"Uhg" I groaned as I slammed the book that I was reading shut. It has been an hour since I came to the cave and since the start I am still at the page where I started. No matter how many times I read, I just could not process it since my mind was too preoccupied with wanting to know about what moon goddess was hinting at. What could be the second part of the story and was it related to why Alexander behaved like this?

I got on my feet as I heard heavy footsteps approaching. The only person who knew about this place except me was my grandmother and I am sure that those are not her footsteps. As the mysterious person entered the cave, my jaws dropped to the ground.

There, standing in front of me was Alexander dressed in just grey sweatpants and a white shirt that showcased his muscular inked arms and even the material of the shirt was not able to hide his toned abs. Mentally smacking myself, I spoke. "What are you doing here? And don't you dare say 'I could ask you the same thing'" I mimicked him.

"First of all I don't sound like that." I scoffed at his comment. "And second of all, I wanted to talk to you about something."

I thought I was not hearing properly for a while. The Alexander Denver was wanting to talk to me after avoiding to talk to me for so long. How the tables have changed. "About?"

"Something. Can we sit and talk?" He said as he averted my gaze, clearly uncomfortable.

I sighed and tuned to go sit back at my initial position, next to the small clear pool. "How did you know about this place and me being here?" I asked as Alexander sat next to me.

"I was searching for you and bumped into your grandmother in the process. She was the one who told me you would probably be here. Your grandmother.... does she know about us being mates?"

"Apparently she does. How? I don't even know it myself." I shrugged at his question.

"Hmm. Do you often come here?" He questioned while taking in his surrounding. I almost wanted to laugh at how uncomfortable he clearly was. He kept averting his gaze just like he did the first we talked in the garden and his posture was stiff.

"Hmm. It helps me calm myself down when I am stressed." I answered honestly. I did not want him to feel like I did not trust him especially when it looked like he was about to tell me something important. I just hoped that whatever he was about to tell me, helps us with our relationship instead of ruining more than it already is.

After a while of both us staying quiet and before things became awkward, I decided to break the silence. "So....you wanted to tell me something? Look, I don't know what you want to tell me if you are not comfortable in talking about it now, take your time. I won't force you."

"No. I want to get it over with." He took in a deep breath before starting to talk. "Not many know about this but my mother and father were not of the same kind. While my father was the king of the demons, my mother was actually an angel. They met each other by accident and my mother fell in love with my father the first time she saw him but unfortunately it was not the same for my father." I saw him clench his jaws and fist his hands, as if the the memory itself was hard to imagine. I don't know what got into me but I placed my hand on his fisted one and drew small circles on it.

"My father just saw her as a toy and someone who would carry his heir. My father somehow managed to convince my mother to get together with him and keep their relationship a secret saying that it was for her safety and my mother just believed him blindly. At first, he acted how a mate would have acted. Caring, loving and protecting but that did not last long. As soon as my mom got pregnant with me, he showed his true colors. He started acting distant from her. He would never make time for her and whenever they were together, he would ignore her. My mom would try to talk to him but he would start shouting and fighting. He came home late and left my mother all alone when she probably needed him the most. Since their relationship was secret, nobody knew and therefore my mom did not get any help during those times."

"Somehow my mother managed to not give up during that time and finally gave birth to me. My mother saw me as a part of her but my father just thought of me as a trophy. He finally announced their relationship but only to the demons as they had to know of their heir. That too, he did not tell the complete truth. He told them that my mom was actually a demon too instead of an angle and got a witch to help change my mothers scent which actually made her less powerful. Even though he acted really bad towards my mom, she bear it all. All of his insults, all of his beatings and all of his mistreatments. All of it just to be able to be with me." I felt my heart clench as I saw his tears well up a bit. Even if he tried to hide it, I could see it and it made me really sad.

"When I was five years old, my father had already started training me a lot. Many would even say that he overworked me but he did not care. He did not care about anyone's feelings. Not mine and not my mother's. All he ever cared about was power. One day during training, I got injured really badly since I had to fight a really powerful opponent. My father, instead of helping me, was disappointed in me and shouted profanities at me for being weak. That day, I cried and my mother caught me. She could not take it that my father treated me like that and decided to talk to him but that was probably the worst decision she took."

"Both of us went to his office where he was supposed to be working but instead, we found him making out with a witch. The same witch who changed my mother's scent. For the first time, I had seen my mom cry that day. My father acted like we were the ones at fault at that time, that we interrupted him. A fight broke out between my mother and my father and I just stood there, not able to do anything to help her. At one point, my mother got so angry that she attacked the witch but due to the previous spell that the witch had cast on her, she was less powerful. The witch became furious and decided to curse me as a way to hurt my mom."

