Chapter 2: Dear Sister

Cyran POV

Such a wonderful dream with Naomi warm and willing and covering him. 

Waking up, however, to reality felt like plunging into the ice-cold waters of the lake outside. My God. He’d been … he’d been …

As selfish as everyone thought he was, he wouldn't take advantage of a vulnerable young woman whom he’d led SO far astray she could have died in a religious war neither one of them understood.

He buried his head in his hands until a sob brought him out of his self-pity. “Naomi? I’m sorry.”

She rolled over and sat up. “Sorry! That’s all you have to say for yourself, Cyran Sinsworth, Golden Boy? After my own personal honor as a Crimsontail was ripped to shreds and then now my dignity?”

Her beautiful face crumpled and her eyes, a paler violet than Lilia Cresta’s, glittered with pride. 

She went on, gathering a full head of steam and her eyes turning red with tinges of violet still. “Excuse me for even caring about you. You’re the one who … And I’m the one that decided to kiss you …”

“I was asleep from witch healing, so I’ll take your word for it.”

An asinine joke, and he cringed when he heard the words coming out of his mouth.

Naomi growled low. “I wish I didn’t care about you! Idiot.”

Full of wounded ego, she sprang from the bed, showing him a trim view of her rounded backside that he remembered all too well. Remembered the feel of it in his hands. Her long raven hair swirled around her copper-skinned face and she walked with pride to the door.

He leapt up. “Naomi, WAIT. Please.”

“Wait? Wait for what?”

He sighed. “I don’t know. Moon Goddess knows you shouldn’t be anywhere near me.”

“That’s not true.”

He stared at her with longing. “God, you’re still sweet and giving.” 

He turned away so he wouldn’t be tempted to jump up and take her in his arms.

“I should leave before anyone sees me,” she mumbled and slipped out of the room.

Cyran stared after Naomi, inhaling her scent, which smelled like cool, crisp mountain air. He was surprised she wanted anything to do with him. That anyone in this pack would even speak to him again. Naomi was better off disliking him, but the expression in her eyes said she didn’t, even with her fur in a twist. He should have stoked her hatred of him. He should have rejected her soundly, laughed at her so she couldn’t stand the sight of him.

He’d thrown away his place in his pack, spit on the people he swore to protect, and turned his back on his family. And as for his parents’ legacy … Jiro Cresta was fulfilling that along with Garnet.

He’d done that to himself and everyone who meant anything to him. For what? The witches couldn’t answer that question. They were as mystified as he was, which made him respect them more. 

Thinking about it was unbearable, and so painful he didn’t know how he could go on, but he’d fought too hard to give up now. 

Besides, he had a duty to return home and make amends.

But he covered his face with a pillow and didn’t feel ready to face the world. He stayed there for a while. Before he knew it, the pillow was yanked from his eyes and he blinked in the brilliant sunlight that created a halo around his sister Garnet’s face. 

Her hair, mostly identical to his in color, draped over her shoulder in a long, stylish braid. Her fine features matched his, and so did her eyes. She looked worried but far, far more peaceful than since their parents died. For that, he credited her mate and Cyran’s own healing, in that order.

“Good morning, brother,” she said in her gentle voice as if he hadn’t nearly destroyed their pack. As if the last few months were nothing more than a nightmare and he was still Alpha.

Although he knew he didn’t deserve to be Alpha, and it was d*mn lucky someone else had stepped into the role.

“Answer a strange question for me,” he said. “The last few months weren’t some deranged nightmare, were they?”

“They were the stuff of nightmares, but they were very real. Now, I brought you breakfast, because I doubt you want to face Jiro on an empty stomach.”

Or any time, he thought. He was NOT looking forward to meeting with his brother-in-law this morning, but he wouldn’t miss it for anything.

Jiro would decide his fate, or at least give him an audience so he could throw himself on his former adversary’s mercy and ask for a second chance. 

“Am I late for that?”

“No. I just thought you might like a little extra time the morning before you see him. Eat, wash up, and we’ll go downstairs.”

Cyran got up and walked over to a table in the room that held a covered breakfast tray.

Garnet talked on. “The witches gave Jiro a copy of the diet they prescribed. You’ll be following it until he and they say otherwise.”

“Fine.”

He still had a picture in his mind of Jiro Cresta, hair sticking out every which way from all the energies surging in the temple, holding out a stuffed purple howler as a peace offering. Given the man’s resting lethal face, he could have killed Cyran at any moment, slit his throat or ripped it out. He’d done that to Cyran’s man Dragomir, a complete pile of offal if there ever was one. Dragomir deserved his fate, and so did Cyran.

Moon Goddess knew what Jiro would do with Cyran’s fate in his hands. Even with his obvious love for Garnet as a check on him, Jiro seemed like the sort of man who would come down harshly on Cyran’s past behavior. Maybe even worse than Dane Cresta. 

“Is Dane here?”

“He’s in Evenhide lands.”

Cyran uncovered the dish and grimaced at the bowl of plain porridge and fruit. All completely bland with lots of fiber. No greasy foods, no added sugar, no added anything. Herbal tea and water and vegetable or low-sugar fruit juice to drink. 

