Blood and Bonds II - Salvation's Prey

3. Collosal Prick

Loud thuds and smacks resound through the gymnasium as Isabella trains long into the night. She hasn't spoken to Magnus since she stormed away from him after he refused to support her return to the Silver Lakes pack. She thrashes the punching bags, tosses weights as though they weighed nothing, and growls threateningly as she goes set after set.

Magnus listens from a far, hiding away in the further most corner of the attic. He can hear her intense heartbeat and every collision she makes, making his heart both sore and furious. Magnus cannot reason why she would want to leave or how he will ever let himself let her go. He spent years mourning his loss of her when he left her the first time. Now history is repeating itself, except the roles are reversed. 'How can she leave and take my family from me?' He growls to himself.

"Is there a good reason Isabella is tearing a part our state of the art gym equipment as though they were designed for humans and not for the supernatural?" Comes a quiet polite voice from behind Magnus.

Magnus rolls his eyes and sighs heavily turning brooding at Cassius. "We fought. No doubt you heard. She wants to leave! She wants me to be supportive!" He shouts angrily, huffing as he paces in front of him. "I'm not supporting the end of my family. How can she ask me that?"  Cassius stands solemnly as his King rattles off his rhetorical questions. "She wants to go and be Alpha and take the boys like the last 6 years has meant nothing! I know I supported this vision for her at the start, but that was before WE had OUR family! I'm not supporting her tearing our family apart for what she wants. She's being selfish!" Magnus gripes kicking old boxes around.

Cassius smirks as he opens the attic doors to a balcony. "So, there is no good reason she's upset." He replies curtly with jeering eyes.

Magus whirls around in fury. "No GOOD reason?! I beg your-"

"I have been with you for many years Sire, and it is you who is being selfish." Cassius cuts over him carefree and nonchalant. Magnus stampedes to Cassius at his words, glaring in raging fury. Cassius smiles unphased by his King's temper. "This is the same wolf that you left to be King. You had resigned to never love another if you couldn't love her, yes, but you chose to leave her and become King. Is that the case now?" He asks with a quirked eyebrow as he leans against the balcony bannister.

Magnus roars in outrage, fueled by Cassius using his past actions against him. "YES! Only this time I loose her and my sons!"

"Is it really though?" Cassius asks with a jeering glint in his eye. Magnus stops and stares, angry and confused. Cassius can see that through Magnus' emotional overreaction he has missed the obvious. Cassius calmly approaches his King. "Do you believe that after everything that she has with you, everything that you have with the sons that aren't biologically yours, that she would take it away from you for a vain ambition?" Magnus takes a few very heavy measured steps back as Cassius' words penetrate his angry heart. "Admittedly, I have not known her as long as you Sire. However, I've spent the last 6 years living with her in the same household and nothing in my experience leads me to believe she has any vain ambitions, at all. Moreover, in your office, she asked for your support. She didn't ask you to move or amicably end your relationship because of duty."

Magnus rolls his head as he roughly ploughs his hands through his hair. "What are you saying, Cassius? That I should let her go?! Because that's not happening! Not now and not ever!"

Cassius smiles knowingly at his King. "She didn't ask you to let her go. She asked you to support her. You assumed the worst Sire. You assumed that your support meant the end of your relationship, because that's what you did. If I were you Sire, I would ask what she wanted and what she planned to do to make it work? Based on my experience with both of you, I know that she would have thought everything through... unlike yourself, Your Majesty." Cassius says without an ounce of regret.