Page 19 of Reclaiming His Lost Mate (Secret Legacy #3)

S elina

“I can’t believe he’s gone just like that,” I heard Tom say under his breath with somewhat of a sullen look cast over his features as we walked the narrow path home with Mia.

I wondered if I should break it to Tom that my irrational words and feline behavior toward Alexis were why there had been no sign of him around for days now and that Alexis left Matsuna because of me.

But a fiercer wave of guilt washed over me as I watched Mia, a couple of feet ahead of us, and I knew from the languid way she was kicking stones that Alexis was on her mind, too.

The last few days, she’d shared countless stories of him—how he’d taught her to climb trees, how he’d helped her identify herbs in the garden, and how he’d told her stories about Shadow Moon.

The last thing I wanted was for Tommy’s comments to make Mia dwell on how she missed him again.

“Well, you have to believe it,” I muttered weakly, trying to divert my thoughts from my guilt.

In the past few days, there had been no flowers appearing at my doorstep or inside my herbal shop when I turned to the storeroom to get something.

There had been no Alexis to help around with broken stuff without me asking, and most of all, there had been no way for me to get the dejected picture of his face out of my mind right when I ordered him out of our lives.

I didn’t intend to, but I’d become the same thing I ran away from. I was unfair to Alexis, not once putting his feelings and efforts into consideration, and I was now feeling the loss of his presence.

“Well, you have to believe it,” I muttered weakly, eyes trained on Mia kicking a stone as she trailed two feet in front of us. “Life has to go on.” Difficult as that was.

“You’re right,” Tom agreed, adjusting my heavy tote bag on his right shoulder as he spoke while giving me a knowing eye.

“I mean, I’m surprised he could even stay here for so long.

I was beginning to fear for Shadow Moon Pack,” Tom said, unknowingly twisting the dagger of guilt deeper against my skin.

Tom had visited the shop at closing hour to bring me a sample of a new herbal plant I was trying out, and he insisted on walking us home.

The gesture sprung a similar memory of Alexis doing the same thing every day for weeks, and I swallowed the gnawing feeling inside me, telling myself that Alexis’s absence was what I wanted since he returned to our lives.

With him being gone, I didn’t have to fear that Mia would be taken away from me. It was for the best.

Pouring my focus into the new formula I was trying with the rare frostvine leaves Tom supplied didn’t help me think less about Alexis and how poorly we left things off, but my mantra, "It’s for the best," was what kept me going. I didn’t need to be told that said mantra was just a measly shield used to pull myself together because when Lyvia’s infused trinkets dinged around closing time five days later and I turned around expecting to find Tom offering to walk us home again but saw Alexis instead, the air completely slammed out of my lungs, and I tethered on my feet.

He was the same person, with the same electric blue eyes grounding me in place and the same commanding presence and addictive scent, but that didn’t stop my tongue from tying up in my desert-dry throat or my heart from bouncing off to the rooftop .

Alexis was here again. In Matsuna.What was he doing back here? I was sure that my words had been enough to drive him away forever.

“Selina,” the thick rumble of his voice called out and washed over me as he came into full view, and I swallowed.

Before I could choke a word out, Mia ran out of the storeroom with a gasp, having heard Alexis’s voice. “Alexis!” She yelled, running straight toward her father, whom she had become fond of over such a short time.

I suppressed a wince, asking myself if I wasn’t also being unfair to Mia by keeping Alexis away and his identity unknown to her.

Letting my eyes settle on Alexis instead, I saw his usual reaction to seeing Mia.

His eyes softened around the edges, and a warm smile played on his once stiff face with her presence.

“Hi, Mia,” Alexis said, crouching low to wrap his arms around Mia, who was fiercely clinging to where her height met his knees as if he was going to disappear otherwise.

“Long time, no see. I’m sorry I couldn’t say goodbye before I left,” he added, and Mia chuckled, but it was Alexis’s words that pulled me back to the invisible veil hanging over our heads.

