344: A FEW HOURS BEFORE NEW MOON

A FEW HOURS BEFORE NEW MOON

"Feeling better?" Cane asked, while he cradled Iris in his arms. She was no longer crying, but her body was still trembling. 

It was not his intention to traumatize her like this, but Cane also didn't intend to shield her from the cruelty around her. It would be good if she was a little bit aware of it, since she saw the world from her innocent perspective. It was not a good thing to be naïve and innocent in the world they lived in.  He wanted her to see everything with opened eyes.

However, he knew it would be too much for her to witness what happened inside the underground, that's why he told her to stay even after he took her there. 

Cane should have known her curiosity, often time, would get the better of her. After all, she figured out about the lycan and his infertility because of it too and she got herself into an unthinkable trouble. 

"I am sorry…" Iris said in small voice. She apologized for not listening to him, though Cane said nothing about it. 

Currently, they were sitting on a bench, in the garden next to the crown prince's palace, while the investigation was still happening there. 

She sat on his laps, leaning her head against his chest, while the sky had turned red because it was almost sunset. 

They basked under the beautiful golden ray of the sun, which fell on Cane's face and highlighted his scar. 

"Is it hurt?" Iris asked, as she traced his scar with the tip of her finger. 

"No."

"Is it hurt when my father did this to you?" Iris was about to cry again, she felt the lump on her throat to imagine Cane and his people had gone through the same things. 

"Yes," Cane answered honestly, as he stared at her eyes. 

"I am sorry…" This was something she used to say and she couldn't help it, even though she knew it was not her fault. "I am sorry."

Cane said nothing, as he patted her back in an attempt to calm her down. He waited until Iris got over her emotions. 

"That was the diamond white tiger, right?" Iris asked after a long silence between them. The sky had turned dark and the luminous pearls illuminated every corner of the palace. 

Cane looked down and nodded. "Yes." He saw the little diamond white tiger inside one of the cages. The creature was almost died. Right now, alpha Dristan must be very furious because his precious creature was in the hand of the crown prince, even more with the fact this diamond white tiger was the last of his kind. 

"Cane…" Iris called his name hesitantly, but Cane already shook his head because he knew what she wanted to say. "I have not yet said anything."

"You want to save the diamond white tiger," Cane stated, which made Iris lowered her head, but then he put his finger under her chin, so she could see what he was going to say. "You can't save everyone, Iris, unless you hold power in your hand and are strong enough to carry the responsibility, you need to save yourself first, until then, you can't save anyone."

In this realm, without power, you were nothing and right now, they didn't have enough power to go head to head with the Red Claw pack directly. 

Iris's blue eyes dimmed when she read that. She hugged Cane even tighter, looking for the comfort for her grievances, while Cane was exceptionally patient with her. 

"Do you think he will be alright?" Iris lifted her head to look Cane with her teary eyes. 

"He will."

"How so?"

"For Alan, the creature is an object to be tortured, but alpha Dristan saw the creature as a source of money, he will take care of him." Cane could see the reason behind why Alan liked to torture people with low status, someone, who didn't have power to fight him back, because he wanted to feel good about himself, deep down, he must know how incapable and a disappointment he was. 

The title of crown prince was too heavy for him when he could do nothing, but relied on his status. 

But, there was a few things came to Cane's mind after he met with lady Cyan and the subtle gesture between her and the king. 

However, before Cane could ask whether or not she felt something about the lady and Iris could ask how Cane knew if she could sense the dark magic inside the ring, someone came to interrupt their conversation. 

Iris immediately wriggled her body to get down from his laps, but Cane held her firmly, he pushed her face against his chest to cover her swollen eyes and puffy face. 

"Koda," Cane greeted the other person casually. 

"Am I interrupting?" Koda glanced at Iris, her curly hair was slightly messy. 

"Kind of," Cane replied, which pissed him off, but he had another important thing to tell him, so he swallowed his annoyance to this young alpha.  1

"Alpha Dristan requested to see you in the same place," Koda said. 

"I will be there before midnight." Koda nodded and walked away. Cane then patted Iris's shoulder after it was only the two of them again. "I need to find Ethan," he said.

Iris then got down from his laps and Cane took his hand to look for the gamma. They found him still in the crown prince's palace, collecting all of his crimes. 

"Everything is done?" Cane asked Ethan quietly, while Iris stood by his side, staring at the two of them with questioning look. 

"Yes, everything has been prepared." Ethan glanced at Iris. "Have you told her?" 

"Later."

Iris was confused, what Cane needed to tell her?

"Redmond will throw a tantrum again if he knew about this." 

"Get a better handle of him."

Ethan rolled his eyes and the two of them talked about a few more things before Cane took Iris to meet with alpha Dristan and Koda in the East gate, the exit they used to go out of the palace on the other day. 

"Cane, tonight is the new moon," Iris informed him, because of what had been going on, she almost forgot about this. "It's only three hours away before midnight. Is it alright to meet with someone at time like this?" 

Cane looked at her and then stopped walking. "There is something I want to tell you."

"What is it?" Iris became anxious because Cane looked very serious. "What do you want to say?" 

"We will go to the Riverside pack tonight," Cane told her. 

"Tonight? To Riverside pack?" Iris widened her eyes in disbelieve. "How can you leave… all of this?" Iris flailed her arms to show the mess that Cane had created in the capital city, but then he would leave just like that?

"You don't need to worry about that." Cane caressed her earlobe, which made Iris flinched and caught his hand to put it away from her ear. "I told you this so you will not be so surprise."

Cane then took her hand again, as they walked together to meet with alpha Dristan and Koda. 

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