(Alnitak)

My breath hitches, and I freeze completely as I watch her transform. My jaw goes slack.

I stare, truly stare, at the woman before me, my mate, my love.

The subtle, unnerving perfection of her, her hair elongates, changing into a shade of star-dust. Shimmering with an unworldly glow. Never have I seen such beautiful hair.

Did all Faes possess hair like Amaia’s?

Her ears delicately turn pointy. All the rational, logical thoughts collapse inward, leaving only a raw, bewildered awe in its wake as I watch her protect us.

The bond between us is so taut, brimming with one thought from her side.

Protect them.

Mintaka has gained consciousness, although injured, he sits up and draws in a fractured breath as his gaze lands on our mate.

"Amaia?" His voice comes out shaky, a mixture of care and worry, sprinkled with astonishment.

"Yes," I quietly tell him, not sure how to explain what we are witnessing.

She is a Fae, and her words, which she had just uttered, make sense now. Everything about her is becoming clear to me.

Her super-fast reflexes.

That lightning magic in her weapon.

Something hidden inside her always called me, has to be the magic that runs in her veins.

Her private sessions with Alnilam. The way he had tried to stop her, he knew this secret about her.

Did he train her?

She turns and watches us with a mixture of adoration and guilt.

I observe the real colours of her eyes for the first time. They are not simply the colour of the sea, but hold its very depths. An aquamarine luminescence that reveals the untamed magic running in her veins. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

I can dive into them just to lose myself for they have this magical pull about them.

Mintaka’s ragged breaths beside me show he is having a difficult time accepting the truth. He is watching her with such a newfound intensity, it’s impossible to peel our eyes off her.

"She is Fae?" Mintaka questions but none of us speaks. It’s such a taboo word, and none of us has ever imagined that our mate will be one.

She has risked her life, revealing herself just to save our lives. She truly is one of a kind and has proven why she is our mate.

Amaia uses some kind of energy blast and annihilates everything in her path. That energy surge makes the hair on my body stand up and our hair flies backwards.

But it doesn’t hurt us, just the enemy. She doesn’t just kill them, she wipes them out, on a nuclear level, not even their bones are left behind.

Stunned we watch her turn the tides, unable to even move, speak or properly breathe.

Our mate is not an ordinary woman, she is a goddess.

As she turns to face us, the energy from her body depletes, her eyes close and she tumbles towards the ground. Before any of us can take a step, Alnilam’s hair extends and gently wraps around her body, cocooning her, not letting her fall.

They pull her closer to him until he holds out his arms gently and collects her into them.

"Amaia!" Alnilam frantically taps her face with his hand but she doesn’t wake up. His panicked eyes lift and find us.

"We can’t let anyone see her like that. Find her necklace," he orders.

Zevran growls in my head. Itching to wolf out and go to his mate. My body aches, pushing me to hold her instead of letting Alnilam do it but finding her necklace is more important.

Saiph and I instantly move, searching through the grassy ground, looking for that necklace she always wears. It becomes hauntingly clear to me why she never took it off.

But, Mintaka doesn’t move from her side. He stays and I hear him tell Alnilam in a pained voice.

"I want to hold her."

"Now is not the time, Taka. My magic won’t let her go." Alnilam’s magic had always been unpredictable and it had witnessed another powerful display of magic. I can imagine it being possessive over her.

"Where is that necklace?" Saiph says in an agitated voice. "She dropped it right beside her."

I step over a large chunk of a Chittering’s carcass, kicking it away with my foot, hoping it’s underneath it.

I saw her toss it, too, but now we can’t find it. With all these dead insects and carcasses of those summoned creatures, it’s like searching for a needle in a bundle of hay.

"What’s taking so long?" Alnilam’s frustrated voice comes again.

"We can’t find it," Saiph answers, swinging his scythe to push away dead creatures.

"Will you let me hold her now?" Mintaka insists again and I turn to watch him. He is fixated on her.

The bond between him and me is flooded with something new; it’s crossing with the bond I share with Amaia. Creating this hive bond between us.

This is uncharted waters for us. Does he recognise her as his mate? It’s the only explanation.

She had told me he was in a fragile state of mind. Did something happen?

I kick away a few more bodies but no luck.

We hear a few Sentinels in the distance, they must be coming this way to check and ensure our safety. Earlier, I had told them to cover the front, and we would take care of the back.

Thankfully, this ground was used by us for training and is lined with protective crystals that contain magic. We could only hope that the blast of energy had remained contained.

Panicking, I turn to watch Alnilam. Carefully, he hands Amaia to a very desperate Mintaka and stands up.

Instantly, Mintaka hugs her to his chest, burying his lips in her gold-dusted hair.

His head turns, and he hears the sentinels too.

Saiph moves closer to him and asks.

"What’s the plan?"

Alnilam suddenly turns and grabs the front of Saiph’s front lapel of his uniform. His face contorts in anger as he rages.

"You breathe a single word about her to my parents or anyone else I will ensure you never speak a word again. I know you are loyal to our mother but no one can know about Amaia, not even our parents. Clear?"

Saiph grabs his wrist and pulls himself free. The mask of indifference slips from his face, revealing underlying rage.

"You have grown up but you still don’t understand a thing. What do you take me to be?"

"I don’t have time for your riddles," Alnilam rages. "Keep your mouth shut."

He then turns towards me. "Alnitak, help Mintaka in hiding her face and hair, and take her back to the Academy and to my office. You know the place. I will be there after managing the situation here."

I understood what my brother meant. His office has a secret space that he never allows us to enter, but I know how to open it.

Taking off my suit jacket, I approach Mintaka; still holding onto Amaia like a lifeline.

For a second, I stare, lost in her ethereal beauty and then with a heavy heart, I cover her face and hair with my jacket.

"Let’s go, Min."