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CHAPTER 15 (r)
"Lila."
I awoke with a start and glanced groggily around the room. Caine was there, standing at the foot of my bed with his arms crossed. His usually large muscles bulging even more than regularly. Caine's normal scowl stared disapprovingly down at me.
I groaned, praying that whatever I did wrong could wait until tomorrow... or forever.
" Yes Caine?" I asked while pulling my shirt down-back over my exposed stomach. It had ridden up during the night and I noticed Caine eyeing my belly. I pushed hair out of my face and prepared to get yelled at.
Honestly, at this point it was kind of a game. What had I done this time? I don't know but whatever it was, Caine always managed to find something.
I raised by eyebrow, letting him know that I was ready to hear what he had to say.
I was not expecting-
" It's time," he said bluntly and before I could even comprehend what the heck he said, he turned to leave.
I quickly pushed my covers off and stood up, " Wait! What do you mean? What time is it?" I asked hurriedly while throwing some pants on and following him.
Fricken Caine. Of course he would say something completely out of nowhere and then leave without telling me what he was talking about.
Like, thanks. I really wanted to know that it was time for something but not know what that something is.
I kept asking as I chased him down.
He didn't answer me until we were down three flights of stairs and in the training room.Which was packed full of warriors, all dressed in black and carrying weapons.
"Oh... It's time for that..."
I left Caine and went to get dressed in my clothes. Alec threw me a black padded vest. I raised an eyebrow at him, "It's getting cold out," he shrugged. I put it on and began strapping weapons on.
Two thin knives hid in between my ankle and my boot on my left leg, I sheathed my katana blades on my back and fit the slim supplies pack over top of them. I carried two guns on me- one attached to my hip, and the other so small it fit in a holster on the outside of my thigh, right above the knee. A sheath on each wrists fits a small needle like knife. My pack was filled with my necessities, lady products, and a variety of pain killers. All things men would never think of bringing. And finally I loaded my vest with throwing knives.
I rode with Caine, Alec, Ryan , Carter, James and Ben. They each carried a similar pack to mine on their backs. No one said anything the whole ride, we drove in silence to the edge of the clearing. The Cave looked the same as it did the last time we were there.
Caine kept glancing disapprovingly at me and I wondered what kind of internal debate was going on in his head.
It was a long process getting up the ledge. First, of course, went Caine, then Alec, six other guys, and then after several failed attempts to scale the rocks myself Ryan finally pulled me up. The cave was large and deep, just like I remembered. The stench of rotting flesh and rotten eggs stung my nose.
I saw Cain and Alec pull out flashlights. I tried to get a look at the front and see where we were going but the pack suddenly jolted forward and started on a fast run. I was almost trampled but I managed to escape from under a big burly guy who barely glanced down at me. I stared running at the back of the pack.
We seemed to run forever, my breath was becoming short and my thighs and calves were burning. I tried to keep track of the directions, we turned left then right and then left down a forked tunnel. When we finally did stop I asked the wolf next me if he knew what time it was.
"It's nine pm exactly," he replied, " and fuck I'm hungry," he swore and grabbed the back of another warriors vest, reeling him roughly around. I winced as he grabbed the food container from the smaller one and shoved him aside. The guy who's food he had taken cursed loudly and went to tackle.
I began my push to the front of the group, in search of Caine.
I found him sitting by a fire. I looked around and noticed that someone had made a couple of them.
" We're staying here for the night," Alec's voice rang out from beside me.
I thanked him as he handed over a thick blanket. Caine was drinking something and talking to Ryan, who looked like he was about to pass out. I saw Caine grab the front of his vest, growl at him, and then roughly shove him away. I dragged the blanket over to him. He didn't even look at me. I sighed and began peeling off the layers of weapons. I shoved off my vest and dropped it on the ground beside me, next to my pack.
" Caine..." I said quietly. He grunted but didn't reply. I plunked down next to him and pretended not to notice how he tensed up.
I leaned towards him, " well, if you don't want me to sleep here, I'm sure I can find someone else who wouldn't mind snuggling," I whispered. He growled and finally turned to look at me.
" Why do you do that to me Lilianna?" his voice was low and angry.
I turned away and shut me eyes. " Because at least it gets something out of you before you go on and pretend I don't exist."
I could feel the quiet anger roll off him in waves. I yawned once, then laid myself down on my blanket and went to sleep.
~
I was startled awake by the sound of the tunnel collapsing and rock spraying everywhere.
Something dripped on me and I shot up.
There was a drakon demon sitting at my feet. It stared me with its big black eyes. I made an awkward squeaking noise and scrambled to my feet, grabbing the nearest weapon I could find. It made no move to kill me so I started slowly backing up. Just then I realized something very wrong about the situation.
1) about 20 feet behind me, in the direction we came from, rock had slid and cracked and the entire opening was blocked.
2) I was alone in the cave, everyone else was nowhere to be seen. I could barely even smell them.
Son of a bitch.
I swore angrily at the emptiness. The Drakon, who looked like an actual dragon but was the size of a cat, stared at me curiously. I breathed and glanced down at it, now noticing the ground beneath me was covered in black goop.
He had the audacity to write me a freaking note.
Go home. It's too dangerous for you.
I held up my middle finger at the note and hissed. "Thanks a lot, Caine. You shithead."
All right then... I stomped over to the giant rock pile and tried to pull some out.
I screamed when none even budged.
"And how do you suppose, Caine, that I go back?" How do I get through the giant pile of solid rock?
So maybe it would take a while to move them all but I could manage.
After a while of wondering what the hell to do, I decided that really the only way to pretty much survive would be to try and catch up to the pack. That or spend days trying to move all the rocks myself.
So I started down the hallway and flicked on my flashlight. The drakon, I decided to call Joseph. He watched me constantly and followed me down the cave towards the mild scent I still had of them.
I decided some company would be good too, even if it was from a minuscule demon.
~
Caine knew it was a shitty thing to do, and yes he knew she would hate even more, but it was too dangerous for her.
She became more of a burden than anything to him. He would have to willingly force himself to keep her from getting killed and Caine would never forgive himself if Lilianna died. Even though he didn't feel anything through the mate bond, he knew she belonged to him and therefore was his responsibility.
Hell, his pack would never forgive him if she had died.
Not only was Lila the technical, destined Luna of the Warriors, she would produce the most powerful heir for the pack and no one would be happy if they'd lost that opportunity.
Even though she would probably never talk to him again, Caine still needed her alive. Some part in the back of his mind- way back- was even starting to like her. Of course he would never tell her that.
One day it would work between them. Once he allowed himself to feel again.
There was a nagging at the back of his mind that wondered if he had pushed her too far. Maybe she wouldn't come back from this one.
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