His Beloved or His Mate

Chapter 9

    Silence permeated the car ride back to the manor. Gabriella looked out the window for most of it, rubbing her hand as she tried to get some of the sting to subside. She hadn’t seen that side of Raith, that flash of rage, his unawareness to what he was doing to her hand. So far, he had been calm, loving, and she hadn’t feared him. Right now, an uneasy feeling engulfed her, and it didn’t matter how many times she sighed, the ache wasn’t subsiding. 

    Gabriella felt a pull to Raith, an undeniable desire to be with him. She was his Beloved, his queen, and from what everyone else has clued her in to, this is where she belonged.  But right now, fear chased her acceptance of everything.  It wasn’t only the shock of his negligent grip that felt like it was nearly breaking her hand. But also, the odd meeting with Mistress Sienna, his apparent history with her, and their odd conversation that was confusing and made little sense. Gabriella knew this all probably would clear up once she remembered herself. But right now, the crater of where her memory should be felt abysmally empty.

    Raith must have sensed her distancing because he kept himself away, sitting as much in his seat as he could without breaching her invisible boundaries. Though, Gabriella knew he was looking at her occasionally. She could feel the fiery ice pour over her and leave its tingling rush across her skin. 

    Raith apologized nearly a dozen times in the ten minute car ride; his voice quiet.

    But she wasn’t ready to talk to him.

    Myung pulled the car through the horseshoe drive and let them out at the front door. The Day Watcher opened her car door first and tried to get her to smile, even a little bit, with a goofy grin of his own. She offered a faint upturn of her lips. Bellator Ambrose opened Raith’s car door and he was quick to exit; she barely let him catch up to where she stood before scurrying to the front steps. Yet, his amazing quickness soon matched her strides with ease. 

    Gabriella tried to open the door before she remembered it required a code. Frustrated, she quietly stepped aside for him to administer it. But he didn’t. He moved himself between her and the door, forcing her to look at him. When she turned her head, his hand gently grabbed her chin and guided her back to him. 

    “Mi Alma,” he breathed. “What can I do?”

    His touch sent her reeling, curling her toes; Gabriella exhaled, trying to control her response to him. She knew from this, she shouldn’t allow him to touch her, yet she also didn’t want him to stop.  Her mind reeled back and forth, knotting her stomach more.  “Not now, Raith. I need time to think, ok?”  She made the mistake of looking into his eyes. They were tender, worried, and the empathetic pull in his expression kick-started her heart. 

    He nodded, brushed his thumb over the line of her chin before letting go, and turned to open the door. He let her inside first. Gabriella had the intention of going to the bedroom; it was the only room she had any connection to at this point. But that was too private a place and she refused to get cornered by Raith. She quickly diverted to the kitchen.

    Perhaps nursing on a pint of ice cream would help iron out her thoughts?

    Raith followed her up until the kitchen archway but did not enter, giving her the space she requested. She looked over her shoulder at him as she opened the mint chocolate chip, noticing that Myung was standing by him. Raith handed Myung the silver box, and they stared at each other for a few moments before the Day Watcher bowed his head. 

    She heard Raith sigh then leave.  Myung took a seat beside her at the kitchen island, setting the box between then on the counter.

    "Why do you guys stare at each other like that? It’s creepy.”

    “It’s not a creepy thing.” Myung chuckled. “As his Thrall, I am connected to King Raith. He speaks to me telepathically.”

    “Really? Does he do that with others?” She sucked on her metal spoon, clearing it of any ice cream.

    “It’s a trick the older immortals can do. I can only do it because I am blood-linked with him.”

    “What’s that mean? Blood-linked?” 

    He took a long moment to answer that. “As you know, vampires need people to watch over them during daytime hours. He can’t have a vampire protecting him-”

    “The sun would barbeque them.”

    “Exactly,” He snapped his finger at her. “But that person cannot be simply human, either. They need protectors. Enhanced.” Myung paused, seeking the right words. “So, part of my job is to not only know how to someone’s kick ass if they come near my Master, but also cause a lot of damage, too. So, in order to do that, I... drink his blood. To be superhuman, but not a vampire, and to be linked to him. So, he doesn’t need a walkie-talkie or cell phone to talk to me. He just opens the channels in our minds.”

    “Is that how you knew to come to us when Raith called you after I woke him up from his vampire sleep?”

