"You know Arzhel, you look a little taller," Micah said, inspecting him with eyes like precious amber stones, fused inside delicate jewellery.
"Yes, only a bit. I am still small compared to Zyaire." Arzhel smiled, feeling the warmth of the demon's chest press against him. The angel looked up, meeting the gaze of his soulmate, familiar to him like his own reflection.
"Small is an understatement," Zyaire said, leaning down to kiss his hair, finding any excuse to smell his scent of diluted wildflowers. "Anyway, what
happened with the Gods? Is it always like that here?"
Micah couldn't hide a smile. Zyaire had once been so cruel to Arzhel , disturbed to connect a bond with an angel. Now, they displayed their love with pride and happiness.
"That was the first time the Gods all met at once, actually. You witnessed something extraordinary."
"I wouldn't call that special. Liam almost turned into overdone wolf meat."
"Clearly you missed the part where he threw the fire God into the woods?"
A deep growl shivered Zyaire's ear. He turned to scowl at Zayn. His glare was almost as evil as Em's, wild and built on layers and years of uncontrolled anger.
"Does nobody know how to tame dogs in this world?" Zyaire's tone was as flat as his expressions. Though, he removed himself from the situation by pulling his angel down the corridor.
Zayn looked tired and still in shock from meeting his grandmother, the last thing Zyaire wanted was to pick the werewolf apart when he was mentally weakened. He much preferred to argue with those who could take his attitude.
"If you are not careful, you will get us kicked out of this world" Arzhel sighed, looking around the modern house.
After years of living in an ancient mansion, it felt odd and strange that anyone could call it home. There were no warm colours, only white walls with cream skirting boards. The floor was dark mahogany, accompanied by a cream rug near the front door. An odd metal statue clung to the wall opposite, and a long mirror gave the impression that the hall looked wider. The angel wasn't tall enough to see himself in it, but he caught Zyaire looking down at him, narrowing his eyes.
"I don't know if I like this world anyway. It's boring," Zyaire said. "And we can't explore."
"Maybe not outside, but we can look around their home."
"For an angel, you're pretty bright." Arzhel pulled his shoulder down and smacked him lightly on the side of his head. "I don't have to be bright to knock some sense into you."
Zyaire chuckled, letting the rare sight of joy flood his eyes.
"I'm joking, obviously." Then it was gone in a blink, returning to his usual blank face, mimicking a statue that had been eroded over the years.
"Aren't werewolves really territorial? Niall said something about that. Should we be careful?"
"Maybe," Arzhel said with a thoughtful stare as they made their way to the second floor and stopped outside the first door on the right. The angel reached for the handle but was startled by a voice.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The men turned to see another guy leaning against the wall, standing on one leg and twiddling a walking stick in between his hands.
"That's Zayn and Liam's room. Zayn will kill you if you fill it with your scent."
"Try to kill me," Zyaire whispered under his breath.
Arzhel was quickly distracted by the man's cane and had a lot of questions.
"What happened to your leg?" he blurted, then blinked, seeming surprised by his own frankness. "Sorry, that was quite insensitive."
"It's fine. And I was injured a long time ago, it never fully healed." Harry watched Zyaire who studied him with caution like he did with everyone else.
The door to their left opened, and Louis entered the hallway, slipping an arm around Harry's waist like he knew he was there, waiting for him. His blue eyes fell on Arzhel, returning the angels cheerful grin.
"Oh hey, I meant to find you both earlier" said Louis, irritating Zyaire almost instantly. "Can I talk about your bond? What's it like having two people who are stereotyped to hate each other learn to love their enemy? Do you fight a lot? Or-"
"One question at a time, remember?" Harry thought, cutting his mate off who pursed his lips, sinking against him.
As Arzhel started talking, Zyaire turned and stalked his way down the corridor and towards the stairs. He passed Zayn and Liam, paying them no attention until he spotted his parents in a room he had not yet entered, filled with couches and chairs with a big TV mounted on the back wall.
"Zyaire!" Eloise sat up with a smile, patting the spot next to her. "Where's Arzhel?"
"Talking to hiss clone," he mumbled, slightly squishing her with his big frame. She hadn't left him much space.
"Louis?" Micah chuckled. "I'm sure they'll have a lot to talk about."
His son sank into the couch with his usual face like thunder, though he didnt appear so sharp and snappy as he did years ago. "So, what do you think of this world?"
"I hate it."
"No, you dislike the werewolves." Eloise corrected him.
"They're weird and possessive. The vampire world has fewer rules."
"The vampires trust you now. I bet they weren't so nice when you first entered their world?"
