829 IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT
Aliana let Iris knew about Rora’s eyes when she told her that she remembered everything about her babies.
Both of them cried for the agony of losing their babies. Even though, it had been years, since Aliana lost hers, but it didn’t mean the grief would be disappeared.
Iris needed to talk about this with Aliana, because she knew she would understand her feeling better, as she had walked the same path before.
It was also Aliana, who told her that the grief would always be there, but by the time, you would be able to live with it. Iris would never be able to see her babies grew up and they would always be her babies in her memories.
Actually, Aliana didn’t see Rora’s eyes directly, but she heard this from Grace, because only the healer, Della and Hanna, who were there when baby Rora’s golden eyes faded and the color was replaced by the bluer pair of eyes that they had ever seen.
Iris felt this bittersweet when she heard that, because she wished, she would be able to see that too. She imagined how her baby with her blue eyes. She would look adorable...
Joel stayed with Iris and they talked about a few trivial things, enjoying this afternoon under the shade of the tree, until he told her about Redmond.
"Redmond is here?" Iris asked, she had not yet met with everyone, because she had been staying inside the pack house.
"Yes, he appeared during the battle all of sudden. We didn’t notice it too because the situation was chaotic, but then we remembered that he supposed to be staying back.
" Joel then told Iris that Redmond was meeting with the alpha today.
"It seemed he came here alone because he brought an important news. "
Iris was sure Cane would talk to her about this, but more importantly, eventually they would meet with everyone, especially with Abby and Cedric.
The knight had been hinting to meet with her, but somehow Cane managed to make him back off.
There were a few questions he had about the lycan too and Cane promised would explain everything after everything had settled down, for now he wanted to focus on strengthening the fortress of this pack, since it would be their base.
They needed to do it quickly, just in case there was another sudden attack like what happened previously, which Cane doubted it, since it was only he and Iris, who knew what happened with Decratic.
"The pack member of this pack fear the alpha and our warriors are confused and wanted the alpha to explain about the lycan, but they are also scared to ask."
From Joel, Iris learned about the turmoil within their warriors. Albeit it sounded not really important, but actually, this matter was really crucial because having warriors, who questioned their alpha was not a good sign for going forward.
Iris listened to what Joel said attentively, describing what he had heard and seen.
"What about you?" Iris asked in the end of his explanation.
Joel was flustered when he was asked about his opinion about the alpha and Iris could understand that, so she teased him.
"Don’t worry, I will not tell Cane even if you were badmouthing him." Iris grinned to see the surprised on his young face.
"I will never say bad thing about the alpha, luna!" Joel said hastily.
"I believe that," Iris replied with a laugh and Joel became even more flustered when he realized the luna was only teasing him. "You can tell me about your opinion freely, Joel. I really wanted to hear about that." Iris then added. "Don’t sugarcoat your words. It will not help."
Giving the permission, Joel told Iris about what he thought about the situation with the alpha.
He felt honor to be able to voice out his opinion, especially when the luna deemed his opinion was important when he was only a young warrior.
The luna didn’t even mind to be escorted by him alone, instead of the other full fledged warriors.
"I believe in alpha, luna and I believe he will never intentionally hurt his people. He has been protecting us to the best of his ability and I believe the alpha has his own explanation about the lycan." Joel told Iris his true feeling and confided in her about how much he looked up to Cane.
With that, they spent the rest of the afternoon talking about a few things, while Lil Thing was happy enough to sleep on Iris’s lap. During this time, two bears approached them too and sat down not too far from them.
The two bears were the color of dark brown and honey brown. They were slightly smaller than Lil Thing.
And when the sun almost set, Cane came to fetch her, so both of them could have dinner together. They would have dinner together, though some time, Cane would go again until late at night to handle a few things.
But tonight, the alpha chose to stay with his mate, while outside the rain started pouring down. He added more firewood to make the room warm enough for Iris.
After their dinner, they decided to lay down, while staring at the rain through the open window.
"Do you want the window to be closed?" Cane asked, as he wrapped Iris tightly inside the blanket. She was wearing his shirt again, while he was shirtless. After all, this was too warm for the alpha.
"No." Iris snuggled against Cane’s chest. "I like it like this."
Cane kissed her forehead and played with her hair. It had been more than a week since what happened and they had recuperated, thus this was the right time to address the important matter that they had been avoiding.
"What happened back then?" Cane started and Iris understood what he meant, she had seen this coming and felt ready to discuss this problem as well.
