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Cane was having a headache after he ended the meeting with the five alphas and the king about the petition of merging the two packs.
But of course, those five alphas were strongly against the idea. They didn’t like the prospect that their packs would be weaker than Cane’s two packs merged together and he couldn’t push further, since he couldn’t afford to agitate them yet.
In the end, Cane went to the room where Iris was still lying unconscious.
Cane went to the room that was connected to his chamber. It was a small room, where Aria would take a rest after their copulation, since he didn’t like anyone on his bed.
This room was also one of the rooms where he got whipped and watched women in his pack being raped, while he could do nothing but watch helplessly.
Gerald had never failed to remind him how helpless he was and how useless he was as an alpha when his people needed him the most.
Cane used this room to remind him of those dark times, to fuel his anger for revenge and also for the betterment of his people, but the more he fed on his vengeful thoughts, the more he lost himself.
His nightmares indeed helped him tremendously to remember those moments.
However, recently, he didn’t get his nightmares, instead he dreamed of his life before the Howling Wolf pack succumbed to the slavery. Those dreams gave him comfort, but also bitterness.
There was one dream about him and Leane, talking about their firstborn, while he hugged her from behind. He thought he had forgotten about all of that, but then the sweet memory still stayed etched in the back of his mind all this time.
Cane closed his eyes and focused his attention on Iris, who was lying unconscious on the bed. He had been thinking about what happened that night when she came and why she was there in the first place.
Cane walked closer to the bed and stared at the wound on her neck, and now with the help of Amee’s herbs, he could see his mark started to form on her tender skin and he despised the very look of it.
It was not her fault, since he was the one, who put his mark on her when he was in that beast form, but then, to give your enemy’s daughter such a bond, he felt like Gerald mocked him again even from his grave.
Probably because she had enough rest or maybe she could feel the hatred that emanated from Cane, Iris opened her eyes groggily and took in her surroundings. She felt the burning sensation on her neck, which made her grimace.
But then, she saw those black eyes, so deep and unreadable, staring at her with a stoic expression.
“Al- alpha…” her voice was so hoarse, it hurt her when she spoke.
“I am your master, not your alpha.” And after saying that, Cane walked out of the room, leaving her alone. Seeing that she survived the marking process, it seemed he would have another thing that he had to deal with, adding to his headache.
Iris immediately lowered her head. She forgot about that. She looked dejected and was silent for a moment, before she took a look at her surroundings. Her head throbbed painfully.
After a brief inspection, she knew where she was, but she couldn’t recall why she was here. Her mind was clouded and the pain on her neck distracted her.
She was so thirsty and wanted some water to moisten her dry throat, as she forced herself to get out of bed, only to end up falling on the hard floor when her legs gave in.
Her body was extremely weak and uncomfortable. She felt as if all of her energy had been sucked out of her body.
“Oh, you should stay on the bed.” Amee’s voice rang behind her, as she immediately helped Iris to get onto the bed again.
“Water…” Iris managed to squeeze the word out of her aching throat.
“Okay, I will get you a glass of water, you need to stay there.” Amee then walked toward the table and poured a glass of water for her, as she held her upper body, so she wouldn’t choke. “Slowly, you need to drink slowly.”
Iris was so greedy to drink it all in one go, as if someone would snatch it from her.
“Slowly, or you will choke yourself.” Amee patted her arm as she said that to calm her down.
And after gulping down two glasses of water, Iris felt slightly better, though the pain on her neck still made her uncomfortable.
“Why am I here?” She asked in a small voice, as she laid back on the bed. It felt so comfortable. This bed was so soft and smelled so nice. It had been a long time since she could lay on a bed like this.
“Don’t you remember?” Amee narrowed her eyes and there was sadness there when she looked at her.
As if the question opened the gate of memories, Iris started to remember what happened that night after the introduction. The painful howl, the monster and then when the creature shifted into…
“I see you started to remember what happened that night…” Amee could see the realization dawning on Iris, as her body stiffened.
“The monster…” she stammered, unable to find a word to explain it.
“I know…” Amee nodded, making it easy for her.
Iris raised her hand and touched her neck, it felt so painful…
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“Why did you keep her in there? You can send her away. Why do you care about her so much!?” Aria couldn’t hold back her grievances. She had been patient enough for Cane to start torturing her, but now he kept her close to him?! In that room that was supposed to only belong to her?! She couldn’t accept that.
“Aria, calm yourself,” Cane said in a low voice. Aria had been giving him hell ever since she knew Iris ‘started staying’ in the adjoined bedroom.
“How can I calm myself?” Aria looked at him with teary eyes. “Have you forgotten what her father had done to you, to your people?” She took a step closer to Cane. “To me?”
Aria hugged him, as she cried, she ignored how his body stiffened when she was so close to him. Cane hated it when someone touched him, but thankfully, he didn’t push her away.
“Don’t forget about what happened to Venna, your twin siblings, Leane and all of the people that had sacrificed themselves for you.”
“Don’t forget what happened to Venna, your twin siblings, Leane and all of the people that had sacrificed themselves for you.” Aria reminded him over and over again about the demise of the people that Cane loved and how it was all because of Iris’s father.
Aria hugged him even tighter this time and didn’t want to let go even when Cane’s body stiffened, as he hated to be touched. All the touches that he knew in these past ten years disgusted him greatly.
“Don’t forget about what I had to go through for you and what Ethan and Jace had to endure to keep you safe, what Gerald had done to us.” Aria lifted her head and then looked at Cane with her teary eyes. “After what her father had done, how could you treat her so nicely?”
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