Catalyst Read online

“Are you okay?” I asked him.

  “I am… I really am. I read her letter when Patro gave it to me, and I finally understood why she was like that. I never took time to think about why she was so distant and quiet around everyone except me. She was like that to you too, not because of our different statuses. She was like that because she didn’t know how to properly open up. When she did, it literally killed her. I’ll miss her very much, even more now than before.”

  “We could always go to the Aegean Sea to see her. Anytime you want to go, we can.”

  “Thank you for that, baby. Thank you for giving me a chance again,” he said as he caressed my cheek.

  “I’d give you a thousand chances, if I could.” I turned my head toward the palm of his hand kissing it.

  “That is why I would cross oceans for you, my love.”

  “Always, my liege, always.”

  He smiled at me.

  “Now, how about we get this shampoo out of my hair and condition it before you ruin it?”

  I threw my head back and laughed. I shook my head as I gestured for us to move to the shower. I discarded my wet clothing as I walked into the stall in front of Ales. I grabbed the detachable shower head turning the water on waiting for him to sit on the bench in the shower, but instead, he kneeled in front of me. I looked down at Ales as he looked up at me. He kissed my belly and shut his eyes.

  I didn’t say anything as I rinsed his hair and conditioned it as well. I ran my fingers through it, then rinsed that out too. When I was done, he opened his eyes staring up at me.

  “You have made me into a happy man. I could die in peace now.”

  “What?” I whispered, not understanding what he was saying by that.

  “Not that I’m going to die anytime soon, my love. You’re mine, and I would never give you up to another man; not in this lifetime or any other. You hear me?”

  “Yes, my liege.” He kissed my belly again. I felt our baby girl kick for the first time, and I almost jumped. “Did you feel that?” I asked with glee in my words.

  He nodded, then chuckled, as he placed his large palm on my belly.

  “I love you, Alana-Thea, and I love your mother. I can’t wait for you to be born, so I can take you gun shopping, teach you how to kill—”

  “Excuse me!” I screeched.

  Ales had the nerve to laugh as if I’d let him teach my daughter how to kill.

  “Fine… fine, I’ll teach you how to defend yourself. Maybe, maim them, but definitely no killing.” He took the opportunity to kiss my belly, then stood up towering over me. “I’ll be good to her and you. I promise,” he reiterated.

  “I know, my love, I know.”

  “I’m ready to spend the rest of our lives together. Are you, Lani?” I smiled at the nickname that warmed my insides up.

  “Yes, Ales, I am ready, my liege.” He kissed me so deep that my soul intertwined with his once more. We were not only bound by marriage, love or fate. We were also bound by our souls. He was my soul and I was his.

  Epilogue

  Ales

  This was it! This was the day she was making her entrance into the world. I looked lovingly at Elani, as she pushed for the last time, welcoming our baby girl into the world. Her piercing cries filled the hospital room and my heart swelled with pride. My little warrior. She was here, and she made a big entrance. It caused me to smile. I looked at my loving wife as she was sweating but smiling too. She started to cry. I leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead.

  “What is it, baby?” I whispered to her.

  This made her sob even more. I was confused, but I waited until she could speak.

  “I’m so happy.” She sobbed out her words.

  I chuckled. I leaned in even closer so she could put me in that killer headlock she called a hug. I kissed her cheek as they cleaned our baby girl up.

  “Would you like to hold your baby girl, daddy?” The doctor said to me.

  I didn’t say anything as I took our baby girl in my arms. She was beautiful.

  “Perfection,” I whispered. Her skin glistened light bronze as her dark brown hair, with golden highlights, were a curly mess. I rocked her back and forth, falling in love with what our love created. I couldn’t see past this moment or anything else. When she opened her eyes, I gasped. Her green eyes mirrored mine and she just looked at me. She didn’t fuss or cry. She just watched me as I watched her. I knew she would have my heart in a vice from this moment.

