Chapter 54 - The Gift

~~~ Hayden ~~~

I had to leave to speak to my father and Landon and Allaya’s father, we might need to prepare for a war.

Actually, we’ll have to prepare for one, Morrigan surely has dreadful things planned for all of us, he is a sick bastard that never had the qualities of a leader in the first place.

The painful feeling of remorse is penetrating my mind, I’m not king yet and I already pose a danger to our kind, I feel like I failed the test before even starting.

Or maybe I will never be king, maybe Landon will be, after all, it’s his rightful place. Anyway, that’s not important right now.

What really matters is to protect my kind and my mate. As a matter of fact, no, not just my kind and my mate, but every being in the magical and human world needs to be protected.

Allaya remained with Gabriel to train and make battle preparations, but she did not provide details about what exactly. She was rather cryptic, in all honesty. Though I did not want to leave her side, I trust her completely and I need to gather our men, our best fighters.

Landon will be with her, she asked for him and truth be told, they did not have time to catch up and have a proper talk, she spent all of her time with me. For that, I can’t find it in myself to feel guilty.

‘I still don’t like that we had to leave our mate with all of those vampires!’ Maddox whined in my head all the way to my castle, same shit over and over again, like a broken tape.

‘Yes, you keep telling me that, but she can handle herself. And moreover, she has her brother and uncle!’

‘But I fucking hate it when we are apart!’

‘I know what you feel, but we have responsibilities. Why do I have to always remind you of that?’

‘I never forgot my responsibilities! Why do you always jump to that stupid conclusion? I believe that our mate and our duty cannot be separated. She is our partner and we should always work together. As equals.’

‘This is us working together, she is doing her part, and we are doing ours!’

‘Can you just fucking let me complain? I’m forced to listen to your whining all day long! Or thoughts, as you call them!’

I roll my eyes in annoyance, I won’t even bother to respond to that. The Goddess knows how much I waited for my wolf to awaken, but damn, he’s a fucking pain in the ass!

‘Hey, I heard that!!!’

‘Good!’

“It’s not your fault, son.” My father squeezes my shoulders, his filled with concerned eyes searching mine.

I almost did not notice that my father and Alpha Justin entered my room.

“But I still feel like it is.” I admit, if it’s plastered all of my face, there is no point in denying it.

“Don’t even for a second think that you are to be blamed for the atrocious deeds of the devil himself. He killed the woman he loved without a second thought because her unborn child, my baby, was messing with his plans. A war against him was bound to happen sooner or later. He must be held accountable for all his sins.” Allaya’s father declares, his voice laced with sorrow. “You should never apologize for something as pure as the love for your mate, the blissful gift bestowed upon you by the Moon Goddess.” He adds on the same tone and I can feel that he is thinking about his love for Allaya’s mother.

And now that fucking monster wants my mate, the woman I love, the woman that was created for me, the one that I will worship and protect for the rest of my existence.

Though it’s not the proper time for this, images from my nights with Allaya are making their way into my treacherous mind, my body reacting instantly. Our mating bond is so powerful, I can practically feel her smooth creamy skin beneath my fingers, her scent is still on my body and I don’t want to wash it away.

Making love to her was nothing I have ever imagined, having my entire being pressed to her heavenly body, diving my lusting hard member into her welcoming softness, feeling her nectar around my cock, tasting every inch of her sweet enticing skin and praying that our happiness would never end, listening to her erotic moans, well that it’s something to die for.

I honestly feel sorry for the ones that have never been blessed to experience such a powerful bond as ours.

A bond that I will protect with my fucking life!

~~~ Allaya ~~~

Three days, that’s when that devil sent word that he’d be here. And that’s the amount of time that I have to prepare myself.

I’m dead worried about my mother, and though I was assured that the rotten demon won’t risk harming her, I cannot help but be concerned.

One can be hurt in more ways than physically.

I mean, is she scared? Is he feeding her properly? Is she emotionally stable? How can she be emotionally stable when she’s held hostage by that dreadful being?

Those questions keep popping into my head, and I seem to have no way of stopping them.

‘Breathe in, breathe out! We are not weaklings, you know! You are embarrassing us!’ Pandora frowns at my inner battles.

If there would be a way to punch her, I would. Ohhh, I would love that so much!

