Chapter 157 - Love Me

Nigel was running at his top speed towards the forest of the Palace. He was thinking how his life was going to take a turn now. He missed his family so much that he wanted to run to Wyverndale right now.

His amber eyes were covered in tears and because he was seeing blur, he would collide with the huge trees every now and then. However, he didn't care about the pain, he wanted to feel pain so that the pain in his heart would die down, but it didn't.

Suddenly, another wolf with silver fur stood in front of Nigel. One of its eyes was blue while the other was light brown in color, and both were glistening. If it weren't for that pair of beautiful eyes, Nigel would have run past that wolf. But he stopped because he knew to whom those eyes belonged.

"Nigel, why are you running?" he heard a familiar voice inside his head.

But Nigel didn't reply, he kept on looking down on the ground because he didn't want to show his tears to her..

Rhea slowly and carefully stepped close to Nigel. "Nigel, I know how you are feeling right now. None of us were okay with leaving our home. But running away isn't the solution. And besides, it's not like you can never visit your home after you return back again. You can always visit them every once in a while when you miss them."

And finally, Rhea heard Nigel's voice in her head. His voice was filled with anger towards himself, "I should have learned better, I should have learned to control my anger by now. I transformed in front of the King and even attacked him. If I was able to control my anger better then maybe me returning back to my home wouldn't have been this big of a deal." 

Rhea took a step closer to Nigel so that she could see his eyes. She didn't want him to punish himself or feel guilty. "Even the alpha loses his control, Nigel. We were born this way, anger comes as easily to us as breathing. That is why we have to stick together so that the others can help us when we are in pain. Werewolves cannot survive without their pack."

Rhea gently touched Nigel's head with her own and Nigel could hear her whisper that reflected her love and care towards him, "So please, don't think of running away. At least the people here are not complete strangers to you. You have your maternal uncle and aunt, your grandmother, and your cousins. And… and you also have me."

Somehow, her voice triggered the emotion that Nigel was trying to control. He reverted back to his human form and fell down on his knees. Then he began to let his emotion flow from his eyes like never before.

Seeing Nigel crying like a baby, Rhea wanted to comfort him. She also morphed back into her human form and gently caressed his long silky black hair.

But when her loving hands began to run through his hair, Nigel began to cry even more uncontrollably. He didn't know what came over him but he wanted to cry his eyes out. He felt as though Rhea wouldn't mind seeing him crying.

And she did not. She understood him more than anyone else because she also came from a village that was very far away from the Enchanted Valley. The elders saw talent in her and they asked her to serve in the Palace. She knew the pain of living far away from her family. She knew how it felt when the life-long ambition was crushed just because one had triggered the werewolf curse.

She wanted to comfort him, she wanted to be there for this man who was showing his vulnerable side to her. And without caring that she was naked, she straddled down on his laps and let him bury his face on her bosom. She wrapped one of her arms around his broad shoulder and the other caressed his hair.

Nigel cried for quite some time. He felt warm and safe in her arms. Rhea… she made him do things that he never thought he would, he had never cried in front of anyone before, not even in front of Adeline.

After calming down a little, without raising his head from her chest, he whispered to her, "Rhea, why do you do this to me?"

"What do you mean? What did I do?" she didn't know why but her voice came out as whispers as well.

"One moment you make me feel as though you love me but then the next moment you act very indifferent as if I am just another student of yours." He finally raised his head to see her in her eyes and asked, "Do you even see me as a man worthy of your love? Or do you just see me as a child in need of guidance?"

Rhea had not expected him to be so straightforward. Not that she didn't want him to be but she wished that he had asked that to her a long time ago. Rhea looked into his sapphire eyes that were swollen and red because of excessive crying. She smiled at him and gently wiped his tears from his face.

She cupped his angelic face and spoke in a melodious voice, "Oh Nigel!" she instantly wanted to say that she always saw him as a man but she hesitated. And instead said, "I acted indifferent because you are a Prince and I am just a commoner."

"So what if you are just a commoner?" Nigel pressed his hands on hers and looked at her like she was the moon. And his inner wolf was going crazy for her.

Rhea was not a fool to not recognize that love for her in his eyes. And that heartbeat of Nigel that she was hearing beating like a drum, she knew it was beating for her. Subconsciously, her hands trailed over his chest, as though it was on display just for her. "I thought you were just infatuated to me like every other man. And Princes always marry Princesses or someone from powerful families. I am neither."

Nigel could hear Rhea's heart beating like never before. He slowly raised his hand and played with her curly hair. And he asked in a voice that smelt of desperation, desperation to hear that she also loved him, "What if I told you I don't care about such titles? And what if I told you that you are my first love?"

"First love?" she asked in astonishment. He was already her age; and with that face of his and also considering the fact that he was a Prince, she thought that many women must have already thrown themselves at him. "Maybe they had… maybe he is saying that he never loved any of them," She thought to herself.

"Yes, first love. All I had ever cared about was training myself and working to impress my father. I never thought I would ever need a woman until I saw you." Nigel dared to put his arms around her bare waist and spoke ever so enticingly, "I know that I am incomplete without you. I want you to complete me, Rhea. I want you to stay by my side forever. I want you to love me."