Juniper Santiago - Book 2 of The Santiago Series

Marissa opened her eyes to fingers running up and down her arm. She smiled, until she looked up at her mate to find him not even looking at her. His thoughts seemed to be miles away, and she was still surprised to see that he was in his demon form.

From what she’d been told, a demon’s human form is much like their demon form except less scaly and not as dark.

However, she knew that that wasn’t entirely the case for Roman either. There was already something about his beast, so she could only imagine that his human form was just as magnificent.

And yet he still refused to show it to her.

She knew though, that something was going on, and it had to do with her and the way that her mate was treating her. While he was being more affectionate with her, it wasn’t all that hard for her to tell that there was still something holding him back.

She had fears about whether or not it was another she-demon.

Roman felt an unexpected dip in his emotions, until he realized that the dip wasn’t coming from him. He looked down at his mate and was surprised to see the sparkling red tears settled in her eyes.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked softly.

“Is there another woman who has your heart?” she asked, not looking at him.

He was beyond confused. “What? What makes you think that?”

“Why else are you holding back from me? And don’t tell me that I’m imagining things because I know it’s true! You’re here with me, but you’re also not. I can feel it,” she sniffed.

He wasn’t panicked that she was aware of the truth, but he also wasn’t sure what to say to her without spilling the truth. “Rissa, I-”

“It’s fine Roman. I thought that now that we’re mated, you’d actually want me, but I see that isn’t the case,” she interrupted.

His demon growled at that as his eyes glowed, something that only served to turn her on as he had her on her back. “Listen to me, and listen to me carefully. You are my mate, the love of my life. There is no woman in my heart but you, but you also need to understand that ours isn’t a simple situation. I love you Marissa, but you are not completely mine to have for reasons I cannot explain to you and I need you to just be patient with me and understand that I am doing absolutely everything that I can to make sure that you and I get the life we deserve. Do you understand that much?”

“I do,” she whispered, smiling while the scent of her arousal filled his senses.

“Good,” he growled before kissing her.

He made love to her once more, and she finally felt connected to him. He understood then that he needed to find a balance in their situation. While he knew that she wasn’t entirely his to have, he still needed to make her feel loved, because she wasn’t fully aware of the situation.

Like Max said, he had to fulfil his mate duties to her.

“Mom? Dad?” he asked in shock as he left his chambers. Marissa was asleep so he thought he’d check up on things in the meantime.

Finding his parents standing outside his room is the last thing he expected.

“I hear she’s been here for two weeks already and you didn’t think to call or link us to tell us anything,” Cynthia chided.

“What are you guys doing here?” Roman asked them.

Damien raised an eyebrow. “Is it not obvious? We’re here to meet your mate, and to gain clarity on why you’re abusing your power by sealing off the realm to other creatures.”

Roman narrowed his eyes at them. “The fact that you’re aware of that bit of information means you’re well aware of the situation. Who told you?”

“Why does it matter who told us? You should’ve,” Cynthia pointed out.

“Who told you?” Roman repeated, his demon shining through in anger.

“Calm down Roman. We are not here to harm your mate. We are here to speak to you about helping you in order to help you both,” Damien said calmly.

He knew that their son wasn’t intentionally being disrespectful – he was just being protective of his mate.

“What can you do that I haven’t thought of?” Roman questioned.

“Look son, Balthazar came to us with this because he’s concerned about his daughter. Have you considered him and Gail in this whole thing? They’ve just gotten their daughter, only to lose her again,” Cynthia reminded.

Roman found himself pausing and thinking about what his mother was pointing out. Balthazar and Gail are the last two people he’d thought about this situation affecting. While he was well aware that everyone was affected, he didn’t stop to think about what this must’ve been doing to the two of them especially.

It must be hell.

“Let’s head to the dining hall and discuss this,” Cynthia suggested.

“I still don’t get what the two of you are doing here though,” Roman told them as they headed in that direction. They were being greeted by their people at every turn.

“Like your father said, we’re here to offer any kind of help that we can,” Cynthia replied.

“Ok, but do you have to be here?” Roman questioned as they reached the dining hall.

Damien was amused. “Possessive of the realm, aren’t we?”

Roman shrugged as they took their seats. “You’re the ones who made me King.”

“Though we didn’t mean for you to abuse your power like this, I myself only found out today that your father did the exact same thing when we mated,” Cynthia commented.

“You did?” Roman asked his father.

Damien nodded. “As you know, true demon matings are rare, so I was fearful of losing your mother once we’d mated.”

“But didn’t you guys mate on Earth?” Roman questioned. His parents had already told him their love story.

