Behind The Alpha Book 4 CASS

EMBER

These past couple of weeks have been intense for me. With Cass going through his mood swings, I don’t know how to handle this. It’s like I can, but I can’t.

I feel divided. One side is my Love Bug and the other is that wispy nymph in the trees. The problem is that nymph is severely broken. So broken I don’t want to face her.

I took this job to avoid what I had inside. To make sure no one went through what I did. Cass is trying to bring that to the surface and I don’t want to. This is the main reason I’m so insistent on the arrow. It’s not that I can’t love. It’s that I don’t want to. Ever. It’s not the beautiful emotion everyone makes it out to be. It’s destructive, impulsive and down right hurts.

The sooner I fix this, the sooner I don’t have to think about it again.

I’m laying on the couch with my feet up as I search for signs of Puck on my phone or wait for Jesse to call.

“Hey. Open up.”

I drop my phone and Cass is holding a stir spoon. I sit up and taste the sauce that’s on it.

“Oh my god.” I sit up further. “That’s good. What is that?”

“Garlic Alfredo. Come on.” He motions to kitchen.

I cross the room and slide onto one of the island stools. He drops one plate of pasta with the white sauce and drops the other in front of me. “For You, my sweet bug.” He grins. He walks back to the counter and I hear a cork pop. “I hope you like white.” He turns and he fills a wine glass with white wine.

“I don’t really drink or eat, for that matter, but what the hell. Thanks.” I smile.

He sits beside me and lifts his glass. He pauses for a second. “To…brighter days.” He nods.

I nod too with a smile. “Brighter days.” We clink or glasses and sip the wine. “That’s nice.” I say as set it down.

“This is nicer.” He offers a fork full of pasta and I take it into my mouth.

I chew it and agree. “This is so good. Where you learn to cook.”

He shrugs. “My mom. I cooked for her a lot after my dad died. I always just wanted to make her feel special. I’d cook hot dogs, but set up a whole decorated table for her and everything.”

I twirl my fork on my plate. “That’s sweet.”

“I tried to be a good kid. She went through a lot and I just wanted to make her feel appreciated for raising me alone.” He stuffs his mouth and chews.

“So that’s where your love comes from.” I say as I eat.

“I guess.” He sips his glass. “I’ve always loved women. I guess a little too much. I just…I just want to make them happy. You could say it was because of my mom. It killed me to see her sad.”

“I don’t think it’s all your mom.” I say. I haven’t told Cass what I know because I just don’t think he needs to know. I’m fixing it and what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. If he knew he’s been like this for so long because a screw up we did, he’d get angry and most likely not allow me to fix it like I need to.

“You have a big heart, Cass. You need love like you need air. I see that. What we need to do is find the right someone for you.” I say as fill my fork.

“Funny you should say that…”

He reaches for his back pocket as my phone rings.

I look at the screen, hold a finger to him and stand up. “Jesse. Please tell me you found him…He’s what?...” I look at Cass with wide eyes. “Keep him there. We’ll be a second.”

I hang up. “Pucks at Nala’s. Let’s go.”

I see him shove a piece of paper back in his pocket and stand.

“What was that?” I point to his jeans.

“Nothing. Let’s go.” He holds out his arm as he avoids my eyes.

“Ok.” I grab his arm and blink us to Nala’s penthouse.

“Jesse.” I cross the room and greet him while he sits on his couch beside Curtis. “Where is he?”

“Right here.” I turn to the kitchen and Puck has his head in the fridge. He pulls out a banana and peels it. He takes a huge bite. “Hey, sis.” He says with a mouthful.

I storm to the island. “Where the hell have you been? I told you not to hide from me!”

“I had to move. Those Dragons are persistent buggers.” He smirks. He arches a brow. “You got the blood?”

I reach into my pocket and pull out the vial with the blood in it. “This better be enough. We had to piss off a psychopath to get it.”

Puck takes it and chuckles. “Oliver. He’s a blast, ain’t he?”

“No, he’s not." Cass glares and crosses his arms.

Puck eyes him. “Come on, Cass. Don’t tell me you didn’t like laying it into that guy.” He smiles as he looks at the blood.

“I did not. Now do your thing.” Cass waves him on to get the arrow and blood together.

“I think you did. Just a little bit.” The corner of his lip ticks up as he waves his hand over the counter. The box appears with the arrow in it. “The heat for this will start getting intense. I’ll need protection, Jesse. We can’t allow this out there. Once I apply the blood, a pulse will ring out. I’ll try to muffle it, but it’s possible others will feel it. Can you protect this?”

