Caine

“You have to calm down, Charlotte,” Caine said, pulling me against his chest.

I couldn’t talk. I was sobbing uncontrollably. I was trying to get to Theo. Two Wolves were carrying the crate that had his body. I tried running towards them, but Caine restrained me.

“Don’t touch me!” I growled, and when I tried to slap him, I got a good hit and dug my nails into his skin. His cheek ended up with my three claws deeply imprinted.

Caine frowned, touched his finger against the scratches, and growled thunderously. Everyone in the area, including Victor and the Wolves carrying the dead Knight Pack shifters, stopped in their tracks.

“I hate you,” I snarled at him, my words guttural and loud. It was quiet, and everyone had heard me.

Caine let me go and I ran towards Theo, where I could smell him. Once they set Theo’s crate down, and I clawed at it until I got it open.

He was there. He smelled wrong. He was bleeding. If it had been a quick death, Theo wouldn’t have been bleeding. I had still been crying—the tears silently running down my cheeks. But as soon as I saw Theo and the condition he was in—I knew Caine had beaten him. He was hurt, bruised, and bleeding so much. His blood smelled wrong—dead.

Theo was dead. Theo was dead. Theo was dead. The same words kept running through my mind, making me sob harder.

Caine approached me again, trying to get me up, but I slapped his hand away. I used as much force as I could muster. I couldn’t stand his touch.

“Don’t touch me!”

“Get up,” Caine ordered, grabbing my arm.

“Let me go!”

He forced me to get up. He was stronger than me. I fought him the entire way, but in the end, he was able to force me up and over to the truck.

“Get in, now!”

Everyone was looking at us. Even Tristan and his Wolves had their eyes glued to the scene we were making. I couldn’t be bothered to care about them—about any of them.

I didn’t get in the truck. When I tried to run away, Caine pulled me back roughly and forced me into the truck.

I lowered my head and rested it against my lap. I was trying to be strong. I was trying not to cry. I needed to do something. I was shaking. My entire body was shaking. I needed to shift. But I could feel my Wolf hurting as well. The tears kept on coming, I couldn’t stop them.

I couldn’t get the image of Theo out of my mind.

Caine was talking to me, but I wasn’t listening. I was trying to stop the craziness—all the emotions I felt. When he pulled on my arm to get me to face him, I cringed away and that was enough to stop him. It wasn’t like he cared.

We were driving away. He didn’t want to make a scene. I didn’t know what Caine had been expecting. How had he wanted for me to react?

Macon was driving the car, and Brandon was in the passenger seat. They were both quiet. There wasn’t anything to say, really. What was done was done.

I stopped thinking about that. I would’ve preferred ten times over to focus on my problems in Caine. But all of my attention was focused on Theo. It was my fault. He was dead because of me. They were all dead because of me.

The Wolves from Knight Pack and the Wolves from Locus Pack—they were all gone. It hadn’t been enough to have killed the first five. Caine had to make sure I really felt it. Over twenty Wolves were dead because of me. I started crying again, my sobs loud and shaking my entire body. Caine was trying to get me to sit up. He was trying to hold me, to sooth me.

I couldn’t even bother to push his arms away, but I didn’t sit up. I stayed how I was, with my face over my lap and my arms blocking everything out.

“We’re home,” Caine said.

He had been quiet for most of the ride. He tried talking to me several times, but I ignored him. I settled down half-way through the drive, but the tears, those just kept on coming. My eyes hurt and my head was throbbing. The palms of my hands were bleeding because I was digging my claws into them, trying to keep some sort of control over myself.

As soon as the car stopped moving, I opened the door and ran out. Caine wasn’t expecting that. I left him behind. I didn’t look back. I ran up to Liam’s room, slammed the door, walked into the closet, and locked myself in there.

