Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Past and Present

Crescent Camp Outskirts

Cas felt like a ball of wool—stretched, rolled out, frayed, and tossed about. His *emotions* felt like that.

He knew Mingan and Shani currently felt the same in their own way, for their own reasons. One of those reasons was suddenly him.

In truth, he had little experience with females when it came to close relationships. He mated with Ara when he was eighteen and she was nineteen, and she was the only one he needed. She had been his fated soulmate; they were made for each other by design, so it hadn’t felt like discovering a new being. It had been so easy with her. Easy until her death. Mingan…he had to learn her. They were still strangers and both wanted to be more. It would not be so easy and he prayed to the Moon Goddess that she died no time soon.

It was funny, really. He’d been to war, seen death up close, dealt with all sorts of threats for decades...and now, within an hour, he was at a loss of how to handle two upset females.