Promise

Lake

The water flows through the river and over the rocks as I stare at the picture of Derrick and his mother. I brush my fingers over his toothless smiling face. Hurt lingers within me knowing about this past and this mother Derrick never told me about.

~What was so bad that he didn’t want to tell me?~

“Lake?” I look over my shoulder, expecting Sylas, but it’s surprisingly Coal.

His eyes are black just as a rogue’s would be, but his aura is so much different. His dark hair and slender figure are much like a Vampyre’s and nothing like a male wolf. I guess even our kind is unique in that aspect.

“Coal?” I asked, surprised. “What’re you doing here?”

“Mind if I sit?” I nod, and Coal takes a seat beside me on the mossy terrain. I stretch my legs out and let my feet sink into the river. I took my shoes off in order to calm myself.

Something that hasn’t changed about me is that I feel most at home around nature and touching my bare skin against the roughest or smoothest of the forest’s edges.

“Where’s Lucy?”

“She’s still cooling down.” Coal chuckles. “After all these years together, I’ve learned to leave her be until she comes around.”

“Gotcha.” Nodding, I brush the dust away from the glass and inspect the photo closer.

The woman is beautiful against the pine trees behind her and Derrick’s adorable chocolate grin. His hair is as long as his shoulders. I guess his curls grew to be the straight and thick locs I’m used to.

“You look at that like you’ve never seen it.” Coal mentions.

I move uncomfortably. “That’s because I haven’t.”

“That’s their mother, Fiona.” Coal smiles gently. He points to the woman’s stomach. “This was taken days before Lucy was born.”

“What happened to her?” I inquire.

A grim expression comes over Coal’s face as I see a tear gloss over his eye. “I’m sure Derrick would rather tell you that than for you to hear it from me, Lake.”

“Coal, he never once told me about his past.” I admit, a bitter smile comes across my face. “Every time I would ask him or mention something about wanting to know, Derrick would shut me out.”

“It’s not a happy tale, Lake.” Coal sighs. “He’ll tell you eventually.”

A silence comes over the two of us, and the sound of the water seems to get louder.

My mind flips back to Sylas and our argument earlier. The things I said to him when he was just checking on me and trying his best for me were really uncalled for.

“I said a very hurtful thing to Sylas.” I admit, my words are hushed as I bring my knees against my face. “I was caught up in my emotions and took it out on him.”

“Ah… we usually take out our anger on the ones closest to us.” Coal smiles gently at me. “You will find a way to work it out, I’m sure.”

“That’s the thing, Coal. It’s not the three of us right now.” I begin to tear up. “Having one mate was hard enough… Now I have Sylas here and not Derrick… I’m not sure if this ~will~ work out… I’m so confused.”

“You know, my time as a Fate gave me insight into centuries of our kind and that of the Vampyres,” Coal glances at me to see if I’m listening. Once he confirms, he continues, “Hybrids happen once every so often. All have had two mates of our kind and the other. It’s just how things work.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, my interest piqued.

“Like you know, your wolf has a mate, and now your Vampyre side has one. Also known as an Essence. All of the Hybrids I’ve seen in the historic library of the Fates have had what you do.” Coal puts his arm on his knee and continues, “Not all meet both, but a few do.”

“What happened to them?” My words are a bit shaky, as I’m afraid of the answer.

“Well…” Coal’s cool composure becomes uncomfortable as he shifts slowly under my gaze, “One of the mates of the Hybrid all ended up slaughtering the other out of jealousy and hatred. Nine times out of ten it was the wolf mate. Seeing as Vampyres have the more… docile nature, it’s not surprising.”

I look down at my feet. My heart sinks to my stomach as a feeling of dread swells within me. Maybe I was half right about what I said to Sylas… Maybe I was foolish to think this could work.

What did I expect? To frolic into the sunset with the two hand in hand? Maybe give birth to hybrids to call my own pups or whatever Vampyre offspring are called?

Did I really expect Derrick to accept this after all these years of it just being us? No way would he ever do that.

~Pathetic,~ I scold myself, ~Did you really expect this to be that easy?

~

“Kjarni…”

I turn and lock eyes with Sylas. He’s out of breath and disheveled. His hair is a mess and his heartbeat seems more active than usual.

“I’ll leave you two alone.” Coal excuses himself as Sylas comes more into view.

I hug the picture to my chest and feel waves of anxiety crash over me. How am I supposed to face him after what I said to him?

Sylas is hesitant. His demeanor is giving me the vibes of wanting to run away from here and never come back, but I know he would never do that. That’s not the kind of man he is.

Am I reading him wrong?

My body stiffens as Sylas stomps over to me and kneels before taking me into his arms. He usually wouldn’t be like this under any other circumstances. He’s always let me come to him.

I was reading him wrong. Sylas doesn’t want to run away from me, he was desperately fighting the urge to run to me.

“Kjarni.. I’m-”

“Sylas, I’m sorry.” I cry, “What I said…”

My words trail off as my nose begins to run with massive amounts of snot. Not my most attractive feature when I’m crying this amount of ugly, but nonetheless, I can’t help it.

This man I’m burying my face into smells so good. His Lavender and Vanilla mixture makes me feel all comforted and warm. The way he effortlessly makes me feel so safe and secure scares my very soul.

“You didn’t mean them.” Sylas seems hesitant but smoothes my hair, “Kjarni, I know you well enough to know when your anger gets the better of you, you know?”

I cough and sniffle while my body trembles. What Coal said to me about Hybrids and their mates is shaking me to my core. Why did it have to be this way?

“I guess Coal told you what usually happens between mates of Hybrids?”

I nod.

“And you’re thinking it’s hopeless to let things between us move forward?”

I hesitate but nod again.

“Kjarni…” Sylas sighs and brings my face to look at him with both hands on either of my cheeks, “I can promise you that I would never, ever fight Derrick. Nor would I ever try to. That would hurt you more than I would want to, and I never want to hurt you.”

I blink hard and let tears flow as they may. I know that I must be getting the bloody tears all over Sylas’s hands, but he doesn’t mind.

My hair sticks to his sweaty arms and makes me look even crazier, I’m sure. I swear, once this is all over, I’m cutting this mop off of my head if it’s the last thing I do.

“Kjarni, I promise I’ll never hurt Derrick or you.” Sylas says with a serious tone.

I look him in the eye. Those brilliant glowing golden rings are met with a furrowed brow. This man is serious.

“Okay.” I agree.

Though I want to believe his words, the fact of me not knowing how well Derrick will take the whole Sylas thing that well floats in my mind. So, my confidence in his promise is wavering.