Chapter 17
The silence stretched on for a long time.
With every second that passed, what Caine had just said seemed to sink in to Derek.
“She’s your mate,” Derek slowly repeated.
“She is,” Caine replied, somehow managing to tighten his arm around my waist.
“I want to get out of here,” I whispered up at him.
Caine looked down at me. It seemed like he had other plans for Derek, but I didn’t want him to fight— not if I had to witness it.
“You’re the Luna of Locus Pack?” Derek asked me.
I nodded my head at him and then turned back to Caine. I hadn’t thought Derek would take the news so badly.
“Leave, Derek. I don’t have time to deal with you,” Caine told Derek, dismissively.
His words were not taken too kindly by Derek.
“I am not beneath you!” Derek growled at Caine.
“You are in my territory. Either you leave or I make sure you go,” Caine threatened.
“Kill him,” Liam spoke up. “Kill him or I will do it. But Derek isn’t walking away from here.”
Liam’s eyes had been concentrated on Derek, who frowned at his words.
“You can try, Rogue. I’m an Alpha,” Derek snapped at Liam.
“Not yet you’re not. Daddy hasn’t stepped down yet,” Liam taunted him.
Derek went to attack Liam when he said those words. When Caine walked forward and stood beside Liam, Derek came to a halt.
He probably knew there was no way in hell he could fight both of them and actually win.
Caine had just left my side when Macon and three other guys from the pack surrounded me. They were blocking me, not that Derek was going to try anything with all the Wolves from Locus Pack present.
“Liam,” I called for him.
When I tried to walk to him, Macon held me back.
“Not today, Liam” Caine said, steadily.
Liam turned to face Caine and it scared me that Derek would try anything when Liam was distracted. He didn’t. I assumed it had been because he was heavily outnumbered.
“I have waited for this moment a long time,” Liam growled lowly, before turning back to Derek.
“Then you will wait some more!” Caine snapped.
“I won’t back down from a fight, but it wouldn’t be fair for my pack,” Derek stated.
He knew what was right for him— I had to give him that. He had the disadvantage and he didn’t want to risk it. It wasn’t only that though, Derek knew that Caine would respect pack laws.
“Not today,” Caine stated.
His hand was on Liam’s shoulder, which seemed to be the only thing that held Liam back from going after Derek.
“How do you know the Rogue?” Derek asked Caine, suspiciously.
Derek was frowning at Liam. I couldn’t begin to guess what was running through his mind. I was scared he would tell Caine the truth.
I was going to tell Caine at some point that Liam and I weren’t really related, but I didn’t know how he would take it coming from someone else.
“That doesn’t concern you,” Caine replied. “I’m giving you a free ticket to leave right now. Take it or leave it.”
“Liam has attacked my pack several times. Did you send him?” Derek asked Caine, sounding outraged all of a sudden.
“No, I didn’t. But if Liam attacked you, he did a bad job if you ask me.” Caine turned to look at Liam and shook his head at me.
“I wasn’t aiming to kill him. I just wanted to piss him and Tristan off,” Liam shrugged.
“Well you pissed him off,” Caine said.
“Are you mocking my pack?” Derek snapped, his angry eyes looking between Caine and Liam.
“You don’t get to come to my pack and speak to me that way, Derek,” Caine reminded him.
Derek didn’t reply anything. He looked from Liam, to Caine, before his eyes focused on me for a long time.
“Charlotte belonged to my pack. She and I need to clear things up before I consider this a done deal.”
“A done deal?” Liam asked, looking like he was about to shift and attack Derek right then and there.
“How dare you?” I asked out loud.
I wasn’t planning to say anything during the confrontation. I didn’t know if Caine would get mad at me or not, but I wanted to stay out of it all.
I didn’t even want to be there, confronting Derek. But when he said those words, something in me just snapped.
“You kicked me out of the pack. You made me leave my family!” I yelled at him.
“It seems like you’re fending off much better. I didn’t give you enough credit.”
“Charlotte stays out of this. Don’t talk to her!” Caine growled at him.
The look in Caine’s eyes told me any little thing would be enough to tick him off and make him shift.
“For a She-Wolf who might never shift, I guess I’m just surprised she landed herself an Alpha,” Derek taunted.
“Derek,” Caine said through gritted teeth.
“You were never worth enough for our pack,” Derek added.
He had done it.
Caine shifted into his large imposing black Wolf and he growled ferociously at Derek, before he charged in his direction.
Derek stood still, waiting for the attack. He didn’t shift. He didn’t step back or step forward to face the attack.