“That’s correct. That was the first time we had sex, but we didn’t mark each other. We only marked each other years later,” Cynthia replied.

“You mean after the tower years?” Roman asked.

Damien smiled a little at what his son referred to them as. “After the tower years.”

“Well, as much as everyone would love to believe that the sealing off of the realm is all me, I’m sorry but you’re pretty much mistaken. I’m not saying that I didn’t do it at first, because I did, but now I have nothing to do with it, and neither does Max,” Roman informed.

“What do you mean? We can feel your magic at work here,” Cynthia argued.

“That much is also true, but that magic isn’t coming directly from me. It would seem that I’ve managed to share some of my power with Marissa, and together with hers, she’s basically sealed off the Underworld on her own,” Roman explained.

“And you let her?” Damien asked, confused.

“She’s a pregnant and powerful witch who’s suffering from amnesia. We’re trying to tread carefully around her,” Roman argued.

Cynthia frowned. “Ok, but for how long? You cannot keep this up forever Roman. You cannot let her stay in the dark for the rest of her life.”

Roman sighed. “From what I know, The Vaulsino told our daughter and Draxl-”

“Your what?” they stopped him.

“Oh, right, I still have to explain that part too. So, there’s a little girl by the name of Rose Phyllis Santiago and she was adopted by Juniper and Mateo after they found themselves being connected to her in a way. By being connected to June, she’s also connected to June’s wolf Starlet, as well as Marissa. Now, for whatever reason, Rose is one of the only people that Marissa remembers, as well as Draxlon, the Prince of Atlantis. She requested that The Vaulsino bring them here, but both kids were told not to say anything about the whole thing since she now has no memory of the encounter with The Vaulsino. None of us are even sure if we’re allowed to bring up her other life,” Roman explained.

They were baffled. “So, what you’re telling us is that she knows that she’s got memory loss, but you haven’t told her about the life she’s forgotten?”

Roman nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. As I’m sure you’re aware, when she recognized me as her mate, Mateo was in the same space as us, except she didn’t even give him the time of day. Instead, she refers to him as ‘the wolf’. We’ve figured that telling her about him and their life together will just confuse her because to her, I’m her mate.”

“And what about her children? Who does she think their father is?” Cynthia questioned.

When they were met by silence, their disbelief grew even more. “They are not your children Roman! You cannot keep lying to her like this!”

“According to Max, they respond to me in the same way that they respond to Mateo, so really, I’m going to keep lying to her until it’s safe not to. You guys don’t understand the situation that I’m dealing with here,” Roman said, frustrated.

“Then make us understand son. It’s the only way we’ll be able to help you,” Damien advised.

Roman stood up and started pacing for a while before he spoke. “When I met June, it was in Utopia. I’d just come back from hanging out with Aiko, and the moment my eyes landed on her, I knew there was something about her. When she mentioned that she was mated to Mateo, I left, pissed off, except I went back later. I couldn’t understand why I felt such a pull, until she said my name for the first time. Something about the way she said it triggered my beast and I made her say my name again. When she did, she also changed form into the woman my beast confirmed was our mate, and that’s when this whole thing just turned upside down for me.”

“Ok, and then what happened?” Cynthia probed.

“And then she was back to her normal self and that’s who I got to spend time with for the week before we took the trip to Scandinavia,” he replied.

“Hold on, so you didn’t necessarily spend time with Marissa. You spent time with Juniper?” Damien asked.

Roman scowled. “What’s your point exactly?”

“Marissa is your mate son, but it doesn’t seem like you know much about her,” Cynthia pointed out.

“That can’t be true,” Roman denied.

“If you could describe Juniper in three words, what would they be?” Damien questioned.

“Funny, witty and bubbly,” Roman said without thinking twice about it.

Cynthia caught onto where her husband was going with this, so she knew what she had to ask next. “And do all of those things describe Marissa?”

“Well, no, but can she be blamed since she technically doesn’t remember who she is?” Roman argued.

“That’s a good argument without a doubt, but how much time have you actually spent with her? Would you be able to say without a doubt that you know her? That you know what she’s capable of?” Damien interrogated.

“Not even she knows what she’s capable of,” Roman snapped.

“That’s not what your father asked you,” Cynthia told him.

Roman let out an irritable sigh. “I haven’t really spent any time with her ok? I spent most of the past two weeks avoiding her actually because I thought I was doing the honourable thing by respecting her mating to Mateo, and instead all I’ve received is backlash for it. It’s funny because a part of me knows for sure that I would’ve been branded as a horrible person if I marked her immediately and didn’t wait. I just don’t know who to please anymore.”