    “Soporis bibisti, right.” Myung nodded. “I heard you scream and was on my way. But King Raith spoke to me and told me he thought he had it handled and had me step down. But, he ended up calling me to come help you guys anyway, and well, you know the rest.”

    “So, why don’t you turn into a vampire, too, by drinking his blood?”

    “There’s a process for that to happen. Turning into a vampire takes more than drinking a vampire’s blood. Raith wants to speak with you more on that.” 

    Gabriella snorted. “Maybe. I feel he’s keeping things from me. The meeting today with Mistress Sienna was so frustrating. The things she was saying didn’t make sense. And Raith was... está hecho un ají... angry.”

    “You think that was him being mad?” Myung laughed. “You should have seen him while you were gone, my Lady. I know he hides that from you, but our King is no saint. He didn’t become the vampire king by playing nice.”

    “Well, it was a big head-swivel confusing.” She held up her hand which had already started to bruise. Myung’s eyes shot open. “He was freaking about something Mistress Sienna said about someone named Neveah while holding my hand.” Gabriella whimpered when she noticed the discoloration. “Why did this Neveah thing make him so mad that he didn’t even realize he was hurting me?”

    “He’d never intentionally hurt you, my Queen. As for your Neveah question, that was before I started working for the king, so you’ll need to speak with him about it.” Myung jumped up and ran to the freezer, pulling out an ice pack. Wrapping it in a towel, he rushed back to her and placed it on her hand. “Not to make any excuses for this, but it does seem he is not himself. He should be better tomorrow. A lot of things weren’t ideal for him today, like his interrupted sleep, for one.”

    Gabriella sighed, closing her eyes. She really didn’t know or remember anything about Raith, and it was scary that her entire being wanted nothing more than to be with him. Why was she so fiercely connected to this man even when he was nothing more than a stranger right now? And if he were as violent as Myung was letting on, why would she want to be with a person like that? What type of person was she? Did she even want to remember who she was?

    “How can I help you, my Queen?”

    “He send you here as my shrink?”  She growled while shoving another heaping scoop of ice cream into her mouth, then squinted at the immediate, punishing brain freeze. 

    Myung smirked. “I am a good listener.”

    Gabriella snorted, “Where did he go?” Even though she was trying to have her alone time, it irritated her on how much her eyes wandered to the archway entrance, hoping he would be standing there.

    “In his office for a…” Myung seemed to be struggling for the right word, “...meeting,” Satisfied with how he finished his statement, he shrugged.

    Her eyebrows pursed. “I thought he pushed that meeting off on Lord Athan?” She swirled the ice cream nonchalantly with her spoon. It bothered her a little that Raith jumped right back to work when they got back to the manor, for whatever meeting he had to attend to. He knew she was upset; why wasn’t he here in this kitchen holding her? Oh, ya... She told him to get lost. Gabriella groaned.  

    Did she want him here or not?

    He cleared his throat. “Something else came up.” Myung then tilted his head slightly. “I won’t force you to open up. But I am here if you want to talk, my Queen.” 

    “Not now, Myung.” She shook her head. Suddenly, the ice cream didn’t sound good. She pushed the carton away from her with a grunt. “Not now.”

    “Of course-”

    “-everything is just so frustrating! I don’t know you, Myung, but I am supposed to! I don’t know Lady Salome, Princess Ravana, though they treat me like old friends. And today, Mistress Sienna was trying to make some sort of connection with me. But I have absolutely no recollection of her!” 

    Myung nodded, listening to her vent. “In all fairness, my Queen… you aren’t supposed to know me. I came to work for King Raith after you were gone.” He spoke softly. “And in all my days of employ, he has never been happier than these few days now that you’re back.” 

    Gabriella laughed a little more maniacal than she intended. “Ok- so, I’m not supposed to know you, but you’re, like, the only one I truly feel comfortable with. This doesn’t make me feel better and frankly is insane.”  Her heart hummed happily with Myung’s confession that Raith is different now that she’s here. It filled in some of the vacuous holes that she had inadvertently drilled inside her stomach.

    Myung shrugged. “Maybe because I don’t put any pressure on you to remember me like everyone else is doing?”

    Gabriella thought a moment then nodded, her forlorn face finally melting into something more amicable. “Ay, ya… that makes sense.” She nudged him with her elbow. “Hey, you are a good shrink.” 

    “It’s why I get paid the big bucks.” He puffed his chest out pridefully, then laughed. “The King loves you so much, you gotta know that. He’d do literally anything for you. He’s done everything for you.” Myung’s declaration wrapped around her tight.

