(Amaia)

Alnilam chose exactly that moment to be intimate with Jamina when Alnitak had his tongue inside me and his knee against my clit.

The pain radiates through me like a hot iron rod being shoved into my guts and heart. I try to ignore it but fail miserably.

No, no, please not right now. I beg in my heart but pain intensifies. It coils like a burning whip inside me.

I sit up and clutch my heart and thigh as my vision tunnels from the pain. Alnitak instantly stops, understanding that something is wrong with me.

I can’t even tell him.

"Amaia? What’s wrong?" He gently holds my shoulders and rubs my back while I wrestle with pain, unable to speak.

My fingers curl over my heart, digging into the fabric. It intensifies, like the deadly waves of an angry sea, each bringing its own misery and suffering for me.

My teeth bite down hard on my lower lip so I won’t make a sound, it’s already enough that this episode is happening in front of Alnitak.

Sweat pours out of my skin as I breathe in large chunks of air.

Alnitak shuffles out of bed and the next thing I know is him offering me a glass of water. His left hand goes behind my head, holding me.

"Drink, please, it will pass." His right hand presses the rim of the cold glass against my lips and tilts it.

I take a small sip, and the cool liquid gushes down my throat. He lets me take a few more sips before removing it. I just collapse backwards, hitting his chest, and his arms cradle me to himself.

"Just lean on me," he whispers, holding me tightly to him. His hands rub my chest, providing this sliver of soothe to this immeasurable ache.

I am grateful to him or I would be spending these moments alone, crying and writhing in pain.

The heartache begins to subside more quickly than in any of the previous times. Has he stopped?

My body relaxes as the physical blinding pain diminishes and then disappears, except for my thigh–leaving me emotionally drained and broken. My arms fall to my side, every ounce of energy is gone.

"Amaia?" Alnitak’s hands shift to my arms and he gently squeezes.

Tilting my head I finally glance at my worried mate. So many creases have decorated his forehead that his evergreen smile is gone, leaving worries behind.

"....I am sorry you had to witness that," I say quietly and palm his face from the right.

"Why are you apologising? I can’t believe you have been suffering like this. It’s because of your ex-mate. Right?" His eyes search mine for truth.

"I know now. It’s because he rejected you and not you who rejected him or accepted his rejection. It hasn’t settled and his intimacy with his new mate is causing you pain. That’s what happened last week as well. Correct?"

I don’t know how much I can tell him but I can’t lie, I won’t lie to my mate.

"Yes, I had a similar experience last week too but it’s not because of Tarian. The bond broke when he rejected me. We are no longer connected at any level."

Confusion occupies his face again.

"I don’t understand, Amaia. Then what’s going on?" He asks, blinking at me.

And I apologetically stare back, I don’t even know what to tell him.

"I don’t know..." Although I know, I can’t tell him. Nothing will come out of my mouth which can lead to the revelation that they are my mates.

"Oh! Lassie..." he painfully says. "You have a mate. You haven’t accepted each other." Anguish coats his voice.

"Is it that vampire?" Alnitak gasps from the shock. I can imagine the interactions he has seen between me and Rigel would lead him to this conclusion.

His eyes drift towards the table where the bloodied rose lay. My eyes follow him. His gaze drifts between it and me and then he lets out a pain-filled.

"He left this for you and you know about it?" Slowly, I nod. This is not the direction I had imagined this conversation to take.

"I don’t know, Alnitak. There is something between us, but he is a vampire and I am human, so..."

Alnitak ponders for a while, the gears in his mind must be shifting.

"I guess he feels the mate bond more than you do. That’s exactly why he held you like that on the first day and went for Kacir like that. He is jealous and this must be him testing the theory if you could feel anything through the bond."

But Alnitak is missing the point that Rigel wasn’t here last week.

"I am exhausted, Alnitak and I don’t feel the pull for him. Besides, he wasn’t here before, and this has been happening since I got here."

I say that so he would think along the lines of his being my mate. More confusion follows my words. I expect Alnitak to push me away but he continues to hold me.

"I am sorry your journey here is painful. But I think the bond between a human and a supernatural creature is different from the one which is shared between two supernatural creatures. It’s possible that one of them can’t feel it the way the other can."

His words make sense and might be true, but the problem is, I am not a human, and Fae are known to have very strong mate bonds.

He then grabs my face in his hands and intently says,

"Amaia, if you don’t want to be with that cold-hearted bloodsucker, you can just reject him. No one will force you to be with him. Vampires are ruthless and they are known to kill their mates if they are human. By acting recklessly and draining their bodies of blood. I understand your fears, and I will protect you if you would let me."

Oh! Ali, you and your heart of gold. What did I ever do to deserve someone so precious and kind as my mate?

I smile at him and place my hands above his.

"I can handle myself and Ezran will not hurt me. But you, I don’t want to ever lose you. You are special to me."