Torn between mates

9. Fate’s design

Lea

Next day, my dad asked me to go see him in his Villa, he was still quite worried about me, especially when he heard about my mates’ situation. 

I saw him as soon as I portaled to the foyer; I ran towards him and almost threw myself in his embrace, as I amused to do since I was little. Dad placed a kiss on the top of my head and wrapped his arms around me, as he patted my back. 

“How are you my little girl?” his voice was half concern and half warmness. 

I sighed, “I’m fine now.” I said softly 

He pulled  away slightly and looked down at my face, at my moistened eyes. 

“You are safe now. Richard told me that he will stay around, he… WE won’t let anything bad happen to you ever again.” He smiled, before he looked away for a moment and inhaled sharply, “You also have 3 mates.” 

I nodded. 

“King Valentin is a good man; he will take good care of you.” He added. 

I knew that dad has already met Valentin many times, as Elric’s second in command my dad has been to the Fae Realm quite often, due to the good relationship between elves and the Fae people. 

My dad remained a whole minute silent, I wondered if he had anything to say about Alexus; but he started to speak before I could voice my question. 

“King Alexus will too, it’s the natural thing, to take care of and love one’s mate.” 

I nodded again. 

“How is Melinda?” I could hear the undertone of worry and sorrow in his voice. 

“She’s fine now. I’m sure she misses you tho.”

“She is to come here to the Villa in few days. I miss her too.” He beamed me a small smile.

It’s so sad that it has to be that hard between them. I know how much my mom longs for her mate, for him. 

I am also sure he missed and loves her as well, as much as she does.

~ * ~

Liv

“Lea has 3 mates, the 3 unmated Kings. It means that when the Goddess appeared in my dream and told me that a couple would be the key for the peace among the Realms, She wasn’t referring to my Liv and me. She alluded to Maximus and Mel, the first inter-species mates ever. The Goddess actually meant that their children, their two daughters, would unite the 6 Realms due to their mating situation. Now I can see it clearly.” Elric uttered looking at the distance, hand on his chin, seeming very thoughtful. 

Actually, that would make a lot of sense. Lea and I were the only hybrids in the 6 Realms, and we were the mates of the 6 Kings. So, that was the Goddess’ brilliant plan to unite the species and make sure that we won’t ever have a war again?  

“Richard and Alexus couldn’t even share a large turf, let alone a mate. That won’t ever work. She’s wrong.” Avalon argued.

Well, maybe the Goddess’ brilliant plans were like mine, not that brilliant. The hate and feud between Alexus and Richard were legendary, they hated each other’s very breath since forever. My mates didn’t like each other before and sometimes still fight or aren’t in the best terms. But they are doing okay, I mean they even gave pet names to each other like ‘prick Devil’ and ‘stuck up King’. How sweet!

Anyway, they never hated each other 10% of the way the Vamp and the Wolf King hate one another. That is a whole different level, poor Lea.

“She can’t be wrong.” Elric muttered, referring to the Goddess. 

He is Her paladin, like a teacher’s pet. She gave him the mission to establish the Peace between the Realms and he is quite good on it.  

“Why not? She has been wrong before and not only once.” Avalon observed. 

Now I don’t know what he is talking about. When has the Goddess been wrong? I wasn’t the follow the Goddess’ wishes and your destiny ‘poster child’, but I didn’t know about any of the Goddess’ epic fails.

“When has this Goddess ever been right?” Laius asked with venom. 

Yeah, I knew he wasn’t in the best terms with the Goddess and She wasn’t allowed any influence over Hell, like she had over Avalon’s Realm and over Emeraldia, the Elf Realm.  

Avalon sneered at him, almost growling.

“YOU are defending her? After everything She did to you? That’s too f*cked up even for you!” Laius snapped and Avalon narrowed his eyes at him. 

“What do you mean? What did the Goddess do to Avalon?” I asked Laius, then I turned to eye Avalon. “What is he talking about, baby?”

“Nothing, Livia. Nothing important.” Avalon dismissed me drily. His eyes went grey, a deep shade of grey, I knew that meant he was tense, annoyed. 

Heck, why he is so touchy now?

I sighed. He came closer to me. His eyes were calmer, greener. 

“It’s nothing worth to be said. It’s in the past.” He added pulling me against his chest gently and wrapping his arms around my very round waist.

Well, he said it’s in the past, but why did he react like this? It seemed that this past is still very present. 

Anyway, he will talk about it whenever he wants. I won’t push him. If I would be my cat-curious sister I would be jumpy right now, well, I’m glad that I’m not. But I hope he can open up soon, I know that it’s still hurting him somehow. 

~ * ~

Lea

It has already been a couple of days since my life changed completely. Richard was at Avalon’s Palace with me; he was always around lately. I really enjoy it and I understand that he must be feeling quite protective of me after everything that happened. I’ve learned watching my sister and her males, that mates can be VERY protective. 

“Come here my Luna” Richard called me, and I went closer to him. 

I knew that by Luna he meant something like a queen, the queen of the werewolves. Luna is the female Alpha, the mate of the Alpha. So, after we mate, I’ll be his Luna, but he already calls me like this in such an affectionate way, that always makes my heart flutter a bit.

