Of course, the moment that they returned to the main floor, accompanied by Alaric, many seemed stunned. When they walked into the study, all guards present moved to attack, but Belinda stood in the way, swords stopping inches away from her. The guards lowered their weapons and stepped back when Zaeley ordered so.
"How did you managed to bring him back?" Zaeley asked.
"I did nothing." Belinda smiled at Elif. "She did. Guess true love is capable of many impossible things."
"Welcome back," Denarus said from across the room, a smile on his lips.
"What is going on?" Belinda asked.
"Niko captured a traitor and has made him talk. Now, we have all of their locations," Zaeley said as she stared at something spread out on the desk in front of her. "I want them all dead."
Belinda stepped closer and her eyes fell upon a detailed map of all the islands. Some had small circles that seemed to move sometimes to a different location. "How did you managed to do this?"
"With the help from a couple of witches," Elisa said.
"And we can trust them?" Asked Alaric.
"Of course. They have been allies since the beginning."
"I'm going to see the babies." Belinda turned to head upstairs, but she lost all strength and fell to her knees. When someone tried to help her, she shoved them away and screamed at the top of her lungs, agonizing pain enveloping her. Her body quivered over and over as she tried to breathe, but it brought intense pain that threatened to devour her.
"She hasn't fed?" Alaric sounded beyond aggravated. "What the fuck are you waiting for?"
"She refuses to feed."
"What? Why?"
Belinda shoved Fane away when he tried to get close. "I'm fine!"
"You look far from it!"
"Enough!" It was Elif. "It was me—I showed her a vision of her losing control and killing Fane. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have—"
"Seers should never reveal their visions," Zeref said, glaring. "Instead of helping her, you clearly made her follow the path she tried to avoid. Isolating herself from those who care from her will only push her into madness faster."
"I'm so sorry—I was just trying to—" When Elif fainted, Alaric caught her. Belinda moved but she once again fell to her knees as her body began to shake out of control. She bent over and coughed, black blood pouring from her lips.
Against her wishes, Fane swopped her up in his arms and within seconds, they were in the room across from the one her children slept in. When he put her back on her feet, she clung to his shoulders, her legs wobbled and threatened to give out again.
"You need to feed."
She managed to let him go and reach the bed without collapsing. "I know."
He cupped her face, forcing her to meet his gaze. She despised how his loving gaze made her weak. "You should have told me the truth."
She shook her head, tears sliding down her cheeks. "It wouldn't change anything."
"Whatever Elif showed you...it can be changed."
Belinda managed to make distance. "I can't take my chances. You didn't see what I did. I wish I could easily ignore everything and be by your side and our children...but I can't." His lips parted, but before he could speak, she continued. "It is because I love you all that I will walk away once this is over. I can't stay here knowing that I could turn not only against you, but also our children." She folded her arms over her chest and held his gaze. "Please respect my decision."
He nodded. "Even if you wish to have nothing with me, you still need me to survive as I need you." As he came closer, her heart spun out of control. He cupped her face and tilted her head before sinking his teeth into her neck. She didn't remember the effects of him feeding from her being so damn intense. She was enveloped in the sweet intoxicating sensations filling her body.
When he finished and pulled back, she felt empty. But before he could move too far, her hand moved to the back of his neck and stopped him. For the longest, they stared at each other before she pulled him close and bit his neck, almost moaning from pure bliss when his sweet blood pervaded her mouth.
As she fed, the pain threteaning to devour her vanished, replaced the a sweet electricity that made her crave more. After her thirst for blood was fulfilled, she did not step away. His arms around her waist didn't let go either.
Forcing back the tears, she let him go and he did as well, not meeting her gaze. It almost felt as if they were finally ending their relationship. From now on, she was certain she would never again drink from the vein, but from a cup filled with his blood.
For the next days, Fane spent it with the rest of the leaders trying to come up with the best plan. Even though he was extremely busy trying to put an end to Katherine, he still managed to squeeze a couple of minutes to spend with their twins.
