Page 19 of Reclaiming His Lost Mate
Selina
Neither my father nor Marissa even remotely tried to reach out to me since I packed my life up and left Nightwing Pack, and I didn’t bother to contact them either. If I thought I had gone through humiliation by being rejected in the presence of my family and pack, the news of my being pregnant while unmarried would have done me worse than humiliation. Lyvia, Igaluk sent, took me in and treated me better than all my people combined ever did, but not even her kindness to me could waver the devastating heartbreak I passed through after Alexis’s rejection, accusation, and my departure.
The first few months were the hardest for me, starting with severe loneliness and depression that would have driven me over the edge if not for Lyvia’s intervention and her constant words of encouragement, release exercise practices, and skillfully curated potions.
The extraordinary woman helped me through my pregnancy, and on today’s humid evening, five years after Lyvia offered me shelter and comfort, I could count a handful of reasons why the hardest decision I'd ever made to leave my life behind was so worth it.
The boisterous peal of laughter coming from the four-year-old pup outside my flourishing herbal shop as she ran headfirst in my directionwas one of those reasons why. My daughter filled each day with a joy I never knew I could have. My world. Mia.
"Hey, stop running, or you'll hurt your legs," I scolded playfully while preparing myself for her impact. With an eye-reaching smile, I stepped away from the two crates of supplies I was running a final check on and turned fully to the entrance door.
Right behind Mia, an energy-filled Lyvia appeared at the doorway of the herbal shop. She was no longer chasing the four-year-old with a song that usually sounded soothing, but today, held the effect of scaring my baby.
Mia didn't stop scrambling even after I wrapped my arms around her small shoulders when she collided with my frame. I carried her up to hide her face from Lyvia in the crook of my neck. Lyvia spoke first amidst Mia's contagious laughter.
"I told her it was time for her Yarrow shot, and she refused to come on her own, so I started singing the song of the Blood Moons, invoking Alpha Reginald's spirit to come to scold her for me," Lyvia explained through smiles from the doorway, and I shook my head.
"You succeeded in scaring her in here, okay, Lyv. Thank you!"
I could still hear Lyvia's gentle laughter after she closed the shop’s door behind her, leaving just me and Mia alone.
Putting Mia down, I crouched to her level, running a hand over her dark hair and locking eyes with her large green ones, the only resemblance she bore with me. It didn’t take long for a picture of her father, Alexis, to spring into my head. Five years had passed, and a lot had happened within that time, but the feelings that roped themselves around my neck whenever I thought of him hadn't begun to wane.
Time after time, the guilt of not being able to give Mia a complete family bore down on me so much that, sometimes, I couldn’t even look in her eyes. Maybe if I fought harder for my bond with Alexis, he wouldn’t be married to Marissa, and we'd be together. Maybe we'd be able to better manage Mia’s lifelong condition, Warring Wolves. In the language of Igaluk, it was called Amaruq Kuk, a conflict of a child’s inner spirit because of their imbalanced bloodlines, which in Mia's case was my Nightwing heritage and Alexis’s Shadow Moon’s.
My union with Alexis created Mia's condition, while his presenceas her father was essential to cure it. The first time Mia experienced symptoms of the sickness, they came out of nowhere: a burning temperature and a severe seizure that lasted minutes, flooding ice into my veins. I’d almost lost my sanity. I cried bitterly all through that night, long after the symptoms subsided.
Thankfully, Lyvia had not only heard of the condition but also experienced it with a friend a few years back, and she educated me more on it. With my expertise in herbal medicine and a better understanding of Mia’s sickness, I tried out different herbal concoctions until I found the one that kept her symptoms at bay. Added to Lyvia’s infused spells, Mia could live like a normal child, only having to take small doses of the Yarrow potion every once and a while.
Bringing myself back to the present, I pressed a kiss on Mia’s cheek, letting my lips linger so I could inhale her soft scent, even though it reminded me so much of Alexis.
“Go wash your hands, baby, and come back quickly for your shot. It will only take seconds,” I urged, partially waiting for her usual grumbles of refusal. None came, only a nod, and I took that as a good sign, watching as Mia exited through the door of the shop that led to the back storerooms.
I stood, dusting the emotions off my mind as I turned my attention back to the crates filled with processed herbs for my customers from the Moonlight and the Blood Moon Packs. Before I could run one more check to make sure that all bottles of Epazote were complete, the front door opened, and a neat pile of black hair caught my eye before Lyvia’s head popped inside again.
“They’re here, Selina.”
“Oh.”
Leaving the crates since I had already counted the stock three times, I turned to face Lyvia, who stepped inside the shop, giving room for Alpha Kyle and Luna Leah to pass through.
Through the windows where I’d earlier caught Mia and Lyvia’s movements, I could see a few of their guards line the hall before the duo walked in, hand in hand. A gracious smile stretched my lips as I closed the space between us.
“Alpha. Luna,” I greeted, taking Leah’s outstretched arms first. Thelithe woman laughed, her eyes crinkling around the edges as she pulled me in for a hug.
“I’ve told you time and again to reserve the formalities for the big ceremonies, Selina,” Leah spoke once we pulled apart, her fiery red hair bobbing gently as she scanned me from head to toe. I did the same, taking in the swell of her belly carrying her and Kyle’s second child. “Are you well? And Mia?” She asked before I could speak, and I nodded.
“We’re fine. Thank you. How’s the baby?”
Leah sighed, bright eyes giving her mate a once over as a hand came up to rub her stomach through her response. “She’s there. It's stressful, but the formulas you gave me the last time have been doing a wonderful job in helping. I hope you have more for me?”
I nodded once before facing Alpha Kyle.
“It’s good to have you here again, Alpha,” I said with a curt bow, still unable to let myself call him by his name.
The bulky yet handsome man took a step forward from behind his mate, shaking my hand as he smiled warmly. “Always a pleasure to see you, too, Miss Selina.”
We got down to business as Lyvia appeared with two seats for Kyle and Leah before disappearing to the back of the shop. I turned to shuffle the crates filled with their supplies forward. It was no surprise when Kyle and Leah, as they always did whenever they came to my herbal shop, finding a semblance of privacy from the many eyes on them, took only one of the seats.
