Eternally Bound, Chapter 60: Lost But Never Forgotten
Eva
The world may be scarred, but it’s alive. And as long as we’re together, it will heal. We turn our attention to the task of rebuilding, of healing, of creating a world where love and light can thrive. It won’t be easy, and there will be setbacks, but we’ll face whatever comes our way. For we are a family, bound by ties that go beyond blood or obligation. We are a force to be reckoned with, and our love will light the way, it has to.
In the quiet moments that follow, as we stand amidst the ruins of the battlefield, I feel the power still coursing through me, a reminder of the sacrifices made and the strength gained. It’s a part of me now, a piece of my soul forever changed. But as I look at my mates, at the love and determination in their eyes, I know that it was worth it.
I look at my group and Alarick. I will address the group first, “We paid a heavy price today for the good of all. We won’t allow those souls who fought with us to be forgotten and reduced to mere words on a page. We need to honor them.”
Everyone lowers their heads in a moment of silence. Morgan looks at me and then she speaks, “Alarick, you took from us, but you did give us something too. I think we are owed an explanation of how this all came to be.”
“I do owe you, and now that I am myself again, I can tell you. I am old, I go back to the earliest shifters.” He reaches his hand out, and Cupcake lands on it. She puffs her flame.
Morgan and Agnes lunge at her. “No!” I yell as I swat them on the nose.
They blink and shake their heads. Agnes laughs. “These impulses just won’t go away.”
“I think I can answer as to why that is,” Alarick says. “Morgan, Guinevere is a part of me. A part that I thought died along with my mate. She’s your mate, just as Cupcake is a part of my mate. Long ago, shifters possessed the ability to become any animal. It was a time of growth and prosperity. However, darkness always seeks the light. At first, we shifters were okay with mingling with the creatures of darkness like demons. It is how I met Bael, and we explored and experimented until my mate, Raven, and Astaroth appeared. Morgan only remembers the second coming of Astaroth as a vampire lord, but before that, she was a demigoddess. Astaroth developed an unnatural fixation with me. My mate disappeared after I had marked her. I didn’t know that she was with child until I confronted Astaroth. Bael told me how manipulative Astaroth was and that she tried to bind him to her. I couldn’t allow that, so I arranged for Astaroth to meet me at the Falls, where I shoved her to her death. It didn’t fully kill her, but it weakened her, and I thought that was enough. I thought that by both Bael and me rejecting her that she would move on. Grief overtook me, and I ended my immortality. Astaroth never forgot and sought to end anyone linked to me. She became a vampire lord, hellbent on becoming a god and ending any who wouldn’t kneel before her.” He offered his hand to Sam. “I am sorry that your family suffered because of me.”
Sam shakes his head. “You didn’t cause this. Astaroth did because she couldn’t accept that we can’t choose who we are bound to.” He kissed me before he took Alarick’s hand and placed it on my stomach. I felt a warming light. “You gave my family a bit of yourself when Guinivere blessed my family during the last war. Now, Eva and I are giving it back.”
Just then, Gabriel and Mormo appear and say simultaneously, “Before you ask, everyone at home is fine.”
Katie laughs. “You owe the jar!”
Vincent grumbles. “Fucking pink sparkles everywhere.”
Pakhet laughs. “Now I know why his house had the sparkles and Vlad’s was just pink.”
Katie gasps. “But I didn’t.”
“No, but fate did for you.” Pakhet looked at our group. “Fate always finds a way, one goddess at a time. We know now that the darkness in Alarick was his grief and Astaroth’s corruption. Eva’s soul cleansed him, and now he has been restored, just as we all have been.” She looks at the fallen behind us. “Now, allow me to make the needed arrangements to carry out the funerary rites.”
“But you…”
She interjects, “My goddess, it will be my pleasure. You are restoring my fellow goddesses. Those who perished today gave their all so that the future could live, so that I could meet my sisters once again. While I wait for them to be reborn, I want to honor those who made it possible. Allow me to start with the dead so that their souls may move on and perhaps one day we all will be reunited once more.”
I smiled. “Okay.”
Alarick puts his hand on my shoulder. “You accept help far better than I ever did. You will wield my power better than I ever did as well.” He looks at my mates. “You all are eternally bound, just as I was, but I was too arrogant and blind to see it.”
I place my hand over his. “It was one hell of a learning curve, and no day is normal. Sorry, Eric.”
Eric kisses my cheek. “I gave up hoping for that the moment I realized that you were my mate. If I had normal now, I would wonder what was wrong. I love you and everything that comes with it, including the guys. Pakhet is right. Let us each do what we feel is right, and perhaps it can help end the Forest of Echoes because souls shouldn’t be stuck.”
Levi nods.”Tell me fucking about it. I only consumed what was deserving, yet I was banished to purgatory.”
Gabriel pats his shoulder. “Don’t I know it. I was that damn tree for so long that I nearly forgot who I was.”
Levi, Gabriel, and Alarick look at me. Gabriel says, “I used to think that you freed me because of my sister’s power lies within you, but that isn’t why. You had your powers all along. You just needed to find not just the right people to aid you, but all of your mates, too. I can only imagine what the future holds once my grandnieces and grandnephews are born. Your mother would be in awe of you, just as I am.”
“But…”
Vincent grabs me and pulls me close as my other mates converge on us. “Eva, take the compliment,” he says before his lips sear to mine in a time-stopping kiss.