Lou's heart raced as she retreated from the massive Lycan. She'd given him an inch and he'd tried to take a mile. The scariest part was that she had been tempted to let him.
She knew Cain wasn't like the other Alphas she knew, no matter what she said. She'd spat the venomous words at him because she couldn't let him know that he confused her. That she didn't know what to do around him.
His pack loved him; they weren't afraid of him, and they trusted him with their well-being. He didn't lead by fear. She didn't know a single Alpha that would accept so many humans and half-bloods into his pack. And not only did he accept them, he treated them no differently from the wolves. He'd made the pups popcorn, a job their mother or father was entirely capable of, and yet he'd done it. She didn't know him at all, but she knew he was different, and that scared her. It meant she didn't know what to expect from him.
Except for when they'd gotten close and he's started to grasp her hand and smelled her hair. That was purely an Alpha male response, and she'd reacted in anger. But instead of indignance in his gaze, he'd been regretful. Every other time she'd shoved a man away from her, they'd gotten angry and even more determined to claim her. Cain on the other hand had backed off immediately. He easily could have overpowered her if he'd desired. He was a foot taller than her and likely a hundred pounds heavier. If he had decided he was going to have her, she wouldn't have been able to do much other than scream. But he hadn't, and he'd let her flee.
She stepped into the living room where the pack was still engrossed in the film. They obviously hadn't heard the commotion in the kitchen, or if they had they weren't acknowledging it. Ryland looked up as she entered, his eyes bright and friendly. Lou felt a little guilt for how she'd treated him earlier, but she knew she couldn't be blamed for it. It was hardly her fault she was wary around large men. She smiled at him and then glanced around the room, wondering where to sit. She wasn't entirely comfortable plopping herself down on the couch with the large warriors, which was the only seat left. Perhaps she could just stand in the back here...
"Hey, Lou, you can have this spot," Ryland hopped up, motioning for her to go sit in the chair.
"Thanks," she said softly, walking over to him and sliding into the leather seat and tucking her legs up beneath her. To her surprise, Ryland didn't go sit with his fellow warriors. Instead, he lowered himself to the ground and leaned back against the chair. He didn't say anything else as they settled in, just shift a little to get more comfortable. Sitting at her feet the way he was felt like his way of including her in the pack, however temporary. Other than a few flirty comments, which were made at a distance and in non-serious manner, Ryland had done nothing to make her think he meant her any ill-will.
So, she settled back and let being surrounded by a pack of wolves and humans distract her from the imposing Alpha who had yet to make an appearance.
"Have you seen this movie?" one of the twins, Blake she thought, asked, looking over his shoulder at her. Lou nodded at him.
"Of course. Iron Man is my favorite," she stated.
"Me too!" Blake exclaimed. "He's awesome."
"Captain America is better," Bryce argued.
"Iron Man could kick his butt."
Lou chuckled. "Well, have you guys seen Captain America: Civil War?"
Their eyes went wide. "No! Are there other Avengers movies too?"
"Well, yeah, two other ones and there's a fourth one coming out," she explained. She shouldn't have been surprised they hadn't seen or heard of the other movies, seeing as how they lived in the middle of Alaska with limited contact with the outside world, but seeing how much they loved this movie she would have thought they'd seen them.
"Mom, we have to get them," Blake said to Ellen.
"We'll ask Cain next time he orders supplies, okay?" their mother promised.
Lou immediately noticed that no one asked where Cain was, which they should have since he'd implied he'd be right back after he made her dinner. That's how she knew they'd heard their spat in the kitchen, and her cheeks reddened deeply. Fortunately, they didn't seem to want to acknowledge it or anything to do with it, because they simply continued watching the movie.
Lou couldn't think of a single time her pack had sat down to watch a movie together. Or even sat down to do anything together. Her two older brothers and their friends had done it every once in a while, but not her whole pack. Besides, she'd never been invited to hang out with Lance and Joey's friends, per their father's orders. Lance didn't want to hang out with her anyway, but Joey would've. Joey was her best friend, her only friend. She tucked her knees close to her chest and hugged them close. She wished Joey could have come with her, but he'd had to make sure the pack didn't wake up. Besides, she'd rather be alone than risk Joey's life by letting him leave with her. It was bad enough he'd helped her at all. If anyone found out, they would probably kill him.
Joey was the only person in her life that didn't think it was her responsibility to preserve the purity of bloodlines. He and their father, Reid, had argued about it more than once, but Joey had never been her father's favorite so their father wasn't likely to listen to him anyway. Lance was the one who was to become Alpha, so Reid had always favored him.
