Page 16 of Reclaiming His Lost Mate
“It’s important,” I said, pleading with my eyes, and the witch considered me for a moment before she spoke.
“What’s your name, love?”
“Selina.”
She nodded, her smile widening. “How can I help you, Selina?”
I took a deep breath, not knowing where to begin or how to. “Igaluk’s fated mate to me did not accept our bond,” I said, sticking with the simplest explanation, and I was not surprised to see Lyvia’s expression unchanging. She probably dealt with stories like this regularly. I went on either way, focusing on why I was here. “And it’s killing me to see him with another woman. My sister, actually,” I said, and the regular pang returned to my chest with force, causing me to break eye contact and stare up at the sun to push back the tears.
It took a second, but when my head dropped back to Lyvia, her eyes had softened around the edges, compassion playing on her face.
“What is the name of your mate?” She inquired, and I winced internally that she called him that. Alexis wasn’t my mate. Not anymore. He belonged to Marissa now, and they were to get married in less than a month.
Maybe this was the only way she knew how to sympathize with me.
“Alexis.” Not waiting for her to ask another question, I went on. “I heard that you can help me, so please, I need you to rid me of this pain. I can’t live like this. I’ll pay in any way you want,” I said through my tight throat, clutching the bag that contained all my possessions.
Lyvia shook her head, and it was more of a pitiful offering than anything else now. I hated it, but I had to deal.
“I want to help you, Selina,” she began, her voice low and steady,amber eyes trained on me. “But the ritual involves a lot of risks that I cannot advise a woman in your position to take,” she finished, the same amber eyes slowly dropping to my stomach, lingering, before slowly coming back to my face. Lyvia fell quiet.
I took a step back, blinking twice.
“W-why-what do you mean?”
“Severing the fated bond can harm an infant, and you have Alexis’s own inside you, love. Only five weeks old and the most delicate in my experience,” she said solemnly, and a weak yet horrified gasp stumbled past my lips.
No way!
“No. I’m not pregnant,” I denied, feeling my world tilt on its axis to the point where my eyes rolled in their sockets, and I staggered on my feet.
Lyvia shot her arm out to catch me before I collided with the hard surface, and the contact of her hand on my shoulder immediately sent a rush of zen through me, although not enough to stop my head from ringing with the information I had just learned.
“Yes, love, you are.”
I shook my head, my eyes burning with a thousand emotions, none staying long enough for me to place a finger on them. That could explain why I’d been unable to keep my meager meals down long enough to digest them and why my head pounded every morning. I really wanted to believe it was due to stress, but Alexis and I were intimate.
Multiple times.
“So all my time was really wasted,” I lamented, still not believing that my life had truly taken a one-eighty-degree turn within the two minutes I’d spoken to Lyvia.
“It doesn’t have to be,” Lyvia said, compassion filling her eyes. “I live a few buildings over, and you can camp with me until you decide on what you want to do.”
My eyes slowly found hers, and I found a fragment of solace. How was it possible to be this kind to a stranger?
“What’s in it for you?” I asked, unconvinced, and the witch, Lyvia,smiled, an unreadable glint flashing in her eyes as her soothing voice flowed.
“There doesn’t have to be a thing to gain before I can help you. You’ve been through something traumatic, as I or any of my loved ones can undergo at any time. So, if I’m in the position to make your day a little more bearable, Selina, I will,” Lyvia finished. “So, what do you say?”
Chapter 7
Alexis
I was in the comfort of my pack now—had been for a month—surrounded by those I had missed, my loyal packmates and my Beta and trusted friend, Rhys. But even as I relished the familiarity of Shadow Moon, I couldn’t shake the weight of that night with Selina. It gnawed at me, a persistent reminder of the choices I had made.
Why had I been so drawn to her?
The memory danced through me of how out of my mind with desire I’d been after the drugging. In that haze, the allure of her warmth and the fleeting sense of connection had pulled me in.
