069 Good Fire, Bad Fire

Willa's POV

Al's eyes turned red, his pupils shivering as they fixed on me.

I froze in fear.

It wasn't like fearing a ghost or a bad man, it was a raw fear growing from the bottom of my heart. Like you just fear when your ration was even telling you there wasn't anything to fear for.

"Betrayal!" Cerberus shouted before he hit himself hard on the gunshot wound. Blood splashed out as he growled in pain himself, but still, he didn't stop.

When Al told me he was mad, I never thought Al meant insane. I just thought Cerberus had a bad temper. But this wasn't it. He was furious at Al and he thought hurting his own body was hurting Al.

He couldn't understand that they were one!

But how could Cerberus wake up? The dose should have worked way faster than this! I guess the dose worked at different speeds for different people. Only it worked at a really bad timing!

"Stop it! You are hurting yourself!" I grabbed Cerberus on his wrist. My strength didn't do anything as he kept hitting himself on his ribs.

"Betrayal!!" Cerberus shouted again as he swung his arm and I flew back. I dropped the parchment when I crashed onto the bed, but I wasn't hurt.

But before I could even move, Cerberus threw himself at me and landed on the bed as he grabbed my wrists and pinned them over my head. He had his legs each on one of my sides. I tried to move but he sat on my legs as he bent over, staring at me with those mad eyes.

I burst into tears. It wasn't because I was scared of what he might do to me. It was because I had never imagined seeing such a mean look on Al's face.

"Willa cry!" Cerberus growled as he frowned, staring at me as if he was about to bite me. He wanted to bite me earlier! He was the one who was mad at me, not Al!

"Please, Cerberus...Please let go of me..." I sobbed. I couldn't even do anything with my limbs clenched by him.

"Willa don't like?" Cerberus got closer, his face was nearly in mine as he stared at my eyes. There was only darkness and anger in his red eyes, and I held my breath as fear took over me.

But then Cerberus let go of my wrist as he jumped off the bed. He backed a step, staring at me with a sad look.

In that split second, I saw the genuine and sweet Cerberus I knew.

If he didn't have a mate, why was he mad at me for being too intimate?

I had an idea.

"You hurt me!" I sat up in bed as I hugged my knees in tears. I wiped my eyes in sobbing repeatedly as I glanced at him. As I expected, Cerberus furrowed his eyebrows with a guilty look, darting his eyes onto the floor like a kid who knew he did something bad.

"Look!" I pouted, holding out my arm and showing him my wrist. His grip was really hard. He didn't know how much force he had, and there were now several red finger marks on my wrist, "It hurts!"

"Sorry!" Cerberus took a step toward me in hesitation but then he backed away quickly, "Cerberus hide, Taran see Willa..."

I was surprised at his move but then I understood--

Al must have talked to Cerberus about it before, and though Cerberus was mad at Al right now, he still remembered!

"It's okay, you can come," I said as soft as I could, patting on the edge of the bed lightly.

Cerberus hesitated.

"My wrist hurts, and you have to give me compensation!" I held up my hand, hinting Cerberus to rub it for me.

Cerberus stared at me in hesitation for a second before he approached slowly. He sat on the far end of the bed, keeping a distance between us.

Then he shifted his ears.

He remembered! The last time I demanded compensation from Al, I asked him to shift his ears!

He was still that cute wolf after all.

I came to his side and stroked his ear softly. He lowered his head at me, putting his ear closer to me.

He purred.

"You are the cutest," I mumbled as I sat up to nib his ear, but Cerberus dodged and jumped up again.

"Not good." Cerberus flinched at my move with a wronged look.

"You don't like it?" I asked.

"I like!" Cerberus shook his head in haste, "Taran upset today."

"I won't lick you this time. That was wrong of me. Just one kiss." I took his hand into mine with a smile, and Cerberus only hesitated for a second before he came back and leaned in, putting his ear near my lips.

I stroke his ear softly before I print a kiss on the back of his ear. His ear shivered rapidly at the touch. Ears are the most sensitive to all animals.

"You should do the same for my wrist, and then it would stop hurting." I held my wrist in front of him. Cerberus stared at my hand for a while with a confused look. Then he took my hand and pressed his lips on my wrist.

It wasn't a kiss, more like trying to bite me with his lips pressed.

Well, good enough for the first time.

I giggled at his clumsy kiss: "Okay, now I forgive you!"

Cerberus smiled. It wasn't like Al's mature, gentle smile. When Cerberus smiled, it was more like an innocent kid who had only limited experience in the world.

It was silly but innocent and clean.

"Cerberus, I have a toy for you. It's pretty. Do you wanna play?" I wasn't sure what tone I should take with him, but if he had only the mind of a little boy then--

"Yes!" Cerberus smiled brightly.

"Okay! Can you hand me that parchment behind you?" I hinted at the parchment roll I dropped. Cerberus turned to look before he reached out for it and gave it to me.

"It's a special fire. It's--"

"Fire bad!" Cerberus suddenly growled, "Fire hurt! No fire!"

"Okay! No fire! It's okay, I won't hurt you!" I dropped the parchment, rising both of my hands.

He calmed down a little.

"Have you touched fire before?" I asked in hesitation.

"Taran drink fire! Taran hate me!" Cerberus became grumpy again. The smile faded from his face. Anger wiped the innocent look from his face.

"That's strange. Taran just chose you over me." I made a confused look, and that caught Cerberus's attention.

"Taran not allow Willa," Cerberus grunted with a wronged face.

"Not allow Willa what?" It was really hard to guess his words' meaning.

"I want Willa, Taran not allow." This topic got Cerberus upset real quick.

"I want Cerberus, too! I'll talk to Taran about this, okay?" I comforted him.

Cerberus smiled brightly at my words--

"Willa want me!" Cerberus reached out all of a sudden and took me into his arms but then he let go of me with a sad look: "Willa don't like just now...Willa cry..."

He jumped at me only because he wanted to play with me?!

"You have to ask me first if you wanted to hug me." I chuckled, grinding his furrowed eyebrows flat with my fingers, "I was just surprised. It doesn't mean that I don't like you."

"Ask first." Cerberus nodded with a serious look, as if memorizing something sacred.

"Cerberus, when did Taran drink fire?" I stroked his ear as I asked as softly as I can.

"Today. Fire hurt. Put me sleep." Cerberus frowned, but this time he didn't growl, he just nudged his ear into my face, enjoying the sensation.

Fire was wolfsbane!

"Do you know why Taran drank fire?" I cupped his ear with my palm. He liked it a lot.

"I hurt Willa, Taran upset." Cerberus lowered his head. The smile faded from his face again. But this time he wasn't angry, more like sad.

So Al took wolfsbane on purpose to put Cerberus to sleep. Why? Just because Cerberus wanted to bite me? Al said he tried it only once, and Cerberus made a huge fuss afterward.

"You like Taran, don't you?" I tilted my head, trying to search for his eyes.

"No!" Cerberus turned his head to the side like a kid throwing a tantrum. I burst into laughter as I saw him blush at his own lie. He was really bad at lying.

I tapped Cerberus on his ear and he fixed his eyes on me before I said: "I know you hate fire because fire hurts, but I have a secret about the fire that I want to tell you. Do you want to hear?"

(Author's Note: I wonder which do you like more? Willa's interaction with Taran or Cerberus.)