Loving the leech (Guardians of Red Moon city #4)
25. Broken reality

William’s POV

“What are you so happy about?” I ask Benjamin, who has been in a bad mood for the past few months. “Don’t you have something to whine about today?”

He grins at me while I get dressed in the suit. The day is finally here, and I get the opportunity to watch as Jennifer, my ex falls into an endless sleep. I don’t look forward to it since she once hurt my feelings, but because she’s an evil person who wreaks havoc wherever she goes. Jennifer is a psychopath who can strangle the life out of a child with a smile on her face, completely shameless, and yet try to convince you that her deed is justified. She must die and hopefully be punished in the cleansing fires of hell for all eternity, not just for Kaylin’s sake but for all the innocent she killed.

“Not directly. In fact, I’m looking forward to this day,” Benjamin replies, smiling, and I immediately become suspicious.

We walk side by side to downstairs, where my family is waiting for us, the only one missing is Kaylin, but she’s at the council to prepare for her coronation that takes place in a couple of days. Benjamin walks, smilingly away toward Elijah, who behaved strangely since the fight between my beloved and my ex. However, Elijah has the sense not to be as apparent with his unpleasantness.

“Today, the truth comes out, my friend,” Benjamin says to Elijah, who nods excitedly.

“What are you talking about?” I ask suspiciously, and my brother immediately turns to me with the same irritated facial expression he had in recent weeks.

“You know very well what we’re talking about; you’re just too stupid to realize the truth!” he growls in response.

We have repeatedly been fighting for a long time, and I don’t know why he suddenly has something against Kaylin, but it must end. In the last fight we had, he even attacked me.

✿❀ Flashback ❀✿

“Come on, Kaylin!” I whine while my beloved puts on make-up.

“I don’t feel ready for it yet,” she replies, walking toward the closet.

I have begged her that we should complete the ceremony to tie ourselves together for real. Mark each other and make love to one another since I’ve already bitten her and thus proved she’s mine to everyone else who sees her. But for some reason, she doesn’t want to bite me back. She claims she doesn’t feel ready, but I don’t understand why since she doesn’t talk to me about it.

“Why don’t you want to unite us for all eternity, Kaylin!?” I exclaim, frustrated. “Why don’t you want to finish what we’ve started!?”

“I don’t feel ready, Will, not until Jennifer is gone forever and my coronation is over. Then it’s calmer, and we can share the rest of our lives,” she replies, kissing my lips, and walks into the bathroom.

Sighing, I leave our bedroom and see my brother standing across the hall. He gives me a stern look that I roll my eyes at before keep walking towards the stairs.

“Why doesn’t your beloved want to mark what’s hers, brother?” he asks, and I turn against him. “Isn’t that in our instincts to claim what’s ours?”

“She’s not ready for it, and I’m going to respect her feelings,” I answer, continuing down the stairs.

Benjamin uses his speed and is already standing in the living room when I arrive at the room. Elijah stands leaning against the backrest of the couch with his arms crossed over his chest.

“It’s not about her not being ready, Will,” Elijah says, who must have heard our conversation. “A dominant can’t resist marking their beloved.”

“What do you mean?” I ask suspiciously.

“She doesn’t want to mark you because she’s not Kaylin!” Benjamin exclaims. “That’s Jennifer, but you refuse to listen to what we say to you! Kaylin is what keeps her away from your throat!”

“Watch your tongue, and listen to me when I say I know what I’m doing, brother,” I growl and add extra sense to the last word.

“No, William! You’re going to listen to me now! The only reason she doesn’t mark you and unite with you is that you’ll see the truth! Kaylin has to die before Jennifer can mark you because otherwise, you’ll find out the truth and will go back to your genuine beloved,” he roars. “Hear my words. That. Is. Not. Kaylin!”

I jump on him, and we start fighting violently. Our growls and roars echo in the big house. It’s not until my mother stands beside us with a hand on our necks, holding us above the ground.

“Stop it right this instance!” she growls. “I don’t know what the problem is between you, but now you better shape the fuck up! Both of you.”

✿❀ End of flashback ❀✿

I choose to ignore both of them; there’s no reason to encourage their sudden disgust for my beloved. It’s incomprehensible to me why two of my closest family members no longer have my back. If it doesn’t get any better, there’s a risk that I’ll have to banish not only my brother but also one of my best friends from our clan for being disloyal. It’s nothing I want to do, but if I have to choose between the two of them and my beloved, then Kaylin will always win. When I sit in the limo with my family, Benjamin grins at me again.

“What?” I growl.

“Nothing,” he replies, shaking his head and continuing to grin. “I just hope for your sake that you’ve prepared a good apology because I don’t think Kaylin will ever forgive you.”

Kaylin’s POV

Today is the day. After endless lonely and anxious hours in my cell, I finally get to sleep. I understand if you think I’m selfish because I can’t live even for my child; on the other hand, I’d rather let us fall asleep together than have him or her suffer from Jennifer’s violent tendencies. The silence inside my head blocks all other sounds outside. No voices, whispers, or shouts can catch my interest. Someone replaced my regular guards, and I don’t know why the council believes they can no longer fulfill their duties. The two young men throw a white cotton nightgown that I put on.

