Blood Ties

24

Blue Promises
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Cadence
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Trigger warning: Mentions of rape/assault.
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The knock that sounded from Cadence's door was the last thing she expected this early in the morning.

But she wasn't a fool as to who loomed on the other side of the door.

Grumbling to herself, Cadence forced her feet into her combat boots and stormed over to the door, throwing it open. "What?"

Rexton's raised fist flashed into a wave, his lips shaping into a boyish grin. "Good morning! I heard you wake up a few hours ago, I could tell by your heart rate. I didn't want to disturb you so early in the morning, I wanted to give you time to wake up."

Cadence didn't hide her bewildered puzzlement. "That's weird and creepy."

"It is?" Rexton's lips curved downward. "Of course, it is. I apologise."

Scanning him up and down, Cadence frowned at his sophisticated attire. It wasn't clothing she was used to seeing with a long sweater meeting his slender hands and black trousers. His tousled brown hair with toils of gold shone through, aligning finely with his amber eyes and a fresh face that reminded Cadence of spring.

That was what he reminded Cadence of. Baby deers full of life and energy, abloom flowers needing to be watered like his heart craved the blood of another and — Cadence wanted to be the blistering and bone-chilling winter that iced her surroundings, freezing him out.

"You're lanky," Cadence observed.

Bewildered, Rexton looked down at himself and then back at Cadence, lip quirking. "I'm—"

"Like me." Cadence finished.

She immediately regretted that.

Rexton's eyes enriched with an emotion Cadence wouldn't feed into and she slammed the door in his face.

After making the call to Erisa, requesting for her to come to the pack without a mention as to why, Cadence promised she would explain everything to her in person. Cadence left Accalia to her mate to tell the news.

All that was left to do was for Erisa to come, which would be sometime this morning.

After the call, Cadence slept all through the day and night until she rolled out of bed this morning — forgetting for a moment about the hybrid.

She wasn't about to accept this fate, so forgetting and fighting against it would have to do.

The doorknob rattled and Rexton popped his head in, scanning the room. "We were talking." He mumbled to her and slipped inside.

Cadence rounded on him with a sneer. "Now we're not."

"You aren't wearing the plaster anymore, when did you take it off?" Rexton questioned softly.

Cadence's hand instinctively cupped her neck and her nostrils flared. Of all questions, he could let slip. "As soon as the bite mark wasn't on my neck like a brand mark."

Rexton flinched his head to the side and nervously bunched his hands into his pockets. "Why do you sound angry with me?"

Cadence stood straighter than before. "Because I can be, that a good excuse?"

Rexton looked as if he had been slapped painfully hard. "An excuse, but not a good one. I said I was sorry and I will tell you that every day because I feel it every single minute of every day. I want to be your friend and you said we could be."

Cadence drowned out his words of conviction, traced with guilt and emotion — she couldn't bear it. "Well, I lied."

"You can't do that," Rexton said sharply and pointed to her then at his chest as if he had a heart beating beneath the skin and bones. "To anyone else, but not me."