HIS ROYAL LOVE CHILD (Book Two of the LOVE CHILD series)

Chapter Seventeen "COMING HOME 2"

Picture above Justin Gaston as Blake Hawkthorne

I felt it! The moment that son of a bitch stepped through the doors of the mansion I knew. There was no mistaking his presence. There was no mistaking the call, the pull that I experienced. The pull of my mate.

I had been upstairs with Blake trying to catch up on some much needed sleep, when I jerked out of his arms and sat straight up in the bed. I hadn't gotten any the night before due to Tristan fussing and crying all night. I had pretty much spent the entire night trying to calm him down with the help of Blake. Blake and I had gotten pretty close these past years. He has been there for me and Tristan through it all.

My movements woke him up too and he asked groggily, still half asleep "What is it? Are you ok?"

I turned my head to look at him and said "He's here. He's back" That was all I was able to say. I leapt from the bed and rushed out of the room and raced downstairs with Blake hot on my heels. He didn't ask me any questions. He didn't need to. He knew exactly who I was talking about. Racing through the halls we ran into his twin sister Blair. I panicked, she was supposed to be watching Tristan, while Blake and I got some rest. I grabbed her shoulders and shook her, yelling into her face, "Where is Tristan?! Where is he?!"

"Dd…downstairs in the Den." She managed to stutter our. I let go of her and continued my mad dash downstairs. "What's the matter?! What's wrong?" She called out after me. But I didn't stop to answer. By the time I made it to the Den, Blake and I had been joined by Blair, Hunter, Rafe and Cameron. Already standing in the doorway was Vlad. He was leaning on the doorframe completely engrossed in whatever was going on in the Den. I pushed past him unceremoniously. I was just in time to see Tristan tumble out of Liam's hold on him.

My rage ignited and blazed out of control within mere second. It was all that I could do not to shift right then and there. I gave out a low menacing growl, which froze Liam in his tracks as he scrambled to pick up my son. As he flicked his eyes up to meet my own, my rage intensified, and I growled out at him "Get. The. Fuck. Away. From. Him Now!!" He started speaking, but I barely registered what he was saying. I growled out at Blair to take a still screaming Tristan upstairs. As Blair left the room the bastard had the gall to say "I'm sorry." As if those too little words would just miraculously fix everything. As if those words would suddenly make my son ok.

Before I knew it I was across the room and my fist was making contacting with his face. He went flying through the windows and I leapt after him. It was on. I unleashed the full force of my pent up rage on him. I gave him no chance as I repeatedly hit him, using my fists, my feet, my elbows, my knees. Every time he tried to counter and mount a defence I took him down hard. I gave him no chance. He didn't deserve any.  All I could see was the years of pain and fear that I and my son had endured because of him.

The many times that Tristan had almost died. The struggles and difficulties that Tristan had to face. My son didn't deserve any of it, he was an innocent, beautiful little boy that got screwed over royally by his own father. The thought had me shifting my hands into my dragon claws. I hooked them into Liam's side and sank them in deep. As I released my toxins into his system, he screamed out, his back arching, his body going rigid from the pain caused by my toxins.

A sense of satisfaction flowed through me, but my dragon wasn't satisfied until he laid in a bloody, broken heap at our feet and even then  she still roared in rage and pain. She wanted him dead. But I held her back, he was still our mate and killing him would only cause us more pain and eventually our own death.

I was covered in Liam's blood as I walked away from his unconscious body, but I didn't care. I looked neither left nor right as I made my way back inside. I could feel the stares of the others around me and I knew that they could see my aura ablaze and swirling around me. I went straight up to me suite and straight into the shower. I couldn't let Tristan see me like this, it would scare him.

As I stood under the hot scalding shower, watching the blood running off my body and down the drain, I slowly started to pull in my anger. As I calmed down I started thinking about the fact that Liam was back, he was home and things were about to get even more complicated. Especially seeing as how Blake and I were kind of dating now.

It had taken a long time for me to give in to his advances. At first I was glad that I had his support as a true friend in this strange new world in which I had found myself after Liam rejected and abandoned me. Then with everything that I had to face with Tristan I found that I became even more dependent on Blake and attached to him. I don't know when my feelings for Blake changed from one of loving friendship to something more. But it did and now we were a couple.

But with the return of Liam, my true mate things were about to get complicated. I don't see myself forgiving Liam anytime soon for what he did to me and my son. But if Liam stuck around, eventually the call, the pull of the true mate bond would supersede any and all my feelings for Blake. My gut was telling me that Liam wasn't going to go away anytime soon. He was here to stay.

As I exited the bathroom I was met by Blake. He was sitting on the foot of the bed, his elbows on his knees, his head hung low, his hair hiding his face from my view. "What're you going to do?" He asked quietly. I didn't need him to elaborate. I knew what he was asking. He still hadn't raised his head to look at me.

"I don't know." I said truthfully. Because that was the truth. I really didn't know what I was going to do about Liam, about Blake. I knew that despite my rage at Liam, that I still loved him. How could I not, he was my true mate. But I also loved Blake and I knew that I could trust him not to hurt me.

Blake heaved a heavy sigh as he finally raised his head and looked at me. Our eyes met and I could clearly see the fear and pain that he tried to hide behind the smile that he gave me. He already knew that this was likely to be the beginning of the end for us. He got up from the bed and walked over to me, without saying another word he enfolded me in his arms. As I clutched him to me the dam of tears that I had been holding in broke and so did I. I sobbed uncontrollably in his arms. "Whyyy! Why did he have to come back?! I hate him!" I wailed out.

"Shhhh. It's ok." Blake tried to soothe me. "You don't hate him. You could never hate anyone. Least of all Liam. You're mad at him, for what he did to you, for what he did to Tristan. We all are. You knew that this could happen. That he could return. We both did. Now we just have to deal with it." He kissed the side of my temple as he rubbed soothing circles into my back. "It's going to be alright. Whatever you decide to do, I'll accept it. Know that'll always love you."

He pulled me away from him and used his thumbs to wipe away the streaks of tears on my face, then he kissed me. A kiss so sweet that it nearly brought me to tears again. A kiss in which he poured all of his love for me. But I could also feel his anxiety, his desperation, his fear at losing me. And it saddened me that there was nothing that I could do about it. I couldn't give him the reassurance that he needed, because already I could feel the pull, the call of my true mate.

It would only become stronger as the days passed. Eventually I would give in. Eventually I would respond to the call. I had no choice.

My Mate was home and he was calling me.