Noah POV
Things were just getting stranger…and now Evelyn was acting strange. She had been avoiding Reuben like the plague and now ensured he received medical treatment to help him heal.
She won’t admit it but she does care. How could she not, she is a caring person that saw the beauty in everything, or at least she did.
To learn that Vicky was solely responsible… Evelyn will be blaming herself for spending the last four years building up an alliance based on revenge. Aimed at Reuben who she swore was the main culprit. Her soul had darkened unnecessarily and I think that pained her more.
Nate had called me as he was leaving the Red Stone pack. He said he wanted to give me the heads up that Cassandra was coming and that Vicky had admitted she was responsible. I hadn’t. warned Evelyn, she might have refused them entry and I was starting to understand why she never truly let him go….
She was stubborn though, and it would seem so was Reuben. “Is she okay?” Reuben asks me as he keeps his eyes on the door she has just walked through.
“I’m not sure.” I inspect his wound to make sure all traces of the bullets were removed.
“You’re not sure? What the fuck does that mean. I thought you knew her better than anybody?” He scoffs at my reply.
“I do, but since you dropped the bombshell of Vicky..she’s been overthinking things.”
Like now, it was as if she was holding back anger. Where had she run off to?
I set Reuben up on a rehydration drip and take a seat in the chair next to the bed, waiting for it to do it’s job. Best not to leave him, he was still classified as with an infection and I still didn’t trust him or his motives of why he was here.
As I sit in the chair I take my glasses off and rub my eyes. I needed some help, an assistant or a midwife. The popularity of the pack was great but it meant more and more were using the hospital facility. Especially for labour.
“This set up is impressive. Did you plan this hospital?” I open my eyes to find Reuben looking around the room at all of the medical equipment.
“Pretty much, Evelyn was able to set up an agreement to source equipment new in the medical industry. She’s an incredible Alpha, she’s not weak.”
“I never said she was!” He growls at me from the hospital bed.
“Why are you here Reuben?” I needed to ask, I needed to know his motives.
“I need to check that security is tight around the pack.”
“Of course it is, she’s a brilliant Alpha and not a push over.” I retort back in her defence.
“Correct me if I’m wrong but last time I was here I was able to gain entry through a bramble bush…perhaps things aren’t as secure as you like to think.”
“She wasn’t under any threat until Vicky took Rex. Now that her identity is revealed I’ve taken extra measures to secure the pack borders even more. It’s a fine line between living peacefully in a secure setting and in a military base…. we’d expect some trespassers and have it covered ”
I wasn’t going to let him discredit our hard work, Evelyn’s hard work.
Of course we’ve had trespassers before but most of the time they just stumbled on to the wrong grounds and were swiftly moved along. If they had of just left the Alpha of the Silver Moon pack alone, then the pack’s security wouldn’t be in question. He hasn’t meant to put her in danger, but he has. Remaining undercover gave her levels of protection behind her alias.
“I wonder what you are more annoyed at. That her identity has been revealed or that you are now unable to keep her to yourself?” He scoffs back at me, his eyes flashing a dark blue.
“Which leads me back to my previous question, why are you here Reuben? I can protect Evelyn and the children fine and have been doing so for the past four years. If you are here to form some kind of relationship with her again, that you’re on a path of some kind of redemption then just do it for the right reasons. She was broken when she left, it wasn’t an easy decision for her.
Knowing she was taking her child away from it’s father and abandoning a pack that she had grown to love. She did what she did for reasons that perhaps now you are starting to understand. She knew from day one that Vicky wasn’t to be trusted, that she manipulated you against your own wife.
If you are looking to make it up to her, then just be mindful that it took me months to keep her going, to keep her breathing. But it wasn’t until Rex and Elspeth were born that she started to breathe properly again, that they brought her back to life. She was the living dead before then. Just don’t do anything that will make her like that again and we should be fine.” I stand up, my warning has been made clear but I know it won’t deter him. All I can do is try to keep her safe, keep them safe.