“With my life.” Jesse says.

“Mine too.” Curtis agrees. He looks at Jesse and nods. Jesse smiles and slaps his leg.

“Ok. Here we go.” Puck opens the vial. Lifts the arrow out of the box and puts the tip into the bottle. He tips it and we watch the blood flow to the arrowhead.

The moment it touched, black smoke wafted from the connection. What looked like black paint flowed up the arrowhead, along the shaft and ending at the feathers. The Arrow smokes and then a big air pulse explodes from it. All our hair blasts backwards. The Arrow fades from black back to the dark grey lead color. Puck drops it in the box, locks it and waves his hand over it. It disappears.

He leans on the counter. “Prepare for anything.” He eyes us all.

Jesse stands and walks to our side. “Who’d be after that?”

“Not the arrow, me. That beacon tells them where I am. Most likely Michael will show up and try to take me. I need to be kept safe.” Pucks eyes meet Jesse’s.

Curtis joins Jesse. “What about Azriel?”

Jesse was about to say something when he was interrupted.

“Azriel is presently indisposed. So, I’ve come in his stead.”

We turn to a dark tanned man in a blue suit, black turtle neck and dark glasses.

Puck smiles. “Reggie. Glad you could make it, my man.”

He walks over to us. “How could I say no to my favorite conundrum.” He grins a large, bright smile as we all look at him with confusion.

“Puck. What’s going on? Who is this guy?” I turn to my brother, thumbing over my shoulder.

Puck walks around the island to Reggie and throws an arm around his shoulders. He points to Reggie chest. “This guy is going to help with your next ingredient.”

I narrow my eyes and cross my arms. “What is it?”

Puck takes his arm off and stands in front of me. “The tear of a truly broken heart.”

I flop my arm to my side. “Puck. How?”

He holds a finger up. “Luckily, this one won’t be too hard. You just need to go back in time a bit.”

Cass shoves himself between us. “You’re kidding right? Time travel?”

“I said this wasn’t easy. It takes time.” He grins.

I squint. “Not funny.”

“I thought it was.” He pushes through the group, produces a pen and paper. He starts writing. “This tear can’t be just any old tear. This particular one is chosen already. The timing needs to be perfect.” He rips the paper off the pad and hands it to me.

“April Warner? Who’s that?” I look at him curiously.

“The poor thing. 13 years ago her mate fought with Phoenix on a mission and was killed. You need the tear that falls the moment her mate mark breaks.” He leans on the counter.

Cass takes the paper. “Axelridge?”

Puck nods. “She’s very special so you need to do this right. You can’t interrupt the events that happen or you can screw up everything.”

I look at Cass and he looks back at me.

“Shall we go?” Reggie smiles and rubs his hands together.

I breathe deep. “Let’s do this.” I take Cass’ hand in mine and he smiles. I hold up our hands and smile back.

Reggie plucks a hair off our heads. We both wince and rub our heads at the same time. He twists the hairs together and turns to an open space and blows the hairs into the air. A portal opens and we see a city on the other side of the wavy, watery rectangle shaped door in the middle of the living room.

Reggie smiles. “Let’s head to Wonderland, children.” He motions into the portal.

“Reggie. Three days.” Puck says.

“Right. Cheerio.” He waves as we all walk through the portal.

We step out and my eyes widen. The place is huge. Neon lights everywhere. Sport music playing and traffic everywhere. The buildings are tall and everything is so bright and loud. How does anyone sleep here?

Cass leans to me. “My kind of town.” He chuckles.

The people walk around in team jerseys and memorabilia. The billboards all show different sport players. They’re all doing sexy poses in different sport gear. I smirk. “Wonder who those guys are.” I point to a digital billboard that’s flipping through pictures of six men posing and playing their sports.

“That, my dear, is the city’s council members.” Reggie says over my shoulder.

My jaw drops. “Those are council members?”

“They look like fun.” Cass grins.

“They are when you don’t infuriate them. Now, when are we…” He looks at his phone. “Uh…Oh dear."

“What?” I whip my head to him. “Oh dear? What’s that mean? Oh dear…”

“It means I may have made a slight miscalculation.” Reggie scrunches his nose as he puts his phone back in his pocket.

“How much of a miscalculation?” Cass asks from behind me.

“The event doesn’t happen for another day.” He informs.

“Reggie!!” I yell.

