25. Wounds

Evelyn aided her friend as he explored the wonders of the garden and she couldn't help but snigger moment after another as his eyes would go round and sparkly because he'd abruptly reminisced a piece of his past and then told her about it.

It was both amusing and heart melting to see Lucas grin wide and join her in her giggles. She thought it almost impossible for a man so bulky like him to be getting along with her and giggling like teenage girls sharing a deep secret. But perhaps his that behavior was the one that so attracted her towards him.

At first Lucas had struggled to stand up on his feet in the room. His leg had been brutally torn apart and then stitched together. The sight of his bare upper and lower thighs covered in so many werewolf claws marks and bites was horrifying and nearly made Evelyn flinch with fear.

She wasn't this soft and fragile back home, she was used to witnessing such deep and brutal wounds but his told an entirely different tale, a cruel and rebellious one. There could've been no melting romance or a warm happy ending and yet Evelyn was hell-bent on putting those pieces together.

At last after much persuading Lucas had finally accepted her offer and decided to walk around the garden a little. She'd thought the natural wind and a captivating vista with a bit of exercise would favor Lucas's health so she did her best to make him use his jammed feet. At first she'd been scared that he would fail and fall back but Moon Goddess responded to her prayers soon enough as he dawdled around clumsily but with a hand around her shoulder for instant support.

Despite schooling in a human world, Evelyn was always intrigued with the matters concerning werewolves and due to her awesome healer abilities, she had gotten a chance to stay close, observe and learn a lot of things from their pack doctor. She even had done a course of two years before William thought she was too dumb to be deserving of such high quality degree. That man nearly made it impossible for her to breathe in his house.

But now that she was here, she decided to ask Michael if she could finish her three years course—of course their pack would have such facilities if they required a gamma for proper management.

"It feels so good to be breathing out here." Lucas inhaled noisily, filling his lungs with every amount of the sweet scented breath around him. It was hilarious to watch his expressions switch freely before her, like he wasn't bound to hide them.

Evelyn sighed, thinking if only Michael could be so relaxed around her. She wished it was easier to talk and connect with him just like it was with Lucas and share her mind without being intimidated.

"What's on your mind child?" Lucas's feet came to a halt and it was Evelyn's clue for letting him rest henceforth.

She slowly perched him on the ground, keeping his healing wounds in mind and took a seat beside him. She disputed internally where to start from, she had so many unanswered quizzes and doubts, but it was disrespectful and prying to flip through the pages of someone else's past and yet she couldn't but find a strange joy in it, thrill to know more about her other half, her mate.

"Do you know about the previous luna of this pack?" Evelyn asked and within a fraction of second, the playfulness was gone from his face. His face had gone pallor in comparison with a vampire's and she regretted her words as soon as they passed her lips.

She shifted uncomfortably under his shocked, angered and what she felt a scrutinizing gaze. She decided to wave that question off akin to a bad memory although before she had the heart to even switch the topic, Lucas spoke up.

"She was a lovely mate, a hardworking woman, a caring mother and a responsible luna. She was born to rule, it was in her blood." Lucas spoke of her in the same honoring tone as if her mere thought had made his cheat widen with pride. And it should've been quite a usual thing since she was his luna though Evelyn couldn't help but feel disenchanted.

Noticing Evelyn's hesitance and monotonous look towards his words, he suspected something was wrong with her. "If seems as though you're interested in acquiring some other knowledge." Lucas slowly tilted his head as he peeked at her with mere curiosity.

Evelyn's heart thumped uneven beats inside her chest and her heightened hearing could perceive her nervousness. It was true she was keen on gaining some other knowledge about her—Michael had drawn a vast line of her unblemished personality already.

"I-I w-want to know how s-she d-died." Evelyn fumbled humorously with her fingertips perched on her lap, avoiding eye-contact with him for the time being.

She had expected a wild eruption of growl or snarl but nothing bombed on her slight features. Suspecting the awful quiet environment, she decided to sneak a peek of the priceless look on his face and much to her surprise and disillusionment he was staring down at her with an intrigued and puzzled expression.

He scrunched his brows in puzzlement before replying, "In the war between the two packs ten years ago, she was taken and killed by William and the alpha of the Moonstone pack followed shortly after. Their heir was about to turn fifteen in the next few days." Anguish and hatred dawned on him but it was difficult to precise who it was meant for. His eyes looked vexed and tired from some sickening realization but he shook them away.

"Tell me . . . about the current alpha. How he works and handles his pack." His eyes beamed with so much hope and excitement that Evelyn's heart almost tore at the sight of him. He'd been caged in a room for all these years that he'd surely be keen to learn about his pack.

"I can't tell you much since I arrived only two days ago but as far as I've heard, Michael is the most dominating and feared alpha out there. I can assure you that he's no longer the teenage boy he used to be but he's a grown man now." Evelyn felt the mood around them lighten and fill with glee as a smile crept up to her face at his mention. Selene was already head over heels for him.

"He's surrounded by trustworthy people who'd sacrifice their lives for him just at the snap of fingers and not because he's their alpha but because they're his friends. He's . . . intimidating but I think once you get to know him, he's much more than an arrogant alpha." That earned her a chuckle from Lucas.

"You seem to have known him too well in just two days." He was still chuckling as her cheeks burned and she blushed hard in front of him. It was still out of her sanity how she could get closed to someone as old as him. Talking to him felt like as if she was conversing with a father, a father who had no responsibilities apart from taking care of her.

She smiled at that thought.

"I feel bad for him." Evelyn confessed staring down at her lap. "I feel sorry for everything he'd to go through, he was so young and—"

"I know." Lucas's hand brushed lightly on her cheek, giving her a strange comfort and tingles like the ones she got usually at Michael's skin to skin interaction with her. Her words were cut off short as he whispered just as much guiltily.

She was confused. Evelyn was the daughter of the man who took everything away from Michael so she had a reason to be held guilty for but him . . . what could've he done? He didn't sound like he was merely sympathetic, he sounded liable.

"What do you—" Evelyn's voice was cut off short at the call from a distance. She recognized that voice immediately and felt cautious now with him breathing the same air as Lucas and her.

"Dad!" Her head snapped back at where he was standing on his wobbly feet. It was not possible to form the intact expression on his face in that distance but for someone like him, he surely looked baffled.

'Wait! What did he say?' Selene questioned and Evelyn appeared just as astounded as her.