Nikhil swept Mackenzie up in his arms and relied on those he most trusted to protect them both on their way to medical. "Hold on, Little One," he whispered.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
"Hold on, Little One..."
The words whispered through her mind, and her soul reached out for them. She needed them, him to survive, but he and the words faded away.
"Nikhil!" she cried out, but Nikhil didn't respond. Someone else did.
"Why do you call out for the one you thought to refuse?" a melodic voice questioned.
Mac spun around to find the most stunningly, beautiful woman she had ever seen standing just a short distance behind her, and instinctively she knew she was the Goddess.
"What?" she questioned.
"Why do you call out for the male you thought to refuse?" she asked again.
"I never refused Nikhil!"
"You thought to refuse his True Mate bead. It is the same as refusing him."
"It is not the same! This,” she grabbed the strand of hair holding the bead, "has nothing to do with what I feel for Nikhil!"
"Then I will remove it." The Goddess reached out and was shocked when her hand was slapped away.
"You will not touch it!" One instant Mac found herself growling at the Goddess, the next there was an explosion and she was flying across the floor. The largest male she had ever seen was leaning down over her, his glowing eyes glaring at her. He was even larger than Nikhil, and while his eyes glowed like a Kaliszian, his long, dark hair covered his entire head, and his skin seemed to change colors like a chameleon.
"Raiden!" the Goddess exclaimed.
"She harmed you!" he growled.
"I shouldn't have tried to remove her True Mate bead," the Goddess was immediately at his side.
"That matters not! No one harms you!"
"Then tell her to keep her hands to herself," Mac found herself saying, her anger replacing her fear.
The male gave her a shocked look before he stood and an amazing smile transformed his scowling face into one that stole her breath. He was the most handsome male she had ever seen.
"Thank you," he told her, his deep voice seeming to fill the universe.
"He's mine," the Goddess said, stepping between them and the temperature of the room dropped drastically. "My mate."
It was a struggle, but Mac was finally able to pull her gaze from the male to look at the Goddess. "Good. Great. Fine. I've already got a male, and he's all I want."
"Really? Then why did you threaten to cut off his True Mate bead?"
"Because I don't need it to know he's mine." Mac's gaze ran over her. "I see you don't wear a True Mate bead. Are you sure he,” she nodded toward Raiden, “is your True Mate?" she asked raising a questioning eyebrow.
Mac wasn't prepared for how dark everything suddenly became or how the ground beneath her shook, but she felt the rage emanating from both of them.
"You dare question our bond!??" they both roared.
"Sucks, doesn't it?!! To have others question your commitment all because of some bead!"
Raiden was the first of the two to calm, and he gave her a considering look. "You are very brave for one so small."
"Am I?" Mac asked.
"Yes. Few are willing to stand up to me," Raiden told her.
"Perhaps that's because you knock them on their ass first and ask questions later," Mac told him.
"Perhaps." Raiden took a step back, extending his hand to help her up. Mac took it and with that touch understood so much more than she had before. With his touch, he allowed her to see how he and the Goddess fell in love, how a lower God named Daco destroyed the people he had left behind to be with his mate, and how they suffered. Daco hadn't been able to drive Raiden out of the memory of the Kaliszian people as he had hoped though, but they had nearly destroyed themselves trying to find what Raiden had, a True Mate. Because of that, Raiden and the Goddess had created the True Mate bead.
Gasping at the onslaught of information, she ripped her hand from his.
"Now you see," he told her.
"Yes, but the bead you created no longer brings comfort or peace to the Kaliszian people," Mac told him quietly.
"What do you mean?" Raiden demanded.
"When you," she looked to the Goddess, "cursed the Kaliszians with the Great Infection, you didn't just kill the plants that feed their bodies, you killed what they needed to feed their souls! Their True Mates."
"Impossible!" The Goddess moved to stand in front of her mate, her eyes blazing into Mac's.
"But it's true. I am the first person your True Mate bead has transferred to in nearly five-hundred years."
"No!" The Goddess stumbled back looking up at her mate in horror. "Raiden, that can't be true! It was never what I intended."