Caine

I was quiet the entire next day. Caine was in the house for a short while in the morning to check on me. I acted like the perfect little mate, which was completely unusual for me.

Caine picked up on it. He kept looking at me strangely, and asking me if I was okay. I told him I was fine. When he hugged me, I hugged him back. When he kissed me, I kissed him back. I didn’t do more than he asked.

“We still have a day before I have to leave, Charlotte,” he said, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I placed my hands over his chest, but I didn’t press myself any closer to him than I had to. Caine nuzzled his nose against my jaw, and I felt his hands traveling down my lower back. He was trying to pick me up, but I wasn’t really pushing him to go any further. It was hard, though. Everything inside of me was shouting at me respond to Caine’s touch.

“I thought you were going to be busy all day,” I said, trying to keep my voice from showing the reaction I was feeling from the way he was kissing down my neck.

“I could spare a few hours, if you have anything in mind,” Caine suggestively said, pulling away to look down at me.

Those were the moments I would have usually crashed my lips against his, or teased him until I distracted him enough and we ended up mating.

“Not really. If you have to go, you can leave. I don’t want to keep you,” I said, pecking his cheek and pulling myself away from his arms.

Caine seemed stunned for a few minutes. He was just looking at me like if I’d just done something crazy. I smiled, and left the room before he snapped out of it.

Caine followed after me as soon as I walked away. He was at the house for only thirty minutes, and he kept asking questions, all of which I answered politely. Several times he asked me if I was feeling sick, and he insisted on calling the pack doctor if needed.

Once Caine was gone, with a frown and an unsatisfied look, Adam came over to sit beside me in the living room.

“What are you planning?”

“I’m not planning anything.” My reply was met with a worried look from Adam.

“Liam is coming back tonight. If you’re going to do something, can you wait until he gets here?”

“What?” I laughed.

“That way I’m not the one who gets in trouble,” Adam shrugged.

“I’m not planning anything, Adam. But if I was, I would wait until Liam got here.”

Adam looked relieved, although I wasn’t sure if it was because I admitted that I was up to something or because I was going to wait until Liam arrived.

Lesley had finally clued me in on why Liam was back. Since Caine was leaving, he thought Liam was the only one who I would listen to. With the exception of Victor, who was also leaving with Caine, everyone else either feared me because I was their Luna or respected me too much to stop me from doing anything ‘reckless’.

Caine thought Liam could control me, keep me in check.

Liam’s arrival was met with a lot of happiness and celebration from the pack. I was surprised with how many Wolves were there to meet up with him. Lesley wasn’t one of them. She had asked permission to retire for the day, claiming she wanted to rest up.

Lesley had been assigned to one of the groups accompanying Caine to Knight Pack. At first, Caine had wanted Lesley to stay behind. When Lesley heard Caine’s plans to ask Liam to come babysit me, Lesley practically begged Caine to tag along. Caine didn’t need much convincing, since Lesley’s Wolf was strong.

“You look lovely, Charlie,” Liam told me.

He picked me up in his arms, and held me in a tight hug for a long while. I felt like Liam was ready to have a break down. I could tell in his worried features that something was up, but I didn’t want to bring it up with everyone there. All eyes were on us.

“I missed you,” I replied, kissing his cheek.

Caine was swift to press me to his side as soon as Liam let me go. Despite their recent closeness, Caine was still as possessive as ever. I felt like that jealousy Caine felt whenever I was with Liam was always going to be there. He really had nothing to worry about in that front, though. To me, Liam was blood, more than a brother.

Liam hugged or shook hands with the rest of the Wolves that were there to receive him. Everyone had been invited for a small celebration in our house. I had to admit, it was exciting. It had been a while since we all got together to have a free day. Considering what would happen the following day, I wanted to enjoy our pack the most that I could.

“You haven’t been sleeping,” I told Liam once everyone was gone.

Adam had left to his room. Since Liam was around, Adam decided he was going to stay at the mansion. I had a feeling that just like me, Adam had also missed Liam.

“That’s what I get?” Liam asked, laughing. “I tell you how beautiful you look and you bring up my lack of sleep?”

