46

I rubbed my neck in embarrassment as we got off the plane. From the windows I had already seen Grayson's brother Wyatt.

Cyril's presence on the plane didn't make it any better. I felt like I was being watched all the time and I had no explanations for everything that had happened.

Grayson refused to answer me as to exactly what had happened to him and fully accepted Cyril's presence on the plane. It could only mean that what he had experienced was more than bad, cruel and painful.

I had seen with my own eyes what Cyril was capable of and Elisane survived without injury. I also didn't know what became of her. Cyril remained silent and Grayson didn't know it.

Caspian didn't show up anymore and I couldn't ask him. On the one hand, I was relieved not to have to meet him again. It felt good not to have to face him with my fresh mark.

It would have been like another rejection and a slap in the face after everything he would have done for Grayson and I. I kept reminding myself that he had gotten me into the mess in the first place. On the other hand, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be with Grayson right now.

"Are you ready?" Grayson handed me my jacket and looked at me dreamily. I was definitely more than that. I looked forward to his home and I would only leave myself for the next few months if he did.

I wouldn't even get in touch with my brothers. I wasn't ready to share with them what had happened to me, not until I had some answers. Because one thing was certain, they wouldn't just ask one or two questions.

The greeting with Wyatt was very brief as we got off the plane. Everyone quickly agreed not to talk about anything here. He took Grayson in his arms without a word and then hugged Trevor for a few minutes. He gave Jade a small smile and Cyril a nod in greeting.

Great, the next thing I've fallen out of favor with. He didn't even notice me even though I was next to my mate the whole time. Grayson grinned at me in amusement after seeing his reaction, but didn't say anything. Now was that good or bad?

I sat in the car a little excited as we drove to Grayson's house. In front of us was Wyatt's car with Trevor and Jade. Cyril sat next to Grayson in the passenger seat and I wondered when he would be leaving. I didn't understand why he stayed here. Shouldn't he be with Caspian now?

"I will stay as long as my task requires." He said it without me asking my question out loud. He turned his gray, desolate eyes to me and looked at me for a while without saying anything else.

"Protecting the king. I know, I know," I murmured under my breath and his eyes lit green.

"You," he smiled briefly. For him it was probably the same. I only had to think it and he shook his head. How could unspoken words get through to him, "You and the future," he added.

He turned around again and everything got even more muddled in my head. Grayson seemed satisfied with his answer. I would do it over the next few days to get my answers.

When we finally got to Grayson's house, everything was as we left it. However, it was unknown to Grayson. I had totally forgotten about that.

"What the hell,—" Grayson cursed and switched off the engine.

If his brother Wyatt wasn't waiting calmly in front of his house with Jade and Trevor, he would surely have jumped out furiously.

"My mistake," Cyril said dryly and Grayson stared in disbelief at the swath that appeared on the other side of the lake. Grayson swallowed and looked at Cyril, shaking his head.

"I'll help you plant new trees," he suggested, shrugging.

"What happened here?" Grayson gasped in disbelief and immediately looked at me with concern.

"Showed Elisane her place." Cyril remained indifferent in his answers.

"I was just a spectator," I raised my hands soothingly.

"I don't want to be your enemy," Grayson murmured towards Cyril and got out of the car. He was still stunned and ran past his brother when he wanted to tell him something. He ran a few steps closer to the lake and stared at the aisle in the forest.

"What happened to him?" I took the opportunity and turned to Cyril. Apparently too loud, because Grayson immediately turned to us and shook his head.

"Love always involves pain, Tara. Otherwise you wouldn't know how valuable it is to you. You don't have to know everything to be happy with him." Wise words that Cyril chose.

"Dennoch, Cyril."

"For some it's just a little jealousy that lets us know what the other means to them, for others it's loss."

"You mean Caspian." Cyril just laughed to himself.

"We cannot cheat the future, Tara. Time is given to you and time is taken from you. It is our choices that affect it. You made your choice and Caspian his." Cyril got out of the car and in a flash was standing next to Grayson.

