The Broken Angel & Her Overprotective Brothers

Emily's hand stilled as a tear rolled down her cheek and dropped on the screen of her tablet, and even before she could have grasped what was happening to her, more tears were rolling down her cheeks.

She hurriedly grabbed a box of tissues from the top drawer of the study table where she was currently sitting and working on her webcomic, and started wiping away the tears while she stared at the screen of her tablet in puzzlement.

She wasn't drawing any emotional scene. Instead, it was a normal scene of the female lead enjoying her time together with her friends after their exams were finally over. That's why she was confused that she ended up crying all of a sudden, not like she used to cry even while drawing emotional scenes. 

And if the sudden tears weren't already confusing enough, her heart was also feeling heavy all of a sudden, and there was a kind of weird pain that made tears appear in her eyes all over again.

"What's wrong with me?" She murmured while grabbing more tissues to wipe away the tears that were again rolling down her cheeks. It took her a couple of minutes to calm herself down.

Her eyes landed on her phone and as she checked the time, she realized that it had already been over twenty minutes since Shadow left with Kaiden's wolf and they still hadn't returned.

For a moment, she contemplated whether she should call him to ask about their whereabouts but then soon changed her mind as she didn't want to disturb them just in case they were discussing something important.

Deciding to wait for their return, she once again started drawing the new episode of her ongoing webcomic.

*****

Shadow turned his head to look at the wolf who was now also laying beside him on the cold and hard ground of the forest, with its head resting over his shoulder. This was probably its way of showing warmth and affection.

"Can you... keep all this a secret from Kaiden? I don't want him to..." He stopped when the wolf suddenly pulled away and sat up while looking down at him with a sorry face.

'He already knows.' The wolf spoke and its words made Shadow sit up abruptly as he stared at the wolf in bewilderment. 'He heard every single word that we just exchanged. But he has known about your shared bond with Emily for quite some time by now.' 

Shadow stared at the wolf wide-eyed, not knowing what to say at this point. He wasn't prepared for such a sudden situation where he would need to face Kaiden with all these truths. For some reason, sharing his story and the truth about his and Emily's soulmate bond with Kaiden's wolf was way easier than sharing it with Kaiden himself.

"When...? When did he find out about the... bond?" He finally found himself asking and then nervously waited for the wolf's reply.

'Not for too long unlike me who found out about it the very day you appeared. But the truth is that he has known for some time by now.' The wolf answered truthfully.

"Heavens!" Shadow groaned out as he buried his face in his palms to stop himself from looking at anything or thinking about anything.

He sat there in silence for a couple of more minutes before he finally pulled his face out of his palms and turned to look at the wolf only to find Kaiden sitting right beside him with a soft expression on his face.

"You...!" He didn't get to speak further as Kaiden suddenly threw his arms around him and pulled him in a tight hug.

"It's alright, Shadow. I have heard everything. You don't have to explain. But... there's one thing I want to ask you..." Kaiden pulled away from the hug and looked at the man as he waited for him to reply.

Shadow stared at Kaiden for a couple of seconds as he tried to read Kaiden's expressions. "What is it?" He finally asked while preparing himself for whatever question he would be answering.

Kaiden took a deep breath before he focused his entire attention on Shadow and asked, "Are you going to tell Angel about your bond?" His expressions clearly portrayed how nervous he was about the topic.

Shadow couldn't stop the little twitch that appeared on his lips but there was no humor in it. He was about to answer his question but was stopped even before he could open his mouth.

"Listen! I... I'm actually grateful that you chose me for Angel. I will probably be never able to pay you back for this precious gift, or blessing, that you have given me. I... I don't mind seeing you around her. It actually calms me down to know that she has someone like you around her. So..., I really don't mind having you in our lives... But... I-I don't think I'm ready to share her love with you. Maybe I'm being selfish and maybe with time, I'll change my mind but..."

"You don't have to!" Shadow spoke in a calm tone, shutting up Kaiden who was too lost to put his thoughts and words together.

"Huh?" Kaiden stared at the other man with a confused look on his face.

"It's good that she doesn't know anything about the bond that she shares with me, and I want it to stay like that. You don't have to worry, Kaiden. I'm not going to enter your beautiful life with her and demand my right as her true soulmate." Shadow stated as he gave a soft pat on Kaiden's shoulder.

"But why? If you are worried that she would be angry and sad after finding out the truth, then don't worry too much. She will forgive you eventually." Kaiden wanted to bury himself for his stupidity. He could hardly believe that he was trying to encourage Shadow for not to give up on his love for Emily.

He should be happy that the man had decided to stay away from Emily and never tell her about their bond. But that's the problem, he couldn't find any happiness.. Instead, there was a pain in his heart that was making him try to help Shadow.