“Scared?” Liam mocked.
“We’re not going to have a confrontation like this,” Derek stated, looking at Caine’s Wolf intensely.
Caine growled at him. I was surprised when Derek actually took a step back, like if he was stepping down.
“So you’re backing down?” Liam asked.
He closed the distance between them and went to stand beside Caine.
Derek looked like he wanted to shift. I wasn’t even sure how his Wolf wasn’t urging him to shift and take on the challenge Caine was sending him.
Caine shifted back into his human form then and stretched his arms wide open.
“You’re getting escorted out of my territory. The only thing keeping me from attacking you is that you didn’t shift. I don’t fight humans,” Caine snapped.
Before Derek answered anything, Caine turned away from him and walked towards me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and began dragging me away.
Liam came after us, but he was furious.
Victor, along with a large group of Locus Pack members, stayed behind with Derek. I assumed they were going to escort him out, because while we were heading back home, they were walking the other way.
“You’re just letting him go?” Liam snapped at Caine.
Caine didn’t stop walking and he didn’t stop pulling me along with him.
When Liam grabbed my arm and brought me to a halt roughly, Caine snarled at him.
“You’re walking away from him? After what Derek did to Charlie you’re just letting him go?” Liam growled at him accusingly.
He grabbed my hand and tried to take me from Caine’s arms.
When he tugged on my hand, Caine pulled me behind him.
“Don’t,” Caine told him in a low threatening voice.
“If you want to keep Charlie with you, this isn’t the way to make it happen. You just walked away from Derek. What do you think that tells me?” Liam said, trying to get me back.
“Liam,” I pleaded, hoping he would calm down.
“Not right now, Charlie. I want an explanation from your mate,” Liam said, angrily.
“Derek wasn’t going to fight me. I can’t attack him in his human form. It isn’t the way and he knew I wouldn’t do it,” Caine retorted.
His voice was leveled, but he was shaking. I could feel his Wolf trying to surface.
“Let’s just go home,” I told both of them.
“I’m going after Derek, and I’m getting rid of him,” Liam said.
“Please don’t do that,” I told him.
I stepped away from Caine and grabbed ahold of Liam’s hand.
“Let him go for now. I doubt Derek will stay away,” I begged.
“And give him another chance to come after us? Did you hear what he said, Charlie? He thinks you belong to him!”
Caine pulled me back into his arms when Liam said that.
“Derek won’t get anywhere near Charlotte,” Caine said, looking down at me possessively.
His hold on me was aggressive, and I could feel his claws digging into my skin. It was uncomfortable, but I knew that holding me close was the only thing calming him down.
Liam was angry. He wanted to chase after Derek. On the way home, he kept cursing out everyone. He was not happy with Caine’s decision to let Derek go without a real fight.
As soon as we arrived at the house, Liam stomped all the way upstairs and locked himself in his room, slamming the door shut behind him.
Caine had gone up to our room to change, but I knew he also needed to calm down. He was too worked up and his Wolf still wanted to fight Derek.
I didn’t understand why Derek had taunted Caine so much if he wasn’t interested in a fight. I knew that he would be the loser, since he was heavily outnumbered. But he hadn’t accepted Caine’s challenge.
I couldn’t wrap my head around that. Caine was always very dominant. If any Wolf even attempted to raise his voice at him— Caine would snap. I didn’t know how Derek’s Wolf, being an Alpha, hadn’t forced him to shift after Caine challenged him.
“Dylan and his mate are going to arrive two days from now,” Caine told me.
I had just stepped into the room. Caine was standing by the balcony doors, looking out.
“I didn’t know they were coming,” I said.
I slowly made my way towards him. I wasn’t sure if he wanted me there or if he wanted to be alone. Since he didn’t complain, I didn’t stop.
“Dylan and I talked last night and we made the arrangements,” he said in a low voice.
When I was standing a few feet away from him, Caine pulled me into his arms and crashed me against his chest.
I yelped at the sudden movement, but giggled when Caine nuzzled his head against my hair.
“Liam was right,” Caine said, shaking his head down at me.
“No, he wasn’t. I’m glad that you didn’t kill Derek today. I would’ve hated to see that,” I told him, swallowing loudly when an image ran through my head.
“He’s dangerous, and he is too close to our territory,” Caine said.
“Then you can get him if he trespasses again.”
“Is your brother okay?” Caine asked me.
I nodded in reply.
