Caine

To say that I was surprised to see Martha would be putting it mildly. The smug smirk on her lips made me angry, especially because I had plenty of things to worry about before my bitchy cousin.

Martha being there and not looking shocked was proof enough that more people in Knight Pack knew I wasn’t dead. I couldn’t say that I wasn’t disappointed because no one in the pack was outraged by the lies Derek and Tristan had told about my death.

“And you are looking… no better than usual,” Martha remarked, eyeing me with distaste. Her eyes roamed around my body, looking at me disapprovingly and with bitterness that she couldn’t hide.

“Come on, you gotta admit that was a bad insult,” I told her.

I was used to the perfected taunts that she used when she didn’t like somebody. She was a master at making people feel bad. I knew first hand—I’d put up with her for years and no one had ever done anything about it. My mother used to think Martha just teased me playfully. My dad was too busy to notice.

“What? Now that you’re a Luna, you think you’re all that?” she asked, her eyes narrowing to slits. She resembled a snake so much in my mind, it wasn’t even funny.

Clearly, my view of Martha had only grown worse with the time I’d spent apart from her. I’d changed, although it was obvious she hadn’t changed at all.

“What are you doing here? Your taunts are lame, and you’re the one who’s looking a little rough. Long trip to my pack?” I asked, emphasizing that she was standing in my territory.

Her growl was screechy. How she achieved that, who knew. She was pissed. When she tried to step closer to me, Brandon was quick to block her. He’d been eyeing her distrustfully the entire time.

“Seriously, what do you want? You’re way out of your range here, Martha. I won’t hesitate to have you locked up,” I warned her.

“Why are you surprised that I want to see how you’re doing? Locus Territory, who would’ve thought,” Martha commented, looking around the diner.

“Out,” I ordered, nodding towards the door.

“I came here to talk to you,” she said, finally getting to the point, and looking slightly alarmed by the way Brandon was glaring at her.

“I meant we are going outside to talk. There are humans here,” I said, lowering my voice.

If Martha wanted to make a scene, I wasn’t going to stop her. But I wasn’t willing to risk anybody for her to throw her tantrum. We were attracting attention. Despite how little she seemed to care about it, we were in my home—my town. I wanted for things to stay peaceful.

Fortunately, Martha was smart enough to listen. She was the first one out the door, of course, in her usual exaggerated walk.

Before I received my Wolf, I couldn’t exactly say that I respected or thought too much about She-Wolves. I envied their strength. But that wasn’t because they were female. It had more to do with the Wolf part. The only example I had of She-Wolves was the one I saw every day in the pack—more specifically, with Martha and her little group of friends.

It was no secret nudity didn’t exactly trouble any Wolf, or how over sexualized some of the She-Wolves in the pack were.

Since it was all I saw in Knight Pack with Wolves my age, I assumed that all She-Wolves were the same.

I was in for a big awakening once I found Liam. Even then I realized that not all Wolves in Knight Pack were the same, but the Alphas did have an expectation from everybody. An expectation for most of the girls in Knight Pack had been to be available. And they were—obedient little sheep.

It turned my stomach when I thought about it. Martha was the perfect example of how wrong things in Knight Pack were getting, and she had the guts to flaunt herself around like if she was the prized trophy that everyone should aspire to be.

I’d always envied her strength and agility. Even being as mean as she was, Martha was nothing if not persistent and ambitious. Those were two perfectly normal things to aspire to be, unless they ruin your character and turn you rotten.

My cousin and her dimwitted friends simply assumed that looking, acting, and dressing—or undressing in their case—a certain way was how one made it and survived in a pack.

Knight Pack—they really needed to fix so many things.

“Doesn’t it bother you?” Martha asked, bringing me out of my thoughts. She was scrunching up her nose like if she’d smelled something awful.

“What?” I asked, crossing my arms and expecting her worst. I knew how nasty Martha could be when she wanted to hurt. I’d been there too many times before.

“The humans,” she replied. “They are so… weak and simple-minded. They reek of failure. It amazes me that they don’t just… die out,” she said, narrowing her eyes towards the glass windows that looked into the diner.

“One doesn’t have to be human or Werewolf to be weak, simple-minded, and vapid—clearly,” Brandon added through gritted teeth while glaring at Martha.

His eyes had shifted to black the moment we felt Martha around. A simple order from me and he would’ve ripped her to shreds. I felt guilty for wanting him to do it. Being around Martha was toxic. But she was as weak as the humans she so much criticized.