I chuckled when he grinned at me, but I mainly did it for his benefit. I wanted him to tell me what was up, everything. I didn’t want him to start keeping things from me. Lately, most of our conversations had been about me.

I felt like Liam liked that. He didn’t like to talk about what was going on in Midnight Moon, even though I knew the situation was bad. Caine, Macon, Lesley, and even Adam had let slip some of the stuff going on in the other pack.

“Well, thank you,” I told him, dramatizing my words.

“You really do, Charlie. Being a Wolf suits you.” He wrapped his arms around me, tightening them around my neck, which only made me slap him. It hardly had any effect on him, but he still let me go

“You’re stronger to. I guess this is your chance to finally show me that fast Wolf you keep talking about.”

“I can. I bet I can outrun you.”

The excitement was clear in my voice. I loved to run, and my Wolf enjoyed a good race. So far, I’d beaten everyone in the pack. Thinking about racing Liam almost made me drool. Liam had been my teacher.

Even though training had changed for me since I’d shifted into a Wolf, what I’d learned in the past, most of it had been from Liam. He didn’t just fight like a Wolf. He had tricks, and I had enjoyed watching him perform them. I was truly looking forward to learning some now that I actually had the strength to keep up with him.

“Cocky, aren’t we?”

“I learned from the best,” I said, doing my best to imitate his trademark smirk.

“I am the best, aren’t I?” Liam said, and I couldn’t help but break out laughing.

Yes, Liam was the best.

I’d hardly been around Caine all day. In the morning, we talked, but I mainly kept out of his way. Other than that, I didn’t see much of him and I also didn’t reach out to him. After Liam arrived, he had my full attention. I was more than surprised when Caine stated that he was spending the night at home, and not at the pack building, like he initially said he would.

“Are you tired?” I asked Liam.

I knew that he was. I had pointed out how sleepy he seemed. Somehow, his eyes appeared slightly hollow, but I couldn’t tell why. It must’ve been all the pressure he was getting lately. I should’ve allowed him to sleep. He’d had a long trip, and he ran all the way from Midnight Moon.

But I couldn’t help but want to spend the night catching up with him. By the time everyone had left, it was already midnight. Liam kept yawning, and I kept making excuses of why we should stay up. He didn’t even try to tell me he was going to sleep, which was what normal Liam would’ve done. This new and not so much improved Liam simply smiled and tried to please me.

“What do you have in mind?” Liam asked.

“I can fix us a snack and we could watch a movie? Your pick,” I offered.

“I like the sound of that.”

We had Caine hovering in the entrance of the kitchen. He was glaring at me disapprovingly, like only Caine knew how to do.

“Liam, you should go rest. You’ve had a long trip,” Caine said.

“I’m fine, Caine. I want to spend some time with Charlie. I haven’t seen her in a long time,” Liam said, and he reached out to hold my hand.

Strange. That was the only word I could use to describe the situation. Not because I was still mad at Caine, and simply wanted him to leave me alone. But the way Liam was being— it was even weirder than our talks on the phone over the last weeks.

“You two are going to have the next few days to catch up. I won’t be bothering you.” Caine said the words while looking at me.

‘We need to talk,’ Caine told me through our mind link.

I had tried to block him out, but Caine barged into my thoughts, like he’d done so many times before. While it was easy to block Adam or Macon or Lesley from my mind, Caine made it harder. We had a strong connection, and Caine knew how to bring my walls down.

“Caine’s right. You should sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow,” I told Liam.

It only took about ten minutes for Liam to go to his room, and Caine and I to end up in ours.

After Liam left to his room, I went to ask him if he still wanted us to race. I wanted to make a thing out of it, and have other Wolves join in on the race. When I arrived at his door, I found him already asleep.

“Something is wrong with Liam,” I told Caine as soon as I entered our room.

Caine walked out of the closet, wearing only a pair of black sweats. I cocked an eyebrow, but he simply shrugged at me.

“That’s not what I wanted to talk about, Charlotte.”

