Chapter 1 - I Walk Alone

Levi

"Levi, you know I love you. I will always love you." Her sky-blue eyes contained the tears she refused to let fall. She was my best friend, the one I confided everything to, and now she is leaving. So many lives have come and gone from my own over the years. It never gets any easier and this one was by far the worse.

"Save it, Samara. I don't want to hear it. You're basically signing your death certificate doing this, and you know it." I turned away from the hard stare of her eyes to look out the window of the living room and into the darkness of the night. I just couldn't face her right now, not while my brain was going a million miles per minute.

She sighed in frustration, putting her golden brown hair on top of her head in a messy bun. The beautiful, unmated woman who was perfectly chosen to produce children for me years ago was now irritated with traditions, the fact that she's living a secret life, and also with me. I honestly don't blame her, not one bit, but purity is the way of a dragon's life. It always has been, and so it must continue to be. But she was giving everything up for a werebear.

"I'm done, Leviathan. I'm done with all of this. Bruce doesn't deserve to be kept like my dirty little secret. He's a great man and he's been extremely patient with me all of these years while the children have grown. He deserves so much more. The old school way of our kind is completely absurd and the council is nothing more but controlling bigots." Samara calmly explained as to why she was leaving, even though there really wasn't a need to.

I inhaled a deep breath to control the emotions that I never allowed to show so that I could turn around and face her again. "Do you have any idea what will transpire when they find out that you left the North West dragon kingdom to be with a werebear? Do you honestly believe that they'll not hold Sol, Celeste, and myself somehow accountable for your actions?"

"Tell them whatever you want! I don't care! You're their deity, Levi! They'll believe you no matter what you say. Whatever you tell them, I'll go along with it. But I'm not going to keep Bruce wondering when he's going to see me next and if I'm going to come back to him or not. You knew this time would come. Whether I died of old age, or left you, a time would come when I would no longer be here." Her eyes continued to beat me down yet again, as if her words didn't cut me deep enough.

The harsh honesty of what Samara was saying hit its mark. She was right about all of it. I couldn't argue with her and I couldn't deny her the happiness that she deserved. I wouldn't, not any more. "Samara, you're going to go with Bruce and you're going to go far away from the heart of the territory, away from here. I'm going to tell everyone that you stuck it out until the children were grown, for their sake, but you couldn't take living with me any longer and finally left. There will be no mention of Bruce, nor where you go, to anyone. Do you understand?"

"And what about Sol and Celeste? What will you tell them when they start asking questions? The notes I left them didn't give any explanations." There was pain in her voice. She loved our children, and I knew this hurt her deeply.

"Until more is needed to be said for everyone's safety, the only one who will know the full truth will be me. The kids will be no different. Everyone knows you were chosen, that we're not mates, and they will sympathize with you. I'll simply say that for your own mental health you needed to take time for yourself. There won't be a single dragon that won't understand, though no one will ever admit to it, because that'd be saying they don't agree with the council."

Samara took a few steps up to me and embraced me in a tight hug, giving me one last kiss before she left. It wasn't a kiss shared by two people who were madly in love, but by two people who were put into a difficult situation and became close friends because of it. I owe this to her, if nothing else. I owed her a chance to be happy and fully experience true love.

After our hug, Samara took a step back, reached up with her small delicate hands, and cupped my face. Holding my face to make sure I didn't avoid eye contact, she smiled at me. A genuine smile unlike many of the fake ones I've seen her perfect over the years. "Levi, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this."

I reached up and took her hands in each of my own, removing them from my face. "I want you to be happy, Samara. You never picked this life, but when it chose you, you agreed to it. I don't think that anyone else could have made the situation as pleasant as you did."

"I agreed to it for multiple reasons, Levi. You don't have to thank me. I wanted children, and it was the best opportunity to have them for an unmated female at my age. I did it for our kind. And I also did it for you."

I raised an eyebrow, curious where she was going with that last part. "For me? You've got to explain that one."

"My dear, did you see the other unmated females? I couldn't allow someone like you to spend years with one of them. Their ugliness on the inside made them unbearable to look at. I did you a favor." A playful smile crossed her face as she winked at me before turning to pick her bags up off of the floor and make her way to the front door.

"But if it was one of them it wouldn't be nearly this difficult to watch them leave, and I wouldn't have any desire to protect them." I meant it, and I wanted her to know as much before I never saw her again.

Samara paused before reaching for the door knob, turning to look at me one last time. "I guess that your gift is also your burden. Emotions look good on you, Levi. Stop being afraid of them just because you're a deity. You deserve happiness just as much as anyone. Get out there and enjoy life a little. You know, Seraphina and Conláed will be taking over as the new fairy Queen and King shortly, and they'll also be having a large ceremony for all four of their daughters taking over each of the kingdoms as Seraphina's sisters wish to retire. Why don't you go to that with Sol and Celeste? Almost all of the other deities will be there."

I quickly shook my head. "I hate parties and you know it. I have no desire to be around a bunch of drunks with music playing so loudly that you can't hear yourself think."

Samara softly chuckled. "It's called having fun, Levi. You really should try it sometime." She gave me a final look of love and appreciation before she opened the door and left my life forever, she left our lives forever.

I knew Sol and Celeste would be broken-hearted, but they're more than mature enough to understand the reasoning I will tell them.

I grumbled in emotional irritation after Samara left. Maybe she was right, maybe getting away from the stress for a night would be a good thing.