Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Jeremy
Don’t kill Dad, don’t kill Dad…
“Are you even listening?” Dad demanded, his tone all Alpha as he stared at me.
“Yes,” I gritted out, hating every moment I was away from Cassian.
“Then why aren’t you acting like the Alpha of the pack?!” he boomed.
I crossed my arms and finally explained why I’d left yesterday and stayed with Cassian.
“Because he’s my fated mate.” That stopped him, so I continued. “I know he’s human, but he’s mine. I was going to come back today. Just needed to figure out how.”
“Well, this changes things,” he said, his tone full of awe and what I knew to be fear.
“What? I can’t be Alpha anymore because I have a human mate? That’s it?”
“You know I don’t care who you’re mated to!” he snapped. “I’m talking about the rest of the pack. Not everyone will take this news as something good, and you damn well know that.”
I did. I hated it, but I’d known since I found out Cassian was mine that giving up my Alpha title could be the price of my happiness. I would give it up for him, no questions asked. Zero regret.
When Dad had found me cuddling with Cass in the middle of the night, it hadn’t been pretty.
As wolves we could talk telepathically, so Cass slept peacefully while Dad cussed me out for worrying the pack with my absence.
It had only been for a few hours. The fact I’d run so far had many of them gossiping. Dad hated that.
Before I’d left the bed, I’d scent marked Cass as mine. It was the only thing that made it possible for me to leave him. Even with my scent on him, it was still the hardest damn thing I’d ever done.
Which led us to why Dad continued to yell at me as soon as I was back home again.
“Marcus and his son will be trouble,” Dad sighed, his eyes full of regret. “I should’ve kicked them out years ago.”
“What do you mean when you say trouble?”
Marcus and his son Fillian had both been vocal about everything they thought Dad did wrong should’ve done differently. They were old school, or at least Marcus was, while Fillian just seemed to agree with everything his father said.
“They weren’t quiet in their disappointment in me picking you.
When you left out of the blue, they started spreading doubt through the pack.
When Vina and I saw you at the vet, we figured it was just a fun run to celebrate becoming Alpha gone wrong.
We didn't think you’d stay away for so long.
” This wasn’t the first time one of us had gotten hit by a car, but it was the first time the alpha of the pack had.
I was in for lots of teasing in the future.
“And when I didn’t return?” I continued for him.
“I came for you,” he finished.
“You thought I’d left?” my voice was small. Just the thought of my dad thinking so poorly of me made me feel gutted.
“Never,” he growled. “But I damn well needed to see for myself what was keeping you away.”
“And now that you know? Will you help me out so I can see Cassian daily? I’m not ready to tell the pack yet. Hell, Cass is human and still doesn’t know the wolf he adopted is a shifter.”
Dad laughed at that. “I’ll help where I can, but today you’re staying with the pack. No running off. You need to crush those doubts before someone gets the bright idea to challenge you.”
I swallowed, then nodded. If someone did challenge me, it would be a fight to the death, unless the challenger backed down first. It was rarely done, and even more rare that someone submitted during the fight.
Many preferred death over leaving their pack.
If you challenged the pack Alpha and lost, you lost your place within the pack, leaving you a lone wolf. Very few shifters could survive that.
“Yes, Dad,” I said, feeling defeated and lonelier than ever.
After Dad left, I cooked some breakfast. It was five in the morning now, and there was no way I was sleeping without Cass, so a big cup of coffee and some food would help me out.
My home was a mix between modern and cozy.
I had mood lighting, making it feel like a safe and comfortable place to relax and just exist in.
The kitchen was all new with granite countertops and dark grey cupboards.
The back had huge windows that led out to the forest in my backyard.
It was a wolf shifter thing, but we loved being close to the forest. It made us feel at home.
This was simply my way of still seeing the forest from the inside.
I had a huge fireplace and a mounted TV and I loved this place, but it felt so empty now that I’d met Cass.
I would rather sleep on his stained carpet than in my comfy bed alone.
So many things had changed just from meeting him.
It was like he’d unknowingly taken a part of me, a part I needed to keep close to function.
