Page 56 of Own to Obtain

Kardos growled. “Talent-crafters cannot be trusted, Shaya.”

“She didn’t seem like a Talent-crafter,” Shaya pondered. “She seemed more like a potionist.”

“Maybe that is why she got it so wrong,” Kardos said, anger growing in his tone. “You would have been sent here on your own and there is nothing. No water, no shade, nothing to ensure that you would have been safe.”

Shaya lifted her hands to his cheek. “I’m not on my own now, though,” she said softly. “I am with you.”

Kardos slowly calmed at her touch. He looked around again. “It doesn’t look like there is anywhere we can get out of the sun. We need to find shelter.”

“Can you walk?” Shaya asked, startled as he slowly rose to his feet.

“Yes.”

They shed their furs, and against Shaya’s fervent protesting, Kardos carried her. She complained the entire time, scolding his decision to always have her in his arms. Kardos didn’t care. He simply said this would be the case and she should accept it.

The day seemed to drag on—they’d either arrived early in the morning or the days were much longer here. Either way, time did not seem to move the same.

After walking for hours, Kardos finally relented to Shaya’s request for him to rest.

Placing their furs on the ground, they settled on them, Shaya in Kardos’ arms as he took time to rest his back.

“Did the woman say if people lived here?”

“She said that she was sending me to somewhere isolated.” Shaya thought back to the conversation she’d had. “I suppose that doesn’t mean that they aren’t people here, but she didn’t seem to think it would be a problem that I was here.”

“Even though you are an Omega?” Kardos said in disbelief.

Shaya inclined her head. “Well, no, she didn’t advise becoming here at all. She wanted to make sure I was confident in my decision.”

“And you were?”

Shaya was silent for a moment, hardly able to believe that she had taken such action. She glanced up at Kardos. “I’m sorry, Kardos. I truly felt there was no other option for me.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he said, his voice softening as his arms tightened around her. “It is my responsibility to ensure your happiness, Shaya. If you are unhappy, only I am to blame.”

But he wasn’t the only one to blame. There were things she hadn’t said to him and their relationship may have started differently if she’d been brave enough to speak up. Part of her had been afraid, and the other part of her had been inexperienced. Kyus had always explained things to her clearly and she hadn’t known how to communicate with someone like Kardos. She wasn’t sure she could have done things differently, but she did know one thing; there was no more doubt about her feelings for her Alpha. She loved him, and it was possible she had loved him for a long time; she just didn’t know it. She couldn’t reconcile her feelings with the man that caused her pain, but she now saw the kind of man he truly was; a man who cared only about his people and their well-being, a man who did not shy from his calling, no matter the difficulty, a man who was willing to protect his Omega and have her with him, at all costs. How could she not love him? Tears fell with the anguish she had only been able to see it now.

Kardos tilted her head up to him and kissed her tears. “Nothing is too terrible if we are together, Shaya.”

She nodded, blinking away her tears. “What about your people?”

“Our people,” he corrected. “They will search for us,” he said. “When they don’t find us, they may believe that we are dead, but that is not a bad thing. We died trying to protect them, they will always honor us for that. As for the rest of the Southern Lands, the next high chief will get his calling and things will proceed as they are supposed to.”

“But what about Tribe Obari?”

“I told my team that Tribe Obari has been working against the Southern Lands,” Kardos said, a growl in his voice. “They don’t know the specifics, but I told them they need to search the entire island for any files or documents relating to Az Eshra. They are obedient men, they will not stop until they find something, and they will report everything to my father.”

Shaya took a breath. That was something at least. It felt strange that they would be abandoning all of those people, the children who came up to her, smiling just to be able to get her attention. “Even on the darkest days, light can be found in the people of Nyek,” she said, repeating the words of the woman in white.

“Indeed,” Kardos said.

They rested for a long while as the heat blazed down on them. Kardos pulled his furs over them both to prevent their skin from burning, and then pulled Shaya underneath him again so the sun would not mark her too harshly. Shaya protested that he would be burned, but of course he did not listen.

They got up and walked again, Shaya quickly realizing dehydration was imminent unless they found something to replenish the amount of water they were losing through sweat. She kept her eyes on everything around them, searching for any kind of plant or foliage. Usually in these environments, plants held some kind of hydration to help them grow.

“Over there,” she said, pointing to a tiny piece of greenery coming from the ground a few feet away, after a few hours of searching. “It looks like something growing. We might be able to eat it.”

It turned out to be a plant that was growing on the ground, with thick leaves on its stem. When Shaya picked the leaves and pressed them, they burst open, releasing a silky sap. She popped one in her mouth before Kardos had the chance to tell her not to, and although he scolded her, it turned out that they suitably hydrated them, so she pulled as much of the leaves as she could.

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