Chapter 328: Stir Crazy

Kai

Whitecaps shimmer against the blazing sun across the empty horizon. Adjusting the knob on my binoculars, I squint into the glare.

“We’re lost again, right?”

Niko wears a smirk that I want to slap off his face when I spin to meet his gaze. It fades when he reads my expression, and he turns to the parrot on his shoulder, which he’s hand-feeding a slice of mango.

“You know we’re not lost,” I snap. “We’re off course.”

“By a million miles,” he says in a smartass tone before holding a hand up in surrender and pretending he’s protecting his parrot. “You wouldn’t hit an innocent bird, would you?”

“No,” I tell him. “But I have good aim.”

He raises a brow, and he’s clearly fighting to keep another smirk from rising.

“I did hope we’d be closer by now, though,” I say, glancing briefly at the view across the ship’s bow. “Sailing around the Wyveron seas has set my plans back by at least two weeks.”

“Good thing your brilliant logistics man planned for delays,” he says with a toothy grin. Hank flaps his wings as he bites off a chunk of the mango, after which Niko pops the remaining piece into his own mouth.

“That’s... not sanitary.”

He just shrugs. “Never hurt me before. Hank is a very clean bird.”

“I’m sure.”

“Anyway, the cook just told me that lunch is ready.”

I narrow my eyes. “No pets in the galley.”

“He’s insulted,” he says, making a face at Hank. “But I was going to take him to my room first anyway.”

“Good. I’ll meet you in the galley.”

I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until the cook wheels in the cart full of barbeque meat and cheesy potato sides. The scent alone triggers a stomach rumble that half the crew can probably hear when I sit to eat with them.

Though I’ve told him a million times, Roger, the cook, strolls over to set my plate down in front of me before any of the others. He’s an older man, and he just can’t let go of the tradition of treating the captain like he’s special. Yes, I’m a future Alpha King. But I’m not that now, and I won’t be until my dads give up the throne decades from now.

“Thank you,” I say, making a mental note to have yet another conversation with Roger about it later.

“You’re welcome, Cap’n,” he says with a bow of his head, setting another plate in front of the empty seat beside me before moving on to the rest of the crew.

That seat is soon filled. “Sorry I’m late,” Niko says, settling in. “Hank didn’t want to get in his cage.”

“I thought you had him trained well.”

“I do,” he confirms. “I don’t know why he fights that.”

“Birds aren’t meant to be in cages, or on ships,” I say, taking a bite of my barbeque. As always, it’s perfectly spiced. Roger is a genius when it comes to cooking.

“Neither are wolves.”

I just nod.

There’s no more conversation anywhere in the room as we all scarf down our meals. I can tell Niko has given Roger a heads-up about our delay since the portions are a tad smaller today, though they’re still enough to satisfy.

Soon, chairs scrape across the floor as the crew rises to get back to their duties, me and Niko among them since I’m taking over the helm for the rest of the day.

When we reach the wheelhouse, Kyle gives me an update on how the instruments have been functioning—which is perfectly—before taking his leave to get his own lunch. I settle into position with my hands on the wheel, though I don’t need to with everything automated now. It still brings a rush through me to hold it, though, symbolic of my responsibility for the entire ship and all the crew aboard.

Much more responsibility will come when I’m the Alpha King of Green Mountain. Knowledge of that keeps my nerves tight most days, though my three dads have been training me for years to take over.  After all these years, Braden was still not crazy about me sailing off to negotiate treaties, saying I should remain at home and continue my training. But Mom, the legendary Luna Queen Trisha, an adventurer from the day she was born, went to bat for me.

Niko, who has folded his arms to lean against the instrument panel—thankfully not in a spot with any critical buttons or knobs—stares blankly at the sea ahead.

“Spill it,” I tell him. He’s pretty easy to read, for me, at least.

He lets out a dramatic sigh. “It’s been seven years already.”

