Chapter 68

[Evelyn’s POV]

Oh...Well, that certainly sobered me up real quick, emotionally.

For a moment, I stared blankly at Alexander and wondered why on earth he would want to listen to what went on in my childhood. There weren’t exactly a lot of good times to speak of.

I scolded myself for the mistake of having admitted to everyone about my family’s past digressions against me. I should have taken care in my response. Instead, I was fairly certain that I ended up making everyone feel uncomfortable. The last thing I wanted was to make them feel like they had to pity me.

I took in a steady breath and wiped away the remnants of the tears that had fallen down my cheeks with the back of my hand.

“Alexander,” I started. “I don’t think you really want to hear about any of that—”

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” he questioned softly.

My hand still remained firmly enveloped within his own. It was a clear reminder that I was in a safe space. This just wasn’t something that I was accustomed to doing. I didn’t share my feelings openly on a regular basis. Growing up, I had made the discovery on my own that I was better off keeping it all to myself.

It wasn’t like I had much confidence in either of my parents. My father couldn’t have cared less and Isabella was too much of a cackling, conniving woman to ever be trusted about something so personal. She would have very likely used whatever information I told her and found a way to manipulate me with it in the long run.

And forget Samantha. If the attention wasn’t directly placed on her at all times, she would find a way to make it happen. She wasn’t mature enough to ever willingly sit down and listen to someone else’s problems without trying to turn the conversation on herself.

Sure, I could have spoken to the staff but I felt guilty placing my troubles and feelings on them when they already had so much work on their hands. I was the last thing that they needed to deal with.

It all came down to my brother Edward. Even that situation wasn’t exactly ideal. The poor guy wasn’t able to speak his part or make a comment on any of the things that I ever came to him with. He was my only form of letting off some of the heavier thoughts and issues I faced.

And the poor man was stuck in a coma.

“Growing up in my family—in that house...Had me feeling as though I was a prisoner.”

Alexander’s brows lifted into his hair. He opened his mouth to, no doubt, throw a dozen questions at me but I swiftly stopped him.

“No. Wait. Let me explain,” I interjected. “When I say the word ‘prisoner’, I don’t mean that I was treated like some convicted criminal. It was more along the lines of feeling like I was trapped in a place with no one to whom I could really speak to. I felt isolated. You know how I feel about pointless banter at those social gatherings?”

Alexander nodded his head.

“Well, that’s all I’d ever hear within the walls of the house. Nothing but talk of clothing, exuberant accessories, and wanting to outdo everyone else around them. Because I never showed any real interest in those topics, I got overlooked a great deal. You know, I spent a lot of my time with the staff because at least I felt like I was learning something useful. They taught me all about working with certain plants and their medical properties. But when it came to learning about the policies and systems within a pack, I had to do that research on my own.”

“Did anyone else know that you were studying these topics?” he questioned.

I shook my head. “No. They didn’t even care to know where I was most of the time,” I answered.

As a woman, it wasn’t as though it was against any law or social construct that I wasn’t able to study such things. In fact, it was highly promoted that Alpha daughters make learning and understanding the ways of pack life a part of their education.

“What you’re saying is, no one ever actually taught you what you needed to know in order to...”

His words trailed off as did his gaze. His eyes told me he’d slipped off into some deep, mental thought. A crease formed between his brows.

“Evelyn, apart from your work in the greenhouse and the tea distribution, what else are you capable of?”

I bit the corner of my lip, trying to figure out how to properly word what I wanted to say.

“Well, I know how to properly network with others. I know how to write up treaties and send out formal addresses to both royals and neighboring packs. I know how to establish and implement new laws and codes within pack life. I know the cycle in which to properly harvest and replant crops for the new coming year. I know how to sustain a pack’s finances so that the budget is never overly drawn from and never depleted. I—”

Alexander pressed the palm of his hand to my lips, preventing me from speaking any further. At some point, I must have looked away from him because when I lifted my eyes back to meet his gaze, I was struck with a wondrous expression.

“You know how to do all of that?”

I gave a shaking nod of my head. “It wasn’t all that difficult to understand...I just happened to suck horribly at etiquette,” I said dryly.

He let out a heartfelt laugh that I found to be contagious. The two of us chuckled and let a lot of tension roll off our shoulders. Alexander’s eyes continued to glimmer with astonishment.

“I just don’t understand it,” he commented.

“What?”

This time, he was the one who shifted uncomfortably. “Please, don’t take this the wrong way...Before we were married, I did a little digging around in your previous pack and...Well, I wasn’t exactly impressed with what I saw.”

I slowly nodded in understanding. “Ah, yeah. About that. You’re referring to the way my father basically ran our pack into the ground, right?”

“Correct,” he said with a hint of caution.

“You’re not wrong. According to what I’ve been told after my mother passed away, my father has never really been the same since. I chalked his behavior out to being depressed but he would never seek help even though I’d tried countless times. When I noticed that things weren’t looking too good for our pack, I tried to approach him with methods that I knew would help in the long run but he would never listen to me,” I explained.

[Third-Person’s POV]

Alexander's astonishment and sheer wonder had yet to leave him while he was listening to everything Evelyn was telling him. As she spoke, he noticed a number of things. The longer Evelyn would speak, the more emotions would truly begin to show.

He could sense her feelings of agitation, sorrow, and frustration to the point in which she was beginning to shake. Alexander never let go of her hand since the start of the conversation. He needed her to know and feel that he was there for her.

Everything she said resonated with him. His heart ached for the young girl that faced a good portion of her life alone. It bothered him like a thorn in his side he knew he couldn’t remove, mainly because nothing could be done about it now.

What really shook him to his very core was just how much Evelyn actually knew about pack dynamics. She’d never given any clear indication about these skills but, there again, it wasn’t as though he ever asked her about them.

All this time...All this time I’ve been married to a golden Luna.