“I’m worried about him. What’s been going on over at Midnight Moon? Clearly, you two… Never mind, clearly, all of you have been keeping things from me!”

“Nothing has been going on.”

I gave him a flat look, and crossed my arms over my chest. I knew I didn’t look nearly as intimidating as Liam or Caine did when they took that pose. Either way, Caine sighed, walked over to sit on the bed, and looked ready to spill.

“You already know what has been going on in Midnight Moon. I don’t think you want the details.”

“Liam seems out of sorts, like something’s bugging him.”

“Two more Wolves from Midnight Moon were found dead.”

“What?” I felt the panic surging over my body, even though there was hardly anything I could do about what had already happened. “When?”

“Those two happened last week.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

I was mad that they hadn’t said a word, although my thoughts mainly centered on Liam. He was killing himself with all the guilt trips he was having. Despite how many things he kept a secret from me, he always let some of the stuff going on in the other pack slip. The things he told me were never pretty. But the worst part of it all was that he blamed himself for everything that was happening.

“You received your Wolf not too long ago. Liam and I thought it best if you focused on getting in touch with your Wolf. These are things you don’t need to worry about.”

“I do need to worry about them if they’re doing all this to Liam,” I said, slumping myself on the bed next to Caine.

I rested my head on his arm, and Caine took the opportunity to carry me over his lap. It significantly calmed me down, I couldn’t deny that. My Wolf and I enjoyed the warmth and peace that Caine brought us, even if we were mad at him.

“It’s good that Liam is here. I can cheer him up. He shouldn’t have left our pack. It was a bad idea. I feel like Alpha Layton broke him,” I said, remorsefully.

“Layton is angry, at Dylan and Liam and everyone who is involved in this. That includes you and me, which is another good reason for you to stay inside pack boundaries,” Caine said, sternly.

With those words, he picked me up in his arms, and placed me in the middle of the bed. I held onto him tightly. I thought he was going to leave me there, and go to another room. He didn’t. He simply turned off the lights, and got into bed with me.

I wanted to change into my pajamas, but Caine didn’t even let me get up for that. Instead, I simply slipped out of my jeans, took my bra off, and got comfortable against Caine’s chest.

The anger I’d felt towards him before was replaced with the worry I was feeling for Liam. I needed to find a solution, because I was scared that things were only going to get worse.

“Try to sleep. Tomorrow isn’t going to be an easy day,” Caine said in a low voice.

We’d been lying down in bed for about ten minutes. I assumed he had fallen asleep, so it was a surprise that he was still awake. I should’ve known. His arm had remained just as tight around my waist.

“I’m just thinking,” I mumbled.

“About Liam?” Caine asked, stroking my waist.

“Mostly,” I replied.

His touch calmed me down, if only enough to organize my thoughts. My Wolf was getting too many ideas on what she wanted to do with Caine, but I was trying to push those thoughts away. I had bigger things to worry about.

It seemed that Caine was in sync with my Wolf. Soon enough, he was pulling me up, so that I was fully lying down over his body, straddling his waist. I was only wearing a loose fitting t-shirt and my panties. It wasn’t much of a struggle for Caine, because he got those off with a rip on either side of my hips. The shirt went away soon after.

Caine’s claws were out, and every time they grazed my skin, being careful never to hurt me, I felt electric shivers coursing through my body.

“I can distract you,” Caine said in a husky voice.

I woke up the following morning to an empty bed, although I did see Caine moving around the room. His duffel bag had been ready since the day before. He was grabbing some things, and I noticed he kept gazing at me.

“I wanted you to wake up before I left,” he said, coming over to me.

I didn’t push him away when he took a seat beside me, and began sliding his hand over my stomach. Somehow, he found a way to make our contact not sexual at all. I could feel his Wolf trying to reach out to mine.

“You were going to let me sleep through it if I didn’t wake up?”

I tried to sound outraged, but my voice was croaky and I was still too sleepy to be throwing tantrums. My hair probably looked a mess. It felt tangled, and I didn’t doubt it was all over the place.

