Chapter 84: Theodore

Chapter 84: Theodore
Theodore
A cold dread gripped my chest. The kind Kasumi had warned us about. She'd told us this might happen. I just never thought I'd feel the bond between us suddenly snap like a cord pulled too tight... and then gone.
Panic bled into instinct. I didn't stop to think. I ran.
While keeping my twin brother Thaddeus updated through the bond, I made my way to Alpha King Azarius's location, my boots pounding against the palace floors. Thaddeus had already arrived at the royal estate by the time I got there, his expression matching the storm brewing inside me.
We retraced Kasumi's last known steps, starting at the back of the barracks where Rachelle had said she spoke to her. Nothing. Then we moved quickly to her mentor's study, only to find it abandoned, the silence inside deafening. With the western border under siege, the place had been evacuated.
Frustration burned through my veins, and I barely resisted the urge to destroy something. Anything. We had failed her. She'd been right, and we hadn't acted fast enough.
I tried to reach Uncle Cretheus through the mind-link, but only silence answered. He was already at the frontlines. I had no choice. I sent word to deploy more royal soldiers to support him, clenching my jaw so hard it ached.
Kasumi was missing, and the world suddenly felt like it was tilting out of control.
A hollow ache settled in my chest that came from knowing you failed someone you were meant to protect. Kasumi was gone, and we still didn't know where she was being held.
The worst part? We had a strong idea of who was behind it. We just hadn't found the door they were hiding behind.
When the monarchs from the Waevalon Kingdom arrived, and Luna Queen Rachelle stepped forward to reveal she was the one Kasumi had been searching for, it felt like the air left my lungs. A chill crawled across my skin. All this time, we'd believed Kasumi was the Moon Goddess's daughter, but she wasn't the first.
Rachelle was.
Standing before her, I felt it. That overwhelming pressure in the air like something divine wrapped around her presence. It mirrored what I felt whenever I stood beside Kasumi. The power, the calm, the fire behind her eyes.
Kasumi had always felt different. From the moment I saw her emerge from the flames of the Adamantine Volcano, unharmed and glowing with energy I couldn't comprehend, I knew she was more than just a skilled warrior or a destined mate. She was a miracle walking among us.
Meeting her changed everything. Before her, there'd been a quiet emptiness inside me. It was a part I'd convinced myself was just how it was meant to be. I'd stopped expecting fate to deliver someone. Even Father used to tease that Thaddeus and I might end up sharing a mate. I never took it seriously, but I never rejected the thought either.
Thaddeus and I... we weren't just brothers. We were halves of the same soul, even if we didn't look alike. We moved together, thought alike, felt the world in similar rhythms.
And when I met Kasumi and realized Thaddeus had already chosen her over Severin. I didn't feel resentment. What I felt... was longing. Regret. That I hadn't met her first.
I regretted not checking who should be the woman from the Azai Clan who would be wed to my nephew.
If I only knew that my mate was wed to him, I would have volunteered to have her. But fate was funny that I found out that Thaddeus and Kasumi had a secret rendezvous, only to know that she was his mate, too.
It was annoying at the same time that I would have to share her, but I had learned to compromise because Thaddeus and I loved Kasumi. Neither of us would back down from having her. When I claimed her, it felt like a bliss, and I didn't want to let her go, but we still had to keep our relationship from other people, which I couldn't be able to resist Kasumi anymore and tell the public that I was one of her mates.
Just when I thought problems wouldn't arise anymore until Uncle Cretheus entered the picture.
Thaddeus and I felt threatened when our uncle expressed how he wanted to have Kasumi, too. We both knew better that Uncle Cretheus had been wanting to meet his mate and had a family. We wouldn't be able to have him back down just as he showed his desire to Kasumi.
The fate seemed be laughing upon us that three people from the House of de Rosa had become the fated mates of Kasumi. But even so, I was still glad that her mates came from our household.
With her having ties with the House of de Rosa, we wouldn't have a hard time doing some arrangements on when Kasumi spent her time with us. We would just be living in the same roof. 
The only thing that had hindered everything was her marriage with Severin. As soon as Thaddeus informed us that my nephew was opened for the divorce, I couldn't be happier.
I had been wanting to shout to the world how much I loved Kasumi and I would be always supporting her no matter what she did, even if that would make us worry about her welfare. With that, us, as her mates, had been learning how to compromise for her because not all the time we would be with Kasumi.
She had to spend her time to us, one by one. And Kasumi had been nothing but a loving mate, doing her best to give us equal attention.
Now, that she had been abducted, the yearning of hugging, kissing, loving from her filled my heart.
Where were you now, Kasumi? 
We were here. I hope you weren't scared.
We, your mates, would find you even if you were in the ends of the world. 
Pleas don't die. 
If you die, I wouldn't be able to function without you anymore. I had marked you. You had marked me. I would miss half of my piece if you die, Kasumi.
Please stay strong. 
Those motherfuckers would pay the price for taking you from us and your right to deserve your real identity.
I would never forgive them. I would never forgive that they took you away from us.