Her words—they took me back to the day I was getting kicked out of Knight Pack—the speech that Derek had given me. He had expected me to understand why he was kicking me out. I was a weakness to the pack, according to him. He just wanted to get rid of me. The same hate in his eyes was mirrored in the way Martha looked at humans. I couldn’t tell if that was just a hate that was taught in Knight Pack or if some Wolves simply didn’t like humans. It was not right.

“You’re the sitter. What would you know?” Martha spat at Brandon, but she was still cautious. She wasn’t as close to us as she’d been. It seemed like she knew that if she pushed me hard enough, I wasn’t going to put up with her crap.

“What do you want, Martha? I doubt you came all this way to give your stupid, conceited views on humans.”

“Aww… that’s right. Did I offend you? I forgot you used to be one. Sorry,” she said in an overly sweet voice, smirking at me and tilting her head.

It was her trademark expression. While watching her, I wondered how in the past she used to intimidate me. I fought with her, and we argued. That didn’t mean I sometimes didn’t fear her and the groupies she had following her around. But now, it wasn’t even amusing to watch.

“You either get to the point of why you’re here or I will call my mate and have him throw you into a cell. What’s gonna be?” I asked, flatly.

My words were blunt—more than I’d been with her since she’d arrived at the diner. Martha was finally looking at me warily. I wasn’t going to hurt her, not unless she did something stupid. That didn’t mean I wasn’t carrying hate against her and the pack.

“Tristan sent me,” Martha stated.

At the mention of the Knight Pack’s current Alpha, the one who didn’t want to retire, Brandon grabbed my arm and started dragging me towards the woods that led to Locus Pack.

“Stop,” I ordered, and he actually did. He halted mid-stride, but there was an unhappy look on his face.

“We shouldn’t be here, especially talking to her. I will get you out of here and call for back-up. They will capture her and bring her to the Alpha,” Brandon told me.

He could’ve done that through mind-link. When Martha heard him, I really wanted to burst out laughing. The look of fear on her face, it was one I’d never seen before.

“I have an important message. If your mate knows we approached you, I won’t tell you what the message is,” Martha quickly shared.

I wouldn’t have thought that Brandon’s words would’ve freaked her out that much but it was definitely a good way to get her talking.

“What message? And why are you calling him Tristan and not Alpha?” I asked, suspiciously.

“Alpha Tristan,” she was quick to correct “wants to strike a deal with Locus Pack.”

“Haven’t we been in this same exact road before? Caine is no longer interested in peace with Knight Pack. As long as you guys stay out of our way—whether the packs are friends or not—we are happy,” I told her.

“If you convince Alpha Caine to have another sit down with Tristan… Alpha Tristan, he won’t kill your parents.” This time, there was definitely a smile on her lips. It was sinister, just like her. She knew she had me there.

“I can kill her for you, Luna,” Brandon said. He was looking at Martha with murderous eyes. For once, I wanted to say yes. I’d had the urge before to hurt her, but never like that moment.

Martha cringed at Brandon’s words. She was scared. It was obvious, and within reason. It wasn’t only me that was angry. My Wolf wanted to attack.

“They are your family. Does that not mean anything to you? How can you so casually come and tell me this like if you’re bartering for something trivial?”

“I’m just thinking about the pack, Charlotte. Tell your dog to back off,” Martha said, but her words carried no weight.

I was going to give Brandon permission to go after her—not kill her, but definitely make her suffer. I was furious. Before I could tell him to attack, two guys started walking towards us.

I recognized one—Joshua. He was the new Third in Command for Knight Pack. He had received the title just months before I was kicked out. I’d seen him around. He seemed like a good guy, at least from what I’d heard. He was one of the Wolves from Derek’s generation that were supposed to lead the pack to greatness, until, as everybody knew, Tristan decided he didn’t want to retire.

The other Wolf was a stranger to me, but my Wolf was sizing him up. He looked tough. I didn’t think Joshua would be dragging him around if he hadn’t been strong. Although I was wondering whose idea it had been to allow Martha to be the first one to speak, especially if they wanted me to agree to anything.

“Tristan thought that you would react better to our deal if Martha approached you,” Joshua said, looking at Martha disapprovingly. “You’re dismissed,” he said to her.

Martha was about to protest, but Joshua growled and that shut her right up. I wasn’t too impressed. Caine had been able to scare someone shitless with just a look, and not even an intimidating one. However, I was happy that Joshua was able to make Martha cower back.

“I wasn’t aware that there were problems between you two,” Joshua said.

“I haven’t seen her in a long time,” I added, shrugging my shoulders.

“Right,” he said, although he knew that there was more to it than that.

