His Blue Moon Princess
His Sunshine Baby Chapter 100

I always imagined Iris to be locked down into some dark, creepy dungeon, but this is the twenty-first century. We don't have a prison on our turf, but we do have a hospital, with a psychiatric ward. It's easy to throw someone in a tiny room, lock it and forget the key for a few years. So, my cousin is and has been confined in an all-white, rather spacious room with the simplest furniture, and a few books. Her hair has grown a lot, so her lavender curls are now pushed down by her blonde roots. It kind of annoys me that, despite all those years locked away, she's still as pretty and looking fine. I take a few seconds to observe her from behind the tiny window; She's wearing some dark jeans and a sexy white top. Nothing with the quiet, shy Iris she pretended to be for years... I guess she has no more use in pretending. She's barefoot, but I bet she'd be wearing killer heels if she could.

I take a deep breath and walk in. She raises her eyes from her book, and, as soon as she notices me, sneers.

"Look who's here... My dear cousin. How have you been, Elena? It's been a while! Did you bring me something, since you're visiting?"

Behind me, Levi clicks his tongue.

After a long argument, we decided it would be better for only him to accompany me. Chris strictly refuses to see his sister again, as it upsets him deeply, and the younger Lewis siblings are unrelated to her. Even Clark refused to come. "I'm not here to play your petty games, Iris," I reply coldly.

She sighs.

"I know. Since you're showing up here, I guess you have something to ask me. I wonder what that is and, more importantly, how you're going to get me to comply..."

She's not going to make it easy, I know. Behind me, Levi's already growling. She chuckles.

"You brought your little sweetheart? No, let me guess... You're a single mother now? I bet Clark changed his mind and let you stay... Well, that i***t would be glad to take a single mom as his girlfriend, but it doesn't seem like you two are together..."

So she has no idea what happened after she was imprisoned... She doesn't know I was gone for four years or even about the witch's attack. I take a deep breath, and after hesitating a while, undo my shirt, showing her the large scar, still pink and wide. It runs from my back, to my shoulder and down to my right b****t. It's thick and ugly, and she probably can tell it's rather fresh.

Iris frowns. I managed to get her attention.

"Someone attacked you with a chainsaw?" She says with a mocking tone.

"Very funny, Iris, but no. The Dark Witch did this, and without a weapon."

She keeps silent for a few seconds, staring at my injury with an indecipherable expression. After a few seconds, she tilts her head.

"Well, it looks painful. That b***h has some talent."

To my surprise, my injury doesn't seem to make her any happy. My cousin doesn't seem to care at all, in fact. She lets out a long sigh of boredom, sitting back on her bed.

"Oh, well. I guess you didn't come just to strip, so let's get this over with. What's going on?"

"The Dark Witch will attack any time, now," I explain. "I need the White Moon to trust the Blood Moon Clan fully."

"...Okay, and why should I care?" Asks Iris, raising an eyebrow.

"You're the one who knows what really happened to Diego. If I want the White Moon to trust the Blood Moon, I need..."

Before I can finish, Iris burst into an annoying laugh. She shakes her head, unable to stop as if I had said something funny. What the heck is wrong with her?

"Seriously, Elena? That's why? You think resolving your ex's death will solve things? Are you dumb?"

I want to slap her really bad at that moment, but I'll restrain myself... She chuckles and gets up, walking up to me like a cat.

"You're always so strong, but you haven't gotten smarter, Elena. Do you think this is all this is about? That if you can solve Diego's death, you can make things smooth between the White Moon and the Blood Moon? Does that mean you're still... No way. You and Black?"

I growl, truly annoyed at her tone. Maybe it was a bad idea, after all, I shouldn't have come here, she's so...

Iris sighs, crossing her arms.

"Even if I tell you the truth, you think it will solve things? Get real, Elena; The real reason no one trusts the Blood Moon Clan is simply that they are cold-blooded murderers."

I take a deep breath. Iris has no idea.

True, she played her role in getting me and Nathaniel together. But she doesn't know a thing about our relationship, about him. Sure, he's made mistakes. I know he's not as gentle as he is with me when he's being his Alpha self. I've seen it. I've seen him murder a man with his bare hands, and not feel sorry about it. All the times when I smelled blood on him, I didn't say a thing.