My first stop when I got upstairs had been Liam’s room. I was afraid he would do something reckless, like chase after Derek on his own.
Liam was in his room, but he kept staring at the window. It seemed like he wanted to jump out and finish what they had started before.
After a long talk and a lot of promises I forced him to make, he finally settled down.
“He really hates Derek,” Caine said.
I shrugged and looked up at Caine.
“Derek and Tristan are bad people,” I told him.
Caine picked me up in his arms and carried me over to the bed. He sat down and brought me over his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist to keep me in place.
“Tell me about your time in Knight Pack,” Caine said.
I was surprised by his request. I’d imagined he had something else in mind when he walked us over to the bed.
“What do you want to know?” I nervously asked him.
“What exactly happened between you and Derek?” Caine asked.
He was talking, while the tips of his fingers were running slowly over my arm. His fingers created a tingling sensation in my skin, and it made it hard to concentrate on his question.
I sighed when Caine started trailing kisses from my shoulder up to my neck, where the bite of his claim was.
“Uh… he, uh” I muttered, as I closed my eyes and focused on his lips instead.
Caine chuckled, either at the words I mumbled or my reaction to his touch.
“What happened?” Caine asked, finally pulling away from me.
I didn’t have a distraction to keep me from me from replying and I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell him the entire story.
“Derek thought I would become like Liam and go Rogue. Liam didn’t shift when he turned thirteen either. He shifted until he was eighteen. Derek said that was the reason Liam was so dangerous. According to him, I would eventually turn like Liam.”
“It makes sense,” Caine added.
I frowned at his words and moved away from him.
“What?”
“Liam is your brother and he didn’t shift. It makes sense that Derek would assume the same thing might happen to you.”
I would have argued with him more, but his words had made me stumble on mine.
Since Liam wasn’t really my brother and we weren’t from the same pack, there was no reason for Derek to assume I would turn out like him. But of course, Caine didn’t know that.
I tried getting up, but Caine tightened his arm around my waist and sat me over his lap, hard. His action made me grind against him, and we both certainly felt the result of his actions.
He was aroused, and I really felt it in the position I was in. I didn’t know what to do and I felt my face warming up because of it.
When I tried getting up a second time, Caine didn’t stop me.
“I want to know what happened between you too. He said you were his,” Caine said, starting to sound angry.
“He was just saying that because I used to belong to his pack.”
“You two didn’t…” Caine said, letting the sentence hang.
“Oh God no,” I quickly added, and cringed just at the thought.
I hated Derek more than I thought I could possibly hate someone. I couldn’t even look at him as anything else, other than the guy that had ruined my life.
But I knew that deep inside of me, it was hard to completely go against him. For sixteen years I had followed his and Tristan’s orders. I always thought if I did shift, I’d finally become part of the pack. I thought they would finally accept me.
That had obviously not been the case.
“Good,” Caine said, and he got up to hold me in his arms again.
He was watching me— I could tell. His eyes were studying me. I didn’t know what he was searching for, because he didn’t ask me anything.
“I think the closest I got to anyone in the pack was with Theo,” I admitted.
“Did you and that Wolf…?” Caine asked, giving me a harsh look.
“No, Caine,” I said, shaking my head at him disapprovingly. “Theo was my best friend in the pack. He was nice even though I wasn’t one of them. I loved that he cared.”
I didn’t know what he wanted me to tell him. When he didn’t say anything, I continued talking.
“After I got kicked out of the pack, Liam was too overprotective. He watched me like a hawk so that no boys could get too close.”
My words brought a grin to Caine’s face and that just made me roll my eyes at him.
“He’s a good brother,” he said.
I chuckled at his words.
When he started playfully biting my neck, I slapped his chest. That didn’t stop him because he continued to tease my skin and sink his fingers into my lower back.
“I’m hungry,” I told him, but I was giggling too much for him to take me seriously.
“I’m hungry for you,” Caine whispered seductively against my ear.
His words made a shiver run down my spine, and I stopped squirming around so much. I couldn’t stop myself from wrapping my arms around his neck and bringing his lips down on mine.
We didn’t mate, but we had come too close to doing so. Caine and I ended up in the bed, tangled in the sheets. He kept touching me and kissing any part of my skin that was exposed.
His hands ran over every inch of my body teasingly. Whenever he kissed me, he would make a point of biting and sucking on my skin.
He loved it when I squirmed under him, and then he would hold me tight and continue to torture me some more. I absolutely loved it.
Caine got as far as removing some garments, before he pulled away.
I was surprised that he had stopped. He always stopped.
