Fated To The Alpha
Chapter 263

mate.

Time was not something I really paid attention to. I felt Jonah with Ella earlier, and I had been fighting the urge to go to them ever since. Yet I welcomed the pain from my link to Jonah; I didn't see it as betrayal, just that Kaif was stupid enough to mark him as our He was never intended for us but for her. However, the pain was a distraction from the torment of grief rolling through me. The guilt, anger, and profound sadness that ebbed was relentless as I sat in this silent house that was much too big for a coven, let alone one person. Working just served to p**s me off, so I gave that idea the flick the moment it rose and our employees didn't deserve to put up with my attitude or an uneasy Kaif rearing his head and snapping at someone. Yet the bottle in my hand didn't serve its purpose of drowning my sorrow, it just made me think more about it.

"We could always go home," Kaif growled at me.

"We are home, idiot," I snap at him. All this because he had to dip his wick in Hades' daughter. I thought with a snarl, earning a growl from Kaif at my thoughts. How one mistake could have a domino effect falling into the next generation and so on, destroying an entire bloodline, the same loss and heartache again and again.

"Home is wherever they are, this is just a house," Kaif said, and I raised my eyebrows at his words and let out a breath.

"No, this is our p****n to your past," I tell him bitterly.

"This isn't a p****n, Kyan. You have a door you can walk out of. Your father doesn't. None of them do. They don't get a choice. You still have one, so make the right one,"

"Yeah, because you were so accepting of Jonah when he was talking about f*g our mate," I told him. I wasn't going to put Jonah at risk and, in turn, put Ella at risk by going over there even though that is all I wanted to do.

Kaif sighs. "I didn't disapprove, Kyan; I was just uncomfortable." I shake my head. To me, it was the same difference.

"Doesn't matter the fact remains, we are destined to be on our own, at least then no more curse because no one to follow on the name, or our cursed blood, and I won't have to abandon no kids, so we good," I tell him, swigging from the bottle.

"It's not just about following on the name or bloodline Kyan, and he didn't abandon you; Mara still loves us. You just refuse to allow her too." Kaif snapped at me.

"Yeah, because you loved your mates so much you k****d them," I spat, instantly regretting it when I felt his hurt at my words,"

"When I met Luna, I loved her instantly. Then her father took her away, leaving me with a son to raise. I was bitter and angry at Hades, but I still loved Luna. She broke me when she returned, but she didn't return for me; that crushed me most," Kaif murmurs. I roll my eyes not wanting to listen to his life lessons, though Kaif was determined to give them.

"Then Hades cursed me, and as much as I hated him, she was his daughter, and I probably would have done the same. Yet even with him cursing me, I still found I loved her, despite her hating me, and you know why?" Kaif asked me, and I rolled my eyes. "Why?" I asked.

"Because she was the mother of my son, that was one thing I could always love her for, for giving me a son," Kaif answered.

"And the others?" I asked him. I didn't understand why he just kept going with the curse. Why not just remain on your own and let it d*e out naturally?

"I loved all of them, each and every single one of them even after they tried to do what they did. I knew it wasn't their fault, yet I loved my children more; I picked them over and over again, even if it meant destroying the women I loved repeatedly. I loved them, and I loved all my kids Kyan.

Why do you think I always made sure to keep them safe, to set their mothers free and their future kids free. I couldn't just give up and d*e and let them rot in the shadows, not even Luna when she rejected."

"But you didn't abandon your sons?" I tell him.

"No, but I made a sacrifice just like what your father did, only different. He chose your life over him, he chose your future over his and Ella's because she was an important part of it.

He did what a parent is supposed to do. I get you're angry and sad, but if the tables were turned, what would you have done?" I thought his words over knowing I would have done the same, or the guilt would have made me do the same in the end anyway. "Lucas was the same, Kyan; he didn't have to take your father's place and raise you. He did it because he wanted to. You were the last piece of his sister, his nephew. Your mother's child, he could have hated your father for taking your mother as his mate, knowing the bloodline was doomed; your father never hid it.

He was always upfront with him, that much is clear because Lucas always knew more than he should. He did it because your mother loved your father, and he respected the mate bond.

He then honored her by being there long after she died; he didn't have to be. He was always helping raise you, and he did right into adulthood. He took the place of your father, so you had one, you became his son too, and once you were grown, he still stayed when he could have left. Kaif tells me.

"Lucas could have had a life," I scoffed. He would be alive still if he walked away as he should have.

"Yes, but you became his life because he chose you over himself; you were more important. Lucas stayed despite being petrified of the future your father told him would come true, the one he kept hidden from even us, and why is that Kyan? What do you think the future was your father saw for Lucas?" Kaif asked.

"You believe Lucas knew Marabella would k**l herself because of me?" I ask him.

"I know he did because he stood right there and didn't flinch when Eziah plunged that knife into his neck. He had plenty of time to move Kyan, but he remained. He chose his son because you were as much his as you were your fat hers.