Despite that, Caine was looking at me with adoring eyes. I couldn’t understand how he managed to do that, while still being able to look so tough.

“I was going to wake you up until it was time to go. Liam is downstairs. He’s been up for a while now,” Caine slowly said, almost like if he was gauging my reaction.

“How is he?”

“He looks the same as yesterday,” Caine shrugged. “I didn’t pay as much attention to him as you did. I can tell he’s troubled by something. I told him he could share whatever he wanted about the situation with Midnight Moon. Maybe all he needs is to talk with somebody about it. You usually help with this, don’t you?” Caine raised an eyebrow, and looked at me questioningly.

“I’m going to try my best. He can’t continue like this.”

Caine wrapped his arms around me, bringing me closer to his chest. He’d already showered. I had managed to sleep through that. Given, Caine was quiet whenever he wanted to be.

Caine was still in the room, waiting for me, when I got out of the restroom. I’d managed to brush my teeth, comb my hair, and change into clean clothes in record time. I didn’t want Caine to leave before we set some boundaries, or at least figured out how things were going to work out in his absence.

My plan, which had included running away with Liam, was set in the backburner. I mainly wanted to get back at Caine for leaving me behind. But in the condition Liam was in— there was no way he could handle being out in the open. He needed peace, not to be worrying about me.

“I’m in charge now?” It wasn’t the most tactful question, but my Wolf pushed me to speak up before I lost my courage.

“You are,” Caine slowly replied, looking like he was starting to get worried with my line of questioning.

“I’m not going anywhere, relax,” I said, before I had Caine telling everyone to ignore me and listen to Macon instead.

“That is good to hear,” Caine said, genuinely.

“I’m not going to cause any trouble either.”

“Thank you,” he said, smiling at me.

“It’s not for your benefit. You should be thanking Liam. I’m going to fix this thing that’s bugging him. If he’s still the same when you get back, I’m not letting him go back to Midnight Moon,” I stated, seriously.

“Charlotte,” Caine sighed, approaching me with long strides.

“It’s true. I’m going to force him to stay here until he’s normal, sarcastic, funny, cheery Liam.”

“He has things to do over at Midnight Moon. He’s not just going to decide to stay here,” Caine warned me.

“Then I’ll make him.”

“How will you do that? Leila and Dylan are expecting him back in three or four days.”

“I’ll think of something. I’ll tell him that I’m sick, or that I’m depressed, or that I want to be reckless and stupid. Liam won’t go anywhere if he knows I’m sad or sick or suicidal. Whatever it takes,” I replied.

Caine smiled down at me. In times when I wanted to appear tougher than him, his tall stature certainly didn’t help me any. He slid his arms around my waist, and pressed me flush against his body.

“So your plan to stop him from worrying about an imminent attack from Layton, is to make him worry about you?”

I was about to agree with him, until his words registered in my mind. The only thing they did was make me feel bad.

“It’s not fair,” I whined.

“I know it isn’t,” he agreed. “But we’re going to deal with it. In the meantime, distract him around the pack. You’re in charge now, and there is always plenty to do.”

“Yeah, like order Wolves around and make them bring me my coffee?” I asked, sarcastically.

“If that’s what you think I do all day, then you’re in for a big surprise. I left Macon with a list of things that need to get done. Either way, Macon knows my schedule. You, Liam, and Macon should be fine,” Caine said, but the teasing grin on his lips made me frown.

It almost seem like he didn’t think we were going to be fine.

“We will be fine. I bet I can make a better Alpha and Liam can make a better Beta than the ones we have,” I said, grudgingly.

“We’ll see,” Caine said, but he was still grinning.

Not everyone was present to wish the group of men going to Knight Pack goodbye, but Caine made sure everyone had their mind link open when he made an announcement.

Basically, everyone had to know that he was gone and I was completely in charge. The rules were a lot stricter than when he was around.

No one was allowed to leave pack territory unless they asked for permission in the main building. There was to be no communication with anyone outside of the pack unless permission was granted. Mainly, no one was allowed to spread around that the Alpha was gone. Caine was leaving behind plenty of Wolves to watch over the pack, but he still worried.

