Chapter 26

Killian:

I walked out of the bathroom, already dressed, to find Eleanor entering the room with my cup of coffee. 

Having seen her fidgety state, I kept in mind to get dressed instead of walking out on her being naked or simply in my towel. The last thing that I wanted to do was scare her off. 

I smiled and cleared my throat, catching her attention and she blushed as she looked down at the mug, avoiding my eyes for a second.

“I didn’t realize that you were out of the bathroom, my apologies, Alpha.” She said, not looking up at me. I walked up to her and put my finger under her chin, raising her face so she would look at me and she blushed. 

“What did we agree on yesterday?” I asked, my touch gentle. Her eyes met mine and she chewed the inside of her mouth in an attempt to hide her smile. I chuckled and grabbed the mug, taking a sip from it before setting it on the dresser. 

She held the tray with one hand, holding it down as she looked at me while I opened my closet. “Did you get anything to eat?”

“Yes,” she said, giving me a quick nod. “I just came to bring you your coffee before I head off to start with cleaning the suite.”

I had to stay quiet for a few seconds, my mind racing with a number of thoughts before I chose not to confront her with what Liana had told me. Whatever she and Natasha spoke about, the woman barely got a few bites to eat, and she only ate anything when she saw that someone was looking at her. 

It was something that we were often careful to pay attention to. It often helped us ensure that there wasn’t anything that we didn’t know of. Be it a maid being pregnant or in trouble with someone. And normally, I knew that Liana would be the one taking care of them without getting back to me. However, when it came to Eleanor, it was a silent agreement between the two of us that I was the only one who took charge of anything going on with her.

“Well, I was thinking whether or not you would be willing to join me for breakfast today. You know, a little thank you after you took it upon yourself to tend to my hand last night.” I said, raising an eyebrow. Her eyes widened in surprise and her heart raced as I looked at her. “What do you think?”

Giving her the option would make her feel like she had a choice and that she wasn’t forced into this. And though I wasn’t going to force her into doing something that she didn’t want, I could tell that she was mistreated enough to not know that she was ever allowed to have a choice to begin with.

I just couldn’t help but want to know who hurt her as much as they did and what she did to deserve it. 

“I, won’t I get in trouble with Liana for this?” She asked, avoiding my eyes.

“The fact that you are respecting Liana’s word is something that I can’t help but admire,” I said, choosing to praise her. I knew that everything that I was going to tell her, especially considering that she was hurt and is my mate, was going to affect her. Therefore, I knew to thread my words carefully to ensure that she was able to feel the bond alongside her wolf, understanding what it meant. “But no, you are not going to get in trouble for doing something that I asked you to do. Needless to say, you are forgetting that I am still the pack’s Alpha.”

She blushed crimson and I smiled in assurance before she nodded.

“I’m guessing a few minutes wouldn’t hurt me too much,” she said and I chuckled. “Do you want me to call Natasha to come? You know, the two of us…?”

“Natasha is already informed not to come until she’s called,” I said, stopping her. I extended my hand to her and she frowned, hesitating as she tightened her grip around the tray. I kept my hand extended, my eyes gentle on her, letting her know that I wasn’t going to hurt her. 

It was a few seconds later that she chose to extend her hand and I smiled, taking it in mine before I took the tray from her. She blushed and I put the tray on the dresser beside the cup before leading her out of the bedroom. 

“I thought that we were going to have breakfast here?” She asked, her tone somewhat hesitant and I nodded.

“We are going to have it in the suite, but not the bedroom.” I said and she frowned in confusion as I led her to a backdoor that I had built. This was a door that took me to the one place that was secluded from everyone else’s reach. “Come on, I’ll show you,”

She blushed and I watched as she took a step down the stairs before I followed her. I closed the door behind me and smiled as the smell of flowers filled my nostrils. It pained me to know that this place was isolated and abandoned for a long while before I built my own suite within the estate, making sure to have it as part of my house.

I opened the door to the garden, and Eleanor’s eyes widened at the sight of flowers. Their scents all different from one another, just like how she liked it.

“What do you think?” I asked, my tone gentle as I let her hand go.

“What is this place?” She asked, seeming mesmerized by the sight before her eyes. 

“My sister’s garden, more specifically, was her garden.” I said, my chest aching at the fact that it’s been a long time, and yet, just mentioning her was still painful to me.

“I’m sorry,” she said, looking down at her feet and I smiled.

“You don’t need to be.” I said, looking at a rose bush that the two of us tended to before she was killed. “She died a warrior, and I know that wherever she is, she is proud of the woman that she was.”

“She must have loved red roses,” Eleanor said, looking around the garden. 

I ran my finger over a red rose, these were her least favorite roses, and yet, the most that seemed to grow around her garden. She never had it in her to pluck any of them out to the point that even taking a few to put in a vase was something that she was against.

“On the contrary,” I said and Eleanor frowned. “She used to hate them with everything that she had. The two of us didn’t even know how they grew everywhere. But she never had the heart to kill them, and I couldn’t do so, not wanting to ruin something that she meticulously took care of.”

The sound of hooves hitting the ground caught my attention and I knew that it was her horses taking their normal morning strolls. “Are those horses?”

Eleanor’s question took me off guard, especially since I knew that she seemed to be too timid to ask. “Yes, these are also hers. Though I don’t really ride them, I wanted to keep her memory alive through them.”

“That is very sweet of you,” she said, wrapping her arm around herself. “The two of you must have been very close,”

“We were,” I said, my chest aching at the memory of her being shot in the head in front of me. “Do you want to go and see them?”

“Am I allowed to?” She asked and I smiled.

“Only if we keep it a secret from Liana,” I said and she laughed, her laughter sounding like music to my ears, knowing that I was teasing her. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to them, then the two of us can get something to eat…”