Chapter 16: One Mate
Luo Ming
A worried-looking Ming was sitting next to a hospital bed, where a motionless Lan was lying with a lot of machines connected to him. Standing next to Ming was Theo, Mng's mate. They had just met last night on the blind date that Tyler had fixed for them, but as soon as they saw each other, they knew that they were mates. The events that happened last night was embedded in Ming's mind as clear as a crystal.
They had peacefully spent their first night until they received the fatal message that was sent by Tyler. 'Kris is home, wounded. No sign of Lan. Find if he is fine.', it said. That text was enough to make Ming temporarily lose his mind. Ming was already worried sick about Lan and Kris after the first attack that targeted them. It was not the first time that rouges attacked Lan, but something in his gut told Ming that there was something more to this attack than rouges going wild. Rouges always aimed Lan when he was alone, but this time they attacked him while he was with Kris. It was almost like announcing them that, 'you are not safe, even with a pureblood on your side'.
After reading the text received from Tyler, Ming tried to call Lan a couple of hundred times, but all his calls went straight into the voicemail. There was no other option than calling the police, but then again Tyler was the police and he also had no idea what had happened. So Ming thought to use his ability, Ming's ability was to talk with cats. Usually, that ability had no use in day-to-day life unless Ming felt extremely lonely, but when it came to getting to know things that others are not supposed to know, his cat friends' bits of help were unlimited. Ming ran outside of Theo's house, took a deep breath, and meowed. As soon as an alluring meow left Ming's lips, cats from all different sizes and ages started to pour into the front yard of Theo's house. At first, Ming thought of calling all the cats in the city, but at the last moment, he thought to call only the cats from the nearby allies of Lan's favourite restaurant.
After all the cats gathered Ming asked all of them one question in the cat tongue. That question was, 'Have you seen what happened to the high alpha, Lan?'. Most of them looked at him in a blank look like they could not remember, but one cat stepped forward and said in the cat tongue.
"I saw a middle-aged woman, a middle-aged man and an old man performing a bond-breaking ritual to high alpha Lan and his mate."
As soon as Ming heard these words he turned white as chalk. In a bond-breaking ritual, one mate must be sacrificed, what it meant was that if Kris was still alive, Lan must be dead. Tears started rolling down of Ming's eyes, Theo could not understand a word in the conversation, but as Ming started to cry he understood that something must be very wrong. Then Ming spoke in the cat tongue again.
"Did you see what happened from the beginning to the end?"
The cat that stepped forward before nodded it's head and replied,
"The bond-breaking ritual that was performed to them was different, they said that instead of a life, only a soul will be taken. High alpha Lan sacrificed his soul, but at the last moment his mate exchanged his own immortality with high alpha's soul, so our high alpha got back his soul."
As Ming heard these words, relief flooded into his heart. It was the first time he had heard of someone giving up their immortality, but Ming knew how much Lan and Kris loved each other, so this was no surprise to him. 'If Kris is home, where is Lan?', Ming questioned himself before he asked the cat again,
"Where is the high alpha now?"
The cat looked down and replied,
"The woman took him."
Ming was at loss, he could not possibly understand why the woman that hurt Lan and Kris would take Lan, unless..... The thought of the woman who Lan called mother made an electric jolt go down Ming's spine. She was always against their friendship saying that Lan should only have friends that matched his status, but Lan always took Ming's side in those arguments. Truthfully, Lan's mom always looked out for Lan without Lan's father's knowledge. Lan's father had been a kind man when Lan was much younger but he suddenly changed when Lan was about sixteen, Lan's father turned into a cold, evil man who hated his own son. Lan and Ming could not understand the reason behind this change, but Ming's instincts always said that Lan's mom was behind this change.
She was the only woman Ming could think of at the moment who could sacrifice his own son's happiness to her status, so Ming hesitantly dialled up Lan's mom's number, and from the other side of the mobile phone Li Min, Lan's mom's right-hand man answered the call and spoke,
"Hello young master Ming, how can I help you?"
The pleasantness in Li Min's voice caused the goosebumps to rise on Ming's body. Ming held Theo's hand tightly before he spoke,
"Li Min, may I know where Lan is?"
As Ming spoke these words, there was a rustle from the other side of the call and the woman who Ming hates the most in the world spoke with her poisonous voice,
"Well, cat trash what does Lan's whereabouts have to do with you? I guess as to his secretary you should be informed, so I will tell you. This evening Lan was kidnapped by some rouges, but luckily his mate saved him, now he is in the hospital with is mate."
Those words completely made Ming confused, kidnapped? mate? He was sure that Lan and Kris were not kidnapped this evening and also Tyler just texted, so Kris must be home, so who was this Lan's mate that was in the hospital with him. Ming was getting ready to question back, but the so-called Lan's mother hung upon him. Cursing his best friend's mom, Ming turned to Theo. Theo was looking at him in worried eyes, Ming sighed loudly before he spoke,
"Something's not right, can you accompany me to the hospital? I am sorry our date turned out this way, but I need to get to Lan"
Theo smiled, took Ming's hand, gave it an assuring squeeze, and said,
"I understand, Lan is your best friend. I'm sure that if Lan is in the same situation, he would also come to you. Let me get the car keys."
Theo landed a kiss on Ming's forehead and went back inside the house to get his car keys. Ming smiled as he felt the warmth of Theo's kiss linger on his forehead, but his smile quickly dropped as he thought of the current situation. The ride to the hospital was dead silent, neither Ming nor Theo spoke a word. Ming held Theo's right hand tightly as Theo gave small assuring squeezes to Ming, once in a while. As soon as they reached the hospital Ming ran to the reception and asked them about Lan's room details. Theo and Ming walked to Lan's room at a fast pace, but as they were in front of the door Ming stopped on his tracks. He was afraid of what laid inside, he was afraid to face his best buddy for the first time in his life. Ming looked at Theo, Theo understood that look and pulled Ming into a hug while he whispered in a soothing voice,
"Lan's going to be fine, babe. I know them, they will survive,"
Ming slowly nodded his head, which was still buried in the crook of Theo's neck. Then he broke the hug and held the door handle. After taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door. He was astonished by the scene in front of his eyes, Lan motionlessly lied on the hospital bed with a lot of machines connected to his body, and beside him, holding his hand was a young, stunning woman. She was dressed in a pair of tight leather jeans, a black t-shirt, a black leather jacket and a pair of black high heeled boots. Everything about that woman screamed that she was a rich, spoiled girl. She was beautiful but Ming could clearly see that the aura which this girl gave was pure evil. Ming cleared his throat to gain the girl's attention before he spoke,
"Young miss, may I ask who you are? And why are you in my friend's room?"
The girl lifted her head and looked straight into Ming's eyes before she spoke.
"Ming, don't you remember, I'm Lan's mate."
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