“No real damage done, thank the Goddess. But how are you feeling, girl?” Alexia asked after completing her check-up of Diwa.
“Unprotected. Unsafe. And so stupid. Of course, that shitface would still be alive… just waiting for me to come back here…” whined Di as she sat up in bed, her blanket still covering her up to her waist.
“At least you’re safe for now, sister,” Ma’Heron reassured her.
“Damn it, I didn’t want to return to the Packhouse because of this… because of him! And here I was thinking I just need to get over my memories, but the bastard is still around! I’m such an idiot, choosing to walk back to the Packhouse from the club, completely forgetting about him!”
“It’s not your fault, Di,” Alexia said, reassuringly.
“No, it’s the fault of that asshole, useless mate of yours,” snapped the man who was still sitting on his sister’s bed.
Alexia looked at her husband with a killer stare. Of course, Di didn’t see that because she was still feeling down and sorry for herself.
“I… just… not now, brother, please…”
“Yes, I… Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“Wait, has he called you? Has he looked for me? I lost my phone somewhere on the run…”
The couple in front of her remained silent for a moment before they both shook their head slowly. Ma’Heron explained that his number is new so he couldn’t possibly be reached.
“However, he has my wife’s number and has not bothered to call her.”
“I see…” whispered Di, her morale now down to the negative levels. “As things are, I really don’t want to go anywhere right now. If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay here with you both…”
“Of course, sister, you don’t even have to ask.”
“The one who has been looking for you incessantly is your friend Siel,” Alexia said. “She begged me to tell her where you were. Your brother decided that we wait for you to wake up so we can get your opinion on the matter.”
“Thank you, M, Alexia. I’d also like to see my friend… but just… make her swear not to tell Aaron. We’re not in… very good terms right now… please promise you won’t tell my mate… both of you…”
“We promise,” both answered in unison.
“Thank you.”
“Why don’t you rest a little more, sister? This took a lot of your energy, and you need to recuperate.”
“Yeah, I think I will.”
* * *
After a quick tour of his apartment and not finding her there, he decided that she must be with her parents or with Siel. But he needed to be sure where she was first before he visited the said people.
The nightmare was still fresh in his mind when Aaron finally started calling his mate. With a trembling hand, he dialed her number, desperate to find her.
Fifteen minutes later, and several calls later, he still hadn’t reached her…
“Why are you not answering, Di? Are you that upset with me? Please, let me make it up to you, Diwa…” he continued to murmur as he kept calling, despite the very late hour.
After about thirty attempts, he stopped calling Diwa and called Siel. He breathed a sigh of relief when the Alpha’s mate picked up.
“Siel, please tell me you have talked with Di… She’s not answering her phone, and I’m going crazy here,” the Beta blurted out pleadingly.
“Glad to finally hear from you, Aaron. It seems that she lost her phone, though. I honestly have no idea where she is, but I talked to Alexia. Di is with them, and Alex says Di is ok.”
“Oh, Goddess, thank you! That’s great news, Siel! I’ll try to talk to them and see if I can go see her. Sorry to bother you at this hour. I hope I didn’t wake you up.”
“Oh no, you didn’t. It’s ok. Now go and find your mate. And NEVER let her go back home ALONE ever again! Or you’ll answer to me, is that clear, Aaron?”
“Yes, Luna,” replied the Beta naturally, reacting automatically to the firm, authoritative tone of the Alpha’s mate.
It was after the end of the call that A suddenly realized how he reacted to Siel. It would be hours later when the implication of what had just happened would finally sink into his mind.
But for now, his focus was still on how he could have possibly let Diwa go… And finding her as soon as possible.
* * *
As soon as the older couple left her and closed the door, Diwa snuggled into bed and closed her eyes. She tried so hard to sleep; but found herself still wide awake after an hour.
Opal… I’m sorry for what happened. If I didn’t panic, we could have merged and escaped… I’m sorry that asshole touched you and… I…
You have nothing to apologize for, OK? I’m fine, just glad we got out of it. And about our mate… It’s not his fault… Don’t be so mad at him. He has no idea of what happened to us, Diwa…
Opal, he doesn’t know because he didn’t look for me. He promised me he wouldn’t leave me. Not anymore… and I believed him…
He gave us space, Di. If he followed us, then nothing would have happened, and we would be pissed because he would be forcing a decision on us… It’s a very difficult position for him, for sure.
I know… I just… I don’t wanna think about it, OK? I’m glad that you’re fine, Opal… I think I’ll try to rest, for now.
Yes… Rest.
* * *
Aaron spent the next half hour dialing Ma’Heron’s phone first, despite being informed that it was not available. For the next half hour, he continually contacted Alexia, but she wasn’t picking up.
