Chapter 91: Chapter 91

Liviana’s POV

It’s been a few days since that incident, I haven’t seen or talked to my father since I came back to the pack house.

I haven’t spoken to Luan either.

He’s been…distant.

He was upset.

I couldn’t blame him.

I was in the wrong for hiding something so important to him.

Still, I didn’t really regret it.

But I wasn’t too proud of myself either.

I went out of the pack house and got on my motorbike.

“Edmond, I’m going out for a while. Let me know if anything comes up” I mind linked Edmond.

“Yes, Alpha” he immediately replied.

I wore my helmet and started the engine before driving off.

I could no longer go to my safe space to think.

My family was there.

I could no longer go by the lake.

It’d be too easy to find me.

I needed a place where I can avoid everyone at the moment.

I just really needed some time to think and get away from everything and everyone.

After a while of riding my motorbike, I reached my destination.

It was the place where I ended up in when Luan suddenly came back after being gone for a whole month.

The place where I unexpectedly met Howl the last time.

I stood beside the lake as I stared at the water.

I stared at my reflection.

Suddenly, I felt annoyed for some reason.

“You’re supposed to be smart. But why are you an i***t about this kind of things?” I talked to my reflection.

I think I’m really close to losing it.

“You’re supposed to be strong and fearless but why do you look so helpless now?” I continued.

I’m really going mad.

“How are you supposed to rule both territories in this state? Can you really do it? Do you really deserve to be a ruler?” I said as I clenched my fists and a tear fell from eye.

“You…” I said as I stared at my reflection.

“Are you really fit to be a queen?” I questioned and the tears fell down from my eyes to my cheeks endlessly.

I fell to my knees as I subbed.

I never thought I’d come to a point in my life where I’d doubt myself so much that I’d have this painful aching in my heart.

I’ve experienced a lot of disappointments in my life.

But I think I was the worst one of them all.

Then, I heard rustling and I immediately got up on my feet on alert.

Then, I saw the familiar wolf and I sighed in relief as I sat back down anf wiped my tears away.

I heard more rustling by the bushes.

After a few moments, I heard his steps coming in my direction.

“What are you doing in my hangout again? Did you miss me so bad that you came here to see me?” he said as he sat down beside me.

I gave him a look.

“Are you high? Don’t you think your imagination is too out of this world? Stop daydreaming, Howl” I said and he pouted at me.

I rolled my eyes at him and slightly pulled the collar of my shirt to reveal my mark to him.

“Will this invalidate your delusions about me?” I said as I showed him the mark.

He looked at it and his eyes widened a bit.

“You’re marked” he muttered in shock.

I nodded.

Howl hasn’t been at school often because the football team has been going to matches so we haven’t encountered each other as often as we used to.

“Wow” he said as he looked at me.

“You actually let yourself get marked” he said as he looked at me in surprise.

“What’s so shocking?” I frowned at him.

Howl chuckled.

“No wonder there was something off about you” he said and I frowned at him.

“Congratulations” he said with a genuine smile.

I chuckled.

“It’s weird to hear that from you so just shut up because it making me cringe” I said and he pouted again as I chuckled.

We were silent for a moment.

“So what’s with the tears?” he suddenly asked.

“Can’t you just shut up like I said earlier? Or maybe go back your pack so I can have the place to myself?” I said but not in super rude way.

Howk chuckled.

“I’ll just shut up then” he said.

We had a comfortable silence between us.

It was nice.

Although earlier, I wanted to be alone, I didn’t mind having Howl around.

Probably because I didn’t have any concern with him.

He isn’t that bad at all.

I used to hate his guts.

But I can tolerate it now.

More minutes passed by as we just sat there in silence.

I contemplated on talking to him many times.

And I decided to just go with it.

“Can I consult you on something?” I suddenly voiced out.

“Go ahead” he said.

I took a deep breath.

“I have a friend and well….she has a problem with something” I started.

I wanted to use the ‘this is not my story’ card.

Howl chuckled and I slightly glared at him so he immediately stopped.

“So…uhhh…so, my friend she had something happen in her life. It was something really really big but she…” I paused then bit my lower l*p.

“She hid it from her partner. She did it to protect him but it didn’t end well. In fact, it became even worse than she imagined” I said as I sighed.

“To protect him? What was she protecting him from?” Howl asked curiously.

I looked at him.

“Pain. She was…protecting him from the unbearable pain in his life” I said sadly.

Howl stared at me for a moment.

“Was she able to successfully protect him?” he asked.

“For now. But I think she still hurt him even when she was able to protect him from the thing that she feared would cause him pain” I said as I looked down.

“Does that mean that he’s bound to experience that pain eventually?” Howl said and I nodded.

“Unfortunately” I said as I sighed.

“He should be thankful” Howl said and I looked up at him.

“He has someone who’s willing to protect him from pain” he continued and he smiled a little as he looked at the river.

“Although keeping something that sounds so important from him is upsetting, the fact that she was doing it all for his sake should be more than enough reason for him to just move on from it and get along with her already” he said as he glanced at me.

“I’m sure it was hard for her too” he said.

“To keep it all to herself. It must have been really difficult but she did it in order to protect him. He’s lucky” he said and gave me a smile.

I just stared at Howl as he talked.

“Not everyone can be so selfless even if it’s for their other half” he said.

“You’re so selfless, Liviana Crest” he said as he smiled at me.

I looked at him stunned.

“Keeping it a secret from Grey was stupid. But you did it because you cared for him that much. And you’ll keep wanting to protect him till the end. Just like the stupid yet amazing person that you are” he stated.

My eyes widened at him.

“I didn’t say anything about it being me or Luan! You’re assuming things! It was my friend’s concern!” I said but Howl only laughed.

I flushed red as I huffed and stared at the water.

We were both quiet again.

“I heard some of the things you were saying earlier” Howl suddenly said and I looked at him in shock.

“Why are you doubting yourself?” he said.

“Did you hear everything?” I asked nervously.

“Mostly” he confessed.

I gulped as I looked away.

“You’re an amazing leader, Crest. Not everyone does it like you do. You juggle with being an Alpha, being a student and being you” he said.

“You’re annoyingly impressive. It hurts my pride to admit it but it’s true” he said with a chuckle.

I chuckled too.

“Don’t pressure yourself too much. You’re doing just fine. If it makes you feel better, if I was in your position, I would’ve lost my mind a long time ago” he said and gave me an assuring smile.

I smiled a little.

Just when I was having doubts about myself.

Then, this dude comes along.

For a moment, I saw Howl as my friend rather than my rival.

“Who are you and what did you do to Tyler Howl?” I said with a chuckle.

Howl frowned and pouted at me.

“You’re so mature” he said sarcastically and I laughed.

I looked at Howl with a smile on my face.

“Thank you” I said and he smiled.

“You’re welcome” he said.

Then, we both turned to look at the water again.

“Aren’t you going back? I’m sure your mate is looking for you. That dude is one clingy and possessive son of a btch when it comes to you” Howl said with a chuckle.

“It doesn’t matter. He’s ignoring me anyway” I said with a slight shrug.

“What a baby” he said and I laughed.

“Oh yeah. Let’s see you when you actually find your match” I said with a smirk.

“Oh please. I would never act like him” he said as he faked a bark.

I shook my head with a chuckle.

“I highly doubt it” I said confidently.

“I’m pretty confident I won’t” he stilk insisted and I just shrugged.

After that, we bickered and teased each other a little longer about random things about ourselves and about our packs.

I was able to set aside my doubts and just think clearly.

I felt better.