Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Adeline
I don’t want to be alone in this huge place, so I am a little upset knowing they are both going.
I am also not too pleased with spending time with Cyrus’s ex.
I know it sounds petty, but she is gorgeous, and I know they are still close despite not seeing each other. I can’t help but compare myself to her.
I watch as they leave, and Emery walks over to the couch before flicking the TV on.
“So, I hear I am going to be an aunty?” she chuckles.
I nod, sitting on the other couch, and she sighs, putting her head back on the couch. She looks tired yet still beautiful.
“I saw Eli was still in a mood over my father’s return,” she says, making me look over at her.
“Your father?” Eli has never mentioned it; in fact, he barely talks about his family.
“Oh, he didn’t tell you? Just forget I said anything then,” she says, chewing her thumbnail.
“Why? Is it a secret?” I chuckle, and she shakes her head.
“No, but I don’t want to piss him off if he hasn’t told you. He will probably be watching you like a hawk, though it’s clear why. He has guards on the doors downstairs. Personally, I think he is overreacting,” she says, running a hand through her hair and brushing her fringe from her eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“Just leave it. I’m sure he will tell you eventually,” she says, yet I have my doubts.
“He won’t. He never speaks of his family. Or if he does, he gives vague answers before becoming irritated,” I tell her, and she suddenly becomes nervous. Does she truly think he would be cranky with her telling me?
She nods before grabbing the remote and flicking through the channels. “Are you liking it here so far?” she asks, trying to change the subject.
“Yeah, it’s alright. So, how did you meet Cyrus?”
“Seriously, if that is playing on your mind, I can put you at ease by telling you there is nothing there. He is like a brother now,” she says, and I nod, feeling a little relieved.
“But if you want to know, I actually met him at a saloon I was working at. Eli and I were on the run from our father and stopped just outside of this town. Unfortunately, there weren’t many job opportunities for women back then, so I worked at the saloon.
Cyrus was one of my regulars,” she says, watching my face while chewing her lip. Then it clicks.
“Wait, you were a prostitute?” I ask with a giggle.
“As I said, there weren’t many job opportunities, and I prefer the term ‘lady of the night.’ Sounds way classier.
” She laughs. “I don’t know. Cyrus was different; he wasn’t abusive or pushy like the other men.
So for about three months, I used to see him every night.
He used to pay for the night so I didn’t have to work, and he never expected me to sleep with him.
He just wanted to talk mostly. I think he was lonely. ”
“How did Eli take that?” I ask.
“Oh, he didn’t know. He thought I was a barmaid.
He started getting suspicious because of how much money I was bringing home, so he followed me to work one night.
Cyrus was talking to me at the bar, and that was when they discovered each other.
Eli was pissed off when he discovered he was a man.
At first, he thought it was the old pub tart sitting next to Cyrus at the bar.
He tapped her on the shoulder and was about to kill her.
Poor old duck looked like she was about to have a heart attack.
Then Cyrus grabbed his arm. Eli did a runner when he realized it was Cyrus he was mated to. ” She chuckles, shaking her head.
“Anyway, Eli found out how I was making my earnings and lost his shit at me and dragged me out, kicking and screaming in front of everyone. Kicked my ass all the way home, he did. After that, he stalked Cyrus, and the rest is history, I suppose. Eli gave up the pack and asked me to take over. We were originally a pack of just rogues, then became a family, but Cyrus couldn’t live in the pack.
It was too much for his bloodlust, and the voices used to drive him insane. ”
“Can I ask why you were running from your father?”
“Well, I suppose I have already said too much, haven’t I? If he is going to murder me, I might as well tell you the whole story,” she says before hopping up and walking to the kitchen. I follow and watch as she turns the kettle on.
“Tea?” she asks, and I nod. She makes us both a cup of tea before leaning on the bench. She sips hers, and I can tell she is thinking.
“Well, first of all, you need to know that things were a lot different when we were kids. You didn’t always get to marry who you wanted, and girls as soon as they bled were classed as women,” she says, and she appears to be going back to another place long before my existence, her eyes staring blankly at the wall.
I’ve always wondered what it would have been like to be as old as them, but looking at Emery, I can tell her past haunts her like it does Eli.
