Kyson POV
Ivy kept trying to help, but I would just tuck her closer until, eventually, she gave up. Instead, she pressed
against my chest, listening to my calling for her and only moving when I would move to the next. No one
left until the last grave was cleaned. Only then did lvy let me scoop her up in my arms to take her back to
our quarters.
“I will make her something to eat,” Clarice whispered as we walked up the hill through the cemetery. I
nodded to her and listened to lvy hum the song that seemed to comfort her. Over the last few days, I
heard her singing it or humming. She knew it word for word; she never got a word wrong. The Kingdom’s
Anthem. Placing her in the room. I moved across to my old quarters, going into the space that was for
Azalea before we never found her. My sister set it up for her in hopes we would find the missing child, yet
we never did.
Moving to the dresser, I picked up the silver jewelry box and opened it. Removing the bracelet inside, I
set it on the dresser before taking the small box back to the room, winding it up so Ivy could hear the
song being played. Her song, the one she knew by heart.
When I walked into the room, she sat huddled by the fire, shivering despite her skin being burned. I sit
behind her, pulling her against me, placing the box in her hands, and opening the lid. The music starts,
and she looks up at me, her brows furrowing before recognizing the tempo matched the song she sang.
“Where did you get this?” she asked, peering inside the box.
“Azalea’s room,” I answered, and she gasped before trying to pass it back. I shake my head.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“You can have it,” I tell her.
“No, no, take it,” she says, placing it in my lap before rushing off. I sighed, rubbing a hand down my face
before setting the box on the bookcase and going in search of her.
“Why would you give me that?” she sobbed.
“Because you like the song, and Azalea won’t use it,” I tell her finding her crying under the clothes she
had made a nest out of. I tried not to smile at her nest. Knowing it was the werewolf side appearing
suddenly, she frantically tried to place the clothes in order. Completely unaware, she was building a nest.
“You need a bath,” I tell her while reaching for her, but she growls at me. Mumbling to herself and
rearranging the clothes, she was ripping off the hangers.
“Bath now, you make your nest on the bed; I am not sleeping on the floor,” I tell her, and she stops
looking at her hands before looking around herself.
“I wasn’t; I was…” I could feel her confusion at her actions.
“You were, now come,” I tell her, and she looks at the clothes she was shredding to bits before blushing,
having not realized. I know she deliberately fights her urges, and I swear she sometimes forgets I can
feel her.
“Bath, then bed, now come or do I need to make you,” I tell her while crouching down in front of her. She
seemed confused, and I groaned before grabbing her. Ivy snarled at me for removing her from her
makeshift den biting into my arm, making me chuckle. My laughter only enraged her as she bit me more
brutally on the chest through my shirt which made me hiss at the sting. Her actions only amused me,
knowing she was acting on instinct and not of her conscious mind.
She wouldn’t let me bathe with her, so instead, I showered, watching her while she bathed. By the time
she got out, I could smell the food Clarice had placed in the room. We dressed quickly, and I had to lock
the closet door to stop her from going back in there before she climbed into the bed.
Grabbing the tray, I set it between us though I was surprised when she picked up raw meat, which I knew
Clarice had made for me, seeing as I am Lycan and we prefer meat raw.
However, I had never seen Ivy once pick up raw meat. I watched her, finding it rather disturbing seeing a
werewolf eat it; they were part human. Yet, more so than usual, she was acting out of sorts, making me
wonder if the calling had some strange effect on her since I shoved her out of my life. Nevertheless, I
said nothing, just glad she was eating. Now I just had to wait for her to fall asleep to heal her a bit. She
wouldn’t let me touch her more than slight brushes or when I managed to force her to accept my touch.
However, I figured it best not to push my luck with her odd behavior and the meltdown earlier.
When Clarice knocked on the door, I grabbed the now empty tray and walked over to the door, opening it
and giving it to her.
“Hungry, my King?” Clarice asked, and I peered back at Ivy, who was attacking my pillow like it was a
threat in her sleep.
“No, Ivy was,” I tell her, and she seems taken aback, pulling a funny face before looking in the door
toward the bed.
“Maybe she is going into heat?” she asked though I could tell even she wasn’t sure.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm“I thought?” Clarice doesn’t finish and shakes her head.
“Right, I will leave you to it. It has to be the heat only thing that makes sense,” Clarice murmurs, walking
off muttering to herself. Shutting the door, I walked back over to the bed and climbed in, thinking to
myself. Ivy had no appetite and yet was offered raw meat; she ate it like she was starving.
My brows furrowed as I glanced down at her tucked into my side. Yet if she was going into heat, what did
that mean for both of us when she wouldn’t let me touch her, and did that mean she would soon shift?
The heat wasn’t just agony for a she-wolf, but with me being Lycan, I would go into it with her, which I
have heard is just as painful.
With so many thoughts running through my head, I struggled to sleep. Eventually, I was sucked into the
oblivion of rest only to wake up to realize lvy had shut the alarm off. Squinting at the brightness in the
room, it must have been late in the morning, and I sat up looking for her.
Only she wasn’t in the room. With a growl, I tossed the blankets back. I searched all the adjacent rooms
before leaving it entirely, furious that she left it without telling me.
“Where is Ivy?” I asked the guard by the doors leading out.
“I haven’t seen her, my King; I thought she was in her room with you; I only just came on shift,” he
answered. I shake my head. How had she managed to slip past the guards?
“Find her” I snarled, and everyone in the corridors took off in search of her. I pushed out the door.
“Peter!” I called, seeing him come toward me up the path from the stables. He glanced at me before
glancing away at my state of undress; I had my sleep shorts on.
“Where is Ivy?”
“She’s helping me in the stables,” he said, and I growled, which made him take off as I stalked toward the
path fuming when panic rushed through the bond, so I started running.