Page 8 of His to Protect
Kaea was silent for a moment. He knewthat if he said no that Xavier would leave him be, but he also knewthe dominant shifter would be back. If Kaea truly was his mate,then he would have no choice, and if he were completely honest withhimself, the speed with which he started to feel something forXavier pointed in that very direction. Or, he could say yes, andtell Xavier what needed to happen.
Kaea knew what he was going to do. Hewas a hothead, and quick to anger, but he was no idiot. He lookedaround him and spotted a small hole in the wall coffee shop acrossthe street. He pointed over in its direction and smiled.
“Shall we?”
Chapter Six
Xavier stared across the coffee tableat his mate and was once again stunned at just how perfect he was.Oh, he knew that others found him attractive—Xavier wasn’t blind tohis own attributes—but Kaea was a work of art. He had difficulty inthe beginning seeing his mate as anything more than the mandestined to be his, but now, having witnessed his fire ability, andfelt the full extent of the man’s anger, he knew there were manydifferent layers to Kaea, and he was very much looking forward touncovering each and every one.
“I’m sorry about yourGranny, Kaea,” he said softly, hating the sudden sheen of tearsthat shimmered in Kaea’s eyes before it was quickly blinked away.He hadn’t meant to sadden him, but he wanted to express hissympathies.
Kaea nodded and gave him a smallsmile. “Thanks. She was a wonderful woman, warm and forgiving, butif you got on her wrong side, or hurt me or my sister Ataahua, thenyour ass was hers.”
Xavier made a sound of amusement. “Iguess that runs in the family, huh?”
Kaea shrugged. “I guess so. I can bepretty protective of the ones I love, too.” He shot Xavier apointed look. “Something we have in common at least.” The two ofthe shared a laugh, and Xavier loved how right it felt. “I’m sorry,too, about your dad.”
Xavier nodded and breathed through theedge of pain that brought. “He was a good man. Hard as nails andtough as shit, but he was fair. I grew up knowing who I was andwhere I came from. I’ll miss him. My grandmother used to tell methat I would give my life force for my family. I didn’t know whatthat meant at the time, but I do now. My legacy I guess you couldsay is to give my life for my family, and that might mean takingout Gray even if it kills me. Gray took him from me, and I will doanything to make him pay for that.” Kaea nodded, understandingclear in his expression. “Explain to me what it was that Gray didwhen he took your grandmother from you, that made him stronger, andfaster than he was.”
“He took herwairua,her spirit. Itwas the essence of who she was as a healer, and as anelemental.”
“Elemental, I’ve neverheard that before.”
Kaea nodded. “Not surprising really.Just as there are shifters of many different races in the world,there are people who possess a number of different skills. Some ofthem physical and some spiritual. Nanny-ma was an earth elemental.She could grow just about anything, and heal the land with hertouch. If there had been a toxic spill, or land that had beenover-farmed and lacked the nutrients to grow anything else, shecould replace it just by plunging her hands into the earthitself.”
“Holy shit.” Xavier heardthe awe in his own voice.
Kaea grinned. “Yeah, it was prettyspectacular to watch her do that, and the way the earth respondedto her. She could also read a person’s mind pretty accurately, too.Anyway, these abilities and these strengths were linked to herspirit. Somehow, Gray knew that if he were to kill her, to drainher blood and ingest some of it as she died, then he would take herlife essence, her spirit into himself. He would not be able toharness the elemental strength, but he would be able to use it tocharge his own.”
Xavier frowned as a thought came tohim. “Is that how he is able to make people turn against my dad andme? That shit yesterday with my godfather and his friend was beyondfucked up. They did not recognize me as anything other than athreat.”
“Maybe,” Kaea said slowly,and it was clear he was thinking it through. “There is thepotential that he had some level of psychic ability or somethinglike that which would enable him to do something like that, andNanny-ma’swairuacould be feeding that as well. It makes sense I guess ifyou’re sure they wouldn’t have acted like thatnormally.”
Xavier shot him a dry look. “Noteveryone wants to kill me when they first meet me, youknow.”
Kaea laughed. “I’m just special Iguess.”
Xavier nodded. “That you are, love,that you are.”
Kaea must have caught the thread ofsomething deeper in his tone, because he tilted his head and lookedat him quizzically. Not surprising really, he’d heard it himself.He wanted to talk more about his feelings, and try to explain whatit was to be the mate of a shifter like him, but he couldn’t findthe words. Not yet.
“Why is it that you wantto wait to take him out?” Xavier really wanted to know. The need toavenge his father’s death was riding him and his bear really hard,and it was hard to comprehend that Kaea didn’t feel that samedrive.
“What I need to do to takeback her spirit, and it is not a simple exercise. There are certainthings that need to happen around that time, and one of them isthat the moon must be completely visible, a full moon. And thathappens in two days. The ceremony is a difficult one, and I willneed everything to go in my favor to pull it off.”
Xavier frowned as Kaea was speaking,because his mate was purposely not looking at him. His gaze movedfrom his hands, to the room at large, to the window beside them,but never at Xavier directly.
“Kaea.” He spoke quietly,and waited until his mate looked at him. “Is this ceremonydangerous? Is there a possibility that you could be hurt from doingit?” Kaea didn’t have to say anything because the look on his facesaid it all. “Christ.”
Kaea sat back, his expression turningfierce. “What? Are you going to forbid me to do it? You want me tosimply leave my Nanny-ma in a state of flux, not in this realm andunable to rest in the arms of her ancestors?”
Xavier shook his head. “Not at all,love. Am I scared that something might happen to you? Yes. Do Iwant to hide you away somewhere until I can work out how to do thisdamn ceremony myself so that you are never in danger? Of course, Ifucking do. But I am not an idiot. It has to be you, and it has tobe done in two days’ fucking time, but we will spend the time fromnow until then putting the perfect plan together and trying toeliminate as much risk to you as possible.”
Kaea’s expression softened, and theway he looked at him made Xavier feel like he was ten feet fuckingtall. “Thank you. I wasn’t expecting that.”
Xavier leaned across the table andplaced his hand over Kaea’s, reveling in the spark of electricitythat came with the slight touch, and the sharp inhalation from Kaeathat told him he felt it, too. “We are in this together, Kaea. Youare my mate, and no longer facing this alone. But even if youweren’t, I would still help you now that I understand theimportance of what needs to happen. We’re not going to let yourgrandmother suffer any more than she already has, and we certainlyare not going to leave her where she is. She needs to be whole tomove, then we make that happen. Together.”
Kaea smiled, turning his hand over onthe table so that he could entwine their fingers. “I like the soundof that.”
