Loving the leech (Guardians of Red Moon city #4)

Kaylin’s POV

I’m sitting in my room, not being able to understand what’s going on. My William loves someone else, and he knew deep down that it wasn’t me he had in his arms. My beloved could have lost not only me but also our daughter! Aurora wouldn’t have survived in my stomach if it weren’t for Aleida, and I would’ve burned at stake. All this while Jennifer watched with childish delight. Enough because I’ve read many books about evil and selfish vampires, but this takes the fucking price. This hardly helps me make my way through the darkness within me. How can it?

I close my eyelids, and quiet tears travel down my skin. What’s the point of all this? Why can’t I ever be happy? I fought like hell inside the arena, William was my only motivation, and now he doesn’t even want me. Soon Nathan will also opt-out of me while I remain alone to rot in my darkness. No, I’ll never be completely alone—considering my daughter, my only living relative, and my whole world. However, it doesn’t change the heavy feeling in my chest when I’m aware that my beloved cheated on me and knew about it all the time deep down.

How do I get on from this? Is it even possible? I’m grateful that Aleida is taking care of Aurora right now; I’m not sure I’d make it. She mentioned earlier that I would meet her other puppies too, which I look forward to. I don’t know why this hasn’t happened before; it may be because I’m in a dark place and all puppies except the oldest boys are hybrids. Aleida may feel that it’s too much for me to simultaneously integrate with too many people, which isn’t unlikely. I don’t know how I would’ve reacted, honestly. Children are a great passion in life for me, and I’ve always loved them. We’ll get along, I’m sure.

I wish my daughter wouldn’t have to possess two parents who don’t live together, but on the other hand, I won’t force William to live with me if he doesn’t love me. Keeping a family together for the children alone never works. It’s going to end up with him despising me, hate me because I’m not the woman he wants to wake up to every morning. Aurora deserves to grow up under safe conditions, and that’s not an option if I force him into a situation he’s not comfortable in. I’m not refusing William to meet Aurora, it’s his right to do, and even though it hurts me, I know she can’t get a better dad.

William is protective of those he loves, even me, whom he doesn’t love, which means that our daughter will always be safe in his company. I don’t know how this will work, though, given that I apparently also have a mate. Everything that’s going on is just spinning in my head, and I can’t think clearly no matter how much I try. The fact that my heart is damaging due to psychological stress doesn’t make it any easier. Everything just hurts so much, and I can’t let go that he still loves his ex! It hurts; everything hurts so damn laboriously that I can barely breathe! My breath gets heavier, and eventually, I cry hysterically.

I’m sure my loud sob echoes between the house walls, and I can’t stop. Footsteps approach, and a knock come from the door, but I refuse to open it. Anything that’s loose, I pick up and throw around the room until it cracks into thousands of pieces. When I see myself in the mirror and realize how degraded I actually am, I lose it completely. I pick up the mirror and throw it into the wall before falling on my knees straight down into the sharp shards. My body can’t hold me up, which results in me laying down on the pointy bits that cut into my skin and draw blood.

Someone kicks in the door, and Nathan is the first to see me. He throws himself at me and lifts me in his arms. I turn on him and continue to cry hysterically, for lack of other things. It feels like someone else controls my body when everything hurts, and the grief pulsates in my veins like poison. I realize that it isn’t only William’s betrayal that causes this, but also everything else that has happened. Brandon, Britney, mom, dad, the fights in the arena, the ones I killed, the council’s challenges, the torture, the loneliness in the cell, giving birth to my child, finding out that I have two men expecting me to love them and now this. It’s too much for my little body and weak heart to handle.

I clench my hand before putting it over my heart when it begins to hurt and breathe heavily. The pain continues to increase, and the blood rushes in my ears, resulting in me no longer focusing on what they around me say. Nathan talks to me, but I can not answer; everything is too much for me. Until I see him, then I break.

Nathan’s POV

“You’re so fucking stupid, man!” I exclaim and slap William on his arm.

To my great joy, he doesn’t shrug or fight back. Instead, he stands there, powerless, and looks after the crying Kaylin. The woman whose heart he just broke. At least he seems to have the sense to realize how stupid he is and looks ashamed.

“How can you do that to her, Will?” Elijah asks, and William puts his head in his hands.

“I don’t know, man,” he replies, rubbing his face. “I don’t know what’s going on with me.”

Kaylin is already breaking, and it doesn’t get any better when William does this. She can’t take much more; she can’t handle it. Everyone has a limit on how much they can manage, and she passed her limit a long time ago.

