Chapter 8 What Life Teaches
The news sent shockwaves through the Alliance.
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After a thorough investigation, they traced the source of the recovery back to me. It turned out I wasn’t Ability–less after all. My Ability was the rarest kind imaginable, the power to heal Psychic energy. Standard tests couldn’t detect it. And the way it worked was extremely specific.
It could only be activated by having sex with a man I had genuinely accepted. Which meant that from that point on, Caleb had a perfectly legitimate reason to keep me in bed around the clock.
I had no comment.
The next time I saw Adrian’s name, it was on the news. His squad had been ambushed by the Swarm, and they had been nearly wiped out. He survived, but the attack left his Psychic energy severely damaged. Retirement was almost certainly in his future.
Caleb pressed his lips together and changed the channel.
My mind wandered. I wondered how a man as proud as Adrian would feel when he realized he had become the very thing he used to hate most.
A moment later, I received an email from the Alliance. They were asking if I would be willing to treat Adrian’s condition.
After all, I had once been his partner, and I was currently the only registered Beastkin in the Alliance with the Ability to heal Psychic energy.
The request was not mandatory. If I refused, no one could force me. But the Alliance couldn’t afford to lose two War Gods. It would be a devastating blow to their defense against the Swarm.
I stared at my phone, lost in thought. Caleb slid up behind me without a sound, his arm tightening around my waist.
I couldn’t help but smile. I decided to tease him a little. “So what do you think I should say?”
Caleb kept his eyes lowered, his voice still gentle. “I respect whatever you decide.”
Was that so? I looked back at him. “And what if I said yes?”
Caleb was wonderful in every way, but there was one thing about him. He was almost too good. He rarely said what he was truly feeling.
I wanted to see the real him. I wanted him to know that he didn’t need to wear a mask around me or tiptoe around his own emotions.
His jaw tightened, and his cheeks went taut. Then he caught the playful glint in my eyes, and something clicked. He let out a breath through clenched teeth.
“If you say yes, I’ll throw myself off the balcony before you finish the sentence.”
I rolled my eyes at him.
I called the Alliance representative back and told them that I already had a partner. I would never disregard my partner’s feelings, and I would never do anything that could be considered a betrayal of our Bond. The officer apologized for the imposition.
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Chapter 8 What Life Teaches
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In the background of the call, I heard a violent fit of coughing, followed by someone yelling, “He’s coughing up blood!” and “Get help, now!” Then the line dissolved into chaos.
I hung up without asking any more questions.
Ail I heard after that was that Adrian had officially retired and disappeared without a trace. Caleb, now fully recovered, returned to the front lines to continue the fight.
Some time later, I received an anonymous phone call. When the line connected, no one spoke. The only sound was heavy, unsteady breathing, the kind that told me the person on the other end was anything but calm.
I had a feeling I knew who it was, but I wasn’t going to be the first to speak.
About ten seconds passed, and Adrian’s voice finally came through, rough and raw. “Isabelle, I’m sorry.”
He was apologizing for everything he had done to me.
After becoming the very “worthless loser” he used to despise, Adrian had drifted from planet to planet and finally learned what it felt like to be mocked and humiliated by others.
Words were never enough to teach a man. Life had to do it for him. Everyone was fragile at one point or another, and no amount of status or power had ever given anyone the right to look down on the weak.
That proud, arrogant man had finally learned to bow his head.
But the world had already moved on without him.
After the call ended, all I was left with was a quiet, lingering sense of how strange and sad life could be.
