Caine

I know it has been a while. I would really appreciate it if you guys didn’t remind me how long I took to upload. I know it’s been a while. I mean, if you really feel the need to, it’s fine, just don’t be so mean about it. I really do apologize for that. I hope you guys like the chapter, and comment and vote. That would totally be very encouraging now that I’m trying to come back to updating my stories. Thanks so much to all of you who have continued to support me and waited patiently (or not patiently to come back). Cheers!

I walked away from Liam without saying anything. I opened the glass doors and walked out to the balcony. It was the middle of the day, and the sun should’ve been high up in the sky. It had been warm earlier when my parents had gotten to the pack. Suddenly, everything felt so dark.

There were clouds, it was starting to get fresh, and I knew it was going to rain.

“Charlie?” Liam called, following after me.

“Why did he do that?” I asked.

I just had to look around to see the Wolves from Locus surrounding the mansion. I was scared.

“Why did Caine agree to that?”

“He got desperate,” Liam replied.

There were no words to describe how I felt. I kept making things worse for the pack. My pack. I didn’t deserve them. I was destroying them. It was my fault so many Wolves had died. Now, to make me happy, Caine was transferring Wolves to Knight Pack. Tristan was going to get what he wanted and it was all for nothing.

“Has Caine spoken with Dylan? Did you know about this?” I barely recognized my voice.

Earlier I felt fine. Seeing my parents made me happy. Fighting with Caine made me angry. But I thought those feelings were better than being sad. Now, I once again felt trapped in a cage. I was drained.

“I knew Caine was going to bring your parents. He told me he was speaking with Tristan. I didn’t know he would make this kind of deal. I would’ve told him how stupid it was. It really is, Charlie. Everyone is pissed. Heck, even Lesley is giving me shit about it. They’re right.”

“What am I supposed to do now?” I asked Liam, looking at him helplessly. “How am I supposed to fix this?”

Liam looked serious, thoughtful. I wasn’t sure if he was mad or just worried. His eyes were dark and he suddenly looked in deep thought.

“I have an idea,” he said, nodding. The serious look remained on his face, but his eyes were shifting back to hazel. “It’s crazy. But it might work.”

“What is it?” I asked, slowly.

“I know Caine suggested staying in the house. It seems like the smartest idea. You’re safer here. But I also think you have to go and see your people. The pack is scared. Caine wants to take off. You’re a stranger to them, more or less. You’ve been too absent. But you are still their Luna. You have to show them that.”

“What exactly are you planning?”

“I can get a crew here. A big one—maybe two hundred Wolves. I don’t want to celebrate just yet. We have a lot of shit going on in Midnight Moon. I need to watch out for Dylan and Leila too. But right now, I have to take care of you. I want Locus to be a home. I want you to feel safe. If Caine hands over that many Wolves, who says the rest of the pack will be loyal to him. It’ll be like he gave in to Tristan. No Wolf is going to be down with that. They’re not supporting that right now.”

“Okay, I agree. I don’t want any Wolves to leave. I’ll feel guilty. I never asked Caine for this,” I told Liam. And even saying those words made me feel like a bitch.

Caine had brought my parents to make me happy. He hadn’t known what to do with me. What had happened with Theo was not forgotten, but I had to acknowledge that he was trying to make things right in his Caine way, which was usually giving too much very brusquely. Even if I was still mad at him, which at the moment was the last thing on my mind, I had to think about the pack. Liam was right, now more than ever, they needed me.

I wished so much that I hadn’t shut down. Although a part of me knew that it would’ve been hard to not feel Theo’s death. He was practically my brother. At a time, I thought Theo would be my mate. Everything was so complicated. But I couldn’t think about that now. Now, all I had in my mind was the pack. I needed a distraction. I just didn’t think that what would distract me was such a huge tragedy that I had to now focus on.

“Now’s not the time for that, Charlie. Your parents are here and that’s all that matters. Besides, everyone in the pack will agree that Tristan is a dick. At any moment, he could’ve decided he was sick of Caine or you or Locus, and just executed your parents. You just never know with power hungry assholes.”

