The Alpha: Claiming His Enemy's Daughter
Chapter 771: I NEED TO BE PUNISHED

Chapter 771: I NEED TO BE PUNISHED

After around ten minutes, Cane finally reached the top and when he finally came out from it, he found himself was in the attic and Iris was sitting on the corner.

The only light inside this attic came from the pale light of the moon out there, which filtered through the room from the small window, yet still, this place was too dark for Iris.

"Iris," Cane called her. He approached her carefully. He called her name several times until she lifted her head.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, her eyes were red because of crying so hard, but there was no sound came out of her mouth.

"Why are you here?" Cane asked gently. He caressed her head, but she flinched before finally she felt familiar with his touch and let him. "Let’s go back."

Iris shook her head, more tears fell from her beautiful eyes.

"I can’t..." she whispered hoarsely.

"Of course, you can. I am here to take you back." Cane was extremely gentle with her, it was a contrast of how cold he was in the past few days.

"I am bad. I need to be punished..."

Iris was punishing herself.

This attic was the place that Gerald used to use to punish her, for whatever things she did wrong in his eyes. This place was the source of her trauma.

However, Iris came here.

Her subconscious mind told her she had committed a grave crime, where she needed to punish herself because no one blamed her. The way Iris was thinking was very twisted, but this was her way to cope up with grief.

Iris blamed herself for what she had done, for losing her baby, for not being there and helped in time, for not giving birth to much healthier babies, for being alive when her babies died, for receiving the kindness from people around her.

Their kindness felt foreign. She should be punished for her crimes, but all she got was concerning look, they were worried for her when she deserved to be stoned to death.

Iris found myriad way to beat herself up, while on the surface, she was only an empty shell of herself, but inside her mind it was very loud. Her whole body was in so much pain.

At this point, someone should have whipped her to ease her mind from this contrition.

Her grief tasted like poison in her mouth.

Her grief overcome her trauma of the darkness, because she would always see one no matter how bright the place, she was in.

Cane hugged her even tighter. He said nothing, because there was no word that could reach her. He could only offer warmth as consolation, letting her know that he would always be there.

They stayed like that for almost two hours, making the people worried about them and when it was almost four hours they had gone, Ethan and Will came to look for them, afraid something bad happened to the two of them.

But, all they could see was the alpha hugged his mate tightly, protectively, while Iris had fallen asleep again.

They looked around and realized this was an attic.

Will returned and told Hanna about this, because they couldn’t bring the sleeping Iris through the small tunnel of the secret passageway. There was a possibility Iris found that secret tunnel when she was being locked inside, after all, it happened very often.

Hanna then opened the door from outside and Cane carried Iris in his arms. During the whole process there was no words were said. It was silent.

"All of you can leave." Cane laid Iris down on the bed and tucked her inside the blanket, while the rest of people left the room, giving time alone for their alpha and luna.

Once it was only the two of them, Cane climbed on the bed and laid down next to his mate as well, he hugged her and buried his face against her bosom, breathing in her scent, while hearing her steady heartbeat.

At the very least, he still had her...

At the very least, she was still alive, thus he still had reason to fight...

At the very least, this warmth still belonged to him...

Cane closed his eyes, he put everything that weighed him down behind for a while. He would fight back tomorrow, but right now, he needed some consolation and the only form he could get it was with his mate.

Cane hugged Iris a little bit tighter, as if he wanted to become one with her, didn’t leave any space between them, because he was afraid, she would slip through his fingers and he would find himself losing her.

He had lost so many things, he didn’t want to lose her too...

He listened to her soft breathing and heartbeat. He swore, once she stopped, he would rip his heart too. This life was not worth living...

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On the fourth day, Redmond was confidence he could control the former warrior of the Blue Moon pack. It was late a day from Cane told him, but they gained five thousand warriors under Redmond’s lead.

Though, it was very unpleasant for Howling Wolf pack warriors to work together with them, since there were a lot of bad blood between the two parties, but they gritted their teeth and mind their own business.

Thankfully, the knights acted as middlemen between the two pack warriors, knowing the history between them, therefore the two of them didn’t have many interactions with each other.

Nolan and Gallot were still alive when they dragged them behind the carriage on their way to the Riverside pack. The Serafim had fully recovered after she burned the flocks of crows in the Blue Moon pack and she needed to perform the same thing when they were in the Riverside pack.

Iris was still spending all of her time sleeping. Amee, Aliana and Hanna stayed with her all the time, they didn’t dare to let her out of their sight again, but after that night, she didn’t do anything, but sleep and sleep.

"Why the wound on her thigh has not healed yet?" Cane asked Grace one night on their way to Riverside pack. They needed to take some rest because they couldn’t proceed further without the Serafim.

Currently, Abby was resting inside her carriage after she destroyed another flock of crows.

"I will try to apply different medicine," Grace said. The wound on Iris’s tight was no longer bleeding, but it wouldn’t heal too. "I think because immune system is not good, so the wound is rather difficult to heal."

Cane nodded, with everything that was going on, it was not a surprise if her body became sickly like before.

A few hours later when they were about to depart, this time, Cane was talking with Lou. The conversation between them were exceptionally serious, even the merchant was not in the mood to be in his goofy side, as both of them talked in business like manner, Koda approached Cane, he demanded to talk with him after being ignored for days.

Lou glanced at him and then walked away, letting Cane to deal with this annoyance trash. His mood had been very down lately, even Nala and Sabian didn’t know what to do. It didn’t look like him at all.

"I have a way to take down Colter and get all the warriors of the Red Claw pack! You need to listen about this!" Koda hissed in low voice, he was afraid someone would hear what he said, because he could be marked as a traitor to talk about taking down his own alpha.

Meanwhile, it was not that Cane didn’t have a plan for Colter and Red Claw pack, but he chose to push Koda to take the action himself.

First, it would lessen the burden on his shoulder, second, whether his plan would work or not, the consequences would be on Koda to bear.

"Speak," Cane said coldly.

Only then, Koda looked relief, maybe he didn’t realize it yet, but Cane really played him well in his palm, he didn’t know how much he rallied on the alpha.

Cane crippled his ability to make his own decision and run his own plan. His method was very subtly, his opponent wouldn’t realize it until it was too late.

When they finally arrived at the Riverside pack, the first person, who dashed into through its gates was Redmond. He left them behind and disappeared in search of someone.

"Who do you think he is looking for?" Eron asked Dyne, they watched the red hair warriors disappeared from their sight.

"I think he is looking for that woman," Dyne replied, shrugging his shoulder. More and more people knew about the truth between Redmond and Sofia, since there was nothing to be hidden anymore.

"Nah, he must be looking for his son," Ethan chimed in, which startled Dyne and Eron because they didn’t expect to see the gamma.

Earlier, the Serafim managed to secure this place, but like usual, she needed time to recover before she could use her power again.

The crows actually didn’t attack them, they only flew above their head, they were no longer as aggressive as before and this was questionable. Cane talked about this with Lou before and the merchant would look into it.

Meanwhile, knowing the rescuer were here, all of the people immediately went out of their houses and cheered for their arrival, they chanted Cane’s name and the Serafim when they saw the holy knights and the Howling Wolf pack’s banner.

Even though the two people were nowhere to be seen.