I angrily followed him. Grayson tagged me and yet my wolf didn't come back. Speed ​​wasn't something I attributed to myself anymore. On the contrary, I was dependent on the help of others in the future.

"Do you want adults or seedlings?" I heard him ask Grayson as he put a hand on his shoulder.

I looked at Wyatt and Trevor and Jade who stood speechless behind them both.

"Don't ask me," I waved him off. "Let's go inside." I walked purposefully to the house and felt for the key behind the door frame, where Grayson had first fished it out and I had hidden it again for him.

Grayson and I would soon have to find a new hiding place. Trevor was grinning so broadly that I could already hear Grayson ranting in my head. Jade's punitive nudge against Trevor's shoulder said all that was left unsaid.

"What is he to you Tara?" Grayson's brother Wyatt suddenly stood next to me as we entered. It was the first time he addressed a word to me today. There was nothing hostile in his gaze. It was the worried look of an older brother that I recognized from mine.

"My mate, my love and the best friend I've ever had," I replied.

"And?" he asked sternly.

"And what?" I asked irritably.

"Will he grow old with you?" Wyatt was suddenly dead serious and all I wanted to do was crawl into a corner.

"Yes," Cyril's voice thundered low through the room and Grayson rushed to me behind him.

"What are you doing?" Grayson snapped at his brother.

"I protect my family," he replied. Wyatt looked blankly between everyone involved.

"Wyatt, she's Grayson's mate. Don't always be so critical," Trevor hissed.

"Something I obviously didn't know at the same time as you did," he cynically replied. The disappointment in his words was more than clear.

"Well, you healed him. He just told us," Trevor replied. This was about something else that was a long time ago.

"You weren't there when the king found her. He didn't know she was Grayson's mate and we kept it a secret from him. He took us with him so we wouldn't talk about her being his Erasthai. Sounds like your political ones stuff, right?" Trevor looked at Wyatt expectantly.

As a brother, I wouldn't fear the other's reaction, but he did. Wyatt was worried and obviously knew little about what had happened in the last few months. Hadn't Grayson told him anything?

Trevor and Grayson looked at him as if they suddenly knew something neither of them said out loud.

"An assassin is here?" Cyril paced the room in alarm, glancing back and forth between us with his gray eyes until they settled on me. Only I could now see them changing color between green and grey.

"They've been in every pack for a while and it would be good if you didn't leave our minds," Wyatt gritted his teeth. That surprised me or maybe not, he had answered my thoughts too.

"I'll take care of it," he replied as casually as if it were a repair order.

"No," Wyatt called and Cyril smiled mysteriously at him.

"Not for her, for the others," he replied, briefly glancing at me before looking back at Cyril.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused while everyone in the room seemed to be holding their breath. Cyril would be evasive in answering everyone, but maybe not me.

"Prince Casimir sent out assassins when his betrayal of the king was exposed, this has nothing to do with you my queen." He was calling me that again and it hurt me so much, mostly because of Grayson, but he didn't even bat an eyelid when I looked up at him.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Nothing. The borders were closed the moment we got here. I'll take care of the assassins." Cyril turned to Wyatt and cocked his head slightly. He watched him for a while and he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

It was as if they had been having a silent conversation because he nodded in conclusion and then looked at Grayson and Trevor who were now looking at him in surprise. Great even more secrets. Jade looked questioningly back and forth between the gentlemen, just like me.

"Well, then everything would be clear," Cyril said and turned to the door. Before he opened it, he glanced over his shoulder again and the next moment he was gone.

"Welcome to the family!" Wyatt said flatly to me and also went to the door. Somehow I felt that the questions I had would remain unanswered for a long time.

Well, one thing might not change and that was the loving hug Grayson gave me as his brother Wyatt left the house. The little kiss on my forehead, the thumb rubbing my skin, reassuring me in more than words that everything would be fine.