“I’m Joshua,” he said, outstretching his hand for me to shake. “I am the Third in Command of Knight Pack. I don’t know if you remember me. I had the position only a few months before you… left,” he finished, awkwardly.

“Sure, I left,” I said. So far, I really was not impressed by Tristan’s approach. “You are wasting your time with me. Martha already told me what you want, and what will happen if I don’t agree.”

“Your parents are part of the pack. No one is going to harm them,” Joshua said. He seemed annoyed by what Martha had told me. I was happy that he at least wasn’t an asshole about it.

“Martha said they would die if I didn’t convince Caine to meet with Tristan again.”

“Martha is an idiot. She shouldn’t have been part of the group that made this trip. Can we forget about her and focus on the things that really matter?” the guy standing beside Joshua asked.

“Like what?” I asked, not really liking his tone, although he did have a point about Martha.

“We don’t mean to take so much of your time. It’s late. I just want an answer from you. We are interested in striking a new deal with Locus Pack. Things are bad all over. We don’t want wars from other packs to affect us.”

“So you’re going to tell me that this is all about the war between Dylan and Layton?” I asked. “Don’t think I’m stupid. That war just started recently. Tristan has been trying to take down Caine for years.

“Things have changed. You must be angry with our pack. I understand that. But you have to look at the bigger picture. Midnight Moon is about to go to war, for the second time this year. Packs are getting involved. All we want is peace. We have no problem with Midnight Moon or Blue Bloods. We are going around and talking to each pack. This isn’t about past feuds anymore,” Joshua said.

His speech, it was actually convincing. It was the first time I thought someone from Knight Pack sounded unselfish and eloquent.

“You do know that we all heard the rumors about Tristan wanting to take over Locus Pack, right?” I asked, wondering how he would answer to my question.

Joshua simply shrugged. “He did. I can’t guarantee you that it has changed. But for the time being, we want peace. We also want for Locus Pack to release our Wolves that were captured. We have a different proposition to make. I didn’t come here because of Tristan. I am here because of Derek. You may not believe me when I say this, but they want two completely different things.”

“I don’t know what to say about that,” I admitted, truthfully.

“It’s fine. You can think about it. You can tell your Alpha to relax. Tristan and Derek are not here. We are dealing with right now with Blue Bloods. They want our support in the war.”

“What?” And I had to admit that I actually felt panic just then.

I kept asking Caine about packs and Alphas, especially after I shifted into my Wolf. My interest in pack knowledge definitely increased. So far, I’d counted our side being over one hundred Wolves more than Layton’s. If Knight Pack joined them—that would definitely be a problem.

“Derek wants to speak with you. You can bring a guard and it can be in a public place. But he doesn’t want Alpha Caine to know about it. If you convince him to sit down with us and talk, he will agree.”

“Why doesn’t Derek just call him?”

“He tried, and Alpha Caine turned him down. He doesn’t trust us anymore,” Joshua said, and his friend nodded in agreement.

“He has all the reason not to. You guys haven’t exactly been trustworthy or consistent.”

“I know, but this time, it will be different. We think that Tristan is ready to step down. As soon as he does, Derek will be able to make all the calls.”

“And you think that I’d be happy to agree with him? Derek was the one who kicked me out of the pack!” I had tried really hard to keep myself calm, but all of the emotions I’d felt the day I was kicked out were resurfacing.

Brandon was by my side, and I was really happy about that. He kept insisting that we should leave, but I waited. Maybe it was because I wanted for them to give me something that would convince me. As much as I’d hated Knight Pack, I knew how much it meant to my parents. It had been my home for most of my life. But I was still hurt.

“My mate is human,” Joshua said in a low voice. He wasn’t being secretive, but he also looked hurt somehow. “You were not the only one who got kicked out of the pack. Unlike you, she is fully human. She won’t ever shift into her Wolf. Dealing with shifters like Martha—that is hell for my mate and me. This isn’t all about you.”

Brandon wrapped his arm around my waist, and he was trying to get me to step away from Joshua. I could see why Brandon had done that—Joshua was mad. That was why he looked hurt.

“You stayed in the pack even after they did that to you?” I asked. I couldn’t understand that decision.

“I don’t believe in Rogue life.”

“So you’d rather be part of the pack than be with your mate?” I definitely had no respect for that.

“Tristan had a list. He got to my mate before Derek warned me about what his father was doing. I am with her, but she has no say in the pack. He wasn’t as drastic with her as he was with all the other people he killed. I am the Third in Command after all. He didn’t want to lose me. I would have more say in these decisions if Derek was Alpha. Once Derek found out who Tristan was targeting, he took over kicking them out of the pack.”