Liam wrapped an arm around me, and pulled me close to his side. Now he had a grin on his face. It was weird, but the way he relaxed, I suddenly felt sure of myself. I wasn’t sure of what exactly, since I didn’t really have a plan.

“Wait, what do you mean you can get two hundred Wolves down here? Do you mean Rogues?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow curiously. “And why exactly do you need so many Wolves?”

“Because, my dear Charlie, we are going to kick some ass. We are also going to get out of this stupid deal Caine offered Tristan,” Liam said, now nodding cockily.

“Hmm… and how exactly are we going to do that?”

“The only way to do it,” he said, touching my nose with his index finger.

“Which is…?” I asked, expectantly. He seemed way too excited, but he wasn’t sharing much with me. All of his words were just making me curious.

“The Rogue way,” Liam said, grinning like crazy. It almost seemed like he wanted to do one of those maniacal laughs evil characters tend to do in cartoons or fairytale movies. Whatever he meant with that, I was in and I was excited. We needed to save the pack.

“Okay, let me get this straight,” Victor said, looking between Liam and me like if we were stupid. “You want to not hand over any Wolves and you expect Tristan to be okay with it. Do I understand you correctly?”

“That is literally what I just said,” Liam told him, frowning. “I’m not really sure what you had to get straight since you practically repeated verbatim the plan we just shared.”

Victor got offended. He growled at Liam. Liam, one never to back down, growled at him playfully.

Only Liam, Adam, Victor, Macon, and I were in the room. I thought Macon had left with Caine. I had found out that Caine wasn’t gone just yet. Apparently, he was still having problems with his arrangement with Tristan. It was delaying his take off from Locus.

I had told Liam to invite Lesley. She loved him. Lesley had sway with Caine and Victor. She was a fighter. Having her voice weighing positively in our plan would have helped. But she had refused on account that she hated my guts at the moment and didn’t want to see my ‘dumb face’ until I fixed what I had caused. I should’ve gotten offended. Heck, even Liam had gotten upset with her on my behalf. I was mostly amused.

I liked that Lesley wasn’t scared of me, although I admitted I felt like she could’ve at least kept her ‘dumb face’ comment to herself.

“What exactly is your plan here?” Macon asked, seeming confused. Or maybe he thought Liam and I were making things sound too simple. In his mind, that probably made us look ignorant. Or not prepared for battle. In my case, he was right. But I felt like Liam knew what he was talking about.

“It’s simple,” Liam said. Both Macon and Victor shook their heads at that. And I realized that they indeed had a problem with how simple we made it sound.

“Caine stays here. He doesn’t go make any deals. Tristan will go crazy trying to contact him. He will send threats left and right. We treat him like the psycho maniac he is,” Liam explained, shrugging.

“Okay, and then he launches an attack that the pack is not ready for. What do we do then?” Victor said, sounding very negative, like he didn’t have faith in our plan.

“Liam can get about two hundred Rogues in Locus Pack to help in case they try to attack. Liam and I discussed it, and we actually find it unlikely. Locus is significantly bigger than Knight Pack. We lost five pups, something that I deeply regret, but they lost twenty Wolves. Twenty is a bigger number, especially if you have the smaller pack. Not just that, those twenty Wolves were fighters and trackers. They were some of his best people, and I know that for a fact,” I explained, my voice kind of breaking towards the end. I was mostly thinking about Theo. His Wolf kicked ass. He kicked ass. Even if we were from different packs, I was so proud of him.

Victor and Macon looked thoughtful. I could tell they were actually considering the plan we had, and I was so grateful for that. I felt like I had plenty to make up for, and I was finally finding a way to help.

“Even if we ignore the part where we break the deal we made with Tristan, the Alpha’s word, there is no way we could get away with having Rogues to back us up,” Victor stated, in a somewhat defeated tone.

“You sound like you want in on the plan,” Liam said, crossing his arms over his chest and trying to look casual. Although we both knew we needed Victor and Macon if we planned on talking with Caine. There was no way he would take us seriously if it was just Liam and me.

“I know Alpha Dylan will use your Rogue friends. It’s strange. Packs don’t usually mingle with Rogues,” Macon said.

“I’m a Rogue,” Liam stated flatly.