‘Like you’d be able to cross swords with me! Yeah, right!’ Her condescending tone makes me cringe. ‘Better train if you want to stand a chance, you weak girl!’

I wonder, if I fall out of a really tall building, will she be hurt as well or I’ll be the only one dying?

Joking. Just joking.

* * *

It was not as tough or exhausting as I was expecting the training with my uncle and ... well, my brother, Landon. Truth be told, it’s more challenging to digest my blood relationship with Landon, the paths of life can be so freaking twisted sometimes.

Needless to say that I have been really kicking ass. It’s not just me bragging and proving a point to Pandora, it’s true.

It was not that demanding because I have all my mother’s memories, my witch powers on the other hand are a tad difficult to control.

But somehow when Faith transferred her magnificent powers to me, she also made sure that I was a natural in using them. I cannot explain how, I just sense it. And my mother’s recollections from when she was assisting young Alita to manage her abilities aided too.

Against my will, my mind travels back to my mother, Aurora. She never failed to love me ever since she married my father Xander. And I will not fail to shield her from that evil bastard, I will not fail to protect everyone I love from him.

Not lastly, I will not fail to punish him for what he did to my real mother, my real father and me.

I am no longer weak, I am strong now, I can do it.

That blasted monster chose the ceremony room as a battlefield, or whatever way one wishes to call it, for it suppresses the use of my family’s magical part, but I can use my supernatural side in every corner of this castle, and so does my uncle.

Yet containment is the key in this confrontation so we accepted without a second thought. It’s better to keep the fight in between these walls than to involve innocents in our issues.

Morrigan is wrong thinking that he would be able to step on us, in fact he will be in for a surprise. There is something that he doesn’t know, that he would never be able to suspect.

~~~ Gabriel ~~~

I thought my soul was gone when the one that kept it alive, my sister, was executed.

Villainously executed, to be specific.

The mere mental picture is making anger curse through my veins, reaching boiling point. But this is not the time to wrap my mind around it. The sweet vengeance is near.

I believed that I was a soulless beast that would never again care about anything or anyone in the world.

Wrong.

I was wrong.

Meeting my niece and training her brought unfamiliar or long forgotten feelings for me, warm feelings, of serenity and genuine affection.

She was a natural in using her powers, and the vampires I have introduced her to, the ones that were loyal to her mother, and they were not just a few, submitted to her greatness instantly.

‘You would be proud, my dear sister! For I am so damn proud!’

She went from weak to powerful, from coward to brave, she is a true leader, one of a kind.

“You know, if you keep staring, you’ll make holes into my skin.” Allaya interrupts my train of thoughts, pulling my head from the clouds.

“I’m sorry. I have zoned out.” I smile, keeping my gaze on her.

“What happened?” She inquires, returning my smile.

“It’s nothing. You just... You just look a lot like your mother.” I declare caressing her hair.

“Really?” She jumps like a little kid directly into my arms.

I surrender to the embrace. “Inside out.”

“Yeah, that’s not weird at all.” Landon cuts in smirking.

I forget he was present, my nose probably grew accustomed to the wet dog stench.

Funny thing, Allaya smells great, alluring even. The other vampires noticed too, I could sense it in their demeanor.

“Shut up.” She jokingly punches his shoulder.

“Auch.” He grins. “You should know that you grew pretty powerful, sister. We can’t just throw punches at people, you’ll hurt them.” He quirks a brow at her.

“Oh really?” She asks, punching him in the stomach.

“Are you going to be a pain in the ass now?” He retaliates, grabbing both her hands.

“Yes, count on me for that.”

I roll my eyes in delight, I guess this is my cue to go, providing them the space to develop that sibling bond.

And just when I’m about to do it, my trusted man brings me a filthy cardboard box that carries the abominable smell of death.

Without doubt, someone was killed and a part of that person is inside.

“Give me that, uncle!” Allaya demands and her tone is sending chills on my back, a thing that never happened in my entire existence.

Her pitch-black eyes are currently purple with flecks of red, and her voice did not sound like herself. It was probably Pandora the one that spoke.

And Allaya is not yet aware what can happen if she cannot control Pandora.

“Give that to me, now!” She orders and I find myself obeying, my body moving on my own.

Her eyes are almost red with barely hints of purple as she opens the cardboard and takes out of it a human head, freshly chopped.

“No!!!!” Her hair-rising voice shakes the ground beneath my feet.

FUCK!