Triton's Oath - His Hybrid Princess

7 - I'll understand if you hate me

Triton

I pace the bedroom floor of my personal chambers, nervously wringing my hands together. Ava is lying on my bed, deep in sleep, as the medic checks her over. My mother and father stood watching, shocked by what they saw when I arrived with Ava passed out in my arms.

“What happened, Triton?” My father asks. “How did your mate end up like this?”

I look at my father through burning eyes. Anger still ravages my body. I think I’m angrier with myself than I am with Ares, and I want to kill him! I should not have waited to go to Ava. I should have gone to her the very second my sentence was over. After ten years of longing, my mate should have been the first person I saw. But I stupidly let doubt creep into my mind about what Ava would think of me once she remembered everything. By being a coward, I allowed Ares the opportunity to take my mate and harm her, and I will never forgive myself for that!

What was Ares thinking?

He wasn’t thinking, and that’s Ares’s problem. He’s as dumb as a box of frogs!

Kidnapping my mate with the intention of forcing her into marriage with him?

He didn’t think of the bigger picture. Leviathan would have found out because someone would have told him where Ava was. Selene is close to the Knight family because her grandson is mated to one of them. Not to mention Azrael, Hel, Fenrir, Aether, and Narfi – they would all come for Ares, and he wouldn’t have survived all of them. Not that he will once I get my hands on him!

He must have known I would come for him?

Perhaps that’s what Ares was hoping for. But whatever his reasons for being so utterly stupid, I am going to rip his spine out!

I should have ended him when I had the chance. It didn’t matter how battered he was from the beating I gave him. He still got away from me and grabbed my mate. I will finish the bastard, but Ava needed me more in that moment.

“Ares happened.” I grit my teeth. “I don’t know what he did to cause Ava physical harm; only she can tell me that. But I do know that he kidnapped Ava from a beach near her home.”

I quickly fill my parents in on what I learned from Ava’s family. My father’s eyes widen in anger upon learning Ava was assaulted. As my mate, Ava will become a daughter to Poseidon. Anyone attacking Poseidon’s daughters is committing the utmost disrespect to the God of the Sea. No one is safe if that happens.

“Thankfully, Zeus and Hera weren’t fooled by Ares’s claim that Ava was his mate.”

“They wouldn’t believe him. Even Zeus and Hera know their son is a fool and a liar.” My father rolls his eyes.

“When I got there, Ava was talking with Hera. Ares and I were fighting, but he got away from me and grabbed Ava. I couldn’t get to her because I feared what would happen if I tried to take her from him.”

I close my eyes for a second, trying to ward off the image of Ava’s wide eyes as Ares wrapped his hand around her throat. I open my eyes and look at my parents.

“Zeus restrained Ares before he could further hurt Ava. Hera said she would be in contact soon. Ava passed out, and I managed to catch her before she hit the ground. I felt everything when she was in my arms. The mate bond rushed through me like a tidal wave.”

“Because Ava is old enough to feel the bond; that is why you felt it so profoundly,” Mother smiles kindly.

Yes, Ava is old enough to feel the mate bond. However, there is just one problem…

“The locket is missing.”

Mother’s eyes widen, and Father takes a deep breath.

“You must find the Ocean’s Pearl, Triton. I warned you about giving it to your mate!”

“I will find it, Father!” I hiss. “It must be with Ares. Once I know Ava will be okay, I’ll return to Olympus and retrieve it.”

“No, you won’t.” Mother shakes her head. “Your father and I will go.”

“What!?” I try not to chuckle at the shock written over Poseidon’s face. “Why are we going?”

“Because Triton should be here with Ava. When she wakes, she will be incredibly confused and afraid. She will need Triton to explain things. If Ava wakes and Triton isn’t here and she sees us, she will be terrified. She doesn’t know us, Poseidon.”

“She doesn’t know Triton either!” He argues.

Mother rolls her eyes. “Triton is Ava’s mate, so he’s staying, and we’re going. End of story.”

I chuckle as my father grumbles.

“What are you doing to me!? Get off me!”

“Ava!” I rush toward her but stop when she backs herself against the headboard, shaking her head. Her wide eyes don’t leave my face. “It’s okay, Ava.”

“No, it’s not! Why is he touching me? Who changed my clothes? Why are your friends staring at me like perverts!?”

I changed her clothes. I didn’t want my mate wearing anything Ares put her in, so I changed Ava into a nightshirt. It’s not revealing in any way. I didn’t want to disrespect her by putting her in anything that would show too much skin.

“Make him move before I rip his throat out!”

I can’t help smiling because my little mate is a spitfire. I like it.

“Lysander, move away.”