Because I know that man isn't my Nathaniel. Yes, we are werewolves and we fight. We defend our territories, we get into battles. We growl when we feel threatened, and we bite when we have to. This is the world we live in, but it doesn't make who we are. That same man can be the sweetest father, the gentlest man. Those same hands who got dirtied can also hug and caress someone. It's just that too few people know about that side of them. That side of him.

The Black Brothers aren't cold-blooded. They are Alphas, scary and mighty, but they are men too. Men who can be reasoned, protect their packs and love their families. They listen to their mates, they care for others. If they kill, they have a reason for it. It's never for free, are unnecessarily cruel.

The cruel one was that b***h witch that tortured me to replace my baby and use her as a weapon.

"Iris, tell me," I growl. "Why do you care, anyway?"

"Why would I tell you? You had no issue with leaving me to root here for months and months, and now I should be a good girl and obey? What about your little puppy here? You didn't even ask him, did you?"

I turn to Levi and sigh.

"I already know Danny and Reagan had an agreement with Nate and gave him Diego. They told me a while ago. What I don't know is what really happened after that. You're the one who was behind Diego's return, I bet you were watching him and know who killed him."

Iris clicks her tongue, meaning I'm right. She seems to hesitate for a bit.

"Why should I help you, Elena? I don't win anything from opening my mouth, I might as well keep it shut. Actually, I do win some satisfaction from it, so, I'd rather stay silent. Unless you have something worth my while."

"I'm not playing, Iris," I growl. "We have a Witch outside our borders that can attack at any moment with her army of vampires. You'd really be fine with that?"

Iris shrugs and opens her arms up, showing her environment.

"I've got my own personalized bunker. If you lock me up, I'm probably just going to be happy watching from the sidelines! Oh, maybe I should get some popcorn?"

Can't I just slap her? This selfish b***h! Our whole civilization is on the verge of war and she replaces it funny!

"Iris, I'm not kidding, this is our pack you're talking about!"

"Our pack, Elena? More like your pack! Ever since Reagan dropped you here, you've been entitled to anything! Yes, I'm f*****g happy and someone finally gets rid of the eyesore you are! My dad, Chris, Clark, even Eric! Since you came, you did nothing but take what was mine, and disrupt other people's lives!"

"I'm fed up with your jealousy issue, Iris," I growl. "Yes, I was adopted into the pack, but that was it. Before I was stronger than you, my Dad was stronger than yours. I'm sorry Xavier couldn't see anything but our strength, but if you wanted to change things, you should have stood up to him! If you wanted to be closer to Chris and if you wanted Eric to love you, you should have tried harder with both of them! And didn't Eric pick you when you tried? With all your schemes and lies, you're the one who disrupted everything! You can't blame me for everything when you never fought fairly for it!"

My words finally seem to hit her, as she takes a step back. Her sneer disappears, finally replaced by her hatred for me. Seems like playtime is over.

"Moon Goddess, I really hate you, Elena."

"Right back at ya."

We stare and glare at each other for a long time until she rolls her eyes.

"Fine. I'll tell Chris."

I hesitate, but Levi speaks before I do.

"Your brother doesn't want to see you, Iris, you know that."

"Well then replace a way, because I'm not going to tell anyone but Chris. Didn't you want an exchange? Well there you go, I want to see my brother."

I frown, a bit confused.

"What are you planning, Iris?"

She clicks her tongue, annoyed.

"Oh, stop it, Elena. I may hate you, but Chris is my younger brother and I haven't seen him in years. You said I should make efforts with him? Well, I'm starting now."

"...Why didn't you ask for your freedom?" I ask, suspicious.

"With the s**t show that's coming? Thanks but no thanks, I'll stay here, you know, in my private bunker. Now, my brother."

I sigh and turn around, exchanging a look with Levi. Can we convince Chris, though? If he's been ignoring his sister's attempts to talk to him all this time...

We decide to go back. Surprisingly, it only takes a few minutes to convince Chris, but he's clearly unhappy about his sister's bargain. He insists that I come with him first. Less than an hour later, we are back in Iris' cell. She stands up as soon as she sees her brother. "Chris, I..."

