A vulnerable side

Lana stormed out into the house.

Of all the things that she was dealing with, Nathaniel was at the top of her list. She found hate in her heart for the demon.

Her heart was racing, blood boiling in her veins. Lana clenched and unclenched her fist. Thoughts of the demon driving her crazy out of her mind.

She paced back and forth in the hallway. Nothing made sense to her. There was an evident frown on her face.

It was not how she pictured the day going after the harvest. The vision in her head had played out quite differently. It most definitely doesn't include her brother being mad at her.

Axel saw her like that. He was worried for her, their tie helped him understand everything that was going on in her head and feels all the feelings in her heart.

He ambled forward to get to her and comfort her.

Then, Noam appeared out of the blue, standing in Lana's path. Lana didn't hear him arrive. She found herself bumping into him.

"Sorry," she quickly apologized.

Nathaniel arrived at the scene. He halted a little behind Axel.

He waited to see Noam's reaction to Lana's clumsiness. From the stories, he had heard of the demon alpha. It was said that he had killed people for breathing the same oxygen as him.

Nathaniel feared for his sister. Particularly since Lana had offended Noam earlier. He was ready to jump to her rescue.

Noam met her gaze. "It's fine," he assured her. "I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn't have raised my voice at you or demanded you apologize to Nathaniel," Noam said.

Noam touched his sister's hand. His touch calmed Lana and all her anger faded away.

"I crossed the line..."

"Not enough reason for me to lose my temper with you. And I know this isn't a good reason either but I have stressed since the harvest festival," Noam admitted. "With the ceremony and my mate. It's too much to take in at once," he let out.

Nathaniel had expected shouts and harsh remarks from the alpha toward Lana. He never expected to see a vulnerable side of the male as he poured his heart out to Lana.

Admitting his mistakes and apologizing to someone of low status than him. It didn't sound like the alpha he had heard of.

"Can you ever forgive me?"

Lana ran into Noam's embrace. Her heart felt peaceful by his side. Her instincts kicked in, and she wrapped her hands around his back and sank into his chest.

She could catch Axel's scent in the air, it brought a smile to her face. "Always," she answered him.

Noam sighed.

It worried him when she stormed off that he had crossed the line. He feared that she wouldn't be able to forgive him.

Lana broke the hug, her feelings were centered after having talked things out with Noam. "I'll go and see to the prisoners," she said.

Noam gave her permission to leave. Lana shyly walked passed Axel feeling the beat of her heart exhilarated upon glancing at her mate.

With his heightened hearing, Noam picked up on it but didn't ask her. Lana would tell her when she was ready and hopefully, by then he would have also found a way around his mate.

Axel followed behind Lana leaving Nathaniel and Noam alone once more. Noam had a lingering question in his mind concerning Nathaniel.

The way that the man felt for his sister was strange. Noam could sense the feelings of love and longing from Nathaniel directed to Lana. It puzzled him why Nathaniel had such feelings for his sister.

The feeling coursing through his veins wasn't the romantic type of feeling. It was similar to the love he felt for Lana. Which further confused the alpha.

How was he to react to that? All he had felt from the demon was immense hatred from the very start and the desire from the male to end his life. But that feeling had been overshadowed by the love that Nathaniel had for Lana.

It was comforting not to feel Nathaniel's craving for his death but his stomach was in knots as to the cause of such change.

"Why do you look at Lana the way you do?" he inquired. Pushing his question to Nathaniel to understand his sudden change of heart.

Nathaniel panicked. He couldn't have his secret disclosed. There was no saying what would become of him if Noam discovered his relationship with Lana.

"She is your sister and as your..."

He froze.

'As your lover, she is like my sister too,' was what he wanted to say until he realized how crazy he would sound.

The alpha wasn't his lover. They weren't even acquaintances in the least, it would be a strange thing to say.

"What are you trying to imply?"

Nathaniel swallowed hard.

On one hand, he had to keep his discovery a secret until he finds his way back to Lana. And get her to remember who he is, on the other hand, the alpha seemed very protective of Lana and that could hinder his plans.

Nathaniel needed to find a way to warm up to the alpha to avoid his suspicion. To gain his trust so that he could move easily in the house without being monitored and to find out the truth about the events of the night of the attack.

He had to know the whole story from Lana or Noam. To put together the missing pieces of how his sister survived when he had seen a wolf dig its claws right through her that day.

"As I told you earlier at the hotel. I had fallen in love with you a long time ago and I want to be with you," he said feigning a blush on his face. "Lana is your sister, as such I want to think of her as my sister," he spoke.

Nathaniel shot his gaze up to meet Noam's. He didn't know if the alpha was buying his lies. However, when he looked up, he found Noam looking in the opposite direction from him.