19- Whispers Beneath the Moonlight
POV Lunara Grimwald:
Telling her the truth, even the smallest part, would put my sister’s safety at risk. I would never do anything that could harm this pack. I was loyal to my kind, even though most of them didn’t deserve such a gesture.
She squeezed her eyes shut, exhaling a tired breath.
"I’ll decide to trust you, then… just, please, don’t be a traitor. Don’t make me regret this vow."
Anger heated my chest, spreading through my veins.
"Believe me, Lyris, I may be many things in this life, but a traitor isn’t one of them," I hissed, unable to contain my irritation.
"Alright. I just… I’d hate to witness what Edric would do to you."
My heart started beating faster.
"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to sound calmer than I really was.
"Temperament isn’t exactly his strong suit. Edric is a hot-tempered male and very loyal to our pack. He may not be able to kill you, but that doesn’t mean he would make things easy for you."
"Then it’s a good thing I’m not a traitor, isn’t it?"
Learning about his temper didn’t make me feel any calmer. Alessio was a fucking psychopathic bastard, who would keep hunting me until he got his hands on me, just to taste revenge. While Edric was a proud asshole who wouldn’t rest if I tried to leave, only to feed his inflated ego.
Elowen and I would have many problems from now on. So many that I couldn’t even measure.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Lyris pulled out the device and read the notification before turning back to me.
"Nicoleta managed to get some new clothes for you. Shall we take a look and see what will fit?"
I stared at the phone in her hands, blaming myself for not having stolen one since I had gotten free with my sister. A cell phone would help with our communication. A lot.
She noticed my interest and hesitated before asking:
"Do you want to borrow it?"
I shook my head, snapping out of my daze.
"I don’t know how to use it."
Her eyes widened, and she gasped.
"You’ve never had a cell phone?" she asked, perplexed.
"My father didn’t allow me," I revealed. "But he had one, so I know the basics of how they work."
"Your father died? It’s just… you speak of him in the past tense..."
"Yes," I confirmed, running a hand through my hair.
I didn’t trust Lyris, but the information about my father was so… shallow, that at least this much I could share.
"I can talk to Edric about getting you a cell phone..." she commented, as she walked off the mound of earth, studying the path.
"It’s not necessary."
"And why not? Everyone in Eldoria has a cell phone. You’re part of our pack now, too."
"Because I wouldn’t have anyone to call," I confessed, feeling my heart tighten.
Without Elowen, I had no one else in the world. And my sister understood about as much about cell phones as I did, which was next to nothing. Why would I want one if I had no one to talk to? Wasn’t that the biggest advantage of having a device like that?
She extended her hand, offering to help me down to the flat ground. I hesitated for a second. A short second. Before I touched her hand and jumped, landing on my feet.
After everything that had happened, I had a huge problem trusting people—whether in words or in gestures.
"You can talk to me," she said, after a while of walking in silence.
"What?" I asked, blinking in confusion. She shook the cell phone in her hand and smiled at me.
"You can talk to me on the phone. If you didn’t have anyone before, now you do," she explained and quickened her pace, walking ahead of me.
I was left speechless for a moment, analyzing her carefree attitude.
"Thank you," I whispered, clearing my throat to steady my shaky voice.
All Lyris wanted to offer me was friendship. And I would love for things to happen under different circumstances, for me to be who I was in the past. But that wasn’t me anymore. And as much as her gesture had touched me, I still couldn’t trust.
Almost all the clothes Nicoleta had brought fit me. And after months of wearing stolen garments from clotheslines, I finally had new pieces to wear and call my own.
Elowen loved clothes, she adored dressing well, so I had already set aside the ones I thought she would like most to take with me when I escaped. I would give them all to my sister as a gift as soon as we reunited.
I tightened the sides of my bathrobe firmly as a gust of wind hit me. I shivered, but the icy breeze was welcome against my feverish body.
Not taking the heat-suppressing herb capsules was both a smart and painful idea. My body still begged for sex, every damn second. And I couldn’t get Edric out of my head, no matter how hard I tried.
Besides, I feared that my scent would grow too strong inside the house and he would notice that I hadn’t taken the suppressant.
I slid my feet, covered by soft slippers, along the stone path. The moon shone in the sky, bathing Edric’s mansion gardens with its silvery light.
I lowered my eyes to the fire pit, dirty with the remains of burnt wood. There was no heat emanating from it as there had been last night.