Zyaire grumbled a response. knowing his mum was correct but not able to voice it.
"The wolves didn't trust us when we first entered. It just takes time." Micah said.
"We're running out of time. The war is coming fast."
A muscle in Eloise's cheek spiked, and she tensed at the thought. "This might sound selfish, but I hoped the vampire world wouldn't be involved in the war. I don't want you or Arzhel in that kind of danger."
Zyaire stared hard. "I don't want you in that kind of danger either. We have more chance of winning if we fight as a team"
He put his arm around her, something he would never have done years ago.
"We have ages until it happens. Let's just focus on being together as a family" He glanced at Micah, his eyes softening until they looked like clear honey, rather than shards of amber glass.
"You're right. Let's be thankful that we're all safely back together."
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Ares glanced at his phone, just as the number turned 00:00. Midnight.
He ran a hand down his face, feeling the sting of tiredness in his eyes. His
body felt exhausted, but his mind was wide awake.
Eirene laid in the bed next to him, and he could tell she wasn't sleeping either. She had been silent ever since his mother visited, and so had he.
Eirene turned when her mate slipped out of bed and stopped by the window. Their translucent curtains revealed the faint glow from the moon.
She watched how he looked up, searching the sky like he expected to see something. Maybe Heaven?
She wasn't sure, though by the way he
stood, rigid and slouched, he was struggling with his heartache. Without a sound, she pulled on a dressing gown and joined him.
"Mum's final words," Ares said, not moving his eyes from the blinking stars, "her final wish, even after so long."
Eirene tried to take his hand, but Ares crossed his arms. "The truth is always the right way."
Eirene felt a lump forming in her throat. "Even if it hurts."
"Even if it hurts," Ares repeated her with a bitter taste in his mouth. "And it damn well hurts."
"I regret it," Eirene said, reaching up to wipe a tear.
Ares then turned to look at her. His senses screamed to comfort her and hug her until she felt okay again, but he was angry and fought against it.
"What do you regret?" he asked bluntly.
"Giving him away-" Eirene choked on her own words and the lump in her throat turned to a cry of deep despair.
"What have we done Ares? What have we done?" Her mate gave in and put an arm around her, but it didn't feel comforting at all.
"As soon as they abandoned him, I wanted to tell him. We should have told him. But no, you just couldn't cope with the fact that we lied like that and we couldn't deal with the consequences. It's been too long. The damage it will cause will be too much." Ares felt a burst of regret deep within his heart. "But my parents, they think we should tel him now." Ares' lip trembled at the thought of them.
"We can't"
"We can," Ares interrupted, cupping her face and forcing her to look him in the eyes. "And we will. He deserves to know the truth. Everyone does."
"Zayn" whispered Eirene, "he'll never forgive us for lying about something like this."
Ares closed his eyes and pressed her face to his chest, embedding his fingers into her long brown hair, remembering the days when it used to be a caramel blonde complimenting her tanned skin.
"Family has always been so important to us. Why have you made me keep this from him for so long? Eirene, why are you so afraid?"
"I'm afraid because I know I'm in the wrong and we may lose him, and he may lose us. They might hate us, and there's nothing we can do to make it better. In the end, we thought we were doing something right, something to help our friends, to heal our own grief. Mother always said that too much empathy clouded the mind." Eirene allowed her mate's top to soak up her tears.
She trembled in his arms and longed for a solution other than the truth, but there was nothing else that would make their lies dissolve, nothing but honesty.
"We should have told him as soon as he was old enough to understand. Keeping it a secret in the first place never sat well with me, but we made an oath, from Alpha to Alpha. Breaking it would have risked everything." Ares turned back towards the window, watching Castor and Lilith guard the tear in the field below.
"They never treated him right, and I hated them for it. We asked for too much involvement, and they punished him in return. I'm so glad they died all those years ago, but we should have said something then, not now, not while-"
"Ares" Eirene shushed him with her soft angelic voice. "In the morning we'll tell him. Even if it hurts us, we'll be doing it for him, for your parents, for Zayn. You're right, they deserve to know."
"How will we even approach the subject? Do we sit Zayn and Louis down together, look them confidently in the eyes and tell them? Surely, they won't believe us."
"They look nothing alike, but they've always found each other, always acted like brothers. They even argue like brothers. Louis has been more than a Beta wolf to Zayn, and they know it." Eirene sniffed away her emotions.
"Even if they think we're lying, they can't hide behind the fact that they're twins. They share the same blood, our blood"
Hehe! I just wanted to see y'all losing your mind and die in curiosity.