Plenty of Liam’s things were still there, and the entire place smelled just like him. I sat against the door, and started bawling my eyes out again. Too late I finally noticed that my clothes—they were covered in blood. My arms and hands were covered in blood. I desperately started taking it all off, and tried to wipe the blood off my skin. Some of it had already dried.

I scooted myself against the door again, and sat there in my bra and underwear. I was cold, but I didn’t want to get one of Liam’s shirts. I didn’t want to stain any of his things with Theo’s blood. Looking at the blood-stained clothes made me wince, and I closed my eyes. Every time I did, all I saw was Theo’s bloody unmoving body.

It was like a vicious cycle I couldn’t run away from.

I felt Caine on the other side of the door a while later. He was simply there—I felt his presence. After a few minutes, he finally spoke.

“Let me come in, Charlotte.” His voice was soft, but firm. He wasn’t asking, he was ordering.

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t move away from the door. I only wondered if it was possible for someone to run out of tears. I seemed to be far from reaching that point. I dried my eyes off, and the tears were mixed with blood—I must’ve had blood on my face too.

“Charlotte,” Caine called me again.

I ignored him. He continued calling out my name, but I simply ignored him until he went away.

As soon as Caine was out of the room, I walked out and made my way into the bathroom.

I finished undressing once I was there, and got in the shower. I wanted to wash myself off. I wanted to get rid of the blood. I set up the water scalding hot.

I wanted to see Theo again. I kept telling myself that this wasn’t happening. Theo wasn’t dead. But all I had to do was look down at the water running down my body—tinted in red with Theo’s blood.

I scrubbed myself raw—until it was painful to touch my skin and it was red and irritated, but I was sure that the blood had washed away.

Everything was wrong. This wasn’t supposed to happen. It wasn’t how it was supposed to play out.

Derek and I were supposed to sign a treaty, he’d get rid of Tristan, and Caine and I would finally be able to have some peace. Caine was supposed to give Theo the option of staying or going, and Theo would decide to go because that’s how loyal he was to Knight Pack.

But everything had gone wrong.

Caine didn’t return when I got back into the room. I was glad for that. I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t stand to see him. I felt torn. My Wolf was in despair—she was broken. I felt the same way. I grabbed the comforter from Liam’s bed and dragged it with me into his closet.

Once I was there, I locked the door, slipped on one of Liam’s shirts, and laid down on the floor, entangling myself in the comforter.

I heard people coming and going. Macon was there. He had stayed there the entire time. Brandon was there too. They were all traitors—all of them. Victor arrived as well. I wasn’t sure why everyone was having a gathering at the house. They were probably celebrating the death of the Knight Pack Wolves. I wouldn’t have been surprised.

I tried to fall asleep, but I couldn’t. I wanted to see Theo. I didn’t think Caine would let me. I didn’t want to talk to Caine. I didn’t want to see him, much less ask him for something.

He had done it again. I felt like at the pace we were going, Caine was going to kill all of my friends because I never seemed to learn the lesson he was trying to teach me.

That night, Caine walked into the room. I heard him. I had been trying to doze off, but sleep wouldn’t come. My eyes hurt, and they were stinging. The headache had returned. I felt sick to my stomach. I had already thrown up twice because my thoughts took me back to Theo. But after I finally settled down and tried to find some sleep, I’d kept calm.

Once in a while, the tears would return, but I was able to cry quietly, without shaking too much. Anything else was tiring, and I wasn’t sure I could handle it. I felt like I could barely move as it was.

When Caine tried to open the door and he found it locked, he knocked.

“Sleep on the bed. I’ll take the other room,” Caine said, quietly.

He must’ve been kneeling on the floor. His voice sounded close, like he was speaking right next to me but on the other side of the door.

I didn’t reply.

“You can take the bed as soon as I leave. I won’t bother you,” he said.

He got no response from me. I tried to level my breathing, in hopes that he would think I was asleep and he’d just go away.

Caine stayed there, next to the door, for about an hour.

“I’m leaving,” he said. I heard his footsteps and the door opening and closing moments after that.

