Mated by Twilight (True Match)

Chapter 50

Sollit

Leah was an excellent patient.

Sollit and Tillos were the terrible visitors. Hovering, cursing, frantically worrying. To the point that the healer in charge ordered them out of the room and, under threat of detainment until he deemed Leah healthy again, they were forced to comply.

No one was really surprised at their acting up. It wasn’t unusual really. But they were treated with the sort of long-suffering annoyance of ones not appreciative of their concern.

But it was impossible to be calm.

Even now, they were both working off their nerves in their own way. Sollit was pacing back and forth in the waiting room while Tillos stood leaning against the wall, arms crossed, fingers tapping impatiently, as they both waited.

Leah would be fine, of course. There hadn’t been so much damage done that it couldn’t be healed by a mediring. Such damage would have to be extensive and immediately or imminently fatal for a mediring to be unable to fix it fast enough. She hadn’t been hurt that bad.

At least, he hoped she hadn’t been hurt that bad.

Her face was red and swollen, there had been a large lump to the back of her head, and her vibrantly red human blood had created a web of lines all across her legs from where Biella had cut into her with her claws.

Their failure to protect her had resulted in her pain, and that was what really ate at them. They’d taken that package from Biella to just be from an obsessed fan. They all got things like that. Security usually intercepted it. They hadn’t considered Biella would be so obsessed with them that she’d see Leah as a threat. Nor that she would have escalated so quickly.

One of the peacekeepers assigned to the station had already come by. He had been the one to threaten them with detainment if they didn't leave the room. He wanted to speak to Leah alone to get her story. When he finished, he came out and spoke to them.

Biella had been screaming and throwing a fit when station security got to her room. Skara had been blocking her from chasing after them and, unlike Leah with her soft skin, the dull knife Biella’d stolen from the kitchen hadn’t been able to cut Skara’s scales. Biella had just been ineffectually hitting her with the knife when security subdued her.

She was being taken for an emergency mental evaluation. She had committed a high crime, but her insanity would likely keep her out of prison. More than likely, she’d be sent for mental health treatment and rehabilitation.

Medirings could fix a lot of things, but there were some things it couldn’t do. The brain was always so difficult. If her obsession with them was caused by some kind of imbalance of chemicals or some kind of wire crossed in her head, it could probably be fixed. But that wasn’t a guarantee, and it might take a long time before she was well.

Regardless of whatever punishment or treatment she’d get, however, she would be absolutely forbidden from being within a certain distance of Leah. Which meant she would no longer get to follow the troupe around. Her obsession with them ended here, one way or another.

Personally, Sollit would rather she be thrown into a deep hole and left to rot.

But that wasn’t how cases like this were handled. Her crime was caused by mental disturbances, not by a choice that she consciously made, therefore the way she was dealt with would be different. Sollit had to be satisfied that, at least, she wouldn’t be a bother for them ever again.

He only cursed Biella and wished her ill until the healer came into the room and finally told them that they could go see her.

With that, he left all thoughts of Biella behind as he and Tillos rushed to her room.

Leah was sitting up on the side of the stretcher. The mediring was off and all the marks on her body were gone like they had never been there. But her hair was still a mess, and her clothes were still mussed and torn in a couple places. The skin that had been healed wasn’t as soft as before, proof of the healing process. It just made Sollit want to get her back to the room immediately. It begged for a new bonding ceremony so they could get her back to how she had been.

They both reached for her at the same time, and she collapsed eagerly against them, letting out a long sigh like the weight of the world was falling from her back. Her arms around their necks, resting on both of their chests. At least she had stopped crying, but it was like something had been sapped from her. A vitality that was lost.

Sollit tightened his grip. Hating Biella even more for taking that light that had just been restored.

“Are you okay, aevea ?” Tillos asked, kissing the top of her head as Sollit rubbed her back.

She nodded. “How’s Biella?”

“She won’t bother you again,” Sollit promised.

Leah sat up, keeping her hands on them. “No, that’s not… I’m worried about her.”

Tillos gave her a wan smile. “You’re too kind, Leah.”

She shook her head. “It’s not that. She just… kind of reminds me of my family.”

Sollit frowned. “Your family are obsessive over actors?”

“No,” she chuckled. “But they are obsessive. Their religion means so much to them that it’s driven them to exclude everything else. Their devotion isn’t a healthy thing, and it makes them hurt other people. It makes them think that other people’s opinions and desires don’t matter. They’ve become convinced that their reality is the absolute right one, and any challenge against that is a threat that must be destroyed by any means necessary. Usually, it’s about attacking outsiders, but it’s even worse when it’s aimed inward. It makes them cut off their family or hate what makes them happy. It’s an obsession that blocks out the rest of the world. That’s what Biella reminds me of.”

