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  Xander’s eyebrows shot up. He recalled his encounter with Jason. Jason had a different aura. This Xander could confirm. Their meetings triggered something in him that made him lose control. It was both delirious and blissful. His senses were heightened and his mind was in frenzy when he was in close proximity with Jason.

  “Are you saying he is my mate?” Xander asked.

  The silence that followed more than confirmed what Xander had thought, which confused him further.

  “He will be if you choose him if he is not already yours,” Lawrence finally answered, his finger was tracing the rim of the cup.

  “I thought only old souls can have predestined mate.”

  “The new souls can have a mate when being bonded at the young age.”

  “So why can’t we be together?”

  Hector kissed Lawrence’ temple.

  “Xander, I think it’s time for you to know about our kind.” Lawrence took a deep breath before he continued. “The gods are just a bunch of houses with huge ego. We all came from the same ancestors who were exiled to this world because of a curse. Our ancestor Ki accidentally killed an omega, a pregnant one that incurred him and all his descendants, his brother’s, and his friend’s who had stood as favarati in his mating ceremony with an the omega curse. The curse keeps us from being reincarnated, meaning there’s no rebirth from the dead, we’ll stay in the realm of Hades for good.”

  “But this is like a tale from thousands of years ago, father. What made them think it’s actually true?”

  “No one has been reincarnated since then, no one,” Hector said. “But go on, Law, tell him more.”

  Lawrence’s gaze was back on Xander. “The omega curse also mentioned that the curse can only be broken if an omega with an alpha gene carrying a Shii will be sacrificed.”

  Xander’s chest constricted and something seemed to collapse inside him. He did not understand the whole thing of what his father was saying, but he somehow could tell where this conversation was leading. Unable to contain himself, he stood up and started pacing, too scared to ask his father to clarify what he just said.

  “Xander, please sit down,” Hector said. “Sweetheart, we’re here for you.”

  Xander turned around to face his father. “I’m sorry, father, but I can’t take it. It’s just that—”

  “Because deep inside you, you know, Xander,” Lawrence said. Xander remained silence. Lawrence stood up as well. “We came from the race of alpha and omega. It is normal for our kind to have both genes—either recessive omega and dominant alpha, or dominant omega and recessive alpha. Or just an alpha gene. But the moment the baby is born with a pure omega gene, he is considered as an abomination. Why? Because the omega gene can also become a titan gene—a gene that can make one powerful and destructive. Since the curse, all of the ki’s, Ea’s and Ra’s descendants were born with either pure alpha genes, or omega with a twin alpha. Those omegas who were born without alphas were immediately mated or—”

  “They were sent into a death sleep via mortal curse where the souls were displaced from their bodies. Yes, father I heard about it,” Xander continued.

  Lawrence tilted his head up as though praying to whoever was the god of the gods. Then he closed his eyes, but the moment he opened them, they were ablaze with bright light.

  “You were born with omega dominant gene and alpha recessive, and so they believe, they believe that you are the answer to the curse. They mated you with Hunter when you two were both young, thinking that by the time you’re at the right age, you will get impregnated with Shii. And do you know what they’re planning to do to you? Because they’re not allowed to kill an omega, they will make you kill yourself…for what? To break a curse? I told them, no one, no one shall harm my son, or they will incur the wrath of the omega!”

  “So where has Hunter been now?”

  “Dead,” Hector answered.

  “Well, if he is, then the bond was broken. There’ll be no threat to me.”

  “You can get impregnated if you perform a soul bonding ritual with anyone from your kind,” Lawrence answered. His eyes were now back to the golden-green. “Be it with Riker, or with Jason.”

  “That’s why the gods are adamant to have me soul-bonded with Riker.”

  “Yes. Sex outside of soul bond is safe. But sex with a mate is not,” Lawrence explained.

  Xander had a moment of mental accounting with his previous sexual encounters. His mind lingered a little on Jason and felt the heat on his face when he recalled the last time he met him. Regardless of whether or not Jason was his kind, Xander was not bonded to him. So he concluded that he was safe.

