Pregnant With Alpha’s Genius Twins

#Chapter 228 – Astral Mate

Victor heaves a huge sigh of relief, running a hand down his face, and I can feel the reprieve running through his body. I beam at him, scootching closer, glad to be able to see and feel the tension leaving him.

It’s real. It’s all real.

I mean, we knew that it was. That’s what we’ve figured out here in the woods, in the past few days together. That despite the label that the world had put on his and Amelia’s relationship, and despite the fact that our connection didn’t have the same kind of label – at least, until now – that what we had was real, and true, and important.

So, it doesn’t really matter that it has a name. Not truly. We don’t need it.

But damn, is it nice to have a word to put to this incredible thing between us.

Victor opens his eyes and looks evenly at the woman, who sits patiently in her little nest, smiling at both of us.

“Please,” he breathes, shaking his head a little from side to side. “Please, can you tell us more? What on earth are astral mates?”

She chuckles a little at this, pulling a shawl from some corner of the her little seat and wrapping it around her shoulders. “Well, it’s precisely not of this earth, of course. That’s the important thing.”

Victor just keeps shaking his head in wonder, waiting for her to tell us more. I, too, sit eagerly, biting my lip to keep from interrupting with questions of my own. Because, of course, I have a million.

The woman raises her hand, swirling it in the little dust motes, mumbling a few words to them. Apparently following her instructions, the little motes begin to organize themselves, creating a stunning dome over our heads and creating – of all things – the shape of constellations above us.

“Ohhh,” I can’t help but murmur in awe. It’s just so beautiful.

“Most mates,” the woman continues simply, “are terrestrial. Of the earth. Their bond comes from the fact that their bodies are made for each other, perfect matches.”

Victor and I nod, understanding. This is what our traditions told us growing up – that those who found their mates were lucky enough to find the person it seemed was made for them, as if shaped from the clay of the earth and molded to fit together perfectly.

planets aligned just so at their

– not simply

themselves, dissolving into the chaos of their usual movement, but still filling the little grove with a steady golden

is what you two are to each other,” she says quietly. “Two souls made for each other, lucky to have been born at the same moment on earth, lucky enough to find each other. Or,” she c***s her head the side, studying us, “perhaps inevitably drawn to each other. I imagine that you met

look at each other, then, and I blush a little. It’s true that I went to the ballroom that night looking for a distraction, but from the moment I saw him at the top of the stares, it was like a moth

responds, looking me over and then turning back to the woman. “Fate

little finger and waving

my mate then, the word humming and singing through

Mate, Mate! I sing to him, in my head. You’re my mate,

doesn’t feel. Now I’ll have to feed you, and train you, and take you for regular walks

our attention back to her. “You have the rest of your lives for sickeningly-sweet private conversations.

as I lean forward eagerly. “Do you have to go? Why can’t

kindly. “I, too, am not quite of this earth. My time in this realm is borrowed time; it is only at midnight that our two realms fully touch.” She points westward then. “And the earth continues to

I go pale, then.

forget. Or perhaps didn’t forget, but thought that in

we healed?” Victor asks the question echoing inside of me, and the woman laughs

that. Your astral pairing has allowed you to share your souls with each other, to give strength from

Victor asks, frowning

close the loop, my dears. Consent to finish

tight. “You must find the balance between the two, though – make peace with the liminality of it all. Be at once separate, who are together.”

beginning

forward, shaking my head. “How do

for me to instruct you. I have come here to guide you, not to fix you. It