Tessa, who was riding shotgun, turned in her seat. “Is there more to the curse than what you’ve already endured?”
“What’s she talking about, Uso?”
“When Josie and I first met, she wasn’t aware of Gargoyles. I shifted to show her what I am, and she thought it was a hoax. She denied the bond.”
“Oh, shit. How bad was it?”
“Really bad,” Josie whispered. “I thought I was dying, and Kai actually was. Thankfully, the Clan stepped in and made sure it didn’t happen.”
“You have to mention that to Mama.”
Josie looked at Kai. “Do your parents have the same type of bond we share where they can read each other’s thoughts?”
“Yes, why?”
“Then she already knows. While we were waiting on you to get to the resort, I told your dad and Pono what happened. Is that bad?”
“No,” Kai said at the same time Fetu said, “Yes.”
Fetu sighed. “Mama has always worried about the Auspice. She’s even dreamed of something bad happening. She has always been more intuitive than most, and she might have seen something.”
“You mean like a vision?” Trevor asked.
“Yes. That might seem strange—”
“Not really. Connor, the little boy with us? He has visions too. He draws what he sees, and the drawings are scarily accurate. He was kidnapped from his home, and using his drawings, he was able to tell us where he was being held,” Tessa explained.
“What exactly did Mama see?” Kai asked.
“She wouldn’t say. Maybe it’s already come to pass. She will not speak of her visions. She says things have to play out as they’re supposed to. That if she tries to stop something from happening, the consequences could be worse.”
“That makes sense.” Trevor leaned against the door. “Take our situation. If someone had told us we were going to be involved in a plane crash, we would have made a different plan. Maybe we’d have all stayed in New Atlanta where Drago could target each of us individually more than he already did by blowing up our homes.”
“Or maybe the fucker wouldn’t be on the run with his little hacker boy-toy, and we’d have already found him and taken his head,” Tessa countered.
Fetu grinned, looking at Kai in the rearview mirror. “We need to keep Tessa and Sefina separated.”
“You aren’t wrong, Uso.”
“Uso? Does that mean brother?” Trevor asked.
“Yes. And Tamu means father, but we call our mother Mama.”
“Your dad called me something I didn’t understand when we met.”
“Was it laʻu tama teine?” Fetu asked.
“That’s it.”
“It means daughter-in-law.”
“But Kai and I aren’t married.”
“To him, it doesn’t matter whether or not you have a piece of paper. When you bonded with Malakai, you pledged yourself to him in a way that’s more permanent than a human wedding. You are one of our family now, and as such, don’t be surprised when my mate and the others steal you away to do whatever it is they do when the seven of them get together. All of you, Trevor included, are going to be spoiled by day’s end unless Trevor would rather hang out with the males.”
“You mean I’m not automatically relegated to being with the females just because I’m gay?”
“No, Little Uso. It’s because you’re a mate. Our island may be small, but our minds are not. We have several gay couples on the island, both male and female. But my female is going to want you with them because of your aura.”
“My aura?”
“Yes. You have a light around you that will be hard for her to resist. It’s difficult to explain, but when you meet her, you’ll understand. You and she are alike, much the same way Sefina and Tessa are.”
Tessa laughed. “If there’s two of them, I’m definitely going to need backup.”
“You have that backwards, Red.”
Josie leaned closer to Kai, and he slid his arm over her shoulder. Other than the mention of his mother’s vision, Josie was excited to meet everyone. When they reached the far side of the island, they had to transfer to a boat. Lucky for them, one of Kai’s nephews owned the boats which traveled to and from the island.
When they were all boarded, Kai’s brother, Hoani, took over speaking. “Before the apocalypse, the island was busier than it is now. There are no roads therefore, there is no need for cars. There are four villages on our island. The one we inhabit is Apia and is comprised of Gargoyles and a handful of humans who are aware of our kind. The other three are where the humans live and tourists visit. After the apocalypse, we were able to purchase all the villages. The island is still owned by the government, but we are able to run it as we see fit.”
Josie got her first glimpse of Kai’s home. It was breathtaking. If it wasn’t for her mother back home, Josie thought she might never want to leave. Lush greenery. Crystal blue waters. It truly was paradise.
Hoani continued his speech. “There was a walking trail around the perimeter, but we rerouted it so it doesn’t bypass our village. That gives us a little more freedom to be ourselves. There is technically only one dock giving boats access to the island, but one of our males devised a hydraulic system where we can raise and lower a dock on the side of our island that only we have access to. If you’ll look to your left…”
Josie and the others turned to look, and rising out of the water, as Hoani explained, was a dock that jutted out approximately twenty feet from
