252- Where Blood, Fate, and Love Collide
POV Elowen Grimwald:
I didn’t want to eat anything, but I forced my little round-belly to nourish my future nephew or niece, after all, she needed to stay well fed for the baby.
In my small room, our hands were sweaty from having been clasped together for over an hour. My spine burned from sitting on the bed without support, but what mattered was Lunara reclining against the headboard with a pile of pillows at her back, perfectly comfortable.
I was completely in shock with all the revelations. My sister had been marked and captured in heat by an alpha. She had been kidnapped, tortured, and our former pack wiped out by Edric as revenge.
My ex was probably dead, and in the middle of all that chaos she had still discovered they were fated mates.
“I feel so guilty for believing I had been abandoned. How did you still find time to look for me?”
She laughed and squeezed my hand. It must have been the hundredth time, but it never stopped being comforting.
“How could I not look for you? I want you to know Edric helped me a lot. We would never have given up.”
“May the gods judge me, but I am very glad those people are dead.”
“It is a relief to know I will never cross paths with any of them again, sister.”
“Bastards…” I huffed.
“It was traumatic. I still have nightmares, but they are becoming less frequent.”
“You still need to tell me how you discovered you are fated! Is it like they say, like an irresistible burning attraction?”
Her cheeks flushed red.
“Let’s talk about you now…”
“No! Tell me!”
“It is different from anything I have ever felt in my life. Here in Tharnak, they are only certain if the partner becomes pregnant. All alphas, including Aldren, can only impregnate their fated mate.” She emphasized hisLunnen.
“You don’t like him, do you?”
“I did. Edric respects him a lot… until he locked you in a cage.”
“I don’t even like remembering… but it’s over.”
“Did he force you into anything, sister?” Her eyes softened with concern.
“I swear he didn’t. I swear. Yes, I was imprisoned and it was horrible, but it’s over.”
“But how did it happen? You and him?” She sounded incredulous.
I wanted to tell her about the day I planned Aldren’s death and explain how our involvement unfolded from there, but I had promised him I would forget. I owed him that promise.
“It simply happened. Look, I understand, sometimes I don’t even believe it, but with each passing day he has been better. He has taken care of me, Lunara, and no one ever has, except you.”
“My God, you are truly in love.” Apparently, it was written all over my face.
“Yes, I admit it. Just trust me. Please.”
“I will always trust you. I just don’t trust him,” she pondered, glancing at the mark on my shoulder. I would have told her how I got it if my shame had not spoken louder.
“If I forgot my time in captivity, you must forget too, little round-belly. Aldren is paranoid and thought I was a spy,” I called her by the new nickname and touched her belly, trying to lighten the mood.
“It’s not because of that, Elowen. Do you know Aldren always keeps two lovers at a time?”
The mere memory made my mouth taste bitter.
“If there is someone who knows that, it’s me. He killed one of them in front of me…” Lunara covered her mouth, eyes wide. “Don’t be alarmed. Teneris tried to kill me and would have succeeded if Aldren hadn’t arrived. I had strips of skin torn and hanging from my body, sister. My luck was that, even without transforming, I am fast enough to dodge attacks, otherwise she would have broken my neck.”
“What a bitch!”
“If I had known answering her provocations would earn me such a beating and she would still die for it, I would have swallowed every insult in silence.”
Sava narrowed her eyes at me, clearly doubtful.
“You would not have swallowed anything, I know you. Come here.” She pulled me into a hug.
I leaned back against the headboard beside her, pressing myself into the corner of the wall so I wouldn’t squeeze her. I rested my head on her shoulder and placed my palm over her belly. Her gentle hand went to my head and her fingertips stroked me.
“Am I really getting my big sister to pet my hair?”
“You are.”
The feeling of being there with my Lunara was almost indescribable; even the air I breathed seemed purer.
“I don’t want to be apart anymore.”
“And we won’t be.”
“Can you, please, not hate Aldren, so you can come here often?”
“For you, yes, I can.”
“That’s why I love you.”
“I love you too. I just want you to be happy. I worry.”
“Don’t. I am treated well here now.” I intended to be an angel so my walks with the bodyguard could stretch all the way to my sister’s village. “I wish so much I knew the baby’s sex. I don’t know how you manage to stay in the dark, little sister.”
“We decided not to expose ourselves in the city. We planned to find out only at birth, but…”
“But…?”
“Aldren can discover the sex.” I raised my head to look at her, curious. “It’s true. Edric told me he has centuries of medicinal knowledge in that stubborn head, and a very modern laboratory.”
“Why haven’t you asked him yet? Please!” I pleaded.
“Simple. I wanted to kill him. I went to the Feast of Lust just to confront him. If Edric asked, he would do it, but I would never give my blood sample to the man who kept my sister in a cage.”
“That is fair. But now you’ve seen I’m alive and well cared for, so we can ask!”
“Do you know what our focus should be? Not the revelation of my pup’s sex, but your birthday, which is in a week.”
The reminder brought me back to reality. I had completely forgotten my birthday and everything turning twenty-one would represent in my life.
“I don’t like surprises, so whatever your plans are, reveal them.”
“How annoying, I was having so many great ideas…”
“Months without seeing me and you’re already calling me annoying?”
“But you are, which doesn’t mean I don’t love you.”
Our conversation was interrupted by two knocks on the door. I shouted for them to come in, and Nerin appeared. Aldren’s paranoia had passed on to me, because the moment I saw him, I wondered if something bad had happened.