Even though he left, I didn’t come out of Liam’s closet. It was the place that felt closest to home. I wanted to call Liam, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was scared that he would agree with Caine and I’d end up feeling completely alone. The only thing keeping me sane was the thought of Liam picking me up and taking me away.

That night, I dreamt about Theo. It was weird. Dreams, they never stayed with me. Only once in a while could I remember what I had dreamt, and it was always fuzzy. That night, I kept waking up. Every time I did, I was dry heaving, shaking and sweating.

The first time, I woke Caine up and he came running into the room. It took him a second to notice that I wasn’t on the bed. He tried to get me out of Liam’s closet, but I wouldn’t leave. I broke down crying again, sobbing loudly—asking for Theo and Liam.

Caine was trying to calm me down. He was telling me that it was okay, he was there for me. He was softly asking me to open the door. He wanted to see if I was okay. I didn’t listen to him. I ignored him.

Caine didn’t leave the room after that. Every time I dozed off and woke up, he was there, trying to get me to open the door. The third or fourth time that it happened, Caine threatened to break down the door if didn’t open it.

“If you do that, I won’t ever talk to you again,” I whispered to him. It was the first thing I had said to him. My voice was croaky. I sounded like crap. My words, however, kept Caine on the other side of the door.

After that, he talked to me every time I woke up, but he didn’t threaten with coming into the closet forcefully.

I wanted him to go. Having him there, it was hard. I hated him, and I loved him. Just thinking about how I felt tore me up inside even more.

By the time morning rolled around, I was feeling dead inside, with a sore throat, a banging headache, and an upset stomach. Caine was still asleep. I could hear him outside the door, his breath even.

I stayed in the closet the entire day. Caine tried to get me out. Brandon tried to get me out. When Brandon knocked on the door and started talking me, I broke down crying once again. Even though I couldn’t see him, I knew it had freaked Caine out. Caine told Brandon to leave.

I assumed it had been Caine’s idea to bring Brandon over to make me feel better. Brandon only served to remind me that I had no one in the pack.

Everyone tried to mind link with me. I was suddenly a popular Wolf in the pack. Victor, Elijah, Macon, Brandon, and even Brandon’s friend, Miles—who had been interested in being my second guard—they all tried to mind link but I simply blocked them out.

“You can’t stay in there all day again,” Caine said, although it had to be late.

When he’d gone downstairs, I’d left the closet to grab a glass of tap water from the bathroom sink. That must’ve been at least an hour before, and the clock had read eight at night. Through the window, I’d already seen it was dark out.

“You should be happy. Now you get to keep me here. You’ll always know where I am,” I told Caine.

It was meant to be sarcastic, but there was no humor whatsoever in my voice.

That night, Caine sat with me again. He was just there, waiting, probably hoping I’d leave the closet space. I never did, at least not when he was there. He had brought me trays of food throughout the day. I’d left them untouched for the most part. Every time I tried to eat something, I just couldn’t keep it down. I felt physically weak and ill.

“We should talk.”

I shook my head, not that he would be able to see me, and didn’t say anything.

“I know you are mad at me.”

I scoffed. Caine took that as a cue to keep talking. “I did what was best for the pack. How would it look if I didn’t retaliate?”

He was waiting for me to speak. I wasn’t sure if his question had been rhetorical, but I still didn’t answer it.

Caine groaned, but it wasn’t like there was much I could do.

“You should have told me that you were talking to Derek. I would’ve done something. What you two did was reckless,” Caine continued.

“If it makes you feel any better, blame me. I honestly don’t give a shit,” I replied.

Caine growled. He hated when I cursed. I rolled my eyes.

“I am not blaming you,” Caine said.

“Remember when you were fucking my brains out? I am pretty sure you said something about blaming me. Speaking of, you should probably find another toy to play with. This one is broken,” I told him, and threw the covers over my head. It was the end of the conversation for me.