“Yes, but you’re a…” Macon said, stopping midsentence.

“Yes, I know. One of a kind,” Liam finished for him, smirking.

“Either way, Caine won’t go for it. He won’t break the deal. He gave Tristan his word. You also seem to forget that Caine does not trust Rogues. At all. I’m pretty sure the only reason he tolerates you is because of the Luna,” Victor said.

“Ignore what Caine would do. Do you agree? If we go to Caine with this plan, would you back us up?” I said, and I could hear my voice sounded pleading. “I understand if you two don’t trust us. I understand why you wouldn’t have faith in us. After all, this is my fault,” I said.

Adam had been quiet throughout the entire ordeal, but he made a noise and shook his head. “It’s not your fault,” he said.

Victor and Macon were serious for a second, and they looked at one another. I could tell they were having a conversation through their mind link.

It seemed like Liam was going to say something, probably going to tease them. I shook my head at him. If they wanted to talk it over, I was all up for that. I was simply happy that they had even taken the time to hear us out.

“What is happening is not your fault,” Victor said, and Macon nodded in agreement. I didn’t know why, but I felt a huge relief when I heard their words. Coming from them, it meant a lot. I felt lighter. “The pup is right,” he nodded at Adam.

“However, there are too many things to work out. If we expect this plan to work, the biggest obstacle at the moment will be Caine. I don’t really know how we can start a conversation with him about this.”

“We might have another idea,” I told him, now grinning and looking at Liam. It wasn’t time to be excited just yet, but I was feeling positive about our odds. So far, it was two down, and three to go.

While Liam and I went on our way, Victor and Macon were left with the task of keeping Caine busy and in Locus while we finished our mission, as Liam and Adam were calling it. I was pretty sure Caine knew something was up, but I was hoping he didn’t know what.

When we left the mansion, we had to do it sneaking out. Some Wolves still saw us. They had followed us, but so far they were keeping their distance. I saw them and I could hear them, but they weren’t bothering us. I was sure they had already alerted their Alpha that his Luna was running about, probably up to no good. That made me smile.

On our way, we saw Wolves from the pack, mostly She-Wolves and pups. They were serious but respectful. At first, when we had gone out to seek Victor and Macon, I expected a mob of Locus Wolves to be waiting for me. Liam told me the real thing was pretty close to what I’d been imagining. He said that the mob which tried going to the mansion was really enraged. They were demanding an explanation, not from their Alpha, but from their Luna.

Caine had gotten angry. Liam said those Wolves seemed like they were out for blood. The way he described it gave me chills. Liam told me Caine had captured them, thrown them in a cell, and those were the first Wolves Caine was going to ship to Knight Pack.

“What you’re asking is outrageous,” Brett stated flatly, glaring between Liam and me. Adam had once again decided to stay in the background.

Brett was… young. He was younger than Caine, but older than me. That made Brett, what Liam had already called him a few times, a condescending prick.

Mostly, I realized that Brett didn’t like Liam, and Liam didn’t like Brett. He didn’t tease him, and he didn’t make fun of him. Liam plain and simple did not like him. It made me wonder if there was any history there.

Like most Wolves, Brett was attractive. He wasn’t Roguish in his ways, which was strange, especially for the guy who was in charge of Locus’ entire fighting team. He was more on the thin side, what most would describe as athletic looking. The first time I saw him, I actually thought he was a regular tracker, not even the top tracker. That was mostly because I had already met Elijah and I knew he was the leader of the trackers.

I never really gave Brett much thought. He was thin, in an athletic, defined way. He was attractive. He always had his nice dark blonde, brownish hair combed to perfection. When he was wearing clothes, he tended to look more on the hipster side. If I hadn’t been too hung up on my problems, I might’ve focused more on him. It wasn’t until I was asking for his and Elijah’s support that I actually gave him more of my time.

“I get the feeling that you don’t really like me,” I said, looking at Brett. So far, Elijah had stayed quiet. Parker, who was Elijah’s second in charge of the Trackers, was there too, also keeping to himself.

“I get the feeling that you two will make things worse with this plan of yours,” Brett said, not too kindly.

