Chapter 195
“Do you know how serious the crime of using dark magic is? And he is a lycan. A taboo for shifters. How long do you think he can keep it a secret? Can you guarantee something like that night will never happen again?” Redmond cornered her, but Iris was unwilling to budge. “If you are with him, once the king knows about this, not only him and his pack will go down, but you and the Blue Moon pack as well!”
Redmond couldn’t care less about the Howling Wolf pack, that pack could be destroyed or even erased from this continent for all he cared, because his main focus was his own pack. He pledged his loyalty to Iris because she was a member of the Blue Moon pack. His loyalty was still with his pack.
On the other hand, Iris said nothing, she didn’t retort his words, because she knew it was true. No matter how harshly Redmond phrased it, those were the facts. Once the truth of Cane’s lycan form came to light, the whole pack and anyone involved would be doomed. Yet, she believed this was not the situation that you could see in black and white only.
“You fell for him?” Redmond narrowed his eyes intensely at her. “Did you really fall for him or is it because of the mate bond between the two of you?” He snickered when Iris still said nothing. “He doesn’t know how to love, nor does he know how to receive love. He issued a death sentence for his mistress, the very woman, who stayed by his side through thick and thin without hesitation. What makes you think that he will not do the same to you in the future?”
At this point, Iris was still clueless about the crime that Aria had committed, thus she didn’t know how to reply to such a question. She had her own guess that the mistress had something to do with the dark magic, which caused Cane to shift into his lycan form, but she was still unclear about the details of it.
“He will hurt you.” Redmond shook his head and scoffed. “He has already hurt you, right?”
With that question, Iris’ eyes hardened, her clear blue eyes were slightly darker when she countered him with a question of her own. “Who has not?” In her twenty years of life, who had not yet hurt her? “Aside from Hanna, who has not hurt me?”
Redmond was slightly taken aback with that question, because he didn’t expect such a comeback from her.
“Cane is using me, but do you really think your concern for me is genuine?” Iris balled her fists beside her body. “You caught me stealing food for the slaves and you reported it to Mason when you could have kept it to yourself. You told Mason about it, even though you know that he would whip me.” Iris raised her head to look him dead in the eyes. “Do you really think separating the Howling Wolf pack and the Blue Moon pack with the help of the King will be the best choice?”
“At least the King will not dry out our pack!” Redmond hated the fact that the Howling Wolf pack leeched on the resources of the Blue Moon pack. “Cane and his people are moochers! They leech on our pack!”
“No, the King will not leech on our pack, but he will gobble up the two packs in whole. You are not that naïve to not see it, right?” Iris had not yet seen much, but at the very least, she understood this.
For a moment, the two of them stared at each other intensely, as if none of them would step back, but actually, Redmond relaxed his shoulders and a smirk appeared on the corner of his lips.
“Interesting…” He murmured, which made Iris narrow her eyes.
However, before Iris could ask further about what he meant by that, Will had returned with Jace. The Beta looked at the two of them and he could sense there was tension in the air.
“Are you feeling better now?” Jace asked Iris, his gaze stopped short on her shoulder. A patch of white bandage peeked out from her collar.
“Yes, I am fine now.”
“Can I talk with Cane?”
Iris shook her head. “He is sleeping, let him sleep a little bit longer. I will wake him up before noon.” Noon was the time of Aria’s execution.
Jace nodded and then shifted his attention toward Redmond. “Come with me, I will answer all of your questions.”
“No. I want Cane himself to answer my questions.” Redmond was being difficult now.
However, instead of listening to him, Iris threw the warrior a dagger look and turned around. She opened the door and literally slammed it close right in front of Redmond, which made the three of them flinch.
Jace was there to explain things to Redmond, thus it would be fine to leave him to the Beta.
Once she was inside, Iris leaned her back against the door and slumped to the ground. She pulled her legs to her chest, as she rested her chin on her knees. She hugged herself. Earlier was the first time she had a confrontation with someone.
She could have pretended to be strong and bold in front of Redmond, but the moment no one saw her, she could feel the rush of adrenaline coursing through her veins disappear.
“I must be crazy…” She actually talked back to Redmond…
Iris closed her eyes and took a deep breath, the silence brought comfort to her, but then she felt someone touch her head, ruffling her hair.
And the first thing that she saw when she opened her eyes abruptly was; Cane. He was kneeling down in front of her with his hand on her head. He looked at her with his cold and dark eyes.
Iris was not sure how she should react, but then the Alpha retracted his hand and stood up.
“Get up, I need to go out.”