827 A PEACEFUL MOMENT
After Iris and Cane gave a few instructions for Jace to follow and appoint him as the person in charge for the meantime, while the two of them were taking a break, they closed the door behind them and headed toward the bathroom.
In there, Cane helped Iris to get off her dirty dress and she did the same thing to him, as she helped him taking off his shirt and pants.
The two of them were standing naked in front of each other, bared their skin and feeling with one another without a single fabric or anything between them. Once again, they were being vulnerable with their mates.
Aside from an innocent, gentle kiss on the tip of her nose, Cane didn’t make any advance. He let Iris to help him getting rid of the dragon’s blood and dirt, helping him to make him feel clean, washing away all the negativity.
After that, Cane helped with the same thing. He washed her hair and body from the dragon blood and all the unpleasant smell from Decratic.
Cane sniffed her hair and skin before he washed her again, until he was sure those creatures’ scent didn’t etch on her and he got back the scent he loved without any traces of another distasteful scent.
Only when Cane was satisfied, the two of them came out of the bathroom and two meals had been prepared for them. They left the meals on the table, but there was no one within their sight.
Jace must have instructed to leave them alone and there was no need to attend to them, since this alone moment was what they needed the most.
However, Cane still could smell Joel and Pax’s scent from behind the door, guarding the area.
Out there, the sky had turned dark, it was night again and from the window, you could see the soft moonlight in the night sky.
It was very beautiful and quiet, it was almost unbelievable to think just a few hours ago, this place was almost being flattened to the ground, burned into ashes and their lives were in a great danger.
All of them were only a step away from deaths.
Yet, they could relish this peaceful moment...
Cane dried Iris’s hair, while she ate her food and fed him every now and then. There was no word that was exchanged, but their heart felt satisfied for only being this close with their mate, for being in each other presence.
They didn’t talk about what had transpired, neither they would taint this beautiful moment by talking about Decratic.
There would be time for that, but obviously not now, since they were too exhausted and only wanted to rest.
As if there was this tacit understanding between them, the two of them finished their meals and then went to bed.
Iris chose to wear Cane’s shirt, because she wanted to feel so close with him, despite her mate was literally within her arm reached, and for the alpha, whose luna stealing his shirt, he went to bed with her only with his pants.
Cane was shirtless, so when Iris snuggled against his chest, he could feel her cold cheeks against his skin, or how her curls tickled him, and when he wrapped his arms around her small body, he felt heavenly.
Iris sighed in satisfaction when she hugged him. Feeling his hot skin against her palms when she caressed his bare back. She nuzzled against him and buried her face against his chest, feeling protected and complacent.
It didn’t take long for the two of them fell asleep and breathed evenly.
Even though out there, the pack was slightly in chaos as tasks were being distributed by Jace and they started to follow the instruction in order to fix the damage, but inside this room, there was no noise at all, the only thing you could hear was the two of them breathed evenly.
Cane and Iris slept away the night. Both of them were drained, emotionally and physically.
No one bother them until the next day, even after the sun was up and Joel entered the room with their breakfast, both of them still had not yet woken up.
Iris and Cane slept while hugging each other. The alpha held his mate protectively even in his sleep, resting his chin on top of her head and the luna snuggled against him, looking for warmth from her mate, while nuzzling his chest a few times in his sleep to find a comfortable position.
They stayed like that for the whole night and surprisingly, it was Iris, who woke up first, while Cane was still deep in his sleep.
Iris rubbed her sleepy eyes and kicked the blanket that covered her body, because it was too hot. Cane’s body heat was too warm and the sun was already so high in the clear sky.
She wriggled her body slightly and Cane patted her back subconsciously, as if rocking her back to sleep again, which made her lifted her head and found his sleeping face.
Fatigue was apparent on his face and this made Iris’s heart ached, she stopped moving and hugged him instead, pressing her ear against his chest to hear his steady heartbeat and then fell asleep again.
When Iris woke up for the second time, Cane was not there, she was alone in the bed and this made her immediately sat down and looked around.
"Cane?!" Iris called out for him, because she couldn’t find him anywhere. Her voice was hoarse and her sleepiness suddenly disappeared.
"I am here," Cane replied, he walked toward the bed from the direction of the door. "I asked for hot meals." He approached her and kissed her forehead. "How was your sleep?" he asked with a gentle voice and sat down on the bed.
Iris threw herself at him and hugged his neck.
She didn’t say anything and simply hugged him like that, while Cane caressed her back.
He leaned his body against the headboard, while Iris moved her body to straddle him.
