Red Riding Hood | BoyxBoy | COMPLETED

Birth Complications

Cassidy's POV

I awoke in our chambers, Alex by my side sponging my forehead with a damp cloth.

"What happened?"

He put the cloth aside and cuddled up to me, pushing his nose into my neck. "You fainted."

I felt his whine more than I heard it. "Alex?"

"It's my fault," he sniffled. "I hurt you."

Now I was just confused. "You didn't hurt me."

"If we hadn't bonded, you wouldn't feel the force of my emotions and issues through our bond! You wouldn't faint from my pain!" Alex gasped wetly. "You would be okay," he whispered.

I didn't know what to say to that.

~

Once, I asked him over a meal if he wanted to talk about it—get it off his chest.

"She lied to me," he said. He looked angry and devastated and my heart hurt.

"Your Mother?" I asked.

He pulled his hand away from my mine. "Duke Kellen was right. I can hear heartbeats," He looked at me. "I know when people are lying, Cas."

"What did she lie about?" I whispered. I had a feeling his answer was going to be...not ideal.

"She lied about Father."

I didn't ask anymore.

Alex had been avoiding me since I woke from my fainting spell in the dining hall. It hurt that he didn't want to talk to me about it, but I tried not to take it to heart. He obviously needed some time to process. Plus, he was avoiding his parents too. I didn't blame him.

To be fair, he wasn't technically avoiding me on purpose. Alex was just spending his days in the library, researching the family lineages of the entire royal family tree. Sometimes, I'd join him, and we'd spend an entire day in silence and staring at dusty old tomes of family trees dating back centuries.

"You don't have to do all this boring research with me," he said.

I took a tome from him. "I want to help."

He went back to his own papers and I swallowed my disappointment. It felt like he was avoiding me. Some nights, he didn't come to bed.

~

Since Alex was spending his free time by holing himself up in the castle library, I decided to make a short trip back to the Winters Manor where my Father still resided. I rather thought it was a good idea since going away for a short while would give Alex the space he needed, and I could check the manor's library instead. I also missed my Father. Privately, I selfishly hoped that Alex would miss me if he noticed I wasn't around.

Back in my former home, I freshened up and then met my Father for dinner. We made small talk, or he did while I tried not to worry about Alex. Father eventually gave up on the admittedly one-sided conversation.

"Cassidy, you know I'm here for you," he spoke quietly.

I looked up from my soup. "Hm, what?"

"I will always listen if you want to talk."

"Okay." I blinked. What brought this on?

Father looked at me with gentle eyes. "Is there something on your mind, son?"

Well, I was actively trying to avoid thinking about it so, "no" I said. He nodded and went back to his soup. "Actually..."

My Father watched me encouragingly. My mind was a mess—full of jumbled thoughts about Alex and his parents and his biological parents. I didn't know where to begin my questions!

"Do you know Queen Annabelle? Personally, I mean?" Well, I guess that was a good place as any to start.

"I do believe I met her through King Edward, well, Prince at the time." Father hummed. "What was it he said? Oh, it's been so long."

I took a spoonful of soup to stop my teeth from grinding in anticipation.

"Ah, an ambassador from Lupus, was it?" Father mused.

An ambassador from Lupus!

It didn't prove anything about Alex's parents, but it would explain his shifter ability. Everyone knew that all born wolves came from the Kingdom of Lupus with the exception of Prince Alex, heir of Nasales. But what if Alex did come from Lupus too?

"—Olcan introduced them."

I cut him off. "Could you repeat that?"

Father raised an eyebrow but obliged. "I said, Queen Annabelle was introduced to King Edward by King Olcan."

"King Olcan of Lupus?"

"Yes, precisely. I remember King Edwards being quite taken with her."

I was surprised. No one really talked about where Queen Annabelle came from. In fact, people only knew that King Edward, then Prince, fell in love with a commoner and married her. It was a love story that bards have sung across the land.

"What were they like?" I asked.

"Who?"

"Queen Annabelle and King Olcan." I needed to know if it was just a coincidence.

Father took a sip from his goblet. "I can't seem to remember, Cassidy."

I grit my teeth in frustration. "Please try to remember."

Father looked at me weirdly. "They had a certain air about them; it was charged if you understand."

"Not them. I meant King Olcan," I sighed.

Father blinked. "Yes, that is who I was referring to."

~

I headed back to the castle the next morning. That niggling sense of loneliness from Alex would go away soon.

As expected, I found Alex right where I left him—poring over family trees in the library. The only difference was that he looked more rumpled without me there to push him into taking care of himself. It was an adorable image if one disregarded the eyebags borne of desperation and sleep deprivation.

For a moment, I hesitated. Father had revealed vital information that would point us in the direction of what we were searching for, but was Alex ready to know? No, I had to tell him. If I didn't, my husband would work himself to death at that desk.

I knocked on the door, alerting him to my presence. He shot me a wane smile.

"Hello," I said.

Alex didn't get up, but he reached for me as I came closer and let me wrap him in my arms, his nose pressed against my belly.

"Did you miss me?" I stroked his hair.

Alex whined and hugged me tighter. I smiled at his antics.

"Did you find anything?" I asked.

I felt more than I saw his shoulders slump. He huffed, hiding his face from me.

I squeezed his shoulders gently and pulled back to look at him. "What if I told you I found something?"

He looked up. I could almost picture his fluffy wolf ears perking inquisitively.

"I found out," I began, "that your mother is from the Kingdom of Lupus."

A surge of emotions had me gasping. It was a massive swirl of anger and despair and some other confused feelings mixed in. Poor Alex had been doing his best to keep his emotions under wraps, but he was also in such a stressful situation.

"Sorry," he murmured.

I petted his hair. "What do you want to do?" He didn't have to ask what I meant.

"If it's true," he paused to look at the papers he had amassed on the desk. "I have to go and see for myself." He looked at me. "I have to go to the Kingdom of Lupus."

I cupped his cheek. "Okay," I said. "Then we go to Lupus."