“I get the feeling that shut the hell up,” Liam snapped at him.

“Liam,” Elijah said, in a reprimanding tone. Out of all of us, I knew Elijah was the oldest. He was Caine and Victor’s age. If not for Macon’s serious demeanor and the times I’d seen him be a damn good third in command, I would’ve given the title to Elijah.

“Look, Elijah, this plan is damn good. You know what’s going on. I know a lot of people are blaming Charlie for this, and I’m hoping you’re not one of them. You’ve always been loyal to Caine, and to Charlotte,” Liam told him, saying my full name, which sounded strange.

“It’s a wild plan at best,” Elijah said, conceding a bit. I could see him giving in.

“You are asking for the Alpha to take back his word!” Brett growled at Liam and me. “And working with Rogues? Are we really going to stoop to that level?”

Liam growled back at his words. Even I was pissed off.

“Settle down, Brett. I am still your Luna. You are not going to disrespect me, not even if you disagree or if you are angry with me,” I growled back at him.

Brett took a step back, but he lowered his head.

“I didn’t mean to be disrespectful, Luna,” he said, his voice low. “I disagree with the plan.”

“That’s just fine,” Liam said, in a taunting voice. “Technically, we only need one of you. We can go up to Caine with just Elijah. Either way, Victor and Macon are going to stand behind our proposition. We have enough people. We don’t really need you.”

That got another growl out of Brett. I could tell Elijah was amused, even though he too was more on the serious side.

“I haven’t said I agreed, pup,” Elijah told Liam.

Liam rolled his eyes at him. “Like Charlie here said, settle down Elijah. I’m only a few years younger than you.” He gave Elijah a small push, but I could tell it was playful.

“How would this even work?” Parker asked, speaking for the first time. He seemed interested. I hadn’t really thought about it, but having both trackers in charge would definitely work to our advantage.

“Simple,” Liam shrugged. “We talk to Caine. With ‘we’, I mean Charlie speaks with Caine. She explains the plan in a way that seems not so drastic for an Alpha. We are all in the room for support. In case Caine seems unsure or he asks to consult his Beta or Third in Command or top tracker or fighter, we will be there. That way he can see we are all supporting this plan. He’s gonna be paranoid about the Rogue thing, so we have to reassure him that the pack would be okay with it.”

It sounded simple enough. The way Liam spoke, he really simplified it. But we all knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

“I don’t like it,” Brett said.

Of course, if I expected someone to disagree, it was going to be Brett.

‘Caine is ready to leave.’ I heard Victor’s voice in my mind.

I hadn’t been expecting to hear that, and I hadn’t realized I’d been so exposed with my mind link. Hearing his voice had made me jump and everyone in the room notice.

“Victor just informed me Caine is ready to take off,” I told them, pointing at my head so they’d know I wasn’t going crazy.

“I don’t think the Alpha is going to agree,” Brett repeated.

“But if we go as a group and he agrees, will you?” I asked.

He looked unsure. He ran his hand through his hair, which was perfectly combed to the side. There was hardly anything he could brush aside since his hair was still in place. It was a good look for him. Other than thinking he really didn’t look like your typical Wolf, he was attractive in a smug kind of way.

“I guess I can go,” he said, reluctantly. “I’ll see how things go with your little plan. But if I see the Alpha frowning, I’m not taking your side,” Brett finished.

“Uh… you do know Caine makes a living out of frowning, right?” Liam said, but he was grinning.

Adam, Parker, and even Elijah chuckled. Brett rolled his eyes impatiently.

“So when are we doing this?” Parker asked.

“Now, actually,” I announced.

We were currently in Elijah’s home. Brett wouldn’t let us into his. I was pretty sure I could have gone into his home even if he wouldn’t have agreed to it, but I thought pulling rank when I needed him on my side wasn’t the right way to go. Liam had wanted me to fight him on it, though.

It was a twenty minute walk from Elijah’s home to the pack building. At first, I’d suggested we walk there. I had already told Victor to stall. I wanted to take the time to think about how I would talk to Caine. I wasn’t sure he would appreciate a confrontation between us with an audience. I was gonna ask a lot from him.