“What do you mean killed?” I asked, although I didn’t really want to hear the answer.

“Tristan wanted them dead. Derek didn’t know how to stop it, so he got to everybody first and kicked them out. He made sure they would be gone completely so that his father would have no way of tracing them back. Tristan doesn’t believe in hybrids, and he has no faith in humans.”

His words hit me really hard, because they were making me feel like maybe there were more layers to Derek than the blind, dictator I thought he was.

“But Derek was mean to me,” I said, weakly.

“Derek is mean to everybody. Look at who raised him. You wouldn’t have been the exception. Maybe now, yes. But now you have a title—you are the Luna of the second biggest pack in the US. We all know what that means, especially Derek. That does not stop the fact that he saved you. You might not see it like that, and that is fine. But it is still the truth.”

It was really late by the time Brandon was walking back with me to the mansion. Brandon kept expecting Caine to pop up and get him in trouble. We had not only been gone for a long time, but we’d met with Knight Wolves.

I was barely able to walk. Brandon helped me most of the way.

He was talking to me, and I was only half listening. He’d already sworn over and over that he wasn’t going to tell anybody about anything that happened while he was my guard. But he still wanted me to tell Caine about Martha and Joshua. I wasn’t going to.

Before Joshua left, he told me that it wasn’t a good idea to tell Caine about it. He still wanted me to have a sit down with Derek. He repeated again that things had changed.

The only thing that kept running through my mind was that Tristan had planned to kill me and Derek had saved me. I couldn’t get over it.

I wasn’t even excited when I got home and found out that Caine was still gone. That was the reason no one had been chasing us down. Caine probably thought that Brandon and I were sitting at home doing nothing. I was happy for him to keep thinking that.

Brandon wasn’t too sure about leaving me alone when I told him I was going to bed. It must’ve been later than midnight. I was tired, but I didn’t think I could sleep.

I ended up soaking in the tub, and that was where Caine found me when he got home.

“Brandon fell asleep,” Caine said. He didn’t sound too happy about that.

“Well, it’s late. I’m falling asleep here,” I told him.

I was lying in the tub with my eyes closed, resting my head over a towel. I’d barely noticed that the water had grown cold until Caine walked into the room and brought me out of my thoughts.

“Come on, we’re going to bed,” Caine said.

He chuckled when I whined, but I still wrapped my arms around his neck when he lowered down to pick me up.

I was dripping water all over the place, but all Caine did was grab a towel and loosely wrap it around me. It was moments like those when I appreciated his strength the most.

“You got here late,” I told him on the way to the bed.

“I lost track of time. Dealing with Tristan interferes with pack work. I had been putting off a lot of paperwork. Victor and Macon were pestering me about it,” Caine said, sounding mildly annoyed.

“Did you finish?” I told him.

I was toweling off, even though he’d placed me over the bed while I was still wet. Caine went to grab one of his shirts from the closet for me to wear.

“I’m catching up. It was a productive evening.”

“That’s good,” I told him, snuggling under the covers. My hair was wet and it bothered me, but I was too tired to get up to brush it.

“What were you and Brandon up to?”

“He was telling me pack secrets he’s heard here and there. I also had a very productive evening,” I said, smiling.

I did feel bad about lying to him. I was still surprised that Caine had trusted me alone with Brandon. It wasn’t like he’d fully accepted him, but he was doing a good job at keeping peace between us.

“You will need another guard. I need to talk to Victor and Macon about it. Macon can come back. He or Lesley can be your second guard,” Caine said, smoothly. He was trying to play it cool, but it wasn’t like I couldn’t see through his words.

“Why do I need a second guard?”

“We’ve been through this, Charlotte. I won’t argue with you about it. Macon is the obvious choice. The Third in Command is usually a guard for the Luna. But if you want to keep Lesley, I am fine with that decision.”

It was almost cute that he was trying to make me think that it would be my decision of what guard I’d end up with. He was still shoving them down my throat.

“I will get you the name of the second guard by tomorrow,” I told him, vaguely.

Caine had changed into a pair of black shorts, and he walked over to me. Instead of lying down beside me in the bed, he sat down next to my legs, facing me.

“This is important,” he said.

“I know,” I replied.

“Alright, we’ll decide tomorrow.”

I was woken up the following morning by Caine. It was a quarter past nine. I had expected him to be gone, and for Brandon to be waiting for me downstairs. It was a routine I’d grown used to when Adam, Lesley, or Macon babysat me.

“I am going to have another meeting right now. I thought you might want to come,” Caine said.