“I made a mistake and I intend to make up for it. Once I have found Vicky I will be out of your hair.” He tries but I don’t fool for it.
“I don’t believe that any more than you do Reuben. I might not be blood but they are my children and I won’t let you hurt them.” I raise an eyebrow at him, before mind-linking Evelyn to see where she went but her block is up.
“I understand that but own problems now…” you have your “Oh what would that be?”
He stands up, pulling the fluid drip with him not caring that it is pulling on his arm.
“You have your own mate to concentrate on, to comfort over the fact that you are a part of another family. One she can’t compete with. You worry about your mate, and I’ll… and we should be fine.”
I had checked Reuben out of the hospital knowing his wounds were healing quicker thanks to the rehydration process. I had walked him back to the alpha house where his warriors were being sorted into suitable housing facilities for the next few nights.
As we walked into the kitchen Cassandra was sitting on the sofa with Elspeth watching a princess movie. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to her and she had come all this way to visit me.
“No time like the present…I can sit with Elspeth, then I’ll have to see what trouble Pierce is getting up to.” Reuben whispers into my ear forcefully. I am hesitant at first but he actually pushes my lower back towards the back of the sofa before he walks around the front and sits on the other side of Elspeth,
“Cassandra…” I croak out, removing my glasses and cleaning them on the hem of my T-shirt. Why was I feeling so nervous all of a sudden?
“Could I have a word?”
She turns to me with a frown on her face before standing up and walking out of the front room and into the kitchen. She takes a seat on the kitchen table and I take the adjacent seat. Here goes nothing.
“What’s up?” She bluntly says, voice slightly cold towards me. Suddenly I felt unprepared. her
“I don’t actually know how to start.” I honestly say, my nerves getting the better of me.
She takes me in for a moment and her coldness drops. I can start to feel a warmth from her, for the first time since I have met her. I know Evelyn said something before we left, she said she wanted to help her to understand. Is that why she was here? Was she starting to see the bigger picture?
“How about you start from the beginning.” She calmly requests.
I have told Cassandra everything, from first visiting the Red Stone pack to check the medical facilities, to not feeling comfortable enough to leave Evelyn alone at first, to then never actually leaving. How Vicky accused us of having an affair and that I was the father to Evelyn’s child, which led to the explosive argument between Reuben, Evelyn and myself. Forcing us to flee. How Evelyn’s parents agreed for me to take her away to the lake house for a break, for us to return to find the pack attacked and her parent’s murdered.
She was sitting quietly, her hands together as she played with her thumbs. “Do you love her?” She asks and although it was an inevitable question that she would ask, I still wasn’t prepared.
“Yes, I love her.” I honestly reply because I feel as if Cassandra appreciates honesty. Even if it’s not what she wants to hear. She shifts, uncomfortable with my answer.
“She’s my best friend, my alpha…and the mother to my children. Because no matter what Cassandra I will always be a father figure to them. I can’t undo that so yes I do love her and I do love them.” Did I go too far? Maybe that was a bit more truthful than I should have been at this stage.
But I wasn’t one to play games. I was a doctor, I knew how special life was and how quickly it can change. Why waste time playing games, best to live life like every day is your last. She surprises me as she reaches over and grabs my hand.
“I know that and I wouldn’t try to stop that. It’s…. It’s just a lot to take in. Different to how I expected to find my mate. My mate already comes with a family that isn’t mine.” There is a sadness in her eyes that breaks my heart. “I know and I am sorry.”
“Never be sorry for being a good man Noah. You stepped up for her…” She stops looking at the closed front room door, but now lowering her voice.
“…when others didn’t.”
“So we can try?” My heart skips a beat, I didn’t want to get my hopes up but…
“Yes, we will take things slow but we can try.” She smiles softly at me and my heart feels a thousand times lighter.
