My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 49: Protective Instinct

Violet

Kael reacted fast, faster than I could notice.

He intercepted the rock mid-air, his hands closing around the stone with a sharp crack of impact. He clutched it to his chest and his muscles shuddered as his body absorbed the force. Still holding the heavy rock to himself, he slowly turned to me, alarm written all over his face. It swiftly changed to a shock that mirrored mine.

Dirt and sand rolled down the shimmering barrier that had appeared in front of my outstretched hand.

The same way it had materialized in my other life.

My eyes widened and my mouth hung open. Unlike what I had seen and experienced in my past life, soft golden hues shimmered across its clear see-through surface. And the same hues swept through my arms, but with an added touch of silver.

Was it because it was daylight and the sun was out?

Back then, everything was silver.

Kael flung the rock aside like it weighed nothing and a faint numbing feeling spread up my arms. While it was nowhere as sharp or as strong as what I had experienced before, I knew I had to stop it. I shuddered and dropped my hand, dismantling the barrier.

It vanished and I noticed that my whole body was shaking. My head also started to feel light. The world tilted slightly.

When Kael’s arms supported me, my vision snapped back with clarity and I found myself looking up at his panicked face.

Dread filled me.

I had almost fainted.

What if I died?

"That’s enough," Kael hiss, his voice dipping low and sharp as he glared at me. The anger in his voice contrasted the gentle way he lowered me to the ground. "You’re depleting your reserves too quickly."

"I’m... I’m fine," I managed, but even I could hear how breathless the words came out, how my voice trembled.

His frown deepened. "You’re not."

Almost immediately, more of the sun’s ray’s filtered through the clouds and my body reached for that familiar warmth. The solar energy trickled into me slowly and I closed my eyes, trying to steady my breathing as the numbing feeling started to fade. The floating sensation in my head started to subside too.

I thought I had taken energy from the sun to be able to even put up the barrier, but it seemed I had been used to closing off that function ever since the tree climbing.

’Still, for the fact that I didn’t die from throwing it up when I wasn’t drawing energy from the sun...’

It meant I had grown.

My lips widened with a faint smile.

I was getting stronger.

"This isn’t funny."

I opened my eyes and tilted my head to the side, my cheek kissing the moss as I found him crouched on the ground beside me.

Had he been watching me the whole time?

"Even when you feel better. Do not stop." He had a frown plastered on his face as he talked. I stared, surprised at how angry he was. "You should never deplete your syzygy completely. Even when you think you’re only at half capacity, you should stop drawing from it." His jaw tightened, a muscle jumping beneath his skin. "If you exhaust it entirely, you’ll collapse. And depending on the circumstances, you might not wake up for days."

Or I might not even wake up at all.

A chill ran through me despite the sun’s lingering warmth in my veins. I recalled the moments before I died.

"I didn’t know I could do that," I whispered.

’And I didn’t think it consumed that much energy.’

But I didn’t voice out my thought. He would have been able to see through the lie. I turned my face away from him.

I hadn’t technically lied about the first thing I said. I really didn’t know I could do it. I had tried summoning the barrier, but it never worked.

It seemed dangerous situations tended to push me more.

His sigh interrupted my thoughts. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"How are you feeling now?"

I paused. "A bit better... thank you."

I closed my eyes, a sudden realization flowing through me. I usually stopped actively drawing energy when I felt better, but I had never done anything beyond that. Even if my body still involuntarily drew energy at a slow pace while I wasn’t focusing.

"You mentioned keeping a reserve," I spoke up, my eyes still closed. "I don’t think I have done something like that before."

There was a long pause, and right as I was about to open my eyes to see why he hadn’t responded, he spoke up, "You usually stop drawing energy when you feel better, don’t you?"

"Oh... yes... but my body still pulls energy while I am not noticing—"

"Yes, that is subconscious. I am aware. This time, don’t stop. Even if you feel fully and completely healed or recovered. You will sense where that reserve is located yourself when energy starts being distributed there."

I had a sudden thought, and I voiced it out. "Is it possible to still fill that reserve while replenishing myself?"

"Yes, but that takes skill. First do this. It would be easier to try that later," he answered.

"Thank you, really. And thank you for... for protecting me," my voice lowered with each word.

He didn’t say anything but I still felt grateful. Even though I had the barrier up, the rock could have crashed through it and still hit me.

Or even worse, I might not have been able to put the barrier up at all.

"It is fine." His words were softer, and more hushed. "I will have to examine you tonight, as I have mentioned before."

The memory of his earlier words surfaced... something about the examination being invasive.

Like Tow had done, but I had the gnawing feeling that this would be something different.

My stomach did an odd flip. "You said you’d do it tomorrow."

"Tonight. Before there are any more surprises. I may not find everything, but I would need to feel your syzygy directly. Map its flow through your body, and study it alongside helping with your sensory overload."