Excerpt from the Desert of Death and Tears

“Do not feel ashamed for what you have done, Jake. Besides it will be physically impossible for you to bond with me now.”

Jake took a couple steps forward to where he was standing beside Astra. “What do you mean it would be impossible?”

Astra’s eyes closed as she turned away from him. “I was killed five years ago, the same night Anne and Stacy were forced back to the Foster Care.”

“What?” The truth hit Jake hard, causing him to drop to his knees.

The Solarius Clan was doomed and so was the Lupus. With Astra and Starla both dead, there was no one who was strong enough to lead the Solarius and no heir to carry on their line.

The Solarius Matriarch was the only one who was powerful enough to help the other Solarius to conceive and live. Where the Lupus was too violent of a species to survive a pregnancy alone, the Solarius were too weak. Being elementals they were creatures of nature itself, pregnancies drained their connection to the world too much. Which in turned caused them to fade away, both mother and child.

“We are doomed.” Jake said softly as his eyes closed in sorrow. He heard Astra kneel before him, but refused to open his eyes.

“Do not fret, Jake. Our Clans are not doomed. There is hope yet and soon you will see this for yourself. Go back to the canyons, everyone is waiting for you.”

Jake finally opened his eyes, but Astra was no longer there. Nor was she anywhere within the area surrounding him. Sighing deeply, he slowly rose to his feet and began heading back to the canyons. How were the Clans to survive if both Astra and Starla were now dead?