Torn between mates

44. Absent lovers

Lea

I was having lunch with Valentin and my friends from Avalon’s Realm. I was quite happy that all my friends liked Valentin, but what is it not to like about him? Oh, Goddess! I was looking at him with what Liv calls a silly-lost-in-love smile yet again. How embarrassing! I looked away at my other side and my eyes met Morgana’s little ones. Cali brought her chinchilla pet, Morgana, to eat with us. She has been treating Morg as if she were a baby. It was equally cute and awkward, but if she was happy with it, I wouldn’t say anything.

My best friend Ainhoa and my friend Fred were now mated, but it didn’t make them stop arguing like an old couple over every single thing on a daily basis. Even Agatha, another witch who is friends with Liv and me was there, feeding us with the newest gossips of the Realm and trying to flirt with the table-servant. She was so funny, Nema would love her, I hope these two could meet soon.

All of the sudden, I felt a pungent pain in the pit of my stomach. In the next second, it radiated to my heart. I bent down in pain, whimpering, and almost fall down from my chair before Valentin moved fast and caught me in his arms.  

I brought one hand to my heart and the other one to my belly, as I couldn’t stop whining. I think I’ve never felt such physical pain before, it hurts more than Broadrick’s bite. Valentin was looking at me worriedly. He sat us both in an armchair and hovered his hand over my forehead, letting his energy enter my body and reaching all my systems to see what is wrong. 

“What… is happening?” I asked weakly, between small sobs. 

Valentin’s hand moved down and now is hovering over my heart. His face was so tense and full of anger, “Alexus is taking another female. That is why you are in pain, my Angel.” 

His healing energy entered my body and I started to feel a bit better. 

“I-I didn’t know it could hurt that much,” I mumbled.

“Oh yeah, it does.  I heard about some mate cheating gossips. Super hairy! The cheated mate feels it automatically, it’s a pain that no one can mistake for anything else. I heard it feels like your heart is being split in two and your stomach is swirling around. Are you okay, girl?” Agatha asked me. I nodded in response, now that my Sun’s energy was inside me, I was feeling much better.

“Will I feel like this every time he does it? Even though we aren’t mated?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Valentin sighed deeply as he caressed my hair soothing me. “If you were mated it would be much worse.” He replied and my eyes grow wide in surprise, worse than that? 

“I’m so sorry you have to go through this! … if only we could…” Valentin exhaled deeply in frustration and tightened his hold around me. 

If Richard heard about it, how King Alexus even from afar is making me feel pain, it would fuel his hate even further. My wolf didn’t need more hate in his life, he already consumed so much time and energy on hating King Alexus.

To my utter surprise after a couple of minutes, I didn’t feel the pain anymore. Did Valentin’s magic take all the pain away or King Alexus wasn’t taking the female anymore? 

The thought of King Alexus taking another made my heart clench and I was sure it had nothing to do with my physical response to it. Why did it affect my emotions? We don’t have and ever had anything, any kind of connection. The closer we ever were, was when he drank from me or tried to assault me. 

So, why in the 6 Realms I do feel my heart breaking a little knowing he is bedding another? 

~ * ~

Avalon

I decided to go to Hell to bring Laius back. I was still part of the 99% of the population of the 6 realms that wanted to punch him in the face, but I had to do it for her. I hated to admit it, but Liv needed him, and she was suffering a lot from the withdrawal. 

My female was too stubborn to tell him to come back. So, I had to step in. That old infamous spell-crafter Medeia told me where to find him. He was in a f*****g pit of Hell, sitting on a little pile of sand looking into space. He was throwing fire at any and everything around while drinking Hell Whiskey. As I expected he was a wreck, had purple bags under his eyes, his hair was a mess, he reeked of hard alcohol, and even looked pale. 

“Man, you look like shit.” 

“What do you want Avalon? You came to tell me how bad I look, that is how much you want to rot in Hell…?” He asked in a guttural way, as his eyes were glowing bright red and smoke was leaving his body. He was furious. 

“No, Laius. I came to take you back home.” I said calmly this time. 