“Since your eighteenth birthday.” It’s the day we find our wolves, and the day we start looking for mates.

For those who want one, anyway.

“Well, yeah, duh.” He pushes off the panel, meticulously avoiding changing any settings, and steps over to the chair in the back, plopping into it.

“It takes a while to find a mate,” I say, knowing the moment it’s out of my mouth how unhelpful it is.

“Seven years, Kai.”

“You forget I’m the same age,” I remind him.

“But you don’t even want a mate, Kai,” he argues. “You’ve told me that so many times, it’s practically tattooed on my arm: ‘Kai does not want a mate!’”

“No,” I agree. “Well, I mean right now. I have to have one eventually, or else who’s going to be the Luna Queen?”

“I’m just saying it must be nice, being a guy whose every waking thought isn’t consumed with finding a mate,” he says dryly. “But it’s always on my mind, Kai. Will I finally see her around this corner? Will she be at the next ball, or a festival, or the Moon Goddess temple, or anywhere else crowds gather? I’m always looking. I’m sick of looking and finding nothing.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him for the hundredth time. Millionth time. Who knows? Underneath his constantly joking exterior, he’s always worried about this, but I’m the only one he will tell. And he tells it to me constantly. “It’s not that I don’t think about finding a mate someday. I’m just not obsessed, and I’m sorry that you are. I really think you just need to be patient.”

He exhales, long and loud, so I continue. “I’ve seen all kinds of women look your way back at the castle. Maybe one of them is your mate. Maybe you just didn’t notice since you were too distracted with something at the time.”

“I just don’t get how the people in your family get so lucky,” he says, ignoring my comment. “Your mom just strolls onto a ship and bam, finds one of her mates. Then gets to Green Mountain and bam, there are the two others.”

“You’re going to have a ‘bam’ moment,” I try to reassure him. “It’s going to be when you’re not even thinking about it.”

“Yeah? Well, so will you,” he says. “What are you going to do about it when suddenly you’re face-to-face with your mate? Who knows? Maybe there’ll be three or four of them—all gorgeous women, probably all princesses or something.”

I snicker. “That won’t happen. I’m a guy.”

He shrugs. “I’m sure the women in your family thought the same thing.”

I take in a deep breath, looking at the glistening ocean in front of us.  I’m sure I won’t meet my mate—my one mate—until everything I’m supposed to do for my kingdom is wrapped up. The Moon Goddess knows what I’m planning and why it’s so important, even if my dads don’t. I’m sure She will bring a mate to me way down the road sometime, after I’m the Alpha King and my dads are retired, after I’ve opened up the entire world to the cooperative alliances I plan to make.

I snap out of my thoughts to find Niko quiet again, which is rare when we’re alone. I’m sure the Goddess has a plan for him as well. He’s a good man, a faithful future Beta, and he’ll make a good husband for his future mate. He probably just needs to stop thinking about it, and then she’ll appear.

“Maybe there’s someone for you in Crystal Waters,” I suggest.

He snaps his head toward me. “You think so?”

“Why not?” I shrug. “It’s a whole kingdom. There are thousands of women there, hundreds of thousands, maybe. I don’t know the population statistics. But maybe the whole reason you’re on this trip is to meet your mate there and bring her back home to Green Mountain.”

This seems to satisfy him, at least for now, as the smile is finally returning to his face. “I hope she likes Hank.”

“If she’s your true mate, she’ll love Hank.”

“I’d better go check on him,” he says. “Need me to bring anything back?”

“No, I’m good for a while here,” I tell him. “You can check in on the crew too and make sure they’re all settled despite our delay.”

“Aye, Cap’n,” he says with a smirk, heading out the door.

I chuckle, turning back to the ocean in front of me. I truly do think Niko will meet his mate in Crystal Waters. But I know I won’t. My time is a long way off.

There’s so much work for me to do still, and I’m sure the Goddess won’t complicate matters with a mate bond just yet.