At the moment, Belinda and her friends were in the garden with the twins, enjoying the morning breeze. Belinda sat on a bench and inhaled the beautiful fragrances of the flowers, listening to the birds chirping. The girls were speaking amongst themselves in a whisper, as if they didn't want Belinda to hear. She stood with a Bexley in her arms; Kesha had Grayson.
"What's going on?"
Everyone fell silent.
"What are you keeping from me?"
Keisha met her gaze. "Niko forbid all pack members from telling you."
"But you are an Alpha, are you not?"
Keisha looked away. "They left to attack Katherine."
Belinda's heart skipped a beat. "But—Fane wouldn't leave without saying goodbye."
"He didn't tell you because if he would have, you would have wanted to go as well."
"I could have helped them, we all could."
Kassie shook her head. "You would have gotten in the way. You are still a young vampire. If you would have gone, Fane would have been distracted, trying to make sure you were not harmed."
"Still...I should have been informed of what the plan was."
"We are all worried," Keisha said. "It is terrifying knowing my husband is in battle and...and it doesn't help my worry that he decided to leave his Beta behind just in case he didn't return."
"But what can we do? It is best for us to stay here," said Kassie. "It would have been a foolish decision for all warriors to leave. Then, everyone else—woman, children and elders—would have been powerless against a surprised attack."
Belinda started at her child in her arms. "You're right." She returned to the bench, but this time, she couldn't concentrate in the relaxing sounds of the beautiful forest. All she could think was Fane and everyone else in the mist of battle with their enemy.
"When did they leave?" She didn't recall seeing Fane at all yesterday. "When are they supposed to return?"
The girls glanced at each other; Keisha had actually tears streaming down her face. She inhaled and met Belinda's gaze. In her eyes, Belinda could see the answer to her question. The men were supposed to be back already. An acute pain enveloped her heart as she tried her best to not break down and cry. Crying wouldn't help their mates and everyone else.
"They're okay," Kassie said almost in a whisper. "If they were dead, we would be as well. Katherine would attack this place and leave no one alive."
"Not necessarily," Keisha said. "The guardians are good at their job."
"If our mates were dead, we would feel an agonizing pain and it would be as if we lost half of ourselves."
From down the path came Elif accompanied by Denarus.
"How are you doing?" She asked Eif.
"As good as I can be," she said with a weak smile.
"Why didn't you go with the team?"
Denarus hesitated. "Elif couldn't stay alone."
Elif narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh. Interesting—I can sense the beat of your heart rising." She gasped. "You lie."
He chuckled as he ran a hand though his hair. "Yeah, well that's part of the reason."
"Hey, it's your own damn fault no one trust you." Keisha shot him a look. "You fucking provoked Fane—"
"Woah, there," Denarus said holding back a laugh. "I did no such thing."
"What the hell is going on?" Belinda asked.
"Well," Kassie began. "After Denarus saved us, he confronted Fane about the fact you didn't have any guards and were completely unprotected whilst getting in his face. Of course that invasion of space caused Fane to kick his ass."
Denarus laughed. "Kick my ass? I think I got in a couple of good hits."
Belinda shook her head. "Really? Denarus—"
"I'm going to say exactly what I told him—You're everything I have left and I'll kill him if something happens to you." He met her gaze. "I also might have said that I love you." He smiled, flaunting his teeth.
Belinda's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"
"It's not a lie," he said.
Belinda stood. "I hate that you love playing games."
"Don't you feel the same?" He asked.
She smiled. "Of course I love you—" Her eyes widened when she spotted Star. Denarus turned around and Star stared at him with pain evident in her eyes before leaving.
"Fuck," he muttered.
"And that's why we shouldn't play like this."
Denarus faced her and glanced around. "I'm going to be honest, when I said it to Fane—I did it to piss him off." He shrugged. "It's not my fault people assume that I want to fuck you just for saying I love you." He paused. "I love you like an annoying sister."
"Annoying?" She raised an eyebrow before her smile vanished. "You should go talk to her."