The goodbye Caine and I gave each other was more bitter than sweet. Despite Liam’s presence in the pack, I was still slightly mad at Caine for leaving me behind. I had been looking forward to visiting Knight Pack. My main worry was my family.

Thinking about my family made me want to go visit Theo. I made a note to ask Liam to accompany to the pack building to see Theo. Even though weeks had passed since Caine had captured the Wolves who trespassed from Knight Pack, none of them had been released. All of Derek and Tristan’s requests to have the Wolves from my former pack back had been denied.

Macon stayed behind with Liam, Adam, and me after Caine and the Wolves took off.

“I say we have a movie day today,” Adam announced.

“Movie day sounds good. I can’t remember the last time I watched a movie,” Liam said. I turned to stare at him, but all he did was shrug. “I’ve been busy,” he said.

I tugged on his arm, and hugged him. “I hate Alpha Layton,” I growled.

Liam only laughed, and gave me a playful squeeze. “Layton is not as bad as you think.”

“He wants you dead and he’s picking a fight with Alpha Dylan. Why are you so calm?”

“I’m not calm, just saying what I think. Layton isn’t as bad. He’s angry, and he has all the reason in the world to be. It’s my fault,” he shrugged again.

Liam fussed up my hair, kissed my forehead, and began walking into the house. It took me long seconds to be able to stop staring after him. I couldn’t believe he had just said that. He was defending Alpha Layton, even though the brute wanted him dead.

“Yeah, he’s been like this,” Adam said, flicking my nose and brining me out of my thoughts.

“What are you talking about?” Macon asked.

“Liam and his very weird ‘I give up and everything is my fault’ way of being lately,” I answered for Adam.

“Hmm… He does seem different from the last time I saw him,” Macon agreed, but he hardly looked bothered by it. It wasn’t much of a surprise, considering Macon and Liam weren’t exactly best friends.

When Adam, Macon, and I walked inside, we found that Liam had gone upstairs to his room.

“So much for movie day,” I sighed.

“We don’t have time for a movie day anyways. There are too many things to do. I was only waiting for you and Liam to have breakfast. We need to get going in about an hour,” Macon said, looking down at his invisible watch.

“Get going? Where?” Adam asked.

“You can come too if you want. We’re going to the pack building.”

“For what?” I asked, heading towards the kitchen, but mainly with Liam in my mind.

“The Alpha just told everyone, you included, that you’re taking over while he’s gone. He told me that you were aware of how busy your days were going to be while he’s away.”

“Oh, right,” I said, smiling.

Macon was making it seem like we had so much work to get done that we weren’t going to have time. I really doubted that Caine left anything for me to do that was worth my time, but I was still going to play his game.

Liam showed up in the dining table when breakfast was done. I’d made enough breakfast for him, Macon, Adam and me. While Macon decided to stay quiet most of the time, Adam, Liam and I were catching up.

“What do you feel like doing today?” I asked Liam.

“I’m up for anything, really. I just want to hang out with you. I really did miss you, Charlie,” Liam said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, and pressing me closer to his side.

I smiled up at him. Before I could come up with something to say, Macon spoke up.

“We should get going to the pack building. I’m sure if we start right now, we’ll be finished late in the afternoon.”

“Alpha said I was free while Liam was here,” Adam was quick to add.

He shoveled the rest of his food into his mouth, took a long drink from his orange juice, and practically ran from the table, leaving Liam, Macon, and me behind.

“So I’m guessing he doesn’t want to do any work,” Macon said. Liam thoughtfully asked, “Since when does Adam call Caine his Alpha?”

“Caine is his Alpha,” Macon answered.

“Temporarily,” Liam quickly added. “Adam is a Rogue.”

“No,” Macon shook his head. “Adam was a Rogue. He knows better now. The pup has been part of the pack since you left, and he fits in well with us.”

Liam wasn’t the only one frowning at Macon. I liked that Adam was happy in the pack, but I didn’t like the way Macon spoke to Liam. I could feel the tension growing between the two. It made me remember that they didn’t always get along.

