Come Love A Stranger

Forty nine

Mariah kept struggling to free herself from the hold of the vines but all to no avail, she kept on wriggling, forcing to get out until she heard something that made her stop. It was a murmur and she kept quiet to hear it again and that was when she heard it, like someone was speaking inside her head. ‘What am I doing? Please, someone should stop me, please,’ the voice was soft and pleading and she knew who it belongs to, it was the voice she had come to love so dearly, the voice that belongs to the man that means the whole world to her.
“Alador,” she mumbled and that was when she remembered something Azura had said, ‘Only a mate can hear his or her mate subconsciously, it’s an act for them to communicate secretly that no one else can hear what they are saying, in this case, even though you are human, no god can hear what you say to him’. Yes, that is true, since she could hear him, he can hear her, she just needs to try. So taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she sent a silent prayer to heaven that he should hear her as loud and clear as she hears him.
“Alador,” she began and waited but no response came, “Alador, I know you can hear me, you just have to listen to me, I can help you. Please, just come to me, I know you are hurt and I am responsible for it, I am sorry but I need you to know, whatever I said that night was all a lie, I had to say it, I had to reject you because I needed to protect you. I am afraid of losing you as you are of losing me, I was ready to do anything just to keep you safe but I was wrong, I shouldn’t have done it that way. It broke you, I understand that now and I am truly sorry, please, forgive me and come back to me. This is not who you are, you know who you are, you are my Alador and my Alador will never hurt innocent humans, so please, just come back to me, come back to me. I…”
She was interrupted when a sudden gush of wind blew and when it cleared, she gasped when she saw the men standing in front of her. His eyes were pitch black and dangerous as he glared at her. Mariah’s shock turned into happiness in a short while, if he was there, it could only mean one thing, he heard her, he really did hear her. Her joy knew no bound as she called to him again, “Alador, you came.”
“Who are you and what are you doing to me?” He asked, his eyes revealed confusion for a while, “how can I hear you in my head?”
“It is because I am your mate, we belong to each other. We are bonded Alador, we have been bonded for over nine hundred years and no simple words spoken can break our bond. Please Alador, just…”
“Stop it,” he interrupted her, “stop it now, whatever you are doing, just stop it. Do you understand me or I would be forced to kill you earlier than expected.”
“Alador, just listen to me, this is not you, you are living under a curse and I can help you. You just have to let me.”
“Enough,” he shouted, “I do not want to hear any single word from you again.”
“Alador, you cannot hide from this, you cannot run from it, you just…”
“I said enough!” He screamed and it was like everywhere came to a standstill. His eyes were burning like untamed fire, his slivery white hair flying around him in an invisible breeze. He was standing one meter above the earth and the aura from him was so dangerous that Mariah knew that one strike from him would take her life.
She was afraid, afraid of the new him, afraid of the man standing before her and ready to end her life any second but she also want to get to the man hidden inside that dangerous one, she wants him to take control once more and if losing her life to his hands would bring that, would make him regain himself from his bloodthirsty urge, then so be it. She made him like this, so it is by right that she heals him from it.
“Alador, I don’t care what you would do to me, neither do I care if I would live after tonight but before you do anything, just allow me to say how much I love you.”
She couldn’t tell what happened but Alador was so vexed hearing what she just said. A sandy wind added to the aura emanating from him. “I was able to shut your mouth, how can I shut your inner voice as well?” he glared at her, “I am warning you for the last time, enough or I would be forced to end you here.”
Mariah could tell that her last words hit him and that was all she need to say to him and so she began chanting it like a mantra, “I love you Alador, I love you and I will always love you, in this lifetime and any other one. I have loved you from my first lifetime on earth and I will always love you. Always, never would stop. You would always be the best thing to me, the best thing to ever happen to me. Your love means the world to me and I will always, always and forevermore love you.”
“Enough!” He yelled again and rushed her in the speed of lightening, ready to end her with a blow but just a few inches from his fist to contact her forehead, she said it again.
“I love you, Alador.”
An unbearable pain suddenly overwhelmed him, starting from the mark on his neck. He grunted in pain, taking steps back from her. He glared at her in confusion, wondering what was happening to him. At that moment, Mariah saw gold flickering on and off in his eyes. “Ah,” he growled and shape shifted into a bird immediately, wanting to fly off but as soon as he was up in the air, he fell back down with a crash, turning back into his human self. He was wriggling on the ground, tossing and turning. Watching him go through such, Mariah’s heart went out to him, she wanted to go to him but the vines were still holding her in place.
“Alador, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I love you, I really do love you,” she called to him and she noticed that the more she spoke of her love for him, the more he wriggled in pain and so she stopped, she couldn’t bear it anymore, watching him go through that. He clasped tightly on his neck, wanting to rip away the very part that was causing him so much pain.
Two people suddenly appeared beside her and seeing them, Mariah burst into tears. “What is wrong with him?” Bamushka asked in worry, wanting to run to him but Azura stopped her.
“He is healing, the curse is leaving him and is using the same pain it came with.”
“But how is that possible? Mariah is very much still alive,” she glanced at the tied up Mariah.
“Aye, but t’s just like I have hoped, she loved him and the mating bond cannot be deceived. I believed all that was needed was for her to confirm it to him and it seems like she did so, which is why the curse is leaving.”
Mariah stopped listening to their discussion when she felt the tree vines loosing, she started wriggling again and when it finally came off, she rushed towards him, “Alador.”
“Mariah, wait,” Azura called, stopping her in her tracks, “give him time.”
“But he is in pain,” she insisted.
“I know and it hurts me to see him like that just as it hurts you, he is still my son, do not forget that and I want to be there for him as well but right now, we need to give him time, this is something he has to go through alone. It’s his punishment.”
“Ah,” Alador growled in pain again and Mariah could only stand by and watch him, while crying bitterly.