For a moment, I feel gratitude, but it disappears as quickly as it comes when they immediately begin to hurt me. My mouth is full of blood that flows down my chin. One of my legs pulsates strong enough to create a buzz throughout my body. What’s the point of giving me a clean and white nightgown if they’re going to hurt me and stain it anyway? Is this the point? To show how degraded I am when I receive the punishment that doesn’t really relate to me? The leather from the whips cuts into my skin. Arms, legs, back, and shoulders drip by the life elixir that I soon don’t need anymore.

I allow them to hurt me until they get tired of it; there’s no point in trying to get them to stop anyway. Why should the guards refrain from carrying out their duties for the sake of a prisoner? It’s an absurd thought, and therefore there’s no point in even trying. They drag me toward the familiar hall and tie my hands around a stake. I feel like a witch in the 1400s who’s going to burn for her ungodly black magic.

“Jennifer Swetzon,” Salazar begins. “You shall now be held accountable for your past deeds, and I hope you find peace of mind for justification on your journey.”

I’m not looking at him or anyone at all, really. My gaze is as empty as before, unable to look at anything because if I do, I also have to process it. If I focus and look at someone I once cared about, then it’s impossible not to remember. A man walks towards me with a lit torch, ready to throw it on the dry wood pieces that surround me from all sides. Suddenly, the entrance doors open, and dozens of guards stinking of werewolves come into the room. They disperse when a familiar woman enters the hall. Her eyes land on me, and a tear falls from her eye.

“Unleash this woman immediately!” she orders, and the guards immediately begin to follow her orders while the council protests.

“Queen Aleida, I’m sorry, but you can’t come in here and order us to spare Jennifer for everything she’s done!” Felicity exclaims.

“Yolanda!” Aleida shouts, and the witch hurries toward me while Aleida returns her attention to the council. “That’s not Jennifer.”

“Don’t you recognize the woman you’ve been looking for?” Salazar asks astoundingly.

“The woman I’ve been looking for isn’t the one standing at the stake,” Aleida says, turning toward William. “She stands in the arms of someone else’s beloved.”

Aleida nods towards Yolanda. The witch smiles sadly at me before she starts circulating me and spreading some kind of plant while saying a spell.

“Animas dea naturae, rogo vos, ut me adiuvet proferet puella est vera sui. Adiuva me tollere hoc malum, quod figuris eam in hostes.”

‘Souls of the goddess of nature, I ask you to help me bring forth the girl’s true self. Help me remove this evil that shapes her into the enemy.’

I look down at my hair, slowly shifting until it returns to my usual color. Yolanda helps me stand up, and on unsteady legs, I succeed. Aleida orders her guards to arrest Jennifer, who roars and tries to get to me. She manages to get out of their grip and runs towards me. Just before she reaches me, I throw an electric ball toward her. Jennifer’s angry screams are the only thing that echoes in the room, and no one stops me. When they’ve arrested her, I withdraw my powers. With one hand on my swollen stomach, I walk towards the doors leading out into the world, hoping Aleida’s guards will take her in custody.

No one’s stopping me now either, and I don’t care if anyone does. I’ve had enough; it’s enough. My legs take me to the forest. I fall apart under a tree and can’t stand to sit up again. Aleida sits down in front of me with a sad smile. She puts my head on her lap and caresses my hair while I drink from the blood bag she helps me with. Those I’ve seen before as my family stand a distance from us and watch what happens.

“It’s okay, Kaylin,” Aleida whispers to me and helps me sit up.

I look at her, and for the first time since I let go of my beloved, a tear falls from my eye. Yolanda whispers something that makes Aleida nod.

“Kaylin, I want to take you to a place, a special place that I think you need to visit,” Aleida says softly, and I nod, feeling much stronger from the blood.

She gets up and helps me stand. I let her lead me further into the woods until we reach a glass coffin with a man I recognize. A tear falls from my eye, and I wipe it off. Another one falls, and before I know it, I can’t stop. I fall on my knees noiseless in front of my father’s final resting place and caress the glass. No sounds come from me because I can’t. My gaze falls on his face, and I almost expect him to open his eyes, jump out of the coffin and shout that he got me like so many times before when he scared me. Instead, he remains in front of me, motionless.

William walks towards me and stops with his clan a few steps away.

“Kaylin?” he asks in a sad tone, and I look up at him.

I get up slowly, put a hand on my stomach, and show every feeling I have inside me for the whole world to see before I talk.

“William Everton, you took everything from me,” I say in a firm tone I don’t think I possess before turning to the rest of his family. “All of you did.”

I don’t have anything more to say; there aren’t words that can describe the pain within me. Blake comes up to me, and when I see him, I fall apart. His arms surround me when all my grief comes out in strangled cries that cause Mother Earth to drop tears from the clouds in the sky in support. It has to stop now, everything. Because now I can’t take any more.

