Page 67 of The Highseer's Mate

But she herself is unmated. It’s a feeling I can’t explain.

I look around the room, taking in all the males that have not experienced the feeling. The pull. The intense desire to attain your mate and create an heir above all else. It is consuming and overwhelming. But no one in this chamber has felt it. Our numbers have dwindled and we have gone so long without a surplus of mated pairs that our instincts are foreign to us.

I can’t keep fighting a battle that the others believe they have won. “If that is how you see it, then I await my punishment.”

“No,” Paige’s voice cracks in half. Her friends find her, wrapping her up in their arms as the tension in the room builds.

I will be exiled. Paige will stay here. And I will never see her again.

She knows it.

I can see it in the way she sags.

My chest constricts as the bond screams inside me.

Just when I think she’s going to crumble, Draxel enters the chamber. He’s drenched in sweat, his chest heaving with deep, ragged breaths like he’s been sprinting to get here.

We lock eyes and he nods respectfully. I give him the same courtesy.

Then, Draxel’s eyes go to my mate and his expression softens, his fists relaxing at his sides.

“I must speak,” he says.

His spear is still slung across his back, his leathers dirty. He must have just returned from the hunt. Or come back early from it to be here. There is a purpose in his step as he holds his head high and addresses the council.

Draxel closes his eyes. A second later, his left peck and bicep fire up bright green, the pattern of glows trickling down his skin. His patterns are different from mine, but just as bright.

His eyes open and he looks down at the luminescence, his lips twitching.

“I have also been chosen by the glows. One of the humans will become my mate.”

I nod to myself, but no one in the chamber seems to be shocked. They must have seen him glow in her presence before.

“Ryan. Is the human’s name,” Draxel says, his voice wavering as he speaks her name. “Varek and I rescued her from the clutches of the Thachiens a week ago.”

Kylor nods, the rest of the chamber quiet as Draxel continues.

“I did not understand the mate bond before this, nor did I yearn for it. I never wanted to take a mate, but the glows—” he stutters, his hand pressing to his chest.

I recognize it in my best friend–the pain, deep and aching in my chest when I couldn’t have my female in my arms,.

“The glows have an intensity that I did not think possible. I could not reject my mate even if I wished it,” Draxel says. “I say this, because when Varek asked me to keep what I saw a secret, I disagreed with him. I took his order as Highseer, but I thought he was wrong.”

Mydros smirks as whispers circulate the chamber.

“But now, I understand why he did what he did. He caved to his mate—a biological instinct that lies within us all. I fear I may succumb to it someday, too.”

Elyra asks, “And what of the safety of your Ryan? Do you not blame Varek for putting her life in danger by hiding her?”

Draxel’s chest glows bright as he grits his teeth. “That is something I will never forgive him for.”

“So you do believe his actions unforgivable?” Kylor asks.

“No.” Draxel clarifies. “His actions were honorable to his mate. And it seems we have forgotten that the bond between mates is our highest law.”

I blow out a relieved breath. I gnaw my tongue as I listen to my friend try his best to explain this inexplicable blessing from the glows.

“I am now in the position Varek was then, and to get my Ryan to accept our bond there are no lines I will not cross.” His tone turns dark. “Any male unmated simply cannot understand that drive. Varek did what he could to secure his heirs.”

---