Caine was quiet for a moment. I thought he had taken a hint. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” he said.

If it was an apology, it was a crappy one. I didn’t tell him though.

Caine continued with his monologue, not really asking for forgiveness, but sounding apologetic. At no moment, though, did he apologize for what he had done.

The message got back to me loud and clear—it was my fault. Everything was my fault. He was thinking, and probably Tristan and Derek were thinking it too. Hell, I thought it too. That was what got me.

On the sixth day, I finally forced myself to eat everything off the tray. Caine was bringing more trays of food. The first three days, I’d barely touched anything. By the fourth day though, my stomach felt weird and it was impossible to keep the headaches away. When I did eat, I had to take it slow. The first time I tried to eat the plate of food served in the tray, I puked. It had been too much, or I had eaten too fast—I didn’t really know.

Caine was worried. With every passing day, it got worse. It was so obvious in his actions. Now I had a guard standing right outside the door for when he wasn’t around—but he was always around. He was gone for an hour or two at most. I assumed it was to handle things where he had to absolutely be present.

When he was gone, Miles was there—Brandon’s friend and the guard Victor had whined so much about. If that was Caine’s way of trying to make peace with me, he was so wrong.

The only reason I knew his name was because the third day when I came out, he introduced himself and proceeded to tell me that Brandon missed me. The tears came, Miles shut up, and he never brought Brandon up again—not that Miles and I ever talked. He just never made an attempt to say anything after that.

When Miles took post in Liam’s bedroom was the only time I allowed myself to go out. I had showered almost every day, but I still felt dirty. The type of dirty that I felt—I didn’t think it was going to go away.

I had been wearing Liam’s clothes. I was already forming a small pile of it in the hamper. I didn’t think Caine was letting anyone come and go into the house. It had been silent, except for Miles and him coming and going, but it was still a quiet affair.

We kept a similar routine, even at night. I still woke up sobbing, and crying out. But now, all I wanted was Liam. I had been deadset on not calling him. I didn’t want to disturb him. Liam needed peace too. I still missed him so much.

I hadn’t seen Caine. In those six days, we hadn’t crossed paths. I had made sure of that, being careful to leave only when I knew he wasn’t in the house. He was insistent, wanting me to leave the closet, threatening to tear down the door, but backing down just seconds later. It was all such a mess.

I woke up the following morning to someone softly knocking on the closet door.

My mind was fuzzy from sleep, and I had to focus my eyes. It was really dark in the closet, and I kept the light out most of the time.

Caine had given Miles a small battery powered lantern for me to keep in there. I had only taken it because some of the nights, I’d woken up freaked out of the dark. I kept imagining Theo was going to get me, although I had never really been someone scared of ghosts and stuff.

He wasn’t the only one haunting my mind. All those other Wolves—most of them who I didn’t know or hadn’t seen before, they were there too. They were probably worse, because in my mind, they were faceless monsters trying to get me.

Other than being surrounded by Liam’s clothes, I only had the lantern and one of his iPods, which I had found in a back pack that he’d dumped in there sometime before taking off.

“Luna, I have Alpha Dylan on the phone asking for you,” Miles said.

I heard him, but I ignored him. I had no interest in speaking with Alpha Dylan. I had no idea why he was even calling me. The thought that Caine had reached out to him and Alpha Dylan was trying to get me to talk to Caine—it crossed my mind and seriously ticked me off.

“He says it’s important,” Miles insisted.

“Tell him I’m not here,” I said, my voice sounding croakier than usual. I had hardly been speaking, and in return, my voice sounded like crap.

“Alpha Dylan said he heard you telling me to tell him that you’re not here,” Miles said.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, waiting for Miles to go away.

I could hear him talking to Alpha Dylan. I ignored the rest of their conversation and continued staring up at the ceiling.

