Chapter 136: Alnitak Puts Together A Puzzle

(Alnitak)

No, no, not again. I watch as the plate drops from her hand and she doubles over in pain.

Quickly moving I gather both the plates and dump them on the table so I can gather her in my arms.

"Amaia!!!" My voice comes out, hoarse, laced with pain.

Why does this keep happening to her?

She says it’s not the vampire, then who else?

How many mates does she have?

Who is that bastard hurting her like that?

And I know she can feel through the mate bond who it is but she won’t tell me.

Why?

So many questions swirl in my mind as I hold her in my arms, just wishing to take away some of that pain.

"Breathe, take in large gulps of breath. That will help." I don’t even know what else to say to her, how to make these agonising moments lessen for her.

Her pet bird flies over, hearing her muffled cries and sits on her shoulder. Painful yowls escape him while he collects her tears with his beak. He rubs his beak on her cheek.

Amaia leans against my body and raises her head, placing it on my shoulder. She closes her eyes and just lets out slow whimpers from time to time.

Zevran continues to painfully howl in my head. He wholeheartedly believes she is our mate, and this whole mess is making him grumpier by the day.

Slowly, I rub her belly, hoping to take away even a tiny amount of the excruciating pangs she is experiencing.

"I am here with you, always," I say with conviction hoping my words can bring her some solace.

I am not sure when the pain subsides for her and she goes to sleep in my arms. Gently I lay her down. The tears have dried on her cheeks and she appears peaceful. Her pet clings to her, slithering inside her folded arms.

This state of hers breaks me more than anything else. She doesn’t deserve it, none of it.

Placing a small kiss on her cheek, I cover her with the blanket and wait for Kacir to return. I don’t want her to be alone.

He returns soon and instantly understands something is wrong.

"What happened?" He asks, his gaze shifting from me to Amaia.

"She had another episode."

Kacir drops himself on his bed and holds his face in frustration. "This is getting out of hand. Did she say who he might be?"

"I think it’s that vampire but she insists it’s not him," I answer, staring at her beautiful sleeping face.

"It can’t be, Ali. She had these episodes way before he joined the academy. My first instincts pointed towards Mintaka."

I knew Mintaka had been staying out of trouble since we joined the academy, but the state he stays in can take him off the bender.

"I would have known if it was him." My mind reels to unravel the mystery surrounding Amaia but nothing makes sense.

"I will keep an eye on her. Go get some rest," Kacir finally says, sitting and watching her.

"If anything happens again, let me know." Giving him a nod, I return to my room and find it empty.

Where is Mintaka?

Hardly has my back touched my bed when the door opens and he enters in a dishevelled state.

A foreign scent clings to him which my wolf instantly detects. He reeks of sex and alcohol and staggers on his feet.

How much did he consume? I hope he is not falling into old ways. The ones which led to all that chaos in our lives.

"Min?" I get up and hold him, leading him to his bed. "Where were you?"

He snorts but his voice is broken, expressions pained and regretful.

"Doing something bad..."

Helping him to bed, I sit beside him. The bond between us is overflowing with his misery and regrets.

"Talk to me."

"Haa! What’s there to talk about? I had been holding onto whatever sanity I had for so long but today...I lost control and let him take over. I went and had sex."

I lower my head and let his words sink in. He had been doing so much better—what triggered him today.

"Why are you going down the path of destruction again?"

He drops onto the bed.

"I can’t tell you," he simply says and rolls over, facing away from me.

Is he hiding from me?

His keeping a secret from me is something new. There are no secrets between us.

He appears so broken and intoxicated, the way he just blankly stares at the window, I can’t even be mad at him.

"Why not? You know you can share anything with me. I am like your other half, man."

"At least one of us will be happy. You deserve to be happy, I am used to this life now," he answers in a pained tone.

My hand reaches out, and I grab his arm, pulling him so he faces me.

"Don’t give me shit. Tell me what it is?" I demand, glaring at my brother.

But he jerks his arm away, trying to hide his torments. When I can literally feel them through our bond.

"Go to sleep, Alnitak. We have a nightmarish session tomorrow where I am going to scream like a baby, just because I am not mentally strong."

Is this what has been weighing him down?

He is afraid of the session with Saiph.

"You are going to do just fine. Everyone screams under his nightmares," I counter.

"Amaia didn’t..." he softly says. He hardly speaks about her but from the moment she has held him and brought him out of that nightmare, something has changed.

"Amaia is Amaia. We don’t understand what goes on in her pretty little head."

"Exactly, Amaia is Amaia," he says with a sigh and pulls the blanket onto himself, hiding away from me.

Min leaves me thinking. I get up, change and slip into my bed. But there is no sleep, I lie wide awake with my arm bent under my head and the other hand resting on my restless heart.

And then it suddenly clicks. The timing and I sit up straight in bed.

Wasn’t it exactly the same time when Mintaka was having sex with someone that Amaia had that episode?

What if one of her mates is Mintaka?

What if both of us are her mates along with that vampire?