His Lost Tribrid

Chapter Six

Arius POV

Grief is a strange thing. I had my own notions of it before all this happened. Before, I lost my entire world in one night. I thought it was a sad moment in time that you had to push through in order to get to the other side. That was what it felt like after Cora died and even my father to a certain extent. But this grief. This was different.

There is no other side. There is no pushing through.

There is only pain. Pain that I must endure every day. It is absorbed into my skin and infected my blood. And the more time moves on and the world keeps turning, the more unbearable it gets. I know what people think of me. I know what people say about me. That I am a hollow man who feels nothing. Numb from the agony of losing everything. But that could not be further from the truth.

I feel everything. I feel it so much that it consumes me to the point that I want to curl up and die. I want to make it end. But I don’t. Because I still have hope. Hope that I will find Ruby and make everything right. But until I do. This is how I am. Cold. Ruthless.

It had been well over a year since I had been back to the Blood Moon Pack. I had tried to keep my distance as being here always brought up feelings and emotions that I had tried so hard to suppress. The memories of that night were so painful, but standing here now in the spot where my Ruby was taken, looking up at her bedroom window where she last slept peacefully in her bed, made me feel a connection to her that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Today was my angel’s 21st birthday and it only felt right that I returned to the last memory I have of her, no matter how soul-crushing it was. The past eleven years have been spent trying to find out any information I could about Ruby and Maggie’s whereabouts. After a few years, my patience with those witches and warlocks who had once been friends of Maggie’s was wearing thin. They said they knew nothing and torturing them only made them pathetic messes that were even less useful to me. It seemed wherever Maggie had taken my daughter she had not told a soul. Many people think I am crazy to think she is still alive. But I know it in my heart. Frustratingly, I seem to have another distraction pulling me away from my mission to find Ruby. The hybrids.

“You have changed. I’m not sure about the beard,” Alina’s soft voice travelled towards me as she walked across the meadow to join me on her land. I looked her up and down.

“You haven’t,” I replied flatly. It was true. She still looked like the same bright-eyed, innocent girl next door that she did when I first met her twenty odd years ago. The only difference was the exhaustion behind her eyes. Her gift was not something that many people would wish for and I knew it took its toll on her.

She smiled warmly at me and outstretched her arms. I stood rigid as she wrapped them around me and I felt my body tense. I didn’t let people touch me on even my good days, but these people were the closest thing I had to a family, so I let it slide.

She released me and took a step to my side. “It’s good to see you Arius. I’ve been worried.”

I don’t take my eyes off the bedroom window as I feel her concerned gaze burning into the side of my face.

“Worried? Whatever for?” My tone was flat like it always was now. I barely had the energy to change it when I spoke.

“Maybe it is best we don’t speak of this today. It is a difficult day for us all but especially for you," her words are meant to be kind but they just piss me off. Every day was difficult for me, not just today.

“Say what’s on your mind Alina,” I said curtly, and she sighed.

“You must lay off the witch hunt.” My eyes snapped to hers and fury blazed in them. She held her hands up apologetically before continuing. “I don’t mean Maggie! Goddess, you should never stop hunting that b*tch but I am talking about the innocent witches and warlocks you have been… interrogating.”

I folded my arms across my chest as my jaw ticked. I was trying to hold it together. I didn’t come here for an argument. I came here for their help.

“How else do you expect me to find her? Someone must know something,” I growled, and she shook her head.

“Arius. All I am saying is to be more careful. I can only protect and support you so much as a council member. I cannot turn a blind eye to everything and Penelope is under a lot of pressure from the witch community. They are terrified that you will come for them even if they have never had any involvement with Maggie.”

I grind my teeth as I think over her words. It’s true. I may have let it get slightly out of hand. But I was desperate.

“Fine. I hear what you are saying. Tell Penelope that I will leave the witches and warlocks alone UNLESS I gather a piece of information about them that may be helpful to me.”

She gives me a small smile and her eyes shine with emotion. I know what she was thinking without her saying it. She thought she saw a glimmer of the old me. The one that showed mercy.

