I am Shayden’s mate. She said so herself.
“Why the heck did it take you this long to actually admit that I am your mate, Shayden?” She felt the shoulder beneath her hand stiffen in surprise. Clearly this was not the topic of conversation Shayden had been expecting.
“It doesn’t matter. Now you know.” Shayden looked terrified and vulnerable.
“Yes I know. I also know that you etched me. I found the mark on my thigh. What I don’t understand is why you went through all the trouble of etching me and saving me from all kinds of crazy things like angelic demons and this ‘water nymph’ guy; if you’ve rejected me.”
“Rejected you?” Shayden’s voice held disbelief and shock.
“You didn’t even bother telling me that I was your mate. Why else would you hide it if not to avoid the situation all together? No strings.” Shayden shoved her fingers through her hair. She could not believe that Nixie had run away because she thought that she was rejecting her!
“Rejecting you? Nixie, how could anyone reject you?” Shayden’s voice grew soft, tender, alluring, like soothing water over heated flesh. Shayden’s hands fell to grip Nixie’s hips. She pulled Nixie close and their bodies fit perfectly together. They clung tightly to each other. Their lips drew together like magnets. Undeniable. Like two halves they meshed perfectly together. Their hearts pounded, but the loud pounding grew faint in the soft moans and whimpers of the two women as their exchange became more heated. Hands seeking every available bit of flesh and friction caused by moving, rolling, hungry bodies. Shayden began to move forward, moving to push Nixie against the closest tree. Their lips departed when Nixie gasped as she felt the pain-pleasure of her body being forcefully shoved into the hard bark and the feeling of Shayden’s supple flesh against her front. Shayden’s lips had found the hollow of her neck. Nixie legs were lifted and she wrapped them around Shayden’s waist.
“Shayden.” It came out unintentionally, but it drove Shayden crazy.
“Dear soul of mine, Nixie, I must have you. I must make you mine.” The words were a hot growl that dripped from Shayden’s swollen lips. Their eyes locked.
A loud coughing noise distracted them from their daze. Nixie and Shayden remembered that they were not alone.
“Fuck you, asshole!” Shayden could not help the vulgar use of profanity. Her emotions were running high. Her mate had just accepted her and the dark, animalistic side of her was practically tearing at her from the inside out to get to their mate.
“Shayden, don’t speak like that.” Just the sound of her mate’s voice was enough to rattle her bones. Her body had all turned to jelly at their first touch. She felt liquid at hearing her name on those luscious lips, scolding tone or not.
“I apologise.” The man raised an eyebrow and lifted a hand to run it through his hair.
“I am truly sorry to interrupt, but time is of the essence. Nixie, I must have a word in private with you.”
“Not happening.” Shayden scowled at the man and ignored her mate’s frowning expression.
“Shayden, seriously.”
“Do not ‘Shayden, seriously’ me, my dear mate. Anything this man has to say, he can say in front of me. Besides, I will not let you go far enough to get out of my hearing range anyway, there is therefore no point in even leaving my side.” Nixie stared into Shayden’s eyes. The stubbornness was evident, but, less clearly, she could see the concern and need in those eyes. Concern for her safety and the need to keep her close. They had just discovered each other. Knowing of your mate and actually having them are two different things. Once they accepted each other, the only thing left to do was ‘seal the deal.’ The thought left Nixie blushing profusely, but she smiled warmly into Shayden’s eyes and turned to the man.
“My mate is right. There is no way I am moving far enough away from her side for us to actually have a private conversation. I will simply tell her everything anyway, so you may as well say it now, in front of us both.” His dark hair fell into his face as he bowed his head in acknowledgement of Nixie’s words.
“I understand fully. This Shayden woman is your mate after all. I assume that she wants to protect you as much as I do.” Shayden’s arm wrapped around Nixie’s waist.
“Protect her? What are you referring to?”
“Later. First I must start with who I am. Then I will tell you all you want to know.” The man paled slightly but composed himself fairly quickly. “My name is Lars Finn. I am your father, Nixie.”
Silence.
Deathly, still silence.
All three of them ceased to breath.
Shayden’s grip tightened on her mate as she felt her legs give way.
Lars quickly moved forward as if to stop Nixie from hitting the ground.
Shayden huffed air in his direction and he stopped moving completely.
Nixie shook her head and a deep frown made its way onto her face.
“My father?”
“Yes, my dear. Your mother and I conceived you many, many years ago. We thought that you were not going to hatch, and so the pain of losing our child grew to the point where we began to fight so much. I left her. I left you. And I am so deeply sorry for that.”
Nixie was quiet still. Shayden was glad to hear her breathing again.
Nixie’s hand found their way onto her hips. “Who do you think you are? Darth Vader?”
The man, Lars, stood there confused, but Shayden burst out laughing. The sound of her mate’s carefree laughter relaxed Nixie enough that she too let a small chuckle slip from her lips.
“I do not know of this ‘Darth Vader’, but I assure you, you are most certainly my daughter. Your name, it means water nymph. As I am, so will you be, a Siren of the sea.”
“Mr Finn, I think you should give her some time to process this, yeah? It’s a bit much to spring on her all at once.” Shayden was oddly very diplomatic. Courteous even.
“Since when are you so accepting of the words of a stranger, Shayden?” Nixie felt confused and angry, and so many other emotions that she could not name each one.
“Since you are so very much in likeness to your father, Nixie. Eyes do not lie.”
Nixie saw then. She saw the blue-grey-honey coloured eyes of the man before her and knew that Shayden spoke the truth. Her own dark-light, multihued eyes were in the exact image of the man standing before her.
A cry of agony swept the air and chilled all three of them to the bone.
“Mirah.” Shayden’s voice was almost inaudible as her best friend’s name left her lips.