It might be the hour since it’s already early morning. After bringing Di to their place, they probably got so mad at me that they just went to sleep and are ignoring my calls. Ma’Heron probably got so pissed with me, he probably blocked me too. Well, I deserve that…
The tall, handsome Beta got out of his messed-up clothes and went into his shower. His perfectly fit physique was still scarred by the last encounter with his bro. And the memory of everything, he said was scarring him more, but they weren’t marks that he could see.
Yes, but that’s just part of the evidence against you. The bigger case is IF you will be a good mate to her!
“Damn it, M… Are you right about me being…?”
THAT’S THE ONLY REASON YOU WANT HER THEN? THE ULTIMATE INTERCOURSE PARTNER! Is that ALL SHE IS TO YOU?
The cold water fell over him, running from his head down to his wide shoulders and strong back. He bent forward, letting his forehead rest on the shower’s tiled wall.
Diwa… shhh… it’s okay, I’m here… I won’t leave you alone, don’t worry… I swear it. And if I forget this oath, feel free to punish me for it.
“So many years without a mate, I thought I would never have one… and I didn’t care to find her then… and now, that I have her… Yeah M, you’re right. I don’t deserve her, ” he murmured, his eyes closing as he felt himself drowning in his pain… his emotions…
His hands touched the wall, as the images of his mate leaving, of the fight with Ma’Heron, of the dream, started attacking him.
Something happened around the time when you left for training, so many years ago… “Why didn’t I follow through…? Why didn’t I try to find her? Why did I leave her on her own for so many years? Why the fuck did I have to be so fucking selfish!? DAMN IT!!!”
His hand clenched into a fist as he cried out in anger. He then let loose…
The emotionally overcome Beta punched the wall with all his strength, all his pain, and all his frustration. His hand passed through the wall as cement, and broken tiles buried into his fist, which immediately started bleeding.
He was soon in a haze, continually punching new holes in his bathroom wall.
And yet, the hurt in his heart was still stronger.
* * *
As soon as the Beta’s call ended, the Gamma-Female called the Alpha’s mate…
“Hello, Siel? It’s Alex.”
“Oh, hi! Thank you for calling!”
“I thought you might be waiting for me to call back. Hope I didn’t wake up the twins…”
“No, it’s ok, they’re with Lena right now. Please… Is Di awake now?”
“Yes. She and M agreed on you visiting her, but, as I told you before, you can’t tell Aaron where we are.”
“Of course, I won’t. Just tell me where. I’ll go wherever you guys may be. And I’ve told V about what happened to Di, so can he come along?”
Silence from the other line…
“Alex, you only made me promise not to tell Aaron. You didn’t tell me not to tell your Alpha, right?”
Siel hears a defeated sigh from the other end of the line.
* * *
V was standing right outside of Aaron’s apartment’s door when he heard several loud sounds coming from within, along with yelling. He used the key he had with him and rushed inside, finding his younger friend naked and screaming while under the shower, but with debris at his feet instead of just water.
“Hey, bro, what the hell are you doing?!” V exclaimed, grabbing Aaron from behind to pull him out of his bathroom. He then immobilized his Beta with a simple but strong judo hold, hoping it would calm his bro down.
It took a minute for Aaron to come back to his senses enough to decently speak to V, despite his less-then-decent state…
“Hey, bro… what are you doing here… how did you get in?”
“I accidentally kept your key when I dropped you in here a few hours ago,” the Alpha replied while letting A go. “I was actually going to check in on you and return the key when I heard the racket…”
“Oh that, don’t mind it. It’s just me punishing myself for being such a damned failure of a mate.”
“Bro… What kind of fucking punishment were you doing that it can be heard all the way through your apartment’s soundproofed walls?”
Aaron raised his hands for his Alpha to view, while he motioned with his head towards his shower’s wall.
“A, what the hell brought this about?”
“There’s something that I saw in a dream, V… that explained everything, every single thing that happened from the moment I came back from training, bro. I know it’s not usual to share dreams with your mate, but I think that’s what just happened. And you were there, so can I just ask you to confirm what I saw…”
“Bro, I told you I can’t tell you…”
“A simple yes or no! That’s all I want to hear, V! Please, I need to know…” Aaron begged as he dressed himself up in a short silken black robe that he had hanging from a bathroom door’s inner pegs. “Besides, if I already know, you won’t be blamed for me finding out on my own.”
So, V listened to everything his Beta said about his dream. Eventually, when he had to confirm what Aaron saw, he could only partially affirm the parts where he was present, along with the parts that the dream did not show…