  I felt a hand tugging my shirt. I looked down at Elani and felt guilty for hogging our daughter.

  “Can I see her?” she asked.

  I moved closer and handed our baby girl over to her. Elani’s eyes flooded with tears again as she placed her finger in our baby girl’s small hand.

  “Hi, Alana Thea Petra. Welcome to our world. We’ve been waiting for you for a long time and now that you’re here, we’re so overwhelmed. I can’t wait to do everything with you. I love you already,” she said as she kissed her forehead.

  I smiled at the perfection of my world with these two. I would never change it. They were now my number one priority, and I was proud to watch over and protect them with my life.

  Elani

  Two years…two whole years passed by ever since we had Alana. She was a handful for us, but we learned how to be parents. I smiled at the cake that had the number two on it for Alana. Her little friends and her were playing out in the yard in the bouncy house. I watched her through the glass screen door as she ran out the bouncy house, leaving her friends. I watched her little dark brown-blonde pigtails slap her head back and forth as she ran towards her daddy with her pink puffy dress.

  I couldn’t help it as I smiled. He made it back. That was all I could think. Ales had been gone for a month on another mission. I was grateful for Stacey and other friends I made over the years at my teaching job. I watched them as he bent down to capture her in a hug. He scooped her up, and they twirled in a circle. The contentment on his face gave me mine.

  Ales gave me everything. He had the loft remodeled into a home. He changed everything around, and now, it looked like a home not only suitable for us but for our children. Speaking of children, I lit the candles on my baby’s cake and walked over to the door. I looked to my right and Lady was there trying to go outside. Although she was a friendly dog, she was bigger than half the kids, so she had to stay inside. I shook my head and she whined, but I ignored her before I let her go outside.

  “I’ll take you out later, girl, I promise…Oh, don’t look at me like that. I promise, okay?”

  I opened the screen door then closed it. As I walked toward the father and daughter pair, I began to sing happy birthday to my daughter. She looked so much like Ales as the days went by, especially now as they stood by each other. I smiled at my daughter and then looked at the love of my life as he had the biggest smile on his face. He had a gruff, but trimmed, beard that looked good on him and I winked at him. As the song came to an end, Alana was clapping for herself and that made me chuckle.

  “Blow the candles, baby…” I cheered her on as her father helped her.

  Hearing the song, her little friends had come out the bouncy house ready for cake. They stood by me as we looked at the birthday girl.

  My smile soured as the first pain hit me. “Oh God, not again,” I stated. I tried to ignore it, but the evidence of the liquid slipped down my leg. I looked up at Ales and his eyes went wide.

  “Baby…” I called out to him. “Baby!” I screamed “My water broke,” I said with a smile on my face.

  His expression changed, and he smiled too. He didn’t miss a beat as he called over the parents of the kids, telling them that we had to go.

  When we got to the hospital, I immediately went into labor. I was sad because our little girl’s birthday was ruined. I hoped she could forgive me one day for this. I wanted to think about ways to make it up to her, but another contraction came. This time it was much more painful and consistently close. I felt Ales’ hand hold mine, and I
looked at him.

  “Where’s Lana?” I asked.

  “She’s with Stace. Don’t worry about her. Just breathe, baby.”

  “Okay,” I replied.

  It didn’t take too long for the doctor to come in and start ordering me around. I wanted to rip her head off for telling me to push each time. I was tired, and I just wanted to sleep, but I knew I had to do this. With one more push, my baby boy came into the world. He was just as loud as his sister when she was born. I finally breathed a sigh of relief when I knew the hard part was over. I was so happy. looked at Ales who was stared back at me. He leaned in and kissed my forehead, then my lips.

  “You were great baby,” he said to me with a smile on his face.

  “Oh yeah?” I teased. “Kinda sexy the way I delivered that placenta too, huh?”

  He snorted and shook his head at me.

  “That was the sexiest part, baby.” This made me laugh, even if I felt some pain.