  Chapter 16

  Challenge Day

  Jason stared at his two companions. Aaron looked like he was about to cry while Hearst was about to bolt any second.

  “Hey, thanks for the vote of confidence. I got this, isn’t it, Hearst?”

  But Hearst did not answer. There was no excitement and cockiness he usually exhibited whenever Jason was engaged in a fight. Jason raised his brow.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We followed that Riker guy to spy on him and we saw him transformed into his beast,” Hearst said. “Jason, the guy’s not a werekin.”

  “I know that.”

  “I meant, his beast is a bear.”

  “We already know that.”

  Hearst shook his head. He glanced to his side as though asking for Aaron to help me explain it.

  “His bear came out of his back, Jason, that’s so weird!” Aaron exclaimed.

  Aaron further suggested that they should just run and forget about this place. Hearst suddenly became very interested in resuming the search for his father. But Jason would have none of that. He knew he could take Riker, or at least he would hurt him. And so when Delvin called him, they quietly strode toward the arena. Entering the field, both Aaron and Hearst gasped as they marveled at its colossal size. Jason shared the same sentiment. Delvin explained that the stadium was newly rebuilt as it burned down two years ago. Delvin did not provide any more details as to what exactly happened.

  The stadium was an open amphitheater, the seats for the audience were tiered. The field itself was made of sand and had sections where they could sit as they waited for the event to start.

  The whole stadium was filled with very enthusiastic crowd. Jason stared at the front stage when the elders were called one by one as they occupied their seats. But none of them mattered to Jason. There was only one person whom Jason wanted to see before the fight began.

  Then the gods were introduced at the collective surprise of the crowd. The deity Janus sat at the center. His eyes riveted on Jason. What the heck was this god’s problem? Jason’s father never really taught them about the gods and how to behave when he encountered one. So to show respect to this deity, Jason nodded while trying very hard not to break his face into a smirk.

  But everything was forgotten when suddenly Jason was drowned by the scent he had been missing all day. He followed the scent with his gaze until he found him. Xander was sitting at the section near the entrance. Jason saw some of the guardians were with him too.

  As soon as Xander met his eyes, Jason blew him a kiss to which Xander responded with a glare. But even when upset Xander still looked sexy so Jason did not mind it.

  “Are you sure about this? We can still sneak out of here?” Aaron whispered to his ear.

  Reluctantly, Jason took his gaze away from his mate to study his opponent. Riker was too glaring daggers at Jason.

  “He looks like he can’t wait to crush your skull with his bare hands,” Hearst said.

  After they were introduced, the speaker stood and then the gong and drums sounded. Both Jason and Riker were asked to come to the center. And once the two met at the center, the challenge began.

  Riker’s eyes blazed with bright light. He started taunting Jason by calling him werewolf, which moniker Jason knew nothing about. Riker tilted his head upward, his fists bumped each other, knuckles
against knuckles. Then Riker began glowing with blue light that continued to increase in size. Riker opened his mouth and released a loud pulsing deep-throated sound while the blue glow around him transformed into a giant bear.

  That was a holy crap moment, indeed, for Jason, but no he would not cower. As Riker advanced toward him, Jason transformed himself into the third werekin form, half-human wolf. This way he could still use his hands and yet with the strength of the two wolves. His form, no matter how unusual compared to ordinary werekin was nothing spectacular compared to what Riker had already shown.

  When Riker launched toward his direction, Jason moved to his side to avoid it, but Jason did not anticipate the bear whose claws made a deep cut on his arm. Jason grimaced as the cut stung. Riker grinned.

  “I can just finish it right now, but I figured it won’t hurt to play with my prey,” Riker said.

  Jason made his move and hurled himself onto Riker, but Riker caught him rather his bear and lifted Jason who was in half-human wolf form as though he weighed nothing. The crowd gasped. Riker slammed him to the ground and knocked the wind out of Jason.

  “No!”

