Page 17 of My Salvation

The lion-shifter jogged forward. “What do we need?”

“Get this squad to the warrior villa. They get our full support.”

“You got it, boss.”

Ramsey helped get Ellais up and steered them away from the city center.

“Cassandra?” he asked, looking back to his mate.

She was rubbing her temples but kept scanning the crowd. “Sadness, but I think that may have been the only one directly affected.”

The men looked around to ensure their brothers were okay and nodded at her.

Reston scrubbed his hands over his face. “We’ll check on them after we get the house settled,” he promised.

Priest had a feeling this morning the men had been twenty different squads, but solidarity had quickly formed amongst them with Reston as their leader.

“Come on men, let’s get you home,” Aiden said, holding a shaking Meryn close.

As they walked to House Illiya, hearts heavy with their brother’s grief, no one said a word.

Chapter Three

The pain, fear, and despair seemed to swirl between the men as they walked down the main street heading toward the palace. House Illiya wasn’t a Founding Family like her mate’s house, but it was a Noble House, and like the Founding Families, her’s was located near the palace. Sighing, she trudged forward at her mate’s side. She really wasn’t looking forward to seeing how much work had to be done. She had left home centuries ago.

“Are you well? Sometimes emotions swamp Meryn,” Priest asked, pointing to where the small woman was being carried by her larger mate.

She shook her head. “I am not affected by emotions in the way an empath is. I’m assuming she has empathy?”

He nodded.

She continued her explanation. “I simply see those emotions reflected in the colors of people’s auras.”

“You were rubbing your temples earlier,” he said, still looking concerned.

“It was the transition from beige to blue that had me feeling dizzy. It all happened so fast.”

“Beige? Blue?”

She nodded. “I see people’s default emotions as beige. It’s the color I see when they aren’t super happy or sad or angry, just existing. It’s like the homeostasis color of emotion when things are well balanced.”

“That makes sense I guess.” They were both quiet for a minute. “Do you go by Cassandra?”

“I don’t really have a preference. When the guys baby me, I hear Cassie, but it’s mostly just Cas.”

He squeezed her hand. “You don’t seem excited to be returning home.”

She squeezed his hand in return, enjoying the extra support. Her past wasn’t traumatic, just sad. “I was born to my parents when they were very late in life. They were nearly seven-thousand years old when my mother discovered she was pregnant. They had already made arrangements for our house so they could begin to fade.”

He sucked in his breath and held her hand a bit tighter.

“Obviously, their plans got delayed upon my arrival.” She exhaled. “They lasted one-hundred years, long enough for me to come of age. One day, they sat me down and explained what they wanted. They gave me the option of staying with them until the end or leaving to explore the world.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t stay and watch them die, so we had a party. The next day I left and never returned.”

“Gods,” he whispered, bringing her hand to his lips to gently kiss it. “Are you sure about returning? We could stay with my family.”

She held his knuckles against her cheek, enjoying his warmth. “It’s past time for me to return. I’ve been gone nearly two-hundred years. Maybe, having a house full of people will help.”

“Lady Illiya, we can find another place to stay if opening your house will be too painful,” a Vanguard warrior offered. Around them, the men nodded, sympathy in their eyes.

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