The Story of the Exile (The Belesone Pack #2)

Chapter 28

Leo took Katarina to Milo's bedroom and lay her on the bed. She refused to let go of his neck, so he sank down onto the bed beside her.

Tears were making their way into his eyes and he knew that Katarina was well aware of how much he had already cried over his mate's situation, while hiding in his own bedroom.

It had been just after he left the dining room and reached his room, that the vision started.

Katarina had already taken his mate's place, but he still felt the pain and recognition of their connection to one another. That was the worst part. Being so close, yet so far from his true mate and unable to save him from whatever situation he was in.

Leo didn't care that his mate was another man. All he wanted was to find that inner peace and love that Katarina and Milo shared with each other; to know true happiness and feel complete again. If he could save his mate from his current confinement and torture, even better. He would do anything to save him.

It's not your fault, Katarina's voice soothed his inner turmoil.

It is Kat, he insisted. I've been too wrapped up in this whole mess with Josanna and Bricia to even notice his pain until now. How long have I left him suffering alone? Leo complained to himself. He really wanted to break down again, but he had just done that and he wasn't sure if he could take it again.

He had no right lying there with his best friend's mate, complaining about his own pain and grief. His mate was being tortured, in some unknown location, for God knew how long. What right did he have to complain about mundane situations like that, when his mate was beaten, starved and dehydrated?

I have to find him. As soon as the Elders get here and this whole business with Nathaniel is settled, I'm leaving, he decided. It was time to take action. Now that he knew what his mate was going through, he wasn't going to let it stand. He would do anything to rescue him and help him recover.

Katarina smiled and brushed a stray strand of hair from his eyes. I know. I'll talk to Milo. He'll understand, she reassured him.

Will he? Leo wasn't sure he would understand. He was kind of worried that Milo wouldn't accept his mate just because he was male. He seemed pretty focused on how I was dealing with the fact that my mate was another guy,

Katarina giggled at his disapproval, but he meant what he said; no matter what, he was going to accept his true mate.

No. He was focused on how you were dealing with everything, she disagreed, fighting Milo's corner, because she knew he wasn't angry. He was just afraid that he and his mate wouldn't be accepted. You've had a lot of bad stuff going on lately and a lot of people trying to tell you who your mate is, Katarina insisted.

Believe me, Leo, she encouraged. Milo would rather you mated with any boy in the world than see you mate with Josanna or Bricia. That would be a true disaster. And I'm pretty sure Milo would use all his Alpha powers to stop it, she giggled again, teasing him.

Leo managed to laugh at that, as he sank onto his back. Maybe she had a point.

He still couldn't believe that Josanna and Bricia had both manipulated him. He hated that Bricia had been the most convincing and stolen something precious from him, that should have belonged to his mate. All he could do was appreciate that it was nothing more than a simple, brief kiss.

Even that memory caused him pain.

While he had been swanning off into a dream walk that was supposed to clear his head but turned out to be a load of rubbish, his true mate was being tortured, physically and mentally. That was nothing compared to the emotional damage. What the hell was going on in his mate's head? How did he cope?

Leo,

When Katarina spoke again, he turned to look at her, fresh tears in both their eyes. I think he holds on because he can feel you. Because he feels your pain and confusion, she said, breaking his heart again. He wants to come to you as badly as you want to go to him, she confessed in a tender whisper.

Leo managed a smile. I know. I have a feeling he's more worried about me than he is for himself. He's too used to the violence and hate now to really care, he sighed and turned his eyes back to the ceiling. He hated knowing that his mate had been conditioned to accept and ignore what was being done to him.

He cares, Leo, Katarina objected softly. You didn't hear him when I was dragged out of that dream walk, did you? she asked, watching as he shook his head, trying to ignore the tear that ran out the corner of his eye and down his cheek. He didn't want to go back. He didn't want me to leave him there. But now...now I'm not sure it was me he was begging to stay, she said, though he knew that. I think he felt you and didn't want you to go. That's why he sounded so desperate. It's the closest you've been to each other,

Thank you, Leo whispered and turned his back on her.

Katarina moved up close behind him and held him as he cried.

This was his pain. His torture that she had access to. It was Josanna, Janet and Bricia's fault; it was Nathaniel's fault. They had all confused him and locked him in a situation he couldn't fight. One that he had to see through to the end before he could leave and rescue his mate. That was the most painful thing of all. That he had to know, see and feel what his mate was going through but be unable to do anything about it.

For now.

One day he would be free to seek his own mate. One day he would find happiness again. But not today.

Today, he held Katarina's arm around him and cried. He cried for the pain and confusion the girls had put him through. He cried for the danger to his Alpha and his new friend, Katarina. He cried for his mate...he cried the tears his mate couldn't cry. He felt the pain his mate wouldn't let himself feel. And he cried for all the years and months and days they hadn't been together.