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

Chapter 36

Leo turned away from Constantine and ended up bent over the arm of the sofa, throwing up into the plant pot that sat next to it. He sat there, leaning his forehead against the arm of the sofa, breathing in deep, gasping breaths, trying to breathe, but it seemed impossible.

A sense of love and calm swept over him. He wanted to push it away, instantly thinking that Katarina was eavesdropping and trying to soothe him. Until he realised that it wasn't Katarina. It was his mate...Angel.

Leo embraced the feeling and allowed it to soak through him. He felt his heartbeat slow from its erratic drumming. He felt a gentle touch brush against his forehead...except that his forehead was currently plastered to the cool leather of the sofa. Was Angel trying to touch him?

A hand appeared on his back and Leo nearly jumped. It began rubbing in a fatherly sort of way, as if helping to dispel the sick feeling and soothe him at the same time. He let it.

"I did try to warn you. I am so sorry to tell you this, but it was necessary," Constantine apologised.

Leo forced himself to sit up. That explained why Angel had only talked to Katarina inside her head. He had no tongue. He couldn't have spoken out loud if he had wanted to. But his mind was strong; his conversation with Katarina told him that. He had hope, love and strength. They would get through it together.

"But he's still alive. That's all that matters," Leo spoke mostly to himself and partly to Angel. He wanted to let them know that the absence of a tongue meant nothing. They could talk together as Angel had talked with Katarina. Inside their heads would become their sanctuary. Just for one another.

"No Leo," Constantine sighed with true grief in his voice.

Leo met his gaze and felt another rising will to be sick creeping up his throat.

"When I broke the news to Carlton, he already knew. The whole pack felt the wave of grief at his loss. A great man like Angel would never have been bested and had his tongue taken from him without losing his life," he said, as if he had to face the truth.

Angel had died.

Someone as great as he was, so strong and powerful would never have given his tongue freely. He would have died in the struggle to save himself, believing as all shifters did, that if their tongue was removed - thought it wasn't often a thought any of them entertained - their wolf was as good as dead too. How could their wolf breathe and drink and do so many important things without a tongue?

"But he is alive! Kat's seen him," Leo protested, indignant at being told he was hallucinating his mate.

Constantine spoke in a soft, understand tone that said he truly understood the need to fight such knowledge, but that it was no good.

Leo felt like a child, being told that Peter Pan wasn't real, and he couldn't fly.

"In a dream walk, Leo. Those are not always real," he apologised, holding his hand to Leo's shoulder, trying to give him strength to face this horrible news and accept it.

"But she talked to him...I've talked to him," Leo found himself on his feet and hating the pity he saw in the Elder's eyes. As if he was crazy or deluded or something. But he wasn't.

"Yes. And this is why I was hesitant to give you answers until now. But I have looked into this matter, my boy," he soothed, as though that was supposed to help. "Shortly after I spoke with Katarina about this, I researched until my fingers bled and I believe I have your answers," Constantine promised to explain everything, as he patted the sofa.

Leo sank onto it, like an insolent teenager, flopping down and folding his arms, planning to ignore everything he said, even if he was being forced to listen to it.

"You know of Katarina's boy? The one prophesied?" he asked, waiting for Leo's nod of recognition before continuing. "You know that he sends her visions of his life, to soothe her?" he checked, making Leo frown and nod. He was beginning to understand where this was going. But he had to say the words. To make sure.

"I believe that you have both walked into the past, when you have encountered Angel alive. Yes, you have talked with him, but in his mind," he said, with an insistence that it was all in his imagination. "He may have projected these visions to you before his death, but made sure that they couldn't reach you until you were of age," he explained, surprising Leo.

Leo hadn't even known that was possible. Until he met Katarina, he hadn't known prophesies, Oracles and future, all powerful sons sending visions from the future were possible either.

"As you know, Katarina is sensitive to your emotions, now that you are linked through Milo. What you see is not real," Constantine argued, adamantly.

Leo refused to let go. What he felt from Angel was real. What he felt for him was real. "But he told her that he's been kept captive for years," he tried once more to make a valid protest that Constantine couldn't pass off. But it didn't work.

"And I am sure that it felt like years, to the young, tortured soul. He wouldn't know any better," he consoled, with a smile that said he was sorry, but the facts couldn't be changed. "But please, Leo, take comfort from the fact that you made his last days happy. Filled with hope and love," Constantine smiled encouragingly, as if that was going to help. It didn't.

Leo wasn't really aware of anything except a near-debilitating pain and grief taking over his soul. "It's not true!" he screamed at the Elder, already on his feet. "What good is it knowing I made his last days 'good', if he's dead now? It's not fair! If he's not alive, then I don't want to be either," Leo shouted at the top of his lungs. He felt broken-hearted, on the edge of lunacy. He felt strong arms envelope him and he found himself being held. He sobbed into the shoulder of a man he had only ever known as a pack Elder and Katarina's grandfather.

"I am sorry. It is the only answer I have for you," Constantine tried to console him, but it was no good.

His whole body was racking with sobs that reached down to the very pit of his soul. He was blaming himself, torturing himself with every thought and memory he now had of Angel's suffering. He told himself it was his fault, that he could have stopped it. Leo was broadcasting on a very large scale, wanting any and all to know of his grief.

"Your mate is gone, Leo. You are free to choose another or grieve for however long you wish."

At those words, something cracked in Leo. He was a Beta. He was strong. And he was mated to Angel, who, until Katarina got pregnant, was the greatest and most powerful shifter to have ever existed. He would not...ever...take another mate.

"No!" he shouted at Constantine again, surprising the Elder as Leo pushed him away. "I know he's out there. I know he's still alive. I don't give a damn what you say...I'm going to find him," he swore, saying the words aloud to himself. To everyone he had unknowingly broadcast to. To the doubters and most importantly, to Angel.

He wanted them all to know that he was going to find his mate and save him. He would make him complete and happy. Because Angel was alive. And Leo wasn't going to rest until he proved that to them all.

"That is your right. Search for him. Feel for him. Grieve and you will heal," Constantine agreed. "But do not hope, Leo. Your mate is dead and gone. He has been these many, many years," he reminded him to keep the truth in his head all the time, to never forget that Angel was gone. Or else the pain of hoping and being proven wrong would be worse than the grief.

Leo stormed out of the room and said a silent prayer that he would come out of this sane.