Alia looked at Kyle, who had arrived after her parents left a few minutes earlier.
The man had been sitting silently on the chair beside her, holding her hand as if afraid that if he let go, she would vanish.
Alia had already asked him twice what was bothering him or if sothing was wrong, but the man didn’t say anything, just looking at their hands.
"Kyle, I know you are hurting inside. As your mate, I can feel the pain in my heart. Do you want to see in pain?" Alia tried her last resort.
Her words snapped the man out of his thoughts, and he quickly shook his head, blinking his eyes furiously. He placed his lips on their intertwined fingers and sighed.
"I don’t want you to be in pain, and I am not sad. It’s just... how did you do it? Except your parents after everything. Cyrus finally revealed the truth about my identity, and everyone has been acting so good that it seems fake," Kyle said.
In his heart, he knew that everything those people were doing was out of the purest intentions and because they wanted to make him realize he belonged with them and that they were his family, but that wasn’t the case really.
All his life, he grew up believing he was alone in this world. Then how can he suddenly go around and pretend like everything is normal?
What about his rogue life? What about the identity he built by his hard work? And what about his people who followed him unthinkingly and were dependent on him?
Everything was just too much. He was so obsessed and happy with finding that he could have Alia to himself, too, because he was her second mate, that he neglected all the other duties that ca along with the title.
"You are scared." Alia started after so ti.
The man’s gaze snapped to hers, but for the first ti, he didn’t deny it or shy away from admitting that what Alia was saying was indeed true.
He was indeed scared, scared that he wouldn’t be able to accept them as a family.
"I will be here with you. It’s all up to you if you want to take the title, the responsibility, or even accept their care. No one would bla you for it. Just let know if I should proceed with being the wife of the Alpha King and Rogue head or the twin brothers. You don’t even have to co to the palace to stay with us. I am ready to build a new ho with you in a cottage beside a lake. Just make sure I get my favourite food delivered there and— Alia started rambling.
Hearing her talk, Kyle couldn’t help but chuckle softly before shaking his head.
He rose from his feet and kissed her forehead, cupping her hair with care.
"I don’t even know what I did to deserve such a beautiful and kind mate. You are in so much pain, yet you are trying to coax ," he whispered before placing his forehead on hers.
His words made Alia smile softly.
"It should be us against the world, nothing less," she said.
Kyle nodded at her. He promised her that he would try to adapt and create a world with them because he couldn’t afford to stay away from her.
As they talked about random things to lighten the atmosphere while Kyle peeled the apple for her, Alia suddenly thought about sothing.
"About the mark, when will you guys mark ?" She asked.
Kyle’s brows raised at her question, and he looked at her with a suggestive smirk.
"You want us to mark you? Are you sure about that?" He asked.
Alia’s brows raised in confusion, and she was about to ask him what he ant by that when she realized the aning behind her words.
Right. How could she forget that marking didn’t happen without that... Her cheeks flared in embarrassnt.
She was practically asking him when they would make love to her again in a way that they both would be inside her. The thought of that night when they had hugged her from both sides as they pushed inside her made her swallow hard.
Kyle, who was enjoying teasing her, felt his eyes darkening when he slled the intoxicating scent of her arousal.
A slight snarl left his mouth.
"Baby, as much as I want to control myself, if you invite like this, I won’t hold back," Kyle said, and Alia blushed even more.
"I don’t know how to stop. It’s just—" Alia started, but stopped when her wolf suddenly stood in alert.
Alia looked at the window for the second ti, sensing sothing odd.
"Soone is—" She couldn’t even complete her sentence when she saw seven n standing before them, all dressed in black from head to toe with weird cloaks and hats covering their faces.
Alia’s protective instinct kicked in, and she sat upright.
"Who are you? And why are you here?" She asked, her shyness pushed to the corner of her mind.
The n looked at her before shifting their gaze to Kyle, who looked at them with a sigh.
"Alia—" Kyle started, but Alia shook her head.
"Don’t worry about . They won’t be able to do anything to you. I will ensure that. The security outside is—"
"They are here for ." Kyle’s words made Alia pause.
She looked at the n and then at Kyle. Sothing was wrong.
"What do you an they are here for you?" Alia pushed the blanket away and stood from the bed, holding his hand while standing before the n as if ready to fight them if they forced their way in.
Kyle looked at his little protective woman and couldn’t help but feel his heart swell with pride and love.
"What I an is that these are my people. I belong to their community. You know I am not a werewolf." Kyle said, letting Alia connect the points herself.
Alia looked at the n more observantly now.
She looked into their eyes and at the way they dressed, and for so reason, she could feel they were neither mages nor werewolves. And since Kyle called them his people, it wasn’t hard to guess they were vampires.
"Vampires?" She asked.
Kyle nodded his head before smiling at her and kissing her forehead.
"This is the reason I can’t accept Grayson’s offer to beco the second king of the werewolves once my identity is revealed. I don’t belong with the wolves; I never have. Rather, I am the vampire king," Kyle said.