    Love. Is that what she was feeling, too? Was that her pull to him? Was it the cause of the electrical currents that surged through her body when he was around?

    Gabriella looked down at her hands, playing with the ice pack. “I can feel our connection. I just want to really remember him rather than in just words or pieces here and there. We’ve had to have made memories, right? All I have right now is just these last few nights with him.  I don’t want this cavity between us.”

    Myung pushed the silver box a little closer to her and opened it. Gabriella eyed the milky vials again. “This is how you get back to him.”

She exhaled slowly. “Tell me what I need to do. I’ll do it!”

    Myung smiled, grabbing one of the vials. “Every day, you’ll drink one of these. Then, that part of you that was affected while you were gone will be mended. There are thirty of these. You ready to be yourself again in a month’s time?”

    “I feel so broken, Myung. If this is how you bring me back, absolutely.” 

    Myung unscrewed the metal cap and handed her the small glass container. She took it gingerly. Smelling the liquid, Gabriella hummed as she breathed in mint and lemon. Without hesitation, she downed the elixir and then handed the vial back to him.

    “Not bad. Little chalky.” She giggled. “But tell me, I didn’t just grow another eye or anything?”

    Myung opened his eyes in faux surprise, making her stomach slightly plummet before he laughed and said, “No. You did great.” Gabriella hit him on the shoulder.

    “That’s good ‘cuz la bruja witch was giving me evil-eye all night. I was afraid she slipped some sort of mickey in my medicine”

    Myung shook his head. “Nonsense. The witch was probably just shocked. It’s been a long while since she’s seen you.” He paused, then added,  “Don’t remind Lady Salome about this, but that bruja Mistress Sienna was actually your most loyal and best friend, aside from King Raith of course. The three of you were inseparable.”

    “We were?” Her brows crunched. “Really?”

    Myung nodded. “Absolutely. She took your absence nearly as hard as the king.”

    Gabriella sat back in the seat, thinking of his words. She tried to recall as much of Mistress Sienna as she could during this evening’s meeting. Thinking more, perhaps she misjudged Sienna’s scrutiny. Maybe she was just digging into this shell of Gabriella, searching for her best friend. 

    She hoped she would meet up with bruja Mistress again to maybe make a better connection with her, especially when the elixir started to bring her back to life. Gabriella closed her eyes, trying to feel the liquid begin to mend her mind. She knew it was wishful thinking; she had only just begun treatment. This patience thing was going to be hard.

    Gabriella excused herself and planned to head to the theatre room thinking a movie could help take her mind off things. Yet, when she reached the end of the hall, she turned left instead of right. Going right would have led her to the theatre room and mindless hours of movie streaming. 

    That did sound tempting. 

    But going left led to everyone’s offices, and Raith. Myung said he was in his office. 

    After talking to Myung, she knew she needed to talk with Raith. Guilt had pricked at her heart about how she treated him, and she wanted to set things right. It wasn’t his fault that she allowed herself to be swallowed up within her own insecurities. And he had apologized a zillion times in the car ride home about hurting her. 

    Not having been down this way before, Gabriella nearly felt like she was a creeper by walking the hall. She tried to comfort herself with the fact that this was her house, even though she couldn’t remember it, and had every right be there. Given the choice of four options, her instincts pulled her to the set of mahogany double doors at the end of the hall flanked on either side by two large potted palms. Yeah, that looked like a king’s office. Nodding confidentiality at her choice, feeling that maybe she hadn’t forgotten everything, she strode to if with more conviction.

Approaching it, she put her hand on the lever, but second thoughts began chipping at her tenacity. Would Raith like her walking in while he was working? Maybe he wouldn’t want to see her since she had basically shooed him away the moment they returned home. Not knowing him enough to guess at what he may now be feeling ate at her heart. 

    How could she be so drawn to him yet not know what his needs were, too?  

    Well, there was only one way to get to know him again, and jog her memory. Biting her lower lip, she coaxed her courage to confront him and talk things out. Taking a breath, she grit her teeth and pushed herself to enter the room.

    Gabriella slid into the room but froze immediately on the threshold conflicted with what she was seeing.

    Raith.

    A woman she hadn’t seen before.

    His arms wrapped around her, caressing her. 

    Her arms around him, bracing his body as close as she could.

    His mouth suckling her neck.

    Her moans.

    His moans.

    What the hell!?