Chapter 80

Julian

No one spoke in the ninety minutes it took for Forrest to be found and brought to me. Megan tried at one point but one look from me and she snapped her lips back together and fell silent.

I could feel her looming at me from her place in the corner but she didn't try to talk to me again. Truthfully I didn't want her in the room with me but I had a responsibility to her now and I wasn't the kind of man who shied away from my responsibilities. So if she needed to stay close to me then so be it. It wasn't like I was paying her any attention anyway.

My eyes were glued to the closed door and my mind was full of images of my wife. Flashes of her face, the taste of her skin seemed to explode on my tongue even though she wasn't here and my mouth watered.

Cassie was mine.

Ours. My wolf growled. She is ours and you pushed her away.

She ran away I snapped back and a low growl slipped from my lips. It was strange that I was arguing with myself but when it came to Cassie I was always conflicted. I liked hurting her and seeing the pain seep into her eyes but then when it came to her actually getting hurt by anyone else I went and lost my mind.

I lived to see one of her genuine smiles.

She was my wife.

The door opened and two men appeared. Behind them stepped the man I had been waiting for. The man who my wife seemed to favour more than anyone else in the world. She could say they were just friends but he had taken her away from me and that was a betrayal that I couldn't leave unpunished.

"Forrest." Slowly I pushed myself to a standing position. "So nice of you to join us."

Confusion clouded the handsome doctors face for a second before his eyebrows shot down over his forest green eyes. As always he was wearing one of the thick heavy sweaters he seemed to favour.

"It didn't seem like I had much choice prince Julian?" His motioned to the enforcers on either side of him. "What is this about?"

From her place in the corner Megan giggled and everyone glanced in her direction.

"My wife." I said in a low tone.

A flicker of unease entered his eyes. He tried to hide it but I had already seen it.

"Cassie? Has something happened to her?"

"You tell me?" Moving towards him I came to a stop in his personal space. "Where is my wife Forrest?"

The unease was back and this time it didn't go away again. Forrest had begun to realise the situation he was in and it wasn't a good place to be. Not for him anyway.

"She left?"

I frowned. He sounded genuinely shocked.

"Well damn," he shook his head almost like he couldn't believe it. "I didn't think she would actually go through with it. I was half sure she was in love with you but she -"

My fist smashed into his face before he could finish the mumbled sentence. It was a blow that came out of no where and he had no way of protecting himself because his arms were being held.

The crunch of his nose under my knuckles was like music to my ears. Even my wolf seemed to smile. So I did it again.

Forrest sagged and was only kept on his feet by my men holding him.

Closing my fist into his jumper I dragged him up until our faces were just inches apart. Spit flew from my mouth.

"Where is she?" I was getting closer and closer to losing control of the animal inside of me. And there wasn't one man here who could stop me.

Well maybe Ian but he wouldn't. He was my man through and through.

"Where is my wife?"

Forrest met my eyes without blinking. There was apprehension in them but no fear. He would regret not fearing me.

"I am your prince and your future king , I command-"

Forrest spit the blood from his mouth and it landed next to my feet.

"I don't know."

I didn't believe him although I couldn't smell any lies in his words. "Are you seriously telling me that she didn't come to you for help?"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course she did. She was miserable and she is my friend." Groaning, he steadied himself on his feet. "You made her life hell, mentally tortured her." His voice was rising. His own wolf pushed at the surface of his skin just like mine was. If he shifted I would rip him apart.

I still might. My control was slipping more and more  by the second.  No one spoke to me the way he was and got away with it.

No one took what was mine away from me.

"Did god knows what else to her as well." Forrest's lips curled into a sneer. "She never wanted this life. She never wanted to be hated, only loved."

"Where is she?"

"I don't know." He screamed back into my face. "She asked for help but if she is gone now she didn't get any help from me."

"Then there was someone else in her life. Some other man who-"

"She could have any man she wanted but she wanted you. Even though she hated what you did to her. She would have made you a good wife if it wasn't for-" He froze like someone had poured icy water over him.

"If it wasn't for what? Her love for you?" I knew she loved him even if they pretended they were just friends. No one could be that close and not be fucking.

I let fly with my fists and feet. Attacking him with so much rage that the men holding him had no option but to let him fall to the floor and jump back.

Falling onto Forrest I beat at his face in a flurry of fists. My growls were coming thick and fast. Claws sprouted from where my finger nails once were and opened up the man's cheek and shoulders as I slashed and clawed.

"Where is she?"

"Gone." Forrest laughed even though I knew he had to be in agony. "And I can't blame her. You're a monster. No wonder she left. Being homeless and penniless would be better than-"

I slashed at his chest. Opening him up from collarbone to stomach in a ragged diagonal slice. His jumper wasn't any protection and blood pooled around him.

"Tell me where she is."

"Even if I knew I would never tell you. I would rather die then put Cassie and those babies in danger."