Chapter 129: The Race

Loiza's POV

"WE ALL KNOW THE RULES OF THE DRAG!
Get caught and it's the dungeons for you! Pass the finish line and your scot-free!
The route has been uploaded to your computers, DON'T KILL ANYONE or your fucked! And don't kill your car! This is the North Coast BABYYYY!" I revv the engine and look to my right and I blow Tony a kiss, he has a huge open smile and shakes his head. Nina is lucky as hell, I hope he keeps helping her grow up.

"READY?!" What was her name? Ah yeah, Krystal raises her first perfectly manicured finger to Tony. The smell of exhaust gases and burned rubber filled the air. I clear my mind fully, this win is mine! I already memorized the route. My eyes on the Christmas Tree waiting for the green light!

"STEADY!" My adrenaline levels are off the charts and I let Aryn out, I focus again, she's helping me channel that adrenaline and her mind and mine are fully synced, we share the same goal... WIN!

"GOOOO!" I stomped my foot on the accelerator as I side stepped my clutch. Shifting into second gear...


Kayden's POV

Mi mind has been going in circles from what Gaia said. I need to remember... I KNOW now that that there's something else about Izz and me... BOTH of us. Every night now I go in the Bond to check out how her day went. The tiara... Shit, she was terrified! And when I see the image she saw in her memory it jolted my mind to something from another time... I can't tearaway from her image LIKE THAT! Even the color of the dress was on point! Blue was always her color... It reminded her of home. But it's not REALLY Izzy... I'M not REALLY Kayden! THAT though terrifies me exactly the SAME as how Izz felt with that image of herself. But while I'm accepting this, Izzy is running away from it only focused on the goal put for US, BOTH OF US. From what Gaia told me the first step for that goal has been met... Our children, not just the twins... But the ones yet to come.

Gaia... I FEEL it now. That sense of URGENCY to get this DONE before he finds her... My anger raising at the thought of him having her by his side... Again. Wait... I STOLE her... She begged, she was mine first! Damn you and your lust father! You had to give MY WOMAN TO HIM?! My brain has to work faster what am I missing? Kayden is not used to puzzles, Izzy is the puzzle master and but she's been solving the other puzzles, she really hasn't begun THIS one... Why am thinking about myself in the third person?

I look down at Caliburn in my hand. He's quiet, since I came to my own realization of myself Mordred has been hidden, HE'S the one terrified of ME now. He's afraid I will rip his soul out of Caliburn. How am I supposed to do that?! Marcus is concerned... That's when I put that part of myself outside the Link, like I used to do when I howled for HER..

The Moon was her domain... The Moon and the ocean... Mine the Sun. I loved setting over the ocean to catch glimpses of her with her sisters, she would look up at me with her amber eyes I would shine bright for her, I wanted to see her black hair glimmer blue, her eyes shine like fire!

I had to catch myself feeling my heart like it couldn't take more of my brain... Am I going crazy? She thought she was when she saw herself with the tiara!

I'm shinning on her... Her hair isn't the only thing glimmering, so was her tiara. The one the Sea Nymphs, the Nereides wear!

I am panting I need to get out of my brain for a while. I get up and remember Caliburn in my hand... This feels right! Mordred has to go, this is The Sword of Peace. I lay it down giving it one last glance before leaving Kayden's office. No... I have to make my peace that I'm also Kayden. I look at my image in the bathroom mirror and a similar fear like the one Izzy felt at the sight of her own image, only I'm not terrified like she was. Hers was a surprise, I came to confirm what I already feel. The image before me is correct, I know him as Kayden, but he's also me. After looking at myself for a while I feel at peace with that image, I have to help her remember that her image in the mirror is correct, that she doesn't have to be afraid of herself. She's so afraid of him finding her, I swore I would protect her no matter the cost. But... What was the price? I feel like I'm racing with myself!

