Page 30 of Reclaiming His Lost Mate
The urge to flee wasn’t there. Instead, heat trickled up my legs, settling into a pool below my stomach.
“Alexis,” I said, finally finding my voice. “I thought you left for good. What brings you back?”
His eyes searched mine, holding me captive as he explained, “There were pack matters that I couldn’t put off any longer, so I had to leave temporarily, but I have attended to many pressing ones and have met with my enforcers to ensure the pack is safe until I’m able to return.” Gesturing to the high stools behind us, where customers usually sat by the counter, Alexis went on cautiously. “Can we speak? I promise not to take much of your time.”
I nodded. After being away for so long, his presence was calming toboth me and my wolf, so I agreed, wanting to enjoy this sense of peace a little longer.
Shuffling heavy feet backward, I sat on one of the stools, hands clasped on my lap as I waited for Alexis to speak. Waves of determination rolled off him, eyebrows set in a straight line, telling me that Alexis knew what he was about to say.
He began. “While I was away, I couldn’t help but think back to your words.” Black water instantly rose to my throat as flashes hit me, and I couldn’t even recognize the woman who was so out of character with Alexis, but before I could berate myself further, his resolute voice cut through my thoughts. “And I did some deep thinking, making me come to the realization that I was wrong. I handled things poorly, and I am sorry,” he said slowly, and my eyebrow shot up in question.
“How so?” I asked with a little shake of my head for clarity.
“I was…terrible to you, Selina,” Alexis said, face pinching like the words physically hurt to say out loud. “And you bore that pain for so long, only for me to come back with nothing but an apology and gifts like those were supposed to fix every straw I broke.” I nodded once, urging him on even though emotions tried to fight their way to light. Unable to hold his gaze anymore, I looked away, but that didn’t stop Alexis. “I’ve realized that I cannot live a life without both of you now, but I want to prove to you that I am not that monster anymore. I need to, and I am not giving up,” he gritted out, clenching his fists by his side.
I shook my head, sighing heavily as confusion set in. “How, Alexis? How do you want to do this?”
Even if it was just to myself, I was going to admit that some part of me hoped that the Alexis who hurt me five years ago wasn’t the same man who I’d seen in the last few months.
Alexis spoke without hesitation, jaw set firmly. “I brought someone. She’s outside.”
My head slowly snapped to the closed entrance door, and as if sensing my puzzlement, Alexis stood up, striding to the door with coordination and opening it for his guest to pass through.
A black, finely-knitted satchel bag matching her flowing hair was the first indication of her presence before Lyvia’s warm amber eyesfound mine. She approached, and my eyes darted between her and Alexis as my brain scrambled for a connection.
“Hello, Selina,” came Lyvia’s greetings, but my mouth had been filled with rocks, and I couldn’t offer one back, only a jerk of my head.
“With your permission,” Alexis began, confirming my earlier thoughts, and I struggled to keep up with his words as blood thundered in my ears. “I would like Lyvia to perform a blood oath between us—” he gestured firmly as he spoke. “A solemn promise from me to you under the seeing eyes of Igaluk that I will never disrespect you or your choices by forcing our daughter away from you.”
My lips parted in an inaudible gasp, eyes glazing over with more emotions than I could comprehend.
“Alexis. A blood oath…is a life or death promise,” I strangled out, shaking my head in disbelief, eyes unfocused as I waited for someone to say this wasn’t real.
Blood oaths were not something to be taken lightly and not an action anyone would ever partake in without knowing what it meant or its severity. They were only used in making pacts on relationships that could never be broken and were most sacred to both Igaluk and any society.
“I know this,” Alexis’s baritone voice replied with a firm nod, and I looked over to Lyvia, who was silent, telling me that she, too, understood the gravity of what was happening.
“Do you consent to this, Selina?” Lyvia asked, cutting through my haze of emotions. I considered her words and Alexis’s.
If Alexis could go this far for me and Mia, proving his trust and loyalty to us with a most sacred bond, that would change a lot of things. It would mean that I wouldn’t have to fear each of his actions or for Mia’s safety, and maybe, just maybe, Mia could have the life that every child deserved. I, too, could properly let go of the bitterness from our past.
Dragging my eyes back to Alexis’s turbulent ones, I shook my head once, still skeptical and honestly scared. “This is too great a risk, Alexis,” I voiced my worry, swallowing thickly to get the nerves under control. “If…if the blood oath should be broken, the consequences…are dire, Alexis,” I said, but resolve swam in his eyes as he looked into mine, taking a deliberate step closer to me and breathing out heavily like he was restraining himself from the other things he wanted to do.
“Believe me, Selina, I have thought about this long and hard. I have considered every repercussion that going against my word would cause to me and my pack, but that, too, is not enough to deter me from you and Mia,” Alexis explained. “Please, let me prove myself to you.” I was about to disagree again when Alexis whispered, “Please, Selina,” and I let my eyes close briefly, breathing in and out once, before opening them back with a small nod.
“Okay.”
My heart hammered with blood as Lyvia took out the essentials from the bag over her shoulder—a small ancient-looking dagger—and I pulled myself up to my feet, closing the remaining distance to stand toe-to-toe with Alexis. Energy hummed from the witch and bounced off the walls and roof as she began chanting the spells that would forever and unequivocally bind Alexis and me, and I held his eyes, silently asking him if he was sure of what he was doing. Alexis gave me a solitary nod, and I gave him one back as I let Lyvia’s foreign words wash over me.
Alexis first offered his right palm to Lyvia as she brought the knife forward to cut a straight line across his palm, crimson fast staining the calloused flesh. Alexis barely flinched. Lyvia turned to me, and I did the same, offering her my right palm and biting in a wince as she cut across it, too, blood filling my palm and dropping down the back of it.
“Maintain your gazes and shake hands,” Lyvia commanded, and the shop shook with a brewing storm as we did as she asked, our blood mingling and tying us together. The storm swirled around Alexis and me, and I could see his irises glimmer and blow outward till his eyes were almost entirely covered in black. Lyvia went on. “Do you, Alexis, swear to Selina to respect her choices in the order of things moving forward, including those pertaining to your daughter, Mia? Do you swear this?”
His response only took a second to form. “I swear it.”
The storm slammed into me, the feeling unforgettable, as pressure mounted from the soles of my feet to every single nerve in my body,trailing back down until it settled in my chest, sinking itself into my heart like a vice.
As abruptly as the blood oath started, it ended, but everything had changed. I could feel it.