“Son, sit down and breathe,” Damien told him. He huffed but listened anyway.

Cynthia smiled and reached out to hold his hand. “Roman my baby, you know very well that your father and I couldn’t be prouder of you, and that definitely hasn’t changed, even with the new developments. Despite what anyone says or will say, you handled the situation perfectly, in the way that we taught you to be. We can only imagine that you didn’t spend as much time with her because you were fighting the mate pull, so we’ll forgive that. However, now that you’re mated to her, it means that you’ve accepted the connection, and it also means that you need to help her.”

“What are you saying?” Roman whispered.

“We’re saying that you need to rein your mate in. While she’s your mate, she’s not yet Queen and what she’s doing right now goes against our customs,” Damien said.

Roman raised an eyebrow. “Customs? How does it go against our customs when we’ve never had a situation like this before? We’ve never had a situation where the incoming Queen was more powerful than the incoming King.”

“She isn’t more powerful than you. Why would you think that?” Cynthia asked.

“Because we can feel her power,” Roman argued.

“Yes, so can we, but if you think she’s more powerful than you, then you don’t know your own power. You’re of royal descent Roman, you’re a King. Even with the little bit of your power that she seems to have inherited, she still isn’t as powerful as you are,” Cynthia elaborated.

“So, what you’re saying is that I can reverse the spell she has on the realm?” Roman questioned.

“It won’t even be that hard for you. If anything, explaining to her why you did so may be the hardest part,” Damien joked.

Roman was confused. “I don’t understand. I thought this was as far as I could go in terms of my power.”

“You’re mated now sweetheart. Your power has tripled at most,” Cynthia told him.

His eyes widened. “Tripled?”

“Your father took on an army of two hundred ogres alone after we’d marked each other,” Cynthia informed.

“It’s not just your powers that have increased but your strength too, and since your mate is powerful and has drawn some power from you, I can only imagine that you managed to do the same without realizing it,” Damien added.

Roman sat, thinking about their words. When the words had sunk in, he tried to concentrate on tapping into his power. His normal power was easy to channel, and it took a while before he finally felt the new power coursing through him. He also managed to identify the power that didn’t belong to him.

The power he’d managed to get from his mate.

“So, how does it feel?” Damien asked him after a while.

“It feels incredible, like I can conquer the world,” Roman admitted.

“Hold on now, you’re already King of one realm. Let’s not get selfish,” Cynthia stopped him.

He chuckled. “I would never think of world domination. I’m just describing how amazing the power feels.”

“So, are you ready to take back control?” Damien asked him.

“I think I want to talk to her first. Maybe if I can come up with a story, I can get her to give me back control without any trouble,” Roman replied.

“Sounds reasonable, but what about her family? They’ve been looking for her, and as soon as you let that barrier down, they may come for her,” Cynthia argued.

“Or maybe I should go to them first. I think it’s high time that I head over there and state my case anyway. I am not a villain here, as much as I come across as one. Maybe with their understanding, I’ll even receive some much needed advice on how to handle this situation,” Roman suggested.

Damien smiled. “To think you didn’t think you were ready to be King. Now look at you coming up with wise solutions.”

Roman returned the smile. “As much as this mating has brought about confusion and the likes, it’s also helped me to think clearer. I need to talk to Max though. I thought he’d left to talk to them, but I can feel his presence in the castle.”

“From what Balthazar told us, it would seem Maximillan has found his mate. He returned here without saying a single word to anyone,” Cynthia informed him.

Roman scowled. “Max found his mate? Wouldn’t he be happy about that?”

“We don’t know him like you do son. In fact, we don’t know him at all. Maybe you should talk to him first like you said, before heading to Earth,” Damien suggested.

“I guess. I’m glad to have you guys here, and I’m sorry for not telling you everything from the moment it happened,” Roman apologized.

Cynthia reached out to hold his hand. “Your situation isn’t exactly one of the easiest, so we understand. Just remember that we’re here to help you along the way. We may not have all the answers, but we will play our part wherever you need us to.”

“The more heads we have in this, the better, so thank you. I should probably go and speak to Max now,” Roman said as he stood up.

“What about your mate?” Damien questioned.

“She’s currently resting. I don’t foresee her getting up soon,” Roman responded.

Cynthia smiled. “Then we’ll retire to our home while you attend to your business.”

Their son had a house built for them after they told him about not wanting to stay in the castle with him.

Roman left them and sought out Max. He used his powers to track the witch, until he walked into one of the rooms to find two human men talking. He growled and the two faced him, seemingly without even the least bit of fear.

“Your Highness,” Avan and Zak greeted.