  Both Xander and Aaron screamed. Jason used his arms to prop him up, but the only movement his strength could make was to crawl. He heard Riker’s chuckle. He heard the crowd’s gasp and murmurs of sympathy. Stop this damn challenge! Others said. But Jason did not listen to this, in his mind, he knew he had this. With feet like jelly, he raised himself from the ground. Jason’s gaze met Riker whose face showed amusement. Then Jason grinned, his eyes started blazing bright light. In his mind, he reached deep in his core to what his father told him—his very soul. Reach out whenever you are in danger. His father’s voice rang in his mind.

  Jason suddenly felt a shimmer coursing through his entire body. He burned as his body started contracting, glowing just like what Riker did earlier. Then Jason’s own white glow expanded bigger and bigger until it looked like his own giant shadow. And out from it, a giant white wolf with eyes of the burning stars and bigger than Riker’s bear was formed. But unlike Riker’s beast, the giant white wolf detached itself from Jason.

  The crowd once again gasped, but this time in awe.

  “Bet you didn’t know I can do that,” Jason said, grinning as he moved toward Riker. His wolf followed him. It growled at Riker’s bear and without Jason giving him order, the wolf attacked the bear.

  Since the bear was still attached to him, Riker ran. The wolf leaped toward Riker and brought him to the ground. It gnashed and claws out poised to strike at Riker’s neck. But it waited for Jason.

  Riker’s gaze turned to Jason, begging for Jason to take his beast off of him.

  And that was it, the challenge ended. Jason won.

  ✽✽✽

  Jason followed the hands ushering him inside the headquarters as the crowd around him was pushed to give him breathing space. He felt his shoulder and back were tapped more than he cared to count while howls of admirations hang in the air, sounding much like drunk men who would start boasting about their adventures with obvious exaggeration. Jason's patience was running thin. He heard Hearst bragging about how the fight was approximately 30 minutes. Aaron, however, said that it was close to an hour. When Jason got himself situated on the sofa, his eyes came to rest on the figure hunched in the corner. Someone handed him a beer, which he took while his gaze remaining on Delvin’s smirking face.

  “Are you sure you don’t need stitches?” Sara asked, her eyes staring at the gash on Jason’ left shoulder.

  “I'm okay. It's already healing,” he answered.

  Aaron came to his left side and leaned over to wipe the blood off his shoulder. His face was so close to his that he could practically hear his breaths.

  “It’s the first time I saw you in that form,” he said.

  Jason smiled at him. “I only use it when I’m really, really in trouble.”

  “Which you were, for a few minutes,” Hearst said. “I really thought that was it. I started asking Delvin how we could stop the fight. Glad, I waited.”

  Jason just grinned to that. A familiar scent suddenly assaulted his senses, heralding the arrival of the presence which both his body and soul longed. All eyes went to the door as it opened. Jason could feel Hearst’s stare on his skin. Jason rose to his feet.

  “Why don’t I give you a tour of your new office,” Xander said, smirking. He grabbed Jason by his bicep and dragged him to who knew where, for Jason did not care.

  He was all over Xander the moment he got him in the privacy. He pinned him on the wall with his whole weight, disregarding how it made Xander uncomfortable. All this frustration he felt after the fight surged back in full force.

  Xander’s lips clamped his. Tongue snaked inside Jason’s mouth, velvety and wet, and all heavenly. His groin started to constrict as he tried to stifle the surge of excitement that ran through his entire body, reaching out even to this deepest core. Unable to restrain his inner battle, Jason started humping the young man frantically. He held his bottom and lifted Xander's legs to wrap around his waist. He carried and laid him on the couch and then pulled Xander’s pants down to his knees and exposed the hard flesh beneath. He then lined his own hard cock with Xander’s and then with his all too eager hands, he pressed them together hard. But he still needed more as restraint gave in to wantonness. White cream smudged on both their naked bellies up to their chests as they reached the peak of their joint passion. But Jason could not keep his hands off Xander even when he was breathing hard. He cradled Xander’s entire weight: one arm around Xander’s chest, the other playing on his long blond hair. And when Xander finally calmed down, his head settled under Jason’s chin. Jason finally felt what he should have felt earlier after the fight—the euphoria of just winning a battle.