He hesitated before leaving. When she turned, all her friends stared at her. "What?"
"Denarus shouldn't play like that," Keisha said.
"He has always been like that with me—You all shouldn't have assume—"
"He is one hell of an actor," Kassie said.
At a ruckus coming from inside the house, Belinda and the others fell in complete silence. Keisha's eyes seemed to lit up as she smiled. "They're here." Then she froze, eyes wide open. When Belinda attempted to head inside, Kassie stood in front of her, gaze on the floor.
Belinda narrowed her eyes at her. "What are you doing?" When realization hit her, she tried to walk around Kassie to not avail. If she wouldn't have had Bexley in her arms, she would have shoved Kassie out of the way.
"Calm down first."
"Calm down? My beloved is hurt!"
"Your Beloved?"
Belinda glanced behind her friends to see Grace standing there, battered and bruise. Behind her, others stood, presumably her followers.
"Fane is not your Beloved. Or did you not break it off?"
Belinda glared at her. "He is still the father of my children." She stared at her friend. "Now move."
Kassie hesitated, but stepped aside. Belinda headed inside and the second she did, Zaeley stood in her way. At first, Belinda thought that she would prohibit her from seeing Fane, but instead, Zaeley grabbed Bexley in her arms.
"Calm down."
"How is he?"
Zaeley seemed to fight the tears to no success. "He is badly injured."
"What exactly happened?"
The boys came and greeted their mates with a kiss and a hug. Belinda ran her hands through her hair, fighting the tears. Grace walked inside with her followers and headed upstairs. When Belinda moved to follow them, Elisa came and grabbed her forearm.
"I need a word with you."
Belinda hesitated for a moment. "Okay." They headed into the family room. "How is he?"
"Weak," Elisa said as she wrapped her arms around herself. "Fane is like a brother to me and I don't want him to die."
Belinda inhaled. "You can't do anything at all?"
She shook her head. "His wounds are beyond my powers. Whatever witch helped our enemies placed a spell on the bullet that struck him...one that is draining his energy."
"It was a trap."
Elisa shook her head. "The plan worked. His aunt is dead. Everything happened so fast. No one even knew..."
"Knew what?"
"That Katherine and I were lovers." Zeref met her gaze as he entered the family room.
"W—What?"
"She wanted to keep it a secret...I didn't question why."
"What exactly happened?"
"When all hell broke lose, I put a stop to this madness." His eyes averted to the floor. "Fane and Zaeley couldn't bring themselves to kill Katherine and she took advantage of it." He held her gaze. "I revealed to her that you are my child and I saw the regret in her eyes...I killed her then."
Belinda broke eye contact at the immense pain in his eyes. "She kept your relationship a secret so that no one would doubt your loyalty to Fane and Zaeley when the truth came out."
Elisa wrapped her arms around herself. "Right after, someone shot Fane in the back. We couldn't find the attacker—there was no scent, nothing."
"I want to see him."
"I don't think it is a good idea."
Belinda ignored the voice of Grace. "Elisa—"
"I have to agree with Grace."
Belinda moved closer to Elisa. "You cannot do this to me."
"Fane is weak and dangerous for you."
"He would never hurt me."
"Right now, he could awaken and as thirsty for blood as he is, he will kill you without second thought."
Belinda glanced over her shoulder at her brother with his arm around Elif, then back at Elisa. "If he does, then our love was never real."
"In order for him to heal...he must drink enough blood." Elisa met her gaze. "And with how deep his wounds are, how much that damn spell is weakening him...enough could be deadly for you."
Without another word, Belinda turned and headed upstairs to Fane's room. When she walked in, Elisa followed. She stepped closer to Fane, who lay motionless in his bed, which was covered in scarlet. All around them, small lights sparkled and exploded. Belinda covered her face when one caught her off guard.
"What is all this?"
"I tried a healing spell and this activated." She crouched beside the bed, holding Fane's blood stained hand. "I never thought I would ever see him in such state...if I would have known, I would have trained harder to grow my powers."
