On Destiny (Aunare Chronicles Book 5) Read online

  First Published by Ink Monster LLC in 2021

  Ink Monster LLC

  100 Commons Rd., Ste 7-303

  Dripping Springs, TX 78620

  www.aileenerin.com

  ISBN 9781943858576

  Copyright © 2022 by Ink Monster LLC

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ALSO BY AILEEN ERIN

  The Complete Alpha Girls Series

  Becoming Alpha

  Avoiding Alpha

  Alpha Divided

  Bruja

  Alpha Unleashed

  Shattered Pack

  Being Alpha

  Lunar Court

  Alpha Erased

  The Shadow Ravens Series

  Cipher

  The Aunare Chronicles

  Off Planet

  Off Balance

  In Command

  On Mission

  On Destiny

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  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

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  Acknowledgments

  Also by Aileen Erin

  About the Author

  For everyone that has ever struggled like Amihanna and Lorne.

  It took them a long time and a lot of fighting through the bad to get to their happily ever after.

  Don’t stop fighting until you find your happily ever after.

  Xoxo

  Aileen

  CHAPTER ONE

  AMIHANNA

  The scent of burning wood curled through the air. It was darker than night inside the geodesic dome. So dark that stepping into it was like stepping into a cave of blindness. Except I’d been here before. I knew that beyond the doorway were wood-planked floors that would be smooth and cool under my feet.

  I stuck my head inside, and a ripple of energy ran from the doorway around the room, lighting candles along the walls as it flowed. Flickering light filled the space from what had to have been thousands of candles—tall, thin, short, fat, but all of them white with a bright orange flame. They gave the room a warm, homey feel.

  “Come, children,” Jesmesha said from inside, and I peered closely inside again. Despite the candles, I still couldn’t see her.

  I gripped Lorne’s hand tighter and looked up at him. He was the High King of the Aunare, but when I looked at him, all I saw was my husband. “I’m really glad we came.” I was excited and nervous, but also being here felt right. I wanted to pick at that feeling because it was weird to feel so many different things about seeing Jesmesha, but Lorne didn’t give me enough time to think about it.

  He leaned down, pressing his lips to mine, cutting off all the confusing thoughts that were swirling in my head. “I’m glad we came, too.” He straightened and stepped through the door, tugging on my hand to go with him.

  “Take off your shoes,” Jesmesha’s voice had me stopping.

  I tugged Lorne back outside and let go of him to quickly unbuckle my sandals.

  Lorne watched me, waiting until I had placed my sandals next to the slick black sport kicks he favored, and then motioned to the door.

  “Fine. I’ll go first.” It wasn’t like I was walking into a battle. Jesmesha wasn’t dangerous, at least not to us. I felt nervous for a totally different reason.

  “I’m one step behind you. Where you walk, I walk, my love.” Those words were part of the vows we shared when we got married, and he was totally using them to his advantage.

  “Cheater.”

  He knew I was anxious about talking to Jesmesha. The last time I’d seen her, she’d changed everything I knew about myself. I wasn’t sure I could be prepared for something like that to happen again, but I also knew I wasn’t here for that. I was here because we were finally at war with SpaceTech.

  I was here because there were too many endless roads to take on this path of war, and I had to find the right one or face losing everything.

  And there was one more question I needed answered, but I wasn’t sure I’d be brave enough to ask it.

  “Oh, you’ll ask it, but I’m not sure if you’re ready for my answer.” Jesmesha’s voice sounded far away, but as we stepped inside, I finally saw her off to my right on a tiny black pouf. She was somehow shadowed, which gave her an air of mystery. She motioned upward.

  I glanced up, and right above her I saw a galaxy of stars where the dome’s ceiling should’ve been. The stars flickered—seemingly alive—and as I recognized their perfect placement, I knew that they were alive. Each flickering spark was a star in the same galaxy that held Sel’Ani.

  “Which question are you not wanting to ask?” Lorne whispered in my ear, although it was pointless to whisper here. Whispering when the Aunare High Priestess could listen to your thoughts? Totally pointless.

  Aside from her telepathy, I wasn’t exactly sure what Jesmesha was. All I knew was that she couldn’t possibly be Aunare, and yet she could unlock the truths of the Aunare.

  But I did have a possibly off-topic question, and she was right—I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. I was afraid of what it could mean, and yet because I was here, I’d likely find the answer. Whether I wanted to or not.

