Chapter 82 – Afresh

“Son, I didn’t raise you to run away from your problems, but I know I always told you to stop fighting a losing battle,” he said. “Elcorts are brave warriors. But we know when to step back if it’s not our time if it’s not our fight.”

Axel nodded at his father’s words. Currently, in the jet’s mini bar, talks like this are inevitable.

“I don’t wanna risk Anna. She’s merely three and she’s already gone through so much. I want my daughter to live her best life.” He drank the remaining vodka in his glass. “And Leal, a f u cking C4 was thrown to her! I’m not letting her die in my hands. I’ve had enough of those situations.”

“What you did was the best thing you could do in that situation. Where are you off to now?”

Axel looked outside the window of the jet, and from here, he could see the aerial view of the countries they were passing through to reach their destination.

“I was thinking of the least populated town in a country where the pack originated. I want her to grow in the lands of her ancestors. In Chekalin, maybe.” He shrugged.

“I understand. Thank you for letting me know,” Leal softly spoke through the phone. She nodded one more time and ended the call, sighing to herself. Axel frowned and neared her, gently caressing her shoulders.

“Everything alright?”

“Yeah,” she avoided his eyes and heavily exhaled again. “Big Rory just rang me.”

“Hmm? What’d she say?” He asked, continuing to softly caress her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down because he could hear her racing heartbeat.

“That I…” She trailed off, inhaling sharply midway. “The Ministry planted a microchip on me years ago, which is why they were able to track us anywhere we’d go. They found out after doing a medical check-up on my body.”

“What?” He stopped. “A microchip?”

“Hmm. They said it’s on my left arm.” Her hands flew to her left arm.

“When did they do a medical check-up on your body?”

“About a week ago, when I—I uh…” Leal bit her lower lip. They briefly took her to a hospital to check up on her after she vomited blood and nearly died because of their mate bond. How is she supposed to tell him that?

“Fine,” she admitted. “I was having trouble with our mate bond —“

“You were suffering?” He cut off.

“I…I wouldn’t call it suffering —“

“You were puking blood and all the other effects the books said the female would feel, aren’t you?” Leal remained silent. “Fuck —“

“Please. Do not curse in front of me.” Her face was stoic, clearly offended by his words.

Axel heaved a deep sigh as his voice weakened. “I’m sorry, schatzi. If only I had found you earlier, then you wouldn’t have been suffering like that. I’m so sorry, this is all my fault…”

His voice sounded so pained and he looked so sorry that he was almost on his knees to beg for forgiveness for a situation out of his control.

“I didn’t want to be found. You still wouldn’t find me if you searched harder. The odds were against us and we were only strong together sexually, not emotionally, nor spiritually. We were so blinded by the bond that we forgot we were just like humans, we develop real feelings and I think that’s stronger than the mate bond. It’s not your fault. You could’ve handled it better but it’s all in the past now. We can’t undo anything. All we can do is learn and do well, and look at what’s ahead of us,” she consoled, gently stroking his dark locks.

He was nuzzling her neck until he leaned away and looked at her with a ghost of a smile.

“Why are you always like that?”

“Like what?”

“Always so kind.” She stilled in surprise. “You disagreed in punishing the traitors with death, you didn’t get mad at Margaret nor at her son, and you never threatened to kill the Minister. That’s one of your charms, and I admire you for remaining so kind despite how the world treats you.”

Leal looked down and fiddled with her hands, too shy to admit her thoughts during those times. She even remembers temporarily coming to terms with Lilith when they agreed on committing mass genocide a few hours ago. Gosh. But despite how dark and gory her thoughts are, her words say otherwise, and those are what Axel can hear. And hearing him say how he loved her kind words, rather expert control of the words that come out of her mouth, makes her heart flutter. To this day, he still adores her.

That, enough, has already made her believe in a second chance for their relationship.

“Be careful…”

Leal bit her lower lip when he inserted it inside her. He twisted and turned it, looking to find the spot where it was.

“Ow—“

“Sh i t. Sorry.” He had pushed inside a little too harshly.

“Where is it?”

“Ow…There it is,” Leal muttered as she felt the tweezers come in contact with a hard object on her shoulders. He slowly pulled it out as her gaze drifted to a small rectangular chip, smaller than the size of a nail.

“…. Is that it?”

Leal clamped her mouth shut as she saw the tiny thing get crushed in his hand. She heard the crack of the object as it was revealed for the second time as tiny fragments.

“I think that’s the last thing on our trail. Now, we’re free to leave without a trace.”

She looked up at him, a small smile curling up on both their faces. Is this the end of this madness? Is it time to start again? On a clear, blank slate? Is it time to create a new plot?

