Caine

“For now,” Caine was saying to the Wolves inside the conference room. “I want to make sure we have the area swept. It is better to keep everyone inside territory boundaries.”

Caine’s highest ranking Wolves in the pack were inside that room. His top tracker, along with the leader of the trackers, his top fighter, along with the leader of the fighters, the member in charge of small ordeals or problems in the pack, Victor, Lesley, and Macon were among the Wolves present.

His voice was firm, commanding. I was standing to the side, resting my back against the wall, simply looking between him and the group of Wolves gathered in the room. They were all looking at him intently, taking in each of his words to memory.

Whenever Caine’s eyes landed on me, I was graced with a nice, long glare. He had been angry with me the entire week.

The Wolves in the conference room noticed the tension between us. Caine took a chance to glance at me whenever he could. He was upset with how much I’d fought him to be in the conference room that morning.

When the meeting had started, I could tell Caine was holding back. He had plans, he’d set up the meeting, and he was going to hand out his plans to the group of people in the room.

Once I decided to attend, and Caine wasn’t able to kick me out of the room, he got mad. He started running in circles with his topic, until Victor spoke up, and finally started talking about the problems at hand.

Caine had to start talking and giving out the real information.

Knight Pack claimed they wanted a peace treaty. Derek had left back to his land four days ago. The past week, Caine along with about twenty Wolves from our pack, swept the entire area. They didn’t stop in just the county our land was in. They went even further.

Caine had been absent from home a lot, and when he was around, he was usually distracted. The good thing was— Derek and his Wolves were gone.

Caine thought they left to show an act of faith on their part, so that we could trust them.

Now, Caine was in the middle of negotiating a date suitable for both him and Tristan, to visit them. He, however, was planning to arrive before the day they agreed on. He would catch them by surprise, throw them off, and give them no time to make ill plans.

I liked his plan. The only problem with it was that he wanted to leave me home.

As soon as Caine wrapped up the meeting, they all wasted no time in clearing up the conference room. It seemed like they couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I understood why. Caine appeared a word away from shifting into his Wolf.

Our honeymoon time was over the moment I brought up my desire to join either the trackers or the fighters of the pack. I was fast, and I was only getting faster. It had been only two weeks since I’d shifted into my Wolf for the first time, but I felt fully energized.

I could run for hours on end without getting tired. I had outrun everyone in the pack, which had been somewhat emasculating for some Wolves, Caine and Victor included.

I wasn’t a great fighter. I was clumpy and weak. Compared to the other guys, I was much smaller. When I realized that, I didn’t argue with Caine. I accepted what I was. I needed training. I’d received so much of it, but it was nothing like the things I used to do when I had been a human. The Wolves trained much harder.

I was starting to understand why I had never been able to keep up with the rest of the Wolves back home, when I was still part of the Knight Pack.

I was a good tracker. The leader of the trackers of Locus Pack, Elijah, had told me so. He’d said I’d make a good tracker, because I was fast and my senses were sharp. I was still considered a pup, and yet I’d managed to outrun the Alpha. The weakness in my build was made up by my speed.

Caine didn’t want to hear of it.

Tristan, Knight Pack’s main Alpha, claimed that he wanted to finally form a peace treaty with us.

He had tried to form one, months ago. Caine had found it suspicious then, and now it was even worse. Caine had been invited to their pack. I wanted to tag along, but the moment I let that fact known, Caine was on my back. When I suggested joining the pack’s trackers, Caine had gotten so angry, he’d shifted into his Wolf.

I shifted as well. I had hated how he’d tried to show his power and dominance by shifting. Caine got angrier when I shifted. That day, Caine had made my Wolf submit to his, and it had not been pretty. For all intents and purposes, Caine was still my Alpha. As much as I had tried to stand my ground, my Wolf had kneeled at Caine’s feet.

The day he made me do that, I’d taken off once I shifted back into my human form. It had caused a commotion in the pack. I ran out of there as fast as my feet would carry me. I had nowhere to go, and for some reason, my Wolf instinctively made me run to Lesley’s place.

Lesley calmed me down, and I ended up spending the night at her cabin.