"I saw your memories," Iris started. She lifted her head to look at Cane.
"I saw the same thing," Cane replied, he cupped her face and kissed the tip of her nose. "Allow me to ask for forgiveness, Iris. You really didn’t deserve the way I treated you after what you had sacrificed and everything you had gone through."
Iris didn’t seem surprised when she heard Cane experienced the same thing, but she was embarrassed when Cane saw what happened with Kellan and he could tell she was being uncomfortable.
"Something is bothering you?" Cane pointed this out, he lifted her chin and stared into her eyes deeply.
Iris was hesitated at first to tell him about what she felt, but in the end, she voiced out her embarrassment. Somehow, she felt guilty something like that happened to her.
Even she herself didn’t know why she had to feel guilty for something that was out of her control and completely not her fault. She was the victim of this, but she felt guilty for what Kellan had done to her.
She didn’t want to cry, but the way Cane stared at her made her tears welled up in her eyes.
"It’s not you who should feel guilty, he should be the one groveling." Cane felt disgusted with himself when he remembered what he had done was no different from what Kellan had put Iris through. But, his mate was too kind to even bring this up. "Forgive me for what I have done to you."
Cane had asked for Iris’s forgiveness in the past, but he was going to do it over and over again, since no amount of it would erase what he had done.
They talked about this for a while and Iris cried a little bit more, and this time, she was the one, who apologized for leaving him behind when he needed her the most and had to face everything alone.
She was not the only one, who was grieving for losing their babies, but as a father, Cane was also grieving with her, but she left him alone.
"I am sorry for leaving you alone, Cane..." Iris said in small voice, she tried to hold back her tears. This was a raw feeling, where she opened all of her pain, she felt immensely guilty for what she had done.
"Don’t be, Iris. Don’t be..." Cane hugged her a little bit tighter, as if he wanted to become one with her.
If anything, he was grateful because she forgot about their babies for a while, because the look in her empty eyes and the way she looked at her surroundings and how devastated she was, must be the last thing he wanted her to experience.
Yes, in the other hand, it was very cruel for not remembering their babies, but Cane was willing to shoulder their grief alone if it meant he didn’t have to see the grieving Iris anymore. His heart couldn’t take it.
There were a lot of tears, apologies and gratefulness that both of them shared. They laid out their raw and genuine feeling in the open, once again, became very vulnerable with each other.
They cried, they laughed and shared their pain, and in this cruel world, there was no one else, who knew each other like the two of them, as they had walked in each other misery.
By the end of it, it was not sure, who had fallen asleep first, but their heart became a little bit lighter and the tears had cleansed their murky mind. This was the moment they needed the most.
However, in the middle of the night, Iris was woken up when she felt her body was very hot. She was actually sweating.
Sleepily, she opened her eyes, thinking Cane had added more firewood in the fireplace, but to her surprise, the fire was put off. It seemed Cane was in deep slumber to not notice the room became a little bit cold without the fire.
Meanwhile, out there, the rain started pouring down, you could hear the howl of it.
Yet, it didn’t make Iris feeling cold, she felt the opposite. She was very hot and her body was very uncomfortable, as if there was fire within her body and the only way to put it off was her mate.
Cane’s body felt very comforting to her touch, she wanted to touch him, every inch of him and when it was not enough and this time the aching on her body became more unbearable, she started to grind her body against him, Iris kissed his lips because she felt this strong urge to taste him, which woke the alpha up.
Cane was slightly confused when he was woken up with Iris was nibling on his lips. "Iris...?" he called her name groggily.
"Cane..." Iris whimpered, as she grinded her body against his.
A second later it hit him, the smell of his mate changed. Iris was in heat.
Heat for a shifter’s mate would happen randomly, you couldn’t predict that. Some women would only go through it once in their lifetime, but quite a few have passed it more than once too.
And right at this moment, Iris was going through her second heat. Her face was flustered and her body was very hot. She needed her mate to put off the fire within her.
Cane was having the best sleep ever, as he forgot about everything else, this must be the best sleep he had ever since they went into slavery.
However, it didn’t mean he would turn down Iris’s advance.
His instinct kicked in the moment he smelled her sweet scent and realized how much she needed him.
The sleepiness in his eyes had gone and now, there was this wild look in his gaze when he reciprocated Iris’s kiss with the same vigor and passion.
He slipped his hand under her shirt and pulled it off.
Cane then flipped her body and hovered above her, he kissed her neck, while Iris pulled his pants, looking frustrated because he didn’t help her.