“You can’t keep playing with her the way you do! She has taken a prison sentence and almost died for something she didn’t do! Your daughter could’ve died too, instead of taking it into consideration, you decide to miss the evil woman responsible for it!? When will you grow up and start taking responsibility for your actions instead of blaming others every time they point out a truth you don’t want to acknowledge?” I growl.

Glass breaking in the house makes me hurry there. I knock on Kaylin’s door and hear her scream hysterically while more things break. In the end, I kick the door in and watch my mate lie among the shards that cut into her delicate skin. She slaps me on the chest and refuses to calm down. I lift her in my arms and try to communicate with her. Nothing I do works, which results in me having to take her to the pack hospital. Kaylin’s crying continues to spread in the house, and when she sees William, she flies at him. She takes a grip of his hair and drags him out on the back.

William lands with a loud thud in the ground and doesn’t defend himself against the blows of his beloved. He gets up and lets her hit him, with tears in her eyes. William knows that he’s responsible for how Kaylin reacts and feels now.

“Everything is your fault!” she roars with tears squirting on her cheeks. “You did this! Everything hurts so fucking bad, and I don’t understand how I could ever love you, considering that’s the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. You knew it wasn’t me, admit it! Look me in the eye and admit that you knew it was me they tormented down in the cell instead of Jennifer, but that you simply didn’t care because you love her more.”

William sadly looks at Kaylin and hesitates for some reason. Don’t tell me he was aware that it wasn’t Kaylin he had in his arms. William, please don’t do this to her anymore, don’t hurt her. She simply can’t take it.

“It’s true,” he eventually replies, and Kaylin nods slowly, significantly calmer than before.

She wipes her tears, breathes in a couple of times, and then does the strongest thing I’ve ever seen.

“I, Kaylin Clarkson, reject you, William Everton, as my beloved,” she says with her back straight and her head unbent while William doesn’t say anything back. “Confirm it!”

Kaylin’s orders are justified now because, honestly, he will only continue to play with her while still loving Jennifer. William tries to resist but fails in the end.

“I, William Everton, accept your rejection,” he replies, falling to his knees.

My mate turns around and walks away without looking around. William’s mother follows her and talks low to her while the rest of us stare irascible at William. He’s got the sense to look ashamed, at least, or I would bang it into his head. William doesn’t deserve Kaylin; it’s as simple as that. He hurts her again and again without thinking. Playing with someone’s feelings that way is never okay. Instead, he continues to do it like it’s completely fine. And now Kaylin is broken down; the question is whether she can ever get back after this.

William has tears on his cheeks, and honestly, I feel sorry for him, despite his idiocy. After all, he just lost the one predetermined for him, the one who’s supposed to be his everything. However, Benjamin seems to think the other way around.

“You’ve got no fucking right to feel unhappy now, William. All this time, you’ve been aware of what was at stake, and yet you’re constantly making the wrong choice. You’ve lost Kaylin forever now, and you’re lucky if you ever see her again. I don’t think she’s going to deny meeting your child, but Kaylin, there you no longer have any chance,” Benjamin says and starts going after my mate but turns around just before he’s out of sight. “After all, you never wanted a beloved and never deserved her anyway.”

Aleida and Kaylin come back outside after a while. But instead of stopping at us, they continue into the forest. I look questioningly at Aleida, who’s sighing.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“We’re going to hunt rogues,” my little sister replies, and I’m about to protest when Kaylin is suddenly gone.

“Kaylin! Shit!” Aleida says and runs into the forest.

We run for several minutes and try to catch up with her without success. It’s like she disappeared in the air. I get a mindlink from my brother, who announces that Kaylin is back on the territory. We hurry there and see her come trailing with a rogue around his neck. Her mouth drips blood, and I worry she can’t control it, but she seems okay despite the circumstances. She throws him on the ground in front of her.

“You’re going to do what Queen Aleida says from now on, you understand?” Kaylin asks in a menacing voice that makes the rogue nod violently. “Or I’ll break your windpipe.”

She shows her fangs for effect, and the rogue hurries to fall on his knees in front of Aleida’s feet. I look surprised at Kaylin and notice that the others have the same expression.

“I’m at your disposal, Queen Aleida, until the end of time,” the young man says, bowing his head.

Kaylin walks away, and after Aleida gives the order to lock the rogue in the dungeons, for the time being, she hurries after my mate. What the hell are we going to do? Kaylin is hurting, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Aleida’s POV

I’m worried about Kaylin. Her feelings are everywhere and nowhere at the same time; it’s not healthy. On the other hand, this is the consequence of being without your humanity, no matter how large or small part is turned off. When turned on again, you end up in a place that’s difficult to get out of. You can see it as running on a treadmill with alligators behind you, and if you stop, you die. It’s always a power struggle to get out on the other side wholly skinned. Previously obvious things are now uncertain, and nothing is connected anymore. That balance walk is hard to get out of, but Kaylin has to if she’s going to survive.