It had been days since that incident, but Caine was on high alert ever since. He was keeping tabs on me, and things to himself. But I was all over the place. If he left to the pack building, I shadowed him. I practically made it impossible for him to meet with his higher rankings without me being present.

“I won’t get in your way,” I promised, deciding to speak first.

Caine and I were the only ones left the in the room. Victor had closed the door after him, probably to give us some sort of privacy. If Caine shifted into his Wolf, we weren’t going to be getting much of that.

“You are already in my way right now, Charlotte,” Caine said, through gritted teeth.

“I wouldn’t be if you would just agree with me.”

“I’m not changing my mind.”

“Then you will have to find a way to deal, because I’m not changing my mind either!”

“Do you know how this will make me look?” Caine snarled, approaching me, but still keeping a distance between us.

“I want to be there when you go to Knight Pack. I want to be part of the team.”

“Lunas don’t fight with the pack,” Caine repeated, what he’d been telling me for the past week.

“I’ll be the first.”

“No, you won’t,” Caine stated.

“You don’t get to decide,” I insisted, feeling hurt with the harsh way he was looking at me.

“I am your Alpha, Charlotte. Need I remind you that, again?”

Caine reminder of what he’d done earlier in the week stung. He had done it on purpose, and boy did his words serve their purpose.

“No, Alpha,” I said, mockingly.

“I decide what’s good for the pack.”

“Are you saying I’m not good for the pack?” I asked, deciding to play with his words, just as he did with me whenever he wanted to get his way.

Oh, Caine had the Alpha title down to perfection.

Sometimes he’d run me in circles with his words until he got me confused, and I ended up agreeing with him. I didn’t always notice it before, but my Wolf picked up on it pretty fast.

It was hard to understand her. Some days, all my Wolf wanted to do was please Caine and do exactly as he said. Other days, she was pissed off with his rules and she wanted more freedom. I didn’t know if it was because I’d gotten my Wolf so late, but I was still struggling to separate her thoughts from mine.

It didn’t help that everyone kept reminding me that I was a pup.

“That isn’t what I meant, and you know it,” Caine said, his intense gaze not breaking, but I could tell he wasn’t amused with my comment.

“I’m fast,” I reminded him. “Everyone says so, and I know they don’t say it as just a compliment.”

“You also happen to be a pup. Your Wolf has never been around a fight.”

“I’ve seen you and Liam go at each other before! You and Alpha Dylan have fought in front of me! I didn’t freak out then.”

Caine gave me a disapproving look, and he shook his head. To make his point even clearer, he went the full mile and crossed his arms over his chest. “Any time I’ve fought with Liam, you have intervened. Thank you for bringing that up. You’ve just proven my point,” he said, flatly.

“I have a Wolf this time. It won’t happen again. I have more control!” I didn’t notice I was growling, until Caine cocked an eyebrow and pointed it out.

Getting angry, it seemed, came with the package of being a Wolf. It was easy to pick up a temper, and it took a while to get my Wolf to calm down.

“You were reckless as a human. You will be even more now that you’re a Wolf. It’s more common with pups,” he said, calmly.

“I’m fine!” I snapped, when Caine tried to come closer.

“You don’t have control over your Wolf. If I would consider, even for a second, letting you join the trackers— it would be after you went through the training in our pack.”

“That isn’t fair!”

“Yes, it is. Deep down, you know that it is.”

The way he continued to talk to me, calmly, like if he was speaking to a child, go to me. I pushed myself more against the wall, wanting to be as far from him as I could. Caine didn’t get closer, but he kept his steady gaze on me.

“I’ve received my training already, in Knight Pack!”

“We train differently. It is that, or nothing,” Caine said, with a tone of finality.

“I want to help!”

“You would help by staying here, where a Luna belongs.”

I growled in anger. Caine didn’t try to approach me. Good thing to, because I simply wanted to claw his eyes out.

I turned to face the wall, taking in a deep breath, while I let my forehead rest against it. I could feel a headache coming, no doubt from all the bottled up anger I felt.

“If I let you come with me, you make me and the rest of our Wolves weak, vulnerable. I will be too busy watching over you. You will be a distraction.”