Her chest tightened and a lump formed in her throat when she realized she likely wouldn't see Joey for a long, long time, if ever again. She couldn't go home, she knew that wasn't an option. They would just try to hand her over to the High Council again, but this time she wouldn't be given the opportunity to escape.
She inhaled deeply and fought tears for the rest of the movie. She had no money, no clothes, nothing but what she'd brought with her. She had no destination other than "away". She couldn't shift, so travel would be slow. Going back to Canada had potential; it was huge and she could probably find refuge somewhere, even if it were among humans. Getting there was the real challenge.
Another presence entering in the room had her sitting up and hugging her knees closer. Cain's huge form carefully moved over to the couch with the warriors and sat down next to them. He didn't look at her once, she noticed, for which she was grateful. She was afraid of what those light blue eyes would hold in them, whether it be desire, contempt, or nothing at all.
Her wolf whined, not at all angry at the Alpha, which shocked Lou out of her tears. Her wolf hated men, Alphas especially, but she longed for the attention of this one. Perhaps it was because he was denying it to them. Which was exactly what Lou had asked for, so she snapped at her wolf and forced it back. She couldn't let whatever was going on with her beast cloud her judgement. Her wolf just growled softly, but relented. Lou knew what was best for them, not an animal who was willing to throw herself at any man who didn't attack them.
They all sat in silence during the final battle, Blake and Bryce completely transfixed to the screen even though they could likely recite it word for word, move for move. She thought it was sweet though, how much they were enjoying themselves. She wondered if they could shift yet. They were the right age; twelve to fourteen was generally when male wolves shifted for the first time, as if they didn't have enough to go through with puberty entering their lives as well. What Lou didn't know was if half-bloods shifted at the same age as their pure-blood counter parts. Their wolves were weaker, so it possibly took longer for the wolf form to overpower the human one and take control. Having fought their humans sides for control for so long, young wolves were feral when they first shifted, having no manners or respect for hierarchy yet. They learned quickly though, otherwise they were expelled from the pack.
Lou wondered how Tahlia felt about her brothers being wolves but not her. Cain had implied that Tahlia had spent her entire life around wolves, grown up as part of the pack. When she was really little, she probably expected she would shift just like everyone else. Lou wondered how she'd taken it when she was told that that wasn't who she was. Lou knew that she herself had been devastated upon discovering that she couldn't shift. A Lycan who couldn't shift was like a fish who couldn't breathe water: not really a fish.
The movie ended and Ryland stood up to turn on the lights while everyone stretched. Lou stayed curled up in the chair, peeking over her knees at Cain. He'd risen immediately and stretched his massive, tattooed arms over his head. As he'd done so, his tight black shirt had ridden up just enough to give Lou a hint of what was underneath. Smooth, taut skin and the very bottom of his well-muscled torso. Realizing that she was checking him out immediately feeling like a hypocrite, she forced herself to look elsewhere. That just happened to be directly into the eyes of Kristine, who was smirking knowingly.
"Come on, Lou," she motioned, handing a sleeping Henry over to Will. "You can have one of the guest bedrooms downstairs with the kids."
Lou nodded, putting a hand over her mouth to cover a huge yawn. "For being unconscious for who knows how long, I'm exhausted."
"Can't say we blame you," Caroline smiled. "You went through an ordeal. Besides, we can be an exhausting pack."
"I can't say I'd agree with that yet," Lou replied. "All you guys were doing was watching a movie."
"Give it a few days," she laughed. "You'll see for yourself."
Lou knew her returning smile didn't reach her eyes. After what happened with Cain, and what was currently happening to her when she was around Cain, she needed to leave tomorrow. No matter what safety was available to her here, the risks that came with it would almost be too much.
"Goodnight, everyone," Kristine said, leading Lou from the room.
"Goodnight," Lou said softly. Everyone answered in kind, making their way up to their rooms. But the three pups followed them down to the basement, where their rooms apparently were.
"Cain let us make bedrooms down here," Bryce explained. "So we didn't have to be up with the adults." He made a face and Lou laughed.
"It gets really cold down here though," Tahlia added. The cold would affect her more since she was a human.
"That's what the fireplace in your room is for, duh," Blake rolled his eyes and Tahlia took a swipe at him.
"Don't be a jerk, Blake."
"Kids," Kristine admonished gently. "Try to act civilized in front of our guest?"
