Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.

Leilani.

For the first few seconds after Kael dropped the bombshell, saying it like it was nothing but a non-serious discussion about the weather, I felt nothing.

Nothing at all.

And then my numbness soon morphed into shock and then joy... before it finally settled on confusion.

I whipped my head around to face them, not missing the satisfied look on Gavin’s face— meaning either one of two things:

He already knows.

Or

He has been expecting that for a long time now.

And I swear to the goddess, I didn’t know how I felt about that. I didn’t know whether to be glad, whether to be sorry for him for being stuck with these three buffoons or if I should just—

"You guys want Gavin to be your Beta?" I hissed through my teeth, ignoring the looks they shared between each other before Zevran decided to fill me in.

He stumbled close to me— mostly because of his illness— and then took my hands in his as he drawled; "Gavin has always been the beta we chose and we would’ve made it formal a long time ago if..."

"Father didn’t die." I finished, lowering my gaze when he nodded. "I understand."

They went ahead to talk about the perks this would bring to ’our family’ but at this point, I had completely clocked out of the conversation.

Hell, I was happy for Gavin. Ecstatic even. I just... I didn’t know how to show it, especially with everything happening at the moment and especially after knowing that Maya was waiting outside.

My breath shuddered at the thought of her and the betrayal she must feel when she learns of my deceit. But shaking the feeling off my chest, I turned to the boys who were obviously having the times of their lives and asked;

"Maya is outside right?" I rasped, immediately changing the subject, and as soon as I did, everyone turned to look at me.

Gavin was the first to snap out of whatever he was lost in, and then he beamed a smile at me. "Yes. She doesn’t wish to come in because she believes she doesn’t look it."

"Doesn’t look what?" That was Caelum, the duffus.

"Look presentable!" Gavin completed, rolling his eyes at him before completely turning to face me. "She hasn’t looked presentable in about two weeks now, which is coincidentally just how long she has walked this earth believing you are dead."

Something about those words stuck out to me. It made my heart twist painfully in my chest, and made guilt— so much guilt that I feared I would choke and die from— claw its way to the base of my throat.

My eyes instantly filled with tears at the thought of what Gavin now wanted me to do— he wanted me to go to her. But for some reason, I felt less courageous.

I drawled; "No."

He didn’t seem surprised. Hell, it was as if he was completely unfazed. His eyes met mine and held in that icy manner that I haven’t been regarded with in a very long time; and in a voice so cold, it made me tremble slightly, he said;

"Then you would hurt her more than you already have."

Those words... those so carefully uttered twisted at whatever blade was already tearing its way through my heart.

My knees wobbled in fear and I turned away from him just then to have Caelum loop his arms around my shoulders.

His voice was so low, it was barely inaudible and his breath, so warm, fanned the corner of my face as he whispered;

"I could walk with you if you want..."

I froze.

For a moment, I didn’t move nor speak. I didn’t even have the mental capacity to think properly because I was so stunned, my brain had literally frozen and when I toothed to look at him... like really look at him, I couldn’t bring myself to believe that this was the same man I had hated with every living cell in my body.

I smiled at him softly and gently shook my head, my voice quaking as I rasped; "No, I can walk just fine."

"Okay then, I’ll help you to the door." He continued stubbornly, "...but if you change your mind and decide that I should help you to Gavin’s car, then I will."

At the sound of his words, my heart warmed even further. I nodded and I didn’t even need to say another word for him to know what I wanted.

I walked slowly as he led me to the door, but as we went, I couldn’t help but notice the way Kael and Zevran glared openly at Caelum, nor did I miss the words that Gavin mumbled under his breath next. He snorted;

"I thought they were sworn enemies?"

"Yes, they are— were!" Kael answered irritably, "...and then suddenly, they are not."

I would’ve laughed at his words if the case were different. But it was not. So I found myself holding back tears as he led me all the way to the door, out of the house, but then stopped when we noticed Maya standing far off with her back to us as she stared into the water fountain.

At the sight of her and her sunken shoulders, my heart sank. Whatever was left of my heart broke into a million tiny pieces... and I realized there and then that I have been a selfish bitch.

"I think I’ll leave you here..." Caelum said to me after a moment of tense silence and with a kiss to the top of my head, he turned and walked into the house, leaving me to deal with this alone.

But how could I?

How could I face her after hurting her so much?

How could I show my face to her after letting her mourn my death for days?"

I nodded several minutes after Caelum had gone— it was as if my brain had taken that much time to come alive— and after clearing my throat, I whispered;

"Maya?"

I saw her freeze. Saw the way her shoulders tensed but she didn’t turn around.

"Maya!" I said again, my voice trailing off this time, and maybe the way it broke at the end of the word was what finally worked the charm because she then turned around slowly, her eyes widening as she took in my entire frame.

And goddess, I had half expected her to cry or maybe scold me or something. Hell, even at some point, I had imagined her smacking me hard across my face, so nothing prepared me for what she did next.

She raked her eyes over my body like she had just seen a ghost and then ran off, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"HELP! IT’S A GHOST!"