Lucas chose Marabella over himself because you needed her more than you needed him. Lucas didn't need kids; he had you, and he was content with that because if he wasn't he would have walked away, but he didn't. A child doesn't have to be made by you for you to love them like your own, look at Jonah," Kaif said before prattling on. Though I was actually paying attention to the old fossilized Lycan.

"You think you lost your father, but you gained two more. Andrei always treated us like his, just like he treated and loved Jonah the same as Rose. You lost your father but gained two others in Andrei and Lucas.

Your father's sacrifice was necessary for his son to live, just like mine was to ensure my sons lived. He gave his last breath to ensure you took your next one. Just like I broke my own heart repeatedly by k*****g them to ensure my sons kept beating, you can't have everything without losing something in return,"

"But I have already lost everything, Kaif. Look around. No one is here," I snapped at him.

"Yes, because they're waiting for you to pull your d*n head out of your as and stop wallowing over things you can't change," Kaif growled.

"Yeah, from the feels earlier, they aren't waiting," I deadpan.

"And you call me jealous!" Kaif huffs.

"I'm not jealous; I am... happy for them?" Though that tasted wrong on the tip of my tongue as I said it.

"So happy that you are here and they are there waiting for you?"

"They aren't b****y waiting?"

"If they weren't waiting, why did Jonah ask you about sleeping with her, knowing she was our mate? Why would they both ask you to stay?" Kaif breathed, shaking his head at me. "Whatever," I breathe when he forces control of my drunken body, making me stand up; I face-planted the moment he stood me up.

"Should have done that slower," Kaif laughed as I shook my head, getting on my hands and knees. The glass bottle in my hand shattered as I landed on top of it. I look down at my ruined shirt and growl.

"Stop crying over wrinkled shirts and spilled whiskey. You already look like s**t, so can't look much worse," Kaif growls, forcing me to my feet again. I stagger to the door, snatching my keys.

"You can't drive. We have to walk. You're drunk," Kaif snarled at me shaking my hand out until I dropped them and I growled at him.

"If you can bend down and get them without falling on your face, you can have them,"

"I am not walking there," I snarl at him.

"Then ring Jonah to come to get you," Kaif said, shaking my head. I clutch it with my hands. His quick movements were going to make me puke.

"By weakling, learn to hold your liquor. Back in my day, our p**s was more intoxicating than that prissy c**p you been drinking," Kaif growled, forcing control of my hands as he reached in the pocket.

"Back in your day, you wiped your a*s with gum leaf and thought the world was flat,' I deadpan. He shakes his head at me, well my head because he had control still. His fingers fumbled with the phone for a few seconds before he rang Jonah. "You should text first; he could be asleep, it's late now,"

"I don't text," Kaif said before a sleepy Jonah answered the call.

"Hey," He yawned into the phone before Kaif's voice spilled from my lips, and I felt Jonah's shock through the bond at Kaif was ringing him and not me.

"You need to come and pick his drunk a*s up and take him home," Kaif said to him.

"Ah, okay, where is he?" Jonah yawned, but I could hear him getting up and moving about.

"At home," Kaif answered.

"Give me 20 minutes, and I will be there. Do you want me to wake Mara and we stay there, or am I bringing him here?"

"Pick him up, us up. Let Mara sleep. Don't want to wake her," Kaif tells him.

"Yep, be there in twenty, walking out the door now," Jonah said, and Kaif hung up before abruptly giving me control. The moment he did, I fell on my a*s.

"Ha, I got my keys," I chuckled, only for the keys to go flying the moment I gripped them as Kaif took control, tossing them over my shoulder.

"Nope, you don't," Kaif laughed, and I shook my head before using the hall stand to pull myself up and staggering to the kitchen in search of another bottle. "What are you doing?" Kaif snarled as I grabbed another from the shelf.

"If I have to listen to your life lesson cp and whatever s**t your spouting about, I would rather be drunk of my face," I tell him.

"You already are drunk," Kaif yelled at me as I unscrewed the cap. "Ah, don't yell. You hurt my brain," I tell him.

"That would imply you have one. You either don't or don't know how to use it from my standpoint. But fine, you want to make a fool of yourself. Go for it," I mimicked Kaif's words back to him before sitting on the dining table chair only to miss it and end up on the floor. Tipping whiskey on my shirt.

"Oh, what's wrong, Kyan? OCD kicking in, that is a bad stain, an atrocious stain," Kaif taunts.

"Shut up," I tell him while trying to wipe it, only managing to spill more on my pants.

"Oh my gosh, what would the neighbors think if they saw you like this?" Kaif continued to taunt me.

"Good thing we don't have neighbors then," I tell him.

"Is that a wrinkle?" Kaif asks, and I snarl at him but can't help but look for the wrinkle he speaks of. There were lots of creases, my clothes were ruined.

"What's wrong? Can't walk to your room to get changed," Kaif mocked.

"No, but you can,"

"Not a chance, if you're drinking, I am going on strike,"

"You can't go on strike. We are the same person, idiot. What will people think seeing us like this?"

"I don't care what anyone thinks. I used to wipe my a's on gum leaves apparently and thought the world was flat. Clearly, that means I don't think!" I growl at him. "My oh my, you have found yourself in a pickle," Kaif laughs.