Chapter 279

“Ariel,” Jackson breathes, turning towards me with his eyes wide. “It’s hypothetical – I don’t think – I never –“

My body’s temperature begins to increase exponentially as I just stare at my mate, my wolf whimpering and snarling in me at turns as I turn the idea over in my mind, unable to turn away from it.

Jackson – with another mate. Jackson – another girl – who he met when he was younger – someone else – me having to share him, to watch him look at another girl the way he looks at me -

“You need to calm down,” Jackson whispers, his eyes flicking to my hands pressed against my desks. He leans forward, taking my face in his hands, staring deep into my eyes. “Calm down, Ariel. Seriously.”

But his touch – something in me grabs onto his power. And quite suddenly, the table beneath my hands gets very, very hot.

“Shit, shit,” Rafe shouts, jumping to his feet and leaping for Jackson, intending to push him away from me –

But it’s too late – I gasp as the desk beneath my hands begins to superheat, smoke starting beneath my palms. I panic, but it only makes it worse, and Jackson shouts as he jumps to his feet, dropping his hands from my face. Even with him gone, I suddenly feel my power moving without my intent – flowing into the wood, following my wild emotions’ order to burn without any way for me to stop it, to pull it back.

“Ari!” Tony gasps, jumping out of his own chair and reaching for me. Jackson turns to knock him away, growling, protective – but Tony ducks under his arm, reaching for me, his hand coming to lay flat against the back of my neck.

Instantly, coolness floods me – as it did before, so many months ago, when we worked together in class.

The desk beneath me still smokes but instantly I feel coolness like snowmelt flood my body, my veins. And I welcome it – welcome Tony’s magic, whipping my head up to stare at him in shock.

“Water and fire,” he whispers, holding my gaze, giving me a little smile as he glances at my hands and sees that I can move them away now, that they’re not nearly as hot as they were. “See? We’re friends for a reason.”

I start to take deep breaths, taking my shaking hand away from the desk, not surprised at all but certainly appalled to see my handprints clearly branded into the surface there.

Wide-eyed but in control, I look around to see everyone staring at me with similar expressions on their faces.

“I’m sorry,” Jackson whispers, reaching for me again but then hesitating, not wanting to start me off again.

“I think we have learned,” Jesse says quietly, “to never, ever mention the idea of Jackson having another mate to Ariel, ever again.”

I spin my head to glare at my cousin, my eyes flashing as my emotions flare, my palms again growing hot.

Jesse’s eyes go wider and he puts his hands up in apology. “Apparently,” he says quietly, “not even in jest.”

Tony, his hand still wrapped lightly around the back of my neck, quietly lets me feel more of his magic and coolness again floods me.

I take a few deep breaths and then turn to Tony, nodding to him, letting him know that I’m okay. And then I reach out my hand for Jackson, whose wolf is howling, horribly sad for upsetting me so much and wanting very much to be told that it’s okay.

“Are your hands okay,” Jackson asks, his voice shaking as he kneels in front of me and reaches for my hand, turning it over. But I already know what we will find, because there’s absolutely no pain. When he turns my hand over in his we both see that my palm is totally fine – not a scorch on it.

Because of course not – I’m a tiny fire goddess. Of course I’m immune to the burns.

I exhale slowly, closing my eyes, wondering how the hell we didn’t realize this before.

Jackson clasps my hand in his, horribly relieved, and I take a moment to reassure him down the bond that it’s okay - letting him feel that I’m all right, apologizing in turn for freaking out so much. He murmurs quietly back to me down the bond, saying the same things, both of us feeling incredibly guilty and honestly neither of us feeling much better about it.

“We need to talk about this,” Rafe says, his voice harsh, pulling me out of my moment with Jackson as we all turn to him. I see him looking at me, worried, before he returns his eyes to mom and Cora. “I get this theory about Jesse…maybe meeting his mate,” he says, his voice snapping. “But things are very different now – Ariel burning things just because she gets upset? She’s always upset!”

My mouth falls open a little at this, annoyed, but he ignores me and moves on.