Are we ready? Axel thought. Hell yeah, we’re ready.

As the jet landed, the pack welcomed a new start. They roamed their eyes around and inhaled the magnificent view before their eyes. Pine trees were scattered around the place and were rooted in the fairly urbanized town.

With all their heavy luggage full of mixed salty and sweet memories from New York, they headed to their new village and got ready to unpack.

As they entered the gate, the reinforced gate, Leal stopped midway and looked up. From where she remained rooted, she could see the view of their small village. The houses were uniform, where a couple stood out, but they were far from the architecture of those back in New York. The ones here were similar to cabins but with a slightly modern twist. The wall around the village had trees and reinforced concrete for better protection. Lastly, the playground was near a pond, which reminded her of the playground with a waterfall back in Lauterbrunnen.

“Mommy,” she looked down and saw Anna tugging her hand. She let go of her daddy’s to hold hers.

Leal smiled at her and picked her up on her waist.

“Are you excited to live here?”

“Hmm!” The toddler enthusiastically nodded, pouting. “But…Aunties…”

“Aww,” she cooed. “Don’t worry, Aunties will visit us! But they’re still in Lauterbrunnen, so it’ll be long before they visit. But your other uncles and aunties are here, and new playmates!”

“Hey.” They both turned to Axel. “Is there something wrong?”

“None,” Leal shook her head. “We’ll follow shortly.”

“What are you two talking about?”

“I was asking Anna if she’s excited.” Leal turned to Anna, who nodded enthusiastically again. She earned a chuckle from Leal and Axel. Axel snaked his hand on her waist and smirked at Anna.

“You’ll be more excited once we get inside; I got you your life-sized dollhouse,” he said to her, smirking.

Anna’s eyes seemed to have twinkled in delight as she heard the magic word. Gasping, she exclaimed, “Dollhouse?!”

“Yeah.”

“With…pew pews?!”

This time, Leal intervened. “What pew pews?”

“Uh oh,” muttered Axel as he threw his head back and laughed. “I kind of showed her how to pull the safety off a gun, and she liked it.”

“A gun?! Why would you show her that?” She scolded, her nose flaring.

“Well,” he shrugged. “I don’t know. She caught me cleaning my pistol and asked me how it worked. Schatzi, I was just feeding her curiosity!”

Leal disapprovingly shook her head at him and frowned. “You could’ve shown her how to peel a banana instead, or other things that toddlers should normally be learning!”

“Her curiosity is unusual, schatzi, come on…” Axel’s tone was like a puppy whimpering as he scratched the back of his head. “Let’s go inside, and you’ll see the guns as kid-friendly as it can get.”

“Axel! No pew pews!”

She continued scolding him until they got inside, while Anna looked around and got distracted by the surroundings. All the while, they looked like a normal family. When Leal realized it, she couldn’t help but smile to herself.

Of course, being a normal family couldn’t be without sexual intercourse.

“Oh! Oh! Oh!”

She missed every part of him. She missed his performance in bed and his stamina. Her eyes would roll heavenwards, and her insides would shake in intense pleasure. It was indescribable, as always. He took her in every position, like before, and never got tired even after multiple releases. Her body was shaking vigorously, her mounds bobbing up and down upon every rough thrust. Her nakedness was soaked with sweat, and their new bed was noisily creaking.

“Oh…Oh my gosh! Ugh! Hmm….”

While the moon was at its peak, their binded souls were strengthened like never before as they shared love and heat—raw, passionate, and true. Together, they move mountains. When apart, they’re monsters ready to devour the entire planet and end the races just to be in each other’s arms.

Two years ago, there was so much at stake for them. Destiny said ‘it wasn’t the time for their happily ever after’ in the most ruthless way.

Two years ago, they were blinded by the deceptive and cruel people who hindered their path. Two years ago, they were still not finished finding and accepting themselves. They were still lost. Being challenged by distance and having to fight their battles alone, the two grueling years gave them the space they both needed.

Now, two years later, in a secluded town where they arrive in hopes of a new life, they lie naked in each other’s arms—happy, content, and satisfied.

What a rollercoaster. Finally, the Moon Goddess approves of their happy ever after. It took them a suicidal, self-destructive, and sacrificial a few years to get here, but they finally did.

“Ya lyubyu tebya,” his deep baritone voice whispered muffledly as he was at the crook of her neck.

Leal chuckled at his words. She knows a tiny bit of Russian, and she knew fully well what that meant.

“Ich liebe dich auch.”

He’s not the only bilingual person here.

—

Author's Note: If you want a happy ending, you can just stop here. ;)