He ventured, “And Lilia?”

His hands shook as he reached for a glass of vegetable juice. The thought of standing before Jiro and answering for what he’d done made him want to run away like a rogue. But his wolf snarled at him to take his medicine and stop whining like a spoiled pup.

Garnet reached out and steadied his hand. “She’s here with some of the witches, and she’ll see you eventually. She has to get back to Evenhide, though … Dane wants her home because she’s heavy with child. Twins, actually.”

Cyran blinked. “Twins?”

His own arrogant words to Lilia months ago came back to bite him viciously: “Dane Cresta won’t even be a distant memory when I’m finished with you the first time. And I’m going to put my pup in your belly right away.”

With a groan and a growl, he said, “I need to make things right with her, if she’ll let me. The witches said that the choice of whether or not to forgive me was hers.”

He drank his juice in a few swallows, which made his insides churn and his head spin. That stuff was potent and pure. Then, he spooned bland porridge and even blander fruit into his mouth. He assumed, knowing their housekeeper Sarina, that she’d picked the least sugary fruits she could find. 

Garnet sat across from him with a gentle smile. “It is her choice, and it’s Jiro’s choice and Dane’s choice.  Just like deciding to forgive you is mine. And I have, Cyran. After everything that Patch, Dirge, and Anneliese told me, and Tulaska too, and after you stood up to Hades and defended my mate, I’ve forgiven you.”

And like a little boy, Cyran wept, holding her hands and kissing them, whispering thank-yous over and over until he was hoarse.

He vividly remembered being healed at the Shrine of Lost Hopes thanks to Patch Cresta, his brother-in-law, and Anneliese Cresta, Patch’s witch mate, as well as Evenhide Wise Woman Tulaska Volkov, Patch’s brother Dirge, and a bunch of orc mystics and mages … oh, and he’d had to grovel with his tail between his legs before his former ally Prince Makhel of the Orc Kingdom of Nauru. The man whose friendship he’d also tossed aside.

“Did I REALLY throw you at Makhel? Moon Goddess!”

Garnet held his hands. “You did. He still assisted in your healing. Cyran … you and I knew that the downpour of memories was going to last for days. Eat your breakfast.”

Cyran rubbed his clean-shaven chin. “I better. I don’t want to keep HIM waiting.”

He didn’t mean Makhel, oh no.

He still couldn’t bring himself to call Jiro “Alpha” until he needed to because of protocol. But he needed to. He had to, for his own sake, so Hades didn’t sink his claws into Cyran’s heart again.

“The Alpha’s time is valuable,” he added hastily.

There. He’d said it.

Garnet squeezed his hands. “It was good of you to ask for an audience right away. That got his attention like nothing else.”

“I wasn’t going to cower like a pup who made a mess in the house,” he muttered.

“I hoped you’d say that. I’m not going to tell you it’ll be easy, but he’ll be fair. Just know that everything that comes from him comes from me too. It has to.”

Her hands were solid and real. Naomi’s kisses were real … he’d need to fix things with her later. So many people he needed to approach. Lilia, pregnant Lilia …

Garnet gasped and clenched her stomach.

“Am I upsetting you?”

“Do I look fragile?”

And there was the sister he remembered, rather than the one he’d bullied into submission. 

She rubbed her belly and the truth hit him like a hammer. 

“Am I … am I going to be an uncle?”

She smiled brilliantly. “I … I got pregnant right after your followers wounded us. Roslynn says it’s one baby, but given our family, I doubt it.”

Overcome once again, he knew in his heart that he had to build a new future so he could hold his nieces and nephews. And maybe, just maybe, build a future with Naomi …But no.

He’d endangered her repeatedly and just now he tried to seduce her … even if she’d been an enthusiastic participant. No, he couldn’t destroy her life any more than he already had.

His wolf, Pontus, who’d been silent until after his healing at the shrine, whined in disapproval. 

Cyran gasped anew. “My wolf … the Dark Goddess silenced my wolf.”

Garnet’s eyes filled with tears. “NO.”

Cyran growled, flinging the tray down. “Hades TOOK MY WOLF!”

His wolf. His family. His title and his good name. His Pack. Maybe even a chance with his mate. 

Her eyes burned with fury. “Not just that. He took EVERYTHING from you, Cyran. Everything that didn’t serve his dark agenda.”

Cyran cupped her face in his hands. “Except you.”

“I guess I wasn’t threatening at first.” She pointed to the floor. “Cyran … the tray.”

He obliged her by picking up the tray and dabbing at the spilled food on the floor, then laid the tray aside. “I think I should clean myself up before we go downstairs.”She came to him and kissed him on the forehead. “Just be honest with him. He’ll respect you more.”

“But will she?” he murmured without thinking about it.

Garnet’s eyes sharpened. “Lilia?”

“Well, yes, but I wasn’t thinking of her.”

“Oh. You’re talking about Naomi Tenebruso. Sweet girl.”

Fenrir’s guts, had he been that obvious? He ducked into the bathroom and shut the door before Garnet could ask him more questions.