Macon ended up leaving ahead to the pack building. A frown had been planted on Liam’s forehead since Macon’s departure.

“Do you feel the same way, Charlie?” Liam asked.

“What way?”

I hooked my arms with his, and walked in step beside him. I had no hurry to get to the pack building. Before Macon took off, he told me he’d start getting everything ready for me.

“Are you sick of the Rogue lifestyle?” The insecurity in Liam’s voice was so unlike him.

“I’ve been here for months, Liam. I love it here. Is it perfect? No way, but I still love being here, being part of the pack.”

Liam was going to interrupt me, but I held my hand up to silence him. “But I also loved the time I spent with you and the gang. Those were the days.” I grinned up at him. “Although I’m still trying to decide who’s stricter, you or Caine,” I said, giving him a teasing look.

“I was awesome,” he smirked.

“You are awesome.”

“I know,” he said, cockily.

“See? I missed you. I wish you could stay here for longer. Do you think Alpha Dylan and Leila can give you a longer break? I miss having you around.”

I softened my voice, and tightened my hold on arm. Liam looked down at me guiltily. I wanted him to feel guilty enough to decide to stay with me a few more days, maybe a few weeks. I wanted my Liam back, not the zombie that was walking beside me.

When we arrived at the pack building, there was total chaos. Wolves were running all over the place. We were in the middle of a shift change. Wolves were coming in from their rounds, while the next ones were going out.

While they looked like they were pressed in time, they all took a moment to bow or say ‘hello’ to me.

“We should go run later on. I want to see your Wolf, Charlie. I bet you aren’t as fast as you claim to be,” Liam said.

The glint in his eyes, which were starting to look excited, made me grin widely.

“If that’s what you think…”

Before Liam and I made plans to ditch the pack building and just go out for a run, Macon found us.

“I’m in here,” he called from down the hall.

And that was the last break we had for the next five hours.

I was almost sure that Caine had left so much work for me to do on purpose, to keep me busy and from running into trouble. Liam, surprisingly, was actually interested in what we were doing.

“I want to buy some land,” Liam told me, while he was looking at a form and some spreadsheets in Caine’s work laptop.

“You already own land,” I said, slumping myself further into my chair.

The work wasn’t really hard. It was a lot of boring reading, catching up with pack businesses, and Macon asking me for signatures here and there. I was surprised to find out that Caine had already started writing my name on several things that belonged to the pack. He was using my real name, not the one I took after I left with Liam. It made me wonder how he knew all that information.

“I own apartments, and a few houses around the country. But I want land, a big chunk of it.”

Macon looked up at Liam. “How big?” he asked.

“Not sure, but I want to be able to run freely.”

“You want to settle down?” I slowly asked, not sure if that was where Liam was going.

“I don’t know, maybe,” he shrugged. “All the things that have been going on in Midnight Moon made me think.”

“You could settle down here,” I said, sounding hopeful.

“I don’t want a small house in your pack, Charlie. I want a piece of land. This size, actually,” Liam said, looking around at the room, but probably imaging the land in Locus Pack.

“You and your Rogues are forming a pack?” Macon asked, and I was surprised to find that he was frowning.

“Not a pack, we’re Rogues. We only want to stop running from you pack Wolves. Even Rogues can get sick of running all the time,” Liam replied, his voice sharp.

The room was quiet after that. I noticed that Macon and Liam exchanged a few glares, but they didn’t speak to each other. Macon asked me questions or asked me to do this or that. Liam continued to help me sort out the mess Caine had left. But they both didn’t speak to each other.

The tension was clear in that hour more than ever. By the time we left the conference room, I was more than happy to feel the cool afternoon air kissing my skin. Liam had been quiet for the most part.

I didn’t get a chance to visit with Theo, and Liam wasn’t in the mood to do much either. Macon said he was going to take over nightly duties, so he was going to be out the following morning. But he promised that there would be enough Wolves in the pack building to guide me through what Caine had left for me.

