Chapter 36 Confession

**Valerie**
It felt a bit awkward to have breakfast here alone with Xavier. I could sense his gaze was lingering around me all time, even if he was eating or drinking.
He wasn’t inspecting me at all, just eyeing me fondly as if being possessive over something he treasured. But that did made me nervous, for my intention to make an utterance of my confusions and fears.
But a strong emotion hesitated me. I was at a loss, deeply, wondering if that was the right occasion to put out my questions. I could hardly place my stare at him since what happened last night. It didn’t mean that I regretted what I had done with him.
I just felt…embarrassed.
As if noticing the oddity in my behavior, Xavier pulled me closer and asked me with a gentle voice: “What’s wrong?”
I lifted my gaze to him before swallowing down the lump in my throat. I took a deep breath and said, “I have something to confess to you.”
“Confess?” Xavier seemed to be surprised by the word I used for my speech. He chuckled amusedly and fondled my hair, “there’s nothing you need to confess, Valerie. Just tell me. Like I said yesterday, I’d do anything for you. Even rebelling the Red Moon.”
The sincerity and firmness behind those eyes granted me the courage to move further.
“Thank you, Xavier.” I forced a smile to him and continued, “I said ‘confess’ because I had checked the photo fragments sticking on that blackboard in your room without your permission …”
Xavier raised one eyebrow and signaled me to carry on.
“Firstly, I thought it’s some sort of ornament,” I explained, noticing the crease formed across his brow, “But then I couldn’t help my curiosity. And I found something concerned me.”
Xavier frowned in silence, so I just carried further, “A woman standing in the front raw, for I noticed, looked like someone I saw before the auction.” I gulped before finally putting out my request, “please…Xavier. Could you tell me whom she was? Or do you need me to point her out for you? Please, that’s very important to me.”
My heart was racing against my chest as I was both eager and afraid to hear the answer.
Xavier remained still for a few second, before letting out a heavy sigh, “You don’t need to show me her figure, Valerie. I know whom you are talking about.”
I stared at him tentatively.
“If you had noticed that woman, you must have also found a man looked very similar to her in the same picture.” He exhaled deeply, beholding my eyes in an inscrutable sorrow.
“Her name is Amelia Wilson, from the Wilson Family - The Beta Family. And the man was her, Adam Wilson, the late Beta of Red Moon Pack.” He said, “I’m not sure if you have ever heard of him. But there were rumors in the place saying that he was an accused traitor of our pack…”
The air in this room seemed to grow thinner as I started breathing violently.
“Is she also a traitor?” I rasped, trying to moisten my parched lips.
Xavier shook his head and flickered his gaze out of the window, “she used to be a proud fighter, a glorified female warrior of the Red Moon. They liked to call her General Amelia. What she had done for the pack was incomparable. So when the Wilson family were executed or banished, she was the only one who got pardoned.”
“D…did she get the scars for punishment?” I asked with a trembling voice, clinging body tightly against Xavier.
I didn’t understand why a scared feeling enveloped me all of a sudden. I felt cold, as if being dropped into an ice river. My sensations were numbed by the freezing water. And the warmness from Xavier was my only rescue.
“No,” Xavier wrapped his arms around me and deepened the intimate embrace. He kissed on my forehead with an assuring smile, “She got it long before the traitor thing. Actually, there had never been an armed rebellion.”
He paused shortly before continuing the explanation, “It was an accident. She was leading a troop of junior warrior and patrolling the board. But there was a period of several minutes that she raced alone far ahead of the rest wolves, and disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” I flared my eyes in astonishment.
Xavier nodded, “The Red Moon had searched each corner of our territory trying to find her. The efforts were all in vain. The Wilson Family had nearly given up their hopes, until one day, the scout found a woman body lying in the forest, close to our boarder line with humans.”
“Humans…” I mumbled to myself in a horrified whisper.
My heart sank.
“Yes, it was Amelia. She had been brutally abused and dying when they found her. Since then, she lost her great ability in fighting and military operating. She couldn’t even recover from the wounds like other wolves.”
I bit my lower lips deeply until the taste of blood forced me to retrieve calmness.
“W…was it…h…human?” I swallowed thickly, before stuttering with a shaking voice.
*Why did I ask the question? I had already known the answer, hadn’t I?*
Xavier looked at worriedly with a nod, “it’s a human organization.”
Tears distorted my vision but I managed to blink them back. My mind was whirling as I started to hyperventilate. My legs and waist were weak like jelly, my body slumping against his like a bondless mess.
“Are you OK, Valerie?” Xavier’s unsettled voice sounded urgent.
“I…I’m fine.” I forced a faint smile on my face, “it’s just lack of sleep…”
I lied, unnaturally. And it wasn’t convincible at all.
Xavier’s face hardened in seriousness as he beheld me deeply. A storm was raging behind his emerald eyes, as if he was going to take me again. But the dangerous light faded away in a flash, before the tenderness returning.
He caught my jaw in his hand, brushing the pad of his thumb across my bottom lips. He affirmed sternly, “Valerie, you don’t need hide anything from me. Anything you afraid of, tell me.”
I exhaled, feeling tears welling up again, “I know…but…” Ducking my head hastily, I still didn’t want him to see me cry like this.
Xavier lowered to press a kiss on my lips.
“Let me finish the story of Wilson’s,” he huffed a sigh, holding me tightly against his chest.
His steady heartbeat was comforting and assuring, as I stayed in silence waiting for him to speak.
“I didn’t really think Adam Wilson had been the traitor. He used to be father’s best friend from childhood and the Wilson Family had a perfect reputation in loyalty.” Xavier said.
“There had never been solid evidences of the rebellion as well,” the countenance on his face became mournful, “But there’s one thing put a nail in his coffin. He fell in love with a human girl.”
My eyes bulged wide as my jaw sagged in complete shock.
“I had always been puzzled why he would rather die than escaping away,” he touched my cheek affectionately, “until I met you, Valerie. Now I understand the meaning of his decision. He had to ensure his lover being well protected. That’s the only thing he wanted.
“And if I were him, would have made the same choice.”
My heart fluttered under his inebriating stare. I kissed him, before closing my eyes and shedding the tears.
I trusted him.