They all blushed. "Sorry."
Lou shrugged. "I have two brothers. I'm used to it."
"Where are they? How come you're not with them?" Blake asked curiously. Lou wondered how much to tell them, especially since she didn't know what they knew about the pure-bloods and half-bloods.
"Um, well, I was in a bad situation and I had to run away. One of my brothers, Joey, helped me, but he couldn't come with me. It was too dangerous for him."
"What about your other brother?"
How did she explain to three siblings that obviously loved each other that her oldest brother had been one of the strongest advocates in sending her to become a breeder for the pure-blooded Alphas of the world?
"He just wasn't there," was all she said, which was the truth. If he had been, she never would have gotten away.
"Oh, okay," Blake shrugged. "Goodnight!" He and Blake retreated into one room, closing the door behind them.
"Night," Tahlia smiled. "It's nice to have another girl around here, Lou." She closed her door softly. Kristine led her to the room next to Tahlia's.
"There are three extra rooms down here, this one will be yours while you're here. The bathroom is right across the hall there." She pointed in the direction of the bathroom. "And there are extra blankets in your closet." The room in question was simple with only a bed, a nightstand, and a dresser, but it was cozy. The walls were painted a warm chocolate brown and the comforter on the queen sized bed was a deep forest green. Naturally, painting of the Alaskan mountain ranges and wolves adorned the walls. Lou loved it.
"How many bedrooms are in this place?" she wondered.
"Twelve," Kristine said without hesitation. "And ten bathrooms."
Lou felt her eyes go wide. "Holy shit, this place is even more massive than I thought."
Kristine shrugged. "Cain wanted it to fit all of us."
"I guess. My pack had cabins."
"So did theirs, before they moved here."
"How long have you all lived here?"
"Everyone except for myself moved here with Cain nine years ago. Will and I mated five years ago, and then Henry was born three years ago."
"I didn't realize this pack was so new." Although she could have guessed, since she hadn't heard hardly anything about it before stumbling upon it in a blizzard.
Kristine nodded. "Cain started it when he took the half-bloods and the humans from his old pack. It was getting too dangerous for them."
"He did what?"
"He saved them," Kristine said quietly. "All of them. They would have been killed without him. Ryland, Vince, Darryl, and Will were his best friends, so they left with him to become his Beta and his warriors, but the others were those in danger."
Lou knew Cain was different from the others, but she hadn't realized he was that different. To leave everything he knew to save some wolves on the low end of the totem pole? Not just anyone did that.
"Lou, I don't know what happened in the kitchen earlier, and I can't imagine what you've gone through your entire life, but try not to assume the worst with him, please? I've only known Cain for five years, but I know that he's nothing like most men. He comes off as grumpy and angry, but I think it's just because his life has been anything but easy. But, really, he would never hurt you, and he would never want to make you feel scared. Cain doesn't feel powerful from scaring people; he doesn't rule with fear."
Lou nodded slowly. "I gathered that, from watching you all with him. Most Alphas I know don't have a relationship with their pack that even comes close to what he has with you."
Kristine smiled. "He can be sort of aloof sometimes, but I think he's just unsure how to connect with us. From what I've gathered, his childhood didn't include a lot of companionship."
Lou didn't know quite how to respond to that, mostly because she'd gone through the same thing.
"So, just don't assume he's going to try and do what other Alpha males have tried to do to you. I'm sure whatever happened tonight was just a misunderstanding. I'm not saying you don't know when you feel uncomfortable or unsafe, nothing like that. You should definitely trust your instincts. But are your instincts telling you that Cain means you harm?"
Lou squeezed her eyes shut, knowing the answer to that. Except for the moment he'd sniffed her hair, she never thought that he once meant her harm. Even when their hands had touched, she hadn't been afraid. In fact, her wolf and the rest of her body had homed in on the spot where his warm skin met hers. It was just her reflexes and natural response to assume that males wanted and expected more from her.
"No, they aren't."
Kristine smiled. "Okay. I'm not saying go running into his arms or anything, but you don't have to be scared around him. Oh, and did we mention you're welcome to stay here as long as you like?"
Lou smiled softly at her. "I appreciate the hospitality."
"That's just the sort of pack we are, Lou," the woman smiled. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Kristine. Thank you."
She just grinned kindly and closed the door behind her.
Lou heaved a sigh and climbed into the bed, snuggling up underneath the blankets. She closed her exhausted eyes and relaxed completely. The thought of running away while everyone was asleep never even crossed her mind.