  Jesmesha rose from her spot, and with that movement, the flame-lit candles brightened to erase most of the shadows in the room. She wore a pair of jean shorts with frayed edges and a flowing white blouse. Her gardening hat lay on the floor by her dirt-covered bare feet. Her red hair was thrown into one long, thick, messy braid. She looked about my age—twenty—but I knew from my last visit here that she was eons older than that. Her eyes weren’t glowing yet—they were currently a plain, dull brown—but they didn’t need to glow. I knew they could, and that was enough to freak me out a little.

  In front of her, two mats were lying side by side on the floor. She motioned to them, and I knew what was coming. Thankfully, I was wearing a more Aunare-appropriate shirt, which meant that my arms and back were bare. I didn’t have to worry about undressing this time.

  Lorne tugged off his shirt and I let out a little sigh before I could stop myself.

  He looked at me, as if to say, Really? Now?

  I gave him a small shrug. He was nice to look at, and…and I had no excuse other than that this was the first stop before we finally took our honeymoon. We’d left my father’s estate this morning, and I was really, truly ready to have some time alone with him. Or as alone as we could be with our guards hovering in the near distance.

  Lorne gave me a small laugh and then spread out on his stomach on one of the mats. The way he relaxed down told me that he was completely comfortable here, like this, with Jesmesha. I felt less comfortable. A lot less. But I did my best to follow his lead, and when he started to glow, I took a breath and forced myself to push all the anxiety aside.

  By the time I took my next breath, I was relaxed enough that my skin started to glow, too. Not as bright as Lorne’s—the lingering anxiety was there—but enough so that my fao’ana were on display.

  There was a tiny intake of breath, and I knew she’d seen it.

  My heart pounded twice in my chest, and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to focus on the war without asking the scary question first. “It’s bad, right?” My voice was way too high and panicky. That had to go.

  I cleared my throat. “It’s a bad sign.” Still shaky, but better. “I ruined something.” Life had been good for the last couple of weeks, but this had been bothering me. I was worried I’d done something wrong.

  She made a little hmmm noise. Not a good hmmm. Or a bad hmmm. But it felt like she was thinking in her head, That’s interesting. But interesting didn’t mean good. Did it?

  “It is interesting, but I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing. And, yes, you did really talk to me when you were dying in the here-yet-not-here sense. But now I know why you’ve kept coming to me in your dreams since your trauma on Telnon. If you had stayed instead of popping in and out, I would’ve—” She winced. “Stop. You have so many questions that you’re pushing at me all at once—and though this isn’t what you came here to ask, this is the first question I will answer as it is weighing the heaviest on you.”

  Fin
e. I could play along. “What does it mean?”

  “What on the goddess’ planet are you two talking about? What does what mean?” Lorne asked. The mat squeaked under him as he shifted, but I couldn’t look away from Jesmesha.

  She dropped down on her knees beside me, and suddenly her eyes were glowing like swirling pools of fire. I hated it when they did that.

  I did my best not to flinch when her fingertips brushed against my neck. She moved the hair out of the way that was covering my newest fao’ana. I forced myself to stay still. Flinching away from her would’ve been rude. But I wasn’t sure I wanted her to touch that particular fao’ana.

  I wasn’t sure why I didn’t, but I knew I was protective of whatever had changed.

  Or maybe I was afraid of it.

  Or maybe both.

  I’d had a lot of change in my life. For thirteen years, I went along with every change because if I didn’t adjust, I would’ve died. But now that I was okay, I was finding it hard to bear anything else changing in my life. I was happy with how things were.

  Yes, my life was dangerous—it’d been that way for as long as I could remember—but I had so many good things in it that I didn’t have before. Losing even one of those things would be devastating.

  But something had changed—my destiny had changed. Because on my neck, just below my hairline, there was a new sign, a new marking, a new fao’ana. They were the glowing tattoos on every Aunare’s skin that told a story of our lives. Our past and future were displayed on our backs, and our skills or talents ran down both forearms.

  I knew in theory that the signs on our backs shifted and changed throughout our lives as choices were made and new paths appeared—but I’d been so shut off from my Aunare side that it was only recently that I’d seen my fao’ana for the first time. Right here, on a mat just like this—maybe even this exact mat—with Jesmesha’s help.

  Except I didn’t want to have a new mark. I’d just gotten used to what I had only to have it change on me? It was freaking me out.

  I’d only seen a tiny glimpse of the new fao’ana—a tiny sun with swirling beams of light radiating from it. I had no clue what it meant, but I’d spent the last week pretending it didn’t exist. The placement made it easy enough to hide with my hair, but a quick peek over at Lorne told me I wouldn’t be able to get away with hiding it any more.

