BITE {Discontinued}

Her mouth opened, but she snapped it shut. “What is it?” Hades asked, and Guadalupe twirled the uprooted grass in her hands.

“C-could you try to reach Aiko?” she asked in a small voice, and Hades tilted his head. “Is that your wolf’s name?” Guadalupe nodded at his question, and Hades smiled.

“I’ll try my best. May I?” Guadalupe scooted closer, and his cold fingers pressed against her temples.

Cold fingers grasped at her ankle, and Aiko’s golden eyes popped open. A pair of red eyes peered down at her. “Gotcha.” A deep voice rumbled, amused.

Her heart stuttered, and a bushy tail thumped the ground once. “Hades?” The red eyes became attached to a body. “Who else?”

She felt her eyes brimming with tears. “I’m sorry.” She whispered, and Hades rolled his eyes. “What is it with you two apologizing for things that aren’t your fault?”

Aiko didn’t answer. Suddenly, he was closer; his nose pressed against her snout. “You have to stop blaming yourself, iubito. You won’t heal that way.”

Aiko scraped her claws against a solid pitch black wall.

“I know, but... I still could have tried. Stave them off until help came. Instead, I panicked at the mention of silver and shut off. I couldn’t even help her when he assaulted her. I-”

Cold fingers grasped at her jaw, and her head was turned, dull gold meeting angry red eyes. “Aiko. Stop.”

The tears that leaked out of her eyes were absorbed by her dark brown fur. ”I can’t.”

She couldn’t stop blaming herself for what happened.

“I’m supposed to be strong; strong enough to rule side by side with an Alpha. But I’m not. How could I be when I couldn’t even stop a human from hurting my human?”

‘I don’t deserve her; and she doesn’t deserve me.’

The grip on Aiko’s jaw tightened, snapping her out of her pity party. “What did I just say?” Hades growled lowly, and if it weren’t for the fact that she felt some connection to him, she would feel threatened.

“How do you think Nox would feel, hearing you say those things? How about Zev?” Aiko’s heart leapt.

"Zev..." She found herself whispering, melting at the sound of her mate’s name.

“He wouldn’t be happy in the slightest.” Aiko whined, her ears flattening against her head. “I don’t want to make my mate upset with me...”

“Then stop putting yourself down. He needs you; Guadalupe needs you.” His red eyes were hopeful.

“They... don’t hate me?” She never thought she would sound so insecure.

Hades shook his head, smiling softly. “No, they don’t. Now stop hiding.” And with a puff of smoke, he was gone.

Hades fell back onto the grass with a huff. Guadalupe felt dizzy, and gently lay herself down, groaning lowly as even the darkness behind her lids seemed to spin.

But apart from that, she could feel Aiko again; much more present than before.

“Lupe... I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Aiko. We’re going to get through this together.” Guadalupe felt Aiko smile, and she knew that they were going to be okay.

A second later, she was hauled off the ground. Her eyes popped open in surprise, and managed to catch Nox with golden eyes before his face was in the crook of her neck.

“Mate,” he breathed, squeezing her body to his, “I- you called me. I heard you.” Guadalupe was confused for a moment, but then figured that he meant Aiko.

“Well, you’re up.” Guadalupe said to Aiko, and snapped her eyes shut. She felt herself become less and less attached to her body, and when her eyes opened again, she was seeing life through a movie screen.

When she spoke, her voice sounded deeper; huskier. “I did; I’m sorry.”

Guadalupe felt the sparks when Zev kissed Aiko. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. Never be sorry.”

She felt herself melt in his arms. Her head drooped forward taking in the scent of her mate.

Hades rolled his eyes and drew closer.

“I have something I need to tend to in my kingdom. I will return by tomorrow morning.” Aiko’s eyes flickered to Hades, while Zev actively ignored.

“D-do you want Lupe back?” She asked, and Hades shook his head, closing the distance between them. “No. I don’t want to take you from your mate.”

Hades pressed his forehead against hers for a brief moment, then his cool lips took its place. Guadalupe felt her heart flutter. And before she knew it, he was gone.

Aiko curled closer to Zev, feeling his warmth envelop her. As the seconds ticked by, she could feel the tears beginning to prickle her eyes.

Guadalupe lurched forward wanting to comfort her, but stopped short when she realized that she couldn’t; not in the way she was used to, by squeezing someone to death and pouring as much love as she could into her embrace and her words.

