Red Riding Hood | BoyxBoy | COMPLETED

Domestic Dispute

Alexander's POV

Cass and I were very surprised to see Seffrin in our room when we pause to suck in deep breaths in the middle of an intense kissing session. The look on her face had been kind of comical. My sister had managed to look both guilty and grossed out.

After her apologetic departure, Cassidy had murmured, "Poor girl. Probably trying to escape the relentless gossip after all that happened with Lord Kellen."

"My uncle really screwed a lot of lives over, didn't he?" I said unthinkingly. "I've always thought he was a dubious sort of character ever since we met, you remember."

"I know what you mean," Cassidy agreed. "Him and that horrible shark Mer. They make me uneasy."

"The scientist?" I wondered. "You don't think he's just being dragged along in my uncle's devious machinations?"

Cass snorted. "I hardly think he's being dragged, as you say. He could have chosen not to attack us, but he did it anyway."

"Cass, that's a little simple, don't you think? Maybe Lord Kellen was blackmailing him or something. I mean, the poor creature looked so miserable in court." Honestly, the Mer had hardly looked like the vicious creature that had attacked us.

"As he should," my mate replied hotly. "He should certainly pay for his crimes!"

"Sweetheart, you're being too emotional about this," I said gently. "Rinidae was most likely coerced, you know Duke Kellen is a powerful man."

My words did not mollify him. In fact, the exact opposite happened, and Cassidy's eyes welled up with tears. "Well, I had to snap your bones back into place!" he cried out. "And I'm being overly emotional because you got me pregnant with your stupid magic cock!" he finished with a yell.

Cassidy stomped from the room, slamming the door to the bathroom behind him. I could hear him sniffling. Stunned at the outburst, I didn't try to follow him. He'd need some time to cool down.

~

A couple of hours later and Cass had still not come out. Concerned, I knocked lightly on the door.

"Cass?" I called. "Is everything all right?" There was no answer. I tried the doorknob, but it wouldn't budge. "Cass, sweetheart?"

Still, he wouldn't respond. I thought about forcing the door open but ultimately decided against it. The mating bond was pretty calm even though we'd just had a little disagreement. Cassidy probably wouldn't appreciate my barging in if it wasn't an emergency.

Well, it was true the pregnancy had made him more emotional than usual. Perhaps a little more time alone was necessary...

~

Much later, I was truly getting worried. Cassidy had refused to come out for dinner. I'd saved him a huge plate anyway, knowing he would be hungry when he finally decided to leave that bathroom.

But the time alone had me properly reflecting on our argument earlier. Whatever I said about Rinidae had seemed very logical to me and I thought he would have appreciated that. Under normal circumstances, I really was the emotional one in our partnership. I should have factored in the baby that I'd put in him with my 'stupid magic cock' as he had so charitably christened my appendage.

Cassidy had also reminded me that he'd had to reset my bones; perhaps I was a little insensitive. I glanced worriedly at the door that had been shut for ages. Yes, my words had definitely been too thoughtless.

Rapping my knuckles softly at the door, I called my mate.

"Sweetheart, please come out... I saved you dinner," I said through the door.

Quietly, I waited to see if anything happened. And moments later, the door opened just a sliver and Cass peeked out. I held up the food for him to see and he left the bathroom. It reminded me a little of the cat that lived in the stables back home, but I kept my amusement to myself.

Cassidy ate silently, his pout visible when he wasn't putting food in his mouth. I busied myself by tidying up the room a little and then sat across him when I quickly ran out of things to do.

When he just about finished his meal, I reached out to place a hand over his. Encouragingly, he didn't pull away.

"Cassidy, I wanted to apologise for earlier," I told him. His eyes darted in my direction before dropping back down to stare sulkily at his empty plate. "I thought about what you said, and I realise now that you were right, and it was really insensitive of me to say what I said."

My mate was looking at me now; albeit warily.

I forged on. Bravely. "I know I wasn't terrified when I got hurt, but that's because I heal really quickly, and I sometimes forget that most people don't have that advantage. You must have been scared out of your mind." Swallowing around the lump in my throat, I watched him beseechingly. "I'm sorry for not realising that earlier. Forgive me?"

Cass sighed and my heart sank. But he turned his hand over to grasp my fingers, squeezing them. "I'm sorry too," he said.

Confused, I asked, "what for?"

"For overreacting," he answered.

I tried to protest. "You're not overreacting, I'm—"

"Let me finish," Cass interrupted. "I did overreact earlier. Part of it is definitely because I'm pregnant and so emotional all the time now."

"Sorry," I said.

"We made the baby together," he replied. "When you got hurt, I felt helpless even though you were the one who got hurt. And seeing the person who did that to you scared me." He took a deep breath. "I got angry when you sympathised with Rinidae because remembering frightened me. But you were right about Rinidae.

"Probably," he added as an afterthought. "I mean he was probably being threatened by your uncle or something. And you did hurt him quite badly in return, so I guess we're even now."

I winced, remembering the gnarled flesh on Rinidae's leg. Ripping his tail fin off must have translated to tearing a chunk of his calf muscles out. And he didn't have the ability to regenerate as I did.

"It was self-defence, Alex," Cassidy said.

Nodding, I agreed and tried to relax my frown. "You're right. I just feel bad, because that looked pretty bad."

Cass rubbed circles into my hand with his thumb. "Don't think too hard, darling. What's done is done." He got up and came to stand before me, hands cupping my cheeks. "I want you to know that your compassion is one of the reasons why I love you," he said. "And I know how we can distract you from worrying too hard over that little scientist."