The Rightful King of Beasts Returns

Don’t you ever leave me, don’t you ever go I’ve seen it on TV, I know how it goes Even when you’re angry, even when I’m cold Don’t you ever leave me, don’t leave me alone

weepingwillowrose‌:

His hand was so warm and heavy in her lap, it was like a beacon of hope that filled her with a sense of fight and spirit she hadn’t felt in decades. Even now, as they drove to impending doom, Willow knew that reunited, they could stand tall. Reunited, they could survive anything.

They hadn’t spoken since he’d received the text, hadn’t needed too. They were beyond words, always had been. Cade could read her like a book, just as she could- him. She knew it was coming, knew it the minute Willow had heard the call. Her eyes were trained studiously on the blurred visions of the land as they pummelled through the streets with his ancient truck, but her mind was back in the apartment.

Willow had been clutching the basin of the sink, having just washed her face. Her hands had been trembling, her legs weak. Everything inside of her had felt awful, a growing weight on her shoulders like an anvil forcing gravity to press harder onto her. She’d spent the last five minutes on her knees, throwing up inside the toilet. Something she ate. 

At the sound of the howl, she buckled. Not from what it meant, but the pain that she felt the minute Harlow’s cry rippled through the town. Stepping into the doorway of the half bath in her penthouse, her eyes went straight to Cade. He knew it too, not by empathy but by his connection to the wolves. Their howls like the Twilight Bark. 

They were already preparing their things when his face went white, his own hand trembling as he read the message out loud. And now, as they drove through eerily empty streets, that sinking feeling only grew.

She was shaken from her thoughts as Caden lifted her hand to his lips. The soft kiss he pressed against her porcelain skin sent shivers straight up her arm and down her spine. Eighty years later, he still had the habit of making her feel like a teenage girl, where the world is new and wondrous and love is something straight out of a fairy tale, even if the world was about to fall apart.

All too soon, yet not soon enough, Cade was easing the truck into park and opening her door. She needed his help to get out, the truck though not your standard was far too big for her. As feet touched solid ground, she wondered if it were stable enough to hold them all when it would matter most. Perhaps not.

He didn’t need to tell her twice, Willow kept close to her towering wolf. She had a feeling that his coming back, the last three weeks spent together, everything they’d all endured was leading them to this world shattering moment.

Harlow was a mess, all it took was one look at her face to confirm Willow’s suspicions. Death had struck again.

@harlowxkhatri​ 

Once Harlow regained her bearings, she looked back to Nicholas and sent him away to get himself cleaned up. Her brain was torn between Alpha and friend. Part of her wanted to sit there and sob over the loss of the youngest Lehane. The other part knew things had to be arranged, police, medical examiner, everyone had to be informed of the tragedy that had occured in the Outskirts. 

She hadn’t realized she’d been crying until she reached up to brush a stray hair out of her face, her hand touching the warm, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. Now, she couldn’t let herself mourn more than she was. Harlow knew at least all of the wolves, and probably some civilians had heard her cry. At this point, she didn’t care. She needed to inform the masses that something tragic was going on and she needed help. 

Her next thought, Caden, Max, and Soren. Soren and Max were in pack territory, they’d find out soon enough. Caden was another story. This wasn’t something that could be conveyed over a phone call or text, he needed to be here. She was certain he heard her howl, all he needed now was directions. With shaky, blood-stained hands, Harlow pulled out her phone and typed a message to him, straining to read through her silent tears, sniffling as she typed.

Looking down at the body of one of the youngest pack members, Harlow knelt down next to him. The silence that washed over them was gut wrenching. She was physically hurting now, her pack having suffered a massive loss. Giving Noah a look once more, a fresh wave of tears broke from her ducts. She couldn’t touch him anymore than she had, closing his eyes was enough, he deserved peace. 

Harlow straightened and made her way to the side of the road, just outside the clearing to see Caden’s truck park along the edge. She chewed hard on the inside of her cheek, thanking whatever reigned above that Willow was with him. She could break him of whatever emotion was about to hit. 

The Alpha looked at Willow first, knowing immediately that the empath knew someone was gone. Her eyes then met Caden’s, “I’m so sorry.” she managed. Her voice was cracking, she tried to keep it steady with no luck. “Caden,” she swallowed, hard, “Caden, it’s Noah.”