Wait... A race? I finish drying my hair get some shorts and lie down and focus on the Bond that now has become like air to me. I know it like the palm of my hand, she's not even begun to explore it. I need to be there when they take down the block, it's going to overwhelm her. If she wouldn't have had such a disciplined mind she would have broken long ago, and she got that discipline in Avalon. Thank you Gaia, thank you Selene, You made true on your word to me to always keep her close to your realms. And with her being in Avalon so have I because of the Bond. I went through EVERY memory of her when she was there, every herb she knows, I know, every potion, every ritual, every strength and every weakness of every species on the planet, supernatural or not. That's how I know she will be overwhelmed by the scope of the power of OUR Bond, she knows how strong the Bond works for The Osupa but she hasn't touched it since we were mated and it's been simmering... Just like my ignorance of all the knowledge she possesses. These little girls have SO MUCH knowledge, information, and they can't share it... It's truly impossible! But she's wasn't a little girl...

It made me understand why it was so difficult for her to join the pack link and Blessed Be for Yaya's guidance and Urayoán teaching her, I love him as my brother already! I have much to thank him for he set in motion a chain reaction to get her in and he's never asked her to disclose any secret to him, these secrets that I know. Everything she hides from everyone she can't from me. She's tried to put a block so that I can't see those secrets and shit! I definitely understand WHY the Priestesses need to hide them and why she puts up her STRONGEST barriers to protect them, her natural sense of duty drives her to protect that knowledge that in the wrong hands can destroy the planet... Oh mother, how could you? I do want to hear Gaia's explanation when she finally decides to awaken us fully as she has done many times before, of why she put me in this family, I would have understood if... If they were the parents I knew of my childhood, why put me in the womb of a psychopath, or even Marcus... How on Earth am I going to explain THIS to Marcus?! Hey yo, I'm your brother in blood only but not truly. How will Izzy explain? Would she even want to? They saw her as a freak once, why not again? Will even Urayoán and Maco accept it? Will my pack? Will HER pack? What would happen to our children?! No! She and I will have to REALLY talk this over. By Gaia I AM awakening!

Every physiological child we have had we have loved, I gave my life for one once and would again, she is still that Nymph I would shine bright for! Fuck! I already KNOW every deity. Ha! Of course! Is it in fact Apollo? Was Izzy already partially awakening then? Gaia won't confirm until I remember HER name, that was the deal... 'True self!' Oh my sweet ocean Nymph... I have become a locksmith, there's really no door you close I can't open. I KNOW why Pasha and the Mermaids say she smells as them! She IS an ocean creature! I feel like I'm so close!

Suddenly I jerk to the now... It's her birthday!

She hates her birthday, at least since returning from Avalon. It's a wonder she even forgave my stupidity and carelessness with my pack! Because of the history of her people, slavery is taboo, they have Elders that remember their own Elders remember when some of their ancestors were slaves and here like a mega moron don't even know that I fucking have slaves in my own damn pack! Even fucking Unicorns, for fucks sake it's the happiest she was when she WAS a child! Happiest memories of her childhood... WHAT childhood? She was on the clock from day one! Was that the price Gaia? To live only a half life? However Izzy has made the BEST with what she had to work with! She is truly a daughter of the Ocean, like water, smooth and easily adaptable to the basin you're put in. That's how she reeled me in like the creatures of the ocean that worship her especially her beloved Orcas, that's why I chose Aryn as her wolf! Every time I would see big pods of Orcas I would look for her and sure enough, she would be close! Aryn has a similar coloring to the porpoises!

I go into the Bond as that now is my shelter... I know the puzzle now Love I already read Gaia's grimoire, she hasn't told us the end game.

What a disaster of a Council meeting... She's trying to get them to fucking understand, idiots! The Elder is very interested in helping her achieve her goal, but I know now she can't hand him the puzzle, that he has to do himself. Víctor is not going to be happy with Bayoán, it's not like his arrogant ass to be that off... Is Morgana getting contractions? Hybrids are very dificult on the mother, I am so glad that my dumbass self did everything possible to give her and the pups what they needed. They both look strong already, Izzy has to know that them not smelling like ocean creatures is a Blessing, he won't suspect them when they enter the Ocean.