When I suggested we walk, Brett was the first to object. He wanted to get to the pack building as quick as possible. Apparently, he had things to do. If we were gonna get turned down, he wanted to get it over with quick so he could ‘move on with his life’.

Yeah, I could see why Liam didn’t like him. I, on the other hand, found him rude but hilarious. I was also very curious to see him in a fight. He was the top fighter. He had to be awesome. But I just couldn’t see it.

We had just taken off from Elijah’s house when we spotted a group of young pups. They seemed like they had recently gotten their Wolves, probably like thirteen or fourteen.

We could hear them passing by. They were making comments about what had happened. Everyone in the pack had heard about Caine’s decision to send Wolves to Knight Pack. Everyone also thought that it was my fault that he had come to that decision. The pups were commenting on it in low voices. But they were about fifteen feet away. We could all hear their conversation. No one in our group took it kindly, but surprisingly, Brett was the one who got the most worked up about it.

“Your Luna is standing right here and you are disrespecting her?” he asked them. They were already walking away. They’d been passing by, only nodding at me and acknowledging my title.

His voice was imposing. It was a complete surprise. Not because I didn’t think he had it in him, mostly because he was in charge of the fighters. But I really did not see him in a leadership role.

The pups cowered away from him.

“Apologize,” he ordered.

The pups were standing there. They had not taken any steps closer. They’d been walking away, and when Brett had spoken, they had turned around to hear what he was saying to them.

“You two are trackers, right? The rest of you are going for a fighter position. I’ve seen you around recently. Do you think that is what Elijah and I are looking for?” Brett asked, growling authoritatively.

“No sir,” they mumbled. Some said other words all implying the same thing.

“We don’t like rumors. If you expect to get high ranking in this pack, you should know that your Alphas come first—their wellbeing and safety. But most importantly, you owe them respect. And you will either give them the respect they are due, or you won’t make it in this pack,” Brett continued.

I wasn’t expecting Elijah to jump in, but he did. “You pups heard about the group of Wolves that is locked up in the Pack Building? Is that what you want?”

No one wanted that, of course. They all said no or shook they’re heads. Elijah seemed satisfied with their response. Brett looked like he wanted to say more.

“We don’t have time for this right now, Brett. But you can get back to them as soon as we…” I said, letting my words hang in the air.

Brett nodded at me. “Yes, Luna,” he said, catching both Liam and me by surprised.

After that, I decided it was just better to run there. We didn’t shift to our Wolf forms. It didn’t seem convenient, and we could run almost as fast in our human form.

I had to admit that thinking about shifting almost made my mouth water. My Wolf was craving a run. I felt like she needed to be let out. She wanted to be set free to run around for a while. We both needed it. I’d kept us cooped up in a little room. Even my human self didn’t approve of that.

“Where is he?” I asked Macon. He met us right outside of the Pack Building. He seemed serious, which wasn’t unusual for him, but I suspected his dark eyes had more to do with Caine.

“He’s anxious. I think the Alpha knows we are planning something,” Macon replied.

While it was rare to see Caine or Victor roll their eyes, I was seeing Brett do just that, again.

“How is he going to know unless we tell him?” he asked, looking at Macon impatiently.

Macon so did not appreciate his tone or his words, and he reprimanded Brett.

“It’s true,” Brett defended, although he did it with a quieter voice.

While I was all up for ranks and being respected, but not really, I didn’t want to be wasting time arguing who was right or who had more power in the pack.

“Where?” I asked again.

“He’s with Victor in the top floor. They are discussing the meeting that he is going to have with Tristan. If the Alpha agrees, we are gonna get lucky. So far, the discussions with Tristan are strained at best. I don’t see them coming to an agreement. But Alpha Tristan wants his Wolves. He is demanding them, which Alpha Caine isn’t taking too well.”

“Is Tristan in Knight Territory?” Brett asked.

“Yes, he is. We haven’t heard anything from Derek. Just so you know, Tristan has thirty Wolves surrounding Locus. They are not near the perimeter we patrol. He knows we can hurt his Wolves if they get to close, but some of our trackers have seen them. We won’t attack just yet, but if this plan happens, we might need to attack sooner than we thought,” Macon said.

