Shadow looked at the sleeping form of Emily. It had taken a lot of effort from him and Kaiden to calm her down and make her relax enough to fall asleep.

After making sure that she was covered properly with the duvet, he left her bedroom and headed towards the living room where Kaiden was sitting.

​​

"She will be alright, right?" He asked as soon as he noticed Shadow walking into the living room. The worry and fear in his eyes made Shadow feel bad for the man. It was the first time when he had seen his mate in such an emotionally vulnerable situation in a long time and he sure wasn't prepared for it.

On the other hand, Shadow had always been beside her throughout her journey of struggling with her past and emotional states. He had already seen her in her most vulnerable state and he also knew that she was strong enough to pull herself together and move on. The girl was way stronger than they thought.

He took a seat beside Kaiden on the sofa as he replied with a slight nod, "Don't worry. She's strong. She will be completely fine by tomorrow. I'm more worried about her brothers." 

The two of them were silent for the next few moments. Kaiden had clearly relaxed a little bit after knowing that his mate was fine.

His mind kept playing the scene of what happened in the morning. He recalled how Emily was looking like she was completely tired of keeping everything hidden inside her, how she was tired of apologizing, and how she was tired of fighting with her past. 

Both his heart and wolf were crying just recalling the scene where his mate looked like she was so scared... she was scared of herself.

Neither he nor his wolf liked the fact that she called herself dangerous. She wasn't dangerous. She could never be dangerous. 

"Are you alright?" Shadow could not help but ask as he felt the disturbance in his energy. His emotions were clearly overpowering him at the moment.

Kaiden found himself shaking his head in denial and shocked himself when he let his head rest against Shadow's shoulder.

The latter was so shocked that he almost jumped away but Kaiden's grip on his arm kept him from moving.

"What are you doing?" Shadow asked as he tried to slide away from the man who was using his shoulder as a pillow.

"She told me that you have the ability of taking away all the worries and sadness of people. That whenever she feels like she can't handle it anymore, a small warm gesture from you can take away all her negative thoughts. In her description, you sound like a guardian angel." Kaiden spoke in a low voice and relaxed against Shadow who had finally stopped moving.

"You are not her." That's all Shadow said in response but did not try to move away from the man who had fully relaxed against him.

"I know. But I'm someone important to her. You should start caring about me too. I think it will make her happy." Kaiden found himself saying as he closed his eyes to take a little rest.

On the other hand, Shadow could not help but scoff at the shamelessness of the man but once again he did not move and just let Kaiden relax against him.

He had already absorbed a lot of negative energy from Emily to calm her and seeing that Kaiden was also not in a good state, he decided to help the man only once considering that his health was important since he was his Princess' mate.

By the time he finished, his powers were fighting inside him to escape from the darkness. He was surprised that his powers were still trying to not accept the darkness and poison that had been running inside him for years. It had already become a part of him but his saint-like body still refused to accept the bitter truth.

He was so tired that he did not even realize that Kaiden's slow and steady breathing was pulling him into the dark abyss too and soon enough he too had fallen asleep on the sofa with Kaiden sleeping next to him with his head resting against Shadow's shoulder.

That's how Emily found them after two hours. She woke up feeling thirsty and when she walked out of her bedroom to get a glass of water, she noticed the two men who were fast asleep on the sofa in her living room.

The glass of water almost slipped from her hand when she found them. Kaiden was still sleeping soundly with his head resting against Shadow's shoulder while one of Shadow's arms was wrapped around Kaiden.

She was surprised to see that Shadow didn't wake up as soon as she entered the living room. His sharp senses always kept him on alert mode and the faintest voice seems to disturb him but not today.

She found a small smile making its way to her lips as she observed the two of them with warmth in her eyes.

She still could not understand her connection with Shadow. He was not just a friend or someone who had become dear to her in the past years. No! The connection between them felt like it had been there for a long time.

What she felt towards him was too powerful and deep for her to express in words. It wasn't anything similar to what she had with Kaiden but it was also not that kind of affection that she had towards her brothers and friends, it was different but beautiful.

Many times she wanted to ask Shadow about their connection but a voice inside her head always stopped her. Something kept telling her to not dig about it, that it was better for her to never find out the answer because she was not prepared. 

And the truth was - she would never be prepared. No one would be prepared for the revelation. 

***

After taking a bath, Emily dressed up in normal white shorts and a light green loose shirt with a kitty printed on it. Her waist-length hair was braided loosely and she was finally feeling like her body had got the chance to breathe properly.

When she walked out f her room this time and entered the kitchen and living room area, she found both Kaiden and Shadow shuffling in the kitchen as they worked on a late afternoon lunch.

It was past three o'clock and her tummy was rumbling as it expressed its unhappiness about the lack of food.

Kaiden was the first one who noticed her and just in a blink of an eye, he was beside her. His eyes keenly looking at her to make sure that she was okay.

Emily smiled softly at him before she let herself fell into his arms. Her head came to rest against his chest while she moved her hands to wrap around his waist.

"Next time don't harass Shadow. You can come and cuddle with me." She found herself speaking in a low voice but of course, both the men heard her.

She noticed the slightest slip of Shadow's hand as he was moving the spatula but that was all he gave away before he continued as nothing happened.

But Kaiden was completely embarrassed by her words. He still had no idea about why he did that. Just recalling the moment when he woke up and found himself sleeping against a fast asleep Shadow, he wanted to erase the last few hours from history.

And now listening to his mate's words and realizing that she too saw them, he was utterly embarrassed.

"You could have pretended as you saw nothing." He muttered as he brushed her hair away from her left ear before pulling on her ear lobe slightly with his finger and thumb.

"Why should I do that? If you are not embarrassed about harassing him then you should also not be embarrassed about accepting it." Emily told him as she finally pulled away from the hug and moved towards the kitchen aisle.

"What do you mean by I harassed him? I did nothing like that. You can ask him. He was totally fine..."

"Kaiden, just shut up!" Shadow whispered shouted at the stupid wolf who was only making the situation more awkward. 

Kaiden immediately quieted down but not before giving the man a sad pouting look which of course did nothing to melt Shadow's hard cold heart. 

"Are you hungry?" Shadow asked Emily to change the topic. After seeing her teasing Kaiden and the twinkle that was back in her emerald eyes, he knew that she was emotionally stable at the moment which made him finally relax. 

Just because he never showed it did not mean that he wasn't worried too and just because he knew that she would be okay also did not mean that he worried any less.

"I am. There are huge cats running around in my stomach at the moment. I want yummy food." Emily responded as she picked up a spoon and moved to taste the chicken soup that Shadow had prepared.