He left the room, leaving me with those words. Caine had me there. I couldn’t make an argument against that.

Caine kept telling me that the purpose of visiting Knight Pack wasn’t to attack, but to actually form a peace treaty if that was what Tristan and Derek really wanted. Yet he was making plans like if he was ready to throw a full on attack towards my former pack.

I took my leave after the unsuccessful talk I had with Caine. Adam was with me. In the last week, a few changes had taken place around the pack. Macon was no longer my guard. I had only been left with Adam, and he was barely able to keep up with me.

Caine dropping my guards came as a surprise. I assumed that it was due to how much time I spent out and about. I rarely stayed at home, which meant I was hardly ever alone with Adam, which was what Caine didn’t like.

Now, more than before, he didn’t like leaving me alone with male Wolves. Although he’d grown more possessive, he’d also given me a wider range around the pack. I was allowed to roam about, as long as I didn’t leave pack territory without telling him.

He’d been allowing me to do as I pleased— until he told me I couldn’t go with him to visit Knight Pack.

Lesley had been reinstated back to her position. I’d seen her fight a handful of times, most of them were just for practice.

I once saw her take down a tall, strongly built, male Wolf. It was awesome. Lesley… she really was strong.

Now that I found myself getting along with her more, I was starting to feel bad that she and Liam had broken up. Lesley took care of herself, and she wasn’t girly. I thought that made a perfect fit for Liam. I had been thinking about that for over a week, wondering why I had even disliked Lesley in the first place.

And then I’d remember what she’d done to me when I first arrived in the city.

Macon was gone because I didn’t need him as a guard for now. I felt like everyone around the pack kept an eye out for me. I was all over the place. It made me sad that I’d never taken the chance to get to know anyone before I turned into my Wolf. But it was much easier having her. If my curiosity wasn’t enough, I had hers to push me to explore the pack.

“I think it’s better that you’re staying here,” Adam told me on the way back home.

I decided to walk. I wanted to clear my thoughts, and the nice, fresh air was good for my clouded mind.

“Why would you think that?”

“Liam wouldn’t approve. That’s just the start. The Alpha is right. Lunas never go fight for the pack. It’s unheard of,” Adam said, whispering.

“Uh huh…”

“I’m not kidding, Charlotte. This isn’t your mess to clean up.”

“This is my pack, Adam.”

We were walking through the trail, which was in the middle of the woods. Most of the other Wolves used it to come and go to the pack building or to their homes. Even though there were trails everywhere, outlined by small rocks all over our territory, the one we were in was the most commonly used.

“Right, because you’re the Luna. Last I heard, Lunas had other duties in the pack,” Adam countered.

“What? Sit around and look pretty? Be ready for when Caine comes home so that I can please him?” I snapped.

“Whoa, Charlotte, that last one was too much info,” Adam said, holding up his hands.

It wasn’t the first time he accused me of giving him ‘too much info’. The fact that I did that by accident only told me that I really needed someone to confide in, with things that Adam didn’t always want to hear about.

Before heading home, I went out on a run. I noticed that compared to other days, the Wolves in watch kept a closer eye on me.

“Do you know that if you tag along with Caine, I’d have to come with you?” Adam asked.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” I said, getting the feeling that he didn’t want to join us.

“Yeah, because the first thing on my list is to find ways to piss off Liam,” Adam said, flatly. “Besides, you’d be safer with me around.” I laughed when I saw the worried look on Adam’s face.

Nothing had even happened yet, and already everyone was acting like if we were about to attend a massacre.

“I was there the day Derek decided to kick you out,” Adam quietly added after a while.

“I know,” I mumbled

Liam and I rarely talked about that day. It was a bitter memory for me, and he understood that. He had tried to bring up the subject, and I answered questions for him, but I hardly ever spoke about that day.

Adam had been one of the Wolves Liam presented to me after he decided to take me in.

“If Liam would’ve known that our attack was going to get you kicked out, he wouldn’t have done it,” Adam said, sadly.

“Don’t feel bad. I think Derek and Tristan were just waiting for a chance to get rid of me. I was dead weight to them. A human in a pack of Wolves,” I shrugged.

