Chapter 1082: After the war (6)

Jedrek watched the little creature in her crib, pouting her tiny lips as she clenched his fingers tightly.

The baby blinked her eyes and yawned, and was about to put her own fist into her mouth if it was not for Jedrek, who pulled her small hand away in time.

The feeling was incredible as it stirred something deep inside of him.

How could a small creature like this that Jedrek could crush with ease, held such a power that could make the king feel floored?

This was the first time for Jedrek to see one of his brother's children when they were only a baby. Because every time he came, he would refuse to see the baby and only congratulated his brothers and their mates formally.

However, this time Raine insisted for Jedrek to see her second child when she noticed how distraught the king looked.

Fourteen years of waiting…

That was long enough and challenging of your patience to its limits, especially when you watched how your other brothers finally got their happiness. The end that he should have been blessed with too, if only Lilac was there with him.

Yet, the reality said otherwise…

Lilac had never appeared before him and no one knew where she was now.

"How are you feeling?" Raine asked as she teased her baby and the baby laughed, letting out a strange screech that, startlingly, enticed Jedrek.

"I am fine…" Jedrek said absentmindedly, but his eyes had never left the small creature that had been holding his fingers since the moment he saw her.

Raine looked at Jedrek and it went without saying that what he said was a lie, it was only an obligatory response that he used to say whenever someone asked about his feelings.

"Do you want to hold her?" Raine gave the king an offer, which made Jedrek raise his head and reject it right away.

"No, thank you. I am not good at handling a fragile creature like her." Jedrek immediately pulled his fingers out of the baby's grip and felt sad when he lost the warm feeling.

However, Raine then stretched out her hands to pick up the baby and cradled her in her arms, as the baby cooed in happiness for being held by her mother.

"Come here. Try once." Raine moved closer to Jedrek and stretched out her hands toward Jedrek. "It is okay."

"No!" Jedrek refused. He was so panicked.

No. Of course this wouldn't be okay. Nothing would be okay in Jedrek's hands. He was not a protector, he was a living destruction.

Jedrek couldn't imagine what he could possibly do to the fragile baby. He could kill her accidentally.

Yet, Raine didn't even consider that when she thrust her own baby toward Jedrek and forced him to hold her.

"Raine, I will hurt her!" Jedrek said in panic, but out of instinct, he received the baby and held her in his arms awkwardly. "Torak will be pissed if he see this!" He screeched when he felt the weightless baby in his arms. "What should I do!?"

Raine chuckled when she watched Jedrek's expression, the same reaction and expressions that Torak showed when he held their first baby, five years ago.

Torak was also panicked and Kace laughed at his brother out loud.

At that time, Torak looked like he was more than ready to shred his brother muscle to muscle, but the baby in his arms prevented him from doing so.

Kace, of course, was fine with the baby, as he had met Hope since she was only a few days old baby and nursed his own mate.

But, for Torak and Jedrek, this was their first experience of holding someone  very fragile, defenseless and precious at the same time.

Raine understood how Jedrek felt when Aurora held his finger, the look on Jedrek's face seemed like he was almost at peace.

"Support her neck properly, or else you will hurt her." What Raine said didn't help the situation became better for Jedrek and she knew that. She just teased him because he was too stiff.

"You better take her away from me," Jedrek's voice was almost like a whisper when he glanced at the baby that curled peacefully in his arms, not even bothering with the stress that her mother was putting him through.

"You will be fine Jedrek, you will not hurt her," Raine said softly, she then took a step back and watched as Jedrek struggled to not move from his position. "I think the baby likes you."

"No, she doesn't," Jedrek grumbled, but Aurora proved him wrong, she gave him her toothless smile and cooed, snuggling closer in his warm embrace.

Jedrek could feel his heart almost exploding when he watched it. It was a mixed feeling between fear and curiosity, but he didn't know how to express that.

"You are just like Torak," Raine commented. "He was very careful when he held me when we met for the first time, because he was afraid that he would hurt me."

"You were not a baby when you met Torak for the first time," Jedrek pointed out the fact and Raine agreed with that.

"Yes, I was not a baby, I was seventeen years old at that time," Raine said softly, reminiscing the moment she met Torak under the rain. "But trust me, I was as fragile as her."

Yes, Raine had been through so much and psychologically, she was as frail as a newborn baby. You could snap her effortlessly and it would take a long time for her to be healed.

And Jedrek was well aware of that, therefore he didn't say anything and shifted his focus on to Aurora, who was busy nibbling his shirt.

"Didn't you meet Lilac?" Jedrek finally asked, bringing up the question that he wanted to know the answer for more than seven years. He had never really talked about this with anyone, let alone with his crude brothers. "I meant when you were in whatever realm you were in before being resurrected for the second time."

Raine smiled softly at Jedrek, she had been waiting for him to ask this question since seven years, but only now did the cold demeanor that he had was slightly crack open.

It seemed, the long wait of fourteen years had finally taken a toll on him and he had no longer had the energy to put up a strong front.

"Yes, I met her, but we didn't really talk, as it was only a brief meeting before we went back to this realm," Raine replied softly, caressing Aurora's flushed cheeks.

"What happened when you were there?" Jedrek asked again, but this time he looked at Raine in her eyes, waiting anxiously.

Raine then shrugged her shoulder. "The first guardian angel of time showed me about the past, telling us about the story of her love to the first lycanthrope, who walked on this realm."

Yes, Raine had been showed her past memories for the second time, but in a different point of view. She saw herself grew up from a traumatic young teenager to be someone powerful that could fulfill the task that was given to the guardian angels.

It was such a blessing to be able to see herself become stronger and for the first time Raine was really proud of herself, it was the version of herself that she didn't see while she went through those experiences or when, for the second time, the devils forced her to endure it again.

"I think Hope and Lilac went the same thing like me." Raine smiled softly at Jedrek. "I choose to go back to Torak because he is my safe heaven. Hope must feel the same for Kace…" she paused for a while and looked Jedrek deep in his eyes. "But, I don't know about Lilac."

Jedrek could feel his own breathing turned even more erratic when he heard Raine's explanation and he didn't know how to express this feeling.

If Raine and Hope had been showed their past memories, of course they would return to their mates, since neither Kace or Torak had made an attempt to kill them or hurt them in any other way.

Unlike himself…

It was like Jedrek was being reminded of his ultimate mistake again and again. This made him to succumb deeper into the darkness, unable to see any way out from this.

"The mate bond between us had shattered, that's the price that we have to pay to be able to come back to our mates, we gambled with that, as there was still a chance that once the mate bond between us disappeared, the feeling also would be gone, but…" Raine stretched out her hand and caressed Jedrek's cheek, feeling the tips of her fingers getting wet from the tears of the king. "But, we came back."

They dared to bet on their true feelings that could surpass the mate bond. The true love between them that didn't need such bond, because they had created their own.

Jedrek gritted his teeth when he heard that. He felt his heart break into million pieces and he didn't know how to fix it when the hollow only grew larger and darker.

"Lilac also returned with us. She bet the same thing like us. But, maybe she didn't have enough confidence in you to find you again." Raine now used both of her hands to wipe away the tears from Jedrek's cheeks, as the lycan trembled. "Because sometimes, time can't heal the wound in someone's heart, but effort and patience might will."

Aurora yawned in Jedrek's arms and snuggled closer to the warmth of the lycan's body. She felt really comfortable to be held by him.