"What curse?" I asked silently

"She took away my mate from me. Her curse would never let me have a mate. My mom was really sad after this. That I would never be able to have a family of my own. As for my father, he saw me as even weaker since I had no mate, there would be no heir to carry on the kingdom. Ever since that day, the behavior of my father became even worse. He still cheated on my mom but instead of doing it secretly he would bring them to his room, the one where my mom also slept. Due to this, my mother had to spend countless nights in my room with different excuses so that I did not know the actual reason but I did and I hated myself for not doing anything about it."

"What the final straw was, that he killed her. My father killed my mother. His own mate. I was only ten at that moment and had to witness the murder of my own mother in front of me. I still remember her lying in her own pool of blood and the blood dripping form the sword with which she was killed, in my father's hand as he looked completely unbothered. I was completely devastated to lose the only person who cared about me and made me happy but another part of me was happy that she was finally at peace, away from all of this mistreatment and somewhere safe where she would be happy. Since that day, I became who I am today. I became cold and just focused on training. I distanced myself from everyone else. When was 15, I killed my father and took the throne. The others did not say anything since I won fair and square and also proved myself to them multiple times. Also, they saw me train since the start and knew clearly how bad my father was as a leader"

I was speechless. I felt like someone had dropped a bomb on me. I could not form any words and my brain way in a haywire. All the information he just told me, everything he just confessed were tangled in my brain. Never had I imagined this. I thought that he had a good family, people who cared for him and loved him and that he just became king. But now that I know about the truth, the harsh reality, I could not help but admire him. His strength. His bravery. His determination. Even after all this difficulties, he kept going and he succeeded. I never met his father and I am glad that I did not.

Several emotions passed through me but I could not form any words to express what I was feeling. I felt my throat go dry and could not help the increasing moisture in my eyes. I felt helpless for not being able to say anything. Since the words did not seem to come out, I let my actions speak in its place. I moved a bit closer to him and slowly wrapped my hands around his torso. I felt his body go rigid under my touch and his muscles tensed. After sometime, he finally let out a small sigh and turned his body a bit so that he was facing me properly and hugged me bag. He just held me there. My hands found their way to his hair and I ran it softly through his lock. "I'm sorry" I managed to say, my voice coming out as a bare whisper "I'm sorry for everything that happened to you. I know it will not change anything but still."

He pulled back and looked at me in disbelief. "Why are you sorry? Should you not hate me for killing my own father?"

Is he serious right now?

I think all of this emotional talk has messed up with his mind Cresent.

"Hate you? Why would I do that? Because you killed your father?" I let out a sigh. "I know that you killed him and honestly it was an easy way out for him. For how he acted to your mother, to you, he deserved it. Maybe even worse. Whatever you have been through, your story is part of you. It shows how strong you are. Both mentally and physically. It even makes you less of an asshole now" I added the last part, trying to light up the mood

He rolled his eyes and I saw his lips tug up a bit. "Does this has something to do with why you did not want us to tell anyone about us?" I asked

He nodded as he began speaking "I was scared of turning out like my father and hurting you and I think I kind of did turn into him in some way, looking at how I treated you. What was even more suspicious was the fact that I was not supposed to have a mate but then I saw you that day. Your family and mine have been enemies for long time and I did not want you to have a bad relationship with them because of me. In a sense it would make me feel like my father. Lastly, I was scared. I honestly was scared of you rejecting me and I did not want to go through such a painful thing."

"Then why did you not reject me instead of me rejecting you? The pain would be less."

"I did not want to let you go. If I had a mate despite being cursed, it could mean only two things. Either the witch was bad at putting the spell or its just that I have good luck."

His words sent a weird feeling in my body. After finally all this time of assuming things, the truth was out. He did not want to let me go and at the same he was scared he would turn into his father. He even thought that if I would be with him, I would ruin my non existent relationship with my family. But now, knowing that he does not want to let me go, to be separated, made me want to scream with joy.

"I would say it is the latter. When I spoke with the moon goddess, she said that I was not supposed to have a mate either but then she knew how my life would be. She decided to make us mates since we kind of had the same fate and that when two broken things are joined together, it can make something even better." I said as I remembered the conversation I had with the moon goddess at the cottage.

He cleared his throat "Why did moon goddess said that you are broken?" I turned my head in surprise to him.

I contemplated whether to tell him or not.

He just told me what was probably his deepest secret he had. He justified all of his actions.

Telling him could lead to two things. Either he starts hating me like everybody and reject me or he could understand. I really hoped for it to be the latter.

Should I tell him or not?

He told me his so it is only fair I tell him mine

Tell him Analise. You said you wanted to give this relationship a chance. This is the chance. This could bring you two closer

What if we drift apart more?

You won't know it until you don't tell him. Please tell him and if he rejects you, I promise I will be here for you, You never were and never will be alone.

Should I tell him.