Chapter 199
The silence between them was deafening and it almost felt like they had reverted back to the very beginning, to the time when Cane saw her as Gerald’s daughter and himself as her master.
And just like what was expected of him, there was no explanation. He didn’t reopen the conversation about what Redmond had said earlier, he just kept silent. He let the other person think whatever she wanted, without him giving any idea over what was in his mind.
What Redmond said had opened a can of worms and this made all the progress, even the mate bond between them, pale in comparison to the pain that they tried to forget.
What traversed before was a bunch of unspoken things, it fell into the same list of the things that they pretended had never happened, just like how Cane found comfort every night by holding Iris close to him or how they talked about pain and scars the other night.
They were forced to move forward by licking their own wounds while pushing the shameful past to the backs of their minds, but right now, the same past dragged them down and made the present become more difficult. The life they had could be very cruel.
“Redmond will not say anything about the secret,” Iris finally said after a long moment of silence and she was sure, if she didn’t say anything, they would stay like this for another hour, since Cane was very familiar with this silence.
“Mm,” Cane intoned. “Thank you.”
“I will go back to my room,” Iris said again.
Right now, they were occupying the west watchtower, which required them to share the same small room and bed. Iris didn’t think she could go back there after Redmond burst the world that she created in her head, where she had never gone through such dreadful things before.
Iris was used to creating her own world inside her head, where she would deliberately forget things that bother and hurt her, that was how she survived all of her traumas.
“Mm.”
Knowing Cane wouldn’t say anything, Iris turned around and left the room.
This was the first time for her to be in the west watchtower, but thankfully, it was easy enough for Iris to find her way back to the pack house and return to her own bedroom.
This room was still dull like the first time she occupied it. Nothing had changed even after she returned from the Moon Dew pack. They just added rugs to cover the cold tiles, but aside from that this place was a far cry when you imagined a Luna’s bedroom.
Yet, Iris couldn’t care less about that, she wanted to lay down and close her eyes.
However, she couldn’t do that, because before she closed the door, someone held it, which startled her, since she didn’t see anyone coming, being too preoccupied with her own thoughts.
“Luna Iris.”
“Kaz?” Iris was surprised to see the old steward. She rarely saw him before, but why was he looking for her now?
“Luna Iris, you need to help talk to the Alpha…” his expression looked very gloomy, he was clearly running out of options and only came to her as his last hope.
“What is it? I don’t think I can help with anything if it is regarding the Alpha…” Recalling what had happened less than an hour earlier, Iris didn’t think that she and Cane were on speaking terms right now.
“No, please try first, Luna Iris.” Iris felt uncomfortable when he kept addressing her as the Luna, yet Kaz didn’t pay attention to such details as he pleaded with her again. “Please ask the Alpha to reconsider his punishment for Aria.”
It was only three hours before Aria’s execution and people became very restless to know the person that was close to them would be executed. This would be the first execution ever in this Howling Wolf pack under Cane’s reign, after they were set free from the slavery.
Aria’s figure was so close to them, because they spent a decade together under the same tyranny and shared the same pain.
Therefore, they glossed over her offense, especially when the three innocent children that had died because of the dark magic were children from the Blue Moon pack. They lost their parents during the attack, a few weeks before they moved back to their own land.
“The Alpha is fine now, this must be because of a moment of poor judgment on her part, there is no way she meant any harm to the Alpha. We all know how much she loves the Alpha,” Kaz pleaded with Iris. “I know that you don’t like her, but this punishment is too severe.”
The way Kaz phrased his words, made it sound as if Iris held such power to make Cane change his decision. If anything, she must be the last person that could have such an impact on him.
However, for Kaz and a few people, there was a time when they saw Aria as their luna, because she was the only woman beside Cane before Iris came into the picture. Not even once did they imagine having Gerald’s daughter as their luna instead.
“Please, Luna Iris, people said that you are different from your father,” Kaz spoke again, using the same types of phrases to corner her. “Please talk to Alpha Cane, you are his Luna after all.”
“It is the alpha’s decision, if you want him to change it, you should look for him, not me.” Iris felt like she was in a hard place. She didn’t wish for Aria to be executed, but what could she say to make Cane change his mind? She didn’t even know how to start a conversation with him at this moment.
“If I can, do you think I will come looking for you?” Kaz’s words were a little bit harsh now and he realized it too late, he couldn’t take back what he said.
After all, half the members of the Howling Wolf pack had moved back here when the truth of Iris’ help during their slavery came to light and even fewer people were there to listen directly to what Hanna had said when they were still in the Blue Moon pack.
Thus, it was inevitable that some people were a little bit skeptical.