Penance of Honor | BOOK 2 ✔️

Chapter: Twenty-Three

Cassius' P.O.V

I let out a deep exhale as I watch Stevens and Analia sink down to one knee while bowing their heads.

"We're leaving," I announce.

Stevens sinks his head further towards the floor. I see his hands clench back and forth. He was worried and distraught all at the same time. It was as clear as the moon on a cloudless night.

"It is not as if I want this either. I made a promise I knew I would fail to keep. Truly, I feel terrible for lying, but you know this is best for the pack."

"Of course. Who would not like to go home?" Analia answered back with a small smile.

"We would be leaving them to the humans and the westerners, Cassius. They would only be serving as a distraction as we leave. I cannot- we cannot leave like this..."

I purse my lips before nodding my head.

"And tell me, how our presence here would help anything. Besides you, me, and many of our trained kin, how would the others serve in this fight?"

"..."

"Compared to the east, we are weak. All of them are capable of fighting. It is how they were raised. We, on the other hand... not so much."

"Then...Cassius, please allow me to stay behind. I ask this of you..."

"I'm sure Isaac would not want that. You would  be undermining his intentions entirely by doing so. He does not want you here."

I watch as his eyes go wide.

"Isaac is a man full of layers and finding out his true intent is something I have come to learn after spending some time with him..."

"Still-I can't. He undermines mine as well. If something were to happen to him, I could not live with myself.  You know this. You had felt this. I cannot leave him to himself no matter the power he possesses."

" I fear we will only become a hinderance, a burden if we were to stay here..."

"Even if that is true, we cannot leave them. We could find some other means of helping them. We must."

My eyes fall at his sheer determination to stay. I would not like for him, or for anyone, to experience what I had to go through. I'd want them to be together... And I know leaving would cause them to separate. He would never admit it, but I know he would never forgive me.

"I want to stay just as much as you, Stevens. Pierce is here, and I cannot bear to be separated from him again. The thought is painful in of itself. How are we to help them? I thought on this for days, but I could not come to any conclusion."

"The way that you are now, you are in no condition to fight. You can hardly change into your wolf with it causing you tremendous pain," Analia adds. "We cannot stay."

"I'd suffer any amount of pain if it meant being able to help...I do not mind it...Pain will fade, regret will not."

"I will devise a plan. Give me an hour. I promise you, I will."

"Stevens-"

"Trust in me. Trust in me once more."

I close my eyes and nod in agreement. "An hour it is. Analia go on and catch up with the ones leaving early."

I get up from my chair, already beginning to feel the aches and pains that have been happening lately. There is not one person here, that I can ask if this is normal... If my mother was still here... I swallowed dryly and pushed back the oncoming tears.