543 A PEACEFUL NIGHT

Nala knew this merchant was a little bit... out of ordinary, but his sense of humor was something that she couldn't comprehend at all. His joke could be so dark and he would say it with straight face, which would make the other people thought he was serious with what he was saying.

"How can I take that as a joke? Who would makea joke like that?" Nala felt her heart was almost stopped beating.

"I would."

Nala took a deep breath and stared at the little bottle in Lou's hand, which he played between his fingers. "What is that?"

"Hair tonic," Lou replied nonchalantly, as heleaned his back against the pillow and raised the bottle in his hand, as the light from the luminous pearl glinted on it.

"Lou!"

"For your breasts. So, they will get bigger. Theyare too small for my liking."

"Lou!" Nala felt so embarrassed. No one had evertalked like that to her.

Finally, Lou shift ed his attention toward Nala and tilted his head, as he handed the bottle back to her hands. He looked lazy and bored. "This is for your scar. This is very expensive, so if you brokeit, I will send you to a brother to work there in order to pay me back. Don't throw it away again." 3

Nala looked so hurt with the way Lou threatened her, but it was not something that she couldn't endure. She had gone through worst and if she could say, the way she lived in the palace was no different from a brothel. The only different was; the men there were in high status, but their moral was on the same level like those men, who came to the brothel.

That was why, Nala was genuinely attracted to alpha Cane. Despite her mission from the king, she really wanted to know why the alpha didn't even take a second gl ance toward her or another woman.

However, when she heard alpha Cane had another woman pregnant, she started to think that man was not as loyal as she thought he would be. 2

"I don't want to wear that red cloak, I want theother red cloak," Lou said and then pushed the chess toward Nala, telling her to put it back to where she picked it up. "Don't make a noise, I want to sleep." 1

Lou turned his back against her and closed his eyes, still naked. His skin was so pale for a man, as if he had never been exposed to the sunlight for long time. Without the cloak, he was actually quite skinny for a man and had no muscle, sincehe was not a shifter and didn't use to a physical labor. 1

However, surprisingly, he was pretty strong despite his appearance, Nala couldn't even get away when he held both of her hands down by using only one hand.

"But, all of your cloaks are red," Nala said, yetthere was no answer. He must have fallen asleep.

Sighing, Nala took the chess and put it back to the table. It was so heavy! And then stared at the little bottle with ominous liquid, she opened the lid and smelled it.

She scrunched her nose because the smell was so strong and she was still suspicious this was a poison.

But then, Lou spoke casually. "That's not for you to drink, you need to apply it on your scar. Don't drink it if you don't want to die."

Now Nala was speechless. Why wouldn't he say it earlier? What if she had tasted it? This merchant was too much!

"Are you sleeping?" Sofia asked Redmond in smallvoice. It was in the middle of the night and she couldn't sleep, because she felt her back was killing her.

Before when it happened, Redmond would put hot to wel against her lower back and it helped,though his complain gave her a headache, but she thought she could endure his rambling.

"What do you want?" Redmond asked, he didn'teven open his eyes, as he turned his body to the other side. He was sleeping on the couch every night and refused to sleep on the same bed with Sofia when she suggested.

'I used to move around so much in my sleep, Idon't want to kill the baby if I hit and kick your stomach by a chance.'

That was what Redmond said while grumbling about how uncomfortable the co uch was.

"My back is in pain again, can you help me?" Sofiaasked, grimacing because she was having a hard time to do anything the bigger her stomach got. She got tired so easily and this was so frustrating. "Redmond..." she nudged his arm. "I can't reach my back..."

"Why are you so annoying?!" Redmond glowered,but he actually woke up and went to the kitchen to boil water. 1

Seeing that, Sofia bit her lip to prevent herself from smiling. She was still in denial that the baby in her stomach was not the alpha's but recently, she didn't object the idea that Redmond was the man, who slept with her that night. 2

This man was so harsh and every time he spoke, he was either grumbling or saying something annoying, but he would find a way to make herfelt better and help with this pregnancy, even though he found this troublesome.

Redmond was not an alpha and he was a mere warrior from the Blue Moon pack, but even in his worst, he was way nicer and more helpful than alpha Gallot.

Back in the Moon Dew pack, once the mistress was pregnant, the alpha would stop to visit them, since he couldn't get physical with them, alpha Gallot would only come when they gave birth. If it was a son, he would probably spend some time with the baby, but if it was a girl, he didn't care much, until they were five or six years old, where he could play father with them.

"Take off your dress," Redmond said harshly, ashe had a warm to wel in his hand.

"You can ask me nicely, you know." Sofia's smilefell, but she took off her dress in front of him, which made him groaned.

"Damn it! Why there is no brothel here?"Redmond grumbled. "You should ask Maria to sleep over and help you with this, I am not comfortable to see you naked."

"What? A naked pregnant woman makes youuncomfortable?" Sofia hated it when he mentioned about brothel.

"Because I am horny!" Redmond carped. 1

Because the pack didn't have brothel, he couldn'tvent out his frustration and Jace had been keeping his eyes on him whenever he tried to get one of the Howling Wolf pack women to his bed.

Redmond couldn't comprehend, how those men could stay celibate for long time. Was there something wrong with their mind?

"You killed Mason," Cane stated lightly, as hetraced his fingers mindlessly against her back.

Both of them were laying on the bed, savoring this moment without saying anything, but it was already enough. They found the contentment by only being so close with each other, as if their heart could be in peace no matter how chaotic the world would be tomorrow.

Iris didn't answer that, but she buried her face against his chest, feeling guilty for some reason.

"Did you kill him by killing his wolf spirit?" Fromwhat information Cane could gather from Grace. It was a sudden death. The external injuries were not the cause of it. It almost like he simply met his demise naturally.

Iris still didn't say anything, she curled her body, as if by doing so, Cane wouldn't notice her there, but her silence was a solid answer for Cane.

However, when Cane didn't say anything anymore, Iris lifted her head and stared at him. "Are you upset that I killed him?"

Cane shook his head. "Wh v would I?""You keep him alive..." Iris thought, there was areason why Cane kept Mason alive, probably there was a secret or some question that he wanted to ask to him, but she ruined it. 1

"I keep him alive because I don't want him tohave an easy death. I hope you made his death so painful. Death is an easy way out for someone like him," Cane said truthfully. 1

Iris thought about that for a while. "I wish I didn't kill him right away..." she muttered under her breath and this made Cane chuckled. "What is it?"

"I have never thought that I will have a discussionabout killing someone with you one day." Cane pulled Iris closer, as if he wanted to be one with her. "I can't even say this is a progress." 2

"Is it bothering you that I killed someone?" Iriskilled Jemma indirectly by letting Will to deliver the punishment, but with Mason it was different. She killed him with her own hands.

"No." Cane stared into her deep blue eyes. Shelooked worried with the way he perceived her. "I am glad you can make your own call and it doesn't bother you as much." 2

As much as Cane wanted Iris to stay pure and naïve, he knew it wouldn't do any good for them in the long run. In a way, he felt like he had corrupted her.Cane... actually..." Iris tried to find the right words to tell him about her feeling. "I felt a little bit of... satisfaction when I killed him. I feel liberated... Is it normal for me to feel this way? I was even thinking of doing something horrendous to Kellan," Iris admitted it shamefully.