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“Then what is the problem?”

A long pause stretched.

“She’s human.”

His mother’s gasp and quick rambling to his father in Finnish made his gut roil with anxiety. Was she upset? Angry?

His father asked, “How is that possible? Are you sure? You haven’t claimed her. How can you be certain?”

Lukas thunked his head against the wall. “I saw my mark. I’ve seen it. I… feel things. Not just for her, but I feel her emotions sometimes. It’s everything they describe, but so much more.”

“Oh.”

“Dad?”

“Yes, Lukas?”

“Is it… are you okay?”

“Of course! I’m very happy for you. Surprised. Good surprised, but surprised. Does she accept the bond? I assume she knows what we are, yes?”

“Yeah, she knows. She’s a student at Blackthorn now.”

His father hummed on the other end of the line.

“I think she accepts the bond, but sometimes I don’t know. Things have been difficult. I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

“This is understandable. It can be hard in the beginning. I imagine with a human it is harder. Here. Speak with your mother. Maybe she can help you.”

The line went quiet, and after a moment, his mother’s voice came over the line again.

“Poika. A human… That is very peculiar, but the gods make no mistakes. This girl has a reason to be with you. She is chosen for you.”

Lukas smiled and relaxed against the wall. He didn’t realize how wound tight he had been, not knowing if his parents would accept his Korrena. He didn’t realize how happy it would make him that they did.

“I keep messing up, though. I tried to run her off. And then tried to get her to stay. Then I got angry with her when Aiden—” He stopped himself from bringing it up. It made him upset to think about it. He hadn’t even talked to Aiden about what happened yet.

“What did Aiden do?”

“He likes her.”

“Oh, my… and does she like him also?”

“I don’t think so. She rejected him.”

“Good. This is good. So, what is the problem?”

“I got angry with her. I lashed out when he got too close to her. I acted like a jealous, possessive idiot. I scared her. We’ve been fighting the bond from the start… and I’m starting to question why I even tried to fight it.”

“Oh poika… Your father and I had the same issues when we first met until we completed our joining. Your father was even violent toward people who showed even the smallest attention to me. He even scared me as well. Lashing out like a barbarian at me. Harrowing stuff.” She huffed. “We don’t really talk about it. It was a difficult time.”

“I would never hurt Blaire,” Lukas said with conviction.

“No, no. Your father didn’t hurt me either, but he was rough with me. We weren’t even fighting the bond, and he still was rough, and there were times when he acted negatively toward me, and I thought he didn’t like me at all! Can you believe that?” Her soft laugh filtered through the phone and calmed Lukas’s heart. “The pull of the Korrena is primal. It makes people act like they normally wouldn’t. Makes them violent and aggressive.”

Lukas never remembered that as part of the lessons taught growing up.

“Wait a minute… were you aggressive?” He stifled a laugh. He couldn’t picture his mother lashing out in any way. “I can’t see it. You’re so…”