Most of the work Caine had me do seemed bogus. I did learn a lot about the pack, Caine’s businesses and the way he ran things. But I had no doubt in my mind he’d put me to do so much work to keep me busy. Liam had been the only one who seemed to enjoy learning how to run a pack, and the big piece of land that Caine owned.

“I’m turning in for the night,” Liam told me once we made it to the mansion.

I could feel Adam up in his room. I didn’t doubt that he’d spent all his time up there while we’d been working in the pack building.

“It’s early.”

“I’m tired. I also want to check in on Leila and see how things are over there in the pack.”

I sighed. “Even while you’re with me you have to be worrying about them.”

I was being unfair. I knew it, yet I couldn’t help myself. I wanted Liam’s attention. But it wasn’t just that. I wanted him to stop worrying about Midnight Moon.

“Charlie,” Liam said, gripping my wrist before I stalked away.

“I thought we were going for a run,” I said, and I couldn’t help the whiney tone in my voice.

“Shouldn’t we stay in? It’s late.”

“It’s late,” I repeated, spitefully. “You are telling me that eight at night is late. This is what we’ve come to?”

“What are you talking about?”

Liam looked confused. He shouldn’t have been, at least not in my mind. I had stopped myself from confronting him about his behavior since his arrival. But I drew the line when he wanted to go to bed at eight. My Liam not only would’ve wanted to go for a run, but he wouldn’t have cared about the rules Caine had set. Just to show that he could, Liam would’ve asked Adam and me to go somewhere risky. That was who Liam was.

And that was what I told him.

I hadn’t expected to have it all tumbling out of my mouth without censoring it first.

“It’s like you’re not here,” I told him. “You’ve been distracted. You look tired and depressed. You haven’t shared a single detail of what has been going on over there. That doesn’t surprise me, but by now, you would have teased me about knowing something that I don’t. Heck, you would have teased me about anything. But you haven’t. You’ve been cuddly and nice.”

“I thought you liked that,” Liam said, defensively.

“You know I do, Liam. But that’s not all you are. You haven’t been sarcastic about a single thing since you arrived. You’ve hardly joked around. I don’t even know if you’re listening to me half of the time. And seriously, you look exhausted,” I said, reaching closer to him to cup his cheek and run my thumb softly over the bags under his eyes. They were a purplish, bruising color. In fact, Liam looked unhealthy, sickly. It wasn’t right, and it definitely didn’t feel right.

“I don’t care if you aren’t your cheery, sarcastic self all the time. I just want to know that you’re okay. But I know that you’re not. I can feel it, and it’s killing me to see you like this.”

“I’ve been busy,” Liam said, in a low and weak voice.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked. I tried my best to keep my voice calm. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Opening up was easier to Liam than it was to Caine. But lately, Liam kept so many things from me. I knew he did it for my benefit. He didn’t want to worry me. He just didn’t realize that he was making things worse between us.

I almost cheered when Liam took hold of my hand, and started dragging me towards the living room. He took a seat right beside me, pressing his body close to my side.

“There is no way out of it,” he started.

“That’s what has you all worried?” I asked, tightening my hold on his hand. “You don’t want to be involved in the war? If you don’t want to be there, I could-” But Liam interrupted me before I could finish.

“I’m no coward, Charlie. That’s not what I meant. There’s no way out of the war for anyone. I never gave a crap about anything. I mean, I cared about people. I love you, and I loved my mate the short time I had her. Everything else has always been expendable to me. I lost my mate, and that nearly killed me, until you came along. You saved me,” he said, looking deeply into my eyes.

“You were doing fine, being a sarcastic little jerk,” I joked.

“You got that from me, didn’t you?” he said, going along with me.

“Na, I was like that even before I met you,” I told him, playfully punching his chest.

Liam chuckled, and he fuzzed up my hair in the way he knew would annoy me.

“I’ve killed a lot of people, Wolves mainly. I’ve never felt guilty about it. I’ve attacked packs. I have messed with packs, and done it just for fun. But my damage has been a few deaths and packs or Wolves hating each other. I’ve never damaged something in the proportions I’m doing with Midnight Moon and Blue Bloods right now.”