He must’ve hung up the phone, because a few seconds later, it started ringing right beside me, on the other side of the door. I frowned and waited for Miles to pick it up. He didn’t. The phone rang and rang and rang. When it stopped, it just started ringing again a minute later. It had to be Alpha Dylan calling. He dialed six times before I groaned, opened the door, grabbed the phone, and answered the call.

“You’ve reached the house of the demented—would you like to leave a message?” I said into the speaker.

“You sound like shit,” Alpha Dylan said.

“What do you want?” I asked him, ignoring his previous comment. I already knew how bad I sounded.

“Who is Miles and why is he answering the phone?”

“Miles is on suicide watch. He answered the phone because I couldn’t be bothered and your friend isn’t here,” I replied.

Miles must’ve been listening in because right after I finished speaking, he knocked on the door and asked if I was okay, and if I had been joking about committing suicide. I had definitely freaked him out. He was already on the phone with Caine telling him to come home.

“Miles is also a tattle tale,” I continued.

“What is going on? What do you mean suicide? Did something happen?”

“No, I’m being dramatic. What did you need?” I replied, sighing loudly.

I could hear Miles outside pacing the room. His heart was pounding erratically in his chest—I heard it without even having to focus.

“Tell me,” he said, instead.

“Right, Dr. Dylan, let me just spill all my secrets so that you can give me your good ole handy advice,” I said. My sarcasm was back, and it actually sounded normal, not forced like the last time I’d spoken to Caine several days ago.

“Your comment just lets me know that something is wrong.”

“What do you care?” I snapped.

“I guess I don’t,” he replied a few moments later.

“Harsh…” I whispered, stretching out the ‘sh’ in the word.

“I never said I didn’t care. I was implying that according to you, I don’t.”

I sighed, and tried to gather my thoughts. What was I going to tell him?

“Have you spoken to Caine?”

“He has been ignoring my calls all week. That was reason number one I got worried. Your words were not exactly reassuring,” he said.

I tried to keep my mind free of thoughts. I had been crying so much. I had been crying enough that it was starting to worry me if it was normal. I didn’t want to start crying while talking to Alpha Dylan. It was embarrassing and I felt like that would really annoy him.

“A few months ago, Caine killed two really close friends of mine. They were like family to me. But they were Rogues and…”

“Caine is abnormally paranoid with Rogues,” he said, finishing for me. It wasn’t what I was going to say, but he was still right.

“Yeah,” I muttered.

“I take it that didn’t go well between you two.”

“I forgave him. I was hurt, but we moved on past that.”

“Smart thing to do—he’s your mate,” Alpha Dylan said.

His words totally pissed me off, and I couldn’t stop the growl that escaped from my lips after he spoke. He heard me.

“I wouldn’t do that to my mate, but I know how drastic Caine is,” he finished, not that his words made me feel any better.

“He killed the Wolves from Knight Pack that he had locked up—all them…. Knight Pack was my former pack. I… He killed my best friend. Caine never released him even though I asked, and then when he got pissed off at me, he killed them all to prove a point.”

Alpha Dylan was quiet for a long while. I knew he hadn’t hung up on me because I heard him on the other end of the line.

Caine got there before Alpha Dylan said anything. He was banging on the door, telling me to open up.

“I gotta go,” I told Alpha Dylan, and hung up right after he started speaking. I didn’t get a chance to catch any of his words.

“Go away!” I told Caine.

“Are you okay?” he asked, but he stopped banging on the door.

“Yes.”

“Miles said that…”

“I was kidding.”

“Kidding?”

“Alpha Dylan called me and I made a joke. Now leave me alone.”

“Why did Dylan call you?” Caine asked, his tone going from soft to suspicious.

“I think he missed me,” I replied.

A growl from Caine, and I had him banging his fist against the door, ordering me to let him in. When I continued to ignore him, he called Alpha Dylan, who apparently, didn’t answer his phone.

“Charlotte, come out of there.”

Silence.

“Charlotte…” he said, his voice low and threatening.