  We watched as the doctor brought us our baby boy. As he did the first time, Ales held him first. He rocked him in his arms, not realizing everyone watching him. He looked beautiful as he held our son in his arms.

  “Hello, my son. You’ve finally made it into this world and I can’t wait for you to meet your big sister and your mommy. You are beautiful as ever, Achilles Petra. You want to meet your mommy?” Ales asked, finally turning back to me, placing our son into my hands.

  As I held my son, I was overwhelmed by emotions, once more, but I maintained it. I looked at him as he had the same curly mass, of hair like his sister and the light bronze skin complexion. When he opened his eyes, I smiled widely.

  “He looks like me,” I whispered and looked up at Ales who nodded with pure adoration in his eyes.

  “He truly does, my love. I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said. “Now, let me go get Lana so she could meet her brother. I’ll be right back, love.” He kissed my forehead before he departed from the room.

  The nurses cleaned me up before Alana came in the room. When Alana came in with her godparents, Patro and Stacey, I smiled widely. What made me chuckle more was when Ales’ brothers came in the room. They filled up the little room with their big bodies, and they all looked at me with admiration.

  “Mommy!” Alana exclaimed. She ran to me and Ales helped her up on the bed. She sat by me and looked at her brother. She giggled when she touched his little face and he wiggled a bit. “What’s his name?” she asked.

  “His name is Achilles.”

  “Chilles? That’s a funny name.”

  I couldn’t help it as I joined in and laughed with her.

  “It is funny, isn’t it, Ales?” I looked at him and he rolled his eyes.

  “No, not really,” he said as he tickled Alana. She giggled until she couldn’t handle it anymore and he stopped.

  “Can I kiss him, mommy?” Alana asked me. I nodded, and she leaned in, planting a few kisses on him. He fussed but didn’t cry.

  I was so happy that Alana and Achilles were now part of our lives. I looked at Ales as he watched our baby girl lovingly touch her brother and hold his little hand. This was all we wanted from the beginning. This journey, although rough, heartbreaking, tear-jerking, and all of that, was well worth it. It was worth me watching my husband, and father of my children, smile and adore them. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. A lost, forgotten memory popped up from when we were Achilles and Alana, when we made promises to each other.

  Achilles was laying on his back staring up at the night sky, I was doing the same. We admired the stars that lit up our world during the night. I loved being out here with him, in the quiet, where no one disturbed us. It made everything worth it. The stares, the snares and even the insults I received from those who wanted him as their own. I could’ve walked away a million times, yet I refused. Something kept me there and I gladly stayed in his arms. As I was shutting my eyes, Achilles spoke up.

  “Do you think we will be together in another lifetime, Alana?”

  “You don’t think we could be together now?” I asked him.

  “We are together, my love. Don’t you ever doubt you’re mine, but that’s not what I mean. I just know, if ever I am reborn, I want to fall in love with you all over again. I want you to be the one I give my all to. Do you understand that?”

  “Yes, my liege.”

  I knew he didn’t like my answer when he sat up and turned to face me. The hard stare he gave me had me sitting up too.

  “What did I say so wrong you’d look at me the way you look at your enemy?”

  My statement shocked him. He immediately changed his expression.

  “My love, you will never be my enemy. You are my everything. I have never loved any woman like I’ve come to love you. All I want to know is if the woman I love, loves me enough to want the same things I do? Do you desire to be mine once more in another life?”

  “I do desire you. I desire you now and will always desire you whether we are in this life or the next, because my soul is yours. I belonged to you the moment you laid eyes on me. I am no one else’s but yours.”

  “I, too, am yours, my love. You are my soul. May the gods bestow this blessing on us to love one another over and over.

  The gods truly heard our heart’s desire. I looked at Ales once more and he was intently watching me as everyone else was now gushing over our baby boy. He was sitting down in the chair near me.

  “The gods truly did hear us that night?” I whispered close to his ear.

