Calliope's Mate - Book 2

Caleb watched through a window as Calliope climbed onto the back of a wagon. She turned to face him as the wagon went down the dirt path. He raised his hand slightly to wave to her. But he did not know if she could see him or not.

He stood there, feeling something he had never felt before in his ten years. He longed for her, to see her again, but he could not explain why. The pull, the static, Great Alpha. All of these were new things for him. At ten years old, no one had ever once talked to him about these things, these feelings. He felt different all of a sudden. Different from everyone else in the room.

Suddenly, the door next to him opened. It was his father, his real father. His name is Aaron. Aaron glanced briefly at Caleb. Caleb could not help but smile up to the man he adored the most, but his smile was not returned. Instead, his father had an expression of disgust.

Caleb’s smile faded, and he looked down to the ground. Aaron walked over to where the other adults were.

“What in hells do you mean he is the Great Alpha?” Aaron growled as he reached Bennett. “How can my son, someone with sun wolf blood running through his veins, be mated to her."

“Caleb seemed to confirm it. He called her mate before she said a single word to him.” Bennett explained. “And yes, I know he is your son, but Maya is a moon wolf! That means he will have a moon wolf spirit. He will never have a wolf that stands on two legs like you!”

“We should have killed her where she stood,” Maya spat angrily. Now that Calliope had left, her fear of her was replaced with anger and contempt.

“No!” Caleb yelled from across the room. “You are not to hurt her!”

Maya growled and walked over to Caleb. She grabbed his arms tightly in her hands. Caleb whimpered at the pain, but he dared not say it hurt out loud. He was always told that to admit pain was weakness. That you bore it like a man.

“How dare you say not to hurt the woman who killed your great-grandfather! In front of his own children! Tortured him until he eventually died! She is a monster! Monsters are meant to be killed.” She yelled as she shook Caleb. He tried hard to keep the tears in, but her grip became tighter with every shake.

“Let the boy go,” Bennett commands to Maya. “We don’t know when she will be back. And if you bruise him, we will have her to answer to.”

Maya frowned and reluctantly let her son go. She showed no remorse for what she did but instead shared the same disgust that his father had. Caleb ran to a corner and sat down, hiding his tears from them.

“I don’t fear her,” Maya hissed through gritted teeth.

“You were frozen in place when she was in here!” Edwyn, Caleb’s fake father, chimed in. “You fear her! No sense in lying about it.”

Aaron growled and stepped up to Edwyn. Bennett had to walk over and separate the two of them.

“Enough! Stop arguing with one another.” He snapped. “We need to talk about what we will do about this.”

“She isn’t getting Caleb!” Maya interjected. “He will not become her mate. He will never see her again if I had it my way!”

“Well, thankfully, you lot made me Alpha, so we are going to do what I say,” Bennett growled to her. “We will become the Eclipse pack, pledge ourselves to her, and Caleb will become her mate.”

Maya slapped Bennett across the face. She had a violent temper, and even Aaron had trouble calming her down. But Bennett did not attack her back; he let her get away with the slap this time. He turned his attention to Aaron.

“What do you think will happen if Caleb is named Great Alpha? Ignore the girl for a moment. Think about the potential. For thousands of years, the sun wolves have always lost to the Greats. But how can we lose to someone who is a part of us?”

Aaron rubbed his bearded chin. He glanced at Maya, who had her arms crossed. She didn’t look to him, nor Bennett. She didn’t even look at Caleb. She was silent in her anger.

“Fine,” Aaron nodded. “What do you propose then?”

“Do what the Great Luna says,” Bennett replied. “Whatever customs we must abide by, whatever things we need to teach the boy, we will. We will not openly argue against her. On the surface, we are but a loyal pack, raising the next Great Alpha. But when she isn’t here or near, we make sure Caleb knows who the real enemy is. And that is her!”

Bennett walked over to Caleb and pulled him to his feet. He looked down into the boy’s eyes.

“Do you understand that?” He questioned Caleb.

“B-but why? Why is she my enemy?” He sniffed. He felt conflicted about what he felt versus what he was being told.

“Because she is dangerous,” Bennett explained. “She has killed tens, if not hundreds, of your father’s people: your people. The Greats have always stepped on the little people. Taken advantage of us, killed us, tortured us. Do you want that to continue happening? Do you want her to come in and kill all of your friends and family?!”

“No!” Caleb cried out.

“Then you must kill her! For all of us!”

“H-how?” Caleb whispered as his voice cracked.

“You pretend to be her mate and do whatever a mate does. You make her trust you... fall in love with you. But the moment she marks you, and you gain the rest of your power, you kill her.”

