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I rest my head on my palm and stare at him. Where the hell did this question come from? “You really want to know?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, it’s complicated,” I say with a sigh. “We’ve been in this thing for a while now, like a half relationship.”
“Half?”
“Yeah. Like, occasionally I’ll go to his place and we’ll…you know. And he’s usually there for me when I need someone to talk to. We’re just not actually together.”
“I don’t understand. Why not? He takes you to his bed and yet he doesn’t make you his mate?”
“Like I said…it’s complicated. He just doesn’t want a relationship right now. With me, at least. I don’t know. We’ve been friends for a long time, and what we do have is really good.”
“This is acceptable where you come from?”
“I mean… It’s not abnormal.”
Kalistratos mulls this over then thrusts his knife back into its sheath. He looks annoyed. “It’s damn unacceptable for an alpha to have such little honor and commitment. He should’ve made you his mate.”
“Thank you,” I say with a huff. “Wish he was here to hear you say that.”
“I don’t know. If he were, I’d be tempted to challenge him to combat.”
I sit up. “Kalistratos. You wouldn’t kill him, would you?” I’m half-joking. Mostly I’m just amused—and a little bit touched—at how offended on my behalf he is.
He smiles. “No. Just take a clip of an ear or something. A lesson in firm intention.”
“I’m learning a lot about you, I think,” I tell him.
“We Phoenikos take loyalty and commitment very seriously,” he says. “There’s no such thing as half measures—especially when it comes to those we care about.”
“And is there someone in your life?” I ask, then add with a smile, “besides Alyx, I mean.”
“No,” he says plainly. “No one.”
Is that relief I feel? What the hell is wrong with me?
“Why not?” I’m trying to be casual about it.
“Because I couldn’t dedicate myself fully to a mate, not with the mission I have.”
“You mean stealing from the rich?”
Kalistratos crosses his arms. “Alyx and I do what we do because we don’t have much other choice. I’ve told you the kind of world this is for members of our clan.”
“I know. I’m sorry. You’re talking about your search for the temple.”
He nods. “That’s where things have led me. I’m looking for my family, you see.”
“Your family?”
“Yeah. I’ve been looking for them for my whole life.”
“Your parents, you mean?” I say.
Kalistratos looks distant. “I never knew them. All I have is a collection of vague memories. And I was content not knowing them—until the vision. I couldfeelthem. The warmth and love and closeness... It had to have been my parents. That’s when Iknew I had to find the Great Phoenix and finally get some answers about where I came from. Where my family went. I feel like… they might be out there, waiting for me.”
“Coming from anyone else, anywhere else, that would all sound completely insane,” I say. “But it kinda seems like that’s just how things work here, huh? Visions. Gods. Fate. That’s all stuff that was lost a long time ago where I’m from.”
