The two men sat across the table from each other, both frowning over their next mission. It was bringing up an old argument they had been avoiding for over a year now. Dorian clamped his jaw tight and glared.

“Be reasonable, Liam. What other choice is there? Stop being resistant to your destiny and set a course for Pleiades. You have to go tell the investigating counsel the whole truth.” 

Dorian glared at his friend who was in turn glaring at the com station with murder in his eyes. Ania’s parents hadn’t asked for his return. They had demanded his presence for her tribunal and not accepted any of his excuses.

“Liam. Be rational in this matter. You know you can’t let Ania be punished for something out of her control. Besides which, your daemon might kill more people if she gets attacked again.”

“Malachi is not my daemon, and don’t you think I realize the risks?” Synar asked. “When Conor discovers how the thugs he sent were killed, he’ll know Malachi is nearby. I just wish I could rescue Ania without her planet announcing she’s a daemon host to every other bloody planet in the Alliance.”

Dorian shrugged. He was already resigned to what must be done. “How can you face conflict after conflict on planets full of creatures who kill without thought, and yet hesitate over this? Do you really fear your brother that much?”

“Yes. Because no matter how much time has passed, my death is still Conor’s primary goal. More, I fear what Conor will do with the power if he actually gains control of Malachi. I can’t let that happen,” Synar insisted. “I’m caught between the past and the present, and I curse my father every day for that fact.”

Using his Siren intuition that he’d spent centuries perfecting, Dorian scanned his friend’s energy and saw that fear of his treacherous sibling was not Liam’s largest concern. The worst thing Liam feared at the moment was facing the wrong he had done to his mate for the past two years. “Are you also worried about seeing Ania again after all this time?”

Synar took a moment and then answered with a question of his own. “Did you know Jonas before he hosted Malachi?”

Dorian shook his head slowly. “Not well. Why?”

“Jonas dreamed of having a family and was trying to convince his favorite bonding female to formally mate him. When I put Malachi into Jonas to save his life, the female severed her relationship with him almost immediately. She said there was something different about Jonas and she couldn’t bring herself to bond with him anymore.”

Synar looked away from Dorian’s frown. It was obvious he didn’t understand.

“I never felt physical aversion with Ania, but I also never bonded with her before I left. She wasn’t healed enough. In our last discussion, she accused me of no longer wanting her. I let her believe it. It was easier. But the truth is that I detest the daemon.”

“I’m aware of your feelings about your legacy, but I still say that all your concerns would have fixed themselves over time if you’d just taken Ania with us. Do you really still think the answer was to abandon her completely?”

“Regretting the past will not change it,” Synar said.

“Yes that is true. Regret won’t change anything, but Liam—avoiding it won’t make it go away either.” Dorian hoped the familiarity of hearing his first name would help the truth find its way into his friend’s strong mind.

“I didn’t abandon her,” Synar denied, the word bitter on his tongue. “I left so Conor would chase me and leave her alone. It’s mostly worked for the last two years. That proves I was right to leave Ania and the daemon where they were both safe.”

“Maybe from your perspective your plan worked. What do you think the cost has been to your mate? What do you think Ania feels about it?” Dorian demanded.

“Do you think I did this all randomly, and without giving any thought to the pain it would cause? Well, I didn’t. I knew it would hurt us both.” 

Synar drummed his fingers on the table.

“Maybe I am concerned about confronting her again. Though I haven’t finished the third training book, I can tell you there’s nothing about daemons being hosted in mates in the first two books of training. My father would be sorely disappointed in the daemon master I’ve turned out to be. I’ve all but gone mad dwelling on my actions.”

“I’ve known Ania Looren a lot longer than you have, Liam. Her spirit is resilient and truer than any creature I have ever known. She bears the mark of the Creators inside her. I believe she remains much more than a daemon host body. In fact, she is a more complex being than you ever took the time to discover, which is why you underestimate her ability to understand this. You have always been blinded from seeing the whole person by focusing only on the physical desire you feel for her.”

“Physical? It was never the physical, Dorian. Ania was always small and fragile-looking, and the lack of heat in her was vexing to me. I had to always be careful when we bonded. So no, it was not the physical. It was the spirit inside her, the way she had of seeing and dealing with things. I’ve always liked older females who were very settled in themselves.” Synar shifted in his seat and crossed his arms “Ania is unique. She can’t be replaced. It’s why I haven’t dissolved our mating agreement.”

Dorian’s spirit leaped inside to know that Liam Synar still had a great affection for his teacher and friend. Though he hadn’t been the catalyst for their meeting, he had counseled Ania to give his friend a chance when Liam had pursued her. Sure, he had teased Liam in the beginning, but Dorian had seen even then that they were meant for each other. And in a way few mated couples ever were. Their pairing was not the kind of gift from the Creators that any being should set casually aside—for any length of time. “I like your description. Unique is a good word for Ania, and she deserves more than you have given her, Liam. Don’t make me choose between the two of you again. I will choose very differently next time.”

Synar nodded at the warning Dorian always issued, as his friend stood and walked to the door. He spoke in anger before he could regret whatever pain his words would cause.

“As a celibate Siren, you have become quite adept at avoiding your own destiny. How can you claim to know so much about mine, Dorian? Are you ever going to claim your own mate? I’m not the only one who’s been avoiding things for two years.”

“Have I killed the other males in her life yet? No, I have not. I know precisely what I am rejecting, but my compassion is hers. I have not stood in the way of her finding happiness with other males. Can you say the same, Liam? What if Ania were to find another male who might not walk away from her in times of trouble? Would you allow that?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. What would Ania do with another male?” Synar demanded.

Frustrated with getting the same outcome no matter how many times they had the discussion, Dorian sighed as he walked out of the room. “I will pray for your enlightenment,” he said.

Synar frowned at his friend’s back. It had never occurred to him that his Pleiadian mate might one day want to replace him with someone else. He assumed Ania’s fidelity was bred into her in a similar way as his. His body didn’t even long for another female. In fact, his desire was dormant until he thought of Ania. Yet now Dorian’s words made him wonder if hosting Malachi could have changed her nature in some way.

Had she perhaps already found someone else? Would he even know this since he was so far away from Malachi?

Synar rose from the conference table and headed to his room to study the books of training again. His mind was filled with dark thoughts about the only female that he’d ever wanted badly enough to bind her to him.