“My dear…Calm yourself. You have time. Until the event happens, just take in the sights.” He holds his hands out and smiles.

“We don’t have time for this.” I grit. Destiny’s audit can happen at anytime and if we get caught…

“Ember, with me, you have all the time in the world. Have fun.” He fades as he smiles. His bright grin is the last thing to fade.

With frustration, I turn around. Cass is holding up two tickets. “Want to take in a game?” He smirks.

I blow out a breath, look at the tickets and shrug. “Lead the way.” I motion up the street.

****

“TREZNER!! TREZNER!!”

The crowd cheers while the music thumps in our chests.

The Axelridge Hammers are beating the Bruins 4 to 2. The fans are going nuts.

The teams captain is flying down the ice and skating circles around the opposing players. He passes the puck and skates past a few players. The puck is passed back for a 1, 2 slapshot. He winds up, lifting his stick and brings it down. The puck flies across the ice, in between the goalies legs as he drops to stop it.

“YEAH! RIGHT IN THE 5 HOLE!! WHOOO!!” Cass is jumping up and down as the lights and sirens indicate a goal. The scoreboard changes from 4 to 5.

The players skate around waiting for the next face off.

I’ve never seen a hockey game before, but Cass has been filling me in and I’m a quick study. I quickly learned…I love this game. It’s competitive and a little violent. It gets me riled up.

The game starts again and I’m on my feet.

“COME ON! HIT ‘EM!!” I shout over the loud cheers of the crowd.

“You’re really getting into this.” Cass chuckles.

I sit back down and catch my breath. “Yeah…it’s fun. Thanks for bringing me.”

He locks eyes with me. “You’re welcome.” His voice is soft and sweet. I see him lean for a kiss and the crowd seems to dissolve into nothing. I feel the familiar heat as his lips get close to mine.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the game. My head turns and I jump up. “DON'T DUMP IT! WHAT IDIOT PLAY IS THAT?!”

I slam back down. “I swear. They need me as a coach.” I turn and his lips slam on mine. I instantly melt. My hand lands on his cheek as his soft tongue dances with mine. My heart races and I’m totally lost in him.

As the world comes back, I hear the crowd ‘Awe’. My eyes widen and Cass breaks the kiss. “Kisscam.” He mumbles on my lips with a smile.

“What?” I turn to the Jumbo Tron screen in the middle of the stadium. I see our faces on the screen with dancing hearts and kiss lips around us.

My cheeks turn beat red and I hide in Cass' chest. He belts out a loud laugh and hugs my head as everyone else laughs too.

He looks down at me. “You ok?”

I nod. “Yep. I’m good.” I laugh.

He beams. “I love hearing your laugh.”

I sit up. “Yours isn’t half bad either.” I shoulder bump him and he bumps me back.

****

“Alight. Favorite game as a kid.” I ask as I pop some cotton candy in my mouth.

“I didn’t really play games. It was all about training. Which I loved. Me and my dad sparring, so manly.” He chuckles and I do too. “After he was killed in action, I kind of took up his role for my mom. I was the Alpha at 14. I joined the unit at 17 and pretty much just fought my entire life. Anytime I felt love, it was from my mom and later random hookups, but it’s not enough.” He watches the boardwalk as we walk down by the marina. The sun is setting over Lake Michigan. We stop at the rails. The gulls cry out as they fly by and the breeze off the lake blows our hair.

“Doesn’t really sound like much of a childhood.” I say as I offer some candy to him and he takes it like a growling bear. I giggle as he grabs my hand and licks my fingers off.

He licks his lips. “I guess it wasn’t, but I think it will prepare me for my Luna. She’ll want someone who knows her and knows how to love her right. I like to think my moms love trained me for that. My dad’s strength trained me to protect her with everything I have. Also, to do everything I can to not let her go when I find her.” He side eyes me as he leans on the rail and looks out to the water.

“That’s…honorable.” I mumble and turn out to the water.

“What about you?” He turns his head to me.

“What about me?” I glance at him.

He turns his body and leans on the rail. “I know nothing about your life. You said you'd tell me.”

“There’s not much to tell. I was a nymph and I gave it up to be a love bug.” I say.

“But why? Why make such a big decision?” He steps closer.

I push off the railing. “It’s getting dark. We should find a room somewhere.”

“Ember. Tell me.” He steps in front of me.

“I’ll do one better.” I eye him. “I’ll show you. Tomorrow at the event.” I place a hand on his heart and walk past him. He joins my side and we walk to find a hotel room.