Bailey got up and walked around the coffee table and over to the sofa where Tempest reclined. She sat down next to her and took her hands in hers. “I love you, too, Tempest. You’re my best friend. I’d never walk way from you.”
Tempest hugged her, and wiped away a few tears before Tempest rested back against her throw pillows again. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.”
“I’m sorry you thought you couldn’t. But I understand.”
“And that’s it? No questions?”
“My mind is blown. And I’m seriously questioning my sanity, but I have faith in you, so that’s what I’m leaning on. I’m sure at some point I’ll have tons of questions.”
“Fair enough. Want to know about Remi?”
“Can you tell me?”
“I can tell you anything you want to know.”
“Because he’s already shared it with you?”
Tempest shook her head and looked pointedly at Bailey. “Because there’s nothing I’m not aware of, if I choose to know it. Some I intentionally tune out and block so that I can have normal relationships, but if I wanted to, I could know everything. I’m afraid it would drive me insane like it did Uncle Lore, though. And I don’t want to take advantage of my friends by reading their minds and souls. So I intentionally keep walls up.”
“Wow!”
“And I can heal. But I can’t right now because I’m pregnant, and when I heal someone I take their illness or injuries into me, and then my magic heals me. And I don’t know what it might do to the baby. When I’m not pregnant, though, I can very easily heal.”
“I want to be you,” Bailey said.
Tempest laughed. “It’s not bad sometimes, but for most of my life, it’s been so very lonely. Where I grew up everyone feared me, even the other kids.”
“Not anymore,” Bailey said, holding Tempest’s hand again.
“Not anymore,” Tempest echoed.
“Tell me about Remi. You’ve already suggested that he’s a Dragon,” Bailey said resignedly. Then she shook her head and glanced up at the ceiling. “Good Lord, I’m talking like Dragons are a usual thing.”
“They’re not as common as the rest of us. For the record, he’s a Dragon shifter, not just a Dragon. And he was adopted as a little child.”
“I thought Daniel and Avaleigh were his parents.”
“They are. Daniel is a Dragon shifter just like Remi, but neither of them are his biological parents. Avaleigh is human. Dragons and human females cannot have children.”
“What? Why?”
“Because the mother would die. Dragon babies are so strong that they’d drain their mothers’ bodies of everything including her life force. If they were able to carry the baby to full term, she certainly wouldn’t survive the birth.”
“That’s so sad.”
“It can be, but things turned out well for Remi. He was taken in by a wonderful family and is loved and adored. He was fortunate. The unfortunate part of most species of paranormal origin, and what I really wanted to talk to you about, is that we have predetermined mates. When we meet the person meant for us, we know it. We can try to ignore it, deny it, if you will. But it’s always there. Even for those that manage to walk away, they are never truly free of their fated mate. Now, don’t get me wrong, some have successfully walked away and built completely happy, loving lives filled with the mate of their choice. They’ve even raised families and never looked back. But they also go to great lengths to make sure they never run across their fated mate again because no matter how much they love and are devoted to their chosen mate, their fated mate will steal their attention and draw them away, without even trying.”
Bailey slowly stood. “That’s what happened with Cristie.”
“It is. They’d been around each other all their lives and never had an inkling they were mates. But this time, it clicked into place and Remi couldn’t look away. He loves you, but Cristie is his mate, and he’s fighting with that. He’s feeling so guilty andhurting over not being there for Cristie, because not only are they mates, they’ve always been very close friends. But he’s also feeling guilty because he’s causing you pain and no matter what he does he’s hurting someone he loves. And he does love you. He’s been completely loyal to you; had no intentions of being otherwise.”
“I want to throw up.”
“She feels just as terrible. She was looking forward to meeting her childhood best-friend’s girlfriend. He’d told her how much you meant to him and she was expecting to be friends with you. And then everything happened, and she’s upset at the trouble she’s caused.”
“She didn’t cause it, though. From what you’re telling me, she had no control over it.”
“She didn’t.”
