-Cain- I walked beside my brother, neither of us really speaking, just simply taking in the fresh air. I could see it was improving his mood, and it was helping me too. I didn’t really know why I had almost snapped at Willow in there, something about the way Carter stated all those things made me worried. I couldn’t just forget how she had loved him, and it was hard to compete with such a powerful love. “You keep looking at me,” Carter said, turning to me and giving me a strange look. “Did you ever love her?” I blurted out, grabbing his arm and stopping Carter from going further. “Who?” “Don’t play dumb. You knew what would happen when you revealed those things. You forget I loved chaos once as well, but I need to know Carter to see if you ever loved her. Because I can understand a little retaliation if you did, because it means I took something very precious from you, but I don’t want to be at war with my brother. If you loved her, tell me now and let me make it up to you. Let’s
-Willow- I was cleaning out the office when I heard something behind me. Slowly, I turned only to let out a startled scream. Despite expecting someone to be behind me, the last person I had thought would appear stood in the doorway, wrapped in a long robe. The queen had arrived. “Your Majesty,” I said and bowed my head. Her tired eyes scanned the room, looking at every corner, and then landed on my hands, which held the empty wrapping of a candy bar. “What are you doing?” she asked. “Um… cleaning up.” “Why?” “Because your son has been staying in here, and I thought he might want a cleaner room,” I explained before I walked over to where the trashcan was and threw it in. When I turned again, she had come closer to me, a strange energy surrounding her, but I knew that was to be expected from a grieving mate. She had been with the king for many years after all. “Where is he?” she asked. “Cain and I came to check on you two, and right now they are out walking,” I explained.” The
-Cain-The way my mate looked at her former fiancé, the man she had thought she would spend her life with, was like a punch to the gut. I knew that Willow’s heart was what would be hard to conquer, but I thought I was getting there. I thought she was falling for me and that things were getting better between us. After all, we were building a family, but when I revealed that Carter said he loved her, there was something in her eyes. As if there was hope for it to be true. Did she want his words to be true?No, she can’t! She is ours, my wolf growled.She was, but the look I simply couldn’t interpret in any other way. It was if she was begging Carter to repeat it, to tell her the truth about his feelings, and it hurt.“What?” Willow asked, yet she was looking at Carter.I turned slightly, looking at my brother and feeling my anger rise again, but I didn’t move. Carter glanced at me but returned his gaze to Willow.“I was scared,” he admitted. “I was scared of what I felt, so I pulled aw
-Willow- It was nice walking around with Carter. It felt like we were slipping into our old roles, but as we strolled and talked about everything and nothing, I realized something. For a long time, I had yearned to hear Carter say those three words while he looked at me with the same intensity as earlier. When we were together, he could never bring himself to say "I love you," and as a result, I desired those words more than anything. But as we continued our walk, I came to a realization: although it felt good to hear them now, I no longer craved those words as I once did. I cared for Carter because of our long history, but I didn't love him in the romantic sense anymore. "You know, fighting over a girl is such a cliché," I teased, revisiting our earlier topic. Carter chuckled and nodded as we turned a corner. "Yeah, I know." He turned to me, giving me a small smile, and I returned it. "Just promise me you'll never do it again." "He hit me first," Carter informed me. "And what
-Willow- Cain wasn’t home. Carter suggested staying with me, but I told him I would be fine and that it was probably best if Cain didn’t come home to the sight of us together. I asked around to hear if others knew where he was, but no one did. I went into our bedroom and sat by the window, looking outside. I sat there for so long, waiting for him. The sun disappeared, and the moon came out. Only a small light by the bed was turned on in our bedroom, making sure the darkness didn’t completely swallow me. However, I began dozing off a bit before I finally heard something. It sounded like a crash, and I quickly sat up, looking around. I focused on the door before I heard another bang, as if something had hit it. I stood up and walked over to the door, opening it, only to find Cain leaning against it, looking disheveled, and he smelled strongly of alcohol. As I opened the door, he slid down to the floor and looked up at me. “Cain?” He opened his eyes and smiled at me. “Oh, there is my
-Cain-Willow and I continued to lie in bed even though we knew work awaited us, but we didn’t want to move. She lay on my chest, running her fingers over my tattoo, following the lines, while I ran mine down her back and sides, feeling her soft skin. The covers didn’t cover us, but we weren’t cold, so close we were lying to each other.“When did you have this made? I don’t remember ever seeing any photos of you with it, and you were caught with your shirt off many times,” she teased me.I chuckled a little. “Last year.”“So, it’s rather new?”“It is,” I told her.“Why did you have it made?” she asked.“Just wanted a change. Something to make me stand out.”“Stand out?”“There is an exact copy of me out there,” I reminded her.“I see,” she said with a little smile, and continued to run her fingers a little up my neck, then grazed her mark on my shoulder, sending tingling sensations through me before she went down to my chest again.“Why didn’t you tell me yesterday?” I asked her.“Wha
-Cain- I stood in the closet, fixing my tie, and felt like my hands were incredibly sweaty. I wasn’t looking forward to this day, but I knew I couldn’t avoid it. Today we were saying goodbye to my father, whether I wanted to or not. Life was sometimes incredibly unfair, yet I knew his death hadn’t been caused by natural causes, and I was no closer to figuring out who had hurt him or Willow. It would be much easier if the council wasn’t eager to figure out who belonged on the throne. If I could fully focus on those traitors out there, then I would have found them by now. Unfortunately, I was being pulled in other directions, and I had other responsibilities to focus on. “Cain?” Willow appeared in the closet, dressed in a black dress as well. “Hey,” I whispered as I turned around, and she gave me a small smile as she came closer. She placed her hands on my neck and made me focus on her. She always had a way of settling me, making me feel calmer, yet I knew nothing could fully take th
-Willow-I chatted a little with my parents and even talked with Eva a little, but as I went to try to find Cain, I ended up hearing strange whispers behind my back. I turned to look over my shoulder, seeing a group of young wolves glancing my way and chuckling. I quickly turned away and realized what was going on. I hadn’t stepped much out of the house after getting mated to Cain, and therefore I had yet to be met by the harsh reality of what was being said behind my back, but now I felt it, now I heard those whispering voices, the gossip. People still believed I had thrown myself at Cain the first chance I got. It didn’t matter if I spoke of a true bond, because I let the rumors fester and spread, and I was paying for that now. I shook my head, trying not to focus on it, but I wasn’t looking where I was going and ran into a hard body. I almost lost my balance, but hands reached out to steady me, and I looked up, seeing an imposing alpha in front of me. I realized he was the one who