He patted the spot next to him on the sofa. I was about to sit down, when in a fast and a bit of abruptmovement he placed me onto his lap. 

At first, I froze. We were so close. I could feel the warmness of his body radiating to mine, my back moulding against his hard chest and his smell, it wasn’t his scent. We will only be able to scent each other and feel the little jolts of electricity and sparks when our skin touch after my birthday, in a bit less than 2 months. But there was this rugged and masculine smell of his, that makes my mouth water automatically and it only made me more nervous. 

I swallowed hard. I can make a fool of myself again, like I did with Valentin. Oh, sweet dear Goddess, I hope he doesn’t think I’m a total moron or a dumb teenage girl.

Richard circled his arms around my waist firmly making my breath hitch in my throat. Breath Lea, you know how to do it, you’ve being doing it for the last 17 years. I scolded myself.

Liv was right having many mates makes you want to talk to yourself, maybe to compensate the plurality in the other side. Now I need to be 3. 

Richard brought his face closer and his breath caressed my neck. So warm. So soft. It made me feel strange things, a party of butterflies started in my stomach and I felt something, that I’m not sure if I’ve have ever felt before in another place. It was feeling warm, it was pulsing. Is it normal? I should have listened more to Nema’s blabbing. 

Richard inhaled my hair’s scent and it made me snap back from the clouds where my head was wandering.

I turned my face slowly to be able to look at him, his eyes had a light glow, but he wasn’t angry. It was something else. 

“Lea, love, I wanted to wait until you reached the right age, then I would claim you fully, make you mine.” These words only made me tremble and my breath stop again. The butterflies were flying around my whole body now. Having the flight of their life all around. I gulped hard and tried to feel normal again. 

Probably I won’t ever feel normal again. 

“But the situation changed.” Richard exhaled sharply. “And I can’t and won’t leave you alone when Alexus... when other males are around you, pursuing you.” He growled taking me aback a little, I felt the intense vibration in his chest.  

Will I ever get use to his wolf ways? It’s everything so different, even though with him I knew what to expect; I knew that I would be his, and the idea of it made my heart beat a bit faster since we’ve shared THAT KISS. 

But having also a Fae and a Vampire as mates, added even more differences to the picture. Completely different species, with their own ways and habits.

“Lea?” He called me out of the depts of my thoughts. I hummed in response. Better humming than stuttering.

“That’s why, I’ll ask King Avalon his permission to come often to this palace and spend as much time as possible with you. Would you like that?” he asked looking intently into my eyes, his gaze was dense and filled with some kind of want and determination; with possessiveness.

My heartbeat quickened, and my mouth answered in its own accord, “Yes. A lot.” I sounded like a breathless mess. Good Lea, you are embarrassing yourself again. Congrats.

But Richard flashed me a bright and beautiful smile, making me let out a tiny gasp. And only one thing was clear in my cloudy mind, I wanted him to kiss me again.

“And something else, Luna. I can smell you.” Richard said with a sided smirk.

It made my breath catch. Did he mean what I think he did? I felt a wave of heated embarrassment creep over my neck and face. Now I must be red as a tomato. 

“You don’t need to feel embarrassed, my Luna. You can’t even imagine how much your reaction and your smell please me.” He added in his normal undertone. 

But it didn’t make me feel less embarrassed. I tried to turn my face away and look at anything else, but his hands went up to my face and tilted it to the side, in the next second his lips were touching mine.

I gasped at the surprise and at the feeling of those warm lips on mine. His tongue entered my parted lips slowly and I welcomed him in, caressing his tongue with mine. Tasting his fresh breath. Oh Goddess, I’ll melt into a puddle. Half of me wanted to hide away, but the other half wanted to kiss this man. My wolf. 

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, following my body and its instincts. If I think I will cower. So, I will try to only feel for a bit. Only focus on the feeling of his lips taking mine. Now he kissed me harder, urgently, and I could feel the passion he was pouring into the kiss. 

A passion that I also could feel flowing through my body. 

A new, intriguing, delicious and frightening sensation. 

~ * ~

After some time in his arms feeling his warmness and the hunger of his touch, my always busy mind wandered to places, he hasn’t shown me his wolf form yet and I was mad about seeing it since I’m a child. Dear Goddess, I didn’t want to wait anymore, my curiosity was eating me up.  

“You haven’t ever shown me your wolf” I grumbled, but I still smiled to him. I wasn’t angry, just curious.

“I will show you when you show me…” he said as he moved his mouth closer to my ear, but instead of saying any word, he just nibbled my earlobe making my breath tremble a bit, as a pleasant and confusing shiver snaked its way down my spine.

Then, he murmured some words in my ear, “when you show me something else.” He said as his hands went down my waist and grabbed my hips in a possessive way. Oh, Goddess, he means that…? His comment made me flush crimson. 

“It’s just a joke, my Luna” He chuckled. “I like to tease you just to see your beautiful blushing face. I will show you my wolf when we go outdoors. We are also looking forward that you see us in wolf form.”

I flashed him a nervous look but nodded. Oh, please don’t tease me. But I was very happy he was laughing and making jokes, Sarah always tells me that Richard is very brooding and serious with everyone else. I’m so glad he can relax and enjoy himself around me.