@cadelehane​

Though only a few yards off, the distance between him and Harlow felt like it stretched for miles. Caden stared into that elongated space and felt his stomach coil into a tangle of Celtic knots. His heartbeat, which had had enough gallop to it to put a V12 engine to shame, had slowed significantly as his vision lengthened feet into leagues. He could hear the slow thump-thump... thump-thump... thump-thump like the growl of thunder in his ears.  

Timberland boots were heavy as cement, anchored down by the weight of his gut which had fallen to his feet at the prospect of walking the miles between the two Alphas. Without looking away from Harlow’s position at the treeline, he reached for the only source of strength he had just then, and locked his fingers through Willow’s once more. Her hands were tiny and warm in his, comforting enough to thaw some of the crystallized dread that had began to ice over his heart. On a heavy exhale that misted the air in front of him, Cade put one foot in front of the other and began the trek. 

Slow as his pace was, he made it to Harlow entirely too soon. He’d noted the blood on his approach, how it stained her hands and was smeared on her clothes. There was a smudge of it on her cheek, from where she must have wiped away tears without realizing what her touch had left behind. Her eyes were bloodshot and watery, and the pink of her nose had nothing to do with the cold. Harlow’s expression was grim, sorrowful... apologetic. 

Caden pinned the Alpha Female with a glare when the first words out of her mouth were ‘I’m so sorry.’ His heart, still beating the slow tempo of a metronome, was cast in iron and sent plummeting through the void of his torso, careening after his stomach. His molars ached down to the root as he bit down hard, a muscle feathering in his jaw from the building pressure. 

He was shaking his head before the words were out of her mouth, refusing whatever she was about to say. He couldn’t hear it. Whatever it was. He couldn’t hear it. Not when he knew in that space where his heart had just been that Harlow was about to take from him something he couldn’t afford to lose. There was so little left in him. To lose any more...

The sound of his name on her tight voice was an invisible force crushing down on his windpipe. A boa constrictor had wound itself around his neck and was living up to its name, squeezing tighter, and tighter, and tighter until his lungs screamed for his next breath; not a molecule of oxygen able to squeeze past the pressure on his throat. It was a conscious effort not to crush Willow’s delicate fingers in his grasp as he struggled with the dread tearing at the all too fragile protective amour he wore around his soul. 

Words without explanation, a statement without clarity. Harlow said it was Noah, but she didn’t expand on her meaning. What was she saying? What about Noah? Was he hurt? Was that his blood? Was that his baby brother’s blood? What happened? 

Instead of any of the million question ricocheting within his skull, Cade growled low in his throat, his tone almost threatening as he demanded, “Where is he?” He didn’t wait for an answer from her, didn’t even give her the chance. 

Releasing Willow’s hand, Caden shoved past Harlow and jogged into the treeline. A deep breath breezed through his nostrils, filling his lungs with the scent of the surrounding wood. Pine, snow, kicked up earth, the forest’s scents swirled in his chest and he picked through them with ease, focusing quickly on the coppery tang of blood and allowed it lead him. 

There was no bracing himself as he ran, feet kicking up pine needles and snow as he cut between trees toward the source of the scent he was tracking. Try though he might to gather his strength to him and slap together some makeshift defense against what he knew he’d find in the middle of the clearing, Cade’s hopeful denial turned stoic strength to grains of sand. With each step toward the inevitable he patched together the grandest sandcastle he could, praying that it would withstand the tsunami building in the distance and racing wildly to meet him at the shore. 

Noah was fine. Bleeding. Hurt. But he was fine. He had to be fine. He had to be. ‘Harlow would still be with him if he was fine,’ logic argued as he ran for his brother, the metallic smell of spilled blood growing with his every footfall. ‘No!’ Cade screamed back at himself, fighting down whatever better sense tried to warn him to turn back instead, not to face what he knew was waiting for him. ‘It’s fine. He’s fine. Everything’s going to be fine.’

Cade broke the clearing and his racing feet stalled to a stop. Snow was dyed crimson, speckled and splattered and pooled all around the butchered body in the clearing’s center. His heart, which had fallen to the bottom of the Mariana’s Trench his gut had become, lurched. His stomach churned. His mind didn’t immediately register what it was exactly he was seeing. 

One step brought him closer to that too still body. Then another. And another. He noted the long black hair, just like his own. The once naturally tanned skin that was washed out and drained of all color. The shut eyelids that might’ve made him look like he was sleeping, if it wasn’t for the smears and splatters of blood staining the hard angles of his face. 