“Yes, my Prince.” The doctor mumbles and gets to his feet. “The young lady has no visible injuries, though that could be Apollo’s doing. I sense his magic on the girl.”

“This girl has a name, you know?!”

I chuckle and wave my hand, dismissing Lysander, who runs from the room.

‘We’ll be going now,’ My mother tells me telepathically. ‘We will return by morning.’ I tip my head, and they disappear.

I look at Ava, and she doesn’t seem surprised that my parents vanished before her eyes.

“I’m used to it,” Ava shrugs. I blink because it was like she read my mind. “You remind me of someone,” She mumbles.

“Who do I remind you of, Ava?”

“Just someone. You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

“My name is Triton.”

Ava nods. “I guess I knew that. I thought I was dreaming. Where am I?”

“May I sit down?” Ava nods, and I sit on the edge of the bed beside my mate. Being this close and not being able to hold her is killing me. But without the locket, I have no way of returning Ava’s memories. Without the Ocean’s Pearl, the magical locket in which I trapped Ava’s memories of me, I can do nothing.

The locket belonged to my grandmother, Rhea. She placed it in my basket bed when I was a mere babe. She said it would bring me luck. As I grew, Rhea explained the power of the locket, which is why I could do what I did. It must be found; it’s the only way Ava can be whole.

“Atlantis,” I answer Ava’s question. “I brought you here.”

“When you saved me from Ares.” Ava nods.

“Did he hurt you?” She nods, and I grit my teeth. I do not want to scare Ava, but I am going to tear Ares apart! “What did he do to you?”

“Nothing that matters right now.”

“It matters to me! He had no right to harm you!” I narrow my eyes when Ava smiles as though she were amused. “What?”

“Nothing. Ares said some weird stuff about you.”

I turn on my hip to better face her. “What stuff?”

“That he hurt me to pay you back for what you did to him. He said that I had to be his bride because it would hurt you.”

My eyes widen. Ares has always been a fool, but this is beyond anything he’s ever done. Of course, I knew Ares would want revenge for my part in his imprisonment, but I honestly never thought he would stoop so low as to try and claim my mate.

“I’m sorry Ares hurt you. He won’t get away with what he did, and he will never hurt you again. I swear it.”

Ava smiles sweetly and nods. “He said you were my mate. I didn’t believe him, but he seemed to believe it. Then I saw you, and I thought I was seeing things. I used to dream about a Merman on a boulder in the sea.” The faraway look in Ava’s eyes and the smile on her face makes me smile with her. “I would hear him calling my name like a whisper. I never saw his face, but when I saw you, the color of your hair and your build made me think you were him.”

She huffs a laugh.

“I thought Ares was right, and you were my mate. But you’re not. I don’t feel the mate bond, and my Lycan and Dragon would have recognized you, but they don’t. I am so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Ava. I…”

“I want to go home,” Ava cuts me off. “Thank you for saving me, but my parents must be going out of their minds with worry.”

She’s going to leave me, and I have no right to ask her to stay. I won’t tell Ava the truth about who I am because I doubt she’d believe me if I did.

Who would believe a crazy story like that?

I want Ava with me, but I refuse to be the man who holds her hostage. Ava has been through enough without me adding to her distress. They say if you love someone, you let them go. I do love Ava, and I will take her home, but I will never let her go.

“Are you okay?”

I nod and smile. “I’ll take you home.”

I stand, trying to rein in my emotions. A hand on my arm has me looking down at Ava. I hadn’t heard her get off the bed. Damn, she’s short. Not that her height is a problem for me because it isn’t. but I hadn’t realized she wouldn’t grow much as she aged. I am six-foot-eight. If I want to kiss Ava, I’ll have to sit down or pick her up.

What I wouldn’t give to lift her and kiss her lips right now—everything.

“Why do I feel as though I know you? Have we met before?”

I take a deep breath and nod. It’s the truth, after all. I didn’t want to tell Ava anything, but it looks like I’ll have to.

“We have? When?”

“A little over ten years ago, something happened with your family. I tried to do something.”

“Do what?” Ava asks.

I sigh and sit on the bed. I don’t want to tower over my mate; it feels like I’m intimidating her, and I don’t want that. Ava sits beside me, and I refrain from breathing too deeply. But Gods, it’s hard when I want so badly to touch her.

“If you hate me when I tell you this, I will understand. But I need you to know I was a different man back then, Ava. I was lonely and longed for a mate, so I tried to take someone else’s. I got Ares to help me, and that’s why he hates me. Because I tried to stop it when I came to my senses. Zeus imprisoned us both for the parts we played. For ten years, I stayed in this place, waiting for the day I could return to the mate I met that day.”

Ava’s eyes lock with mine, and my heart bangs. She knows something; I know she does!