Zoe:
I had been standing outside the room, waiting for Walkin to co out and tell what had happened to Iris. I was not a child. I knew this was not how a first transition was supposed to go. She was a fucking oga, for fuck’s sake. Or was she?
I tried to question Walkin, but I could not get any information out of him, especially when I noticed how badly injured he was. It hurt to see.
He was trying so hard to make it seem like his pain was nothing and his duty was everything. He did not limp or admit he was hurting, but I knew he had to be. He was powerful as a royal beta, but he still had to feel pain.
So I stepped closer to get a better look at his wound, thinking I could bring him dicine if he did not want to shift and leave before Kash arrived.
That was when my husband arrived. The man who had been in my life for so long, yet lately I had begun to feel like he did not care for the way I cared for him.
I had given him my loyalty for years. I wanted a family with him, but his distance made question my choices and whether what we had was truly love. I did not even understand it myself. My head already hurt when he ca in yelling at us.
Walkin rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his waist, giving a look that seed to say, Look what I caused.
"Markus, what are you saying? He’s hurt, and I was checking on him," I said, my voice harsh. I would never cheat on him. Why would he think that?
"Really? Then what the fuck were you doing standing so close to him?" Markus shot back, pointing at my attempt to check Walkin’s injuries.
I looked at Walkin and saw him give a small shake of his head as he buttoned his coat to hide the blood.
"You’re right. I was overstepping my boundaries," I admitted. When I looked back at Walkin, he was staring at in confusion.
"And why, may I ask, if I still have the authority?" Markus pressed, clearly upset.
I understood that for a husband it was a sensitive issue, but if Markus truly thought I would cheat, I would have done it while he was gone. That happened often. He would leave for weeks, sotis months. He only seed to rember when he was in the mansion. Otherwise, he barely asked what I was doing.
"I just wanted to see if you still felt anything," I lied, watching Walkin shake his head in disbelief. I could not stand up to Markus.
"Don’t you also go around dancing and partying, Markus?" Walkin finally said what I should have said.
I shot Walkin a hard look to silence him.
"That is between and my husband. Please leave us alone."
The mont I said that, Walkin looked at , grunted, and walked away. It was clear he did not like that I defended Markus. He looked hurt.
"What is going on with him? Is there sothing I should be worried about?" Markus asked, still suspicious.
"Markus, please, it was nothing. We were just talking. You ca in and made it into sothing else," I said quietly. He only grunted in response.
"I just wanted to see if you would feel anything, because lately I have been feeling—" I started to explain, but I stopped when I saw he was already looking at his phone.
"Really? Seriously?" I asked.
He shoved his phone back into his pocket.
"What? You just told you were trying to be pathetic, so no, I’m not responding to that."
"By the way, what was going on? I heard so screaming coming from Iris’s room. Did you finally beat her to a pulp?" Markus asked.
The minute Markus asked that question, I felt guilt wash over . I had to look away to avoid making eye contact with him while responding.
"What the fuck, why would I beat her up? She is my brother’s mate and the mother of their children," I whispered.
The minute I finished talking, he started laughing, and it made turn to look at him again.
"Oh co on, I know how you don’t care about her. Before, it was you accidentally bumping into her, hurting her, pushing her. But I can tell that people like you who hold so many grudges eventually resort to physical altercations to the point that they kill the person they hate," Markus replied with a laugh.
I watched his face in silence and disbelief. And to be honest, I was the only one to bla for it. Was this how I always ca across? So pathetic and so full of hatred. I could not believe myself at that mont.
"So tell , what is the scoop?" he asked again, his eyes full of intrigue. He could not wait another minute to find out if sothing juicy had happened.
I honestly felt so guilty that I could not even form a full sentence.
"No! Nothing happened!" I almost shouted, as loud as I could, before straightening my posture when I noticed him lowering his eyes at . "She’s fine and everything is fine. You should worry about our future together," I added.
I watched him fix his hair in the mirror hanging in the hallway. Then he looked at with a disgusted expression on his face the mont I ntioned our future or the job. I could not be sure.
"You talk like Grandma sotis," he muttered, shaking his head and rolling his eyes at .
"I’m serious, Markus. My brother told you he secured you a job interview. Did you go?" I asked, watching him.
His mouth hung open as if he were in shock.
"Seriously, if your brother cared so much, instead of asking to go to an interview, he should have just secured a fucking job," Markus complained, shaking his head.
If there were soone else in his place, they would have been happy and grateful for my brother helping them. But lately, I had noticed that nothing was enough for Markus. He just seed to complain about everything, about every opportunity prepared for him.
When things did not go his way, he would take his anger out on in different ways, either by avoiding to get on my nerves or by ntioning that he did not want a child, which he knew would hurt .
"And are we seriously going to talk about this job right now? I did not co here to be reminded that you think I am useless," he hissed, rolling his eyes and looking upset that I wanted our relationship to move forward by him getting a job so we could plan for a child.
"Markus, if you won’t get a job, how will we—"
I stopped mid-sentence when I noticed I had lost his interest.
"Blah, blah, blah. I’m not listening to you," he said.
With that, he stepped away, leaving standing there, feeling small and unimportant.
"Zoe, co over here and tell what is going on." My mother’s voice ca from the living room.
For a mont, I thought about telling her everything about Iris and her first transition. I paced down the hallway, walking quickly toward her. She was sitting on the couch with Amy and Colin.
I looked at the two children. They both looked worried about their mother. Then Walkin’s words ca back to . Should I tell my mother? If I did, it would be over.
She would open the door, go inside, check on Iris, and learn the truth. And then what? Her children would suffer with their mother.
Even if I kept them with , they would never forget that I was the one who exposed her.
"What is it?" my mother asked, pulling from my thoughts.
I looked down, rembering how much Markus’s words had hurt . This must have been how Iris felt before. Maybe worse, because we had given her such a hard ti.
I walked around the table and sat on the couch across from my mother. I covered my face with my hands and rested my elbows on my knees.
"Zoe, what is going on? Tell ," my mother insisted.
I lowered my hands and looked at her in silence. Then I straightened my posture and placed my hands on my knees.
"Iris had her first transition, but she was having trouble. So Walkin gave her wolfsbane," I said slowly. I paused when I saw my mother staring at for too long. "Then she fell asleep."
I chose not to tell her anything else. This was the first ti I had thought differently about Iris, especially after she had given advice that helped stay in the mansion when she could have easily asked to leave with Markus.
"Is that all?" my mother asked, gently running her hand through Amy’s hair.
"Yeah, that’s all," I lied, looking away as I straightened my posture.
"Okay, kids, since your mother is sleeping, we will not go to the door to bother her, okay?" I said, shifting my attention from my mother to the children.
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