Torn between mates

31. Out of my life

3rd Person POV

Avalon enters their living room, where Liv is languidly spread across Elric’s lap, while her mate strokes her swollen stomach gently. 

“I have bad news.” He says rubbing the back of his neck in aggravation. 

“What now? A preggo chick can’t have a break and enjoy her 3 insanely sexy men for even 5 minutes without the world going upside down?” Liv sighs, raising her brow. 

“Alexus is not in his cell at the dungeon anymore. He disappeared.” Avalon utters.  

“He disappeared? How the frog he disappeared into thin air?” Liv asks narrowing her eyes, as she jumps to her feet. She is beyond enraged, that monster kidnapped and tried to violate her baby sister!

Avalon sighs. “I don’t know. Someone must have helped him.”

“We can see who,” Elric says with a smirk. 

Liv raises a single brow in question.

“I’ve installed cameras in the dungeons,” Elric answers with a small smile.  

“Good that your voyeurism kink can be useful,” Liv says with a naughty lopsided grin.  

Elric chuckles and answers her through their mind-link, “it’s not like you don’t enjoy my ´kink´, love.” 

Elric revelled in the intimacy of their mental link, using it as much as he could. Liv smirks in response. 

~ * ~

They watch the video and Liv shakes her head in aggravation. She doesn’t want to believe her own eyes, even though she could hardly lift her gaze off of the small computer screen. 

“Liv,” Elric calls her, but she doesn’t react. He takes her into his arms and folds the laptop screen off.

“I’ll call Laius and your father, baby. Then I’ll let The Fae King and the Alpha King know about it.” Avalon says as he runs his hand through her hair, trying to soothe his shocked mate. She doesn’t say any word, only nods in acknowledgment. 

Cali enters the room too. She went there to check how her best friend was doing after Lea’s abduction. 

“Liv, why do you look as if you were about to freak out? Is Lea okay?” Cali asks extremely worried, as she wraps her arms around Liv’s tense shoulders.  

Liv doesn’t acknowledge Cali’s question, only looks into space.

Cali realises that something very bad must have happened to make her talkative and mouthy friend speechless. 

After a couple of minutes, Laius and Maximus arrive, almost simultaneously.

Liv stands up in a jump, her face is contorted with rage. She couldn’t believe it; she didn’t want to believe what she saw in the video. “You let him go!! How did you let that monster that kidnapped and tried to rape my little sister go?” her voice was laced with pain. The bitter and sharp pain of betrayal. 

“Sugar, he is an old comrade...” Laius replies.  

“Don’t freaking Sugar me!! Your loyalty to him is bigger than your loyalty to Lea, to me, your own mate!! That.psycho.attacked.my.sister, Laius!! You chose his side instead of your mate’s, your own family…” she snapped. 

Elric takes few steps towards his female, “Love, don’t exert yourself, think about…” he trails off in his ever serene voice. 

Liv looks at him enraged. “Not now!!” She says raising her palm up gesturing for him to stop. Her gaze meets Laius once again and she can feel warm tears flowing down her cheeks. 

“I wouldn’t let him hurt Lea; she is my family too. You know how important she is to me! I told him I would kill him myself if he ever gets close to her ever again. He won’t do it! I just set him free… It does not mean that I…” Laius tries to reason. 

The King of Hell truly wouldn’t ever hurt Lea or let anything happen to her. 

It doesn’t mean that I would leave Lea unprotected and vulnerable to his attack. We don’t have to keep Alexus in the dungeon to have Lelea protected. He won’t ever try to hurt her again, I’m sure. If he even considers doing so, then he will get a one-way ticket to the pools of hellfire. 

I also hate what he did, and I know he will eventually come back to his senses and regret it bitterly.

I just wanted to repay the favour; he was the one who helped me to keep my Sugar in Hell when I needed it 9 years ago. I felt that I could give him a hand. But I wouldn’t compromise Lea’s safety, she is much more important than him to me! She is family.  Laius thinks.

“So, that is how you treat family? Then, I am happy to announce that you don’t need to be, … actually, you won’t be part of mine or this child’s life.” Liv hisses cutting him off, as her trembling hand reaches down to touch her swollen belly. 

“Liv, please.” He pleads, taking a step closer to her. However, Liv takes a step back. 

“No Laius! That is something you can’t fix with your d**k or your tongue! Get out!!” 

“That was too much information!” Maximus mutters under his breath, shaking his head. 

Liv stares at her father with a pointed look. 

Laius obliges, not wanting to aggravate his pregnant female even more. He walks towards the door with his eyes cast down and his head low. Yet again, he made a crass mistake by acting by impulse. Even though, he didn’t have any intention to let whichever harm come to Lea. 

“Your nickname should be ‚Screw Up‘, since that is all you do!” Cali barks out, her normally bubbly voice full of irritation.  

He looks up at her slightly startled. Since when this one grew a backbone? Laius wonders. He didn’t argue though, this would only feed his mate’s wrath and yes, ‘he realised he screwed everything up’. 

Elric closes the distance between himself and his mate, and wraps Liv in his embrace, while Avalon traces soothing movements across her back. She is still weeping and letting out deep sobs thick with pain. 

