Once My Mate, Always My Mate

Sabrina’s POV

I will say, seeing Aiden again... His face, all the same, and the voice flowing around the room. He was leaning on the door frame, looking straight at me, my eyes were doing the same as they never, not once, looked away from him. I may not want to admit it and I will never say it out loud just yet but I have missed him, had he been gone for a minute it would still feel like he was gone forever. He was back just in time to watch me gift someone else what was once his and to make matters worse, I had his mother imprisoned... once again risking the awakening of his darkened soul that seeks to torture me...

However, Aiden’s eyes looked different. They made me feel different and it felt like I was staring at a stranger but also, his features that were still the same, told my mind otherwise... That he was still the same guy that left some time back in search of a purer form of self.

"Well, this just went left.” Josey blurts out. She looked between Aiden and me.

My family quickly gets over Aiden’s sudden appearance, forgetting that he is standing right there and they start to berate me once again for my choice to make Xander immortal. Anthony reminds me how I had Aiden act a whole fool and almost had the realm question the family... which we can't completely blame Aiden but a topic for another day.

My mother tells me how childish I can be, or how I rush into commitment without thinking things through. I am still not sure if I should feel insulted or not... This is my mother and one mention of her actions could shut her up but I know, respect thy elders.

My father, on the one hand, does not argue like the rest of my family minus Josey... No. He tells me that such a gift should only be gifted to those that share the blood of his family... It is not something you can just easily give away for it can be a heavy thing for many to carry. Life is meant to end and even he is envious of those gifted the life of mortality. A fleeting life with no script, giving you the chance to make something of yourself before it is taken from you. That is something we would never get to experience as we watch our loved ones die and to give Xander such a burden, is to rob him of his true course in this life. For once, my father spoke from the heart. He made more sense than anyone in the room but how can I watch Xander grow old and eventually die while I stay the same for however long? One day, the immortality will be stripped from me and gifted to the next moon goddess but until then, I am stuck as the one that cannot be killed.

"I agree with your father, Sabrina.” Xander drops the bomb that even I was afraid to accept and throw out. My heart would have never allowed me to just accept that even in his earthly strength, where he was the predator and strongest compared to humans, his life was nothing if we had to measure it to this world.

"You don't want to live longer? By my side?" I ask, trying to gather myself and not to break down in this room with everyone around me, with Aiden in the room.

"I was never meant to have such a gift. It has never been mine so I don't think I should have it. Drastos will grow up and eventually need it if he does not have it already since his father is like me, an earthling and maybe you should save it for him. Your brother, Cj, is the only other person I'd say deserves it. He deserves to be king for a few thousand years because the alphas in our generation and the one before us are evil and greedy. We need someone like him to keep us all in line and to help the werewolf race reach pinnacles we have never reached before.” Xander tries to explain but it all goes into one ear and out the next. All I can think about is how in the world did I end up at such a crossroads?

I have one mate who abused the power and used it against me. A mate who wanted it so bad that I had to take it away and then I have a chosen mate who wants nothing to do with it.

I watch the elders walk out of the room, not a word from them. Aiden steps out of the way to let them pass through the open door and he goes back to leaning on the frame.

"Do I get a say in the matter?" Aiden asks and everyone else, besides me because after the elders left, my eyes were fixed only on him... So I was already looking at him before he spoke.

"Firstly, I want to say, respect. I respect you, Xander for denying yourself such power. Not many can freeze time but Sabrina can and the fact that you are putting others, a child that is not even yours before you, well.. respect. Secondly, I think we should allow the man to decide for himself what is good enough for him. Yes, it sucks that he has to die eventually but don't we all? His will be sudden but that is one of the joys of being an earthling... The balance between life and death. Also, did you ever consider the ramifications if he had accepted this gift from you? I mean, he is an earthling and you want to grant him powers of a different realm.” Aiden says to me, as he walks up to me.

"I know what I am doing and the elders have found nothing that could go wrong with gifting him immortality.” I retort, boiling from the inside at such a stupid question.

"Don't shoot me... I was just asking. I have learned my lesson and I don't want to mess with you ever again. I am a new man Sabrina. Everything is different about me but the one thing that has remained the same is that you have always had my heart.” Aiden tells me.

"Can we do this in private?" I ask him but he shakes his head no. "Sabrina, once my mate... always my mate,” Aiden says to me but he was looking at Xander.

"And when I offered to allow you the chance to be with this earthling, I did not plan on you making him an immortal being. He needs to die like all earthlings so I can have you to myself once he is gone. I am a patient man, and even more so since my sabbatical but don't push me.” He says and Josey chuckles.

Aiden turns to face the rest of my family...

"I know you all thought I would be gone for some time and maybe that is why Sabrina opted to gift the other man immortality. It is completely understandable why she would resort to such a decision, especially since he has been kind to her from the start and I have been an absolute devil but I am a changed man. Anger does not sit well on my face but Sabrina does... I am back for my mate and only for her.” Aiden says to my family. My father's face changes to a sour one and I finally understand what Aiden meant when he said he had changed.