Beastly

Chapter 45

I watched him silently as he ate the food on his lap, his small hands cutting up the pieces of meat into

small bites. His face occasionally lifted to smile at me and then went back down to focus on his food.

After he had shrunk down in size, I had managed to get a shocked Xander out of the room and used

food as an excuse. He had ordered Cole to get it and just then got a call that he was needed at the

border for something important. In irritation, he had ordered me not to go back in without him and

stalked away with horns sticking out of his forehead. Literally. All that was left was for him to destroy

and kill everything in his path for him to officially earn the title of the devil.

One to not listen, I had taken time to calm myself and when Cole returned with some food, I entered

back into the room with it and served it to Marcus. Now, we sat in silence as he ate and I tried not to let

the anxiety eat me up as I waited. Finally, he finished and dropped the plate on the bedside cabinet

before turning his full attention to me. A beautiful smile stretched on his face and for some reason, it

gave me comfort. My eyes glanced at his neck and I took note of how it had the imprint of Xander's

hand. Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

"Your hair is even wilder now." he said and subconsciously, my finger lifted to the scattered tendrils that

had been let loose when Xander pulled my hair tie "I remember how difficult it was to brush that out for

you."

"I can't imagine." I murmured, not knowing if I should tell him I didn't really remember it being wild. Most

of my memories of my hair were of it being dead and flat "So it's true then. You really are..."

"I am." he said simply as I trailed off. I pursed my lips together and instead of freaking out not, folded

my arms across my chest and gave him a heated look

"Where have you been?"

"Around. Mostly travelling and fulfilling duties that I have." Duties? What about me? I was so

unimportant he left me to fulfil duties only Lord knows who gave to him

"Why are you here?"

"Because..." he started "...it's time for you to begin your training."

"Wait, what..?" I paused, staring at his childish form "Could you please change back? I feel really

awkward speaking to you when you look this way." In less than 10 seconds, he reverted to his size, the

hospital gown no longer looking bogus on him "Thank you. Now, about this training?"

I spoke to him like I hadn't spent most of my childhood with him. It was like all those years I spent

mourning his supposed death and the fact that I was alone, were all falsehoods. What was the truth?

They usually say the truth sets you free, but it felt like the more I learnt, the more I would be tainted. It

would become difficult for me to believe anything people said, no matter how glaring the evidence was.

I just hoped whatever the truth was, wouldn't break my heart.

"I know you have a lot of things to say to me. A lot of things you want to ask me. I'm not going to beat

around the bush and I've tried to prepare myself for this moment for years. Before we begin, I just want

you to know that I never wanted to hurt you and I did my very best to protect you. You can hate me all

you want, but please don't turn me away."

It was funny how his words were almost like Xander's. Unlike Xander however, he wanted to lay

everything out in the open at once. Hopefully, he didn't want to hide anything from me.

"Why?" I asked quietly, my voice strong "Why did you leave me? I thought you were dead." His face

grew serious and his brows furrowed, something akin to regret swimming in his eyes

"I'll only be able to answer that if I start from the very top." he replied "You and I are special people

Avaline." It hit me like a ton of bricks as I sucked in a breath. Nobody had called me that name for

years. I had forgotten how the name was fondly used by my brother when I was a child

"I haven't heard that name in a while."

"Probably, but it is who you are still, isn't it?" Was I? I didn't believe so "I was born into this world to

protect you."

"You haven't actually done a good job of that, have you?" Although my voice was light, I'm sure he

could deduce that I was making a deliberate jab at him

"I tried my best, but ultimately, my best wasn't good enough. I'll regret it, yes, but I believe if fate didn't

deal us these cards, you'd have ended up in a more uncontrollable situation. Now, are you going to

keep attacking me or will you hear what I have to say?" My silence was all the confirmation he needed

and he nodded "Good. Let me begin..."

He proceeded to tell me how as a child, he had been tasked with taking care of me and that I was

meant to be kept safe until the day I would fulfil my destiny. He told me of how he acquired powers and

had used those powers to manipulate my memories into believing that he had gotten sick and died,

meanwhile he had just walked away from me when it got too dangerous to be together. He told me of

how, in detail, he was hunted down by an occultic group that sought to claim me and how he had spent

years in captivity before finally breaking free again. He told me of how he had let me go to fight life

alone simply because he wanted me to be kept alive and that when he had finally tracked me down, I

was already gone from the blue moon pack and had left a chaotic new Alpha madly searching for me.

He described how he had found out information about my unhealthy situation in the pack and how he

had spent the last few years in regret that he couldn't protect me the way he should have been doing.

When he found me again, I was in the process of getting my life back on track in Lansing and

described how beautiful he always found my dancing. I would have deemed him a liar if he didn't

correctly give accounts of things I had done and the people I had spent most of my time with.

"Why didn't you ever come out and say anything? Reach out to me?" I asked

He smiled ruefully "If I did, with everything that had happened and was happening then, you would

have cursed me to hell. I doubt you'd ever want to have anything to do with me. I was more content

watching you find yourself from the shadows, with people that loved you regardless, knowing what and

who you were. That's something I didn't want to spoil."

His legs swung over the bed and I saw his knuckles whiten at how tightly he gripped the edge. His face

didn't betray him, but his body language did.

"I had no right to come back into your life knowing what I had done. Knowing I wasn't able to live up to

my purpose. Just the thought of you hating me killed me inside. I'll admit, nothing scared me more than

watching you lose all the light in your eyes at the thought of me. It's better to have you love me in a lie,

than have you hate me."

The sincerity in his eyes shun so bright and I felt something twist in my chest. My vision suddenly got

blurry, my heart aching.

"Please don't cry." he said. I was crying? I was so into my thoughts that I hadn't noticed. My hand

raised to swipe at my face and sure enough, a glistening tear stared back at me "Come here"

The gentle coax and open arms were a welcoming enough reason to allow myself close to him. We

stood, our arms around each other as one of his hands stroked my hair gently.

"I can never bring myself to hate you." I said, squeezing him tighter "You should have been with me.

Why didn't you at least try?"

"I did." he replied, his hand pausing in my hair and continuing a moment later "On the night of your big

debut, I made sure to leave you flowers. It took me all the strength in my entire being to do that."

My mind flashed back to the bouquet of flowers that had been left in my dressing room on the night of

the show. The card...

Oh my, the card had the initial 'M'. My eyes lifted to his face and I met his eyes, the kind smile fixed on

his face.

"That was you?" I asked quietly, disbelieving

"You had always loved irises. I couldn't think of a more fitting gift for my princess." His finger lifted to

touch my forehead and it was like a jolt of energy surged through

The memories came crashing one after another, without hesitance and without giving me a moment to

relax. The childhood memories that seemed to be forgotten showed the both of us, laughing, crying

and everything siblings did. I clung harder unto him and began to sob. I sobbed so hard my head

began to ache and the fire in my belly throbbed hard, but I didn't feel the powers urge to explode. I

didn't know why I cried. I wasn't quite sure if I was relieved or I was finally letting all my sadness go.

He held me quietly and ran his fingers through my hair. Not saying a word.

I don't know why I cried so hard.

But I felt it then, that a missing part of me had returned and I was beginning to feel more complete.