William’s POV

I see my beloved breaking apart in my cousin’s arms. My tears are falling, and I don’t know what to do. It’s my own stupidity that’s responsible for Kaylin’s pain. Mom and Vivienne are standing next to me, the shame clear as a star on a pitch-black night sky. Benjamin and Elijah walk up to Blake. Kaylin looks at them with tears falling on their cheeks and hugging them hard.

“Thank you for believing in me,” she cries, and my cousin looks at me with disgust.

You don’t have to look at me like that, Buddy. I already hate myself more than anyone else can. When Aleida stands next to Kaylin and wipes away her tears, my gaze lands on her belly. My beloved’s swollen belly carries a life, my child and I have allowed her to endure the torture that wasn’t hers to have to take from the beginning.

“Kaylin, I’m sorry you had to pay for crimes you didn’t do,” I say, and she looks at me.

“My only crime was to love you when you didn’t deserve it,” she replies, walking away.

“I’ll bring your beloved back to my territory for a couple of days,” Aleida tells me, and I nod while watching the love of my life disappear from me.

My mother leads me back to the limo, and once we get home again, I walk up the stairs into my bedroom. I let my eyes sweep across the room before smashing everything I can get hold of. The bed I shared with my supposed beloved is a sham, something unclean, a lie. The mirror where the woman I thought I loved earlier sat taunts me, and I smash it. I’ve been walking around here for months, loving someone other than my beloved. No matter how much I want to deny it, I can’t! I have given my love to someone other than Kaylin!

In the end, my powers run out, and I fall on the floor with a loud sob leaving my mouth. It’s a physical effort to breathe, and my heart breaks to pieces when I think of my betrayal marks on Kaylin’s body. I did that! Mom comes running into the room and embraces me.

“Everything will be fine, my darling,” she says in a broken voice, holding me while kissing my forehead. “Breathe, baby, breathe.”

“I broke her down, mom!” I cry.

“No, baby, you didn’t break her down. You just-,” she can’t finish the sentence because she knows it’s true, my brother comes into the room.

“You did broke Kaylin down, brother,” he says, walks up to me, and puts his arms around me. “Now is the time to build her back up.”

I cry on his shoulder and can’t even speak words anymore. All the torture and mental pain Kaylin had gone through could’ve caused the death of my unborn child. Why didn’t I listen to him when he tried to talk to me!? Why can’t I ever listen!? Why do I never learn? I indeed must be as worthless as my dad always told me.

Aleida’s POV

At home, my whole family is waiting for me to come back, and when the puppies run up to me, I laugh loudly at their cries of joy. Kaylin is standing a bit behind me, looking down at her hands. My mates come into the room with the rest of our family and seem astonished at Kaylin’s quiet form.

“Kay, no one here is going to hurt you in any way. But you need to take off Blake’s shirt before you sweat to death,” I say softly, and she nods.

I’m helping her get rid of my gamma’s thick sweater that’s way too big and way too hot for little Kaylin’s body. When they see my fellow royal’s injuries, my family gasps, and I smile encouragingly at her before walking further into the room.

“Everybody, let me introduce vampire princess Kaylin Clarkson,” I say. “These are my mates, brother, and best friends. You learn the names pretty quickly, but right now, you don’t have to do anything but take care of yourself and the little one. How about a spa day?”

Kaylin nods slowly, and a slight smile comes over her features. I take her to a guest room and excuse myself before walking back down.

“She’s fucking pregnant, and heavily so!” Kian growls quietly.

“I know, my love,” I answer, sighing and kissing him. “Why do you think I had to go there?”

“Where’s her beloved?” Miliano asks and kisses my cheek.

“William Everton is left with his family. Given everything Kaylin’s been through in recent months and that her humanity came back when she got to see her father’s body, I thought the best thing would be if she stayed here a few days,” I reply, and my mates smile large at me.

“You have an amazing soul, baby girl,” Miliano says, and I smile back before turning to my eager puppies.

“Okay, guys,” I say, squatting in front of them. “Mommy’s friend needs help right now and isn’t feeling well. She’s got many owies and needs me. Can you please be nice to your daddies and uncles until I finish?”

“But I want to come with you, mom!” Alexander exclaims, and I smile at my big boy.

“If you’re nice, you can meet her properly later tonight, okay?” I ask, and they nod eagerly. “Go check if there are any cookies in the kitchen.”

I give my mates some attention in the form of kisses because they can never get enough before walking back up the stairs to try to repair something that Blake’s stupid cousin smashed into pieces.

A/N:

Hello everyone!

Aleida got there in time to help Kaylin, and she broke down. William obviously feels shame, but it’s not enough to repair his beloved.

❀ Can Kaylin come back?

✿ Will her mental chains hold her back?

❀ Will she and William be able to mend their relationship?

Please let me know your thoughts since they help me develop in my creative process! Thank you for reading, lots of love.<3

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