This was the most comfortable position for her and Cane didn’t mind it, he was still shirtless and Iris was still wearing his shirt.
They stayed like that until Dean knocked on the door and informed the alpha that he had brought the meal he asked for.
"Get down for a while, okay? I will get our meals," Cane said in coaxing voice, but Iris shook her head.
"No. Tell him to put the meals on the table." Iris was in her comfort zone. She didn’t want to move and become a little bit clingy.
Cane smiled and did what she wanted, but he pulled the blanket to cover her body first, so Dean wouldn’t see her bare thighs.
Dean didn’t stay for long, after he put down the meals, he immediately rushed out of the bed.
Jace gave them a special order not to disturb the alpha and the luna, and only let Cane knew about the situation if he asked, other than that, all the decisions and questions would be discussed with the beta.
And all of them did per the beta’s instruction.
After Dean left, Cane carried Iris like that to the table, which made her giggled and both of them laughed for no reason at all.
Finishing their meals, Iris and Cane snuggled on the bed again. They had not yet addressed the main problem in the room or even discussed about what had happened. They only wanted to enjoy this moment, relishing each other’s presence as much as they could.
Because they knew, they wouldn’t be able to avoid this matter forever, there would be a point, where they would eventually discuss it, but for now, they only wanted to stay like this.
"It’s raining..." Iris said, she laid against Cane’s chest, entwined his hand with her hers, while Cane played with her curls. He kissed her head occasionally and in respond, Iris would kiss his knuckles.
"Hm," Cane said lazily and then closed his eyes.
It was not sure, who was sleeping first, but when the time the rain stopped, both of them had fallen asleep again.
Iris and Cane woke up in the middle of the night because they skipped their dinner and were hungry. They smiled at each other and found this funny, because they woke up at the same time and actually felt the same thing.
"There must be something to eat in the kitchen. Stay here." Cane said, as he got off the bed, but Iris followed him, which made him frowned.
"I am going to," Iris said. She stared at him innocently with her bright blue eyes.
"You are not going with only my shirt, love." Cane pointed it out that she was only wearing his shirt that she stole from him.
Reluctantly, she took off his shirt and slipped into her dress. She didn’t shy when she was standing naked in front of her mate and Cane kissed her bare shoulder before she put her dress on.
"Here," Iris said, she handed the shirt to Cane.
The alpha smiled softly and put on his shirt, which now reeked on her scent and he loved it. There was this ridiculous thought to only allow Iris wore his shirt whenever they were alone, damn those dresses with complicated laces.
When the two of them stepped out of the room, Dean and Pax were in charged to stand guard, but Cane simply waved them off, telling them not to follow.
Dean and Pax obeyed, they didn’t say anything to the alpha, which meant Jace had handled everything perfectly and there was nothing urgent to be reported to Cane at the meantime, since there was no major issue that was happening.
With that, both Cane and Iris then went to the kitchen to find something to eat.
This was a quiet and peaceful night, where everyone was sleeping and taking rest, before tomorrow came and they needed to complete their assignment.
Meanwhile, inside a certain room, Aliana was staring at Ethan’s sleeping face. Grace had told her that the gamma would recover soon, but even after three days, since the first attack, he had not yet opened his eyes.
Jace was being a good brother, as he told her to only stay with Ethan and look after him.
’Make sure he wakes up as soon as possible, because I have a bunch of work for him to do. He has been sleeping for so long now.’
That was what Jace said, but Aliana knew how much he worried about Ethan too and more so, he wanted to give time for the two of them alone after witnessing her meltdown, which was a moment where Aliana was not proud of.
Tonight, Aliana was sleeping on the chair next to Ethan’s bed like the previous nights, but this time she was woken up when she felt someone’s intense gaze on her and to her surprise, Ethan was currently staring at her.
"What are you staring at?" Aliana asked, she found her voice was hoarse, as her emotions caught up in her throat. She didn’t know why the first thing she said was this question. It seemed, she was not thinking right when the overwhelming feeling of relief hit her.
"What else? You are beautiful." Ethan grinned. "Don’t you find it uncomfortable to sleep on that chair? I don’t mind sharing a bed with you, though."
He was awake and back to his antics, which meant, he would be fine indeed.
"You talk much for someone, who just woke up after sleeping for days and making all the people worried," Aliana replied, she went to the bed and check on his temperature, just to be sure.
"I bet Jace must be a crying mess because he worried about me so much."
"Hm." Aliana nodded. "He said, he was going to give you a bunch of work."
Ethan scrunched his nose. "Don’t tell him I am awake." He closed his eyes again.