Belinda dodged one of the lights and it burst against the door behind her. Fire spread through the door but vanished. She grunted when something hit her arm. Her eyes widened when fire spread up and she shook her arm. Elisa was by her side within seconds to lift her hand, chanting something in a foreign language. When the fire vanished, Belinda let out a sigh of relief.
"Be careful."
At a sound, Elisa eyes widened. Belinda's gaze moved from the wound on her arm to where now Fane stood. All the exploding lights vanished as his dark eyes settled upon her. When he came closer, a force that no one could see forced the door opened and pulled Elisa out. Belinda stood frozen as Elisa screamed from the other side in a language Belinda could not understand.
Within seconds, Belinda was grabbed by the neck and slammed against the door, the back of her banging against it. Ignoring the throbbing in her head, she managed to put her shuddering hands against his shoulders. With all the strength she could muster, she held him back.
"Fane...It's me."
When he overpowered her, he bit into her neck. A scream tore from her lips as she fought against him, but it was futile. Her vision blurred, her eyelids becoming too heavy. Her eyes closed for a mere seconds—or so she guessed. When her heavy eyelids fluttered open, Fane was on his knees, covered in blood.
"Belinda!"
It was Zaeley.
"Please...control it."
What was she talking about?
Was it not Fane who had lost all control and attacked her?
Fane coughed, blood splattering over the floor. When he looked up at her, she saw the pain within his eyes, but she could not understand why he would look at her like that. Then, she saw the bite on his neck. She pressed her trembling hands against her temples, as the throbbing in her head intensified.
What was happening to her?
Had she gone mad?
She stepped away from Fane and screamed at the top of her lungs when a chanting grew within her head, then she realized Elisa was casting a spell. The burn marks from her arm began to heal as black ink rose from the opened lacerations and into the air before vanishing.
Belinda's legs shook, but she did not fall to her knees.
Fane stood, looking as confused as she was. The door shook and exploded inward before Zaeley rushed into the room to check on him. She cupped his face and smiled when she noticed he was back. Fane's gaze was on Belinda. Not able to withstand it anymore, she looked away, pressing a hand against the laceration slowly healing.
When Elisa tried to check on Belinda, she jerked away and turned to leave. At first, she headed toward the room of her children, but stopped, turned and bolted down the stairs, her hands quivering—her entire body did.
She was out the front doors before her friends could chase after her. Then, she was darting through the woods at a speed she never thought she could— that she could not control.
After slamming against the bark of a tree, she clung to it, holding back the tears. She was a danger to everyone around her, even her children.
For hours, she roamed the forest not knowing where exactly to go, then she halted, almost falling over the brink of a cliff. She stared down at the waters before turning and coming face to face with Grace.
"Have you finally realized that you don't belong with them?" She glared at Belinda. "Fane's love for you blinds him. He believes he can help you not to be consumed by madness—but today you proved to everyone that his love will not save you...nothing can. Not even your children." Belinda didn't move back as Grace approached her. "They are better off without you."
She was right.
Grace wrapped her fingers around her neck and Belinda did nothing to defend herself. Why would she fight Grace when she was correct. If Belinda did not die, she would end up destroying the man she loved and her children.
No.
She wasn't going to let it consume her.
She kneed Grace in the stomach. When she was released, Grace tossed something in the air which exploded into million of silver particles that struck her, burning her skin.
A cry escaped her lips at the realization of the weapon matching that one used against her mother and Alaric. "You were there!"
Grace laughed as she stood, her skin affected by the silver as well. "Yes. I was. I never thought Bexley would fall so easily—guess she wasn't as strong so many claimed."
Belinda lurched to her feet but Grace was faster, shoving a blade into her stomach. She pulled it out just to stab her again, pushing it deeper.
"I'm going to kill you."
Grace laughed at her threat before shoving her back with enough force to send her over the cliff. Then, she was falling perhaps to her death. Or maybe, she would miss the rocks. She hit the waters with a mighty splash and as she fought to stay on the surface, she wondered for a moment how she was still alive. The current was unforgiving. She slammed against rock after rock until her vision began to blur and fell deeper into the waters.
