Leah made her way through the halls as she was about to enter Clarissa's room. As her hand reached to touch the door handle someone held her wrist. Leah looked up at the person and her mind went on a panic.
"Where are you coming from, Ophelia?" The man with the same muddy green eyes as Leah asked. He was dressed in an overall black suit with a traditional tunic reaching up to his knees with black embellishment blending within its fabric.
"I was dealing with the kitchen staff, Jacek." She shook her hand away from him.
Jacek Gallaghar was Leah's older brother and the main heir to the Gallaghar pack. He was soon to be named Alpha after his father's retirement. He was also the strict type of brother who was always looking out for his little sister and came off as controlling.
"Why? The servants can do that." He said.
"Well, it is my best friend's wedding." She said in a bit of defensive mode. "And why are you being so-" She paused. "This." She gestured towards him overall. "You know what I'm saying!" She sounded a bit frustrated.
"Why do you smell like 'vampire'?" He asked and her brain stopped for a moment.
"Do you know how many vampires she had to greet?" Clarissa said from behind Leah as she was walking towards them. She was still dressed in her golden dress from the wedding party. "I know, you don't like me or like the fact that I'm married to a vampire but your sister has been working as a buffer between the werewolves and vampires. I appreciate that she has spent most of her time trying to keep peace."
He looked at Leah and observed her. He knew something was up but he had let it go because where he was a protective brother he knew his sister was an adult and there was no use in prying.
"I like you, I just don't like the vampire you got married to." He said looking over to Clarissa.
"I think you guys would along," Clarissa replied.
"I don't think so." He replied as he turned his attention to Leah. "You won't be coming home even tonight?" He asked.
"She's leaving for Alman tomorrow. I want to stay here tonight." Leah replied.
"Okay." He sighed and then turned to Clarissa. "We haven't gotten the chance to talk since you got married. Congratulations on your wedding. I wish you luck living in the enemy's den." His tone was a bit sarcastic.
"They're not too bad." She shrugged it off.
"We're leaving. I'll let Dad know you won't come home tonight." He told Leah as he looked over to Clarissa.
"I am a little worried for you." He paused for a second. "I'm leaving Lizvia on some business tonight so I won't be here tomorrow. I just want you to know that I will have some peace in my life without you here."
Clarissa chuckled. "Awww… Leah record this, the robot is turning sentient." She joked.
"Shut up." He said as he stepped forward and hugged her. "You have to promise me that you will take care of yourself."
"I will. I promise." Clarissa said as she hugged him back.
"We may not be related by blood but you will always be my little sister. So please always remember- your brother, if you need me I will drop everything for you." He sniffled a little.
"Oh my God. He's crying." Leah said.
"Sh-ut up," Clarissa said with her voice breaking a little.
"Oh my God. She's also crying." Leah added jokingly.
"Shut up, Leah," Jacek said as he moved away from Clarissa, wiping his face he turned to Leah.
"Thirty years with you and you have never cried for your blood," Leah said and Clarissa chuckled.
"I'll cry when you decide to marry that vampire, you've been sneaking around with," Jacek said and both Clarissa and Leah went completely silent. "You should know if anyone in the Gallagher family learns about this, you're done for." He turned to Clarissa. "She is supposed to be the smart one in between us. Please talk some sense into her."
"That's it?" Leah asked. "You're not gonna lock me in a dungeon?"
"I want to but this is not the 15th century and we don't have a dungeon," Jacek said. "But I believe Dad would build one if he finds out what you've been up to."
Clarissa intervened. "Don't worry, I'll talk to her. There will be no need for a dungeon."
"Please." He looked towards Leah and scoffed.
Leah gasped, "That's just plain mean."
"Let him have it. You're the one in the wrong." Clarissa opened the door to her bedroom.
"Not you too." Leah cried as Clarissa pulled her into the room and closed the room behind her.
"You're playing with fire," Clarissa said as she sat Leah down on the bed and pulled a little stool in one corner as she sat face to face Leah.
"I know," Leah said as she looked away.
"If you were that interested in vampires you could have volunteered to get married to one, you know," Clarissa added.
Leah scoffed, "Seriously?"
"Yes. This is so unlike you." Clarissa said leaning forward. "I think we have already established that I'm the troublemaker and you're the goody two shoes in this friendship. That is how our dynamic works."
Leah sighed as she covered her face in frustration with both of her hands resting her elbows on her knees.