“Mia baby,” I called out breathlessly, wiping clammy hands over my skirt like that was going to dust off the nerves. “Go get your bag ready, let's head home.”

Mia did as I said, leaving after a small wave to Alexis, and he rose to full height, taking a few purposeful steps closer to me. Caging me in.

The urge to flee wasn’t there. Instead, heat trickled up my legs, settling into a pool below my stomach.

“Alexis,” I said, finally finding my voice. “I thought you left for good. What brings you back?”

His eyes searched mine, holding me captive as he explained, “There were pack matters that I couldn’t put off any longer, so I had to leave temporarily, but I have attended to many pressing ones and have met with my enforcers to ensure the pack is safe until I’m able to return.

” Gesturing to the high stools behind us, where customers usually sat by the counter, Alexis went on cautiously.

“Can we speak? I promise not to take much of your time.”

I nodded. After being away for so long, his presence was calming to both me and my wolf, so I agreed, wanting to enjoy this sense of peace a little longer.

Shuffling heavy feet backward, I sat on one of the stools, hands clasped on my lap as I waited for Alexis to speak. Waves of determination rolled off him, eyebrows set in a straight line, telling me that Alexis knew what he was about to say.

He began. “While I was away, I couldn’t help but think back to your words.

” Black water instantly rose to my throat as flashes hit me, and I couldn’t even recognize the woman who was so out of character with Alexis, but before I could berate myself further, his resolute voice cut through my thoughts.

“And I did some deep thinking, making me come to the realization that I was wrong. I handled things poorly, and I am sorry,” he said slowly, and my eyebrow shot up in question.

“How so?” I asked with a little shake of my head for clarity.

“I was…terrible to you, Selina,” Alexis said, face pinching like the words physically hurt to say out loud.

“And you bore that pain for so long, only for me to come back with nothing but an apology and gifts like those were supposed to fix every straw I broke.” I nodded once, urging him on even though emotions tried to fight their way to light.

Unable to hold his gaze anymore, I looked away, but that didn’t stop Alexis.

“I’ve realized that I cannot live a life without both of you now, but I want to prove to you that I am not that monster anymore.

I need to, and I am not giving up,” he gritted out, clenching his fists by his side.

I shook my head, sighing heavily as confusion set in. “How, Alexis? How do you want to do this?”

Even if it was just to myself, I was going to admit that some part of me hoped that the Alexis who hurt me five years ago wasn’t the same man who I’d seen in the last few months.

Alexis spoke without hesitation, jaw set firmly. “I brought someone. She’s outside.”

My head slowly snapped to the closed entrance door, and as if sensing my puzzlement, Alexis stood up, striding to the door with coordination and opening it for his guest to pass through.

A black, finely-knitted satchel bag matching her flowing hair was the first indication of her presence before Lyvia’s warm amber eyes found mine. She approached, and my eyes darted between her and Alexis as my brain scrambled for a connection.

“Hello, Selina,” came Lyvia’s greetings, but my mouth had been filled with rocks, and I couldn’t offer one back, only a jerk of my head.

“With your permission,” Alexis began, confirming my earlier thoughts, and I struggled to keep up with his words as blood thundered in my ears.

“I would like Lyvia to perform a blood oath between us—” he gestured firmly as he spoke.

“A solemn promise from me to you under the seeing eyes of Igaluk that I will never disrespect you or your choices by forcing our daughter away from you.”

My lips parted in an inaudible gasp, eyes glazing over with more emotions than I could comprehend.

“Alexis. A blood oath…is a life or death promise,” I strangled out, shaking my head in disbelief, eyes unfocused as I waited for someone to say this wasn’t real.

Blood oaths were not something to be taken lightly and not an action anyone would ever partake in without knowing what it meant or its severity. They were only used in making pacts on relationships that could never be broken and were most sacred to both Igaluk and any society.

“I know this,” Alexis’s baritone voice replied with a firm nod, and I looked over to Lyvia, who was silent, telling me that she, too, understood the gravity of what was happening.

