“That’s part of the soul bond. I will always be there for you, Paige. At times you may think we are too close.”
“Cal, why are you on earth?”
“Are you regretting our union already?”
“No, I’m curious.”
“I told you about the war. When it was over everything changed our way of life. It was chaos. Monarchies came and went, and as they did my people became more and more aware of the talents they possessed. Some chose to use them for good and some for evil. Slowly it became possible to see a glimmer of what a child’s talents would be. That happened to Victor and me; our parents sent us away with a large group of our people to save our lives. We would have been controlled and used for our talents. If we couldn’t be controlled then we would have been killed.”
“Will you ever go back?”
“There’s nothing to go back to. If we ever leave earth we will colonize a planet that is uninhabited by higher life forms.”
“Your parents?”
“They died a long time ago.”
“The women?”
“My parents only sent males to protect us. Each male must find his soul bond here, if he is to mate.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Centuries.”
Instead of mourning for him, she commanded a snowball to hit him in the face, hiding the glimmer of sadness in his eyes.
“It’s like that, is it?” His voice rang with laughter, but his head bowed just a little in thanks to her.
She hid behind a snow bank missing his incoming volley of snowballs. He threw snowballs while she hid and tried to freeze them in midair. The harder she tried the more frustrated she became.
“Why won’t it work for me?”
“You just need to relax and take your time.”
“We don’t have time, Cal. Our lives depends on me being able to stop this thing inside of me.
“Mom says it’s almost dinner time,” Vick yelled and then waved enthusiastically before disappearing back into the house.
“That’s our cue.”
“Cal.”
“Stop, Paige. Worrying won’t help. You will learn it, try to have some faith in me.”
“Ok, let’s go. Wouldn’t want to miss dinner.”
Dinner turned out to be a family affair. The table was set beautifully and Selma was taking credit for dinner. She made spaghetti with meatballs, a salad, and garlic toast.
Paige’s stomach gurgled in appreciation as she sat. The food smelled wonderful.
Vick was squirming in his chair as he looked from his Uncle Cal to Paige.
“Can I call you Aunt Paige now?” Vick threw her a look before looking at his parents for their approval.
Paige looked up at Cal who nodded his head slightly.
“I would love for you to call me Aunt Paige.”
There were smiles all around the table.
“Aunt Paige, I told you Uncle Cal liked you. I told you so,” Vick repeated over again making them laugh.
“You were right, Vick, he does like me and I like him too.”
“Things are definitely looking up here, you’ve gone from thinking you like me to knowing you like me.”
“You’re growing on me.” She gave him a wicked smile.
“Wipe that smug smile off your face,” Victor said picking up a breadstick and throwing it at Cal.
“Hey, no one hits my man, except me,” Paige said.
The breadstick hovered in the air not moving.
“Paige!”
“What?” She stopped glaring at Victor long enough to look at Cal.
“Look at the breadstick.”
She turned to look at Cal. “You’re the one who stopped it from hitting you.”
“I didn’t do that, Paige.”
“Then who did?” She looked around the table to see everyone including Vick staring at her.
“I did that?”
“You did that!”
“But how?”
“Instinct,” Victor smiled at her. “Your instinct was to protect your mate, you took charge of your talent stopping the incoming threat.”
She turned to stare at the breadstick hanging in the air. It was such a little thing, but for her it was the grandest of victories.
“Cal, I did it!”
He came to her, picking her up out of her chair he kissed her, claiming her in front of his family.
The sweet kiss turned hot and he turned his back towards Vick as his tongue invaded her mouth dueling for supremacy. His kiss was like a drug making her body soft and compliant against his. Her nipples hardened needing to be touched and her sex began to throb.
“I want you,” she whispered in his ear.
“Soon, Paige.”
He helped her sit down before walking back to his chair ignoring the knowing grin on his brother’s face.