The Broken Angel & Her Overprotective Brothers-Chapter 309: In His World (Part Two)

"And you regret it now?" Emily asked as she somehow succeeded in pulling herself out of his arms while he was distracted for the moment. She only took a few steps back to put some distance between them but didn’t move too far away from him.

He wasn’t the only one worried about her disappearing from his life, she also had the same fear about him. And while she was determined to have him explain exactly what was going on with him before deciding whether to forgive him yet or not, didn’t mean she was ready to see him leaving her all over again.

"Of course, I did. Recently, I’m regretting all my life choices but most importantly, my misunderstanding that I’ll be able to live without you." Shadow didn’t try to hide his feelings this time as he stared deep into her emerald eyes.

Emily just stood there while looking at him with her lips slightly parted in surprise. How was she supposed to keep her calm when he was going to say such things to her? "I’m going to ask you some questions. Will you answer them truthfully?" She asked.

Shadow immediately nodded his head in the affirmative before whispering, "I will." He didn’t hesitate, nor seemed regretful about his quick decision. Instead, she felt like he had finally made up his mind to end all the secrets between them.

"What is this place?" She asked the first question and kept her eyes fixed on the man in front of her. She was going to observe every single minor or major change in his expression as he would answer her questions.

"It’s the Night Valley, my city," Shadow answered without hesitation as he too kept looking back at her.

"Why so dark?" She found herself asking as she was genuinely curious about it.

"Maybe you can’t recall it but barely 0.3% of the Vampire population have the ability to walk under the sunlight, the rest aren’t as lucky. Darkness is the best friend of vampires, it always has been." His answer came out not even a second later her question ended.

Emily took a moment to digest the information, realizing just how stupid her question was in many ways. She had learned about the Night Valley during her Academy years and she did study about how it was specially designed by spells and magic to provide the perfect habitat for the vampires - a place where the sun never rose.

"Why did you appear in my life?" A question that she had been wanting to ask for a long time but never got to. At this point, she would be an idiot to believe that his appearance in her life was just a mere coincidence and that someone as powerful as him became her bodyguard because he needed a job or money.

She noticed how Shadow hesitated for a moment, his lips parting and closing as he tried to collect his words. It took him a few moments but he did finally speak, "Because I wanted to see the girl whom I was destined to protect for the rest of my life."

His answer raised more questions instead of providing any help. "What do you mean?" She asked as she felt her heartbeats picking up their speed once again.

Shadow let out a small sigh before he replied, "Just like I said, I was destined to protect you for the rest of my life but I wasn’t really happy with the job, so I ended up ignoring your existence for a long time. That day, it was indeed a coincidence that we met but it changed everything, one look at you and I was unable to return."

Emily had to take a long time to process his words and even then she wasn’t sure what to say. It took her quite some time to make the words leave her mouth. "Who assigned you to take care of me?" She wasnt sure what she was expecting to hear in answer but she still asked it.

Shadow chuckled softly as he looked at her with warmth in his beautiful amber eyes. "Only our fates could link us together, Princess. Or I won’t have such a hard time avoiding you."

Emily bit down on her lower lips as she slowly gave a nod of understanding. She was at a loss of words, not knowing what to feel after finding out that she was literally a burden on him from the very start that he never wanted... but then things changed.

"When did you start loving me?" She returned to ask the questions and this one was one of the most special ones that she had on her list.

"Not sure, it just happened. You somehow succeeded in melting my high walls and making your home inside my heart. I have never been able to keep myself away from you ever since then." He replied as sincerely as he could.

"Then why did you never tell me?" Somehow, she already knew what he was going to say. He was in the same position as hers. She already had Kaiden, and even when she realized that he too ahd feelings for Shadow, she only tried to ignore or suppress them because she didn’t want to lose either him or Kaiden.

"What was I supposed to do? Confess to you and lose you forever? It was much better to keep my feelings hidden till the very last moment and stay by your side as your best friend and support." Shadow confessed. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Can’t you... stay?" Emily asked as she moved closer to him and took hold of his sleeve, her eyes were looking at him with hope and expectation in them. "What are you planning to do after this? Are you going to run away again?"

Shadow immediately shook his head as he cupped her face with one of his plans while answering, "I promise I will never run away again. I was stupid to do it before and I have learned my lesson. Now, I know that you can’t possibly survive without me no matter how many good people are there beside you or how powerful you will become. You just need me by your side to stay alive and safe."

Emily couldn’t hold back the little chuckle that slipped her lips at his teasing words but there was pain mixed in that laugh too and the same pain could be seen in his eyes even though there was a smile playing on his lips.

"Kaiden also wants you to return to us." She finally conveyed the message from her mate. Since Kaiden was supportive of Shadow’s return to their lives, she was also determined to make the latter agree.

"Of course, he does. I have to ask for his forgiveness too." Shadow returned to his serious expression as he spoke. "Princess, will you both allow me to come back and stay with you guys just like in the past?" This time, he was the one looking at her with hope and expectation-filled eyes.

The smile that bloomed on Emily’s face after the initial shock subsided was probably enough to answer his question. She immediately threw her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug as she nodded her head in the affirmative. "Yes, yes, you can."

The two of them stood there hugging each other for a long time. Several minutes passed before Emily was the first one to pull away but was surprised when Shadow took hold of her face in his palms and pressed a soft kiss on her forehead before whispering a sweet ’thank you’.

"But... what are we going to do about our feelings?" She found herself asking as she realized that problems won’t be solved between them just because he was ready to return in their lives, in her life.

"Since I have already confessed to you and I know that... I’m not the only one with those feelings, it’s enough for me to just stay by your side just like before. I don’t want anything else other than seeing you happy, I’ll be happy too if I can keep you safe and sound." Shadow answered as he took hold of her hands and placed a kiss on the back of her fingers.

But was it that easy? Was it even possible for them to not be swayed by their feelings and forget about reasons? The thought was present in both their minds but none dared to voice it out.

Emily loved Kaiden too much to ever hurt him like that but she knew deep down that her love for Shadow wasn’t any inferior either. As for Shadow, he too couldn’t make himself betray the trust that Kaiden was showing him, besides, he loved his Princess too much to ever hurt her and Kaiden’s relationship. He was determined to never overstep his boundaries ever again.

"Shall we go back?" Emily asked as she endangered her fingers with his and looked up into his eyes. She was completely oblivious to just how many secrets Shadow was still hiding from her and just how painful those revelations were going to be for her.