“Still,” Adam muttered.

He came over and hugged me tightly. At first, I felt comforted by his hug and strange display of emotions. Adam and I were very close, but we joked around and made fun of each other for the most part. It was rare that he and I had a sentimental moment.

I pushed him away when he started patting my head, concluding that Adam was very bad at comforting people.

“I’m not a dog,” I said, snappily, flicking his nose.

“Well…” Adam said, and he started running away. He must’ve thought I was going to chase after him.

I wanted to, especially now that I had my Wolf. She truly loved running, and chasing after things.

I had gone upstairs to shower, although I also wanted some alone time away from Adam. I talked to Liam every day. Something told me that he also kept in constant contact with Adam and Caine, because Liam always knew what was going on with me.

It almost seemed like he just waited for me to tell him what I was up to, to make sure that I wasn’t keeping things from him.

Lately, he and Caine had ganged up on me with the Knight Pack thing.

I decided that since I’d given my try with Caine during the meeting, I was going to talk with Liam and try to convince him.

After all, getting the approval of either Caine or Liam made me feel better than if both of them told me no.

“You know, Charlie, if every call turns out like this, I might just record a message for you to hear every time you call me,” Liam said, playfully, but seriously.

“Why are you being like this?” I said, not able to help the whiny tone in my voice.

“I’m trying to keep you safe, which is getting harder to do with the ideas you’re getting these days.”

“I can keep myself safe!”

“That is exactly why packs fall,” Liam said, and I could just picture him shaking his head at me. “Getting cocky two weeks after you received your Wolf isn’t going to convince me that you can keep yourself safe.”

“But I can!” I insisted, letting my back fall over the bed, so that I was completely lying down.

Adam hadn’t disturbed me, but I could hear him downstairs watching TV. We’d been at home for almost two hours, and he’d come to check on me three times already.

“You can’t, not yet. I will trust you more on your own when I can see for myself how strong you are. Speed doesn’t keep you safe. It keeps you from getting killed from time to time, but that isn’t always going to cut it,” Liam said, his voice sounding firm.

“If you would at least agree with me, maybe Caine would let me tag along. It isn’t fair that you two aren’t even letting me decide.”

“We’ll let you decide when you start making wiser decisions,” Liam said.

I was about to start making another argument, but Liam growled at me. I knew that growl too well to continue talking.

“You know I’m doing this because I love you, right?” Liam asked, his voice softening up.

“I’m the Luna of the pack,” I muttered, knowing the conversation was as good as over.

I was starting to wonder whether the idea of having me stay behind had started with Caine or if Liam had been behind that.

“You are the Luna of the pack to be in charge, Charlie. Fighting wars is not your responsibility. I won’t allow you to be reckless,” he stated.

“So while Caine fights, I’ll be a good little mate and wait here for him to come back to me.” I spoke in a sweet, sarcastic tone, hoping to get a rise out of him.

Liam surprised me by saying, “Yes, that’s exactly what you will do.”

“You know what? I have to go,” I said, because I knew what would follow Liam’s words. He’d start with a lecture, which just like Caine’s, would only end up making me feel guilty.

“Alright, I’ll let you go. You’re staying in charge while Caine is away. You are the Luna of the pack. Be a good leader. That’s a good way to start proving yourself,” Liam suggested, speaking in a softer voice.

“I’m pretty sure Caine is leaving Macon in charge,” I grumbled.

“Macon is staying behind, but he won’t be in charge. He’ll be your right hand man.”

“I doubt it.”

“I have a surprise for you,” Liam said, changing the subject.

“What?”

“Your mate will tell you about it when he gets home. I think you might like it,” Liam said, going back to the teasing tone I was used to from him.

As much as I didn’t want to stay behind, Liam’s words did make me think. I wanted to accompany Caine to Knight Pack for two reasons. I knew how aggressive he was. I was scared that he would start an attack, and my family would somehow end up hurt.

I wanted to make sure Caine kept his word, to try to keep peace. But I also wanted a chance to see my parents again. It had been such a long time since I’d last seen them.

Caine arrived home late in the afternoon. Adam and I had stayed indoors for the rest of the day. Although I had spent most of my time upstairs, thinking, I ended up joining Adam for a movie.

