Chapter 102

The words made the whole room go quiet. I felt most of their resistance to the statement. The members of Blue Moon seemed ready to fight. Then, Candido shot to his feet and left. I jumped up and went after him as Vanessa started to speak.

“I think this is a good time to pause this conversation…”

“I’m sure,” Francia said with a sneering tone. “Wouldn’t want your alpha king to miss anything.”

I grimaced, wanting to turn back and defend him, but I followed Candido out of the building and onto a terrace that overlooked a remote section of some mountain I didn’t even recognize.

I wasn’t sure what to say. I just wanted to be near to him and try and make him feel better. He was silent, staring out into the distance. He didn’t seem ready to scream or fight. He just seemed sad and a bit lost as he leaned against the railing and hung his head.

He let out a deep breath and I put a hand on his shoulder. “Are… you okay?”

He said nothing, but it was enough of an answer. I felt a bit antsy, wanting to say something but not having the words.

“Candido—” He pulled me up against him, pressing our lips together. I moaned, melting into his arms as he turned us and pressed me up against the railing. He lifted me into his arms. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pressing us together.

My face heated as I felt the hard ridge of his cock pressing against me. A little thrill of excitement went through me, and I shifted my hips against his.

He drew back with a hiss. “Hedy.”

I bit my lip, pulling at his shoulder so he could go back to kissing me. He turned his head, refusing me and I pouted at him.

“But…”

He shook his head and pressed his forehead to my chest. He tightened his grip on me and took deep breaths as if he was finding some comfort in my presence. It wasn’t kissing or… more than that, but it was nice.

I only ever wanted him to be with me, to want to be with me. Being like this with him was more than I could have ever hoped.

“I want to be angry,” he said and tightened his grip around my waist.

“About our kiss?” I asked a little fearfully.

“About what she said.” Candido said, “But that feels childish.”

“It’s not childish to be offended with what she said, especially if—”

“It’s childish to be offended by the truth,” he said. “Childish to take it so hard.”

I frowned as he pulled back. “She was talking bad about your dad.”

“And I know more than many that he was a flawed man,” his lips twitched. “I told you I watched a relationship devolve because they weren’t mates.”

My eyes widened. I remembered him telling me that. I had no idea that the was talking about his parents or even his stepmother. I stroked his hair, delighted by how soft it was.

“We don’t have to go back in there.”

He pulled back and laughed. “That would be ultimately childish.”

I pouted. “Well… you’re always treating me like a child and Francia is definitely older than all of us.”

He frowned and tilted his head. “How do you know that?”

I shrugged. “Just a feeling. You didn’t get that sense?”

“She looks like she’s barely old enough to be Francium’s mother…” his lips twitched. “If not for the obvious resemblance, I would have called her a liar.”

I frowned at that. Francia felt older to me, no matter what she looked like. She might look just a little older than Candido, but they felt totally different to me. Maybe it was just my imagination though. Candido had so much more experience with these sorts of things than I did.

“Hearing all of this…” he said softly. “The truth after all this time only makes me feel more guilty.”

“About what happened?”

He looked at me. “About us.”

I blinked at him.

“Me… pushing for us to follow the path the Moon Goddess set for us, but not even seeing what was in front of me.” He shook his head and cupped my face. “Thinking I knew better, that you couldn’t be who I thought you were just because I didn’t want you to me… She’s right. I’m childish.”

“You’re not childish—”

“Stop trying to defend me and listen, little girl,” Candido shook his head. “What if I had been wrong?”

“But you weren’t—”

“Listen,” Candido urged. “What if I had been able to marry Sibyl?”

I set my jaw and looked away.

“Worse than that, what if you had just runaway somewhere I couldn’t find you instead of fighting me about it?” He turned my head back so he could look into my face. “What if you had died after going over that cliff with Francium and Claire?”

Candido wouldn’t have had anything to block Sibyl’s marriage attempt. She would have been queen. The werewolf world would dissolve to nothing. The thought made me sick.

Would Candido have mourned me? For how long? Would he have fought the vampires when they came or just laid down and died?

The thought made my eyes burned.

“Childish,” he said again. “So very childish. I’m so very sorry, Hedy.”

My jaw trembled. “Do you plan to keep us apart?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I just… If I was a terrible man, more like his father, we would be in that position just as my parents were. I would never what that for her or you or anyone.” He shuddered. “All three of them were miserable. My stepmother hated my mother. My mother pined after my father and my father…”

He turned his head. “I don’t know if he reconciled himself to being miserable, thought it was the right thing to do, or just decided for all three of them to keep going for his own ambition, but he was miserable and that misery made him cruel…”

I clenched my hands on his shoulders. “Did he…?”

I didn’t have the words for it. I didn’t want to think about it. Candido, my alpha king, was so strong. I couldn’t imagine him fearing the man who had held the position before him. I couldn’t imagine him having panic attacks and flashbacks every time they encountered each other.

His father couldn’t have been that much like my father. I didn’t want to believe it.

“I don’t know if that misery had more to do with the monster he had become or all the pain he was causing with his ambition,” Candido said. “He could have divorced his wife and married my mother with ease. No one, not even she, would have been able to fight him on it.”

“What was she like? Your stepmother? Like Sibyl?”

He tilted his head. “They were a political match, sure. She enjoyed being queen more than being his wife, but with her, he had more control over the packs.”

I dropped my gaze. “So she was exactly like Sibyl.”

“I don’t think she ever cheated on my father,” Candido said wryly. “So perhaps a bit better than Sibyl.”

It wasn’t funny, but he chuckled and helped me down from the railing. “As we’ve gotten on the subject, we should go back and finish this conversation.”

I held him still. “Can’t we stay out here a bit longer?”

His lips twitched and nodded, rocking me side to side. I pulled him down to kiss. He allowed our lips to graze against one another. Then, I felt a rush of heat and desire crash over me as if he’d sent it through our bond.

“Do you remember what I said?” He asked softly against my lips. “About nothing keeping you from me when they time came?”

I bit my lip and nodded. “I remember.”

“Keep it in mind,” he said softly. “If you ever doubt that I want you, Hedy… That if the time was right, I would hesitate even for a moment to throw you down and take everything you had to give and more, remember this.”

“What—” I gasped, biting my lip as the rush of desire washed over again. My legs trembled. My panties turned wet and I could barely breathe around he moan that wanted to escape me.

He pulled me close and pressed a kiss to my head. “Soon, little girl, you’ll know what it is to be mine. I promise.”

I clenched my hand in his shirt and nodded. When I’d caught my breath, he led me back to the ball room and we took our seats again. Francia didn’t even acknowledge out return. She and Francium were staring at each other in some sort of silent conversation.

It was probably a vampire thing.

“Sibyl is likely pregnant,” Candido said. “Whose kid is it and why would they have a child with a werewolf?”