CHAPTER 3 – UNFORTUNATE SOULS

-VALEN’S POV-

When Raina lifted her left hand from her shoulder, a deep red print of my palm blistered her honeyed skin. Her doleful blue eyes questioningly pierced into mine so deep that my heart prickled.

Simmering with rage, I decided to draw the line here. I went closer to her and roughly nudged Vaheed out of the way with my shoulder. I took her hands into mine and she screamed again. It was a cry of pain.

“Ahh!” Her shrill echoed high and wild through the noisy rain as she tore herself from my grasp as though I was acid or a contamination.

Thermal heat from my hands burnt her wrist.

Although I fumed with suppressed anger because of Vaheed, bewilderment superseded and I gazed at my palms and wondered what had happened. All I did was touch her. Why is she being bruised by my contact? This was not how it was supposed to be. We are mates and our touch created the most superb sensation. How is it that my hands burned her, instead? It baffled me.

 “What’s wrong with you? Stay away from her!” Vaheed protectively shielded Raina from me by standing in front of her, facing me.

“Let me heal her.” I stepped forward, outstretching my hand.

“No!” Shivering, Raina turned her left side away from me with a ducked chin.

I halted my stride from the rejection. It was like being slapped hard in the face. I barely repressed the temptation to punch Vaheed's face. Had it not been for Raina's presence, my wolf wanted my brother's blood. He ought to know his place. Raina’s mine. Mine to care for, to love and to hold forever. I was the one to be her refuge and support.

Nothing compared to the gulf in my heart caused by anguish and stubborn pride. The reprehensible distance was a chasm that perpetually divided us.

“Clearly you need to be healed. Don’t tell me to stay away.” I persisted with passionate conviction but caught something in her expression. It was one that feared me.

“She doesn’t need you to hurt her again!” Vaheed gritted with two arms wide open to form a barricade as she stood behind him. She shuddered erratically while staring at her trembling hands as the red blotch mushroomed.

“If you don’t move out of the way I’m going to send you to hell, brother.” I insisted with the equanimity of a man who had a well-earned reputation for ruthlessness. Despite that nagging conscience that reminded me that killing him would devastate our family.

Obstinately, Vaheed stood squarely in a threatening stance. “Raina needs medical attention and if you care about her, you’ll let me take her to our grandmother.”

White, hot fury surged and I was going to dissect him but she glanced at me, terrified, and shook her head. Settling in a gentle menace, I bit my lower lip and told myself to cool it. Seeing her in pain constricted my heart.

“Raina, please ―” I implored with a soft smile, tinging with desperation. My heart panged to know that I unintentionally had hurt her. I wanted to stroke her wet burgundy streaks and soothe her. Whatever was wrong, I would fix it if she gave me the chance.

“Don’t come any closer.” Her voice quivered as she spoke and I felt her hot tears even though the raindrops dabbed all of her. Frantically, she shook her head that her burgundy hair flew in a wild arc around her neck and face. Harnessing with fear and unwillingness, she tugged my brother’s soaked gray t-shirt. “Vaheed, take me home.”

“I’m sorry, Raina. I never meant to hurt you.” I had to let her know before she left.

Though her ashen face slowly nodded, despair and resignation conveyed a stark withdrawal.

“I…….” My words trailed off as their backs turned.

They departed the awful alley with Vaheed holding onto my mate to assist her gait. To the agony that was clawing at me, the blinding, black fury at the idea of her being cared for by him. I wanted to shout, but refrained. I did not kick anything, though I ached to. I considered blowing up the nearby buildings, but decided against it. Inane gibberish buzzed as a result of the controlled anarchy I was experiencing.

Thunder crashed furiously. Sadness poured from my thudding heart. A tiny seed of fear germinated within me. Spider lightning splurged. A raging inferno of jealousy also wanted to be counted in. The deliberately cool downpour could not slough away the remnant of blood from my bleeding heart.

I had to know if she was okay. A new plan formed and it was to start being closer to her. It was time to stop pretending. It seemed a lifetime since I've been doing it. The inability to touch her left a disturbingly distinct impact on my brain and drained away all the air so that it was impossible to breathe.

My head was spinning wildly.

How could she leave with him? The disbelief left me standing in the never-ending rain feeling beaten down by nature, heartbroken by my mate, and flabbergasted by the wounding effect of our connection. Now more than ever, her heart was definitely tucked away from me. Numb and hollowness set in as she disappeared out of view.

My sweet bluebella, Raina. She was always so close, yet achingly out of reach. Simultaneously, taunting me with her nearness and her distance.

I wondered what would happen on her eighteenth birthday when she was to both acquire her wolf and feel the effect of the mate bond. Would I be able to touch her then, or would it still be painful for her?

The mating process where I would mark and mate her cannot take place if we are unable to touch. That reality came with a powerful bitter sense of loss. Were we unfortunate soulmates?

No.......

I won’t lose her.

Out of nowhere, the intensity of the flashes increased and lit the vacant streets around me like pepper lights. Ball lightning formed in an electrical storm. In perplexity, my eyes darted heavenward to behold the skyrmion of ten balls of light in proximity about the size of a basketball moving slowly parallel to the earth and exploding, leaving behind a sulfurous smell.

This was bad. Both my hands went to the sides of my head as a circuit of thoughts powered the motor gears in my head. An awry sensation emerged in my bones.

Something was devastatingly wrong.

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