Chapter 73: Fabrics, Soup, And A Strategy!
Cael just shook his head in disappointment.
He did not recognise the person standing in front of him anymore. He remembered a different Bella. A cheerful Bella from their childhood. An innocent Bella who had tried to play with him even when he was not interested in playing with anyone.
That Bella was gone.
The person in the dungeon now was someone else entirely. A monster wearing a familiar face. Someone consumed by obsession and anger, and the kind of jealousy that made people do terrible things.
Cael did not know when she had changed. He did not know how to fix it. He did not think it was fixable anymore.
"I’ve said my piece," he said.
He turned to leave.
"Don’t go!" Bella yelled behind him. "Don’t leave me here, Cael! Take me out of this dark cave! Cael!!!"
Her voice followed him through the dungeon as he walked out.
He did not look back.
Outside, Cael stared at the guards standing at the entrance.
"No matter what," he said to them, "don’t let her seduce you and get you to do what she wants. If you do, you’ll end up dead."
"Yes!" they replied immediately.
Cael stepped out and started heading back toward the cave. All he wanted now was to be with Neve. Maybe sleep with him on that soft white bed with Neve’s fingers running through his hair. He did not mind doing nothing else. That was enough. That was what he wanted.
He was walking along the snowy path when he saw Kael.
Kelly, rather. The wolf prince, who had decided to call himself Kelly because Neve had asked him to.
He was carrying a massive load. Things bundled together, wrapped in cloth, clearly struggling with the weight despite his large frame.
Cael wanted to ignore him and keep walking.
But Kelly was heading in the same direction. Toward the cave. Toward Neve.
"Where are you heading?" Cael asked from behind, even though he knew.
Kelly stopped and turned back. His expression brightened when he saw Cael.
"Whoa! Thank goodness I found you," Kelly said.
He shoved the massive load at Cael without warning.
Cael caught it in one hand and raised an eyebrow at how light it actually was. It looked enormous and heavy, but the weight was nothing. Nothing at all.
"Are these skins?" Cael asked.
"You mean fabrics?" Kelly asked. He was still looking relieved, like he had just deposited a burden he had been carrying for too long. "Yes. I brought them for Neve. Maybe he could make something for me, too." He looked at what Cael was wearing, the wrapping skirt that Neve had made. "Something like what you’re wearing."
Cael did not particularly like the idea of Kelly asking Neve to make things for him. But Kelly was already going to be Neve’s mate after winter. He was going to be part of Neve’s life whether Cael liked it or not.
Cael just pressed his lips closed and started walking toward the cave.
Kelly followed.
.
.
When they entered the cave, Neve was sitting in Ryker’s folded lap.
His legs were stretched out in front of him. Ryker was leaning back against the cave wall with Neve between his knees, munching on a piece of dried roasted meat. They looked comfortable together. Comfortable in a way that made something twist in Cael’s chest, even though he knew Ryker was just protecting Neve.
"What’s going on?" Cael asked, throwing the load of fabrics into the corner of the cave.
Kelly immediately went to check on the fabrics, arranging them carefully.
"He wants to eat the green thing on the wall," Ryker said, pointing at the moss Neve had been interested in earlier.
"No, I wasn’t going to eat it!" Neve tried to defend himself. "I just wanted to taste—"
"Are you starving?" Cael interrupted him.
"Just let me explain!" Neve said.
"That thing can get you sick, so no eating," Cael said. He stood up and headed toward the kitchen area of the cave. "I’ll cook soup for you, so just sit there."
He vanished into the kitchen without waiting for a response.
Neve folded his hands and pouted.
He sat up from Ryker’s lap and followed Cael into the kitchen.
Cael was already picking through vegetables. Carrots. Roots that Neve had gathered. Dried herbs that had been stored. He had been there when Neve prepared food for the festival. He had watched carefully. He was going to try making soup himself.
"What did they say about Bella?" Neve asked as Cael worked.
Cael paused for a second with a carrot in his hand.
"They can’t kill her," he said.
"Hmmm. Okay," Neve said.
Cael looked at him sharply.
"Okay?" he asked. "Is that what you’re going to say? She just framed you and almost got you killed."
"But I’m still alive," Neve told him. He tapped his chest lightly. "She has done what she wanted to do. She caught us off guard. From now on, all we have to do is make sure she doesn’t succeed with her next plans. Because I’m sure she’s never giving up. Whatever is driving her to keep hurting me, she’s going to keep trying."
Cael kept working on the vegetables, listening.
"She wants Ryker to mate with her," Cael said.
"I see," Neve said simply. "Too bad because Ryker is mine."
Cael’s head snapped up.
His eyes were bright with something that looked like anger, jealousy, and possessiveness all mixed. His tail started to wag behind him, moving back and forth in an automatic response to hearing Neve claim Ryker as his.
Neve smirked at the reaction.
"You’re also mine, too," Neve added.
Cael’s tail wagged faster.
Neve moved closer to where Cael was working in the kitchen.
"Well, since that’s what she’s after," Neve said, "I just have to ruin her plans by having Ryker mark me temporarily until the bonding is complete after winter."
He paused to let that sink in.
"That way, Bella will give up on Ryker just like she gave up on you."
Cael stood still for a moment, processing the idea.
"I don’t like it," he said finally. "Having another mate mark you. But..." He set down the vegetables he was holding. "It’s a great idea. A very great idea. Bella will see that Ryker is already taken. She’ll give up on him just like she gave up on me."
He looked at Neve.
"You’re really smart sometimes," Cael said.
Neve smirked.
He definitely was not going to let Bella get what she wanted. She had already tried to kill him. She had already framed him. She had already made his life complicated.
But Neve was going to be smarter and was going to stay ahead of her.
Neve was going to make sure that every plan she made would fail before it even started.