Celestial's Prayer

Radiation

Mina slumped into her chair, shocked about the news of her sister. “I should never have tried to push her into that union,” muttered her father, heartbroken and looking even more exhausted. “Then maybe she never would’ve strayed away from the protection of the clan.”

Next to Samuel, a young Jaguar Consul named Sardenel stiffened in his seat. Mina, heavy with secret knowledge, didn’t say anything as she stared at Sardenel, who had gone hard in the face. Their eyes met and she quickly stared at her hands, her mind wrapped up in even more loss.

“Preasul, you never could’ve guessed that she would’ve been captured by them.” Mina looked up at Samuel as he spoke. She wished she could say what was on her mind. Desperately she tried to calm herself. She knew where Maddy had gone, in theory. Her mind raced. She desperately wanted to track Maddy and take her home. She thought of ways she could leave unnoticed. One look into Samuel’s eyes, and the concern for her there, squashed any chance of him leaving her alone for even a few moments.

“You’re right Samuel, but forcing her to do anything she doesn’t want to do will cause any child to defiantly run away. Soon you will experience it yourself my son.” A small smile was shared between Mina and Samuel. “Plus, you haven’t been matched to someone you hardly knew, not to mention probably despise. Thankfully, you two have been best friends since you were cubs.” Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Sardenel get up and silently walk away from the table.

Mina sighed, yes that was true. Mina and Samuel had been friends since they started at the education center. Mina was the shy but beautiful daughter of the famous Alpha Preasul. Samuel was the outgoing son of the top General Centrale.

Their friendship started when Samuel stood up for Mina when a group of other males tried to dominate and court Mina in that harsh bullying way that children do. He wittily dispatched the bullying group of males. Mina had run to a dark corner of the education center. It was there that Samuel had found a quivering and sobbing Mina. He sat there saying nothing but protecting her from the other kids. He then escorted her back to her parent’s quarters, the entire time saying nothing, but never leaving her side.

In the end, Samuel and Mina began to hang out more. Eventually, they became inseparable at the education center. Samuel helped Mina develop confidence. She no longer tolerated the rueful advancement of the young males or the jealous snares of the females. Much to Mina’s surprise though, Samuel learned how to be kind and open-minded to others and their ideas, rather than the constant cold and calculating person his father had raised him to be. Even at the start in the education center, he was a shining star in strategy, and he naturally fell into leadership roles for everything. With the quiet support from Mina, he quickly became the prodigy of the clan, and everyone aspired to be his friend.

While he excelled at almost everything, there was one thing he faltered in and Mina excelled at it. Mina had the amazing ability at being able to solve and avoid conflict. Unknown to their teachers, Samuel’s excellence was due to the extended time that he and Mina would share outside of class. It helped him become better at successfully solving and avoiding conflict and being a better leader. Many times, it would be Mina’s ideas refined by Samuel’s military genius that would create the most brilliant of plans. In the end, Mina and Samuel were always two parts of one whole, and not to the surprise of anyone, they were blessed with the Jaguar beast, eventually were mated, and then were chosen together to be the next Alpha pair.

With finality, the Alpha dismissed Mina, Samuel and her mother so that he could discuss a course of action with his consul. After they got up, Sardenel finally came back to the table and sat down, carefully avoiding Mina’s eyes.

“Mother, what do you think father is going to do?” The burden she carried caused her heart to feel heavy.

“I’m not sure dear, but your father will do everything he can to get her back. We should go to the temple and pray for her safe return. I do not think your father could tolerate losing another child, especially one of his daughters.”