Sollit and Tillos briefly shared a look before focusing back on her.

“Leah, we owe you an apology,” Sollit started solemnly.

She shook her head. “It’s not your fault she took me. No one could have predicted that.”

“Actually,” Tillos clenched his jaw. “A while ago, we got a package.”

Leah cocked her head as she listened to them explain the animal carcass that had come in the mail. The box that they’d not told her about. Biella hadn’t signed it, though there wasn’t anyone else who could have sent it.

She looked between them, frowning. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We didn’t want to worry you,” Sollit said.

“You didn’t think I might want to know?” She shook her head. “I mean, thank you. For looking out for me. I do appreciate how devoted you two are to me, but for something like that, something important, I should know. Right?”

Tillos nodded once. “We just wanted to protect you. But maybe if you knew, you wouldn’t have let yourself stray so far from our side.”

“I don’t want to be scared either,” she sighed. “But I can handle it. I’m not yet at the point your mom is, where I’m content to let you two handle everything. I might never be. Don’t keep things from me, okay? Even if it’s bad. I want to deal with everything with you two. That’s my right. As your mate.”

Sollit’s pride expanded in his chest, competing with Tillos’ for space. Their mate was so small and shy, it was easy to forget all the things she’d already survived. The pain she’d lived through. And sure, it might have damaged her in some ways, but she’d still proved herself equal to it. Stronger, because she was reclaiming everything her past had taken.

“We won’t keep anymore secrets from you,” Sollit promised.

She smiled at them. “Who knows. Maybe we could have done something for Biella if we had figured out she was the one who sent the box.”

“You couldn’t have done anything for Biella, Leah,” Tillos said softly, taking her by the chin and gently turning her face up to look at them. “Even if we had figured out how mad she had become, I don’t think anything would have helped her. Whether her choices were made consciously or because of a mental disorder, the fact is that she made those choices. Even if you can empathize with her, it doesn’t excuse the harm she caused.”

“I know.” She smiled sadly. “I think I’m just coming to that same conclusion about my family as well. They made their choices. Nothing… Nothing they did to me was my fault. The only way I could have made them happy would have been to give up something precious to myself. I wasn’t enough for them, and the only way I could be was to make myself miserable. I think… deep down, that’s something I’ve always known. It’s why I ran that day. Because even if I didn't realize it, I knew that the only way to satisfy them was to give up everything that makes me a person. And I couldn’t do that.”

“Leah?” Sollit stroked her cheek, brushing away the tear falling slowly down.

“My family is sick,” she said softly, sadly. “But they can’t accept help to make them better. I can’t change them anymore than they could change me. And that’s not my fault.”

“Of course, not.” Tillos put his arms around her. “I’ve not met your family, and I don’t think I ever actually want to.”

She burst out laughing. “No way. My family is very anti-alien. They’d lose their minds if they ever found out I was mated to one alien, much less two. They couldn’t accept me singing on stage; they certainly couldn’t accept you.”

“We don’t need them to.” Sollit took her hand and kissed her palm. “You are the only one who needs to accept us.”

“And I do.” She beamed. “I love you two. So much! And I’m not ashamed of that. I’m not sorry about it. And if my family were here, if you did somehow meet them, I’d tell them straight to their faces that I love who I love, I love what I love, and their obsession is not my commandment.

“If there is some kind of divine being on Earth, or in the universe itself,” she took their hands, lacing her fingers with theirs. “Then that being decided that our souls match each other. Our bond is proof enough to me that what we have is good and natural and right. I love you, Sollit. I love you, Tillos. And nothing could ever make me give that up. I’ll always fight for my place beside you.”

“Silly,” Sollit embraced her at the same time as Tillos. They kissed her temples. “You don’t need to fight for that.”

“Or ever again,” Tillos promised. “Your place beside us is certain and unshakable. And if anyone has something to say about it, even if they are your family, we’ll deal with it.”

“You just relax and be soft and pampered.” Sollit smiled, stroking the back of her head. Assuring himself that the lump there was gone.

She shook her head, smiling. And some of that light was back. “No. I want to fight for it. I don’t want to just accept what’s happening to me. I don’t want to run. If there’s a fight for our future, I want to fight it with you.”

Sollit smiled, somehow as proud of her right now as he had been when he saw her singing her final song during the play. “Then, I would say we’ve nothing to fear, aevea .”