Laius left out a humorless chuckle, like the ones he used to laugh before he met our mate. I sat by his side and took the bottle of whiskey that he left beside him, sipping some burning alcohol. This one was the strongest I’ve ever tried. 

“Does she want me back? Did she say so?” he asked, still looking at the distance. 

“Not exactly…” I said, before drinking another sip. Laius turned abruptly towards me and flashed me a murderous stare.

“So why do you think she would accept me back, huh? And give me back my whisky you f*cker, I’ve sent people to the 7th Pit of Hell for less!” he said without looking at me, yet again. 

There wasn’t a 7th Pit of Hell. He was very drunk. 

“Damnit, Laius! She needs you! You know that mate withdrawal is much worse for pregnant females. She doesn’t say, but she wants you back…”

“So now you don’t only go around as a ridiculous peacock, you also read minds.” He huffed as he started a fire in front of us and flung an empty bottle of Hell Whiskey on it. I breathed deeply, I was not crazy to irritate this fuming God further and give him the last straw. 

“Man, I see that she needs you back. Everyone can see it, everyone knows it. You know how stubborn she can be, especially when it’s something related to harming who she loves, her family.” I tried to reason.

“No,” he answered, throwing more empty bottles into the burning fire. He gave me an empty bottle and I flung it at the fire too, we kept doing it for some minutes. How much has he already drunk? 

“Laius, I am worried about her. Man, I came to f*****g Hell to convince you to come back, that means that s**t is very serious, and she DOES need you.” I tried to reason again. 

Laius knew that I try to tolerate him, as he did the same to me. But coming here and asking him to come back to my woman goes way beyond tolerating him. I was clearly desperate and worried. 

He busted another humorless laugh. Damnit, that was f*****g annoying. He was even less bearable when my Liv was not around. 

Someone brought some wrecked objects and put a pile of them close to us. Laius started to fling everything into the ´bonfire´. It felt good to destroy s**t when you were this frustrated, so I started to throw s**t in the fire with him and stole more of his whiskey. He still gave me a couple of anger-filled glares but didn’t say anything. After some minutes, I broke the silence. I had to try again, now using another strategy. 

“Think about it, Laius. Don’t let her down when she needs you most.”

“She told me to go away, you fucker! THAT IS WHAT SHE WANTS! Not what I want. As you can see, I’m not in the middle of a feast or an orgy enjoying myself!” He growled, fuming again.

I sighed. This was f*****g frustrating! The Devil was a stubborn prick! I kept throwing stuff at the fire, drinking, and trying to control my temper. 

~ * ~

Lea

“Now I’m alone, I have nothing again.” Mom said, sighing deeply. 

I was together with the girls in Avalon’s castle, having chocolate cake and chatting. We all could use some girls’ relaxation time.

“If you give him a chance, you wouldn’t feel alone. You would have a hot male on top of you all the time.” Nema said and mom gave her a pointed look.

“Gross!” Liv exclaimed. 

I wondered how mom was dealing with her own mate withdrawal symptoms. I think in her case it wasn’t so bad, since my parents never consolidated their mate bond completely. Dad marked mom, but she never marked him.

“I’m just putting all options on the table, especially the hot sexy one,” Nema muttered with a nympho smile. I was sure she was picturing the image. Super gross!

“You have an amazing job!” Liv exclaimed looking at our mom and changing the subject a bit. Thanks to the Goddess! She was right, mom had a very important and interesting job, which included many responsibilities. More than that, she was doing a great job and was crystal clear that she enjoyed it. 

We were both very proud of her. 

“That’s true.” Mom uttered looking away, almost contemplative.  

“And hobbies,” I added. 

She looked at me with a little frown, her big eyes looking a bit bigger. She didn’t have many hobbies. At least not anymore. I knew that before Liv and I were born, mom used to play piano and she was a bookworm. 

But I think that after everything that happened to her, between meeting dad, never being able to see him and have a normal mated-couple life, having her daughters, and facing all our crazy mating issues, mom lost herself a bit. 

Working as Avalon’s second in command somehow helped her to find a part of herself, to be something besides a mother, and it was quite good for her. But there was still something missing. 

