Page 15 of Reclaiming His Lost Mate
“You drugged…stay away from me, Selina. I mean it,” Alexis seethed, the intensity of his words punching me in my face without mercy right on the spot where he kissed me last night like I was a prize. Words failed me. “Do you hear me?” He went on, uncaring. “Do not let me set my eyes on you ever again, or I’ll expose you to the world. How could you do this?”
“Alexis,” I still cried in a plea, hoping for a chance to make him listen to me, but he was snatching the rest of his clothes from the floor already, storming to my door, and yanking it open.
“And keep my name out of your mouth.”
With that, Alexis left, leaving the door wide open, not bothering to slam it for me to hear. That would have been better than the deafening silence that followed his departure, leaving only his ruthless words to hang heavy in the air like a torrent and my heart to bleed from the multiple unseen stabs.
I remained on the bed, unmoving, till the tears I didn’t know I’d started to shed slid in between my lips, salt tasting on my tongue. That seemed to be the catalyst that reminded me of the anguish and disappointment Alexis was in. Then the sobs truly broke free, pouring down my face like a stream.
The immense heartbreak shook my body to its core, my throat closing up around itself and only opening when I came up for shuddering breaths.
“I d-din’t…I didn’t do i-it,” I stammered to myself, lips quivering as I broke down harder than I have done since my mother left me to the hands of a cold and unforgiving world.
Losing myself to the pain made me lose track of time, but certainly not enough to dull the sharp ache, wipe the words off, or make me forget the look of disgust on Alexis’s face as he shot daggers at me.
I wiped my tears, doing that over and over as fresh streaks continued replacing the ones I’d wiped, and I began to recite the mantra in my head, “I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine,” even though I didn’t believe it for a second.
It was a long time after Alexis left that I forced myself away from the bed, retrieving the packed bag I had hidden from plain sight when he knocked on my door last night. Making sure that the guide Sireen gave me was still secured, I cleaned myself up as much as I could, and I said my goodbyes with another round of sobs.
I said goodbye to Mom first, saying the silent words with a weight so heavy in my heart, it was drowning. I told her I loved her, apologizing for leaving her pack behind. I said my silent goodbye to Sireen, too, thanking the Goddess for sending a woman as compassionate as her to me.
And that was about it.
Making sure my cabin was in order, I stepped outside, not once looking back.
With every heavy step I took on my journey, I tried to erase the only good memory I had of Alexis, even as I craved him in so many unnecessary ways. My mind felt numb, and the desire for proper love tangled my thoughts, making it difficult to prepare for the long road ahead. I prayed that I would find the witch, Lyvia, still residing in Matsuna.
According to the guide Sireen had given me, the town lay hidden in uncharted territory somewhere between our northeastern Nightwing Pack and the snowy Silver Moon Pack. It made sense that Lyvia would choose to live in a place unclaimed by any packs; witches wereinherently mysterious beings. They lived independently, possessing immense inherited knowledge and thriving in neutrality, apart from the confines of pack life. Only dark witches, driven by chaos, mingled with others, and even they were selective.
Yet, beyond their preference for solitude, I faced another formidable hurdle: their potent magic. A witch like Lyvia could easily shroud her whereabouts with wards and charms, rendering herself invisible to anyone. Even with Sireen's guide in hand, finding her could be as impossible as grasping smoke. If Lyvia didn't want to be found, she simply wouldn't be.
As my quest stretched before me, the days merged into an exhausting blur. My travels took me through town after town, every night spent huddled in makeshift shelters that did little to shield me from the harsh elements. What I believed would take weeks transformed into a grueling month of relentless trekking across rugged terrain.
Weeks without basic amenities weighed heavily on my body. Morning after morning, I awoke feeling increasingly fragile, my ability to keep food down waning as uncertainty gnawed at my resolve. Still, as I pressed onward, venturing deeper into treacherous valleys, I felt Matsuna had to be within reach.
I’d thought the increasing distance from the Nightwing Pack might lessen my longing for Alexis, but it was as constant as ever. The knowledge that I was close to my destination—and that the magnetic pull urging me to return to him might soon be severed—drove me onward with desperate determination.
Around noon, five weeks after I had set out, I studied the map again, the dreadful realization hitting me that Matsuna should have been in the previous valley. But it was empty. Or... it had appeared empty.
I doubled back, finally emerging into the frozen valley again. A brush of recognition washed over me; I had traversed this valley before, but it had been devoid of life then. The last time I wandered through these parts, there had been nothing but open space—no signs of the house built into the very cliffside.
Finally, I stood before a tall six-story building in Matsuna, my finaldestination. At another time, I might have praised the structure, marveling at the intelligence and effort it took to construct it so ingeniously into the cliff. But now, the building felt lifeless and empty.
“No,” I muttered past painful cracked lips when I reached the entrance door, or what used to be one, to see twigs as thick as my wrists and thorns that threatened to cause severe damage sticking through them, roping the entrance gates from top to floor, daring me to come closer. “Not after all this time spent on the road to find nothing!” I yelled, tears welling in my eyes as shaky, dry hands came up to pull at my hair.
“You didn’t find nothing,” someone spoke, and my head whirled around so fast at the sound of the voice that I was sure to have snapped some neck muscles.
Warm amber eyes stared at me intently, but it wasn’t the kind that made you feel inferior or worried about whether the other thought evil for you. It just felt like she was trying to peel back the layers surrounding my being with her eyes, so there was no familiar feeling of foreboding in my gut. The woman looked at least five years older than me, full of life and energy, and the afternoon sun shone on her skin, giving her a golden angel-like glow. She was a sight to behold, and with thick dark curls bound into an attractive pile on the top of her head, she matched Sireen’s description.
I fully turned. “Lyvia?” I asked, the hope unmasked in my voice, hinting at a bit of a plea for her to say yes. Hope budded in my chest for the first time since I began this journey well over a month ago, and I shifted on my feet, jittering.
“She is me,” she replied with a single nod and a smile, and a half-gasp, half-laugh fell from my lips, a breath that I’d been holding expelling from my lungs in relief.
“I didn’t think I would find you,” I said, offering the only explanation I could think of. Excitement and nervousness slammed me at once, and I itched to immediately tell her why I was here. “I came from afar,” I added when she watched me with a discerning look and ghost smile on her lips.
“I know you did, and anyone with a pure heart who seeks me always finds me,” she said. Even if I didn’t know what it meant, I nodded. “Doyou want to come inside and cool down? Get away from the sun? And you can have some food and water,” she offered with her questions, and my stomach chose this moment to flare to life, rumbling with need.
Still, I shook my head once. I couldn’t nurture an appetite when, at this time, the fated pull was carrying out its mission the most, dragging across my skin like baked gravel, maybe sensing what I was about to do. Or maybe it was my heart that craved the tenderness and affection Alexis showered on me that night, but I shook it off.
