The Alpha: Claiming His Enemy's Daughter
Chapter 312: CAN YOU PROMISE ME LIKE YOU PROMISE HIM?

Chapter 312: CAN YOU PROMISE ME LIKE YOU PROMISE HIM?

Iris woke up before Cane did and the first thing that hit her was the exhaustion. Her whole body was in bone crushing pain. She lifted her hands and saw her wrists were swollen red, she licked her lips and they stung.

Cane must have applied some salve to her lips at some point, which she didn’t remember when, because she could feel her lips were a little bit oily.

For a moment, Iris stared at her bruised wrists and remembered how Cane tried to stop her and pin her body down, so she would stop hurting herself. Tears welled up in her eyes, as she snuggled closer to him and out of instinct, he patted her back, while his eyes were still closed and this made her feel a little bit comfortable as she fell back asleep.

Outside, the sun had not risen yet, but the sky was getting lighter, chasing out the darkness of the night and when the sunlight finally spilled through the window on the sleeping couple on the bed, Cane opened his eyes and found his mate was still fast asleep. He checked on her briefly.

Cane didn’t look lethargic despite what had happened last night, but surely a hint of silent concern could be seen in his eyes. After all, he needed a good night’s sleep and being with Iris helped chase away all of his nightmares.

Cane pried himself out of her embrace, as he was about to get out of the bed, but the movement woke her up.

Iris opened her eyes abruptly when she felt Cane move away from her.

"Sleep a bit more," Cane said, as he caressed her cheek.

But instead, Iris sat down and started to pull at her hair nervously, as she watched Cane walk across the room and take something from the cabinet. There was a small green container in his hand when he walked back to the bed and sat down in front of her.

Gently, Cane took Iris’ hand and applied the salve to her bruised wrists. "You need to apply this every six hours," he said when Iris just stared at him blankly. After her wrists, Cane applied it on her lips, which made her wince. "Hold on."

"You know what happened," Iris said in a small voice, which made Cane halt, but then he acted as if it was nothing.

"Hm." He then added. "More or less." He could guess why Iris emotionally collapsed last night, but he didn’t know the details and he didn’t think he really needed her to tell him more. The severity of her breakdown had told him everything.

Iris moved away out of instinct, as she avoided Cane’s touch, it was not that she was disgusted by him, but it was because she loathed herself.

Cane dropped his hand and stared at her, watching how his mate was having a battle with herself. He waited for Iris to speak what was in her mind first.

It took so long for Iris to murmur something. "I can understand if I disgust you." She bit her lips, but then Cane extended his hand and pulled her lip from between her teeth.

"Don’t do it. We need to put salve on it again." Cane put some salve again on her lips, but said nothing.

Only then it crossed Iris’ mind how she had bitten down his hand, until it bled terribly. "Oh, your hand." She immediately reached out to grab his right hand, but she couldn’t remember which hand she had bitten, thus she checked his left hand too, but both hands were fine. "You were bleeding last night..."

"I heal faster than you," Cane simply said after Iris finished with her inspection and stared at him.

"I am sorry," she said. Tears welled up in her eyes. She felt the urge to apologize for anything, since those were the only words she was familiar with. She felt sorry for herself for letting something so horrendous happen, but then she was only a child, who craved a little bit of affection and attention. "I am sorry."

Iris wanted to apologize for what her father had done to Cane and his people, she wanted to apologize for causing him trouble, she wanted to apologize for being so disgusting...

She didn’t know why she felt this way, her emotions were all over the place and she couldn’t think straight.

She wanted to apologize for having the thought to hit her head very hard, so she could forget what had happened. She wanted to apologize for wanting to hurt herself. She wanted to apologize for being so pathetic.

But, most of all, she didn’t want to feel apologetic for the way she felt.

That was not her fault. What her father had done, the way her brother treated her and what Prince Kellan made her go through, none of those were her fault.

Everything came to her mind at once, even though they weren’t related to one another. Her mind was so crowded, yet Iris was very quiet.

On the other hand, Cane waited for her to talk more, as he wiped her tears, but when there was nothing she said, he tilted her head, so she could read what he was saying.

"Don’t feel sorry for what he did to you, be angry. It’s better for you to be angry than to feel sorry." Cane caressed her earlobe and Iris squirmed, she blinked her eyes and tears streamed down her face again. "Why would you disgust me for what happened, when what happened to me was not honorable either?"

"I hate him," Iris said, her voice trembling.

"As you should."

"Why would he do that to a child?"

Cane pulled Iris into his arms, as he patted her back and she cried her heart out, screaming out her grievances. It felt way better to let it all out.

Cane didn’t forget what he had done to her in the library either, it would take him the rest of his life to make amends for Iris, and he was more than willing to do it.

Iris cried for so long, while Cane patted her back. She was still crying when Hanna entered the bedroom to serve their breakfast. Tears pooled in her eyes to see how her missy looked so devastated, though she didn’t know the reason behind it.

However, she immediately rushed out of the bedroom because she knew the Alpha was there and he would take care of her.

Cane even skipped the morning court with the excuse Iris was sick and he needed to stay behind. The King would be furious that he put a woman above solving critical problems in the kingdom, but he wouldn’t be hostile toward Cane openly, since he needed him now as the Red Claw pack was starting to rebel.

Aside from the matters with Asturi Stem and the North, King Aeon wouldn’t want to lose more packs under his control or more magic stone mines for that matter. It would be a hard blow for his kingdom, especially its pocket money.

"Can you promise me the same thing you promised Ethan?" Iris asked when she finally stopped crying. Her eyes swollen red when she lifted her head.

"What is it?"

"Can you... unalive him?" Iris said with hesitation.

Cane chuckled. "You mean kill him?"