Howls like that must be coming from a beast and someone like her, a runt, who knew nothing about protecting herself, should seek for a shelter, not the other way around.
Iris tried to explain herself the best way she could, but she knew it was not convincing enough for Cane.
“Do you know what happened to you then?” Cane’s voice became so much darker now.
Iris nodded. “Yes…” her voice was small. It was filled with dread when the events of that night rushed to her mind once again. She still remembered how she thought she would die when the monster pounced onto her and shifted back into its human form.
“What have you seen?”
Iris swallowed, but it hurt her throat tremendously. She felt like she was eating sand that grazed her gullet.
“A… a monster, chained to the wall with silver chains and then…” She avoided his intense gaze when she spoke again. “I saw the monster shift into its human form before he bit me…”
Her whole body was trembling when she remembered that moment. That was the most terrifying moment in her life, aside from when Mason whipped her when he was drunk.
“And then? What else?” His voice was akin to glaciers.
“The monster…” Iris lowered her head, she was so afraid to say this out loud. “The monster shifted into a man and it was you…”
Iris could feel the tension building up once she let those words out. Would he hit her? Would he choke her to death like he did earlier? Would he kill her for knowing what was supposed to be a secret?
Probably Cane would have done that if he didn’t accidentally mark her. He marked her without her consent. More so, he didn’t have control over what he was doing at that time. Her scent drove the monster crazy and her touch felt like fresh water that soothed his pain and he wanted more, because the pain wrecked him and it was unbearable.
But, Cane didn’t mean for that to happen.
However, he couldn’t kill her now of all times since the bond between them started to form already. This was a lost cause for him.
“Was it you?” Iris wanted to make sure that her fear didn’t cloud her mind and she saw something that didn’t even exist.
Iris raised her head and looked at him closely, she was sure that she could see a murderous intention flashing in the back of those dark eyes, as if his beast would come forward and rip her apart. She shuddered involuntarily and dropped her head, as she stuttered.
“I- I promise I will not say anything about that night. I swear, I will not utter a single word.” Iris shook her head. “I will do anything you tell me to do.” Her throat was killing her and she was afraid, besides being unable to hear, she would soon be unable to speak.
The pain from his strangulation was so severe, but she was afraid to show it, since she was in a position where she couldn’t upset the alpha even more than this.
Once again, Cane put his finger under her chin and tilted her head up, so she could look at him. “Do you know what else happened that night?”
Iris was confused with the question, as she searched in her memories about that dreadful night, but she couldn’t find anything aside from what she had told him.
“I don’t know what else happened… I- I lost consciousness…” Iris was still visibly trembling, especially when Cane grabbed her hand all of a sudden and forced her to stand up, he dragged her to the other side of the room.
The grip was so tight, she was sure that he would leave bruises on her wrist, but that was the least of her concerns, because things could go so bad for her, so much more than suffering a few bruises.
But, Cane stopped and then made her stand in front of the mirror, as he pulled down her collar, which made Iris recoil out of instinct, but the alpha steadied her first and made her stand there firmly.
Cane pulled aside her curly, auburn hair and made her look at her own reflection in the mirror.
At first, Iris could only see a pale, skinny girl, with big blue eyes, which looked so big and out of proportion for her face staring back at her. Her auburn hair was messy, her curls made her head look so big. She didn’t see herself as a beauty and that was what her brother always told her.
But then, her eyes trailed down to her neck, since Cane pulled her collar down to let her see what was there and Iris gasped. She was shocked to see a mark on her neck.
She knew what a mark like this meant to shifters. She had seen it herself and how sacred a mark was, but how? How could she get this mark? And the realization dawned on her, which made her stagger back, but Cane held her, so she could face this reality.
“Impossible…” Iris would have never thought that getting that bite from the monster would be a marking process. “How… how can this happen?” Iris turned her body around and then faced Cane. “Why?”
Cane felt aggravated by the question, but it didn’t show on his expression.
“I don’t want a single soul to know about this.” His voice was so low and cold. It emanated danger. The tension was so heavy, it made Iris feel like he strangled her again. “Not a single soul will learn about this and what happened that night.”
Iris nodded. She knew that she had to clamp her mouth shut the moment she learned a secret that she shouldn’t know.
“Say something about this and I will throw you to those savages, for them to take pleasure from you until your last breath.”
Iris felt her eyes sting with tears and fear. She nodded again and immediately covered her neck with her long, curly hair. She didn’t want to die in that way. That was a horrible way to meet your demise.
There was one time in the past when she sneaked out of her room in the middle of the night and saw how her brother ordered ten savages to rape Will, Cane’s personal guard at present, and the image would never go away from her mind.
She couldn’t hear Will let out endless earth- shattering screams, but she could feel it when he saw the anger and desperation in his eyes.
They had freed themselves from the slavery, but no one would be able to recover fully from what happened, from the hell that they had gone through and that was understandable. What they had gone through was so severe, it was beyond your worst nightmare and it dragged on for years.
People, who still stood strong and didn’t break during all those hellish days, would never be normal.
“U- understood.” Iris nodded, she tried to hold back her tears. Her brother always told her that she upset him more when she was crying, thus she didn’t want to do that.
“Leave now.”
Cane didn’t want to see her. She gave him another trouble that he didn’t want to face.
Meanwhile, reading that, Iris immediately rushed out of the bedroom. Her legs almost gave away, but she willed herself to be, at least, on the other side of the door before she broke down. She didn’t want Cane to change his mind and punish her later.
On the other hand, after Cane heard the door being closed, he broke down. He fell to his knees and covered his face with both of his hands, his shoulders trembled. The realization that he had marked another girl wrecked him. It felt like an insult to Leane. To his destined mate. He felt horrible.
More so, it was the girl that he was supposed to hate to death.
There were no tears, he couldn’t cry, but the pain shook his whole body. This amount of pain suffocated him.
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