  There was no one in the lounge when they walked out of his office. Only the white sheet of paper pinned on the door gave them idea as to what happened while they were inside. The white sheet said that they were in Delvin’s place and the words ‘wink’ was repeated twice at the bottom.

  “Can I stay in your place tonight?”Jason asked.

  “You can’t. I need to see my parents tonight.”

  “So we’re not going to talk about the proposal and your father’s warning to stay away from you?”

  “I really have to go,” Xander said, his eyes avoiding his as he padded toward the door.

  Chapter 17

  “Have a seat,” Lawrence said.

  Xander eyed his father with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. It was supposed to be a regular family dinner. Terrence was cooking, of course. He was called to come home for it. Exhausted from the day attending Jason’s challenge, he was planning to turn it down. Missing one family dinner would not be the end of the world, but Lawrence made it seem like it would be if he missed this one. Flying with his hover only took 3 minutes to get to his fathers’ place, which was built right on the side of the mountain across the Lake Gaia. They were already seated at the dining table when he arrived. The presence of his uncle Melo at the family dinner alarmed Xander though he already had an idea of what this was all about. Jason.

  He sauntered toward Hector and leaned down to kiss his cheek and then took the seat beside Lawrence who pulled him toward him to kiss his forehead.

  “Get some of these rolls,” Terrence said, handing the plate over to him. “Don’t ask. Just eat first.”

  “I agree,” Lawrence said. “And I’m asking the same thing with everybody.”

  And so eating commenced and along with it was silence. With the exemptions of the clanging of dishes and utensils, the entire family seemed to be in accord about refraining themselves in discussing whatever it was they were supposed to discuss.

  "Here, nephew, I made a new casserole. I combined all your favorites," Terrence said.

  Xander smiled and reached out for the offered dish.

  "Thank you, uncle. It tastes good."

  Truth. Xander simply loved his uncle’s cooking. Terren
ce was as good at cooking as Melo was at potion making. He filled his plate with more of the casserole. So what was in this dish? He could see herbs from his daddy’s garden, crumbs of the milk-cheese bread he loved so much. There were the pineapple ham and the eggs too. Ah, all of his favorites.

  “Don’t tell me the name of this casserole is Alexander,” he said.

  Terrence confirmed his suspicion with a proud smile and then a wink.

  His curiosity reached its peak when his dad Lawrence filled Xander's glass with the wine his fathers had refused to share with him. So whatever was the purpose of this dinner posted a great likelihood of Xander not liking it. Unable to resist, Xander broke the currently imposed dinner rule.

  "All right spill it now."

  "Jason is not only our kind,” Hector said after wiping his mouth with the napkin. “He also has Fenrir’s animal affinity.”

  "I see. You all saw the challenge."

  "Of course, we did," Lawrence said, his wine midway to his mouth. "I thought he was from the House of Zeus. I was wrong. He is from Odin's."

  Hector huffed. "There's nothing wrong with the House of Odin."

  "That's not what I'm saying. But you have to admit, the House of Zeus chose their beasts better: sphinx, centaurs, hydra, even phoenix."

  "Regardless of their differences, both houses belong to the House of Ki,” Melo chimed in. “Simulating animal's strengths and features requires no imagination. We from the House of An prefers subtlety."

  "Melo, acquiring animal characteristics is no subtler than imitating it," Lawrence answered.

  "What's your animal spirit, Melo?" Xander asked, interrupting the ‘mine-is-better-than-yours’ argument going on.

  "What do you think?” Melo answered, squinting at him.

  "You're really good with potion, so I would say snake."

  Melo gave him a wry smile. "Nice try."

  "It's a lizard," Lawrence said matter-of-frankly like it was nothing special.