77 SHE FELT SO EXPOSED
Iris didn’t need to sneak around if she wanted to go somewhere in this pack house anymore.
The guards didn’t treat her as cold as before either.
They would nod or greet her briefly whenever they saw her, which left a nice feeling, because she didn’t need to be in constant fear that they would hurt her.
Not long after, she entered the library and lit up the candles. It was so dark and she was afraid of darkness, but at the same time, this quiet night gave her a sense of peace that she liked.
Iris didn’t take a long time before she found the book that she was looking for. She knew about the elements of the magic stones, but their division was way more complicated than she imagined.
This time, Iris didn’t bother to go to the table and just read where she was. She put down a few candles on the floor and she sat down beside them, leaning her back against the bookshelves with three books piled next to her.
She flipped the pages one by one, perusing each book until she found what she was looking for. There were so many details about the water magic stones and the use of them, but none of those made any sense to Iris.
Unless one thing...
She felt her heart start beating so fast, as her mind whirled with the only possibility, though half of her kept saying there was no way something like this would happen. But then, knowing what had happened to Cane, this was the only reason that was highly likely.
Yet, before she could read further, a big hand covered the whole page, which startled Iris. She lifted her head to see who that was.
A breeze of cold wind blew out the candles and now there was only the warm light from the moon that streamed down into this room through the window.
But, even so, Iris could still see him quite clearly. His dark eyes were very captivating, but were filled with so much pain.
"Did you find what you are looking for?" Cane asked.
His voice was as cold as glaciers, though he didn’t really warm up to her, Iris could feel he was not as hostile as before. She still remembered how he was always fuming in anger in the beginning of them knowing each other and also the first time he touched her.
But right now, it was different. There was something menacing with the way he looked at her. His eyes were filled with pain and humiliation if she could say.
Was that true? What she thought was impossible... was that true?
"I think... yes," Iris replied, she couldn’t avert her eyes from him, despite her trembling in fear now. The floor was not as cold as his demeanor, as his whole body exuded abhorrence.
Once again, Iris felt like she found out something that she shouldn’t and this put her in great trouble.
"And then?" Cane’s face was so close. He was so tall and huge up close like this and if he wanted to, he could crush her without any effort, which seemed to have a high possibility of happening, seeing the intensity of his animosity.
The scar on his face looked ghastly, but somehow, it made Iris think how painful it must be for him.
"What have you found?" His voice was so rigid. He didn’t want to hear Iris answer that, but at the same time, he needed to know how much she already found out.
Iris opened her mouth, but she couldn’t find her voice, she was too afraid to say it. She could be wrong, but if she was right, it would even be worse.
"What have you found?" Cane repeated his question again. He knew Iris would come here to find the answer he couldn’t provide. He seemed to be able to read her quite easily now. She was very predictable.
Iris bit her lip, her body was numb because of how nervous she was and she stammered when she answered his question.
"Y- you are sterile..." When she said those words, she almost felt like she just cursed at him.
She waited for him to refute her statement, but instead, Cane said nothing.
However, the depth of anger in his eyes was bottomless.
It scared her more than when the alpha screamed at her. "I- is that true?"
On the other hand, Cane’s mind raced between wanting to kill her right there and then and punishing her for looking for something that she shouldn’t. He wanted to hurt her so badly.
There were only four people who knew about this and he didn’t have any intention to let another one in on this secret.
He was sterile...
It was almost like a reminder for Cane how the bloodline would end with him. Long generations of Howling Wolf pack’s alphas would end with him.
He remembered those days when alpha Gerald poured boiling oil on his private parts and the day after that when he was told that he was sterile.