Something swam past her. All she saw was the huge tail. Then, another. She tried to get to the surface but a hand grasped hers—a grayish webbed hand. She meet piercing blue eyes with a black rim before darkness consumed her.
As she began to come to her senses, faint murmurs reached her ears. She recognized the female voice, but the male was a stranger.
"I'm not certain bringing her to our home was a good idea." Armelle said. "Fane could think we hurt her."
"Fane can think whatever the hell he wants. We were not going to let her drown."
"Do you think she jumped?" Armelle asked, curiosity evident in her voice.
"Of course not." The male paused. "If she would have, then why would she have this in her stomach?"
"But I thought Zeref killed Katherine."
Belinda's eyes fluttered opened to find herself on a minimalist bedroom. Wide-eyed, she stood and stared out the floor to ceiling glass that gave her a view of the ocean filled with different types of fish.
She inched closer and placed her hand on the cold glass before a door opened. The eyes of the man who had saved her met hers.
He smiled and inched closer to her. "Do you remember what happened?"
Even though she tried over and over to remember, she came up black. "No. How did I get here?"
"Armelle and I saved you—you were really weak so we brought you to my home so that we could heal you." He stared at her forehead. "So, you're Fane's beloved."
Armelle walked into the bedroom with a big smile. "I'm so glad to see you have completely healed."
"I need to return home." Ignoring the aching of her body, Belinda was about to leave, but Armelle grasped her forearm.
"You can't go out there."
"Why not?" The male asked, bewildered.
"Ethan, our brother just arrived."
"Shit."
"We shouldn't have brought her here."
After Armelle left, Ethan followed suit. Belinda stood there, wondering what to do. She waited and waited until she could no more. She headed out the room then down a corridor that led to a stair case. She ascended the steps into a family room, one where Ethan and Armelle were.
"Who is this vampire?" A man said as he stared out of the large window. "Armelle, who is she?"
Armelle hesitated. "Fane's beloved."
The man visibly froze at Armelle's words. Then he turned and his deep brown eyes locked upon Belinda. Now, everyone in the room was staring at her.
"Brother—" Armelle squeezed her mouth shut when he shot her a look.
"If I was like your mate, I would kill you right now, but of course...I am nothing like that savage." He growled out the words as his eyes turned amber.
Armelle shot him a glare. "Blaise, please be nice."
"You're Blaise?"
He approached her and extended his hand toward her. "Nice to meet you, Belinda."
Her eyes grew wide at the mark on his hand. She stumbled back and bumped against the wall as she stared at him in utter disbelief.
"Are you okay?" Armelle asked.
"Yeah." Belinda lied. "How old are you?"
Blaise seemed confused by her question. Still, he answered her. "Twenty-five."
Belinda couldn't stop herself from staring at the mark. It matched her daughter's. But it was impossible for her daughter's mate to be much older—Heck, he was even older than Belinda. "Are you married?"
He chuckled. "Why?"
She looked away, feelings her cheeks redden. She shouldn't have asked such thing. What the hell was she thinking?"
"No." He lowered his hand. "I was born with the mark." He glanced at his siblings. "Take her back to Fane."
Belinda's eyes widened as she recalled what had happened. "I can't—They probably hate me."
"And why not?"
"Be—Because I tried to kill him."
Blaise raised an eyebrow. "You tried to kill your mate? That is unheard off."
"Well, I lost control, okay."
"Ah, you are a newborn. That is understandable."
She shook her head. "Please don't force me to return."
"Is best you go back to him. If you are a newborn, only he can help you control it."
"So, I have no choice in the matter."
He smiled. "Unfortunately, no. I might dislike that bastard, but I am not about to start a war for a woman."
Belinda stood frozen, staring at the mark on Blaise's hand. Her heart ached at how her child would be torn in between Fane and Blaise. If they truly hated each other, could they look past it for Bexley?
Or would they end up at war?