The Four Protectors

Forty Two

3rd Person POV

Cassius had just finished eating dinner when he heard hushed voices from the next room. A quick peek in revealed Desmond and Azriel sitting on the couch. Azriel was sitting with his back facing Cassius as the two talked in hushed voices.

"How much trouble do you think we're going to get into for all of this," Desmond asked tiredly.

"I didn't think you'd care about trouble," Azriel deflected.

"I was just making progress, moving through the ranks to gain some kind of authority to reverse that law," Desmond said with frustration.

He leaned forward, head in his hands, hair sticking up at odd angles. Azriel placed a hand on his back in comfort, rubbing small circles. The tension in Desmond's shoulders slowly seemed to fade.

"It's not that easy darling. Even with power, politics is a tricky thing," Azriel said.

"You helped though. Passing on Rafia's advice to me. It helped a lot," Desmond admitted.

It took a beat for Cassius to truly comprehend the words and their implications. When it did strike up, he felt a sharp exhale leave him against his volition.

They'd talked.

He walked into the room then, eyes narrowed on them. They jumped up like he'd caught them making out or something. Azriel caught on first, violet eyes widening in alarm as he ran through the conversation in his head.

"Cass love, it's not what you think," he soothed.

"Let me get this straight. You two have been in contact this month but neither of you bothered to reach out to me," Cassius snapped.

He'd almost brushed it aside after talking with Catherine. He was going for just a little silent treatment because she'd playfully advised it and he was always up for mischief. But he was going to drop the act soon enough. Now he was truly pissed as he stared at the two men in front of him.

They both balked at his anger.

"Cass it was just a couple times. I reached out for political advice, nothing really personal," Desmond explained.

"Yes exactly we were dealing with all of this stuff alone, just like you did," Azriel reasoned.

Cassius was seeing red at this point and he didn't give a damn about the fact that everyone in this house could probably hear them. Why did any of them have to go through this alone in the first place? His heart and mind were a mess of confusion and anger.

"I spent two weeks as a damn wolf to try and get over losing her and my family out of my mind and then I went crawling back to the pack, in need of someone to talk to," Cassius lashed out.

He took a step forward and they had the sense to reel back a little. The dominance inherited from his bloodline, the power he kept tightly curled up on instinct was slowly starting to unfurl itself. And with it came anger and sadness more primal in nature, and reminiscent of the mess he'd been for those two weeks in the woods.

"My whole family stabbed me in the back. The law forbade me from seeing the woman I love. And then the two of you, the only two people I had to turn to, weren't there," Cassius finished.

His chest was heaving. It felt good to get that off his chest. He collapsed on the couch, utterly drained from the whole confrontation.