Page 17 of Rhaz's Redemption
“Are you alright?” Ashley asked from in front of us.
I quickly set Beatrice on her feet and walked away before I could do anything I’d later regret. Not that I’d regretted kissing her before, but that was just a one time thing. It was a memory I’d cherish until the day I’d die, nothing more.
“Yeah, I’m alright,” Beatrice replied. She was alright, and she’d stay alright if I kept myself out of her life.
I needed to focus on something else, something other than the most beautiful female on all of Valo Prime who was standing just a few paces away from me.
I allowed myself a moment to take a few deep breaths before I finally looked up and saw the ruins of our ancestor’s village before me.
The stone path was lined with goddess statues that had been carved from wood. Tarak gently ran his fingers along one such statue, mesmerized by the sight of it, and by the history it represented.
Orsu stood next to an unlit firepit that was surrounded by wooden bowls.
“Hey take a look at this,” Julie pulled out a jar that had been hidden under a crumbled stone shelf and handed it to her mate. Orsu opened the lid and his eyes widened after he sniffed its contents.
“This is amazing,” he commented. “We’ve been using this same spice for generations.” Orsu looked up from the jar and took in the sight of the cook fire with a new sense ofappreciation. “I always imagined we’d be so different from our ancestors, but maybe we’re more alike than I thought.”
Drovo walked slowly along the path with Kayla and rested his hand upon a large tree. “They sing a sad song of sorrow and loss. No one walks among them anymore. They don’t understand why our people would build their home here just to leave it.”
His eyes became glossy with unshed tears and Kayla ran her hand up and down his back in a comforting gesture.
“I don’t understand it either,” Drovo whispered to the trees. “They didn’t need to lie to us about our origins.”
Taylor held Brexl’s hand as they walked past the other couple. Brexl didn’t show any emotion on his face, but that wasn’t surprising. He, more than any of us, has always been able to hide what he was feeling.
Axon walked with Ashley and there was a clear display of anger on his face. That was an emotion I understood well. I’d been angry since my mother died. No, I’d been angry for much longer than that. I first felt the rage that lives within me when I saw my sire strike my mother across the cheek. I was only eleven seasons old and I wanted to hit him back, but my mother wouldn’t let me.
I looked around the clearing at the crumbling stone buildings that used to house our ancestors and tried to imagine what it would have been like to live here. I’d lived in the mountain for so long, I’d nearly forgotten what it was like to live out in the open like this.
This village wasn’t as safe as the valley, but perhaps they would shelter inside the caves nearby if a pack of wild animals ever tried to attack them.
I walked along the path looking at the small homes, overgrown gardens, unlit firepits, and finally stopped at the spaceship that none of us were supposed to know even existed.I ran my fingers along the metal shell and the reality of our situation finally started to sink in.
We were never supposed to be here. The broken ship was proof that we’d crashed on this world and we’d struggled to survive among the wildlife ever since.
I looked down at my hands and let my claws extend out from my fingertips, claws that I wouldn’t have if my people hadn’t crashed here. I could have had a normal life, and yet fate had decided that my generation would be the first one who should get these cursed abilities. Not the generation before us, and not the one after, our generation. Me.
“It’s a lot to take in,” Nahrul, Jax’s sire, placed his hand on my shoulder and looked at the ship as well.
“Life could have been different,” I commented. Then my gaze shifted to Jax who was sitting on a fallen log looking contemplative. What would his life be like if our ancestors hadn’t crashed here? He’d still have his tongue, his ability to speak.
“We do the best we can with the life we’ve been given,” Nahrul had caught me staring at his son. “Jax has found contentment with what fate has given him, maybe it's time you settle into your destiny too.”
The elder shifted his gaze to Beatrice who was walking with Fatima and Anusha. They talked softly among each other, commenting on everything they saw.
“My destiny is to convince my sire to let us keep our offering this year,” I replied.
“Your destiny is to accept the gifts the goddess has given you. You are a hunter who cannot be killed with a luminescence mate who looks at you with hope in her eyes. What more could you want?”
I shook my head, unable to accept what Nahrul was saying. “Our paths are not intertwined. I will not let Beatrice be bound to a male like me.”
“A male like you?” Nahrul furrowed his brow. “And what kind of male is that?”
“Don’t make me say it,” I growled. “You know, as well as I, the anger I harbor in my chest. The rage my sire passed down to me.”
“You are nothing like Dameron,” Nahrul argued. “He isn’t half the male that you are.”
“I wish I could believe that,” I lamented as I looked at Beatrice again. I knew my own inner workings better than anyone, and I was not a worthy male.