“Another one?” I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

Caine smiled at me. “You look sleepy,” he said, cupping my cheek and running his thumb lightly under my eyes.

“This meeting is between Victor, Macon, you, and me. It is only to come up with a decision over what we talked about yesterday.”

“Can I catch up with you?” I asked him, not sure if he would agree to that.

“I’ll have the meeting at twelve. You can go back to sleep for a little while longer, and take your time getting ready.”

“That sounds perfect,” I told him, lying down once again and pulling the bed covers over my face.

Caine laughed, and tugged the covers down, enough to give me a lingering kiss. It was soft and sweet. When he pulled away, he was smiling down at me.

“I like this,” he said, pressing his forehead over mine, and rubbing his nose against my cheek. “I don’t want to fight with you anymore. No secrets.”

It wasn’t the first time I kept things from him. But before, he didn’t let me in on everything that going on with the pack. It made me feel like it was fair that I didn’t always share things with him. Now that he wanted to be open about how he felt and what was going on with the pack, it was killing me that I was the one who was lying to him.

“Right,” I whispered back, uncomfortably.

“Go back to sleep,” he said, kissing my forehead one last time, before getting up to leave the room.

After that, there was no way I could go back to sleep. I was just a bundle of guilt. The house was usually kept at a cool temperature, but usually in the morning and night was when I really felt cold walking around.

I grabbed a blanket from one of the drawers and left downstairs. Brandon was there already, wearing the same clothes from the previous night.

“You slept over?” I asked, sitting on the floor in front of the couch where he was lying on.

“Alpha got here late. He said I could spend the night,” Brandon said.

He didn’t even bother getting up from the couch, which was a good thing because he looked tired.

“You slept on the couch? Why didn’t you call me? This house has so many rooms, and you slept on the couch,” I told him, shaking my head.

“I thought you were asleep,” he shrugged, his cheeks tinting pink.

I laughed, and gave him a light punch on his arm. “Don’t get all embarrassed with me. You’re gonna be spending a lot of time here, and following me around. You have to feel comfortable telling me these things.” I was speaking playfully, but it was true. I liked Brandon. He was nice to me, I felt like I could trust him, and I felt comfortable around him. The day before he had proven that he wasn’t scared, and I could trust him defending me.

“I will, now, you know,” Brandon said, sitting up from the couch and running his hand through his messy hair.

“I need your help with something,” I told him.

“What’s up?”

“Caine doesn’t know about what happened yesterday.”

“I know,” Brandon nodded.

“He thinks that we stayed here all night until he got home. But he knows that sooner or later I’m going to be roaming around and he wants me to get a second guard.”

“Every Luna usually has two or three,” Brandon agreed.

“Yeah, about that,” I said, rolling my eyes at Brandon. Even though he broke the rules for me, I still thought he was too attached to Wolf customs.

“What?”

“Caine wants me to keep either Lesley or Macon. I like them. It’s not that they’re bad. Well, I used to hate Lesley, but she grew on me.”

Brandon cocked an eyebrow at my mumbling, but he chuckled when I slapped him. I really did like that I could be playful with him. I didn’t know if it was because he was younger than me, or if he was simply more easygoing than Lesley or Macon.

“Anyways, I don’t want them. If I plan to contact Derek, I can’t have them around. Whatever I do, I know they’ll tell Caine if they think he needs to know.”

“You don’t think the Alpha should know about last night?” Brandon asked, looking at me pointedly.

His boyish features made it hard for me to think he was scolding me, like Macon or Lesley would’ve been doing. His eyes were usually soft. I was happy to know that when he had to step up, like the day before with Martha, Brandon would be able to.

“Not yet,” I said, shaking my head. “Right now I need someone who will take my side on this.”

“I’m already your guard. What exactly do you need my help for?” Brandon asked, looking confused.

“Is there anyone in the pack that you could trust… that we can trust?”

“More secrets?” Brandon asked.

I nodded hesitantly, not sure if maybe I was pushing my luck too much with Brandon. He was thoughtful for a minute. One of the things I liked about Brandon was that not once had he made a face at me—whether to complain or argue. Sure, he hadn’t exactly agreed with me on everything, but he had stood there beside me. No one in the pack, not even Adam or Liam had done that.

“Look, this is really important for both packs. I’m gonna take a risk here and trust that what Joshua told me last night is true. I don’t know what I want to tell Derek if we were to meet. I’ve seen him before since he kicked me out of Knight Pack, and we have never been able to talk. Maybe this time, it’ll be different.”

“It sounds like you’re putting too much faith on that. Just saying,” Brandon shrugged.

