On the run

Chapter 17

Aaliyah

The look on Kai's face broke a part of me I didn't know existed. Not only did I cheat on him, but I marked the man I cheated on him with. I glance at Sebastian as we walk up the stairs to the pack house. His face is stoic, and his jaw is clenched. My heart aches to see him miserable. Two mates, two broken hearts. This is a mess I don't know how to get out of. Kai grabs my hand and laces our fingers together leading me up to his office. I'm too ashamed to talk after my meltdown. Now I really do feel like a monster. We enter Kai's office, and my mind goes back to the night Kai took me on his desk. Heat spreads through me and shame grips me at my stupid lustful thoughts. Jason and Axel are already waiting on us, but I didn't expect to see healer Douglas waiting as well. "Sit." Kai said as he takes the seat behind his desk. Douglas hands him a book he was holding, and Kai opens it thumbing through it. Everyone is quiet while Kai searches for something in the pages. He then reads the page aloud. A long silence overcomes the office, everyone lost in thought. Axel is the first to speak. "We really should have killed her..." Kai and Sebastian both snarl at him and he flinches baring his neck in submission to his alpha. "I'm sorry alpha." Axel takes a deep breath trying to calm his nerves. "That article was too short; we don't know enough." I stand from my seat. I can't believe what I just heard. The night I went into the forest and that voice that was calling out to me. I shiver remembering the need to go to the whispering. I had brushed it off as a bad dream but that was looking less and less likely. I am the queen of darkness if we are to believe this book, and it fits. I couldn't let this happen. I could not be the cause of everything ending. They were all right, I am a monster, and I will end it myself if I have to. "I won't let this happen. I will not be the cause of the realm going into darkness. "I whisper. Jason drops his head at my words and Kai and Sebastian both growl at me. "You aren't implying what I think are you?" Kai snarls. I just shrug, "what do you think will happen if I awaken my true king Kai? Where do you think that leaves us, and all of my mates that I pray to the goddess I never meet. Or how about the rest of the people. Come on Kai, we can't be selfish." I say a bit more loudly. Kai growls. "Listen to yourself! You are willing to kill yourself to save everyone else! Why is this happening to you! Of all people!?" His voice stutters and a tear falls from his eye before he quickly wipes it away, "f**k!". He screams. Sebastian's eyes are glossy, his hand absent-mindedly goes to his neck. "If you die, I will as well. You have marked me. You are all I think about, and I refuse to live in a world without you". My heart sinks. I am already destroying lives. "I should have died when I was young". I muttered to no one in particular. "If I may, maybe your mother's coven can tell us about her, maybe we can get a clue. We may be able to stop this." Douglas says. I look at him, "my mother's coven wants to kill me, I don't think we will be getting any help from them." "Your mothers coven knows things we do not, they can't beat you, the best they can do is tell us what we need to know so we can decide what to do". I drop my head, "I'm sorry Kai, I'm sorry Sebastian. I have ruined your lives by coming into it. I have always been alone; I didn't know, or I would have let the hunters kill me". They snarled again, "stop trying to off yourself before we even know if this is true! It hurts! Sebastian exclaims. Axel has been silent the whole time deep in thought. His demeanor is unnerving. It's like he's contemplating everything being said. "We need to find your mom's coven now". He says darkly. Goosebumps raised on my skin at his tone. "You want me dead", I ask. "Of course, I do I have a mate, children, the last thing I want is you hurting them." I sigh before going to the door. "Kai, can we talk alone for a moment please?" He gets up so fast all eyes turn to him. He drops his head averting everyone's gaze. I send a shy smile before heading out the door Kai following close behind me. The moment he closes the office door I crumble into him. "Kai, I'm so scared, I don't know what to do. I'm so so sorry, I missed you so much, I ju-" he holds up a hand cutting me off. "Stop it. You didn't ask for this. You want help, and I want to help you. f**k. Aaliyah, I need you. I am so far gone on you, nothing else matters. Our pack, your enemies, even you destroying this realm doesn't deter me. I am yours, through and through and I do not regret it. If I have to be your prince of darkness, I'm willing, but my plan is to save you. I will never leave your side." Tears rush to my eyes at his words. "Kai, I love you. Your mine and I will never forget the kindness you alone showed me, but we have to prepare for the fact that I may not be able to be helped. Promise me, if it comes to that, you will kill me." He looks in my eyes, "I will not make that promise. I trust that you will always love me. We haven't known each other long but that connection is unlike anything a normal bond should possess. Aaliyah, there is a reason for that, and we will find the answers together." I smile at him wishing I would have known him earlier in my life. I kiss his lips softly bringing my hand to his cheek to stroke it gently. "I will try for you, let's hope we don't regret this." He kisses me back lovingly. "I don't blame you for any of this." I mold my body to his, trying to release the tension in me. "Kai...the darkness needs me angry to take over. We have to keep me happy at all costs, I don't want to hurt anyone." He buries his nose in my neck and inhales. "Your still in heat, I want you with me." I nod rubbing my face against his, "I promise you, mate bond or not, I would have never entertained Sebastian without this darkness..I feel like I forced him." He took a deep breath and kissed my neck, "I'm going to end this meeting, we need to find your mom's coven, Go get in my bed, and I will meet you in a bit to sleep...I love you Aaliyah", "I-I love you too Kai." I turn and walk toward the stairs to his room. All I wanted was to be in his arms and feel safe and happy, but there was no guaurntee that would ever happen.