Bennett reached for a small dagger and handed it to Caleb. The metal was about 6 inches long, and it was shiny. The handle was made from bone, smoothed out to be comfortable in the hand. Caleb touched the metal, and it burned his fingers. His hand recoiled, causing him to drop the dagger. Bennett picked it back up and forced the handle into Caleb’s hand.

“This dagger is made of silver. Silver hurts wolves when it touches them. The wounds are harder to heal. So when you stab her, you stab her in the heart, and you hold it there until she dies. Got it?”

Caleb didn’t answer. He nodded his head as he clutched the dagger. He looked at his parents. His mother didn’t look at him, but his father met his gaze. But there were no emotions in his father’s eyes. The brown did not sparkle in the light as Caleb once saw. He looked back to Bennett.

“Good. Now, when you eventually figure out what gifts you have, you must never tell the Great Luna.” Bennett told Caleb. “Only us here, in this room, and anyone we choose to train you, may know. If she asks about a gift, you lie.”

“What do I say?” Caleb questioned.

“We will tell you what to say. We will rediscuss if you have a gift you can’t hide. But, Caleb, it is your job to save all of us. Lead us out of this barren wasteland and into the promised land. Can you do that?”

Caleb gripped the handle of the dagger tighter. He nodded his head with force. He didn’t want his people to suffer. He didn’t want to see them die. But deep down, there was conflict and turmoil in his heart and soul. Thinking of killing Calliope, thinking of her being dead, was very troubling for him. But he dared not speak this aloud. He didn’t want them to be angry with him. Maybe something was wrong with him because he felt this way.

“Good, you start training tomorrow,” Bennett said as he returned to his parents. “He is to train daily. He needs to be stronger than her.”

“Her human form looked young and weak,” Edwyn commented. “She should be easy to attack then, as long as she can’t shift.”

“And that’s why I gave him my silver dagger. That silver had been in my family for hundreds of years. Once the silver is jabbed through her skin and heart, she won’t be able to shift. She will be stuck in her weak form. That is how Caleb will kill her.”

White eyes turned blue, and Calliope had to grab onto the wagon's edge to keep herself steady. She breathed heavily. This was the longest she looked through Caleb’s eyes since she discovered his existence.

Anger flowed through her. She felt the pain that Maya inflicted on Caleb’s arms. She clenched her fists and hit the wooden seat next to her, breaking the planks. The others looked at her when they heard the wood snap.

“What’s wrong?” Paige asked after she shifted into her human form.

“Nothing,” Calliope growled. His mother being cruel to Caleb, her Caleb, would be no one else’s concern but hers. She then turned to look at Paige. “They are going to try and have Caleb kill me.”

The wagon stopped, and the other wolves shifted. Hearing this, hearing that the Great Alpha was to kill his mate, their Great Luna, stunned them.

“They will make Caleb do it the day I mark him. The day he comes into his full power.”

“Then don’t mark him!” Paige exclaimed. “If he is going to kill you, then don’t mark him!”

“It’s not that simple,” Calliope replied. “You know as well as I do the pull of mates. The natural urge to want to mate and mark one another. I can fight wolves and humans, but I can’t fight against my instinct.”

“Then do you think he will actually try to kill you then?” Briana asked. “That would go against his instinct, too.”

“If they push him to it, maybe,” Calliope sighed. She wiped the sweat from her brow. “But, I can try to make it so he doesn’t want to kill me - doesn’t want to go against his instinct. His parents, that stupid Alpha, will push him hard. Meanwhile, I’ll be gentle with him. Make him see me as someone he can go to for safety, not fear.”

Calliope looked up to the sky. She knew she had a long road ahead of her. She was going to have to win her mate’s heart. His family was going to push him to fight against her. To fight against the love of a mate bond. She would have to be his ally, even when he didn’t want her to. If his parents pushed him, she would pull. If his parents hurt him, she would heal him.

“Paige,” Calliope said with reignited enthusiasm. “We have the Moon Festival in 6 months. Invite these new packs and ensure that Caleb is brought. They did say they would oblige me and my whims. In the meantime, ensure enough wood is brought over to build a few houses before winter’s first snow.”

Paige nodded her head and shifted back into her wolf form. She headed off, away from the group. She needed to head back into the western part of their territories, where trees were more abundant. Winter was coming fast, so they would have to work quickly to build homes.

Calliope looked down at her hands and smiled. Even though her meeting with Caleb didn’t go as planned, she still had hope. And his eyes, the two different colors. They drew her in and mesmerized her. They awoke something in her.