Liam pressed his forehead against mine, and he closed his eyes, sighing deeply. I wanted to reassure him. I wanted to say something, but I could tell he wasn’t done. When he pulled away, he offered me a weak smile that made me want to reach forward and hold him tightly in my arms. The only thing that held me back was that I didn’t want to interrupt him while he was finally opening up to me.

“At this point, I’m not sure if Layton hates me more than he hates Dylan. Those two used to get along. I feel like a whiney bitch for worrying about them. They belong to packs. Worst of all, they are Alphas. Hell, Layton is mated to the only girl I’ve really been attracted to since I lost my mate. I have more than enough reasons to hate him, and Dylan as well.” Liam more than sounding hurt, he sounded troubled.

“But you don’t,” I finished for him.

“I can’t. I care too much about Leila… and Cassidy…” he said Cassidy’s name in a whisper.

“We’ll figure this out, Liam. You know that we will. Things don’t have to get messy.” But I knew I was lying.

The only thing I could think off in those moments was that I was going to try my best to keep Liam in Locus Territory for as long as I could.

Caine phoned me that night. I was surprised to get his call, but glad to finally hear from him. He’d been checking in with me throughout the day, but they had all been short messages. He claimed that I would distract him if we had a long conversation.

“You could have just mind linked with me,” I told him, holding the phone, while getting under the covers.

“I wanted to hear your voice,” Caine smoothly said.

“Where are you?”

I turned off the lamp on the bedside table, which was the only thing illuminating the room. It was easier to focus on his voice with the room all dark.

“We’re staying in a hotel about two hours away from Knight Pack.”

“They didn’t invite you to stay in a guest house?”

“Of course they did, but I politely declined. That would be leaving things too easy for them.”

“How’s everything over there?”

“I met your parents,” Caine bluntly said, without even circling around the subject.

“You… did?” I was too breathless to say anything else.

“They both walked up to me after I left the pack building where Tristan was holding the meeting.”

“How was it?” Caine probably didn’t miss that my voice had gotten lower. I was scared of what he was going to say about them.

“I liked your father. Your mother is nothing like you,” he said, his voice sounding slightly harsh. “It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but they have a lot of questions. I wasn’t aware that they knew you were still alive.”

“Neither was I,” I said, my voice breaking mid-sentence.

Theo had mentioned in the past his talks with my parents. But I had my reservations. No matter what he had told me, I still thought my parents didn’t know about anything that had happened.

“They want to see you—especially your dad. Your mother was mainly happy that you’re mated to an Alpha,” Caine said, and I caught the distaste in his voice.

“Caine…”

“Thankfully she’s your mother, not mine.”

That was all he needed to say for me to know that things hadn’t gone so well. I wanted to ask him a lot more questions about them, but Caine would’ve been the wrong person to ask. He’d only said a few things about them, and already he was irritated, more with mom, which wasn’t exactly unexpected.

“How did things go with Tristan and Derek?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Not great, but that did not surprise me. They want to take me down and they want to keep my pack. Petty Wolves,” Caine said.

The fact that he didn’t sound in the least bit worried was very reassuring. It was one of the traits that I most loved about him. His dominance and confidence were very unique to me.

“They told you that?” I asked, and it made him laugh.

“They didn’t have to. I could see it with the way they spoke, the fake plans they made, and the treaty they wrote up.”

“That bad, huh?” I asked.

“I’m coming home tomorrow. There is no point in staying here any longer.”

“Tomorrow?”

I was happy that Caine was coming back a lot earlier than planned. But a part of me couldn’t help but be wary of Liam’s plans. If Caine was returning home, I didn’t doubt that Liam was going to pack his bags to go back to Midnight Moon. I couldn’t let that happen, not when he still seemed so… broken.

“I miss you already,” Caine said.

I had been about to drift off into my thoughts, but the way Caine was speaking brought me back. I heard him growl. Since we weren’t arguing, I knew what that growl meant.

“I’m hungry for you,” he said, making a shiver run through my body. I could feel my Wolf moaning out for her mate. Suddenly the thought of Caine returning days early seemed more appealing.