  “What night?”

  I frowned.

  “The night that you asked me if I would be your lover in every lifetime?”

  “Ah! That night. Yes, they truly did. They heard us and fulfilled it. I still desire that, do you?” he asked me.

  I reached out, and caressed his cheek, while looking into his eyes.

  “I will always desire that with you. There is no one else for me or you. We are bound not just by love but by souls.”

  “Soul ties. I like that very much.” He smiled at me as I leaned in and kissed him.

  I couldn’t have asked for anything more than this perfection we call our lives. Our story will forever be remembered as one that fate was changed. The moment our lips touched, we became one. Our entire beings knew it, but it took more time for us. How could anyone not love someone who crossed oceans, and waited centuries, for the one they were meant to be with? Nothing could break us now that we were favored by the gods. The story of Achilles and Alana might have ended. Alas, our story now as Ales and Elani will continue until we are old, possibly gray. Then, I wish for nothing more but to see our children grow up to be just as strong as we are.

  Ales pulled his lips away from mine and rested his forehead on mine.

  “We made it, baby.”

  “We did, my liege, we did.”

  ~The End~

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  Alexander of Troy’s story releases 08/14/2018

  Continue reading for a sample

  Prologue

  Hera and Athena watched as the scene unfolded. Helen of Sparta begged Oenone to heal Paris “Alexander of Troy,” the man she loved. Paris shouldn’t have chosen Aphrodite as the most beautiful amongst them and given her the golden apple. He was warned he would live to regret it, and there he was mortally wounded on the battlefield by Philoctetes. Did he think no one heard Oenone’s cries when he left her for Helen of Sparta? Did he think the two goddesses would’ve ignored her as she pleaded for them to restore her heart and make her better? Hera, along with Athena, had hardened Oenone’s heart, and she became bitter. So bitter this moment didn’t matter to her. Cursing Paris was the only way for her. Oenone made her decision, Paris was dying.

  “I will not heal him. He will die… He will know what it feels like to love someone much more than himself as I have loved him… To love someone so much
, it drives you mad to the point of insanity. He will suffer as I have. He will love her more than he’s ever claimed to love you. When he sees her, he will fall for her at the snap of mere fingers. Dying is too easy for someone such as him. As for you, Oh Helen of Sparta, you who coveted someone else’s husband, may you die with misery and shame. Your love will be meaningless to him. You will be but a bitter memory.” Oenone spoke filled with bitterness in her heart.

  “No! No! Please help him. Save him. Heal him. You loved him such as I have. Do it because you love him,” Helen of Sparta begged.

  Oenone laughed such a bitter laugh as she looked over at Helen of Sparta. She didn’t care. Neither of them would ever get his love not even in death or the afterlife.

  Helen of Sparta cried all the way back to where Paris was. By the time she came back to him, he had passed away. It only took days for his fatal wounds to conquer his body and soul. She couldn’t speak as she watched his funeral pyre burn on. She was numb to it all and didn’t speak a word, but there was a commotion that went on, and she turned towards the noise. She watched as Oenone struggled with the guards. Then, after a moment, she broke loose and ran towards Paris’ funeral pyre. Helen of Sparta gasped as Oenone threw herself in the funeral pyre. Her body burning right along with his.

  Hera and Athena watched the whole thing as it transpired. They didn’t understand why Oenone would throw herself into the fire, but then they turned to their right seeing Aphrodite standing there in the far corner of the funeral pyre. She did something before they heard her last words.

  “You will find your true love Paris, Alexander of Troy. This may not have been your time for it, but you will know when it’s time. The name which means ‘fiery love’ or ‘born of flames’ mixed in there with Eros will be the one for you. She will be born with one purpose … to be yours.” Aphrodite blew in the fire causing the flames to grow higher and brighter. She needed a sacrifice to give him what he truly needed. Oenone was the sacrifice, but not his. Neither woman was born to be his.