This wasn’t the first ti he t the vampires. He had been eting them silently for a couple of weeks, discussing things and completing formalities.
They wanted him to co there sooner and take charge. However, he asked them to give him enough ti until he claid his mate.
Now that he was sure she would choose him too, there was no harm in leaving for so ti.
He was ready to travel the borders to et his mate.
The vampires’ council agreed to his condition, allowing him to stay near the border between the werewolf and vampire kingdoms, closer to his mate and both kingdoms.
"Will you be gone for long?" Alia’s expression turned solemn.
Kyle shook his head.
"No, Sweetheart. I just need to be there until tomorrow evening to attend a ceremony where they will also announce my presence. I would’ve been happy if you had accompanied , but I wanted to test the waters myself first. Then I’ll co and take you there to visit my kingdom," Kyle said.
Alia looked at the n who bowed to her when Kyle bent and kissed her hand affectionately.
"Hmm. Be safe," Alia whispered, her heart suddenly feeling heavy when she saw Kyle leave through the window with the n, disappearing into the forests.
She sighed and turned to her bed.
At the sa ti, Cyrus had been personally looking over all the preparations because he didn’t want his grandfather to worsen his health while organizing the grand ceremony to announce Gloria’s return and Kyle’s presence in the kingdom.
"Everything should be decorated in royal blue and white. Royal blue was your mother’s favorite color. She would be thrilled," Grayson said to Cyrus, leaving before the latter could even say anything.
Cyrus saw his grandfather staggering towards Rosaline, asking her to overlook the preparations for Gloria’s room, filling it with everything she would need.
Cyrus could feel the happiness radiating through his words and couldn’t help but sigh.
He turned around to order Maze to contact Miss Quinn to arrange a separate office and room for Kyle, too. He wanted his brother to co and live with them now.
Though they would sleep in the sa room, obviously, he wanted to prepare a room just in case he found the sudden change too uncomfortable.
Cyrus was about to call Fabian to ask how Alia was doing when he received an incoming call from Kyle.
"Hello, where did you go? One mont you were here, and the next mont you were nowhere," Cyrus said as soon as he picked up.
Kyle took a deep breath, unsure how to break the news to him.
"I went to et Alia because I was feeling overwheld. Cyrus, there is sothing I want to tell you. The vampires ca to et and I am—"
Before Kyle could finish his sentence, Patrick rushed to Cyrus.
"It’s your mother. She has—." Cyrus didn’t even hear the complete sentence and ended the call before rushing out, driving straight to the special nursing ward where his mother was healing with the best doctors to check on her.
Cyrus practically ran inside the ward, standing outside the door.
He peeped in, his eyes brimming with tears when he saw his mother’s eyes fluttering open.
He felt like the sa child who wanted to complain and ask his mother why she had left him. But he knew how to control his emotions. He didn’t want to worry her, not even for a second.
Cyrus was about to turn the knob to enter when the doctor stopped him.
"Sir, there is sothing," he said.
Cyrus heard what the doctor had to say, and his body froze.
He swallowed hard before nodding and entering.
He walked to his mother’s side, his lips trembling a bit as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hands to calm his nerves.
However, it was too hard.
"Mom," Cyrus whispered.
As soon as Gloria heard his voice, she looked at him, a soft smile stretching on her lips.
"M-my son? Cyrus?" She whispered, too weak to even form a proper sentence.
"It’s , Mom. Kyle is there too. He is just... waiting for you to get better. I..." Cyrus didn’t know what to say to her.
Sorry? Because he didn’t look for her or protect her.
Bla her? Because she left him alone and believed a fake prophecy.
Question her? But what? How bad was the torture when they witnessed it themselves?
"Sorry," Gloria whispered before she extended her hand.
Cyrus imdiately rushed forward and held her hand, placing it on his cheeks as his eyes brimd with tears once again.
"I love you. Always did. Always have. Always will. I—" Gloria’s eyes closed, her hand becoming numb and loose.
Cyrus’s heart skipped a beat, and he panicked.
"Mom? No. No. You can’t go so soon. Hey, you didn’t even et your other son. Mom. Please open your eyes. Is it because I wasn’t speaking? I have so many things to say and tell you. I... I am a king now. I am continuing the legacy, and I have a wife. Yes, there were queen trials. You t her earlier. She is sweet and kind, just like you were, as I heard from Grandfather. And I... I have this special wolf that wanted to—"
Cyrus started rambling as tears stread down his cheeks.
The doctors looked at their king with pity and grief.
"Sir, she is gone. As I had told you, her body gave up long ago. Her wolf died more than a decade ago due to torture. And Dominic probably was giving her so kind of poison to contain the pain. Her body didn’t accept any treatnt," the doctors said.
"No!!"
Cyrus fell to his knees, an earth-shattering howl of grief leaving his throat, and everyone felt his pain through their wolves, who grieved with the king.
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