Stranded with my mates: Rejected & Claimed

Chapter 73: Chapter 73

During the walk back, I played with the necklace around my neck. Twirling it around the delicate chain, my mind wandering over the progress made today.

Hearing her voice again, even in the whispered wind of the island breeze made my spirit sing. My mind told me it wasn’t really her, that I had manifested an answer to a question and used her voice as its name.

But my heart hoped she was like me, that she shared my connection and my powers and was reaching out to offer her help and protection. Why now, though? If I had inherited my abilities from her then couldn’t she have helped me this whole time?

Marek’s hands fell on my shoulders, "I know a busy mind, little bird."

I smiled up at him, happy to have him so warm towards me despite the curse I put on him. It didn’t feel like I was any closer to solving his problem but hope had sparked between us with the days events.

"We will get through this," he told me in his bass-like voice that vibrated through his big hands.

I reached up to pet where his hand met my shoulder. I took a deep breath in, believing his words as they resonated inside of me. We would get through this, I would find my answers and fix everything.

The rest of the walk, my thoughts had turned towards the future. Thoughts of a full pack without any disputes putting a skip in my step.

Once we reached camp, everyone went to work preparing for the nights feast. An unspoken celebration was at play, my glee had spread to each of them in the short walk. They worked in unison around each other, a connection within us all that made life easy and productive.

Jax and Marek ran off in their wolf forms to hunt while Grayson started a fire and I prepped the tableware. Once the fire began, he joined me at the butcher’s table. He grabbed my wrist and playfully bit into my shoulder.

I jumped and swapped at him, surprised to see him in a good mood. I hadn’t known such a thing could exist. He retrieved fruits and leafy greens from the pantry hut and I mixed them together in a large wooden bowl.

A thought passed through my mind. My own kitchen table and how I used to sit with my mother there. The memory of the last day I had spent with her flashed through, remembering the vile man that tainted our kitchen table on what was supposed to be a happy day.

"Can you tell me what you know about my father?" I asked Grayson, who was dropping berries into his mouth beside me.

His eyes grew doubtfully curious as he considered my question.

"Why?" He asked.

I tilted my head at him as if to say that was a ridiculous question.

"Because you know more about him then I do and he’s my father."

He set his forearm on the table, leaning against it to watch my expressions deeply.

"Right, but why now?"

I shrugged and reached for the necklace around my neck absentmindedly.

"Is that from him?" He asked and my brows creased at even suggesting it.

"No, my mother gave it to me the day he sent me away to you."

His head moved in an understanding way. "Ah, home is calling you."

The crease between my eyes deepened. I sometimes forgot that just because he could sense my feelings didn’t mean he could read my thoughts. He was so annoyingly quiet that I often held conversations with him in my mind that never materialized into real life.

What had happened on the beach was obvious to my own conscience but I never took the opportunity to ask what he had seen or heard.

"My mother spoke to me on the beach. Well, it was her voice I heard. I don’t actually know if it was her."

He lifted from where he leaned and pushed a palm into the thick wooden slab.

"What did you hear?"

His tone had switched into seriousness and the chipper attitude fell away as he looked intently at me.

"She said I had the answers in me."

He looked away, blinking slowly. He squeezed his lips together and nodded before looking back. "That’s it?"

I returned his nod and he remained silent.

"Well?" I asked finally.

He watched me, an eye squinting before he answered.

"He’s not like you, if that’s what you’re asking."

He left the table then and retreated back towards the fire. Surprise at his answer made my questioning deepen. I followed him by his heels.

"What does that mean? Like my powers?"

He sighed, obviously not wanting to discuss it any longer. Yet, I still pushed as I sat beside him and leaned into his space for answers.

"Powers and personality," he answered with a grit in his voice that made me give him a questioning look. "He’s a wolf."

I pressed my lips together. When I first met him, his eyes held a glow different than anyone I had seen this far.

"You’re sure?" I asked with uncertainty.

He chuckled in an upsetting sort of way. "I’m sure, I’ve seen it."

But if he was a wolf, then did that make me one? Doubt rippled along my forehead and he automatically knew why.

"If you were a wolf, I think you would have changed by now. But I can’t be sure. You are something different, something rare. It’s possible your father was a hybrid. Unless your mother held something in her genes?"

I shook my head doubtfully, "not that I’ve seen, but it was her I heard."

If that was really her voice in my mind earlier than maybe I could channel her for more information, I thought. I remembered Marek and Jax looking around as the voices whispered, I had assumed they could hear her as well.

"Didn’t you hear her, on the beach?"

His eyes squinted and he slowly shook his head. "There was something in the wind but I didn’t hear a voice."

I sat back, alone in the experience that had given me such joy. The answers were in me but how could I find them?

Jax and Marek returned then, Marek stumbling as he crossed the line that shifted him back into his human form. Jax was bouncing around as he pulled his pants around the sharp hips that sat at his sides and Marek collected the fallen prey that they had managed to catch.

"Have a good hunt?" I asked, tabling my conversation with Grayson at the excitement the others still held.

"Marek turned human halfway through an attack with a boar, had to settle for these vermin instead since the big guy face planted it and let the beast get away."

Marek scowled as he turned towards the butchers table, unhappy with his lack of control and Jax’s teasing. He picked up a cleaver and aggressively went to work. Jax jumped over the log, hands crossing behind his head as he sat against the log in front of us.

"Have any fun here?" He asked.

I shared a look with Grayson but didn’t answer.

"What? Did you two have some fun without me?"

I held back a smile, knowing he meant something more dubious.

"No, Jax. We just talked." I told him.

"Right, and Marek’s true nature is actually a tiny kitten who hides in that giant wolf body. That’s the real reason we didn’t catch that boar." Jax joked and a grunt came from the table before the cleaver hit the table again.

It was surprising that Grayson had given me the information I requested, usually he was more sullen and secretive. Our conversation made me feel closer to him.

"Come on, what really happened while we were away? Did he finally break the secet of those shorts?"

"Jax!" I said in a high-pitched voice.

"Fine, don’t tell me," he said and leaned further back in his seat. "But next time at least let me join the party."

I scoffed and looked around for something to throw at him. His confident audacity made me unsure if he was still joking or actually making a request. Looking at Grayson, I could see as well as feel the smirk on his lips.

These men were all ridiculous, I thought as I stood abruptly to join Marek who rarely made me feel this uncomfortable.

Assisting him with prepping dinner, I moved with him while a light conversation drifted between Jax and Grayson. Marek stayed silent as he worked on his tasks and I found us synchronizing with each movement.

His connection to me through the link I created felt calming yet I still felt guilty and shame every time he left my side and lost his control.

"Are you ok?" I asked, hoping he could feel how deeply I meant for the question to be.

"Not to worry, little bird," he told me and handed me a plate of raw meat to bring to the fire.

My direction had clouded slightly. I wanted to help Julien, appease Grayson, and protect myself from Dominic. But pressure built over Marek’s predicament and I wondered with a heavy heart if my efforts were putting his pain behind the rest of my problems.

Tomorrow, I decided. I would not rest until one broken thing was made whole.

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