87: POOR CHOICE OF WORDS

POOR CHOICE OF WORDS

The storm had passed and when the sky was finally clear of all the gloomy clouds, all of them could sigh in relief. That was the most horrendous night someone could ask for and thankfully, they would arrive at their destination within a few hours.

Right now, everyone was checking their carriages and their belongings. Almost everything had been swept away in the storm. Thankfully, they could still save some of their valuable things.

However, because the carriages had been destroyed, they needed to continue their journey by foot. Only the warriors would take the horses, except Redmond and his men, since they needed to check their surroundings throughout the rest of the journey, just in case there was another attack from the monsters.

In this crowd, Stone found Iris, who was talking to Hanna. He approached her with hesitant steps. Ania was in his arms. The little girl was sleeping peacefully, as she was finally out of danger.

It was Hanna who noticed him first and tugged at Iris' sleeve, letting her know that Stone was there.

Iris turned around, her face full of dirt and her body drenched being in the rain all night, just like the others. She looked so small, probably because she was a runt. Her body size made her look like she stopped growing at the age of fourteen.

"Thank you," Stone said in a rigid tone. He didn't immediately treat her warmly when all the people became so friendly to her after they learned what she had done for them.

It was not that Stone was ungrateful, but there was a wound deep inside him that couldn't be placated so easily. He couldn't let go of his grudge of ten years and instantly change the way he looked at her.

However right now, this petite girl had saved his daughter, the only family that he had left, twice. It was so hard to ignore that fact.

On the other hand, reading what he said, Iris smiled brightly, despite the fatigue evident on her face. "I am glad Ania is alright now. Is she sleeping?"

"Yes, she has fallen asleep right away once she was no longer in pain," Stone replied in his gruff tone.

And because he didn't know what else to say to her, he turned around and left without saying anything anymore, but Iris didn't take it to heart.

She knew not everyone would warm up to her right away and for someone like Stone to approach her and express his gratitude, it was already a great feat.

"Let's go," Hanna said, as she took their bag, stuffed with the few things they could save from the storm last night.

By the time the entourage started moving again, the sun was already high above them and the sky was so clear. There was no sign of the storm from last night, aside from their destroyed carriages.

They walked for hours and stopped for a brief lunch break with whatever they still had with them before they continued to walk again. As they traveled by foot, which slowed them down immensely, they didn't have time to tarry, as no one wished to spend another night in this deserted land.

"How are you feeling?" Hanna asked when she saw Iris look a little bit pale. She was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Their wet clothes got dried on their bodies.

"I am fine," Iris said with so much difficulty. She had been trying to keep up with the others in the front row, but she kept falling behind.

"No, you are not," Redmond said, as he approached Iris and looked at her with a frown. He then stepped in front of her and knelt down, giving his back to her. "I will carry you."

Iris was stunned to see that. "No, I am fine. Really." She couldn't believe Redmond would offer her such a thing.

"You will only become a burden if you collapse."

Iris frowned. She was thankful for his concern, but his poor choice of words really stung. He could have chosen another word besides 'burden', right?

"What is this?" Cane walked toward them when he saw Redmond approaching Iris and kneeling down in front of her.

The warrior lifted his head slightly. He was glaring at the alpha, while still kneeling with his back facing Iris.

"The last time I remember, you are his mate, shouldn't you pay a little bit attention to her? Don't you know that she is so weak?"

Iris didn't know whether she should thank Redmond for looking after her or get angry at him. His words were like a bunch of knives, stabbing into her chest one by one. First, he called her a burden and now he said that she was so weak, which sadly was true.

However, it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

On the other hand, Cane looked unperturbed by the way Redmond spoke to him, his eyes fixed on Iris' pale face. She looked like a little puppy that had just rolled in the mud, very shabby in her traveling, dirty cloak.

Cane stretched out his hand from top of the horse. "Come here," he said impassively.

"What now? Do you want to show mercy on her?" Redmond said sharply, but Hanna nudged his shoulder to warn him.

He was being unnecessarily offensive toward the alpha, it wouldn't end well for any of them if he kept acting like that and she was worried it would bring more trouble to her missy. She couldn't afford for something like that to happen, especially in the presence of the alpha.  2

However, as usual, Cane paid no mind to Redmond's impertinence. His dark eyes were fixed on Iris' blue ones with his hand stretched out, waiting for her to take.

For a second, Iris looked unsure of what she was going to do. It was one thing to turn down Redmond's offer, after all he was not her mate and she would be crazy to accept his offer, while her mate was just a few steps away.

But, Cane was different. All of the people there, with their eyes glued to them, knew they were the alpha and luna of the pack, thus if she rejected him, it wouldn't look good. More so, when it would become a thorn in their future mating life.

But, above all the excuses in her mind, Iris knew she had reached her limit, in that case, there was no harm in accepting his offer.

Iris placed her hand in Cane's and he pulled her onto the horse without any trouble at all, as if she weighed nothing.

"Thank you," Iris said in a small voice. She bit her lips because she felt so awkward to be in this position with him.

However, Cane said nothing and started to gallop the horse to the very front, leaving dust behind.

Redmond coughed so hard his eyes turned red, as he muttered profanities under his breath. Among all the people who watched this scene, it was only him and Aria, who stared at the alpha and luna in exasperation.

"You can sleep, it will take another hour before we reach the Howling Wolf pack," Cane said, as he pressed her head gently against his chest, so she didn't need to hurt her back, since she sat down so rigidly, afraid to touch him.

"No, I am fine. I am not sleepy."

Cane frowned. It had become a bad habit of Iris' to tell others that she was fine when she was not, yet he didn't say anything and kept her close.

But, even though Iris said she was not sleepy, fifteen minutes later she had fallen asleep, snoring gently. She was very tired and last night was so rough. Sleep didn't come to her all night. How could she be sleeping when rain was pouring down?

More so, when she had to sit down the whole night.

Hearing her soft snore, Cane looked down and saw she had fallen deep into sleep. Her lips were slightly ajar as she breathed evenly.

Cane stared at her for a while, he had never looked at her up close like this before. She rested her head against his chest and this was way more intimate for him rather than their copulation.

He was not used to letting anyone close to him, he couldn't stand other people's touch, because it repulsed him, but it seemed, he had a high tolerance for her.

Probably because she was his mate and he marked her?

The entourage took another three hours at that pace to reach the Howling Wolf pack and once they saw the double gates of the pack, all of them cheered. Even Cane's horse neighed and raised its front legs, joining the chaos as it jostled both Cane and Iris on it. And it woke Iris up.

Iris stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes groggily, only to see people being rowdy around her, but then her eyes halted on the double gates in front of her.

This was the first time for her to be out of the pack and also the first time to visit another pack. What a pity for her to be so excited to see such magnificent gates. Based on what she heard, the fortification around the Howling Wolf pack was the pride of the pack members.

If it was not for traitors within them, Alpha Gerald wouldn't be able to penetrate their defense and turned the tables around in his favor.

"You are awake," Cane said.

He was so close until his breath caressed her cheeks and because Iris was in awe to see the double gates that opened for them, she forgot her current state. She turned her head to look at him and he repeated what he said.

"Oh, yes… I can get down now…" She wriggled her body, indicating that he could put her down. "Thank you."

"Stay still." Cane's arm wrapped around her waist firmly. "The pack house is still quite a distance away."

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