She enjoys The Circle so much, ignorance truly is bliss... Would I be able to adapt and cut loose knowing what I do? I would definitely try for both of us, she has so many dark secrets she has lived with almost all of THIS life and she has found it as her shelter.

Deacon has been so silent since learning about us, he KNEW she was on her way to me from thousands of miles... I can't keep kicking myself anymore. I stopped being him a while ago.

K: 'Deacon are you still with me?'

D: 'Yes Kayden, we are understanding. I fear for Izz's mind as well as Aryn. Do you think it's wise to let her know?

K: We need to her to know her true self, but the Block has to go, otherwise it will consume her but we HAVE to be there when it happens. Not even their best healers understand this.

D: 'Do you have a plan?' Sigh.

K: 'I think I do but like everything else it depends on others. We KNOW the location of Karaya, but us just appearing just like nothing could cause... Complications. I don't want to risk her mind, or the relationship of the packs, do you understand?'

D: 'Yes I know everything and...'

K: 'I know, I need you to start gently coaxing Aryn, Deacon, we need her help. But remember she's also our mate, we need her own mind safe too.'

D: 'You should take a look at NOW, they are together, they work as one!'

Yeah they are very good at that, their repairing their own Bond. I take a look.

Racing!

And I am suddenly shocked that this would excite me this much now, it looked fun in Paco's shop. I'm watching the race through her eyes, she's racing Antoine! They found the Mustang! She worked her ass off on it and Hatuey had the fucking balls to keep it?! I doubt that Casimar has anything to do with it except for resentment. You're own past is catching up to you too, huh Love?

But this excitement is giving me a little hope that I CAN be Kayden and love her as I have all those other lives, so it IS reincarnation!

Yeah... I think, I think I can enjoy this lifetime with her, just feeling her adrenaline I can't help but smile, fuck yeah it looks like fun! I've never done it... At least not in this lifetime and that dumb though makes me laugh! It's ok. I am Alpha Kayden of Blood Moon Pack Virginia and and my mate is her, it's always her. That was the deal... The price... Of course!

To be mortal... And yet always finding each other in the Bond that unites warewolves. That's why I chose them for our vessels!

K: 'Deacon you have to help remind me of WHAT I am in the now ok, you can't be silent and you don't have to be worried, we are a warewolf after all right?'

D: 'I'm so flattered my human remembers!' Ha! Yeah, I can do this! We've done it hundreds of times!

Fuck the patrols are closing in! She's so close! She already left Antoine way behind with that prior rust bucket she turned into a gem! I have a feeling that he's going to spend the night in the dungeons! Ha! I'll probably get to spend a few, I'm definitely going to want to do it, it's not enough through her eyes, I want to live it WITH her.

And she's CLEAR! She crossed the finish line without being caught! Ha! This is going to be trending! I'm actually enjoying this! I check my ring and BOOM there it is! Yup Antoine was caught, damn and really looking at everything that happened today... Ura REALLY gave Nina a piece of his mind! Good for him! Damn they THRASHED her good today! Ha! I can't even imagine Marcus clapping at me so viciously! Oh Marcus... I don't have to say anything right now. I have to be ok with this, I've already caused my little brother so much heartache myself... Goddesses what a selfish asshole I was! Why am I always like this?

I go to the shrines to get everything ready for the Dawn. Moira is going to have to help me, I know who she is, right now I know her better than Bayoán could even imagine... He doesn't know jack shit who she is and why she's The Lady of the Lake. I know I don't have to write down all that pompous bullshit. Seriously Gaia, must you make it so complicated every time? it's a MORTALS mind. Either way I'm awake! I know who I am! Now I have to remember HER name for confirmation... Wait! She's usually the good one at puting the pieces together, all I have to do is show her the image again but through MY EYES! It's good to be back! Yes, she's water, her mind adapts faster... Thank you Grandmother! Wait? You were here?! You seriously couldn't throw me a bone huh? It's fine as long as you're by HER side!

I have the power to DEMAND Moira to see me!

'Lord Apollo demands you come at once Moira of Avalon.' PERIODT. I want Mordred out of my fucking sword he's ruining millennia of polishing it gold and I want my bow back!