“Okay, got it,” Liam said, before wrapping his arm around my shoulders and walking with me into the pack building.

“I want to talk to him first,” I said, to the group, but mostly to Liam.

“Why?” he asked, suspiciously.

I would doubt me too, after the days I’d been having.

“I want to test out the waters, maybe get him in a better mood,” I said. I still felt like Caine and I had to talk before I approached him with our plan.

“Uh, really Charlie? Do you have to share that with me?” Liam said, making a disgusted look, but I could tell he was trying to be playful.

The rest of the guys seemed confused, and Brett shook his head while rolling his eyes.

“Shut up, I just want to talk to him,” I said, shoving Liam lightly. “We didn’t exactly leave things in the best terms earlier today.”

We all walked as a group up the stairs. I didn’t want them to follow me. I felt like they were gonna try to sneak in while I was talking with Caine. I wasn’t looking forward to that.

“You are trying to waste my time,” I heard Caine, probably telling Victor.

“All I am saying is that we don’t have it all mapped out, Caine,” Victor replied.

We could all clearly hear the conversation they were having, and we were still down the hall from the conference room they were in.

“Maybe you guys should wait downstairs while I speak with him,” I said, in a low voice.

“Scared of what we might hear?” Liam asked, teasingly.

“Yes, actually,” I replied.

I was about to add that I wanted to keep things private when we heard footsteps. Two seconds later, Caine opened the door to the conference room and stepped into the hall. Victor followed shortly after him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

No doubt, he should’ve been wondering what we were all doing there, but he focused his sight on me. Seeing as I was the only one who didn’t have permission to leave their home, I decided to speak up.

“We want to talk to you about something. But I was hoping I could get a word with you before we met,” I told Caine, but looked around at the guys to ask for their approval.

“I told you to keep her in the mansion,” Caine growled at Liam.

Yup, he was definitely pissed.

“This is important, Caine,” I told him, my voice stern. I wanted to show him that I was being serious. I also had something huge to share.

For the sake of complete disclosure, I figured I was going to share my outings with Valco. They hadn’t been my choice, for the most part, but it was something I felt they all needed to know.

“It’s not safe for you to be outside of the mansion, Charlotte,” Caine told me, and he somehow managed to make those words sound like an order.

I had to give him props, though. He seemed upset, but he wasn’t overreacting. I figured he must’ve been too distracted with what was happening in Knight Pack.

“A minute, please,” I told him.

“We should, uh, go check what’s going on downstairs,” Parker said, speaking up.

I was feeling thankful towards him. So far, he had been joining in when I needed him.

I nodded. Liam and Victor looked reluctant to leave, until Adam and Macon spoke up, claiming they wanted to catch up about some things before we got together.

“So…” Caine asked, looking at me expectantly.

“I am genuinely sorry about what happened with the Locus Pack pups. I really am. I know there is nothing I can say that will make what happened, better,” I started.

Caine looked at me with calculating eyes. I didn’t like it. It almost seemed like he was either gauging my reaction or he was trying to see how sincere I was.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Caine finally said, after a long moment of silence.

“I know you don’t think that,” I countered.

Caine nodded. “I do. You were naïve. But you didn’t kill them, Tristan did.”

“Then why kill Theo?” I asked, although I knew I shouldn’t be bringing him up.

“It was nothing personal. I know you took it personally, but it wasn’t.”

“It felt like it was. You said it yourself, you were trying to teach me a lesson,” I said, and my voice turned sharp unintentionally. I could feel my heart pounding faster in my chest, although I knew the last thing I needed was to fight with Caine, especially if I was going to be asking so much from him.

“My judgment might have been cloudy at the time. I was trying to hurt you with my words, and I apologize for that. It was wrong. But I didn’t intend to hurt you. That was not why I killed the pup. He was part of the enemy pack. They killed our own. Any Alpha would have done the same thing if not worse in my position. The only problem was that you were linked to Knight Pack. Other than that, it was the right call. I hope that you see that one day.”

I was trying to understand his words. A part of me, probably the biggest part understood why he did it. But his words had been hurtful. Theo had been my best friend for most of my life.