Maximus is also furious with Laius, but he knows better than saying anything. He has learned to not meddle in his daughter and her mates’ talks; especially when they were arguing. Liv could stand her ground and kick her mates’ ass whenever necessary and also when it was not actually called for. 

Moreover, Laius got his payback, being apart from his mate and his child, biological or not, was the worst thing possible for the King of Hell. Now Maximus has something else in mind, he has to focus on finding that blasted leech and protect Lea, in case the insane monster has the stupid idea of trying to take her away again. 

~ * ~

Liv

I went to the nursery we were fixing for the baby (or babies) and sank into the blue loveseat sofa; I was a ball curled up into a ball. I stayed there for the next few hours, thinking about what happened. Everything played in my head, again and again, like in a bad movie.

I told Laius long ago when I crossed Hell by foot to meet him, to get him back, that I wouldn’t tolerate any more lies and deceit. That it was his last chance. Once again, he broke his promise and lied to me, betrayed me. It was a punch straight on the place that matters most, that hurts most: my family, my little sister. 

I can’t have someone that unreliable around my baby. What if he had does something like this in the future and put my baby at risk? His family, us, supposed to come first. But I feel so guilty for telling him to go away. I could still feel some tears go down my cheeks, nothing would make the damn tears stop!  

I left our bond a bit open, just enough for him to feel me in his mind and don’t suffer more, don’t get the mate-withdrawal symptoms, but not enough to mind link or anything else.

Elric sat down by my side and lifted me onto his lap before he wrapped his arms around me. Avalon also sat on the sofa and took my hand in his, tracing soothing patterns on it. 

“Stupid Devil,” Avalon muttered and I saw Elric staring him a pointed look. 

But he’s right, stupid devil!

After an hour or so, of staying silent and crying a bit in my mate’s arms, Elric placed me on the sofa and summoned a dish of/with some of my favourite food and drinks, risotto, pancakes, potato chips, milkshake, and watermelon juice. He was really trying to seduce me into eating. But this time it didn’t work, which is a miracle, because it’s quite easy to seduce me with food. Especially now that I’m eating for at least two. In the next second, I was already wrapped in Avalon’s embrace, as he peppered many kisses on my face and hair. 

“You have hardly eaten anything today,” Elric told me and I looked away. 

“I’m not hungry,” I murmured.  

“Just a little bit, baby,” Avalon added, making me shake my head.

“Liv, my love. You need to eat. Think about the baby.” Elric insisted as he tried to feed me.

“I can’t,” I said pouting and tilting my head away from the forkful of pancakes that my mate moved towards my mouth. They were treating me as if I was the baby now. It was kind of sweet, but too extra and overwhelming. I swallowed the lump in my throat. 

I was not hungry, nor had I any appetite. Nothing could go down my throat, just the cold taste of pain and the bitter savour of betrayal were overpowering my senses. 

“Let’s speak in the way a pregnant female will understand better. If you have no food, you won’t get any s*x, beautiful”. Avalon uttered. 

Argh! Was he serious? I frowned at him and pursed my lips into a thin line 

“Okay, just a little bit.” I tried, for the baby. Not for the s*x. Well, for both. Pregnancy hormones turned me into Nema’s best disciple. 

~ * ~

Elric

We stayed at the nursery after Liv ate. She had only a little tad of food, but I didn’t want to push her too much, not at this moment. 

We don’t know anything about her pregnancy, so we decided to have two cribs, just in case. Even though expecting twins is extremely rare. Liv was decorating the nursery with Laius, maybe that is why she is here now. Perhaps this is her way to feel close to him, at least on an unconscious level. 

Laius wanted to go overboard like he normally does; have floating cribs in the shape of clouds, stuffed animals all around and paint the walls like the night sky, with a bear holding the moon. But Liv decided for something simpler, although they kept the bear and the moon.

After Avalon left the room, Liv placed her head on my shoulder and started crying quietly again. 

“I just sent away the possible father of my child. Because of me this baby potentially won’t have a father. I already suck as a mom!” Liv said rubbing her beautiful bump. 

It pained me awfully to see her suffering. I know how much she loves him and how much it lacerates her to send him away. Although I also know that she wouldn’t ever take light what he did, Lea means the world to my female. She loves her family/ sister and Mel fiercely. Besides, what Laius did was reckless and stupid and could jeopardize Lea’s safety. I am certain he didn’t intend that to happen to Lea, he is well-known for his impulsive nature and acting without thinking. 

I knew she would feel even worse, as soon as the symptoms of her mate bond with Laius being overextended and batter due to the distance and lack of mental connection would appear. Hopefully, she will reconsider her decision before it happens. Although I doubt so, my female is extremely strong-willed and tenacious to change her mind that rapidly.  

“No, Liv, you don’t suck as a mom. My love, any child that comes from you is mine as well if you so wish. I don’t care if it’s mine biologically or not. Your baby, our baby, will have me as his or her father.” I said taking her in my arms. “Besides that, hopefully, you will figure out your situation with Laius soon and be reconciled.”

“I won’t.” She whined making an adorable kitten-like sound. 

I kept her in my arms.