Blood Ties

34

Walking by the tides of moonlight
~
Cadence
~

"May I join you?"

Cadence stopped in her tracks, turning to the familiar voice that hid his boyish face in the darkness.

Her annoyance couldn't be more bothered. "Shouldn't you be in bed? It's getting late, I doubt your brothers will want you hanging around by yourself."

Rexton drifted out of the blanketed woods and bathed in the moonlight, making him more heavenly than hellish — all that he was said to be.

"But I'm not alone," Rexton challenged and pointed to Cadence with a smile pulling at his lips. "I'm with you."

Cadence groaned, scratching her head frustratedly and stalked up a hill, hearing his steps falling behind her.

She hadn't counted how many days had passed since she killed that filthy wolf, but it did appear to be long since she last saw the hybrid. No one bothered her and that was exactly how she wanted it.

The act looses its meaning of doing it and the care suddenly faded from why it even mattered in the first place. There was nothing better than taking a life without a trickle of guilt.

Cadence couldn't recognise her reason for killing that werewolf, and yet, everyone around her told her why.

Protecting Rexton.

She protected Rexton.

She protected me.

Cadence didn't know what to fucking call it.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Rexton broke her out of her trance and she saw him walking by her, staring down at her, alarmed. "You look unwell,"

Cadence forced her eyes off him and stared ahead, clenching her jaw as she grappled whether to stab him or swear at him. Both could come hand in hand.

"How— how do I look unwell?" Cadence found herself questioning.

"You've been in your room for days and those bags beneath your black eyes ... you haven't slept well. Famished and isolated." Rexton observed keenly, his utterance shrouding around her like a storm cloud.

"You would know," Cadence spited, needing to throw a jab even if it wasn't physical.

Rexton fell into a heavy silence and Cadence didn't break it as they headed further away from the celebration and closer to the borders of the pack.

Cadence hopped over the wired fence and fixed the bag strap over her shoulder, turning to face the hybrid. "Go away. Lycus might think you're dead if he doesn't see you but there are worse things than that."

Rexton made a face, one of unsureness as he tried to understand the girl in front of her. "Is this humour?"

Cadence rolled her eyes and said, "I'm going to Erisa's. If you see Accalia, let her know I'm committing murder, that will ease her thoughts about me."

"It's nighttime!" Rexton said fretfully and grabbed the fence, leaning toward Cadence with evident concern. "I can't allow you to go anywhere on your own."

Cadence's face shifted in wild radiance and she threw her arms up dramatically to the skies. "Oh shit, I forget ... Rexton will you do the courtesy of protecting me because I cannot—"

Rexton jumped over the fence without hesitation and came right up to her face, nodding eagerly. "With my life, Cadence."

Cadence decided to avoid a few things: his tendency to use her name, his chivalrous desire to protect her as if she couldn't do that herself and those whimsical puppy eyes that had yet to see a dog get run over.