(Alnilam)

"Alni, is there something you are not telling me?" Jamina asks, once we settle in my room. I know she appears a little rattled seeing Amaia in my room at night.

"What do you mean?" I bind my hair with a band and pin it over my head. Now that Amaia is gone they have become as lifeless as silver ribbons.

"Umm, I mean you seem distant lately, like you are carrying all your burdens alone. You don’t share your problems with me anymore." There is a hint of disappointment in her voice.

I turn around to face her. "There is nothing to share, Jamina. I will if there is," I answer her, a tad rigidly.

Her face falls at my tone but she instantly puts a smile on her lips to hide her feelings. Inwardly, I curse myself.

Why am I such a bastard?

Why do I feel annoyed by her presence lately?

She steps closer and takes my right hand in hers.

"We are going to be married at the end of the year. I want us to work as one unit. Trust me with everything. I can handle it." She leans in and tentatively kisses my cheek.

"I know. But some burdens are for me to carry, not you." I pat her head. She deserves better, not this broken confused self of me who is pining over his student.

The way Amaia has hugged me today has left me needy and aroused, and Jamina’s presence is doing nothing to counter that.

"Maybe, I can take your mind off it in some other way." Her hand slides over my torso heading for my trousers.

I am so aroused at that moment but not for her. Without thinking my hand moves and shackles her wrist.

"Not tonight. Yesterday’s events have me tired. I want to get some sleep."

Confusion envelopes her eyes. I have never stopped her before. She tries her best to mask the disappointment that has settled in her eyes but fails miserably, making me feel even shittier with myself.

"Ohh, alright. Let’s do that." She takes me towards my bed and I silently follow her.

We slip under my sheets and she snuggles with me.

But my heart and mind are towards another woman, the one whose single hug has me melting like ice under the sun.

I didn’t even stop her from hugging me. Instead, every instinct in my body wanted to take her lips between mine and taste her. Even without a scent, this woman was driving me insane, slowly.

My magic and wolf didn’t help my cause either.

No matter how much I try to control these thoughts I can’t stop thinking about her. Especially, after what the prophecy has revealed. The three among us five are her mates, what does that make Saiph and me?

Just her protectors? Or is there something more?

Jamina falls asleep in my arms but I am far from it. She trusts me so blindly and here I am thinking and obsessing over the mate of my brothers.

That makes me feel disgusted with myself and yet I can’t help it. Amaia’s thoughts won’t leave me alone.

Soon I am going to give Huradis and that Tarian a visit again. I am going to find the truth behind what I saw.

Dawn breaks and Jamina stirs in my arms. Getting up she casts a glance towards me. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Good morning! My Icy Shine." Worries descend on her.

"Morning!" I greet her.

"You didn’t sleep all night. Did you?"

I shake my head at her question and let out a sad, frustrated breath.

"What am I going to do with you?" Her soft hands come and rest against my face.

"Bear me as much as you can." Slowly I rise from my bed to head over to my wash area.

By the time I return, Jamina has left. I need to treat her better and step up. I can’t keep treating her like shit.

I arrive for the session and find myself eager to see Amaia. What is it about her that I can’t control my urges?

She appears radiant, sitting between both my brothers. One has his hand possessively on her thigh while the other has his shoulder rubbing against her. Rigel sits opposite her but I can see them passing covet glances to each other.

Her gaze does lift towards me, and every time I pass from behind her, the beats of her heart elevate.

Is that because of me or the other three?

I have taken up theory, teaching them about creatures and everything we know about them.

Saiph will be doing a combat class with them later, along with continuing to teach them how to fight nightmares induced by Chitterings.

Now that I am confident the monsters are being controlled by the Dread Army, we have to put extra vigilance in teaching them. We don’t know what kind of monsters they are cooking up.

The session ends and I assign them tasks.

"Your assignments will be due at the end of the week."

They begin to leave but my eyes stay on Amaia. A part of me wants to hold her back, speak to her more but I shouldn’t. This is not the path I should be taking.

With an overly agitated heart, I return to my office and flop into my chair. My hands clutch my head as I tilt it backwards and stare at the ceiling for a while.

Straightening up, my eyes find something peculiar, something strange.

A blue light is pouring out of the upper drawer of my desk.

What? Where is that light coming from?

Curiously, my fingers curl around the knob and I pull it open.

Inside lay Celestia’s Map. The one Amaia had gifted me. It’s glowing with a strange blue light.

Grabbing it, I unfurl it between my hands and I see a large blue arrow has emerged on it. It’s pointing towards my door, blinking.

"Mate! It’s pointing towards our mate," Snow gleefully howls in my head.

I almost sprang out of my chair. Keeping it in my hands, I begin to move with rapid footsteps, letting the map guide me. My heart pounds so loudly that I can’t hear any other sound.

It takes me towards Jamina’s laboratory.

Is Jamina my mate? Are we late bloomers? So many thoughts zig-zag through my brain as I arrive outside.

Her session has started with them and I will be interrupting if I enter now. But my impatience, the wild magic in my hair, and an overexcited wolf make me throw open the door and enter.

And then the most mind-numbingly delicious scent, like that of a sun-baked citrus swims towards me like waves of a calm sea. Their effect is anything but calm though.

A deep breath I inhale.

Snow grows crazy in my head as my desperate eyes seek her out.

The silvery threads I am sure only I can see extend from me and weave around her. My gaze finally fixates, and I observe my mate after nine years of waiting.

Our eyes meet and my body tenses as if I have been electrocuted.

This can’t be...