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On one side, a young couple with a little girl stands on a dock. On the facing page, the couple is older, and instead of a little girl stands a captivating young woman. One who has lived in my soul for years.
There you are, my Kaia.
The little caption beneath it claims this moment with the Solis family was captured over a year ago. That’s when I lost contact with her.
She lives. That’s all that matters. When I’m assured of her safety, then I can investigate the reason our bond has been severed.
“I will find you soon,” I say to her image.
“Let us hope so, sir. We only have three days in this form. We find your mate. Verify she’s safe. Then we can move on.”
“We won’t need three days. We will find her tonight.”
Minato
Gods,I hate being dry.
“Do you see anything, sir?” Maru’s voice sounds from our shared battle comm link planted into our jaws.
I see too much. The gala lights and the reflective sparkles that accompany them are overwhelming. But it is nothing compared to the noise.
I understand now why black could be a desirable color. In a world so loud, understated silence becomes alluring.
“Yes. The problem is what I’m not seeing. Namely, any sign of Kaia and her boat.” I don’t doubt the intel. Not really. I just hate not knowing all the variables. “Gods, these people are insufferable.”
“I wish you had allowed me to be your conduit. At least this way we would have been able to stagger our transformation times before you could look for her.”
I would have been of the same mind. However, Maru cannot feel the urgency that I do. Kaia is my soulmate. She is connected to me, not him. And even though it has been a long time since I’ve heard her, her life force still thrums within me, no matter how quiet.
It is that same life force that tells me she is anxious.
“She is near,” I tell Maru, “and she is worried about something.”
“Copy that. I’m sending sentinels to create a perimeter.”
I do not acknowledge my second’s plans. He knows his job. I will focus on mine.
“Stuffed crab cake?”
The question startles me. It is yet another one of those servers with a platter full of abominations. I would not make that mistake of eating what they deem food. “I am fine, thank you.”
Though I decline the server’s offer, I pick up a fluted glass full of sweet, bubbly liquid for camouflage as I weave my way through the exhibit. There has to be some place large where they would showcase a boat.
I keep pace with the meandering crowd, careful not to seem out of place as I wind through tunnels that showcased water. Despite myself, the various exhibits draw me in. It is a clever way to show my natural home in a world of land dwellers. Too bad it is wildly inaccurate.
What would they do if they knew there were entire cities in the ocean's heart? The tapestry and texture of the deeps is beyond comparison. The landlocked do not even have words to embrace the concept.
Kaia had been enchanted by it. She had only visited once, when we were both children. But I kept the memory of it alive within her when I would visit her in dreams.
We could share our dream space for years. It made the years of training feel less lonely to know that she would wait for me. When her presence disappeared so abruptly, it was as if a cord had been gouged from my soul.
I need to find her.
As if I conjured her from my wildest imaginations, Kaia walks into view. Dressed in a floor-length black dress, her dreamy gaze enraptured as she looks at the animals swimming in the water.
I open my senses, not quite trusting my eyes. But the vision before me isn’t a dream. My soul recognizes her. Just like the first time we met, seeing her is like coming home. “I found her Maru.”
“Excellent. We will maintain the perimeter, just in case there’s any danger.”
