"Just... let my curiousness get the hang of me." I lied, hoping that it was convincing enough.

He still kept his face forward, his eyes taking in the setting sun. "Curiosity is what killed the cat." He finally turned to look at me, his jaw set in a strong line. Okay, not convincing enough.

"But satisfaction brought it back". I added, looking directly at him.

He smiled in response, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Zeke..." I started. "I shouldn't have been there. I'm sorry." I let my gaze drop from him, and to his shoes. He was quiet and didn't respond. I bit my lower lip as I waited for an answer. 30 seconds passed before he exhaled loudly. His smile was long gone by now, and I could only imagine what he was thinking.

Finally he spoke, clearing the air of its silence.

"Yeah, you probably shouldn't have." He sighed. "But, at least you met my mate." He smiled sadly.

I frowned, puzzled by what he meant.

"The painting." He added when he saw the crinkles in between my eyebrows. "Pretty hard to miss it." He joked.

My mind went back to when I saw that painting, its beauty engraved and etched into my memory. "She's your mate?" I asked, the image of her and that flowing dress dancing about in my mind.

He cleared his throat. "Was."

Just as soon as it left, the silence reared its ugly head again. He wiped his cheek, and sniffled softly.

"That song I was playing on the violin, she absolutely loathed it." He laughed. "She claimed that it made her angry that such beauty could feel so sad and depressing. She hated that song but, it was her favorite."

I listened to him speak with all my attention, never a moment where I let my mind wonder.

"I don't even know why I was playing it tonight, all I knew was to pick up that violin and start belting." He laughed to himself, before falling silent.

I bit the inside of my cheek, "What do you mean by was, Zeke?" I asked when he got quiet.

He let out a low whistle, and laughed a humorless laugh to himself. "I killed her." He folded his hands and pressed his face against them. His eyes didn't move from mine, as I tried to hide my fear and confusion.

"I told her to stay in the castle, but she wouldn't listen." He rubbed his eyes. "Oh, she was so adamant to fight alongside me. And I-" He choked out. "And I couldn't bear the thought of her ever getting hurt, so I locked her in that room. It was only when I ran back to castle after the attack and not a single noise came from the room did I realize what I had done. I've never moved quicker in my life, I ripped the door down and the irony of that was how my world slowed down as I looked at her." By now tears were flowing down his red cheeks, and he made no effort to wipe them away. "Her mangled body hung from the ceiling... the dress she was wearing was moving with the breeze that accompanied the open window." He let out a shaky breath. "If I hadn't locked her in that room, maybe she would be here siting next to me, watching the sunset."

I sat there shocked. I looked at Zeke's shaking figure, by now he was wretched with sobs and hysteria.

"Zeke..." I whispered softly. He lifted his head out of his hands to face me. I schooched closer until my thighs touched his. I slowly leaned forward and slowly pulled him into a hug. I felt his body underneath me tense and freeze. His chin laid on my shoulder, and he didn't move. After an embarrassing second did I start to pull away when I realized that he probably didn't want this undesired hug.

He sensed me pulling back and quickly wrapped his arms around me. He hid his face in the crook of my neck as he cried. I rubbed my hands up and down his back as I soothingly shushed him. We started slowly rocking side to side, while I whispered to him. "You're okay. I'm right here." We continued this until I heard him starting to sniffle and quiet down. He pulled back carefully and I let my hands drop from his body. He wiped the tears from his eyes as he laughed.

He reached forward and wiped my cheek, I flinched back slightly and he held up his finger to me. "Why would you be crying?" He asked to which I shrugged. Not knowing the answer either.

Another breeze of cold wind blew, disrupting the leaves that lay near our feet. Zeke let out a shudder as he rubbed his bare arms. I didn't feel the coolness of the night thanks to the hoodie I was wearing. Lucas' hoodie....

"I don't even know why I told you this." He said while chattering as the chilly wind kept blowing.

I casually shrugged, staring at the horizon. The sun long was gone by now, the only thing left were the streaks of pink and orange cast on the sky. "Sometimes its easier to talk to strangers. You won't care for their judgement." I whispered, to which he simply nodded to.

"Well," He added. "You wont be a stranger soon, Luna." He said with a cheeky smile.

I felt myself tense as he said that, Luna....

Flashback.

"Do you have two names?" I asked, my curiosity filled to the brim about this new world I was learning about.

"Two names? Where did you get that from?" Lucas questioned, his head cocked to the side as he sat confused.

I bit the inside of my cheek, "You ask people to call you Alpha... I just assumed you had two names."

He stood up, crossing his arms as he sauntered a few steps towards the window in the room. "First off, stop biting the inside of your cheek." I immediately stopped gnawing on my flesh. "Secondly, I don't ask. I command. Thirdly, no. I have one name, Lucas Romero. But." He added. "I have two titles."

Catching up slowly, I nodded softly. "One of them being Alpha?" I asked.

He responded with a soft smile, "The other being King." He smirked.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes, but failed slightly. But while my eyes traveled back to my brain I remembered what that girl had called me a little while back. "And Luna... What does that mean?"

He started fixing the cuffs of his dress shirt, unbuttoning them as he rolled them up above his elbows. His eyes still fixated on his task he gave me an answer. "Just as there is no King without his Queen, there's no Alpha without his Luna."

I gulped, it was falling into place. "And me being your 'mate', makes me your Luna?"

He glanced up at me, his sleeves nice and rolled, boosting his appearance up to a score unfathomable by numbers. "You're catching up, my Queen..."

End of flashback.

"Whats wrong?" I was snapped back into the present by Zeke, he had two fingers infront of my face. Just like Mandy. Another reason I had to leave, and leave right now.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good, just lost my train of thought." I assured him. I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ears, the wind had blown my hair in different directions.

He nodded, I couldn't tell if he believed me but if he didn't he didn't voice it. With one final look at the horizon Zeke rubbed his arms up and down before he got up. He stood infront of me and stuck his hand out infront of me. "It's pretty cold out, we should probably go back inside now." He stated.

I shook my head, "I think i'm going to stay out here for a little while longer." I took his hand and got up from the bench.

He smiled softly, before turning on his heel to walk back to the house. His figure getting smaller and smaller. Realizing this might be the last time I saw him I yelled.

"Wait!'' I called out, there was something I wanted to tell him before I ran away.

He stopped walking and turned to face me, I walked up to him and threw my arms around him. This time he immediately hugged me back. "Don't be afraid of letting others know how you feel," I told him,"It's easier to talk to strangers, you know?"

"I know." He squeezed me harder, "Goodbye, Dawn." And he let go, retreating to the castle. I watched him, engraving him into my mind as well. In the little time we had spent together I could tell, if our situations were different we would have become the best of friends. But sadly, my life isn't like that. No ideal situations.

I took a shuddering breath as I heard the door shut. I closed my eyes and stared ahead at the immense lawn in front of me.

"To freedom."

The flashback scene is from where Lucas told her about his world, I didn't add that chapter cause I thought it would be tedious. just clearing that up lol.