With my mood now soured, I took a shower, dressed, and somehow made it outside to talk to people.
I hated every minute of it.
To make my mood worse, Darius was the first person I saw on my walk over to our community center. (It was the one place we all gathered for meetings, meals, and get-togethers.).
“Hey there, Alpha,” he greeted with a wink, something that once would’ve made my stomach flutter, but now made me feel sick.
I frowned his way. “Don’t flirt with me!” I snapped.
He stepped back, his eyes widening. “Wow, who bit your tail this morning?”
Shaking my head, I finally admitted, “I saw you with Milo yesterday.”
Realization dawned on him, then he seemed to shut down. “Yeah, don’t worry about that part. We aren’t together.”
“What?” The big brother in me was mad on Milo’s behalf, but the man in me was elated. Damn my confused heart. Now I felt guilty for being happy they weren’t together. I was a horrible person. I had Cass. Milo deserved someone amazing, someone like Darius.
“He’s not ready for something serious,” Darius explained. “I guess I should’ve realized that, with his age and all.”
Frowning yet again, I asked, “But why did you kiss then?”
He shrugged. “He kissed me, took me by surprise.”
Damn, it hurt hearing that. Now I knew Milo had been the one to take the first step. Although a part of me was sure he knew of my feelings, I just couldn’t believe Milo would do something so cruel to me.
“And?” I prodded.
“And we found out we’re fated mates.”
I blinked. “That’s a bad thing?!” My voice was way too high this early in the morning, but damn. My little brother had found his fated mate at only eighteen? On the same day I’d met Cass?
He quickly shook his head. “No, not that part. His um,” he sighed. “His reasoning for kissing me led me to believe he isn’t ready for something as serious as a mating bond. Not yet at least.”
“Oh,” I said, not truly knowing how to take the news. “Are you okay with that?”
“I will be. I told him I would wait until he got mature enough for something serious.”
I winced. “You didn’t.”
“Oh,” he mirrored my wince. “I did indeed.”
“I suddenly get why you aren’t together,” I offered with a tense smile.
“Yeah,” his own smile was forced. “’Don’t call Milo immature’ is hereby noted for the future.”
I didn’t ask what Milo’s reason for kissing him was. I truly didn’t want to know. Instead I walked with Darius inside our community center, hoping the hours would blur by until I could get back to Cass. I also had to avoid my brother at all costs. I was not ready to deal with his drama.
I was finally free!
The day was done. I’d helped out the pack members I could, making conversation and having fun with a few of them. Then I dealt with issues that needed fixing. Now, several hours later, I was frantically packing some clothes in a bag and leaving my house to shift.
Running in my wolf form was always freeing, even more so in the fall. The fallen leaves matched my fur and I felt invisible as I dashed through the woods to Cass’s house. Weird that even after a few hours I missed that old house.
Approaching the house, I scented it, or rather, them. I froze, my bag falling from my mouth.
No…. no…. no…
I ran faster, not caring about my damn clothes anymore. Jumping in front of his broken off front door, reality hit.
The Brown Pack had taken my mate. The neighboring town had their own wolf shifter pack and we’d fought over each other’s territories for decades. They weren’t welcome here in our town! How the fuck did they find my Cass?!
I shifted, standing naked in the late fall evening weather, then I ran inside, checking every room.
He wasn’t there.
Shifting back, I ran to my pack, my mind yelling and cursing the whole way. My packmates who were shifted came running toward me, joining me in my mad run toward Dad’s place, all asking me telepathically what was happening.
Dad must’ve felt us approach, because he was out the door, shifted and battle ready.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded.
“The Brown Pack was in our territory tonight,” I growled, my packmates mirroring my anger. “They took Cass.”
“Then we’ll just have to get him back,” Dad said, his tone final.
The pack knew better than to question who Cass was, but I didn’t want Cass’s life to be in further danger, so I quickly ordered, “I need five to come with me who are willing to fight. We leave now.”
I had no idea when to tell them I’d found my mate, but now wasn’t the time. He was human and I had yet to prove myself as their alpha. We would get Cass back. Then I would figure out the rest.