“I can put it in the past,” I said, slowly, being careful with my words. “But if I get sad at the memory of Theo, I want you to understand.” I knew I was asking too much from him. Caine was one of the most detached people I’d ever met.

He nodded, and that took me by surprise. “I know. I should’ve been smarter with my tactic. I apologize for that.”

He was being open, kind almost. It made me smile inwardly. I didn’t want to celebrate just yet.

“It is strange,” he said, looking away from me, and walking towards the windows that showed an amazing view of our territory, the trees and greenery outstretching for miles and miles. The Pack building was the tallest in our territory, and it had the best views.

“What is?” I asked, because it seemed like he was lost in thought.

“I get… jealous,” he continued.

I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to elaborate.

“Okay…”

“I do not mean I get jealous for the people you see on a regular basis, although that isn’t particularly my favorite. I think about your past and it makes my Wolf… upset. We want to be the only ones you ever needed. It’s hard for me to think about all the people that formed a part of your life before me. Nothing and no one in my past has ever been nearly as important as you are to me,” Caine finished.

He’d been looking out at the distance. It was already drizzling outside, and the view was even more gorgeous because of the rain.

I stayed quiet. It wasn’t uncomfortable. I could feel his Wolf, the electricity between us even though there was about ten feet of distance between us.

‘I love you,’ he said to me, through our mind link. His voice sounded softer in my mind than what I was used to.

“I love you too, Caine,” I replied, out loud.

He gave me a small smile, barely noticeable. But I knew him. I knew that that little smile meant a lot.

“So what exactly are you doing here?” he asked, walking towards me.

I was standing next to the conference room table. It was long, fit probably around twelve people. It wasn’t even the largest conference room in the Pack Building, I knew that for sure.

He stood facing me, leaning his back against the table, half sitting on it. I was standing in front of him, and he reached out to pull me closer, his hands going to my waist.

That seemed… fine. I was okay with that much proximity.

I had ignored every noise that wasn’t inside the room Caine and I were in. I hadn’t noticed the guys were near us until they all walked into the conference room without waiting to ask if we were done.

Caine almost looked amused when he saw them walking into the room in pairs, each sticking to the person they were closest too, with the exception of Brett, who walked in alone at the end.

“So you two made up?” Liam asked.

I expected them to take seats around the table. Although they did walk around the room and scattered around, they all remained standing.

“So this is something big, I assume,” Caine asked, standing up straight. He dropped his hands from my waist, and took hold of my hand.

I thought he would stay standing up took, since we were already at the head of the table, which was where he usually sat or stood.

He took a seat, and pulled me down to sit on the chair next to him.

“Liam and I have an idea,” I spoke up.

I pulled away from him, enough so that I could see him and we wouldn’t have to be side by side. I knew I’d be doing most of the talking, at least until I finished explaining what we wanted to do.

“What idea?”

I hesitated for a moment, looking around at every set of eyes watching me, including Caine. I was nervous. Although I felt like it was ten times easier to speak after Caine and I had talked. I felt better, significantly. A weight I had been carrying for days was not completely absent, but easier to bear.

“We all think that transferring any Wolves from Locus to Knight Pack would make us look weak. We want for all of the Wolves to stay here, meaning you would break the deal you made with Tristan. Seeing as that might have repercussions, Liam wants to gather some Rogues to help protect Locus Pack until we sort this thing with Knight Pack.” The words tumbled out of my mouth quickly, although I was sure my voice didn’t waver.

Caine looked serious, but he wasn’t frowning just yet. It seemed like not a bad sign. We all waited for him to speak. He didn’t.

“We all support this plan. It would mean several things that Locus Pack stands against, like breaking something that would have become a treaty and bringing in Rogues for back-up, but I think it is worth it,” Victor added.

I could tell Liam and Adam didn’t appreciate Victor’s words. They both frowned, but they stayed quiet. Despite how close Adam had grown to the pack, he was still a Rogue at heart, like Liam. After all, he’d had a chance to become a pack Wolf and he’d turned it down in favor of staying by Liam’s side.

“We should not stoop as low as having Tristan control our pack or take our Wolves,” Macon said.