“And Tony being able to seriously affect her magic with his touch?” Rafe says. “And even Jesse like…being able to do that with his shadows after like, a day?” He casts a hand out towards our cousin, “it took Ariel months to do anything except melt some glass – and Jackson now can just…give me and Jesse energy through Ariel!? I honestly don’t think it was just coincidence that we just happened to figure all this out now. Maybe some of it, but not all of it. What – what is happening?”

“We talked about this too,” mom says, still looking at me anxiously and clearly wanting to check that I’m all right even as she responds to Rafe. I do my best to give her a steady nod, still holding Jackson’s hand tight in mine. “We think that…the God of Darkness, in possessing Alvez’s body, was…putting a dampener on most of your magics,” she says. “Halting your development, rather than encouraging it.”

“Oh,” I say, the word popping out of my mouth in my surprise.

Rafe’s eyes go wide as he too stares at our mother and our aunt, realizing how much sense that makes.

“We think that…Jesse developing his powers was the thing that broke his control because Jesse…could probably sense him within Alvez, or his powers actively negate his,” Cora says, looking over at her son a little sadly. “We don’t know for sure – but we think that’s why the dark God attacked when he did – because it was the last moment that he still had the element of surprise. But that also, his dampener on you and Jesse before Jesse’s power developed was why you couldn’t sense him being creepy with Ariel. He was affecting people’s magic, we just don’t know the full extent of how.”

“But then why could Jacks and I sense him being creepy?” Tony asks, interested, leaning forward.

Rafe groans, putting his head in his hand, I think realizing that there are even more questions that need to be answered and frustrated that we’re not even getting answers as the questions pile up.

“Baby,” my mom says, moving quickly down from the desk and moving towards him.

“No, mom!” Rafe says, dropping his hands and lifting his face to glare at her. “Why are we just finding this stuff out now! If you and Cora figured out apparently forever ago that your magic is triggered by meeting your mate, why wouldn’t you have told us that a long time ago!?”

Mom bites her lip, clearly feeling guilty and, not having an answer, she glances back at Cora, who likewise just looks at Rafe with apology in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Rafe,” Cora says quietly. “We…wanted you to live as normally as possible, to develop your magic as it came. We never meant to mislead you.”

“Well, we need answers now,” Rafe snaps, angry. As I watch him, I have to admit that a little anger coils in me too. Because, I mean, is this honestly how it’s going to be now with Alvez gone? That my power is newly volatile without the God of Darkness to act as a dampener?

“I agree,” I say, looking at my mom perhaps with less anger than Rafe but certainly with as much need. “I…I need to know.”

I glance at Jackson, because half of my need is about wanting to know the extent of my power, but I’m also likewise desperate to know the source of his powers. Because…I mean, if he has another mate out there that he met as a child…

I’m sorry, I know it’s hypocritical, but I’m going to lose my mind. The idea of sharing him with another girl…makes me want to tear her to absolute pieces.

“Okay,” Cora says, holding our her hands towards us apologetically. “If you want answers why don’t we just…ask?”

“Ask…who?” Jesse breathes, baffled.

“The Goddess,” Cora says, giving a little half shrug as if it’s the easiest thing in the world.

Suddenly I go pale as I remember something my dad said.

That for Cora…it might just be that easy.

“The Goddess,” Rafe snaps. “You just want us to…ask the Goddess.” He laughs a little like it’s some bad joke he can’t believe Cora would make at a time like this.

But then, as we all stare at my mom and Cora and their serious faces don’t break…I realize that what my dad told us is absolutely true.

“If you want to speak with the goddess,” Cora says quietly, looking at all of us. “I can…call on her. But,” she hesitates now, grimacing a little. “I think we all need to…calm down a bit first.”

“What is…what is seriously happening right now,” Tony says, and I glance up at him, realizing that he’s still standing close behind me.

“Seats, children,” mom says quietly, gesturing Tony towards his chair. “And deep breaths, okay? If you want answers…we’ll get you answers.”