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An excerpt from Forever Eden
It
was another beautiful day on planet Raxis, with the warm breeze and the
golden sun dipping toward the horizon. Of course, Adam wasn’t enjoying
the moment all that much since he’d goaded his younger brother into a
sparring match. Josiah was younger but built for this kind of physical
battle.
In other words, he was getting his ass kicked.
On purpose.
“Why
did you even want to do this, Adam? It’s not like you have a chance
against me without using magic.” Josiah wasn’t completely wrong. In a
pure physical match, he found it a challenge to defend against his
brother’s greater weight and strength.
But
that overconfidence was what he’d been waiting for. “Then how about we
make a bet of it? Maybe that will encourage my poor old body.”
Josiah straightened. “What do you have in mind?”
“If I win, you have to ask Maria to the picnic tomorrow night.”
“What? Why would I do that? All she does it talk about you?”
He wanted to say, You know why.
Why else would he set up a couple if he hadn’t seen them as true mates?
Instead, he pushed his magic into shifting forms until he stood facing
Josiah as a wolf. “Let’s do this.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Josiah shifted into wolf form but at least this way their size difference was less noticeable.
He
feinted and as expected his brother took the bait. In two swift lunges,
he knocked the bigger wolf from his feet and pinned him to the ground
with a throat hold.
They
both shifted back to human form. Adam kept Josiah pinned flat to the
ground under his knee. He was just glad to have the farce over with. If
Josiah hadn’t been so stubborn, he wouldn’t have even bothered.
“Let me up,” Josiah grumbled.
He
pressed down just a little bit, pushing his brother’s face dangerously
close to the mud‐churned earth. “Not until you beg for mercy.”
“Fine. I beg. Are you happy now?”
Adam jumped back. “Almost.”
“So, what will make you happy?” Josiah rolled over and held up his hand for help off the ground.
Their
hands clasped with a slight squish, and he tugged, pulling Josiah to
his feet. “I’ll be happy if you ask Maria to the picnic tomorrow night.”
“But Maria wants you to ask her!”
He
knew that wasn’t true. The poor girl only used him as a topic to talk
to Josiah. Why his young idiot of a brother couldn’t see the obvious was
beyond him. “I want you to do this for me. That would make me happy.”
Josiah
nodded. He couldn’t really refuse. He’d lost the match and so he’d lost
the favor, but what Josiah didn’t know was that pretty little Maria
would be just perfect for him.
“Go on. Go ask her now. I don’t want you to miss your chance.”
“You are a bully, my brother.” Josiah straightened his short black hair and magically cleaned off his mud‐splattered clothes.
Adam
just watched. He held back on the laugh all of Josiah’s primping
inspired. He didn’t need to do any of that. All it would take was one
sincere look. Then those two would be as good as sold down the mating
river.
That
was how it always was with true mates. Not that Adam had ever felt that
elusive blessing. No, he’d never been so lucky, but he’d seen plenty.
Someday it would happen for him, but so far...well, so far, he was the
oldest single male on the planet.
For
seven hundred years, he’d helped pair up the first, second and third
generations on Raxis. For the last two hundred years, he had attended
every birth in the hope of finding his own mate. For all that time, his
gift had benefited everyone except for himself.
What good is being able to see where love fits when the blessing never fits me?
He shook away the negative thoughts. It would happen when it happened.
He repeated the words he often said to others. After a quick bath, he’d
head back to the sacred temple. It seemed the only place he felt peace
anymore.
As
First Born, he’d claimed the temple as his territory, which had not
been challenged by any other. The temple of Ra was more a shrine than
the celebration Adam thought it should be, but the elders held that as
custom. And on Raxis, custom was not questioned.
Once
he’d bathed away the last evidence of his match with Josiah, Adam
started for the temple but paused at the door to his small home.
A
strange whistle cut off all the natural evening sounds of people and
other life. He looked up to find the sky on fire while the whistle grew
into a roar.
Was it a shooting star falling on Raxis?
Someone cried out. Another screamed. Their small town became a backdrop of energy as people yelled and ran.
Adam
looked around and saw his parents across the courtyard. They stood
quietly, watching the falling fire with faces frozen in horror.
Read more at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVTXNN6H
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