I felt like we were pleading and Caine just had a stoic expression, so it was hard to tell to what side he was leaning towards.

“Rogues, huh?” Caine finally said, after minutes of silence.

“Rogues,” I repeated, nodding.

“So how exactly do you expect to accomplish this?” Caine said, finally seeming interested.

Liam, Victor and I did most of the talking. We explained what little we had planned out. Liam and I were more out of the loop. The other guys in the room that belonged to the pack knew territories and numbers more exact. It made Liam feel out of place. I could tell he was definitely gonna be brushing up on Locus’ and Knight’s history and territories.

After we finished discussing the ins and outs of our plan, Caine sat back against his chair and seemed deep in thought.

“I can’t break my word,” he said.

I didn’t look around to catch anyone else’s reactions, but his words made me frown. “So you are still going through with it?”

“You’re not serious, are you? Any Alpha would tell you that handing over those numbers to Knight Pack could be your downfall. If Tristan decides to attack, he’ll have more numbers than he does now,” Liam told him, indignantly.

“I would still have a bigger pack,” Caine retorted.

“No one in the pack wants this, Alpha. Not even the Luna and she has a say in this call,” Brett, surprisingly, added.

“I only said I had to keep my word. I also have a backup plan,” Caine said.

“Which is…?” Liam asked, looking at Caine distrustfully or maybe with little faith. Liam was upset. He didn’t like not being on top of things. He definitely did not like getting screwed over.

“I can’t share that with you right now.”

“You damn well better have an ace up your sleeve big enough to save your ass. If you go through with this, you’ll not only lose numbers. You’ll be seen as weak. I have a good relationship with most Rogues but even I would consider your pack a joke,” Liam told Caine.

Caine growled, as expected. He didn’t take to Liam’s comment well.

“Don’t insult me, Rogue. It won’t go well for you,” Caine said, standing up from his seat, glaring harshly at Liam.

Liam simply shrugged, but I could tell he was getting worked up.

“You spit out the word Rogue as if it’s an insult. I wear my Rogue-ness as a badge, Alpha,” Liam growled.

They had a glaring match that went on until I stood up and gave Caine a small shove, which of course had no effect in him. He didn’t even take a step back.

“Stop, now. We are not here to fight amongst ourselves. We have bigger problems to focus on at the moment,” I said, looking between the two of them.

“I have someone on our side. He’s an idiot and I don’t exactly like him, but he seems to genuinely like you,” Caine said, looking at me with dark eyes.

We all looked at Caine curiously, although Liam was still pretty ticked off. I heard noise coming from outside in the hall. From what Caine was saying, I almost expected for Alpha Dylan to pop in through the door, although I had never heard my mate refer to him as an idiot.

With all the noise our Wolves were making, I should have assumed it was something bigger.

“What’s going on?” Macon and Victor asked simultaneously.

Caine started walking out of the door, and we all followed closely behind him. I didn’t really have a choice, since he had taken a tight hold of my hand.

When we reached the hallway outside of the conference room, we all came to a halt. The last person I expected to see there, looking drabby and worn out, was Derek.

“I thought you said he was missing…” I said, looking only at Derek, but speaking to Macon and Victor.

“Caine told us he was missing,” Victor said, looking at Caine questioningly.

“What are you doing here?” I asked Derek, not feeling any love for him, even though I never had. We both disliked each other. At that moment, though, I probably disliked him more than he could ever dislike me.

“I am trying to right a wrong,” Derek replied, although his voice was void of emotion.

“And how exactly do you expect to do that?” I asked.

“Derek wants to kill Tristan,” Caine stated, flatly.

I glared at him so hard, it almost hurt.

Caine shrugged nonchalantly. I hated that. I wanted to punch him in the face.

“How exactly is that different from what Derek and I were planning to do? How is that different from what started all of this? Tristan killed five pups from our pack. You killed Theo and nineteen other Knight Wolves because of something like this. It didn’t turn out well last time. How do you expect it will go down now?” I asked, indignantly.

I didn’t know if I had a right to get mad, but it didn’t matter. I was angry.

“Because,” Caine shrugged again. “This time I am part of the plan.”