Eero's perspective
The entire trip to the funeral for my adoptive father's funeral was shrouded in deafening silence.
"I can't stand this anymore. I should have hailed a taxi or called a nearby driver to pick me up. The awkwardness is killing me," I whispered to my wolf.
"If you didn't bring up your past with him, things would be less awkward, and he told you why Claudius had to pick you up."
I couldn't help but raise my brow, "Did you think that the Luna Queen–"
"Yes, Eero. When was the last time you had a proper word with her? Three? Four years ago. A lot can happen within that period, and Luna Aelice is thousands of miles different from the Aelice you first met."
Looking around the road. I realized that Claudius took a route that I was not familiar with.
"Are we still far?" I asked Claudius, not sparing him a glance. I looked at my wristwatch and saw it was already 7:48 in the morning. Perseus is probably awake and looking for me."I hope Perseus won't call me while I'm with Claudius. I don't want him to be suspicious," I whispered while waiting for Claudius to answer.
"We're almost there. He said, nearly a whisper. I looked out the window, and he was right.
My phone vibrated from my bag. I dug my fingers inside of it and quickly fished out my phone. I opened a new message from Diana.
[Perseus is crying. I don't know how to calm him down. He was in a good mood when he woke up, but when Miguel poured milk on Perseus' cereal in the bowl, Perseys suddenly got angry and started to cry.]
I sighed. I felt Claudius glance at me after I did that. I hurriedly dialed Diana's number to call her, luckily she answered quickly.
"Thanks for the mercy of the Moon Goddess, Eero! I haven't seen your son cry and throw tantrums like this before," Diana said upon picking up my call.
I chuckled at her. She's right. This is probably the first time she saw Perseus throw his tantrums like that
"Go get a new bowl and fill it with cereal again, but let him pour milk on his cereal this time. That will make him stop crying," I said to Diana. Silence stretched before I heard her order Miguel to do precisely what I said.
"Okay. It's okay, Perseus is calm now."
"Okay."
"By the way, I'd love to charge a fee for watching over Perseus. I'm sure you can afford it."
"It? It's a thing? And not money? What is it?"
"A BMW," Diana answered.
Laughing, I put my cell phone back in the bag.
"Who is that?" I turned to Claudius. His eyes are fixed directly on the road while his lips are pursed in a thin line.
Dead air crept in between us again.
"Huh? Why would I tell you?" I raised an eyebrow at him. Claudius pasted his eyes back on the road.
"I was just asking," he defended.
"And what makes you think that you can ask me things? You are allowed to peek at what's happening in my life?" I smirked at him. Claudius pulled over in front of the tall gates of the realm and glanced at me.
His firm grip on the steering wheel remained as I removed the seatbelt and prepared myself to escape his car when he suddenly spoke.
"Come on, Eero..." Claudius said with a strained and raspy voice.
"Let's not talk about us here. This isn't the proper place nor timing, Claudius. Aren't we both here for the Alpha King's funeral?" I said and stepped out of his car. I didn't dare try to look back at him. Instead, I walked inside the estate like I had every right to lurk around this place.
I was able to easily find which floor and which room Aelice and Beta Octavio chose to hold the Alpha King's funeral. It's still early, so there are only a few people in the hall. There are only about five of them, and I hardly know them. They are all new faces to me.
I saw three familiar people sitting in the first row of seats near the casket. I walked past them to take a look at my adoptive father in his final state.
Within the blink of an eye, my tears threatened to fall out, and I could not hold them any longer.
"Those tears, are they tears of grief?" I looked at the man who owned the hand holding a handkerchief spread out to me. Beta Octavio flashed a taunting smile.
"After he adopted you and made you his heir. You were only with him for months. You hardly know the Alpha King. You can't possibly be this devastated by his death, and if these tears in your eyes are from happiness because you thought you'd have the Regulus at last, that is understandable."
Shifters started coming in and out of respect. I remained calm and composed as I didn't want chaos to erupt at the Alpha King's funeral.
I took the handkerchief from Octavio and dried both my cheeks with it.
"And if these tears are out of happiness, then what?" I smirked at him and took a step to be closer to him.
"Are you confessing to me that you didn't really care about your adoptive father and you only pretended to be affectionate to him so you'll remain his heir?" Beta Octavio asked in a louder tone, but with our distance from the other mourner in the room, we were the only ones who could hear our conversation.
"Doesn't that only make us even? The Alpha King is dead. Even when the word spreads, you won't be apprehended anymore. Aren't you sick of pretending you care about him when all you care about is his power as Alpha?" I leaned closer to Beta Octavio.
"I know you and your daughter's plan, you son of a bitch, but that won't be successful. It's time that we reveal our color, and that means I can now go back to my mate."
To defeat him, I need Claudius to claim me again as his mate.