We were both in the TV room, watching an action movie Adam had picked out.

Caine walked into the room, looking between Adam and me suspiciously. We weren’t even sitting near each other. While Adam was sitting on a couch, I was sprawled on the floor, with a blanket and four pillows surrounding me.

“You’re dismissed,” Caine told Adam, his face expressionless. He crossed his arms over his chest, looking intimidating without even trying.

He was wearing a pair of dark jeans, with a gray shirt. I assumed he hadn’t shifted into his Wolf since I’d left him earlier in the day.

“Adam is spending the night,” I told Caine.

If Caine was surprised, he didn’t show it. Adam usually alternated between sleeping at Liam’s apartment and spending the night. Ever since I’d shifted, he had stayed away. No one had asked him, but he wanted to give Caine and me some alone time.

“Then leave. I need to speak to my mate,” Caine ordered.

Adam didn’t argue with him. He simply looked at me, waited for me to nod my approval, before getting up to leave the room.

Caine didn’t like that.

He had made a deal about it at the beginning, when Adam waited for me to give him an order before listening to Caine. But after a while, Caine got used to it. Still, whenever he wasn’t in the mood, and Adam asked my permission instead of his, Caine got upset.

“You’re mad,” Caine stated.

“Do you always have to say that? You never ask me whether I’m mad or why I’m mad,” I said.

I turned back to the TV, even though I wasn’t paying attention to it. Caine walked into the room, and took a seat on the spot Adam had emptied.

“What are you watching?”

“TV,” I replied, and laughed when he growled at me.

“I’m trying to talk to you. It would help if we would skip this part,” Caine said. From the corner of my eyes, I saw him motioning with his hand for me to go to him.

“I’m watching a movie.” I wasn’t anymore, not since he’d walked into the room.

His presence dominated the place, and it was truly hard to concentrate on anything other than him, even when I wasn’t looking his way.

“Charlotte?”

“I already know what you’re going to tell me. If that’s all you have to say, you can leave then. Go work on whatever you want in your office and I’ll continue watching this movie,” I said, picking up the remote and turning up the volume to prove my point.

I felt kind of bad for telling him that though. My Wolf was whining inside of me, wanting me to climb on the couch and sit by Caine.

I was surprised when Caine stood up and left the room.

Not even ten minutes later, I found myself walking down the hall that led to his office. The guilt I felt for kicking him out had been eating at me. Caine had seemed like he genuinely wanted to talk to me, and I’d been bitchy to him.

I didn’t know if that had been me or my Wolf— it had probably been me. My Wolf liked to suck up to Caine too much. The only thing that I knew for sure came directly from her was my temper, which had gotten sharper and at times, was hard to control.

I knocked on the door three times, and walked in before Caine called me. He was sitting behind his desk, with his laptop open.

“What did you want to talk about?” I took a seat on the chair across from him. He closed his laptop, but he waited a few seconds before looking up.

“I love you, Charlotte. You might not-”

“I know it,” I interrupted him.

He nodded, and gave me a small smile, keeping his features serious somehow. “I don’t want you to get upset with me.”

“Haven’t I heard that somewhere before?” I asked, playfully.

Caine sighed, and nodded. “You can be difficult when you want to.”

“I’m being difficult?”

“You want to come with me.”

“Do you remember, a few weeks ago, not long after you met me?”

“What about it?”

“You told me you were going to Knight Pack. You were going to bring me along.”

“At the time, I didn’t know that you used to belong to that Pack.”

“How is it different? Isn’t it better now? I mean, I’m a Wolf. I’m not as defenseless as I was before.”

“You still need training.”

“And you and Liam love reminding me that I do,” I groaned, slumping myself deeper in the chair.

“Charlotte…” Caine said, reaching out to take my hand.

I somehow ended up climbing his desk, sitting on top of it, directly in front of Caine. It was a position I was familiar with. I’d sat in that same place before to distract him from his work.

“I don’t want to fight anymore today.”

“We’ll resume tomorrow?” Caine joked.

It was weird that he’d found humor in my words. He usually didn’t have a comeback, especially when it came to a serious matter.

