Free Web NovelChapter 150: Piggy Back Confessions
The victorious howls finally faded, leaving only the rustle of leaves and the heavy silence that always followed pack justice.
Derek started walking into the woods. The others followed him without a word, picking their way through the trees, until they reached the place where the pack had caught up with Ruby.
Jessica took one look, turned pale, and immediately bent over, retching violently into the bushes.
"Oh goddess," she groaned between heaves. "I think I just lost my lunch... and possibly my soul."
Kai was beside her in an instant, one hand gently rubbing her back while the other held her hair out of the way.
"Easy there, love. Deep breaths. That’s it. You’re doing great. Most people don’t throw up quite so dramatically on their first pack execution. I’m impressed."
"I’m fine," she gasped, very clearly not fine. "I’m completely fine. This is a normal Tuesday for me."
"It’s Thursday," Kai said gently.
Jessica glared at him weakly between coughs. "You’re enjoying this far too much."
"Me? Never," Kai said with a grin, though his eyes were soft with concern. "I just like knowing my future wife has a weak stomach. Makes me feel useful."
The rest of the pack began to disperse one by one, heads down, murmuring quietly among themselves until only the royal family remained in the clearing.
Nana stood staring at what was left of Ruby, and tears welled in her eyes. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, her usual calm cracking.
"I took that girl into my heart as a granddaughter," she said quietly. "Even now, after everything she did... somehow, it hurts me to see her end like this."
Derek stayed completely silent, eyes fixed on the remains of the woman he had known since she was a child.
Kira looked at him, and even though his face gave away almost nothing, she saw it.
The hurt sitting underneath. And she did not blame him for it. Ruby had been cruel and calculating and she had nearly destroyed both of them, but she had also been woven through the whole fabric of his life.
You could not cut something like that out without bleeding.
Kai stepped forward and clamped a hand on Derek’s shoulder.
"Bury what’s left of her," he said. "Not for her, but for Jasper. Let that be the last thing you give him."
Derek gave a small, slow nod.
Kai turned and began steering the women back toward the path to the estate.
Connor reappeared as they walked back, having changed into a simple shirt and shorts.
When Kira saw him, she said, "You should let me take care of that wound, Connor."
Connor raised an eyebrow, amused. "Your Highness, it’s barely a scratch, and we heal quickly, remember?" freewebnovёl.ƈom
"Still," Kira insisted, already tugging him toward the path. "Move, Gamma. Doctor’s orders.
***
Later that night, once the estate had finally settled and the worst of the day had been folded away, Kira found Derek exactly where she expected him to be.
He was standing alone on the edge of a high cliffside, the one that looked out over the whole of the kingdom, the lights of Dravengard scattered below like fallen stars.
She limped her way over to him. He did not turn around when she arrived. He simply kept staring out at the dark, the night breeze tugging at his hair and his clothes.
She knew he wasn’t in a good place right now, so she simply stopped beside him and stood there in silence for a while, letting the wind do the talking.
Eventually she cleared her throat. "So," she said. "I nearly fell over twice getting up here. Just so you’re aware. If I had gone over this cliff, the story of the great Lycan King would have ended with his wife being defeated by a slightly uneven path."
Derek didn’t reply, but the corner of his mouth twitched.
Kira took that as encouragement.
"And Jessica," she said. "Jessica has decided she is a hardened warrior now. She threw up in a bush less than six hours ago and she has spent the entire evening telling Kai that she has, and I am quoting her exactly, seen worse. She has not seen worse. She cried during a documentary about ducks."
A low chuckle finally escaped him.
Kira grinned, pleased with herself. "There he is. I was starting to worry you’d turned into an actual statue. The palace gardener was already asking if he should water you twice a week."
Derek turned to face her at last. The tension in his shoulders eased just a fraction. "You really are impossible," he muttered, but there was no heat in it.
Kira smiled softly. "I’m glad you’re laughing now."
She reached out and lightly touched his arm.
