Chapter 365: Promise

"You look adorable when you get scared"

Lyra realized that she was definitely not dreaming. She glanced around the room, trying to find the source of the sound, only to get startled when something touched her.

"Ah!" She yelped in horror when something cold touched her wrist.

"You have some annoying beastmen as your mates," She heard the voice say, "I could only manage to meet you like this despite using all my powers"

Lyra could hear the words but couldn’t see the one speaking them. But deep inside her gut, she knew this voice. It was familiar to her from long ago: "Xavier?"

"Yes, my heart," He said, and Lyra felt a presence embracing her, "It’s me"

Lyra shakily glanced towards the door. She must escape from this place. Now! She got out of her bed and barely managed to take a step before a force pulled her back. Instinctively, she covered her stomach, bracing for the impact, but nothing came even after a few moments. When she opened her eyes to look behind her, she saw herself hovering above the ground.

"Let me go." Her voice was filled with anger and helplessness. Her worst nightmare was coming true. She wanted to stay as far away as she could from Xenon, but here she was back in the palm of his hands.

"You belong to me." Xavier meant every word he said, "I’m not letting you go"

"I hate you." It was true. She loathed him from the bottom of her heart. She had already lost everyone she had loved once because of him and wouldn’t let him do that to her again.

Xavier chuckled at that. "Don’t worry, I’ll make up for the two of us in the liking regard." Her hating him was the least of his worries. Him never being able to see or make her his? That was what he was really afraid of. Once he takes her away from here, she will learn to love him. He was sure about it. Isolation did wonders, breaking minds.

"Why are you here?" Lyra asked, ignoring his previous comment. There was no way she was going to get through this mad man’s brain, so why waste her breath doing so? He didn’t even care that she didn’t like him. In his eyes, she was nothing but an object of his desire that he wanted to grasp at any cost possible. Worse, she couldn’t even say that she regretted meeting him in this life. Her babies were still breathing because of him. If it was her life for her children’s, then Lyra could endure this.

"I missed you," Xavier said, making Lyra pause. He sounded genuine? But this was not the time to let her emotions get the best of her. She needed to make him leave before any of her mates came here. She didn’t want her mates facing this monster. He had managed to infiltrate the vulture tribe even with Killian’s power patrolling it. His figure was becoming clearer and clearer as time went on. He was here; there was no denying that. But she had no interest in learning what else he was capable of doing.

"Do you wish to become my mate?" She had to do this. Giving up her body for her family’s safety seemed like a good bargain. Lyra knew she would get stuck with him once she mated with him. It was not easy breaking a bond with an immortal beastman. She knew the risks involved, but if this meant not repeating the tragedy of her past life, then she was ready to go through with it. Alas, she had underestimated this madman to have a sane thought.

"After I get rid of all your mates, yes. I will become your mate’’ He could never share her. He’d rather kill her and himself and be together with her in the afterlife.

He said that so casually like it meant nothing. Lyra was a fool to try and rationalize with this man. "Get out of here"

"Okay"

That surprised Lyra. She saw him move away from her and head to the balcony. By now, he was fully visible to her eyes. His long silver hair swayed with the wind. It was like ice blades poised to strike. There was no way he was just leaving? Lyra quickly walked towards the door and unlocked it. She was about to shout for her mates until Xavier started talking.

"Don’t bother; they will be here any moment now"

And lo and behold, she heard urgent footsteps coming her way. Her wary gaze stayed on him while he turned to look at her. His mismatched eye colors only made the fear inside her amplify.

"Remember this, the next time I come here, I’ll be taking you with me," Xavier said, "So make sure to spend as much time as you can with your mates. You’ll not see them after that." This was him being generous. The reason he was even staying away from her was that he couldn’t trust himself not to kidnap her in this very moment. The time was not yet right for him to commence his plan.

Lyra dug her fingernails into her palm. "The next time you come here, my mates will kill you, or I’ll kill you myself even if that is the last thing I do"

Xavier smirked, "Good luck, pretty female"

And just like that, he disappeared into a whisp.

"Sweet girl?" She heard Victor’s voice first, then her other mates’.

Lyra ran and hugged a person without even looking at who it was. Kyrell hesitantly buried her into his arms. She was shaking like a leaf. He glanced at Killian while the latter scanned the room. He and Killian had felt a foreign presence inside the tribe a few minutes ago. Victor and Demir deduced something was wrong the moment they saw their face.

"Xavier was here."

Killian stopped doing whatever he was doing as soon as he heard her say that.

Kyrell furrowed his brows as she continued, "He said he’ll take me away the next time he comes to see me." Her despair-filled sobs made their hearts break.

"Shh... Love. It’s okay, You’re okay now," Kyrell cooed to her, trying to console her, while the others stood helpless. They had underestimated Xavier, and this was the result of that.

"I want him to die," Lyra said between her tears, "I want to kill him myself"

Demir frowned and took her from Kyrell. His mate was never the one to hate someone without any reason. And not to this degree, at least. To make her say something like that? He held her face between his palms, "Did he.....?"

"He didn’t touch me." That was true. He weirdly stayed away from her the whole time. Like he was holding back.

"This will not do." Victor gnashed his teeth, "We shouldn’t have taken him lightly." They had thought his interest would wane as Lyra avoided meeting him. The day he killed Alice, they should have realised that this wasn’t going to be easy.

"We can hunt him down," Demir suggested, "If all of us try, we have a chance"

Those words felt like Lyra was doused in cold water. The reality was bitter. Xavier was strong. Stronger than most of her mates. Kyrell and Killian can fight him, but not without getting horribly injured in the process. She could not ask Kaizer to put his life on the line when he wasn’t even her mate yet. It was unfair for him. He would never be able to mark her, and here she was thinking of asking him to help kill a person.

What of her other mates? Blake, Victor, and Demir didn’t have any powers that could stand against Xavier. She would very well be sending Noah and Lucas to their early graves if they attempted to fight an immortal beastman. And what about her babies? The one inside her has yet to see the light of day. She couldn’t put their life at risk.

"Just forget about this." She said, wiping her tears away, "I don’t want any of you to fight him’’

"You don’t have to be scared, Sweet girl. We can defeat him...."

"You can’t," Lyra yelled, "I don’t want any of you getting hurt trying to fight him. Promise me you’ll not do it"

She frantically looked at them and stepped towards Killian, "Promise me." They thought of Xavier as only an immortal beastman with mystic powers. They didn’t know him as she did. His powers now were nothing compared to what he was in his past life. And if he ever woke up his true powers, like she harnessed her fairy powers, then nothing in this living world can stop him.

"Demir, you promise me." She was not yet ready to open up about her and Blake’s past life, but she could protect them this way.

"I’m telling you now." Lyra looked at each of them, "I’ll kill myself if any of you die. I’m not interested in living in this world if you guys are not there"

Her mates didn’t know how to react. Something was happening to their mate, and they had no idea about it.

"Fine," Killian finally said, "Don’t talk about dying so easily. It hurts us"

Lyra hugged him tightly, "Thank you...thank you," then she looked up at him, resolve glazing her eyes, "Now take me to Xavier"