“I know, I know, I know. I’ve been thinking about it. Knowing that if Derek hadn’t kicked me out, Tristan would’ve killed me—it sort of freaked me out.”

“Yeah, that’s…. huge. I get it. I have friends in the pack that I know I can trust. I just gotta know what you’re looking for—tracker, fighter, someone not involved in pack business,” he said, casually.

“I want someone that looks tough in Caine’s eyes, that will be able to help you protect me, but that will be loyal to me before anyone else in the pack,” I explained, sure that I was asking for too much.

Brandon laughed, not sure if at my expression or my suggestion for the new guard. “You do know that usually, the Luna’s guards always end up being loyal to them before their Alpha? It happens in like every pack.”

“I’ve had Macon and Lesley as guards for a while. They were always on Caine’s side.”

“Alpha Caine is strict,” Brandon said, half shrugging.

“So are all the other Alphas.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Well, I don’t know how to explain that. Lesley is strange, and Macon is simply too loyal to the Alpha. Nothing wrong with that, but yeah, I can see why it doesn’t suit what you’re looking for.”

“So, any suggestions?” I asked.

“I got a few people. By when does the Alpha want you to get a new guard?”

“Today…?” I said, sheepishly.

“Wow, okay, that is… soon.”

“Too soon? Do you need more time? I’m just scared that if I don’t come up with someone quick, Caine will just dump Macon or Lesley on me. Trust me, you don’t want to deal with them,” I said, shaking my head.

“I know how they are. I’ve dealt with them in the past. You’re right. What if I drop you off at the pack building—the Alpha said he needed you there by noon—and I’ll go talk to the guys.”

“I don’t want everyone to know about it, though. I don’t want you to tell them that I’m looking for someone who won’t tattle tale to Caine,” I warned him, feeling panicky that it would be how he’d find my second guard.

“I’m not gonna do that, obviously. I hope you don’t think I’m that stupid,” Brandon said, sounding offended.

After apologizing, and being quickly forgiven by a smiling Brandon because he was just that cool, I went to get ready to leave.

Caine, Victor, and Macon were in a conference room working when Brandon dropped me off at the pack building. He promised to find me a new guard within the hour. By then, we’d had to communicate through mind link. Caine, Victor, and Macon had looked between Brandon and me weirdly, before Brandon laughed and walked out of the room.

Caine’s eyes shifted to black in the few moments that Brandon was there.

“Is something wrong?” Caine asked, getting up from behind his chair and walking towards me.

I held my hand up to stop him because I was already making my way to the table. “Were you guys waiting for me, or did you start already?”

“We were working on other things. Where did the pup go?” Caine asked, nodding towards the door even though no one was standing there anymore.

Caine had been sitting at the head of the oval table, with Victor to his right and Macon to his left. I didn’t think much of it when I went and sat beside Macon. Caine stood up, picked up my hand, dragged a chair beside his, and sat me down.

“You done?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest and getting comfortable on the chair.

Victor and Macon didn’t say anything about Caine’s display of dominance. I assumed that at that point they were so used to it, it no longer bothered them.

“We want to find a way to make Tristan step down,” Macon spoke up first.

“Hasn’t everybody tried that for ages now?” I asked, looking around the table.

“No one ever tried it. We’ve wanted him to step down, but we never had a conversation about finding a way to make him step down.”

“Because having Derek is much better?” It sounded sarcastic, but after my talk with Joshua the previous night, I wanted to know their honest thoughts on Derek.

“He’s proven to be more reasonable than his father,” Victor replied.

“I don’t like Derek,” Caine said, looking mainly at me. Caine had hated Derek on my behalf since he found out what he’d done to me. In that moment, I really wanted to tell him that by kicking me out, Derek had saved me. “However, I agree with Victor. In the past, Derek had tried to stop Tristan’s outrageous demands. Tristan doesn’t listen to him.”

“Yeah, and just how are you gonna convince him to step down. When I was still a member of Knight Pack, everyone talked to him. No one was able to get through to him, or he just didn’t want to step down. Whatever it was, if he didn’t listen to his own people, he won’t listen to you.”

“He will, if we threaten him,” Caine stated.

“Wouldn’t that only make this thing between both packs bigger than it already is?”

“I didn’t say it would be easy. We have to figure out how to do it. It’s not like we can walk up to Derek and ask for his help. He’s useless, especially without the Alpha title,” Caine said, flatly.

And just like that, I knew what I would be talking about with Derek.

