Changed by Fire (Phoenix Rising #6) - Harper Wylde Page 0,2

felt like being a fish out of water. Literally. There was little I could do this far into the Alaskan mountains.

Unhappy with my assessment, my Kraken hissed in my head, but we both knew my depiction was accurate. She was significantly smaller than my brother’s Kraken, though she would quickly disprove anyone who thought to tell us we were weak. Like Theo, my Kraken could lend me physical strength, and both water and ice manipulation came easily to us, but anyone who needed such powers deferred to my brother rather than me. My only other ability allowed me to speak to sea creatures, and the need for that this far away from any body of water made it a futile skill.

It seemed I didn’t fit anywhere, and I was left feeling bereft. Theo never meant to do it, but I felt like I lived my life in his shadow. Never measuring up. Never being enough on my own.

Even the Gala had been a perfect example. Despite how excited I’d been, I knew some of the bids had been strategically made, not to get to me but due to Theo. His own place as Nix’s guardian and potential mate had increased our status in the eyes of several shifters, and many hoped to get in on the ground floor, so to speak, desiring to catch the favor of the Phoenix and the male who’d ‘rule’ her.

I scoffed, even as a sick feeling took up residence in the pit of my stomach. The Council’s view on women was just one of the antiquated ideas I couldn’t wait for the shifter world to move past. How we’d devolved so far that women were seen for nothing more than the status of their wombs—lower-ranked women wanted for their ability to breed shifter children that would hold the father’s traits, and higher-ranked women coveted for the strength and power they could breed into their children—was sickening. While higher mythological women had more choice in who they took as lovers or mates, they were still bargaining chips to be directed by the old, selfish men of their families, their wombs an exchange of wealth and favor.

Thankfully, Theo had a good sense of what bids had been calculatingly made and had turned them away, sparing me from having to deal with shady men only looking to exploit my relationship with Nix. I knew if Nix ever found out about any of it, she’d be fuming. It was just one more reason I loved her like a sister. Theo had turned away the more lecherous males who had attempted to bid as well, not like that was any surprise from my overprotective big brother. The way their eyes had slid over me had made it clear I was less than nothing in their minds—just a means to an end, a body that could bear children who would take on their own shifter traits. Theo’s words had nearly dripped with ice when he turned them away, but I had still felt their gazes on me. However, I knew fate could never be so cruel as to deem one of those evil men my mate. By the end of the Gala, I’d had a handful of bids with real potential, and I was lucky that some of them had been members of the rebellion who had joined the mass exodus with me.

All except for Joshua, but I had to remind myself he wasn’t mine despite how I cared for him. He was a good man, one I’d formed a connection with, but that was before I knew he wasn’t a possibility. While I’d desperately hoped the Basilisk would have bid on me at the Gala, I didn’t know at that time he was one of Nix’s true mates. As disappointed as I was, I could never be mad at her—or Joshua—for following their hearts. They were true mates, after all, and I’d never stand in the way of fate.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t jealous though. Nix had managed to find six true mates despite only being among the shifters for a few months. Rini had managed to find four, three of whom she’d known since she was a child. So far, I hadn’t even found one.

A few of the males who had placed bids on me had been sweet and kind, but I hadn’t felt that soul-deep connection with anyone—though if I was being honest, I had greatly enjoyed the attention, not to mention the gifts. Ren and Hawthorne, both