Iris felt sick to her stomach that someone like her could resort to such a degrading act, but then she remembered the king himself had four mistresses back in the palace.
After the queen left, it was just Aderan alone in the library. He stood there for a while and then spoke in such a calm tone.
“I know you are there, come out.” Aderan didn’t raise his voice, but he looked straight at where Iris was hiding.
Iris was startled, her whole body started shaking in fear, as she was unable to move an inch from her position.
However, Aderan didn’t wait until she was ready to come out herself, as he walked toward her and found Iris hugging herself behind the shelf. She stared at him with her blue eyes filled with dread.
“I- I will not say anything…” Iris spoke, she tried to find a way out of this trouble. She could die and no one would care, probably Hanna would cry a little. “I- I swore I will not say a- anything.”
Her heart was beating frantically, hoping she would be able to see the sun tomorrow. She regretted sneaking out of her room in the middle of the night like this.
“Iris Lane.” He mentioned her name with venom on the tip of his tongue. The passionate man, who was seemingly able to burn the whole library with his desire for the queen, was now standing right in front of Iris, so cold, she could feel a chill run down her spine. “This is not a place where you can come and go as you please.”
Iris opened her mouth, but there was no word that she could say. She balled her fists and the magic stone felt so cold in her sweaty palm.
“I- I will not say anything… I am just trying to survive here.”
“It is not up to me to decide.” Aderan took a step forward and then grabbed Iris by her arm. “Don’t make a fuss.”
“Are you going to kill me?” Iris hugged her book and her stone unconsciously. If Aderan wanted to kill her, she would have died by now. So, where would he take her?
***************************
Aria was so upset with the way the queen treated her earlier, thus she came to complain to Cane, only to see how bad his mood was after he met with the king.
“Alpha…” Aria brought a pot of chamomile tea as usual and entered the room without knocking and this rubbed Cane in the wrong way, though he didn’t snap at her.
“I wish to hear a knock before someone enters my personal space,” Cane said without lifting his head from the document in front of him. He was trying to get in touch with the Celestial Moon pack, as they had been laid back for a decade since the people from the Howling Wolf pack were enslaved.
“I am sorry, alpha… I will remember that,” Aria spoke in a small voice, as she hid her annoyance. She then put the tray down and proceeded to brew the tea for him. “It will help you sleep better.”
Cane finally put down the document that he was reading and then leaned his back against his chair. He closed his eyes, but the crease between his brows deepened.
“There is nothing that could help me fall asleep peacefully,” Cane said in a matter of fact tone. Sleep would elude him, no matter how tired he was, even when he worked himself until his bones felt like they were going to break, he still couldn’t sleep.
The nightmares that haunted him would keep him awake all night, even in his sleep. They would remind him of what he had gone through and what his people had to endure.
“Everything will be alright, Cane.” Aria walked toward Cane and handed him the tea. “We are free now thanks to your sacrifices.”
His sacrifices.
No. It was not his sacrifice alone. It was not only him who had sacrificed, instead, there were so many people that had done that to keep him alive.
Aria was one of them, she would let those filthy guards take advantage of her body to make them distracted enough, so they wouldn’t beat him to death, so did his beta and gamma and other people, they never had a second thought about jumping in and taking the beating for him.
However, that was not enough, because Gerald’s aim was to make him suffer and that was what he did. He had made sure that he was on the brink of death countless times.
“Everything will be alright, Cane.” Aria massaged his stiff shoulders and Cane said nothing. He was exhausted. “I can make you feel better.”
Aria would always take care of his carnal desires, but it didn’t help to solve all the problems that he had. Ever since three years ago, they developed this relationship between them.
“No.” Cane opened his eyes and caught her hand when she tried to touch him and spark his desire for her body.
For all the abuse and torture that he had gone through, he had developed a weirdly strong sex drive. Especially after Gerald scalded his private parts with boiling hot oil, pleasure didn’t come easily to him anymore, more so when pain was not involved. The first time it happened, his healing ability was enough to take care of it, but oftentimes, it actually marred him permanently.
“It’s okay, I have recovered from the last time,” Aria whispered in his ear and tried to seduce him again. “I know that you need to vent it out. Let me help you.”
However, before things escalated, someone knocked on the door, which made Aria frown.
“Why do you still accept guests at such a late hour? You need to rest too.” Aria started to complain, but Cane granted their wish to come inside, which made the mistress shut her mouth.
It was Aderan and a young woman that neither of them thought they would see this time soon.
“What is this?!” Aria flared up the moment she saw Iris, who was being dragged into the bedroom. “You know who you brought here?!”
Aria was seething, the thought of Cane deflowering her that night, even though he didn’t go through until the end, didn’t settle well with her, even now.
The alpha only gave the barest taste of what all of them had gone through under her father’s hand to her, but she couldn’t bear it and fainted, yet after that, Cane didn’t continue to torture her, just like what they had to endure. It was unfair, but Aria couldn’t push further for now, since he had sent her to work at the mining site.
Aria had thought Stone would take care of her, but after the incident with his daughter, he looked a little bit reluctant to make things hard for her.
“Take her away!” Aria was filled with anger, but Cane was not in the mood to indulge in her jealousy.
“Quiet it down, Aria,” Cane said without raising his voice, his eyes fixed on Iris. She didn’t look better, but at the very least, she didn’t look like she would faint anytime soon. Her skin was still pale and her lips were chapped, no one would believe she was the former alpha’s daughter at this point.
Even so, dirt couldn’t hide her beauty and her curly, auburn hair looked like she was in flames.
Hearing a warning from the alpha, Aria bit down on her lip. She glared at Iris, who tried to avoid her eyes and looked at anything but them.
“Why did you bring her here? I don’t remember giving you an order to do so.” Cane’s eyes fixed on her small figure. Last time he saw her, she was bleeding quite badly and fell unconscious after he forced himself on her.
“She saw me and the queen when we met secretly,” Aderan told him without batting an eye. “She hid in the library.”
“Library?” Cane tilted his head and then his eyes found the book that she was hugging. “What book is that?”
More Kickass Werewolf Reads
Dive into our collection of free werewolf romance novels—where fierce Alphas, daring heroines, and heart-stopping twists await. Every story burns with forbidden desire, loyalty, and destiny. Don’t wait—here’s a world where love bites hard and nothing is stronger than the call of the mate.
Leave a Reply