Chapter Nine

Cassius' P.O.V

"For one month. . .You're mine." I remember saying that. My word is my word and I had to follow through. But I never knew letting him go would make me feel so empty inside. He was mine for a month, but that month seemed like only a day. I wish I had more time with him. I wish I told him a lot more than what I did. . .

A sigh escapes me as I feel myself slowly sinking into the table. It's only been a week and I'm already feeling like this. I never should have let him go back. He's never going to come back to me. Not when he finds out who I am. Just before I can sink into more depressing thoughts Grimm comes to me with blood littered all over his clothing and on the side of his face.

"Your Highness."

I nod and look at him with some queer curiosity. What could have happened this time I wonder. . .

"There has been an attempt made on the borders further east of here." His voice is low and held no sense of worry or desperation.

"Did you handle the situation?" The Westerners are about to be put under my shoes if they don't stop with these tasteless scrimmages. I have no discourse between Alpha Camuilla, but he is making it whereas it is so.

"Yes, my lord."

"Then what is the problem Grimm?" I made no attempt of hiding my displeasure from him barging in on me with the little free time I now possess. Ever since Pierce left my temperament has been a little shorter than usual. I would snap at the little mistakes people did and said causing some minor arguments between leal allies and friends. My feelings are getting to mix into my work. It's a spelling for disaster if I don't get it under control.

"I heard from Stevens of the marriage proposal between Cecilia and you. . .I fear if you do not do something about this; they may make common cause with the Easterners. . .Your Highness."

My eyebrow raises at this as I try to keep my rising anger in control. "What are you suggesting Grimm? That I marry a wretch from the Western lands? That I give up on finding my mate to be with some woman that may or may not be planning out my death in our marriage bed?"

"She is a woman, my liege."

"A woman is just as deadly as any man Grimm. You will soon come to know that if you spent more time around the training grounds. Lily is as fierce as any man."

He continues to keep his head lowered until I tap him with my foot. "Enough with this. I know Stevens put you up to this nonsense. You know very well the truth of my situation. . .I won't bother to deny it." I lock eyes with his brown, studied eyes.

For a moment I see a flash of a smile go across his face. "So it is so. What you do and who you woe on your spare time is of no concern to me as long as you are safe."

I scoff at this while shaking my head. "I knew you would answer like that. You're so predictable."

"As you are, my lord." I can't help the smile that comes onto my face as he stares at me as a father would a son.

"Pierce. . .is my mate Grimm. Yet, he's from the lands I promised myself on my father's deathbed I would decimate. And now. . .and now I waver." I hear the weakness in my voice causing me to become a little uneasy.

"Your father wanted nothing more than your happiness. . ."

"How am I to wed anyone when my heart belongs to another?"

". . .A king belongs to his people; so a king must do what is right for his people." I blink repetitively at his answer as the meaning begins to seep down and take root into my mind. It was an idea I didn't bother to entertain until now. My stomach becomes upset along with my wolf at the prospect of doing something so harmful to our mate.

"But he's my mate Grimm."

"You sent him away for a reason, my young noble lord." My eyes begin to falter as his stays firm with decision. I sent him away. . .No. I merely only did what I promised him. If 'sending' him away would keep him away from Christophe and the rest of those hordes of deceivers I would gladly make that decision again. Only because I care for him greatly, not because I want him gone.

"There is another way I'm sure of it. If it results to this than I will agree to it, but until then I want to hold off on any future arrangements of marriage." He nods his head in approval. I can only sit there in a bit of a daze and heartache. I never should have allowed him to kiss me, maybe then my decisions won't weigh so heavily on my heart.

Stevens enters the room with a smile on his face along with Lily and Michael. I close my eyes trying my best to contain my deteriorating persona to smile. We'll talk about this further on another day.

That day may never come to pass, My Lord. I look at Grimm quizzically before Stevens can stop to talk to him and leaves out the door leaving me with the three of them.

"We've heard the great news!" Lily shouts excitedly causing me to furrow my eyebrows.

". . .Great news?"

"You're engaged! CONGRATS!" Michael throws multi-colored confetti over my chair as Stevens releases the balloons he concealed behind his back into the room with a loud roar of laughter. I did not smile, not even once. Instead, I look at the balloons rising high into the ceiling and notice they're the colors of our territory. Gold and Maroon. The confetti that falls to the floor are the colors of the Western territories black, blue, and white making me grimace.