“I just think that clumsy little Linus has the potential to become your new BFF.” Liv chimed in. Making Ainhoa chuckle. Linus was Avalon’s 3rd in command, together with Lady Amalia, and he was indeed a bit clumsy. 

“Right. I don’t see this happening.” Mom replied, still looking at the distance. 

I chuckled. 

“You could have a chinchilla!” Cali suggested excitedly, making even mom laugh. 

“Cali, dear. Morgana is lovely. But I don’t think having chinchillas works for everyone.” Mom replied. “I need a second job.” She muttered with a sigh.

“Wait… I have a brilliant idea!” Liv’s eyes were lit up, there was some time I didn’t see any light in her eyes since she told Laius to leave. I looked forward to hearing her idea and see her happier, see her lively and fiery personality shinning again. 

At any other moment, I think I would be a bit worried after hearing the words ‘brilliant idea’ leaving my sister’s mouth. Some of her brilliant ideas were seducing her mates to make them break their bond; go to the Pixie Realm and eventually fight some Orcs there; cross Hell by foot almost by herself and nearly get lost in the river of forgetfulness, and celebrate Christmas in Hell. 

Brilliant actually meant crazy. 

 “Galvin dipshit had his ass kicked at the Plan B place. And Agatha said they still don’t have a new manager… why don’t work there for some time, help these girls out. A female, empathetic manager is all they need.” Liv added. 

“You are suggesting her to manage the strip-tease club?” Agatha asked with a sly smile.

“Yes. At least for some time. She could use the distraction and that would do so good for the females who work there. They could really open up to mom. Her mom’s vibes make people loosen up, feel at ease.” Liv replied.

I laughed at that. She is right. Mom knows how to make people feel better. Those girls in the club would be lucky to have her.  

“Whoa… that is an insane idea, Liv. But it’s amazing! She would help the stripers, shock society, and get some deep late-night knowledge at the same time.” Ainhoa chimed in. 

Oh, Goddess! 

“Yeah!... just perfect.”

“Wait… I am not sure about it…” Mom said something about Liv’s new idea for the first time. 

“I think you should give it a try. They are just girls and they need someone who cares about them to be their manager, at least for some time.” I said. 

“Even Lea agrees! It means it’s the way to go!” Liv added. 

“I’ll try, do it for a day, and see how it goes. But I make no promises.” Mom uttered. 

 ~ * ~

Astoria

Alpha Richard was about to invade aiming to destroy the Vampire Realm. It would surely escalate into a massive war and end many innocent lives. He didn’t want to lose time, he had to do it before the Peace Agreement was sealed by the Goddess and became binding by her power. 

Otherwise, he had to deal with the Goddess's wrath, I can’t even imagine what consequences it would have for him and this Realm. He would for sure be sent to a place worse than the 6th Pit of Hell.

Even though the new Peace Treaties still didn’t have binding force, he was acting in violation of the Goddess's wishes and of a peace that we Elves, and especially King Elric, worked hard to achieve. 

Besides that, I can’t even imagine how Alexus's death would affect Lea. He is the worst mate I’ve ever heard about, but they are still connected by the mate bond. He still holds a part of my sweet niece’s soul. Lea would suffer a lot; she could get into a very deep and eternal depression or even go mad. Losing a mate, especially in a violent way can be maddening and Lea is a very sensitive young female. 

Even I, who am made of a much tougher material, was miserable for centuries just by losing the male that I thought would be my mate when we both came to mating age. His death made me close myself into a shell for almost my whole life. I couldn’t imagine what the loss of an actual mate would do to my sensitive and fragile niece. It would for sure destroy her.

Thus, I’ve approached my King, Elric. He will know what to do to avoid c*****e and Lea’s breakdown. I told him everything about Alpha Richard’s plan and he decided to come with me to the Pack Castle and talk to Richard. Try to talk him out of this madness. Sometimes I fear that Richard’s hatred towards the Vampire King is so great that it blinds him to such an extent, that it doesn’t allow him to see anything else, not even his mate.We went to Richard’s office, a very worried Luke and Sarah followed us.