“Exactly,” I agreed.

“We’re not done talking about it, Charlotte. When I planned to take you to Knight Pack, I didn’t think you had a relationship with that pack.”

“I don’t.”

“You used to be a member, your family is there, and Derek has a thing for you.”

“He has a thing for me?” I questioned, smiling.

“I haven’t decided what exactly he wants from you. I noticed it the last time you saw him. He asks about you. Whether it is because you’re my mate or he has a grudge against you, I can’t tell yet.”

“Things are different now,” I reminded him.

Caine sat back on his chair, and sighed loudly. “They are.”

I took the opportunity to slide down to his lap, putting my legs on either side of him.

“I have something I want to tell you,” Caine suddenly said, while slowly running his hands up and down my thighs.

“Liam told me you had a surprise for me,” I said, leaning closer to him, while nuzzling my nose against his jaw.

“Liam is coming back for a few days,” Caine replied.

“He is?” I didn’t try to hide the excitement in my voice. I missed Liam, a lot. I was jealous that Leila got to be with him all the time. Ever since Liam took off to Midnight Moon, I had only seen him once.

“He’ll be here tomorrow evening,” Caine said, pressing his lips against mine.

“That’s awesome. I’m glad that he’s finally taking a break,” I said, tightening my arms around Caine’s neck. “Thanks,” I told him, pressing a kiss just below his ear.

“Don’t thank me,” Caine told me.

He was running his hands over my back. When I felt him pulling me away from his body, I turned up to look at him. “What is it?”

“I have talked to Tristan. I am leaving the day after tomorrow. Liam is coming here to stay with you,” he stated, firmly.

“What?”

“We came to an agreement. We were supposed to meet next week. You already know my plans. I am arriving before I’m due.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

I felt hurt that he’d excluded me from his decision. Caine was giving me a blank look, but I could tell his mind was set.

“I made the arrangements this morning, before you arrived. I would have told you sooner, but you broke into the pack meeting. I never planned to have you come along. I was going to bring you before, when I thought you weren’t related in any way to their pack. Not now, when I know you’re vulnerable. I know I can keep you safe, but I’m still not risking it.”

“How could you do this? I thought we were going to talk about it tomorrow?” I snapped.

“We can talk about it, but I’ve made up my mind,” he replied, picking me up from his lap.

Caine got up from his seat, and sat me down, walking a few steps away from me.

“Where are you going?” I asked, my Wolf feeling distrustful at his sudden retreat.

“You can convince me of letting you come. That’s what you’re thinking right now. It has been on your mind all week. I’m not giving you the chance. I’m going to stay in the pack building tonight. Lesley and Macon are here to look after you for the night. Adam will be here as well, to keep you company,” he replied.

“Are you serious? You tell me this and now you’re leaving?”

I was furious. The impassive look on his face made it worse. Even my Wolf was angry, and that was saying something.

“You’re leaving so that you don’t have to deal with me?”

“You’re mad?” Caine asked, instead of answering me. He was already standing by the door, ready to take off.

“Of course I’m mad!”

“Having me around isn’t going to help. If you change your mind, and decide to stay here willingly, I will come back home. In the meantime,” Caine said, nodding at me.

It took me a second to register that he was truly leaving.

I couldn’t believe that he was taking off. He didn’t want me to persuade him to stay, so he was going to spend the night at the pack building. A part of my mind, a very small part, cheered because we had the power to persuade Caine to do something. But that wasn’t enough to keep my anger away.

I followed him a minute later, but he was already gone by time I reached the front door.

Both Lesley and Macon were outside— waiting for me, it seemed.

“He’s gone?” I asked.

Macon nodded, and he bowed his head, looking at the ground guiltily. Lesley tried to walk towards me, but stopped when I shook my head at her.

“I am going to get him back for this!” I growled lowly.

“You’re going to make things worse, Charlotte,” Macon warned me.

“He shouldn’t have done this,” I said, turning away to walk back inside.

There was no point in yelling at them. It wasn’t their fault. My Wolf was angry, she wanted to shift and chase after Caine. Me? I was going to make him regret his decision of leaving.