“What are you doing here? How did you get here?” Roman’s demon growled out. He was emitting power, but that still seemed to not faze the humans before him.

“We’re here to see Max,” Avan informed.

“That only answers one of my questions,” Roman pointed out, his demon settling now that he’d realized that for whatever reason, the men before him did not fear him.

“We were brought here by your parents,” Zak said.

Roman scowled. “My parents?”

“Like we said, we’re here for Max. We’ve been sent to get him back to Earth,” Zak explained.

“And exactly who are you?” Roman questioned.

“I’m Avan, and this is my best friend Zak. We are friends of Max’s mate Aerie,” Avan responded.

“So, Max really found his mate? What is he doing back here then?” Roman asked.

“That’s what we’re here to find out. He left without even saying a word to her, and he was apparently also there for something important. Since your magic prevents everyone else from being here, we thought we could come and find out what’s going on, on their behalf,” Zak explained.

Roman cocked his head to the side. “From your essence, I can tell that you’re linked to Odessa in some way. You’re humans who thought it would be a great idea to visit the Underworld just so that you could come and get answers from a Naturalist Witch. Why would you risk your lives like that?”

Avan shrugged. “We’re not just normal humans, and we’re well aware of what we’re up against, but we also just watched our new friend get her heart broken by that very Naturalist Witch. They’re all confused by his reaction, and while we’re a little more on the pissed off side, we understand that because we’re human, we have to tread lightly, but we’re also not going to allow Aerie to be treated like that when it’s so clear that she’s been waiting to be with her mate this whole time.”

Roman couldn’t argue with them. One of his powers is sensing if someone has malicious intent or not, and the men before him were clean. There was also some other kind of magic that he was picking up, but he couldn’t trace it back to its origin, as much as he tried.

“Well then, this place is big, and the only way you’ll find Max is with my help, so let’s get a move on it,” Roman said as he turned to walk out of the room.

They followed after him. “You’re helping us?”

“As I’m sure you’re well aware, I’m a powerful being with multiple powers to my name, and one of those powers is detecting whether someone has malicious intent or not. The fact that you’re clean, and that my parents trusted the situation enough to bring you here, counts in your favour. Also, I’m just as curious to know why Max is back here when he’s just met his mate. I can imagine that the two of you are determined to get answers one or another, so this way saves everyone grief and we all get what we want,” Roman stated.

“They are definitely not wrong in saying that you’re the wisest King there is,” Avan commented.

Roman grinned. “Thank you.”

They travelled to the room where Roman could Max’s presence the most, only for the presence to move. He was confused as he followed it to another room in the castle, only for the same thing to happen again.

When they were heading towards the sixth room, Zak found the bravery to speak. “Your Highness, you seem to not know where Max is.”

“It’s not that I don’t know. He keeps moving,” Roman said as he changed direction once more.

“Can’t you use your speed? We can find our own way,” Avan told him.

Roman was unsure, but he knew that his speed is the only way he’d truly catch Max. “Don’t get into any trouble.”

“We promise,” the human men told him before he took off.

Max’s presence was in the furthest part of the castle, and with his new powers kicking in, Roman was able to get there fast enough to catch him before he could take off again. However, what met him was a sight he didn’t expect.

In the middle of the empty room, Max was standing as Millen. He was chanting in a language Roman knew was Naturalist tongue, except Millen’s eyes were bright red. The room shook slightly, and Roman didn’t know what to do.

“Millen,” he called out to the witch, but his calls fell on deaf ears.

The whole castle was beginning to rumble, and Marissa slowly opened her eyes, wondering what was going on. She noticed that her mate wasn’t beside her, but it was the next rumble that truly woke her up.

“No,” she whispered before teleporting herself to her mate.

Roman had just been flung out of the room as the door shut with Millen chanting louder. He tried to get up and stop him, but an invisible barrier was stopping him. When he watched his mate land before him, he knew she was there to stop Millen, but he didn’t want her putting herself in danger either.

“Rissa, don’t go in there,” he shouted.

“I have to stop him. He’s doing something extremely dangerous,” she shouted back.

“So, you know what he’s doing?” he linked her since there was too much noise.

She nodded. “He’s trying to travel back to the past. What I don’t know is how far back, and to which point in time. The danger doesn’t come with him succeeding in going back. It comes with him getting trapped in the past.”

“I just found out that he found his mate, but he apparently ran from her. Does that give you any clues?” he asked.

The castle rumbled violently once more. “No, but we’re too late anyway. He’s completed the spell. He’ll be gone by the time I open the door.”

And true to word, when she opened the door, there was no one there.