I wait for them to settle down and as soon as they realize I'm not joining in their little celebration they stop abruptly and kneel. "Y-your Grace? You don't seem too happy?" Michael says shakily. I grew up with him during my puppyhood years and he has always been afraid of me. Rather weak for his age scrawny, weak 'mix-match eyes', would always scurry away from me the moment I tried talking to him.

I know his nervousness came from the lack of socialization his parents failed to give him I'm usually lenient with his stuttering, low whispered, and awkward disposition, but I do not have the patience for that today. Even his face is beginning to annoy me. Everything is.

My eyes glower at him until he sinks further and further into the floor whimpering. As if knowing my unruly attitude Lily breaks my focus by saying "Perhaps we misheard, Your Grace." Her voice is wary and sad-sounding, but I pay it no mind and let out a grunt.

"Yeah. Perhaps we did. . ."Steven chimes in still head bowed.

"This is news to me. Who did you hear that from?" I ask annoyed and irritated beyond belief.

"The Council announced it earlier this morning. . . we thought you-" I cut her off with my hand. "Silence. Get Out."

"What?" All three of them ask in unison causing me to growl audibly.

"Did I stutter? Leave. Now." They quickly pick up their heads and their feet and don't bother to say anything more as they hurriedly walk out the room. As soon as I hear the door shut I pick up the chair I was sitting on and throw it across the the room so hard that it smashes against the furthest wall into hundreds of small pieces. Taking a visit to see those old, wretched raccoons, seems to be the best option I have at this moment.

Little did they know I had received word. if they did they still would not be in the Council room still talking about issues that we already discussed. I barge into the room completely enraged at the fact of them selling my hand to some beggar princess. Do they know what they have done?! "What. . .have you all done?" I ask completely calm and collected stomping down my rage entirely.

They all give each other the same look bouncing from Arnold to Suzanne and finally to Elder Richard. As soon as all their eyes land on me they put their eyes down focusing onto the table. I am their King, their Alpha and they know they have crossed the line, but their pride is keeping them from saying so. "We done what needed to be done." says Elder Arnold.

"For peace and the greater good." Elder Suzanne adds in towards the end.

"If we have the Westerners on our side, to join our cause we'll have a better chance at standing against the Easterners that you so hate!" Elder Richard says defiantly.

I nod my head this making it seem like I completely understand where in fact I want to kill everyone in this room right now. They don't know the full repercussions of this action or maybe they do. "You engaged me to a Westerner!" I shout madly. My power seeps out entirely causing them to sink into their chairs.

They may be old, but they do have the highest resistance to my power due to age and their sworn loyalty to my father. If it was anyone else they would be whimpering on the floor in complete pain and close to exile.

"It's already been done. You cannot reverse anything we've just done. . .Your Grace." Elder Suzanne says timidly. I always did like her the most out of all these old raccoons, but even she fell out of my favor. I sneer at her and push all the papers off the table angrily.

"She's fair to look upon. Beautiful, green eyes and long, lustrous, chocolate, brown hair with a nice Northern olive tint. She'll make a fine mate for you and bear you strong children." Elder Arnold says through his mane of long white beard hairs. I just want to rip it out from his chin, but I continue to let this drawl on.

"Only a year younger than you, My Lord." Elder Richard says while stroking his own white beard speckled with gray.

As a deafening silence fills the room I take this chance to look at each of them with some sense of understanding before I flip the table over causing them to scuffle over their chairs. "Do you think I am some child that needs a lecturing on what's good for me?!"

"No, Your Highness, just guidance and wisdom that goes well beyond your young years." It took the will of the Moon Goddess and all her patience not to go over there and snap his neck.

"It'll be best if you just go along with our agreement and make best of a situation you may not like at first." Elder Suzanne says tenderly causing me to close my eyes and keep my temperament under control."You'll come to love her." Lashing out will only make me seem more of a child in their eyes. They won't be able to see my righteous indignation to this matching that is so obvious to me but oblivious to them.

I found my mate. My feelings only grow stronger for him with each passing day. Though it's only been a month and I know so little about him. . .I still feel as though I should be with him for the rest of my life. Him and only him. But that's a child's plea.

Mates are sacred yes. . .but peace is even more so.

". . .A king belongs to his people; so a king must do what is right for his people." I can almost hear Grimm's voice saying that into my ear causing me to bite down on my lip. He's a Beta from another pack, a warring pack that doesn't even know who you truly are. Do you honestly believe you can be together with him? I hear myself asking. He has an Alpha to protect and you have a kingdom to rule.