More silence.

“I need to make sure you’re okay.”

The silence just kept on going. I hadn’t seen Caine in a week. I briefly wondered if he looked as horrible as I felt.

“Let me at least look at you, Charlotte. I miss you. My Wolf misses you,” he said, his voice softening up.

I stayed locked up in that little space. Caine’s words had gotten to me. It would’ve been so easy to open the door and crawl into his arms. I felt lonely, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I heard a commotion downstairs a few hours later. I had been listening to music, and I was able to hear the noise through my headphones.

I took them off and turned off Liam’s iPod. Not even a minute later, the banging started on my door again. Someone was shaking the door handle, trying to get it opened.

“Charlie?”

I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath.

Liam. Liam was there. It took me a moment to react, and open the door. When I did, I found Liam standing there, looking down at me. I was still sitting on the floor, sprawled over Liam’s comforter, with his iPod right next to me.

“Oh, Charlie…” Liam said, and he kneeled in front of me and pulled me into his arms.

I didn’t realize I was crying until Liam began running his hands through my hair and started whispering soothing words against my neck.

“Shhh… I’m here, I’m here,” he said, continuing to coo things to me to calm me down.

Caine walked into the room. He also looked like crap. His eyes were bruised and red—that was the lack of sleep, and it was because he spent all those nights waking up every time I did.

I turned away from him, closed my eyes, and nestled my head against Liam’s neck. Liam’s arms were around me. He was sitting on the floor, and I was over his lap, cuddling myself in a little ball on top of him.

“Everything’s fine, I’m here,” Liam said.

I nodded against his neck, and allowed myself to enjoy being held by him. I had missed him so much. Having him there, it made me feel better.

“You have to calm down, Charlie. Tell me what’s wrong,” Liam said.

“Caine killed Theo,” I whispered, and I burst out sobbing, tightening my arms around Liam’s neck.

From the way Liam’s arms tightened around me, and the growl that rumbled through his chest, I assumed that Caine hadn’t told him that part.

“What the actual fuck?” Liam snapped, turning to glare at Caine.

“Tristan killed five pups from my pack. I had to retaliate,” Caine stated.

I wasn’t looking at him, but I could picture him frowning down at Liam.

“You could’ve retaliated any other way. What the hell is wrong with you, Caine? Are you fucking stupid?”

Caine growled at Liam loudly. “I allowed you into my pack. You don’t disrespect me!”

“Charlie, I need to speak with Caine alone, okay?”

I pulled away and looked up at Liam. He was staring down at me with sad eyes. “Look at you, Charlie. Have you been eating? You feel too light, it’s not normal.”

The tears were rolling down my cheeks once again. I just couldn’t keep them away.

“Shhh… Shhh… I’m right here. I’m just going to talk to the idiot you have as a mate, and I’ll be back in a minute. Okay?”

I didn’t want to let him go, but Liam hardly gave me a chance to argue. He got up from the floor, carrying me in his arms, and walked us over to the bed. He was careful when placing me over the bed.

“Just a sec, okay?” he asked. He kissed my cheek, poked my stomach playfully, and began walking towards Caine.

Caine was reluctant to go. He kept looking at me, his eyes dark but soft. “I hadn’t seen you all week,” he said, his eyes on me. “I missed you.”

I looked away from him, and threw the bed covers over my head. I heard him and Liam walking out of the room after that.

Even though they were talking in the hall, they might as well have stayed inside the room with me. I could hear everything.

Liam was yelling, for the most part. Caine was growling and snapping back, but he stayed quiet most of the time. Liam wanted an explanation, and what Caine told him did not satisfy him. When I felt like they were going to start fighting, I got up from the bed and stepped into the hall.

“I can hear you,” I told them.

“I didn’t think this would happen, Charlie. I’m so sorry,” Liam said.

I frowned at him. “Why are you apologizing? This had nothing to do with you, Liam.”

