Chapter 43

DEVON

I settled in bed after Lianna fell asleep, trying to carefully remove my arm from under her head, the brown strands spreading across the bed.

I couldn't help but stare at her face afterwards, her expression was one of complete peace, her pale body completely naked as she seemed to curl up and snuggle even more into those fluffy blankets that were soft and had... her scent—a sweet, floral scent.

Why did everything about her seem so... beautiful?

It seemed like a work of art.

"What are you thinking, Devon?" I ended up asking myself at some point, and to be completely honest? I didn't even know what I was thinking exactly, and I didn't know why... I had such a good feeling in my chest as I looked at that calm, delicate face.

And in that moment when I saved her? I didn't even think straight! I just felt my heart beating fast, my body moving on its own... and I didn't even consider the idea that it would be tiring or that the clothes would become—and they did—completely soaked, smelling like rotten saltwater.

I just wanted to save her in that moment.

I just wanted to fuck her earlier.

And now? Now I was here thinking about how beautiful she looked sleeping, and how she resembled those nymph paintings that my family owned; the delicate features being the same, almond-shaped eyes, plump and rosy lips, cheeks that turned red while I...

For the love of the goddess...

When did I become so senseless and illogical?

I should stop getting involved.

I should set a limit.

But even as I said that to myself, I found myself brushing a strand away from her face, and when I heard her mumble—and panicked slightly thinking I had woken her up—my heart skipped a beat, my face blushing for some stupid reason that seemed completely foolish.

She was messing with my head.

I really needed to get out of there.

"Yes, I need to get up, and... put this smelly thing so that I can at least make it to my ship to take a shower..." I said to myself, my hand pushing my hair back, my body resisting the desire to stay there, to avoid facing the cold world outside that bed, that blanket.

And when I finally managed to leave that unnecessarily long and large ship, I was faced with that completely destroyed island. Most of the trees were completely charred, the sand had black remnants of it all, and the little houses where humans stayed? I don't think I need to say how they were.

In pieces.

All that could be seen amidst it all was a large cloth that had been placed on the ground for humans to sleep on, thin blankets over their bodies, those malnourished bodies trembling from the cold wind.

"Poor souls..." I ended up thinking, and even an impulse to look for Emily—the human's sister—arose within me, but... I had never seen her.

My mind shouldn't even be going in that direction.

Seriously...

She really was driving me crazy.

CALEB

I stared at the papers on my desk, wondering if any of them could still be used, and if any of them still had any usefulness left, after what happened.

But most of them? Useless! They only had use before because things were going at the pace that I had predicted they would, but now? Now they had to go back to the damn drawer.

What had I done to deserve that shit? Did the goddess come out of the damn cave she had been hiding in for millennials just to punish me? Because it couldn't be possible.

And I still had to find a way to deal with the situation, and why? Because a damn massacre still wasn't an acceptable option, and I was also sure that... it wasn't the humans who had done it.

So... the other alternative was the werewolves, and they had more than enough reasons to do it, like for example... being inferior beings, and already having several insinuations that I should kill them off, and that they were useless and hard to maintain.

I had to find a way to keep those things under control, I had to find a way to... keep them away, to make them stop wanting to fuck up my workforce.

If not, they would be the ones to start working! And I wouldn't mind whipping those bastards if they continued with that shit!

But even so... I shouldn't jump to conclusions, should I? It could have been unintentional, an accident... just something in nature...

I didn't know anymore, I just wanted to somehow find a resolution for it all, to be able to solve everything once and for all.

But even after leaving my office, and even after asking one soldier after another if they saw what happened...

Nothing.

No one saw... anything.

"This has to be a joke..." I said as I ran my hand over my face, then threw my hair back as I returned to my office.

I scoffed.

I looked at the papers again.

I threw them all on the floor angrily, then slammed everything on the table, throwing all the reports and documents against the damn wall, feeling my blood boil, the vein on my forehead pulsating.

Did the goddess really hate me? Or were my soldiers blatantly lying to me?

Ah... I would kill the first person who came to talk to me, and I would take pleasure in tearing them apart, ending their life.

Or at least, that's what I thought, thought until I saw my door opening, those blond and extremely light hair invading my office along with that strong perfume, the unnecessarily flashy dress accompanying her.

Of course, Kalia Hanover.

She always... found a way to appear at the worst moments someone could want to see me.