This was something for Zev to do. He needs to be the one to squeeze her to death and pour all his love into his embrace, and into his words.

Guadalupe could feel Aiko’s thoughts; she could feel all the negativity brewing into a maelstrom she so desperately wanted to stop.

“Aiko please! It’s not your fault! We can get through this together; we can get stronger together!” Guadalupe cried, crumbling in on herself as the weight of Aiko’s thoughts pushed down on her further.

Zev squeezed her, then set her down on her feet. “Come with me.” Aiko didn’t respond as he took her hand and began leading her away.

They walked past people greeting them politely, and houses painted in gentle colors that complemented that of the forest’s so well. They were silent as they walked, but Guadalupe felt like she was suffocating.

Try as she might, Aiko’s thoughts were getting darker and darker as Guadalupe begged her to see the light.

“Don’t you want to live out a life with Zev? Don’t you want to know what it feels like to run with him? Please Aiko! Please stop thinking like this. I’m here for you! Zev is here for you! And Jamie, and Violetta, and Keon, and Hades.”

Guadalupe felt like she was choking on her own heart. She could feel intense heat and pain all over her body that seemed to grow stronger with each minute that passed by.

Their short, silent walk came to a stop. Aiko was so consumed with her thoughts that she didn’t pick up on the sound of the water lapping against the pebbles, or the sweet sound of the chirping birds in the rustling leaves of the trees.

She felt like she was in a painting, so beautiful and rare. “Zev...” Aiko trailed off as she felt his grip loosen on her hand. He lowered himself to the ground, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them.

Aiko slowly lowered herself down next to him, taking a similar position and staring out to the water, trying to see if she could glimpse what it was that had his attention.

“Nox and I come here a lot. We split out duties between our mother, Beta, and Gamma. It gives us more time to ourselves to think and explore the property. We never really got a chance to when we were younger since our father was pushing training on us. Even back then, he knew that he was going to leave us to become one of those pompous assholes.”

Aiko diverted her attention to Zev, taking in his side profile as he spoke. She remained silent, and in her head, it seemed like the mere sound of his voice chased those demons away.

Guadalupe coughed and gasped as the weight was being lifted off her. It had taken a toll, and her knees shook as she attempted to stand up, but she gave up after a few futile attempts. She could still see everything just fine where she was, and listened with rapt attention as the sound of his voice almost seemed to caress her from the inside-out.

“We have gone all over the place, marking the spots that we would take our mate to when we finally met them, and eventually our pups.” Zev looked around, and a small smile grew on his face. “Here is our favorite.”

Warmth grew in her chest. "Thank you for bringing me here." Zev huffed, the smile growing a bit more. He turned his head towards her and took one of her hands in his. "I'll take you everywhere."

The smile that was growing on Aiko's face retreated as Zev sighed heavily and took her other hand. "Angel, I brought you here because it's a place where I feel calm. It's where I came to cry because I didn't have you."

"Zev..." Aiko trailed off, her shoulders drooping at the thought of her mate in anguish. He brought both of her hands to his face, pressing them against his cheeks. "I want you to feel calm here too. I want you to cry and rage and feel anguish because you have every right to feel those things. And I want to be there to comfort you."

Her throat closed up so quickly that she heaved on her next inhale; and the next, and the next. Then she was weeping, with her head against his chest and her fists beating against the pebbles and a vice-grip on her heart that seemed to get tighter the more she cried.

One hand stroked her hair as the other pulled her closer. Zev put his chin against the top of her head, breathing deeply as he felt her pain through her cries. He had to stay strong for her, and allow her to release everything she has bottled up. Even if what she lets out might seep into him.

"Just let it out bambina; let it all out. You have every right to grieve and to feel furious. But you shouldn't keep it in. That's what's going to kill you. Take all of your anger out on me if you need to."

Zev didn't even wince as he felt Aiko's claws dig into his back she she gripped his shirt. He didn't wince when he felt her fist against his back, once, twice. He just wanted her to cry so that later, he wouldn't feel too bad when he does the same.

I'll still try writing, but my workload is going to get heavier in the coming weeks and bring back the writer's block that's been plaguing me for months. But I'll still try as much as I can.

< (^_^ ) > I hope you all stay safe~ (づ￣ 3￣)づ ~