“If I hadn’t trusted Caine, you wouldn’t be like this right now. I’m sorry,” he said.

I just walked into his arms, and held on tight. Caine was standing there, but I just ignored him. I didn’t even want to look at him.

“Caine!” Someone shouted downstairs.

“Umm…” I mumbled.

“Is that…?” Liam asked.

“Alpha Dylan?” I said, unsurely.

He walked upstairs and found us in the middle of the hall before we could react and go to him. Alpha Dylan was there, alone, and his eyes focused on me as soon as he spotted us.

“You have looked better,” he said, frowning.

“You came,” I commented, finding it weird to have him there.

I cleared my eyes and took a step away from Liam, although he still kept his arm around me. Caine was looking at Alpha Dylan through narrowed eyes.

“You hung up on me, and Caine was insistently calling and leaving angry voicemails,” Alpha Dylan shrugged.

“Why have you been talking to my mate?” Caine asked him.

“Seriously?” Liam snapped at him before I had a chance to say something. He was glaring at Caine.

“I am simply making sure that everything is alright,” Alpha Dylan replied.

“How did you get here?” Caine demanded to know.

“I talked to Victor when I reached the outskirts of Locus and he let me in.”

“Why did you come all this way?”

“Caine, really?” I asked.

When his eyes landed on me, they softened. “I’m not going to start fighting with him,” Caine said to me.

“You’d be a real jerk if you did,” I told him.

Caine nodded, and he walked away, towards Alpha Dylan. I assumed they were going to talk. Before heading for the stairs, Alpha Dylan turned to look at me with dark eyes and he shook his head.

Liam pulled me back into the room, and started walking with me towards the bed. “I’m scared I’ll break you,” Liam said, lightly squeezing me against his chest.

“I’m fine,” I told him.

“Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?”

“Liam,” I said, and I must’ve looked hurt. Liam eased off and apologized.

“The prettiest girl, as always,” Liam said, cupping my cheeks and making me look up at him. He was staring down at me, his hazel eyes looking upset. “But now I see your eyes bloodshot red and puffy. You have purple bags under your eyes. You look pale, and you’ve lost weight. You don’t think that’s enough reason for me to know that you’re not fine?”

“I didn’t know what to do.”

“Caine told me you haven’t been eating,” Liam said. I was sitting on the edge of the bed, and Liam kneeled down in front of me.

“I have been eating,” I replied, defensively.

“Obviously not enough,” he chastised, but he did it softly, while running his thumb over my cheek. “Your skin almost look translucent, Charlie. We should call the pack doctor.”

I shook my head at him. “I’m just sad,” I admitted. “I feel guilt, a lot of it. I feel wrong”

Liam nodded, “I know.”

“We should get you out of here. Maybe we can go for a walk—although I’m not sure you would be able to handle any exercise right now. You haven’t left this room all week, have you?”

I shook my head, and shifted my eyes away from him.

“This is on Caine and on me, Charlie. This isn’t on you, okay? You understand that? I’m supposed to take care of you. I was stupid, and I left you with him. He obviously has issues to resolve on his own. But that’s his own shit, and I’m going to talk to him about this. I don’t think I can tell you anything that will make you feel better. Shitty, I know,” Liam said.

“I feel better having you here,” I told him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him close.

I wasn’t lying. Having him there, comforting me, it made me feel safe. Liam wrapped his arms around me, and held me tight.

“Where the hell is Adam anyways?”

After I told Liam that Adam was out doing rounds, and where Adam had been during the massacre of the Knight Wolves, Liam was pissed off.

He took off to find him. I didn’t want him to go, but he said he had to. I was glad that Alpha Dylan was distracting Caine. They were arguing as well, loudly. I was lying down on Liam’s bed, waiting for him to return.

Without having to focus on them, I could hear Alpha Dylan and Caine shouting at each other. They were fighting because of me. Alpha Dylan called Caine heartless. It took me a moment to realize that no, I had not imagined it. Caine was not exactly happy with getting insulted.

