Archaic (Reverse Harem 2)

If they know she’s alive, they won’t hesitate to kill her.

If they catch her, they won’t hesitate to destroy her.

We reach our destination and move as fast as we can. Sebastian with his reaching leaps and Toshi with his quick feet. My legs pump as fast as they can, the voices kicking up to a dull roar. I need them to settle down. I need them to hush. It’s the first time I can sense Clarissa. Feel her vibrating in my bones. It’s

the first time my protective instincts are trained onto her since I left for Russia.

And my adrenal glands are kicking into overdrive. Painting pictures along the forefront of my mind.

Pictures I haven’t seen since my beloved’s death.

The three of us skid to a stop as we look up at the building in front of us. The High Council of the Primals and their impenetrable walls. Sebastian’s growl is relentless, and Toshi’s hissing is audible, and as they stand hunched, I stand with pride. Training my mind on Clarissa’s living spirit and trying to dig into the deepest parts of her body.

That's what Bears do when they mate. When they mark one another like I have with Clarissa. Their souls become one. Their pain becomes one another’s. Their happiness and their sadness and their fear and their anguish, it is all felt by the pair of them.

The emotions of their lives, all wrapped up within two separate bodies that possess half of the other.

And as I reach out to Clarissa’s soul, the only thing I am met with is horror.

“We need to get in there,” I say. “Something’s wrong.”

“I know,” Sebastian says. “I can hear her mind begging.”

“I can feel her heart rate skyrocketing,” Toshi says.

The three of us look at one another as the sun finally sets over the horizon. Blanketing the busy Russian town in a darkness too thick to see through. The banging of the voices in my mind is throbbing my skull. I close my eyes and will them to leave, casting them out for the first time in my life. What a disgrace my tribe would have found me, casting down my ancestors so I can have peace. Willing them to die when they have already met their end. Turning down their help when they have fought with their last spiritual breath to find me.

To call to me.

To alert me.

But I have to think. I know Clarissa is in danger, and I need my mind to think. Not to listen, and not to obey. Not even to command.

But to process.

“We have to go in through the back,” Sebastian says. “We have to remain unseen.”

“Toshi will be the best for that,” I say. “But someone will have to approach the Council. As a distraction. And my heavy footfalls won’t be easily concealed by the shadows.”

“I’m not going with him,” Sebastian says.

I whip my body over to the Wolf as my form drastically heightens.

“I don’t care about your history or your petty rivalry with Toshi. All I care about is finding her, and I can’t stay hidden.

I’m the only logical choice for going in front of the Council.

Which means you will go with Toshi and protect him. To find Clarissa. For once, you will set aside your own selfish whims to help her. Protect her. Like you promised.”

Sebastian is glaring at me, his eyes training onto my throbbing neck. I can feel his anger growing. I can feel him taking offense to my words. But it’s true. All of it is. He took an oath and swore to protect Kyle, and he failed because of his own heartache. Then he swore a vow to protect Clarissa, and now she is panicked. Fearful. In the hands of two Primals we cannot trust. He has to set it aside for her. He has to take his eyes off Toshi for once and place them onto her.

Onto her needs.

“Fine,” Sebastian growls. “But Toshi better listen to my instruction. He’s quick, but I can hear Clarissa.”

“Whatever it takes to get her back,” Toshi says.

“That’s more like it,” I say.