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The next day when I woke, Kai's limbs were wrapped in mine in the bed, and he was snoring lowly. I smiled at the sight. He was so beautiful and here I was meant to destroy him. I wanted to ask him about the plan, but I also wanted him to sleep and get some rest, goddess knows he needs it. I had noticed the dark circles under his eyes and the pale look in his face, I had a feeling he hadn't been sleeping when the darkness had control. Carefully slipping out from under him, I grab Kai's shirt that is thrown on the floor and slip it over my head and head down to the kitchen to make him some breakfast. The house was a ghost town. Everyone must have been sleeping still, it was quite early. I go to the fridge pulling out ingredients and placing them on the counter. I have never really cooked much except over a fire when I got sick of eating raw things as Nyx. How hard could it be? When I was almost done putting everything together, I feel eyes on my back. I can tell by the scent that it's Sabastian, so I avoid turning around busying myself with the food. I don't know what to say to him. The mate bond makes me crave him, want him, I hate to feel him sad. I felt his loneliness through the bond most of the night. His craving to have me beside him. His desire to be in my presence especially because my heat could take over again at any moment, as well as the darkness. He clears his throat before speaking, "Aaliyah...We have to figure out how to satisfy both of ours need to be around each other. I know you feel it too, and I respect your choice to choose him but...Even if we don't have s*x, we have to spend time with each other..." he takes a deep breath before continuing, "but I won't stop trying. I want you with me. I will try everything in my power to win you over because you are my mate as well." I sigh "I'm sorry Sebastian, your right, we have to deal with this." I turn around and my heart aches at the hurt in his eyes. I walk over to him and reach for his face, my hand gently running down it. He walks over to me and pulls me into a hug nestling his face in my neck. I inhale his scent longingly, he's right, we can't fight it, we at least have to be around each other. "We will figure it out Sebastian, I need to be around you as well. I'm sorry I uh, marked you without your permission..." He sighs and nods," ...you weren't in your right mind, we have to figure this out. We will go look for your parents today in my kingdom. I don't recall ever hearing much of them besides the fact that the coven split, and they were living as rogue witches. I mean, the have never started problems so we never felt the need to go after them." My ears perk up at that. They didn't even live in the magic territory; they were rogues like I was. "Well, we probably won't find them in your area then", a voice from the doorway says. Kai is standing there with his fists in his short's pockets with no shirt on. His chiseled abs send my body into overdrive, and I step slightly away from Sebastian. Kai walks into the kitchen and puts his arm around my waist, yanking me to him and away from Sebastian. "Why didn't you wake me up?" he asks before kissing my lips lightly. "You looked so peaceful, and I didn't want to ruin that" I smirk. He grins and trails kisses down my neck sending goosebumps through my body. I savor his touch a little longer before stepping back. "We need to come up with a plan. When they attacked Jason and me a few weeks ago, we were near the Bright sun pack. I mean, that doesn't mean a whole lot, but it means we were close enough to them to sense us and thats how they knew we were there. Kai nods, "exactly, we have to search in that are, who knows where a rogue witch coven would choose to stay." Something tells me they are in that area, and they are expecting us. Call it a gut feeling. "I agree, our plan should be simple. Scout that entire are until we find them. Something tells me they know we are coming." I instruct, watching as both of their faces turn to alpha mode. We need information, and it's time to get it, If I can get rid of this curse it should be my main priority, but I'm not stupid. Neither one of them would do what needed to be done if it comes down to it. I will need to talk to Axel at some point and make sure her will do what's needed. Unfortunately, he would definitely be killed by my mates if that happened, but at least the realm would be saved. We finish our breakfast discussing strategy and plan. How we were going to find them and how safe it is to be out there alone especially when the darkness in me could take over at any point. By the time we are leaving the plan is exactly like my original. We all split up. They have to be around there somewhere and with there being 3 of us, it shouldn't be too hard to find. We walk to the edge of the forest, and I stop, they do the same looking over at me. I walk slowly up to Sebastian and kiss his lips passionately, "please be careful. I do the same to Kai, lingering on his lips longer and pushing my body to his. "I love you Kai". I whisper so Sebastian can't hear me. Truthfully, I love Sebastian as well, but I'm still trying to figure out what all of this means and how we are going to manuever it. We all walk in different directions and head out into the day in search of answers.

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