“Do you consent to this, Selina?” Lyvia asked, cutting through my haze of emotions. I considered her words and Alexis’s.

If Alexis could go this far for me and Mia, proving his trust and loyalty to us with a most sacred bond, that would change a lot of things.

It would mean that I wouldn’t have to fear each of his actions or for Mia’s safety, and maybe, just maybe, Mia could have the life that every child deserved.

I, too, could properly let go of the bitterness from our past.

Dragging my eyes back to Alexis’s turbulent ones, I shook my head once, still skeptical and honestly scared.

“This is too great a risk, Alexis,” I voiced my worry, swallowing thickly to get the nerves under control.

“If…if the blood oath should be broken, the consequences…are dire, Alexis,” I said, but resolve swam in his eyes as he look ed into mine, taking a deliberate step closer to me and breathing out heavily like he was restraining himself from the other things he wanted to do.

“Believe me, Selina, I have thought about this long and hard. I have considered every repercussion that going against my word would cause to me and my pack, but that, too, is not enough to deter me from you and Mia,” Alexis explained.

“Please, let me prove myself to you.” I was about to disagree again when Alexis whispered, “Please, Selina,” and I let my eyes close briefly, breathing in and out once, before opening them back with a small nod.

“Okay.”

My heart hammered with blood as Lyvia took out the essentials from the bag over her shoulder—a small ancient-looking dagger—and I pulled myself up to my feet, closing the remaining distance to stand toe-to-toe with Alexis.

Energy hummed from the witch and bounced off the walls and roof as she began chanting the spells that would forever and unequivocally bind Alexis and me, and I held his eyes, silently asking him if he was sure of what he was doing.

Alexis gave me a solitary nod, and I gave him one back as I let Lyvia’s foreign words wash over me.

Alexis first offered his right palm to Lyvia as she brought the knife forward to cut a straight line across his palm, crimson fast staining the calloused flesh.

Alexis barely flinched. Lyvia turned to me, and I did the same, offering her my right palm and biting in a wince as she cut across it, too, blood filling my palm and dropping down the back of it.

“Maintain your gazes and shake hands,” Lyvia commanded, and the shop shook with a brewing storm as we did as she asked, our blood mingling and tying us together.

The storm swirled around Alexis and me, and I could see his irises glimmer and blow outward till his eyes were almost entirely covered in black.

Lyvia went on. “Do you, Alexis, swear to Selina to respect her choices in the order of things moving forward, including those pertaining to your daughter, Mia? Do you swear this?”

His response only took a second to form. “I swear it.”

The storm slammed into me, the feeling unforgettable, as pressure mounted from the soles of my feet to every single nerve in my body, trailing back down until it settled in my chest, sinking itself into my heart like a vice.

As abruptly as the blood oath started, it ended, but everything had changed. I could feel it.

“It is done,” Lyvia said, and from the corner of my eye, I saw her retrieve a small rag to wipe our blood off the ceremonial knife.

“I will leave you two to it now,” she finished, but I could barely acknowledge her when I was still staring into Alexis’s eyes, which were returning to their electric shade.

My heart thrummed with his promise, a reminder of the length Alexis had gone to prove his intentions to me and our child, and for the first time since he found us, I could say I had gained some clarity.

“So, what now?” I breathed out like someone who had just run a marathon up and down a steep mountain, and Alexis responded in the same breathless tone.

“Now, I hope you will let me show you how much I have changed and am no longer the twenty-five-year-old who was scared to repeat history because of his parent’s failure.

Let me show you, Selina,” he murmured lowly, a bloody, calloused palm rising to stroke my cheek gently as he called my name like it was some delicate flower, “that what I feel for you is beyond supernatural or a just tug. That I will be a good mate to you, and a good father to our daughter,” he said, whispering the last part out as Mia emerged from the back of the store around the same time.

I melted into Alexis’s touch and his words, my body igniting with a ferocious heat upon contact. Although I had tried to guard my heart, his presence stirred something within me, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could ignore this feeling—or how much I truly wanted to.