"You do know Jacek is right. I know they are your family but Gallaghar's are crazy about stuff like executions and honor killing. You can easily be labeled as a traitor and executed for this." Clarissa said and realized immediately that this was ringing more panic into Leah.
"Okay, look." Clarissa held her by the hands and gently pulled them away from her face. "We can sort through this." She said as Leah looked up at her with tears edging onto her muddy green eyes.
"I don't know." Leah lightly shook her head as she looked away.
"Talk to me, Leah," Clarissa said as Leah looked back at her. "What are you feeling?"
"I don't know, I just feel- I feel this pull towards him. He's nice, sweet and dorky." Leah said.
"Okay." Clarissa lightly nodded.
"I know you're judging me because he is a vampire," Leah said and Clarissa scoffed.
"Bitch, I'm married to one," Clarissa said and they both chuckled.
"But you hate Agathon and I don't hate Aeneas. I'm very much- into him."
Clarissa sighed. "Look, you were there in college. I didn't know Agathon was a vampire then but I knew he was a human and I still dated him. I hate myself for feeling like this and we will never repeat this but- I might have been in love with him."
"Wow," Leah said and Clarissa chuckled lightly.
"You don't seem too surprised," Clarissa said and Leah nodded lightly.
"Well, everyone knew that." Leah shrugged as she held Clarissa's hands more tightly. "Everyone also knew that Agathon feels the same way about you. I think he still feels that way about you."
There was silence in the room for a few moments. Clarissa finally broke the silence, "Well, the takeaway from this story is that I was making a mistake and then Jun came into the picture."
"So, you're saying that this is just a phase and when my mate comes along I'll hate Aeneas?" Leah said.
"Well, if he doesn't kill your mate then you might stay friends," Clarissa said jokingly but Leah just gave her a sad smile.
"Well, he is handsome. I guess the forbidden thing is also attractive. But you'll get over it when your mate comes along. " Clarissa replied.
"Well, you know when Jun came along, things just were different-"
She paused, reminiscing about his smile, his laugh, his voice, his touch, his soft hair, the way his eyes would light up when he saw her, and the way the light from his eyes went away when he died. Agathon did something to Jun that night, he was the only war soldier that died like that. The only one who was tortured both mentally and physically to the extent that he took his own life.
Clarissa and Leah both had kept this quiet from others. He would have become a disgraced soldier and the Yoon family would have been outcasted. They both ensured everyone believed that Jun died right on the spot when Clarissa brought him back to the medical camp.
He was announced dead but as a mate Clarissa knew, he was not. The thread that was connecting their souls was still there. Jun was not fatally injured and he did wake up in two days. Afterward, it was complete chaos. It was as if he had gone rabid. As if something evil had possessed him. At one point he almost killed Clarissa but was saved just in time by Jacek who had accidently found them. When Jun realized what had happened, it had left him completely broken. The very next day Jun made a decision, a decision that Clarissa still blames herself for.
Jacek was the one who made sure that the whole incident stayed under wraps. He made some decisions of his own. To protect the integrity of his best friend's death and his family's name, Jacek made sure everyone around that camp would not make it back home so the only ones who knew about it would be Clarissa, Leah, and Jacek himself.
"Are you going to kill Agathon?" Leah asked and Clarissa smiled as she shook her head.
"I'm not going to kill him. I'm going to push him, make him question everything about his reality, and then, then he's going to kill himself."
Tears fell off Clarissa's face as Leah wiped her face with her hand.
Leah had seen Clarissa losing her mind. It has not been easy for her to handle Jun's death. In an ideal world, Leah would have wished that Agathon and Clarissa could work things out as they used to be in love once but she knew after everything they went through it was not possible for Clarissa to nod and happily move on. Leah also knew her little rendezvous with Aeneas needed to come to an end because Clarissa meant more than any guy to her. Even though she was under a spell that no vampire could read her thoughts, as it was applied to all the werewolves inside the Lizvia Palace, she still could pose as some obstacle in Clarissa's plans.
After making sure Clarissa was in her bed asleep. Leah took Clarissa's phone and took out Aeneas' number from it. She took a deep breath as she could feel her heartbeat stop when she typed her text. It took her a few minutes to collect all the courage in her body and press send. She wanted to believe that it was just a phase. Maybe the concept of a forbidden romance was enticing to her but she just felt her heartbreak at that moment.
The message she sent read;
"Let's stop exploring this.
-Leah"