We just need to coach her until she starts to feel feelings other than sadness. Which emotion doesn’t matter, but anger would be the best; then we’ve got something to work with! I’m surprised Kaylin does such a thing as looking up a rogue who promises to be loyal to me. Why does she do that? Her loyalty to me is admirable. Mainly since we don’t know each other very well, but I can see her pain and support her in the best way because I found myself in a similar place a few years ago. I plan on helping her, and now that Blake’s cousin isn’t her beloved anymore, it’s getting easier.

William hasn’t precisely behaved like a dismaying beloved who just realized that his woman endured incredible amounts of pain and could’ve lost their child. Instead, he’s a selfish asshole who sees only his own interests, in this case, Jennifer. Kaylin is feeling betrayal and sadness; I understand her perfectly. If Kian or Miliano exposed me to what she had to go through, I wouldn’t survive. There’s no greater sin than deselecting to protect and love the one that the goddess has chosen for you. William fancies away the best choice for evil embodied, and the goddess of darkness will punish him severely.

I just hope she can get out of the darkness she’s in and get back to the joy she once felt. Hopefully, with William out of the picture and with my brother’s help, she might succeed. Nathan and Kaylin are perfect for each other. Blake researched her and found only good things. Just such a thing as working with addicts who want to get out of old habits because she passed through it herself is admirable. She’s been through so much grief in such a short time, and I can’t help but recognize the depressed patterns. After all, it’s only a few years ago since I did the same thing.

I find Kaylin in her room and decide to introduce her to my other puppies. It didn’t feel like it was a good time to introduce everyone at once; after all, we’re a big family. Kaylin was so broken when she came here that what she needed most was to rest and breathe out a little. Alexander and Elias are with their nanny; they also have Aurora with them. Which leaves my other seven puppies; Adelita, Benita, Lucia, Carlos, Santiago, Michael, and Esmeralda. You may not remember this, but my quadruplets came a couple of months after the triplets were born.

I felt that at least one of my sons needed to have the name after my best friend, who, unfortunately, is no longer among us. My triplet girls turn seven soon, and the quadruplets turned six recently. My age? Yes, what’s eighteen plus seven? I predict an age crisis within a few months. Kaylin’s quiet crying takes me back to reality, and I put a hand over my chest. Her pain is so apparent that every person nearby can feel it. Kian comes walking my way and stops some distance away before his steps approach me again. I close my eyes and feel the tears fall on my cheeks.

“Lepa, are you okay?” my mate asks, and I slowly shake my head.

His footsteps stop right in front of me, and his hand wipes away my tears. I open my eyes and look into my mates’. Kian asks nothing but puts his arms around me, and I lean my head on his chest.

“You’re doing everything you can, baby,” he sighs and kisses my forehead, which makes me shake my head.

“It’s not enough,” I sob. “Kaylin is going down, and I don’t know how to help her. She needs aid before it goes too far.”

He lets me cry for a short while for my friend who needs the kind of help I can’t contribute. Slowly we walk together to the children’s playroom where my puppies are playing. Kian walks up and talks to them. My seven little angels jump up and down with joy to meet Kaylin. Alexander and Elias walked proudly around, boasting that they met the vampire princess, which resulted in many sour faces from their younger siblings. However, it seems they’ve forgotten now when they’ll help me try to cheer up Kaylin; hopefully, it helps. She’s so lovely with the boys and seems to love kids; I hope this works.

We walk in a squad to Kaylin’s room, and I knock gently. After a low “come in,” I open the door, and my puppies are wise enough to wait until I introduce them. When she sees my children, Kaylin’s eyes shine up, and I realize it’s the right choice to bring them here.

“Kaylin, let me introduce Carlos, Lucia, Benita, Michael, Adelita, Esmeralda, and Santiago,” I say, pointing to my children in the order I say the names. “Children, this is Kaylin, the vampire princess and mother of your big brothers’ mate.”

My friend smiles at all my puppies with tears in her eyes that fall when they’re smiling. All seven rush forward and climb onto the bed to comfort her. They hug each other as if they’re friends who lost each other many years ago, and again my mommy heart warms up by seeing something this cute. Kaylin mimics a “thank you” and starts answering my puppies’ questions. Yes, she’ll come back. She has to.

A/N:

Hello dear readers!

William is a bigger asshole than any of us could have imagined, and now he’s no longer Kaylin’s beloved, gratefully enough.

❀ Did she make the right choice to reject him?

✿ Will it come back at a later stage and cause problems, or is it a completed chapter?

❀ How will the future develop?

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