  I couldn’t quite tell what he was feeling from the way he was looking at me—anger, confusion, shock, worry, a mix of all of them—but he definitely knew something was going on with me and there wasn’t even a hint of happy on his face.

  Ice it all. I knew this was what would happen, and that was exactly why I’d hidden it.

  Any new fao’ana meant that there was going to be an upcoming pivotal moment in my life. There would be a decision to make soon.

  I could feel a change coming.

  I’d been through enough to know when something big was going to happen. This was more than a battle. This was big, and I needed to know what it meant because I couldn’t lose Lorne.

  That was the massive fear consuming me right now, but I couldn’t let it hold me back. That’s why I’d hidden it. I’d been too happy to ruin my life with whatever this meant, but now, I had to know. I had to have some clue. Because we were going to war, and a wrong choice could be devastating to Lorne. To the Aunare. To the Earthers we needed to save.

  “It is interesting.”

  “What?” Lorne and I said at the same time.

  I turned my head to look at him, and his eyes were wide, his skin was flashing, and from the frequencies I felt coming off of him, I knew he was as anxious about what came next as I was.

  He was usually so much better at hiding it from me, but not today. Not now.

  On my first visit, Jesmesha said the symbol between my shoulder blades—the one of a ring, bisected with lines—would move once I chose to stay with Lorne. Now that the choice was made, it should’ve moved down my spine three inches, making room for another one to take its place.

  But it hadn’t moved. That mark stayed as it had always been, and instead, the new one on my neck appeared.

  It felt wrong. I must’ve made some kind of mistake, but I had no idea what I’d done wrong.

  Why hadn’t the ring changed?

  Why was this new one here?

  How could I fix whatever I’d done?

  Jesmesha stayed silent, and I wanted to scream.

  “What does it mean?” My voice was shaking, and it was a little humiliating, even if hiding my feelings from Lorne or Jesmesha was impossible. “Please,” I asked when she still said nothing.

  I needed that answer so that I could fix whatever it was.

  Jesmesha closed her eyes, and when they opened again, I could breathe a little easier. The glowing orbs of fire were gone—back to their ordinary brown—and that meant she probably wasn’t going to overwhelm me with revelations. At least not right now.

  And still, I needed an answer.

  I lay there and waited for Jesmesha to say something, but she kept her lips firmly pressed together.

  “When did you get a new fao’ana?” Lorne asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Great. His anxiety had shifted to anger. Which sucked. Because I’d only hid it from him to keep him from worrying. There wasn’t anything I could do about it, and both of us were happy. Ruining that for something that maybe could be bad wasn’t something I’d been willing to do.

  But apparently I was wrong. “It showed up after Telnon.”

  “You should’ve told me.” His tone was soft but not so soft that I didn’t hear the hurt.

  “I’m sorry. I…” How could I explain to him that I’d been a coward? “I’ve been ignoring it. Flat-out pretending it didn’t exist. I’d been happy for the first time in forever, and I just…I didn’t want anything to change that. And I didn’t want you to worry. But when you said you wanted to come here and check what Jesmesha might say about the war, I knew I’d have to face it—we’d have to face it. I just wanted some time to be us before…”

  Before the war started.

  Before we risked our lives to save everyone else.

  Before I had to let go of the life I loved.

  I’d been happy. I’d been truly happy for the first time in my life. I was prepared to fight to keep it, but I wasn’t prepared to lose.

  I had so much to lose now.

  Jesmesha was staring at my back, and I felt Lorne’s tension ratcheting up with every passing second, echoing my own fears.

  Well, this had turned into a massive black hole, and I hoped it wouldn’t ruin the rest of our honeymoon.

  “No. No.” Jesmesha sighed. “This sign isn’t any of the things you’re thinking. It is not about the war or losing any loved ones. And for the love of the goddess, calm down, Lorne. You’re being ridiculous. I can’t think when you’re power’s flashing so brightly.”

  Lorne’s flashing stopped, and I pressed my forehead to the mat, letting out a long breath. I wanted to cry from relief, but I—

  Wait. What did that leave?

  She patted my back. “Try not to worry so much.”

  Okay. Sure. I guess I’d try to work on that, except what did it mean? Maybe nothing?

  “Of course, it doesn’t mean nothing,” Jesmesha said like I’d said something insane.

  Right. If it was a fao’ana, then it meant something. Except she wasn’t going to tell me?

  “That’s correct.”

  “Jesmesha,” Lorne’s voice had more than a hint of warning. “Stop answering whatever Amihanna is thinking and speak to both of us. If it’s nothing bad, then just tell us. I can’t fall fully until I know what the mark means.”