"No, Iris, you listen to me," he says. "First, you tell Elena what she asked you. After that, we will talk. I don't trust you anymore, so if I doubt you're telling the truth, even one bit, I swear I'm leaving and you'll never see me again."

For the first time, Iris seems truly hurt by his words. She probably didn't expect Chris to act like this towards her. His spite seems to have hit a cord. Her mighty attitude soon disappears, and she turns to me, clearly unhappy. "Fine. What did you want to know?"

"What happened, the night Diego died. Everything you know."

She rolls her eyes, sitting on her bed, but with her brother in the room, she's a lot more docile and less arrogant.

"....I was there when they caught him. I'm not sure how blondie and Reagan kicked him out of the territory, but as soon as he stepped over, several Blood Moon wolves jumped at him. They dragged him further away, so I followed secretly. I wasn't exactly overjoyed by this situation, as you can imagine."

I bet. It probably disrupted her evil plans by a lot...

"It was quick, though. First, that bastard struggled a bit, but well, your man didn't come alone, so he didn't have a chance to run. The Black blondie was furious, and wanted a duel with him, probably to make him suffer a long death."

"That fight never happened," I say. "Diego's body was fine, he was just shot in the head."

"Yeah, well, your boyfriend didn't see it coming either, from the face he made. His brother arrived."

I stay speechless for a few seconds. His brother?

"Liam?"

"No, not the brat, the King. He showed up out of nowhere. From the look on his face, your man didn't expect him. And just like that, the King took out a g*n. The two brothers argued for a while. Your man wanted a fair fight or whatever, but the King said that give didn't deserve any chance. Something like he didn't have any pity for rapists... And just like that, he shot Diego right in the head."

I'm... I did not expect that at all.

Damian Black. Nora's husband killed Diego. Not to help Nathaniel, but because the King wouldn't allow a r****t on his territory. I suddenly remember Nora's past. She... She never really went as far as giving me details, but something like that happened to her. In her previous pack, someone attacked her.

No wonder the King was so cold-blooded about killing Diego. For him, it wasn't a murder, it wasn't a crime. It was the execution of a criminal. Because I went through what Nora barely avoided, and Damian Black knew. And he wouldn't allow someone like that in Silver City. Did Nate tell his brother about what happened? There are so many ways Damian could have known, back then. He was watching me because of my relationship with Nate, I bet he got a hold of my criminal record, too... "Shit..." Whispers Chris.

"Yeah, it doesn't make the situation better at all," sighs Levi.

Indeed, this is a problem. Nathaniel or Damian, either of the brothers killed Diego doesn't change anything. A member of the White Moon Clan was killed by one of the Black brothers, that's all our pack members are going to see. This is such a mess! Even if he is the King, even if Diego was formerly banished, Damian Black had no right to execute him, he was part of another Clan, not his.

We exchange looks, but this is a real situation. If we can't get the White Moon to change their opinion...

"Oh, please," suddenly says Iris with a dramatic sigh. "You guys are such idiots, aren't you?"

"Iris, you better have something smart and useful to say following that sentence," growls Levi, just as irritated as I am.

Chris glares at her too, but his sister just shrugs.

"There's one simple way to resolve this, isn't there? Tell them the truth."

I stay silent, unsure about what she means, and Levi and Chris look just as confused. Iris sneers.

"Just tell them the truth, Elena, what happened seven years ago. The real reason Diego and you fought. The White Moon will change their minds if they know what Diego did."

I slowly understand. That's right... I stayed silent about what had truly happened, back then. Aside from a handful of people, no one knew that I stabbed Diego because he r***d me and that I lost a baby. I didn't want to talk about it, so I let people make their assumptions about the real reasons for the fight, and Clark was the only judge for it. I went to jail, and Diego disappeared, no one brought it up again. People thought we had always been an electric, unstable couple, that suddenly went over the line. For werewolves, especially alphas, it didn't seem so crazy.

However, it wasn't so simple. Iris is right. People would change their minds if they knew the truth about Diego. No one would cry or even mind the death of someone like him. Actually, they might even think it was justice. He committed the worst sin possible for a werewolf. The one thing our kind can never, ever forgive.

Killing a werewolf pup.