". . .I suppose you're right." I say after another short silence passes over us. "I'm sorry I reacted so. . .angrily. What you have done may be for the betterment of the kingdom, however I will decide whether or not to marry her regardless of what you promised the Alpha over there. I will not send word of this to them. The decision of what's best and what's faulty to this kingdom is mine and mine alone. Do I make myself clear?"

They all nod their heads in agreement. "You're dismissed." As soon as I uttered those words they get as quick as their old bodies will allow them and walk out the door. Once I hear the door shut the anger that I kept so well hidden comes boiling up like a geyser ready to burst.

My fist connects with a nearby wall freshly painted until my hand goes through it over and over again. Once I stop I finally notice the blood starting to ooze from the cuts and the throbbing pain coming from the splinters stuck inside my hand. I try to bite back the rest of the lingering anger still raging inside me to the point to where my eyes are beginning to glisten with fresh tears.

The blood starts of as droplets but soon turn into a steady river of blood once I notice the healing isn't kicking in as it should. I slump against the wall and continue to let my body shudder. Losing a few pints of blood won't kill me. I say to myself trying to focus on the pain and not the foreign feeling of sadness that's beginning to wreck my body.

I don't know how long I was in there or how I got here. But the minute I open up my eyes again I notice I'm at the infirmary with Addelin. I see him picking out the splitters embedded deep within my skin with tweezers. Some are large some are small. I pay no mind to him. The repetitive clinking sound of the splinters hitting the metal bowl is the only reminder that tells me I'm still in the infirmary.

"What has made you so emotionally unstable this time? You never heal properly when your mind is in a disarray." Addelin asks as he begins washing off my hand with some herbal medicine and soon starts bandaging it up. I continue to look at the white tiles brimmed with gold-colored linings.

". . .I heard you let Gabriel and the other young man go back." I look at him as he mentions this and meet with his dim, blue eyes that has witnessed so much in his lifetime.

"I did." I admit. There is no point in lying to the man who birthed me. If anything he is like a grandfather to me. He is filled with so much wisdom and knowledge. . .I would feel more at ease if he was on the council and not some old, worn novelties of the past.

"That was folly. I know how much you cared for the boy." I let a small smile grace my lips and he returns one to me. He always knows. His mouth crinkles up into a grin accentuating his already wrinkled face. "I know much more than you think. I may be old, but I know the fondness you held for one another and the amorousness that had begun to develop from it."

"He would have bitten me if I had not." I touch my shoulder with my free hand and rub it like the pain is still there."I was getting too lost and. . .and. . ."

"Attached? That's supposed to happen when your mates, young Cassius. You are supposed to feel something for him."

"I had to let him go back. I couldn't hold him here. He's not just anyone in his pack Addelin. He's a beta." I huff out tiredly. I run my fingers along the two bite marks that hasn't healed properly just yet. "How am I supposed to-what am I-"

He cuts me off with a light tap on my chest where my heart is. "How do you feel Cassius?"

". . .I want to be with him."

"Then you have your answer. Don't complicate things with other people's feelings. You don't choose mates the Moon Goddess specifically chooses the one person you are supposed to love, cherish, and support for the rest of your long life. She chose him for a reason. Try to find out why."

"I'm sure I am set up for misfortune. Him and I. . ." He taps on my chest a little harder this time making me wince a little.

"Why, because it isn't as easy as you thought it would be?" I meet his eyes again and finally decide to open up to him. "No, it's because I didn't tell him who I was." His eyebrows furrow together.

"You should have."

"But I didn't." His hand drops from my chest as a sense of knowing fills the room. "The Elders took it upon themselves to write to Alpha Camuilla that I would accept his marriage proposal. I'm engaged to a westerner Addelin."

". . ."

"I don't want this. I don't want any of this, but they say it's for peace. So I have to ask myself is my wants greater than the wants of my people?"

"Oh Cassius. . .what makes you think Pierce cannot bring you that same peace?"

My lips part away gradually and soon a scoff comes from me. ". . .His Alpha. . ."

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[A/N] Hey guys hope you enjoyed this chapter. So many decisions has to be made by 'young Cassius' huh? ^_^. I'm updating so early so that you guys won't be so mad at me once the updates begin to slow down [school] sooo take these couple of chapters to come as a consolation! Muah. Thanks for reading!