Chapter 43: Evelyn: The Day Rael’s Soul Left His Body
Evelyn~
"I ..." Rael paused, looking like he didn’t know what to say. "Excuse me for a while."
He didn’t say anything else and immediately walked out of my room.
"AAAAAA!"
I widened my eyes the moment I heard his scream right after he slammed the door shut. Without thinking, I jumped off the bed and peeked out the window.
That’s when I saw Rael sprinting out of the house, only to crash straight into a tree so hard that the trunk cracked and toppled over with a loud thud.
"YOU BASTARD! I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!"
He turned to another large tree and shook it violently, causing squirrels and other small animals to fall from the branches like confetti.
It was ... odd. I could’ve sworn those trees weren’t there last night when I arrived at the settlement.
"There are more important things to worry about, but you’re questioning the trees?" my wolf said dryly. "The trees have been here since yesterday. You were just too focused on the giant burning stake to notice your surroundings."
I narrowed my eyes, thinking my wolf might be going a little off-topic too.
"Alpha, calm down! We can’t destroy nature!"
Beta Marek rushed over, trying to hold Rael back before he could cause any more damage to the trees.
"I WANT TO KILL HIM!" Rael roared again, his eyes blazing.
"You can’t kill the trees!" Marek shouted desperately. "We need to love nature!"
Rael growled like a feral beast and kicked another tree in frustration. "I’m not trying to kill the damn trees, Marek! I’m trying to kill him!"
"Then stop assaulting innocent plants and go punch a wall like a normal Alpha!" Marek yelled, still struggling to wrestle Rael away from his next leafy victim.
I pressed my forehead against the glass, completely baffled.
"Do you think ... there is any chance they can have a peaceful discussion when they meet?" I asked my wolf.
She laughed. "Like hell they can," she said. "But since they’re not allowed to kill each other, I hope you can try your best to stop them."
Stopping two Alphas from fighting?
Yeah ... I wasn’t too confident about that.
What was I even supposed to do while watching them go at it? Stand between them so they’d stop hitting each other?
Most likely, they’d end up punching me because they couldn’t stop themselves.
Maybe I could think about that later.
Meanwhile outside, Rael finally stopped rampaging and dropped to his knees dramatically in front of the fallen tree. He grabbed a leaf like it was the last remnant of a fallen comrade.
"I’m sorry," he whispered to the tree. "You didn’t deserve that."
Marek stared at him like he’d completely lost his mind. "You know you’re scaring the pups, right?"
Just as he said that, two tiny werewolf cubs peeked out from behind a bush, trembling with wide eyes.
"I’M FINE!" Rael shouted at them with a wild smile, clearly not fine at all. The cubs immediately screamed and ran away.
I quickly ducked beneath the window so they wouldn’t see me laughing.
My wolf snorted. "Your second mate is emotionally unstable and weirdly dramatic. Well, at least now you know you won’t be bored around him."
Honestly, I wasn’t bored around Theron either. Sure, he was quiet most of the time, but so was I.
We enjoyed each other’s company without saying a word. My wolf always complained that what we were doing was boring, but to me, silence could mean peace, not boredom.
But ... Rael was fun, too.
The point was, I really didn’t want to choose between them. I wanted to create a healthy environment in case by some miracle we all ended up living together someday. Though that sounded almost impossible.
I even started wondering if I was capable of maintaining harmony between them.
I mean, Rael had already knocked down one tree and practically destroyed another just because he found out Theron had marked me.
"Not all your mates are as territorial as those two," my wolf said. "Some of them will be ... a bit more accepting of your situation."
I narrowed my eyes. "How do you know that? We haven’t even met the rest of our mates yet."
"Intuition," she replied without hesitation. "It’s called intuition, my dear Evie."
I still didn’t trust her words, but I didn’t press further because just then, the door to my room suddenly burst open.
"Did he force you to take his mark?" Rael stood in the doorway, glaring at me with a serious expression. "He must’ve forced you, right?!"
What the hell?
Wasn’t he just outside with Marek a second ago? Why was he suddenly standing at the door now? I hadn’t even heard his footsteps.
"No, he didn’t force me." I stood up straight and leaned my back against the window. "It just ... happened."
Rael clenched his fists tightly, and his teeth ground together so hard I started worrying he might actually crack them.
"The Moon Goddess destined me to be Theron’s mate, just like she destined me to be yours," I said softly. "That’s why he also has the right to mark me."
Rael was still standing at the doorway, as if he was calculating whether it would be easier to sprint back to the trees than take another step into my room.
"I can give you more than he ever could," Rael said. "Why don’t you just reject him, so I can be your one and only mate?"
For a moment, I just stared at him in silence.
Honestly, I was sure his wolf had already told him it wasn’t that simple. Maybe he already knew, but he just needed to hear it from me.
"I can’t do that," I finally said. "My wolf told me ... he’ll die if I reject him. And if he dies, you will die too."
Rael let out a heavy sigh and rested his forehead against the door. "This is ridiculous," he muttered. "How the hell can my fate be connected to that bastard?"
"Maybe ... it’s my fault," I said quietly. "Both of you are connected to me at the same time, so maybe ... I’m the reason for your misery."
I looked down at my hands.
I’d been surrounded by misfortune for as long as I could remember. It wouldn’t be surprising if my mates—bound to me by fate—ended up suffering too, dragged closer and closer to death just because of me.
"No," he said firmly. "Don’t you ever say that again."
I lifted my head, surprised by the intensity in his voice.
"Fate chose you, not the other way around. If anyone’s cursed, it’s the Moon Goddess for tying you to idiots like us."
He stepped closer, slowly, as if afraid I might run.
"I don’t like the concept of sharing," Rael said seriously, "but if it’s the only way to be with you, then so be it. I can live with one asshole as long as I can be with you."
I was honestly quite surprised that he could accept my situation that quickly. I thought he would be a stubborn stonehead who’d try to force me to reject Theron, even after I told him it would be an impossible thing to do.
However, no matter how bizarre that was, there was still something else that caught my attention even more.
"One asshole?" I said.
Rael nodded. "Yes, Theron is an asshole, but I’ll try my best to accept him."
"No, that’s not what I meant," I said. "You and Theron ... aren’t the only ones."
Rael’s entire body stiffened, and the color drained from his face in an instant when I said, "I ... I actually have five mates."
Maybe I was just imagining it, but I could’ve sworn I saw Rael’s soul leave his body the moment those words left my mouth.
Rael stared at me, completely frozen. His mouth opened slightly, but no words came out.
I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Are you alright?"
He blinked once, then twice. Slowly, he lifted a trembling finger and pointed at me. "Did you just say ... five?"
I nodded. "Yeah ... Five."
He didn’t speak. He didn’t move. He just stood there like a statue, like someone had unplugged his brain.
"... I need to sit down," he finally muttered, stumbling backward and missing the chair entirely as he collapsed onto the floor with a thud.
I winced. "Are you sure you’re alright?"
Rael rested his chin on his hand and stared silently at the wall.
He didn’t blink. He didn’t speak. Just sat there like someone who had just realized his entire life was a lie.
After a while, he finally muttered under his breath, "Why ... why do I have to share my goddess with four pigs?"
I figured it would be better if he didn’t meet Theron anytime soon, because I was sure the result wouldn’t be good.
However, just as that thought crossed my mind, something bad suddenly happened.
"ALPHA! THE ROYAL SOLDIERS ARE COMING HERE!" shouted Marek from outside.