After sharing that with me, Caine and Victor began discussing something else which I had no interest in. It was perfect timing when Brandon told me he’d found our guy. It had been quicker than I thought it would take him. Even through our mind link he sounded giddy. He’d only told me his name was Miles, and that was all the information I knew about the Wolf. I hadn’t heard about a Miles before, so I was basing my knowledge of him on the few things Brandon excitedly shared.

“I have to go, actually,” I said, interrupting an argument between Caine and Victor, so I didn’t feel too bad about it.

“Go where?” Caine asked. ‘I thought you wanted to be part of these discussions?’ he added through our mind link.

He made me feel guilty. I had been trying to get more involved in the pack. He was right—I should’ve been interested. But all I wanted to do was meet the new guard and set up a meeting with Derek.

“I found my second guard,” I stated out loud.

“What do you mean ‘found’?” Victor, surprisingly, was the first to speak up.

“Not that you care, but I’ve picked somebody,” I told him, and turned back to Caine.

“Who?” Caine spoke up at the same time that Victor asked “Why?”

“Caine wants me to get a second guard. I did, his name is Miles,” I answered, looking between the two.

“What about Macon?” Victor said, looking at Macon questioningly.

“I thought Adam was going to stay with Charlotte,” Macon answered. “You didn’t tell me that you were looking for a second guard,” he said to me.

“I told her that she needed a second guard,” Caine told Macon and Victor. “I never told you to go looking for one,” he said, looking at me with a displeased expression.

“I told you that I’d find one on my own, and I just did. So I gotta go,” I told them.

I wasn’t even sure when it happened, but Victor and Caine started arguing about me getting a second guard that wasn’t Macon, since it was his responsibility. The ‘Third in Command is usually one of the Luna’s guards’ was thrown around, like it usually was. I didn’t think that Caine would easily accept my decision to keep Miles. Brandon had told me that Miles was also sixteen.

But it seemed that when Victor began demanding an explanation, Caine got ticked off. He didn’t think that anyone in the pack was in a position to demand anything from him. He made the final decision, and that was that.

“Charlotte is my Luna. I get a say in this decision too!” Victor growled, getting up from his chair.

Even sitting down, Caine was so intimidating. When he stood up in front of Victor, ready to confront him, he was an even bigger presence. He was taller than Victor by a few inches, and that was because Victor was a tall guy.

“If I want Miles to stay, he is staying,” Caine said. He didn’t need to raise his voice for his words to sound threatening.

“Miles is a pup. He is inexperienced. The pup has never even seen another pack, much less been at war with one. I don’t want him protecting my Luna,” Victor insisted.

“Charlotte is my mate,” Caine countered.

His claws were out, and his eyes were dark. He was ready to shift. I could feel his Wolf at bay, ready to attack. But that wasn’t what had me surprised. I never thought that Victor cared that much for me or my safety. Sure, I was his Luna. But the way he was fighting Caine about it—it left me shocked. I’d only seen Victor and Caine disagree on a handful of things, but they’d never gone toe to toe and nearly got into a fight about it.

“Stop, you two, come on,” I said, finally snapping out of it and stepping between Caine and Victor.

Victor took a step back when I lightly pushed on his chest, just enough to fit myself between the two and create some distance between them.

“Charlotte, be reasonable,” Victor said, turning away from Caine and looking down at me.

“How dare you question me?” Caine growled at Victor.

I had to roll my eyes at him. I could see Victor’s point, and the guilt just kept piling on shoulders.

“I’m still looking into the guard thing. Miles is just a suggestion. I don’t want to keep Macon away from these things if you two need him,” I told Victor, and then bumped my back against Caine to get him to look at me. “Back off. This meeting wasn’t even about us. Fighting with each other isn’t going to help anyone.”

“I have a list of Wolves that can take Macon’s position if you don’t want Lesley as a guard,” Victor suggested.

“I have to approve of him before I make the decision,” Caine said, acting as if I wasn’t there.

“You would’ve never approved of Miles. He is a pup!” Victor snapped.

It must’ve been the friendship between them two because Caine growled at him loudly, but he let it go.

“Either way, I’m going into town. Do I take Miles or do I go alone with Brandon? I’m still gonna go and that isn’t gonna change,” I said, shrugging.

Caine looked like he wanted to argue, but he kept his mouth shut. Victor grumbled out that Miles would have to do, but he’d have my guard ready for the following day. Macon was looking at me reproachfully.

‘I didn’t know you were looking into a new guard,’ Macon told me through our mind link. I had always thought Macon was annoyed by having to take care of me. I didn’t think he’d take it so personally.