It bothered me.
It wasn’t until he calmed down enough and his Wolf wasn’t trying to mate with me that he explained the reason he always pulled away.
He didn’t want to mate with me until I was old enough to do make the decision. It annoyed me when he told me his reasons for stopping.
I wanted to continue. We weren’t the first couple to have an age difference between us and that hadn’t stopped them from mating.
When I argued with him about it, Caine looked at me flatly and stated, ‘We’re waiting’.
After that, Caine started treating me like a fragile little girl.
I ended up storming out of the room angrily, feeling too excited for my own good. He always left me hot and bothered.
Liam was in his room, which was in the hall on the other side of the mansion. I made my way in that direction.
When I entered the room, I was surprised to find Liam sprawled on the bed, sleeping.
I hadn’t been expecting that. I was imagining him trying to plan a way to get to Derek. When I saw him sleeping, the anger I’d felt before completely dissipated.
He was wearing a pair of black basketball shorts, but that was it. He didn’t have a t-shirt on. His hair was sticking up all over the place. I assumed that was because he’d been tossing and turning in the bed.
I was hoping he hadn’t shifted. If he had, his Wolf would’ve been begging him to chase after Derek. It would’ve been like torture for Liam to keep his Wolf from doing anything too drastic.
I had faith in him and how strong he was. But I knew that fighting Derek was not something to take lightly.
While Liam actually stood a chance with Derek alone, it didn’t seem to be the way Derek did things. I felt that if Liam tried to go after him, Derek would make his pack attack Liam as well.
I didn’t want Liam to get hurt. I needed him.
I softly crawled in the bed and cuddled myself next to Liam. His arm was outstretched and I laid myself over it, and rested my head on his chest.
Liam stirred in his sleep but he didn’t get up. I groaned lowly when he moved around and threw his other arm over me.
Not only was his arm heavy, but it landed on my stomach with too much force. I just let the pain go away quietly so that Liam wouldn’t wake up.
His arms were wrapped around me and he didn’t realize it because he was still asleep, hugging me like he would a pillow.
I allowed myself to get comfortable in his arms and tried dozing off.
I woke up to the sound of crashing and things breaking. I sat up on the bed, and rubbed my eyes. I was still too groggy from my sleep.
“Charlie?” Liam asked beside me, rubbing his eyes as well.
“You’re awake,” I told him.
He gave me a crooked smile and shook his head at me.
“You’re invading my room,” he said, sounding amused.
“I got in a fight with Caine,” I shrugged.
Liam chuckled and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, crashing me against his chest.
Suddenly, a loud growl resounded throughout the mansion. It had been loud enough that it was heard all the way into Liam’s room. I recognized the sound. It had been Caine.
“What the fuck is that shit?” Liam asked, annoyed.
It had been what had woken both of us up.
Before either of us could get up from the bed to find out what was going on, Caine stormed into the room.
He looked furious. His grayish green eyes were a deadly dark color and he growled ferociously when he looked at Liam and me.
Liam still had me pressed against his chest, and I pulled away from him then.
I kneeled on the bed, and crawled closer to Caine. I was going to ask Caine what was wrong, when he threw himself at Liam.
“What were you two doing?” Caine snarled at us, but his eyes were concentrated on Liam.
When Liam opened his mouth to speak, Caine raised his arm and crashed his fist against Liam’s jaw.
The blow made Liam stumble back into bed. Caine went after him again, throwing another punch that connected right next to Liam’s eye.
It had been hard enough that Liam fell from the bed and landed on the floor. Liam shoved Caine away when he tried to land another hit, but it had been a weak push.
Caine was ready to kill him.
“Caine!” I cried with a shaky voice.
I didn’t understand what was going on and I didn’t know why he was so angry. Liam hadn’t done anything.
“Derek told Victor that Liam is not your brother!” He snapped, before loud growls rumbled through his chest.
He moved away from Liam and turned to face me. The murderous look in his eyes scared me. He had never looked at me that way, like if he was ready to attack me.
“Is that true?” Caine asked, through gritted teeth.
Liam got up from the floor, where he had landed after Caine punched him the second time.
He spit some blood on the floor and was about to come at Caine.
I swallowed audibly when I noticed Caine’s claws extracting and his canines coming out.
“Answer me!” Caine demanded.
“It’s true,” I admitted, guiltily.
My voice had been a mere whisper, but it was enough for him to hear it.
Caine let out one last growl, before he shifted into his Wolf and turned to attack Liam.
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