Chapter 86 : Blooms of Affection

Xavier

She's upset again, and again it's his fault. Will he ever learn to make her smile or will he forever be the cause of her tears? The thought made him uneasy as he continued to hug her, the salty scent of her sadness wafting around them despite her silence, her shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs. Somehow, her silent cries were worse than the loud ones.

This... That silent display screamed out her suffering more clearly than the loud cries. He continued to make her suffer. He gently stroked the back of her head as he thought about what to do. There must be a way to get her out of her misery, to make her smile again.

An idea flashed through his mind like a lighted beacon.

As he looked down, he had to bend over so that he could nuzzle his nose against her temple, but he didn't mind, not in the least, because he was pleased with her small stature and her petite appearance. It made him feel more like her mate, stronger, more powerful, able to protect his precious little mate from any threat.

"Karen?" he whispered in her ear, getting her attention in an instant.

"Y-yes?"

Her voice sounded hoarse, strained from her inaudible crying.

He hated it, hated to see her so distressed, hated even more that he was the cause of her pain. Again.

But he pushed those self-blaming thoughts to the back of his mind and concentrated on her, how to get her out of her depression because that was all that mattered. Karen was everything to him.

"Come with me. I want to show you something."

He felt her move, so he lifted his head to meet her gaze as she tilted her head back to look at him. He saw that her eyes were red, as was her nose, and tears were streaming down her pale cheeks. It was a sight he could barely bear.

This emotion... How any being could live with such a strong reaction and remain sane, he had no idea. If he tried, he could almost hate her for making him feel this way, so different from his character as an Alpha before he started the competition of mating with him, but he didn't, he couldn't hate her. It made him realize how lonely he was in front of her, how meaningless he was, even if this newfound emotion sometimes felt like a nuisance.

His world was no longer bleak and barren, but full of life because of this one woman, this little woman.

"Where are we going?" Karen asked him.

Meanwhile, she didn't seem upset or opposed to going somewhere else with him, and he was grateful for that because it gave him a chance to make her feel better. No, where he was going to take her was not going to make up for what he had done, but maybe it would lighten her mood - even both of theirs.

"It's a surprise," he replied, echoing the words that his little sister used to say to him when she had something she wanted to show him.

For now, she just nodded her head, a clear look of open trust in her eyes, for she never gave him that expression. To see her trying to give him the chance they had meant a lot to him.

Wordlessly, he shifted into wolf form, then bent lower to her so she could ride his body and adjust her position as he began to straighten up and run faster through the forest. The journey wasn't long, and soon he was lowering her to the ground.

The scent of some kind of flower—filled his nostrils, and he knew that she could smell it too, knowing that the scent of the flowers would become stronger for her as her sense of smell grew. Perhaps she would discover that not everything about her transformation was bad, that there were some advantages to being more than just a hybrid.

Later, he let go of her as she moved away to look at the meadow they had come to, which was surrounded by a sea of colors. He tried not to show his uneasiness, for he knew nothing about making a woman happy, he could only follow the clues from his memories of what Raine enjoyed. But considering that she was still a child, even for her age, he felt uneasy and wondered if he had made a mistake in his decision.

When he heard her gasp, he also held his breath that was trapped in his lungs, waiting for her reaction. Xavier almost felt self-conscious, and he didn't like this newfound emotion either.

His thoughts were interrupted when she turned to face him, a gentle expression on her face, and her sadness was gone. Realizing that she was happy, the breath he had been holding came out in a soft sigh.

"You took me to the flower fields," she whispered.

Though he didn't understand her strange words, and she must have seen the confusion on his face.

The sound of her soft, melodious laughter was like music to his ears.

"In my place -" she began before turning and taking a few steps away, then gracefully kneeling among the flowers. "- men would give flowers to the women they liked. Although they usually buy them in a flower shop, you brought me here to show me this, to give me flowers, right?"

Then she turned to him and lifted a purple flower to her nose, smelling its fragrance as she stared at him.

Smiling, he nodded his head, standing tall and proud as he realized he had just done something a man wooing a woman would do. Later, when he ran into Raine, he was going to give her something to thank her for making him think of bringing Karen here.

Finally, he had done something right, something she seemed to like and enjoy.

Stepping closer, wanting to be closer, wanting to share in her cheerful mood, he lowered himself down next to her and sat down with one knee bent and the other leg crossed on the floor. Looking up at the clear and almost cloudless sky, Xavier was grateful for the good weather, for it gave him the opportunity to bring her here.

A few minutes passed as they sat in pleasant silence before he finally turned his head to see what she was doing and then froze. Karen was making something very familiar to him - a crown of flowers. He hoped she wasn't like Raine and hoped she would wear her 'gift' when she gave it to him.

A man with flowers in his hair... how charming.

Really, he wasn't sure if he would do such a ridiculous thing if she gave it to him, even if it would make her happy. Normally, he would always refuse when Raine offered him such a wreath.

Then he snapped his head up, his eyes narrowing as a familiar scent approached, a scent Xavier had not smelled in a long time.

Then he stood up, realizing that what he'd done had attracted his mate's attention.

"Someone's coming..." He heard Karen mutter clearly before she dropped the unfinished flower crown and stood beside him.