I’m Like a Bird in His Cage
I’m Like a Bird in His Cage
(Third–person’s POV)
Dr. Aris Lowell held Olivia tightly, her own heart aching as she watched her friend’s sorrow. Having been by each other’s side for years, she had witnessed Olivia’s suffering–the painful attempts to conceive a pup, the heartbreak of Theodore’s betrayal with his mistress.
Even now, Dr. Aris couldn’t comprehend why Theodore would betray someone so wonderful. Thankfully, Olivia had found a good Alpha again.
“Olivia, I will definitely cure you,” she vowed.
“Yes,” Olivia replied softly.
“What do you remember about your time with the Alpha King?” Dr. Aris asked.
Olivia opened her laptop, revealing a file that was a digital record of all her memories with Matthew Kane. “Some of it… I’m already starting to forget,” she sighed, “but I know it all
happened.”
Her fingers trembled as she scrolled through the entries. Each memory felt like sand slipping through her fingers.
“I can feel them fading,” she whispered. “Like watching a movie where the sound keeps
getting quieter.”
Dr. Aris squeezed her hand. “We’ll find a way to restore them.”
At the Stonehaven Council Hall, Matthew listened to reports from Tristan and his team after
a long day. He idly toyed with a ruby necklace, his expression calm.
“Alpha King, should we withdraw the surveillance team?” someone asked.
Matthew looked up. “Continue the surveillance.”
His gaze swept over the room. “And,” he added, his eyes dark, “replace this team of pack
enforcers.‘
Tasha asked, “Alpha King, what did they do wrong?”
Matthew’s cold gaze silenced her. She knew instantly it was because they had allowed Olivia
to leave the estate.
A wave of resentment washed over Tasha. It seemed unfair that they should pay the price for
Olivia’s reckless behavior.
To her, Olivia was nothing but a disaster.
“I’ll handle it immediately,” Tasha conceded, turning to leave.
She ran into Tristan, who was carrying a bouquet of red and purple tulips. “Are you the Alpha King’s Beta or Miss Blackwood’s caregiver?” she scoffed.
Tristan, noticing her foul mood, didn’t rise to the bait. He knew of her feelings for Matthew and that she needed to wake up.
“Some people are the brilliance itself, and I am the one who helps create that brilliance,” Tristan said, his voice filled with passion for his work. “Just thinking that the Alpha King will one day reach the pinnacle… assisting him, helping him achieve it, whether as a Beta or a caregiver, it’s all worth it.”
He then reminded her of Olivia’s value. “She blocked Hacker Zero, resolving the cyber crisis.” “Without her, the Alpha King might have had to sacrifice the entire tech division. Do you know how great that cost would have been?”
“She’s always causing trouble for the Alpha King,” Tasha retorted, unconvinced. “He’s replacing the pack enforcers because they couldn’t stop her, but what could they have done?”
Tristan’s expression darkened. “There was an informant among the enforcers,” he revealed, shocking Tasha.
He handed her a bouquet of tulips. “Don’t gamble with your future, Tasha,” he said softly. “The Alpha King doesn’t just like Miss Blackwood. He loves her.”
He paused, his voice low and serious. “I suspect… if one day his kingdom and Miss Blackwood were on opposite ends of a scale, he would choose Miss Blackwood without hesitation.”
“That would be the real trouble, the real disaster. Don’t push things in that direction.”
His eyes bore into hers. “Let go of your obsession.”
“Destroy the mate bond severance papers.
Tasha looked panicked. As Tristan walked away, he saw her toss the tulips into the trash.
He sighed, knowing she was beyond reason.
Inside the office, Matthew was on the phone. On the other end, Leo stood on the staircase, watching his mother cry while Dr. Aris held her hand.
“Alpha Kane, my mom is losing her memory,” the boy whispered into his phone. “She’s forgetting about Dad and Clara, and she’s slowly forgetting you too.”
The words ‘betraying father‘ were foreign to him, but he couldn’t bear to see his mother suffer. He knew his father wouldn’t let her go.
The thought of Clara Thorne and her daughter, Rosalie, made his own heart ache. He didn’t want his mother to return to that pain.
He trusted Matthew.
“Will
you
handle it?” he asked, relief flooding him at the affirmation. “Thank you, Alpha Kane.”
After the call, Matthew was enveloped in gloom, hurt that Olivia hadn’t told him about her deteriorating condition. He handed the ruby necklace to Tristan.
“Put this in the safe.”
(Matthew’s POV)
It was late when I returned to the Sovereign’s Club. I found Olivia at her desk, typing.
She was creating an electronic memoir of our time together, the final entry marked with a countdown: 14 days.
I reached over and closed the laptop, plunging the room into darkness, save for the dim light from the hallway.
“So late?” she smiled, getting up to turn on the lights, but I caught her hand and pulled her into a tight embrace.
She worried I was in trouble for the mall explosion she caused. “I’m sorry, I can pay for it, but I don’t have much right now,” she offered, gently massaging my temples.
“You should sleep. You can use my room. Shall I get your clothes?”
In the darkness, my possessiveness flared. I lifted my head, cupping her face.
I had never dared to compete with her past, with the ten years she shared with Theodore. But
now, a desperate sense of rivalry ignited within me.
“Did you ever get clothes for him?” I asked, my voice low.
I expected a painful silence, but she answered, “No. I never got his clothes. We had too many
pack servants.”
She touched my face. “I never helped him with his formal wear either.”
“He never let me do anything. I wasn’t like his mate, more like his caged canary.”
She recalled her past, a gilded cage where every move was monitored by the pack. “I don’t know how to be a proper Luna,” she admitted softly, but then her tone shifted.
“I can learn. I want to be good to you.”
She gently pushed me away and walked toward the door, then paused. “Why did you come to my mating ceremony all those years ago?”
I coming to stand before her. I said, “If I had asked you to come with me back then, would you have?”
