When Kane still roamed in darkness, when he had not found Lucille, when he had no idea how he could keep fighting the beast craving for attention within him, he didn’t know anything about feelings, about the feeling of elation, happiness, jealousy or even pride.
But just a few days with his mate, with Lucille, he seemed to have experienced a multitude of emotions, and because he hadn’t seen them before, they seemed to have been magnified. Like now the pride that threatened to overwhelm him could fill up this room, could be enough in doses for everyone here. It was that great. He felt on top of the world. What brought him down was Lucille’s amusement.
‘I hope your pride won’t be a problem for me, old man.’
Kane huffed mentally. ‘You will call me that too?’
‘What do you want me to call you? My Kane.’
The pride reared its ugly head again, causing Lucille to shake her head, and alert the others that she had been silent communication with her lifemate.
“Kane, what is this, that the boy is saying?” Nathan asked, unbelief coating his voice. “You have been training him all this while?”
The same question resonated in the minds and eyes of the Ancients in the room.
Kane shrugged his shoulders. “I had been the one that had pushed him into that state after all. I just thought I should give him a helping hand. So…”
Kane clamped his mouth shut then, knowing that his next words would trigger curses toward himself from his family. How could he tell them that he had exchanged blood with a werewolf? Worse, a werewolf that had deflowered his prince’s daughter, and broken her heart all the same? Nathan might have a fit.
‘I don’t think he will, not like I am at least.’
Kane felt another special kind of dread. Lucille wasn’t happy with him.
‘Why did you keep this sensitive issue away from me? I had thought he allowed you into his room, but exchanging blood…? Kane, that’s crazy!’
Kane said nothing. This was the first time he was seeing and hearing Lucille angry. Outwardly, she was staring at him cooly like the others were, expecting answers; inwardly, she was a furious woman.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘It’s not about apologizing now. This means that Derek shares a mind path with you, and possibly the ancients. You think my father would be okay with that? Or Alpha Peter? You gave his son blood to drink. He would think you’re trying to convert him. As much as they have been welcoming, I don’t think they still understand the whole intricacies of being an ancient.’
Kane sighed, the balloon of pride deflating with every punch Lucille’s words gave. He would have taken permission from Nathan first. But then, Nathan hadn’t arrived.
‘You would have asked your twin then.’
Dobah.
Kane looked at his twin. He was amazed at the knowledge he saw in Dobah’s eyes. Dobah had known? It was confirmed when the latter sighed and turned to his mate who stared at him knowingly too. Dobah was leaving him to his fate.
“Kane…we are still waiting.” Nathan bit out sharply, already having an inkling of what Kane had done, but needing the fellow to say it.
Kane sighed, feeling the utmost emotion of sadness and shame. Lucille’s heart was pricked then. She could never be angry with her mate for a long time.
‘Just say it and get over it. Seeing Derek now, I would say it was worth it.”
Derek himself felt bad, for putting the ancient in trouble. He opened his mouth to make an apology but Kane was already talking, his hands clasping each other.
“As I mentioned before, I had pushed Derek into a serene contemplative state with my words. My words had been said to motivate him, whilst rebuking him. But, when he hadn’t left the room for almost half a day, I decided to check on him, especially as his mother’s worry got to me…”
Melvina sighed in satisfaction-it sounded like she was drooling over the handsome ancient. Peter huffed, and glared at Kane.
Kane couldn’t care less. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t aware of what was happening between the Alpha and his mate.
“At first, he hadn’t opened the door when I had knocked. And seeing that we are two different kinds, I couldn’t communicate with him through the mindpath. So, I turned into vapor, and entered the room from the little space between the door and the ground. When I solidified in the room, he was a mess. Things had been strewn around, and his bed was turned upside down. He was sleeping on the floor too. When I came close to him, I noticed that there were streaks of tears on his cheek.” Kane paused, unclasped his hands, and rubbed them on his laps as if to wipe off something from them.
“He is still a child, Nathan. By our kind’s standards, he is still a child. I felt compassion for the young man knowing that he regretted what he had done, knowing that he will regret it for the rest of his life. I needed to help him. I couldn’t leave the room like that. So, I woke him up, and talked to him about the training which is peculiar to our kind when a child becomes an adult.”
Kane didn’t think it was necessary to add that he had first kept the room in order with his magic, before waking up Derek. And when he had, Derek had screamed frightfully for a straight one minute before stopping-quite understandable because he had locked the door. Kane had laughed, especially when he saw the knowledge of his powers dawn on Derek’s face.
“That decision made, I knew I couldn’t keep entering into his room-his parents were bound to find out. I suggested the blood bond, and explained the advantages and disadvantages of that. Seeing that I had a mate already, he was exempted from the worst consequence-me turning to the undead, and coming after him. I then taught him how to close the mind paths if he didn’t want to hear me speak. He agreed to the terms and conditions.”