“Thank you. That means a lot,” she says genuinely and I shrug my shoulders. I notice two tall, broad frames heading towards us and I cant help but let a small smile play on lips. It had been at least a year and a half since I had last seen Ezra and he was a brute back then, but now... Now he was taller than his father and made entirely of muscle. His ashen hair had been shortened on the side but remained longer on top, dropping down into his emerald eyes. He was a striking man and I am sure he had his fair share of ladies in this place.

“Is that who I think it is?” I said, noting that my voice sounded genuinely happy for the first time in ages.

“Uncle Ari!” Ezra’s eyes lit up and he jogged the last bit of distance before smashing into me like a bulldozer. A flashback of the morning we’d arrived before their tenth birthday came to me. Ezra running into Madeline’s arms and me ruffling his hair.

Unlike when Alina hugged me, I actually found myself wrapping my arms around his broad back, not that I could reach all the way around and patting his solid body.

“I can see your old man has been working you hard in the gym,” I smirked as he pulled away.

“Nah, naturally gifted genes.” He joked and gave me a dazzling smile showcasing his perfectly white teeth.

“Logan,” I greeted him and he reached out to shake my hand.

“Arius. It’s good to see you man. Don’t leave it so long next time.”

“I won’t. You may actually be seeing a lot more of me,” I started and saw him look to Alina and back to me. “I guess you have heard about the attacks on my clans?”

Logan’s blue eyes locked with mine and he nodded his head. “Yes we have. Sorry to hear that you have lost some of your finest warriors.”

“That is not the only problem. The rumours are true. They are hybrids. It seems we have an uprising of a very angry mob of mixed- bloods who are out for revenge on pure- bloods of any species. I am guessing they are not happy about how hybrids have been treated in the past.” My eyes darted to Alina, who shifted uncomfortably on her feet. It wasn’t her fault, I know, but as a member of the council, she was seen to hold some responsibility even just by association. The new council had kept their word and stopped the ban of the hybrid children, especially of two power bloods. This, in return, has caused a lot more births of hybrids over the years and some that have even come out of hiding who had slipped through the council’s fingers.

“You have probably also heard the other rumours then. That I am behind the uprising,” Ezra looked from me to his father and Logan nodded his head slowly. “I am here to give you my word that it is not true. Why I would attack my own clans is beyond me, but all the same, I did not want you to worry.”

“We never doubted you for a second,” Ezra said confidently, looking every bit the next leader of this pack. I smiled at him in return.

“He is right. We never believed those rumours. But do you know who is leading them?” Logan asked.

“No I don’t. But I am trying to find out.” It was proving more difficult than expected. The mixed bloods were not just of two species. Some were Fae and Werewolf, others vampire and warlock like me, werewolf and vampire as well, and a few I had even heard of as Fae and warlocks from powerful bloodlines, the deadliest combination. Trying to find their leader amongst them all was a challenge. “I am sorry to ask this of you, but I will need some of your men. To come to the castle and join my warriors. I have lost more than I care to admit in their attacks and my defence is weakened. I need to protect my people.”

“Of course. We will send some warriors straight away. It’s not a problem,” Logan agrees and I thank him sincerely. I wasn’t concerned about my kingdom's safety when I was there, but I couldn’t stay behind my castle walls all the time. Not when I needed to find my daughter. Having the wolves there too would give me peace of mind.

We stand and chat for a little longer until it’s time for me to leave. They offered me to stay for the night but deep down they knew I could not.

“Any change?” Alina asks me quietly as I said my goodbyes. I knew exactly what she was referring to and I shook my head.

I looked over at Ezra and the beats of my heart began to ache as I drank him in. He was no longer a boy. He was man. And my Ruby would now be a woman. “Happy birthday to you Ezra,” I said quietly as his parents started to walk away. He stood rooted to the spot and met my eyes. The hurt and pain of my own were reflected in his.

“No. Happy birthday to us,” he said sadly with a small smile before turning away.

My emotions caught in my throat as I clicked my fingers and disappeared behind my puff of purple smoke.