Indecisive

I’m standing among the trees again, there’s fire everywhere my body is ablaze, I could feel the scorching heat on my skin. The flames danced all around me, taunting me, wanting me to come and play. The flames began taking shapes, forming into the ones I love. Kai stood with my mother, father, Dunn, Mera, and Siva. 

Their faces were smiling but their smiles were off, Kai’s smile was more sinister than normal, I looked at Dunn, his playful smile gone, my mother's warm smile replaced with all teeth and fangs she was snapping at me like she couldn’t wait to sink her teeth into my flesh. I look at Mera The sparkle in her silver eyes gone there dead, lifelessly staring at me. I watch frozen as my father walks up to Mera with a dagger in hand, grabs her from behind, pulls her close to him, his chest to her back and slits her throat. Blood pours from the wound, pooling at her feet.

“Mera!!,” I cried. Trying to reach out to her. Every time I took a step closer, the flames would burn brighter. 

“Mera!!,” I screamed. 

I watch as she turns to face me; she smiles as blood drips from her mouth. My favorite smile is ruined.

I call her name one last time before I’m consumed by flames  

“MERA!!,”.

 (Mera)

I jump up from the chair when I hear Kane whisper my name, 

His body lay still on the stone altar. I gently touch his face tracing every curve with the tip of my finger trying to memorize every line, dip, and crevice on his face. 

He murmurs my name again, leaning into my touch. He must be having some sort of fever dream. I lay a cool cloth against his forehead. Kane relaxes, letting out a long cool breath.

 I sigh, a day ago he was just some young, handsome chieftain that I was curious about that intrigued me but also worked my last nerve. But today he’s so much more than that, He’s my light in a room full of darkness,  that missing piece that I didn’t know I needed. 

“So how am I to just up and leave him,” I thought 

And go back to Yumi like my heart is not still in Sung and find

another who I could never truly love, like my father wants. 

Tears slide down my face as I contemplate on what I must do for my people.

I must leave.

Soft footfalls patter the ground from behind me as I quickly wipe the tears from my eyes and turn and face whoever is walking up to me.

I’m met with a tall pregnant woman about my age with beautiful mated marks down her back, I subconsciously touch my head wondering if I’ll ever get to wear my marks proudly.

She smiles at me warmly and walks over and crushes me in a tight hug. 

“You must be so worried,” she blurted out while pulling back

sizing me up, I was confused as to who this woman was. 

I look at her with a raised eyebrow. She slowly let go and took a step back. 

“I’m sorry about that,” she says while lifting her hand, waiting for me to shake it.

“I’m Siva,” She encouraged. Waiting on me with an expectant look upon her face.

I shook her hand but didn’t give her my name.

“I know who you are,” she says with a wink 

She grabs my hand as we stand around the altar, looking at Kane as his chest rises and falls.

“The mating bond is a strange thing,” Siva says as her eyes

bore into me.

“To be so completely in love with a total stranger,” Siva says with wonder in her eyes.

I just stared at Siva as if she was a lunatic.

“The bond is much more than love. You could love anyone, but to be bonded, Is like having a seventh sense. To feel your mate’s emotions, to have a sense of where they are. It’s a very special connection,” Siva smiled, beaming from ear to ear.

“I don’t know If I could do it,” I admitted. Looking away from Siva as silent tears roll down her face.

I look at Kane, whose body is as still as calm water except for the rise and fall of his chest that rolls like a gentle wave.

“I know how scary the mating bond can be, but it can also be the most exhilarating thing in the world,” 

“I once heard,” Siva says in a whisper, leaning in close.

 “that if you and your mate’s connection is powerful enough, you can hear each other thoughts,”

“I can’t,” I sobbed, shaking my head vigorously. 

“I didn’t ask for any of this,” I pleaded. 

I look to Kane, then up at Siva. Her smile falls as I take a step back, then another before I turn and run out of the Gallery doors.

I ran down the corridor, my eyes blurred from the amount of tears I cried. I run right into a hard brick wall, or so I thought; I look up to see Kai staring down at me, mouth turned down in a grimace.

“What the hell are you…,” 

He stopped mid-sentence and stared down at me. Face turning from annoyed to fury in a split second.

“What the hell happened to your face,” Kai demanded.

He gripped my face, turning it from left to right. 

“Nothing,” I sighed, yanking my face from his grasp.

“Who did this to you,” Kane snarled.

“No one, you,” I lied

“Bullshit, you are under Sung’s protection, as my brother’s mate and future ruler of this land,” Kai fumed.

“And as my newfound sister, I will protect you as I would Kane, now please tell me who did this to you,” Kai pleaded.

I looked up into his eyes and saw the sincerity behind those words. And I’m choked up. I swallow the words I was about to speak.  I have had no one care for me or protect me the way these people I barely knew have. 

“Your father,” Kai guessed.  

I averted my eyes so he won’t see the truth behind his words.

“That son of a…” he grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall.  

We make our way to my father’s guest suite. Two guards stand in front of the door. 

“Let us through,” Kai demanded. 

 The guards raise an eyebrow to Kai and look to me  

I shook my head, and they let us in.

Kai busted in my father's room with a weapon drawn, he released a dagger; it sailed right to the nearest soldier, pinned him to the wall; he released another. It landed in the hand of a soldier who was reaching for his weapon. 

Kai stood in front of my father with his sword at his throat, the two guards from the door busted in, my father raised his hand and they stopped in their tracks.

“What do we have here,” my father says with a sneer  looking up in Kai's eyes. 

Murder and fury were written on Kai’s face. His lips pulled back over his teeth, showing his fangs.

“If you ever touch her again, I will personally disembowel you,” Kai says with the tip of his sword at my father’s throat.

“She is of no concern of yours, she is my daughter, to do with as I please, she is of Yumi and will adhere to Yumi laws,” My father hissed.

“She is no longer yours, her place is here in Sung now,” Kai seethed through clenched teeth.

“You sure about that,” My father said with a wicked grin. 

They both turn to look at me, and I wish a hole would open up underneath me and swallow me whole.

I look to Kai and whispered with my head down to avoid his eyes 

“I can’t rule Yumi from Sung, Yumi is my home, they’re my people,” I knew the hurt I caused before I looked up to meet his eyes and his expression changed quickly.

My father chuckled.

Kai stepped back, his face a stone mask as he walked to the doors. In a flurry of motion he kicked out his leg making the guard fall to the fall, he snatched the guard sword and in a swift motion too fast for my eyes, hit the second guard in the face with the pommel of the sword. There was a loud crunch and blood squirted from his nose.

Kai dropped the sword and look to me and said 

“Don’t forget my promise,”

I felt the cold threat behind those words. I knew without a doubt he meant them. 

I watched as he walked out my father’s door, wishing I could run after him to explain. 

But as I look around this room at my father and his warriors, I

wonder if my place is really here with my people. 

I think back to Kane, wishing he was here to help make my path more clear.

(KANE)

“Please come back to me,” I hear Mera whisper.

I follow the sound of her voice.

My eyes spring open to an empty room, I sigh and relax. 

But I still hear the whisper of her voice begging me to come back to her.