The Alpha: Claiming His Enemy's Daughter
Chapter 311: A LONG AND EXHAUSTED NIGHT

Chapter 311: A LONG AND EXHAUSTED NIGHT

At this point, Iris was too exhausted to even put up a fight. She was completely numb to everything that was happening around her. However, slowly but surely, she felt Cane’s presence. His scent soothed her nerves bit by bit and the spark between them when his skin touched hers made her feel less agitated.

The mate bond really worked wonders.

On the other hand, Cane was unsure as to how to proceed from here, since he didn’t think it was a good idea for him to be the one to bathe her. Not because he didn’t want to, but because Iris probably couldn’t take it.

"I will call Hanna over to help you." Cane put Iris down on the edge of the tub, so she could sit there while he called for Hanna, yet when his mate realized he was about to leave, she clung to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in the crook of his shoulder. "You need to clean yourself."

However, Cane stopped short with his explanation, because he knew Iris couldn’t hear him. He let her hug himself as long as she needed, while he caressed her back lightly. Her sweet scent was mixed with the smell of his blood and the stench of her vomit.

Anyone else would find this disgusting, especially those shifters, who had keen senses, yet Cane didn’t even flinch, nor did he furrow his brows to show his disgust. He treated this as if it was nothing.

Iris was still his mate, no matter how wretched she looked like right now. There was nothing about her that could make him loathe her.

It took a long time for Iris to finally loosen her arms around his neck and Cane could finally talk to her.

"You need to get cleaned," Cane said. "I will call Hanna to help."

Iris shook her head. Hanna would cry if she saw her like this and it wouldn’t help her feel any better. She would feel so bad to make her worried, moreover, she didn’t want her to know what had happened.

Iris was still unsure how Cane connected the dots, but he must have guessed everything by now, knowing how clear sighted he was.

It was still unnerving how she could forget all those horrendous moments, but even more so, how she remembered everything now.

Cane put his finger under her chin, so she could read what he was going to say. "You will be more comfortable with her."

Yet, Iris shook her head again.

Cane looked at her face and pulled the string behind her dress, which loosened her dress a little bit and Iris flinched.

"Let’s take off just the outer dress."

Her outer dress was so dirty, so was her hair, thus she needed to take it off before she sank into the tub.

Cane helped her to get out of her dress, this time he didn’t make any aggressive moves such as ripping off the fabric just because it was too complicated for him. He was extra attentive and patient with her.

Once the dress was already taken care of, it left Iris standing in her undergarments, but because Iris was already struggling to get off her outer dress and her undergarments were fine, Cane helped her to dip into the tub in them, so she actually wouldn’t feel naked and even more vulnerable.

Cane dropped more hot stones into the water, because it was already slightly cold.

The stones could warm the water almost in a second, since they were stones that had been infused with magic. After all, this was winter, it wouldn’t be efficient to boil buckets and buckets of water to bathe, since the water would turn cold so fast and it took longer time for the water to reach the boiling point.

Cane then took it upon himself to rinse her hair and washed it clean. Because Iris’ hair was so long and thick, it would take time for him to really wash it thoroughly.

On the other hand, Iris leaned back and rested her head on the edge of the tub, while staring mindlessly at a point on the ceiling above her.

After her breakdown, she felt so exhausted and because it was just Cane, somehow she didn’t feel uncomfortable in his presence. She let him take care of her, because right now, she was not in her right mind to do so.

She could feel how hard Cane tried to figure out how to disentangle the knots in her hair.

It was completely unheard of for a man to do so much for a woman, especially an influential figure like him. He was an alpha for two packs and the woman before him was the daughter of the very person who had put him and his people through misery for a decade. She was the daughter of the very person who had killed all of his family, his mate, his unborn child, his twin siblings, and someone who was responsible for many deaths.

However, he treated her exceptionally. Not even once did he lose his patience with her.

Once Cane was done, he got a clean towel to wrap her body with and asked someone to clean up the room before he brought her back to a clean bed. Sweet scent emanated from the incense that was kindled in the corner of the room to mask the bloody and putrid smell.

Cane dried Iris’ body and brought a new dress for her.

"Take off your wet dress and put this on," Cane said, as he handed the dress and turned around. He didn’t leave, as he could hear how Iris slowly took off her wet undergarments and wore the dry dress.

But all of a sudden, he felt her hugging him from behind. Her arms circled his waist and her face pressed against his back. She was sobbing silently and Cane said nothing, aside from patting her arms, waiting for her to be calm enough so that they could return to their bed and take some rest before the sun came.

The whole ordeal lasted hours and when they finally went to lie down on the bed, it was already past midnight and both of them were extremely exhausted, both mentally and physically.

Before lying down, Cane took some time to dry her hair, so she wouldn’t get sick again, while Iris ate a few spoons of porridge that Hanna brought into the room.

The maid left them alone, but this time, she was not worried because the Alpha was really taking care of her missy and there was nothing she was more grateful for.

She could see how gentle Cane was when he dried Iris’ hair with a towel, as if he had done it a few times. Indeed, Cane had done it before and he only served his mate this intimately.

When everything was done and the night became deeper, they laid their heads on the bed and fell asleep. After all, the day was so tiring and the night was exhausting.

Iris snuggled closer to her mate, wanting to feel more comfort from him, while Cane held her close to him.

Iris’ lips were covered in a few scratches because she managed to hurt herself before Cane could stop her. There were also glaring bruises on her wrists.

But, everything would be fine. They hoped everything would be fine...