Brandon was waiting for me outside of the pack building. Caine caught up to me and pulled me to the side before I reached him.

“Why are you going into town?” he asked, suspiciously.

“Do you have a problem with it?” I asked instead.

“No secrets?”

I felt a pang in my chest when I shook my head. I felt so low for lying to him. “I’m gonna go home first. I still haven’t decided whether I want to go into town or not. I simply wanted to let you know in case I did.”

“Call me if you do,” he said, leaning down to kiss me.

“I can’t take Miles as a guard,” I told Brandon as soon as I was some distance away from the pack building.

“Why?” Brandon asked, frowning.

“Victor thinks it’s a bad idea. And he sort of convinced me to be more reasonable,” I sighed.

“Does that mean I can’t be your guard anymore?” Brandon asked, looking down at the ground. He looked as if I’d just given him horrible news. I still didn’t see what the attraction was in being my guard.

“That isn’t going to change,” I assured him. “But I have to go home. I’m gonna call Derek and I need to be alone.”

“I thought you weren’t sure about that guy?” Brandon asked, curiously.

“I already have my conditions. A good thing will come out of this. I’m sick of Caine having all those Wolves from Knight Pack locked up. I want him to let them go.

In a binder that Caine kept in his office at home, I found Derek’s number. I also found plenty of other things and I made note of it all. I remembered what Joshua had told me about Derek and Tristan being busy with Layton, so I didn’t want to risk calling the pack.

I didn’t want anyone to find out that I’d spoken to Derek, especially if it led to the possibility of Caine finding out.

The phone rang four times before someone picked up.

“Hello?” Derek said on the other side of the line. I had expected him to answer the phone like Alpha Dylan usually did—being rude. He didn’t. He almost sounded pleasant.

“It’s me, Charlotte,” I told him.

Derek was silent for long seconds. I didn’t want to speak up until I knew how he would react to me.

“Is it safe to assume you’re calling because of the talk you had with Joshua?”

“Is Tristan around?”

“He is dealing with Layton,” Derek replied.

“Yeah, I heard about that.”

Derek and I were both silent again. It was awkward to be talking to him on the phone. It wasn’t at all like it had been the last time we’d seen each other. There was no way that he had changed that much. I could only assume that Derek simply didn’t know what to say to me.

“Joshua told me about the day you kicked me out. Is it true?” I asked. The conversation shouldn’t have been about me, but I wanted confirmation from him. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since Joshua told me.

“You’re going to rehash the same thing? I kicked you out. Get over it. You should thank me. If I hadn’t done it, you wouldn’t have found your mate,” Derek said, his tone making him sound like his usual self.

“I’m not talking about that,” I told him.

Derek sighed. “What else? I am trying to strike a deal with you. I won’t apologize for things I did in the past, and I have no regrets,” he said, bluntly.

That definitely sounded like the Derek I was used to hearing—arrogant and cocky.

“Tristan wanted to kill me. You kicked me out, and I’m alive because of it.”

Derek stayed quiet. A minute passed, and then two. I would’ve thought he had hung up on me if it weren’t for his heavy breathing.

“I just wanted to tell you that… you were a dick to me. I will still probably hate you. But… thank you.”

Derek still didn’t say anything. I wished I would’ve seen his reaction. I wanted to know exactly how he looked when he was shocked. It was hard to surprise him because he was always on the defensive and being a jerk to people.

Unlike Caine or Alpha Dylan who used their presence to intimidate, Derek did it with words.

“What do you want?” Derek asked when he finally spoke.

“I will convince Caine to release the Knight Pack Wolves that he’s holding. I will also convince him to have a sit down with you, and end this feud between the two packs once and for all.”

“Just like that?” Derek asked, sounding like he didn’t really trust me. It was odd, considering the fact that I thought he was more likely to betray me than I would him.

“Yes,” I answered.

“You suddenly had a change of heart because of something I did long ago?” I didn’t have to see him to know he was smirking. He kind of sounded like a jerk, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t thankful for what he’d done.

“I didn’t have a change of heart,” I told him, sighing loudly. “I am only thanking you for you saving me. And that’s that.”

“Is it safe to assume that you want something from me if I’m getting a meeting with your mate and you’re releasing my Wolves?”

“You are assuming right. I want something.”

“What do you want? Be creative, little Wolf. I haven’t been impressed as of now with your position of Luna,” he said tauntingly.

That was really the Derek I was used to—not mean-spirited like Martha, not completely evil like Tristan, not easygoing like Brandon, loyal like Theo, not serious like Caine, or demanding like Dylan. Derek was just… different.

“I want you to kill Tristan.”