My heart constricted itself in my chest, but it did not break. For our heart was whole because we had Nadia.
Had I seen them, my mate that was supposed to be my other half, however, I think I would have broken.
“That stupid bitch.” Nadia sniffed. “How cruel.” She leaned her head forward and kissed our head.
I chuckled. “It doesn’t matter now, baby. We have you, and you are a million times better than she ever was,” I told her. “I’m glad I have you. I’m glad we have each other.” And I meant that. I felt nothing for our previous mate.
Nadia’s tears continued to cascade down her cheeks, moistening our fur. The sound of her gentle sobs nearly broke me. Seeking solace, she pressed herself closer, enveloping us in a warm embrace. The scent of her fragrant hair mingled with the comforting touch of her arms around our neck.
Damn, she smelled so good.
“I’m not done yet,” my animal huffed.“Once they had completed their bond, and we withered. On the ground, feeling our soul break and sever.The male wandered over and leaned over us with no compassion as we continued to feel our soul crush into thousands of pieces.
“I could feel your emotions. You were giving up. I could feel every part of you wanting to die right there, Atticus.
“Since you were a cub, that was all you wanted. To have a mate like your parents, and this had to happen to us. You were ready to give up because there were no second chances, but I knew it wasn’t over for us. I knew we couldn’t give up just yet.”
I used to think my animal was an ass all this time, but now I’m realizing that my grizzly did have a heart. He was hard to get along with, more stubborn than an ox, but shit did he have a heart.
“That’s when I blocked your memories when you were at your weakest. I couldn’t do anything else because our body was weak. I could see that male was reaching out for us, but there wasn’t anything I could do but protect you—our mind.”
My grizzly’s head perked up, his heart racing in his chest.“That’s when that crazy little fucker came out of nowhere.”
“Anaki!” Nadia smiled.
“Anaki.” My grizzly laughed. “The bastard jumped out like a spider monkey, took out a dagger, and plunged it into that bear’s forehead. The other bear fell backwards, slit his throat, and did a lot of other crazy things to the body.”
Our mate sat up and slowly shook her head. “Innocent Anaki did that?” her voice shook.
“Anaki is a sea dragon. They may be slender, but they have a nasty bite and are fast little fuckers.” I held my mate closer.“I just didn’t remember him doing any of that,” I said softly.
“Because I blocked your memory,” my grizzly reiterated.“Afterwards, our former mate died a painful death because of her new mate’s demise. I put you to sleep and explained to Anaki that I blocked your memories to keep you from going into a depression. Anaki said he will keep you safe.
“He told me about the Iron Fang, and I told him to keep you safe and take you there. I had a good feeling about it. Shortly after, you know what happened, I fell into my slumber. And then, when I woke, I met our sweet mate right here.”
We purred loudly, and Nadia smiled despite the tears drying from her cheeks. She held sadness from our past life, but the spark of light in her chest told me she was happy that it happened and she was with me.
I was happy to have her, happy that my life turned out the way it did. I had her, Anaki, the Iron Fang. The Goddess worked in mysterious ways, I suppose.
“And I just woke up and concluded my mate was mated to someone else?” I asked.
“Basically,” my grizzly replied.“Anaki filled in the holes for you and dragged you back to your cabin. He was very efficient, not getting any blood on him. Those dragons are pretty skillful.”
“Woah, woah, woah.” Nadia stood up and held up her hands.“Why am I just now realizing Anaki is a dragon? How cool is that?”
We both blinked several times.
“Like a real dragon? How big does he get?”She jumped up and down.“Does he fly?”
“He’s a water dragon,” I said, slightly annoyed. “He swims. He has a flattened tail, kind of like a shark. I’ve never seen his dragon, just what he has told me.”
“We need him to find his mate so I can see!”Her eyes brightened.
I was worried our mate would be upset that we were talking about my past mate, but clearly, she seemed unperturbed. Now that I claimed her and could feel her emotions, that didn’t seem to be the case.
She was happy that she was with me. She was happy she had Anaki as a friend, and she didn’t have to worry about my animal hunting him down due to their bond.
But still, we felt—jealousy.