The entire thing ended with Alpha Dylan storming out of Caine’s office. I heard him running up the stairs. A second later, I had him in my room.

“Leila loves hanging out with you. If you want to take a break from Caine, you can come with us. I’m sure Liam would prefer to have you in Midnight Moon than here with Caine.”

Caine ran in after him. “You never threaten to take my mate away from me,” he growled, shoving Alpha Dylan’s chest.

“Lesson number in having a mate, Caine—you don’t start killing off the people your mate cares about if she makes a mistake or because you’re angry. Guess what? They don’t fucking come back when you want to start apologizing.”

“I don’t need to take lessons from you!” Caine growled at him. “The moment you can keep your mate from running off, we can talk.”

Alpha Dylan burst out laughing. He really laughed. I looked at him, partly amused and partly worried. I couldn’t say their little argument wasn’t entertaining, because it was. It was like they had forgotten I was right there.

“At least my mate doesn’t think I’m demented. Leila runs away, I go get her, apologize my ass off, and we’re good. But I bet you anything you want, if Charlotte leaves right now, she’s not coming back.”

Alpha Dylan’s words got to Caine. I was surprised that he was even sticking up for me, not that I didn’t appreciate it. I did. It had been the most unexpected thing to happen that day, even more than Liam showing up.

“Umm… I muttered. I was thinking of something to say. When I made a noise, they both turned to look at me, acknowledging me for the first time since their argument started.

Caine shook his head and stormed out of the room, leaving me alone with Alpha Dylan.

“He explained what happened,” Alpha Dylan said after Caine was gone. “I don’t necessarily trust Derek, but he’s not a bad Alpha. He has made friends with other Alphas I know, and they think he would be good for the pack.”

“Is that you taking my side?” I asked.

Alpha Dylan shrugged, keeping his face serious. It was the first time he and I were having a proper conversation in person. I had spoken to him on the phone, and argued with him on the phone. But we had never really talked in person and gotten along. I always had the feeling he didn’t like me, that was, until the day he started being nice to me.

“I’d like to think I’m not taking anyone’s side. I’m only giving you the facts. Derek would make a better Alpha than Tristan. But trying to solve this on your own with Derek, it wasn’t the smart way to play this.”

“I know,” I told him, sighing and slouching myself against the bed.

“That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good idea—having Derek do the dirty work. All I’m saying is that you should’ve talked to Caine about it. Even Liam is going to tell you the same thing. But, whatever is it, Caine shouldn’t have killed your friend.”

I shrugged. What else could I say?

“My condolences, for those Wolves and the ones from Locus Pack that Tristan killed. Caine told me there was a ceremony earlier this week.”

I nodded. “I didn’t go, though. I think everyone in the pack hates me.”

“They don’t. If they did, who cares? You are their Luna. You make them like you. Holing yourself up in this unhealthy way is going to help no one.”

I sighed, and nodded again. I felt like I was getting lightly reprimanded by Alpha Dylan. He was still frowning and with his serious face. Then again, he usually looked serious. It wasn’t as easy to joke or make fun of him in person. It was easier through the phone. I found that yes—he still intimidated me, at least a little.

“Now come on. I think I hear Liam coming.”

I walked side by side with Alpha Dylan, but he kept a distance. I could feel Caine downstairs. As soon we was started walking down, I finally noticed there was a small crowd.

Caine was standing to the side, with his arms crossed, and frowning. When he saw Alpha Dylan and me walking down, he started walking towards us.

Lesley, Victor, Macon, Brandon, Miles, Elijah, and a few other Locus Wolves were downstairs, forming a circle around Liam. I also saw some Wolves belonging to Midnight Moon just standing there, looking entertained. It took me a moment to notice that Adam was in the little circle with Liam, not exactly by choice.

Liam was beating the crap out of him, and everyone was just standing around, letting it happen.