Page 66 of Primal Bond

Rael's breath caught in his throat as recognition dawned.

Zanik.

Time seemed to slow as Zanik stepped onto Vasz soil. His movements were fluid, confident, but there was a wariness in his eyes as he scanned the village. When his gaze met Rael's, a flicker of something — recognition? regret? — passed over his features.

Rael's mind raced. Zanik, here? After all these years? The warrior who'd left for war and never returned, now walking back into their lives as if... As if what? As if nothing had changed? Everything had changed.

Zanik approached, his stride purposeful but hesitant. Rael found himself rooted to the spot, a whirlwind of emotions churning inside him.

"Rael," Zanik said, his voice low and rough. "It's been a long time."

Rael's heart thudded in his chest. He remembered the younger Zanik, all fire and determination, practicing with his blade under the watchful eye of their elders. Zanik had always been a few years older than Rael, his strength a beacon for the rest of them. Rael had watched with wide eyes as Zanik sliced through the air, every movement precise, every strike powerful.

Rael had wanted to be just like him — a true warrior.

But then the war had come, and Zanik had not returned.

The boy who had once fought alongside them, laughing and fierce, had turned his back on the clan. Rael felt a pang of betrayal even now, remembering the day he'd heard that Zanik had walked away, leaving them all. It had been hard to understand, harder still to forgive.

“Rael,” Zanik said, breaking the spell of memory. His voice was deeper, tinged with an emotion Rael couldn’t quite place.

“Zanik.” Rael took a step closer, searching Zanik’s face. There was a mix of pride and fear in those sharp green eyes, as if Zanik were standing at the edge of a precipice, ready to leap but uncertain of the landing.

“I want to return,” Zanik stated, the words coming out in a rush, as if he feared they would be snatched away. “To the clan. To this life.”

There were still so many questions, but that was all that Rael needed to hear. Rael stepped forward and enveloped Zanik in an embrace, feeling the warmth of his familiar presence.

“Welcome back, warrior,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. He could feel the tension in Zanik’s muscles, the uncertainty beneath the bravado.

Zanik turned back towards the pair of humans, now standing nervously behind him. “And… I have something else to ask, as well.”

Rael raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. “I can see that,” he replied dryly, casting a quick glance at the newcomers. The tension in the air thickened as Kyral and Jasper finally stepped forward to greet him.

“Rael,” Kyral said, nodding. “We did what we set out to do.”

A victory, then. Kyral and Jasper, both still relative newcomers to the clan, had set out to find and rescue two of Jasper's kidnapped fellows. But when Rael had discussed their plan with them, strategizing and planning, the goal had been to find them and return them tohumanspace, freeing them from the Borraq hell they'd been dragged into.

But now those two humans were here, standing nervously in front of him like pups that had been hauled up in front of the class.

Jasper kept talking. He was forthright, for a human. “There were even more humans than we intended to rescue.” His tone was weary, the weight of their mission evident in the lines etched on his face, but there was a deep pride in his words.

“Too many,” Kyral said, shaking his head. “We’ve been busy returning them to different places in the system.”

“Except… for these two,” Jasper continued, gesturing to the humans behind Zanik. “They didn’t want to go back to human space.”

Rael turned his gaze toward the newcomers. The first human stood with his shoulders slightly hunched, his hair falling into his eyes. Rael noticed the haunted look in his expression, a flicker of something lost and fearful beneath the surface. This one was clearly marked by his experiences, as if he had been worn down by the world.

The second human, standing a bit taller, had a defiant spark in his eyes, though as he looked at Rael, the same hint of uncertainty lingered.

Rael’s thoughts raced. He recalled his human mate Elian, whose optimism often brightened their bleak existence; Rhys, whose sharp wit and intelligence made him a natural leader among the humans; and Jasper, with his steady resilience and reassurance.

These newcomers, though — he could see the scars of their struggles written on their faces, and it set them apart from the other humans he had grown to know.

But the hint of uncertainty in the second human's eyes was only for Rael. When the human looked at Zanik, it was with something else shining in those depths. Something deeper, something tender.

Rael’s breath hitched as he recognized that look: love, raw and unfiltered. He had seen it before — and felt it every day in his own heart, when he looked at Elian.

Memories of Elian's bright, optimistic face flooded Rael's mind. He remembered how Elian's curiosity had always overshadowed his fears, how he had felt a fierce urge to protect him, to cherish him. Humans were so fragile, yet so resilient. They made you want to wrap them in your arms and shield them from the world.