“When I was a kid, I always knew I would be married off, just like our older sister was. So, when I came of age, I was twelve. Eli tried to help me hide it. We knew what it meant. I didn’t want the same fate as our older sister, but eventually, my mother found out and told my father.
He arranged for me to marry the mayor of the town where our pack was situated in return for land and riches. ”
“You were twelve?” I ask, and she nods.
I was still playing with dolls when I was twelve, so to think of someone being married off at that age is horrifying.
“The mayor was onto his third wife. He was also thirty years older than me, so Eli killed him the day before I was due to be wed. He said he wasn’t losing another sister to a monster.
My father became furious and beat him till he was nearly dead.
If he were human, he would have died. Dad let him rot in the cells for weeks while he searched for a new potential suitor for me.
So, one night, I snuck down there and let him out.
I told him to run, but he refused unless I went with him.
So, I did. I knew dad was going to kill him, and he wouldn’t leave without me, so we ran and never looked back,” she says, taking a mouthful of her tea before speaking again.
“We became rogues. Eventually, our band of rogues started to grow, and both Eli and I had Alpha blood, so we started our own pack. Dad found out, and he hunted us for years before giving up. Eli did try to reconcile with him after he found Cyrus and marked him. I knew dad would never accept Cyrus. Being gay wasn’t accepted; in some places, it was punishable by death.
Dad attacked Cyrus along with a few pack warriors.
Eli killed them and would have killed our father if Cyrus didn’t pull him off him, and yeah, that’s it.
He has held a grudge for three hundred and fifty years. ”
“May I ask why you would even talk to him?”
I can’t understand how she can even look at the man she calls her father, let alone want him in her life.
“It’s in the past. People change, Adeline. I am too old and too tired to remain angry. I have no place for hate anymore,” she says with a shrug.
I ponder her words while drinking my tea.
“Your older sister, what was she like?” I ask her.
“She raised us pretty much. Mom wasn’t of the soundest mind.
So, a lot of it fell on our sister until dad married her off.
My father married her off to another pack Alpha when she was fourteen.
She didn’t even last a week before he killed her.
She tried to run home and escape him, so he butchered her and let his pack rip her to pieces.
“She was four years older than Eli. He found her body while out hunting. He was ten at the time. Dad beat him good for it, too, said he had no right to be where he was, but most game was gone, hunted to extinction on our lands at the time. It was by sheer luck he even stumbled upon her, or we would never have known. Her name was Clarissa, and she was the closest thing we ever had to a mother. My mom was worse than my father. You may think that is impossible, but she truly was the worst woman I have ever encountered still to this day. I believe her influence over dad drove him to do what he did.”
“So, your mother is here, too?”
She shakes her head. “No, she died a few months back, and dad sent word to me, so I reached out to him.”
I sip my tea, trying to imagine a life like that; it makes mine sound rather peachy compared to hers. Hearing the elevator, she jumps, and we both look toward it, Eli and Cyrus both walking in. They spot us sipping our tea and walk over.
“You girls alright?” Eli asks, eyeing me.
“Yep, just girl talk,” I tell him, and Emery nods in agreement, yet I know Cyrus is in my head. Hearing that, I can’t seem to switch my mind off about it.
“Well, I should get going, but we should go shopping sometime, Addie. Go baby shopping,” she says excitedly, and I smile.
I’ve been so wrong about her, and I can tell already she will be a great aunty. I kind of feel foolish for even doubting her relationship with Cyrus.
“I need to shower,” Eli says, and I nod, watching him walk off.
Cyrus comes over, wrapping his arms around me and pressing his face to my neck. “You okay?”
“Yep, never been better,” I tell him.
“I actually like hearing your thoughts, but I wish she didn’t tell you that. I can practically feel the knowledge slamming you around.”
“I just feel terrible knowing he lived through all that,” I tell him, and Cyrus nods.
“You’re over your jealousy of Emery, though,” he says, kissing my cheek.
I turn in his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck before standing on my tippy toes to kiss him. He pulls me to him before placing me on the kitchen counter and moving between my legs.
“You are all the family we need,” he whispers, kissing my jaw.
“And Emery,” I tell him, and he chuckles.
“Yes, and Emery and your family. That is enough,” Cyrus tells me, his hands trailing up my sides gently.
I pull him closer, enjoying being close to him, his scent wrapping around me and soothing the anxiety I constantly feel being stuck in this apartment.