"What happened today was not your fault, Derek," she said gently.
"Any of it. And I think you know that, somewhere underneath all the noise you’re making at yourself up here. Whatever Jasper would feel about today, it would not be blame. He would not blame you for not being able to save her from herself. No one could have."
Derek did not answer right away. He turned back to the sky, just staring up at the it again.
Then he let out a heavy sigh and turned fully toward her.
"I’ve been thinking of how blind I had been until now."
He shrugged.
"Years of it. Right in front of me the entire time, and I never once looked at it properly." He paused.
"And you. You walked into all of it, a stranger in a hostile pack, with a broken leg, and you saw what I couldn’t see in years."
Kira felt her cheeks warm. She looked down, fiddling with the edge of her sleeve. "I’m gradually stepping into my queen era, you know. Very regal. Very terrifying. Practically unstoppable."
Derek chuckled and shook his head. "Indeed."
Kira giggled, enjoying the sight of his laughter.
"How are you feeling now?" he asked.
"Better," she said. "The headaches have stopped. The leg is mostly an inconvenience and a personal enemy now rather than an actual pain."
They fell into easy conversation about other things, the upcoming coronation, the ridiculous way the pack had reacted during the trial, and a dozen smaller things.
And somewhere in the middle of it, Derek said, almost lightly, "I really thought you were carrying my heir."
Kira turned to stare at him. "You what?"
He shook his head, a rare sheepish smile spreading across his face. "It’s crazy. I was convinced of it for weeks."
"That is why—" She started laughing. "So that’s why you were suddenly cooking omelettes and hovering like a worried mother hen! And the extra guards. And you kept looking at me like I might shatter."
Derek grumbled, "I was being responsible."
"You were being adorable," Kira teased, poking his chest. "Big bad Lycan King reduced to checking my eating habits. I should have recorded it for blackmail purposes."
Derek grinned but said nothing.
"Is that why you started loosening up around me?" she asked, still grinning. "Was I getting the warmth meant for a baby that didn’t exist?"
"Partly," he admitted. Then he looked at her. "But it isn’t difficult to loosen up around you. That has very little to do with anything else. You make it difficult to stay closed."
Kira’s heart did something inconvenient.
"That was almost romantic," she said jokingly. "His Royal Grumpiness said something with a feeling in it. The kingdom must be told."
"I will leave you on this cliff."
"You won’t. You’d have to explain to Nana why you came back without me, and frankly, you’re afraid of her."
"Everyone is afraid of her. That’s not an insult, that’s wisdom."
They bickered back and forth playfully, Kira’s laughter mixing with Derek’s reluctant chuckles until the tension from the night finally started to melt away.
By the time they decided to head back down the cliff path, Kira’s eyelids were growing heavy with exhaustion. Her leg was starting to ache again from all the standing.
Derek looked at her, then crouched down in front of her and offered his back.
"Get on."
Kira blinked. "You’re giving me a piggyback?"
"Unless you want me to carry you like a sack of potatoes," he replied dryly.
She climbed on with a tired giggle, arms wrapping around his neck. As Derek started down the path, strong and steady, Kira rested her cheek against his back.
"I’m going to tell you a story," she mumbled, all sleepy.
"Are you?"
"It’s about a King with a very warm back." She sighed, tightening her arms around him.
"It’s so warm. And solid. Like a wall, but a nice wall. A wall you’d want to lean on. The kingdom’s best wall." ƒгeewёbnovel.com
Derek said nothing. He just kept walking, smiling into the dark.
"And he has a very serious face," she went on, voice going soft and slurred with sleep.
"Very stern. Good jaw though. Annoyingly good jaw. It’s not fair to give a grumpy man a jaw like that. And his eyes do this gold thing. I pretend I haven’t noticed the gold thing. I’ve noticed the gold thing."
Derek didn’t reply, but the small smile on his face grew wider with every sleepy confession she made as he carried her safely down the cliffside path and back toward the palace lights.
