Primals (Reverse Harem 1)

As she speaks, her gaze falls on the one I have around my neck. I can tell what she’s thinking. I touch my own pendant. “You’re wondering about her, aren’t you? About the woman who used to own this necklace? The one whose picture you saw?”

She looks away. “I’m sorry for prying, for saying all those things I said.”

This time, I shake my head. “You’re right. We’ve been unfair wanting to know so much about you but not wanting to share about ourselves. I think it’s time we change that.”

I get my cup of tea, taking a sip, wondering where to begin.

“Do Bears live in groups?” Clarissa asks.

I nod. “Bears live in tribes. The leader is called a Chief. The females stay in one village. The males travel around to work and gather food or to eliminate any threats to the tribe.”

“I see.”

“Primals have three ruling instincts,” I go on. “The first is to survive. The second is to reproduce. The third varies for each race. For us Bears, it is a protective instinct. When we swear to protect something, we dedicate our lives to doing just that and when we fail, we find it hard to live with it. Some of us prefer death than failing to protect what we have to.”

“What happened to her?”

I take a deep breath, summoning my courage. “Her name was Gia. She was the mate chosen for me. I’ve known her since childhood. Gia had the gift of healing. Some of us do. And I don’t just mean healing herself. We can all do that. But healing others? That’s special.”

Clarissa nods. “Of course, it is.”

“We were supposed to heal only those of our kind but Gia, she had a heart of gold. One time, she came across a human child that was wounded and she healed him. He was fully healed but what did the people of the village do? They thought she was a witch and hunted her down.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I was away at the time. They burned her and left her to die. The only reason she was still alive when I found her was because she wasn’t human. Still, when I found her, she was dying all the same. I was...enraged. I wanted to kill all the people at that village, but she made me promise not to. She made me promise not to take vengeance, or to allow anyone to take vengeance. She said if I loved her, I would do that because love was stronger than hatred.”

“Wow. What an amazing woman.”

“She was,” I agree. My chest hurts. The ache left by the absence of Gia’s smiling face is something that has not dulled with time. “She also told me not to mourn for her or feel bad that I wasn’t able to protect her. She said I was not hers to protect.”

“Why would she say that?”

“There are also some members of our tribe with the gift of prophecy. One of them told me there was a woman I was destined to protect and that if I succeeded, it would change everything. Gia died in my arms insisting that woman wasn’t her and told me to go search the world for the woman who was.”

“Wow.” Clarissa exhales.

Yes, Gia was an extraordinary woman. Even now, I can still remember her smell, how her eyes danced when she laughed, how she danced, how she turned into a completely different creature as she used her gift of healing.

I miss her.

“You must miss her,” Clarissa says as though reading my mind. “I’m sorry. I didn’t understand. When I found that picture I thought she was a cousin or something. Not...”

I nod. I understand. Her pain for me is almost palpable. Her heart is too kind. “But at least, I still get to hear her voice,” I say to soften her own sorrow as much as mine.

Clarissa’s eyebrows rise. “What do you mean, Theo?”

“Some of us Bears also have the gift to communicate with the spirits of those who have passed,” I tell her. “I have that gift.”

“You do?” Her eyes grow wide.

I give another nod.

I can see the questions blooming behind her eyes even before they even start spilling out of her mouth. This is the scientist in her, that strains to understand everything new so I don’t take offense when she starts questioning me. “Do they like try to talk to you all the time? Do you hear them talking around you? Or do you have to call them and...?” She pauses, scratching her head. “Sorry. I got carried away.”

I hide a smile. “It’s fine.”

“It’s just if you hear them all the time, then it’s scary but if they only talk when you want to talk to them, then it’s good.”