Chapter 157
We stood in the doorway for a good minute before either of us attempted to move. The silence even grew awkward, it hadn’t done that before but I felt like I wanted someone to come and interrupt us because I had nothing to say to break the awkwardness.
It couldn’t be just words from him, I had to feel that I was on the same two-meter level as he was. Not like I was below him, a piece of meat that he could chain up when I disobeyed and that’s where I was right now. That’s what I felt like.
We couldn’t be anything to each other until I felt strong enough to take a position next to him and find my way back to my strength.
“Come with me, I have something to show you,” he said and stepped out into the hallway. He didn’t reach out for my hand this time. Whatever it was I could tell he was happy about it, at least he was earlier before my pass-out panic.
What did I have to lose?
I followed him out into the hallway and he led me down the stairs and around another wall leading down into a part of the palace that I hadn’t seen yet.
I was wary of every hallway and archway that we passed through in case I’d have to run away soon.
I’m not giving him a lot of faith, I know, but imagine I walk into a cell and he closes the door on me- all because I trusted him to lead me somewhere.
That would be widely embarrassing, if I trusted him, considering everything he’s done to prove that he doesn’t deserve it.
“In here,”
t
I jerked my head back when he spoke. I’d been too busy looking at the windows and remembering where the front door was.
We walked through a large archway that led us into a room covered in red and gold with vibrant green colored plants spread out on the window seals while others adorned the tables and corners of the large room. A sofa group stood in the middle with a table dividing them and a large portrait hung over the mantel against the wall.
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But none of that was interesting right now, I didn’t even care where we were or who the people on the portrait were.
Rising from the sofa with her eyes widening with a sparkling crystal gaze and lips that stretched back in an ear-to-ear smile was Mathilda. She dropped her hands to her sides and pressed her lips into a firm line- trying to hide the quivering pout- when her brows crocked and she ran across the room.
“Oh my gods,” I stretched out my arms around her shoulders when she rammed into me, it was the singular best feeling I’d ever experienced. Mathilda wrapped her arms around me and tightened her grip.
I burrowed my face into her hair, it smelled of fire and wood, a sweet hint of caramel and lemongrass. She must’ve been grilling, she never smelled of fire unless she’d been grilling but the lemongrass and caramel were all her.
That was the smell that would fill our house whenever she walked around, the smell that would set on the pillows and you’d think that someone had dragged it through a cake but nobody minded- who could mind the smell of caramel?
Her shoulders shook and her sniffles rose to my ears.
“You’re okay,” I smiled against her head.
“They’re dead,” Mathilda whispered,
The blood drained from my face and I looked at Darian who was standing at a safe distance, letting me have my moment with my sister but he heard her.
I’d been so caught up in getting her back that I didn’t think about what she had been through, I only ever thought about my side of it.
Our parents were dead, Mathilda lost them just as much as me if not more, they were always closer.
She was the princess in the family, I didn’t mind, I liked being her protector and making sure that she was safe to do whatever she pleased.
My parents doted on her every step, whatever she brought home from school was immediately framed, hell I even bought the frames, and then our parents
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Chapter 157
would celebrate her.
Like I said, I didn’t mind, she deserved it. That girl had the kindest and biggest heart, to kind for this world we live in, but how am I supposed to take my parent’s place?
She will need someone to guide her, follow her through life, and help her make good decisions as well as teach her right from wrong- look at me, I can’t even do that for myself.
“I know baby,” I stroked her hair and pressed her against me, holding her as tight as I could without hurting her.
Part of me was afraid that if I let her go, she’d disappear from me.
Gabe stood by the sofa with a soft smile that reflected the mixed emotions dripping from his eyes; joy and pain, grief and success, everything all at once just like me.
Darian stood to the left and watched us while Nora sat on the edge of the sofa with a neutral expression and her hand clasped on her knees.
Mathilda pulled back, she wiped her tears away from the others, she never liked it when people saw her crying.
“What’s going to happen to me?” She whimpered out.
I cupped her face and wiped her tears with my thumb.
“What do you mean?”
“You live here, this is your pack and your home. You have the King and these people but I’m alone, Mom and Dad are gone and I don’t know what’s going to happen,”
I gripped her shoulders, a little too hard maybe but oh my god, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She thought that she was on her own now.
I was stunned, thinking of a way to stay calm and let her hear what I had to say without freaking out over the fact that she thought I was going to leave her.
“Mathilda Grey, if you think that I am ever letting you out of my sight again, you’re crazy. This is our home, even if we didn’t have this pack, we would build a new home but the important thing is and has always been that we stay together. I’m not leaving you ever, even when you’re old and crusty and can barely walk, we will roll down the house together,”
She laughed, thank god.
I wiped the last tear that fell down her cheek and my lips tugged up.
“It’s scary to know that they are gone but we still have each other, and we’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it,”
Her eyes glimmered and she fell against me.
“Promise?” She asked against me and that quivering tone was breaking my heart. I hadn’t heard it since she was a little girl.
“I’m never letting you go,” I promised.
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The Alpha’s Hunt