“Noah?” Caden breathed, still slowly approaching the ruined figure laid out under dark grey skies. His feet were heavy. His knees shook. Cade was only a few paces away from the maimed and mutilated thing that was his brother’s body and his knees buckled underneath him. On a tight, hoarse voice, he croaked, “Noah?”

Something broke in Caden’s chest. Like spindling webs in glass, the thick dam that had kept him sane since the Winter Solstice ruptured. Grief burst in jets of water, the pressure building and building until the structure of his composure was shaking from the strain. 

On his hands and knees in the snow, Cade stared at his baby brother with horror widened eyes. Tears gathered in number in his vision, washing the image of a blood soaked and disfigured Noah behind a thick wall of moisture. Jaw slack in terror of what he was seeing, he couldn’t look away. He couldn’t blink. He couldn’t process. That was Noah, unmoving and blue and bloody beyond recognition. That was his baby brother, dead in the clearing. 

His baby brother...

... His baby brother....

Noah was dead. His baby brother was dead... Noah was dead... 

The soul crushed bellow that tore out from Cade’s lungs and shattered the skies above sent birds from their branches in a flurry of feathers and disgruntled caws. The dam broke, and everything he’d been holding back for fifty years came crashing down on him hard. His scream continued until his lungs shriveled up with breathlessness. An inhale pulled out another cry from his chest, as he crawled the rest of the way toward his brother.

The dam broke. And so did Caden.

Willow felt it, the minute Caden’s mood shift. The second he knew that words were no longer necessary, when the gears shifted and the lock slid into place, sealing their fate that evening. They had so much to discuss, a lot to deal with. There were wounds that wouldn’t heal so easily, and bridges that needed to be crossed but this was the first step. 

As much as she wanted to run, to sprint, to leap into a future with Cade by her side, they needed to crawl. To start from the beginning in many ways. To reconnect on a deeper level than words could ever provide. Thick ropes of muscle wound tight around her slender body. He’d gotten so big, Something Willow thought a difficult feat given the size of him before he’d left.

It was like becoming an Alpha had juiced him up even more. Funny, she hadn’t remember Benjamin changing much after his promotion… but she wasn’t really looking all that hard. Right now? Was an incredibly different story. She was acutely aware of the way his crushing grip forced the air from her lungs, the way his already large hand seemed to cover more ground. She shuddered in his grip.

This was home. The caged walls her lover provided was the only protection she needed. The warmth radiating off of him emanated through her, filling her with the kind of strength that had ebbed from her body decades ago. It was a kind of rejuvenation that no spa, no flow, no chakra balance, no spell could ever give her. 

Crushed against the hard wall of muscle that formed the shape of her love, Willow was at ease, and insanely desperate all at once. She needed more, to deepen the connection, to join them beyond this physical touch. She sought out the crook of his neck, burying her face against his warm skin. The world around her faded away, until there was nothing left but her love for her wolf.

Her head was yanked back on a hard jerk by the fist caught in the loose strands of long hair, and a low purr escaped her. He was raw primal instinct, animal fury and intoxication desire. The neon red that shone down upon her held the promise of all he would do to her body before he was through.

For a heart beat, all time stood perfectly still. And then the world came crashing down around her as his lips crushed her own in a mind numbing kiss. Every neuron in her body fired up, coming alive. The taste of him, the scent all consuming, shot straight to her core. The heat between her thighs that beckoned for him.

Willow couldn’t help herself, couldn’t stop the transfer of her emotions at the connection. Need bloomed like a midnight flower, deep in her core. He was her life blood, all that sustained her in this world. 

As he licked his way into her mouth, finding her tongue and crushing what little air remained in her lungs, she moaned. Soon, he would reclaim his territory, in Roseville- and in her heart. It was where he belonged, deeply rooted within as if he too were a part of her soul. The very fabric of her being. 

He broke the kiss long enough to inhale deeply, the bonding scent he was releasing seeped into her skin. Like dark spices. After this, there’d be no doubt that she was a claimed woman. That she belonged solely to this man. He kissed her again with a kind of fever that told someone the world would end if you let them go. She truly believed that may very well be possible, that his grip on her body was the only anchor she had, tethering her to this corporeal form. 

Keep Reading

She didn’t want to listen–didn’t want to talk about losing him or even joining another pack, but she was mature enough to talk it through even if thinking about it sent a sickening wave of nausea through her body. What triggered her anger and stubborn streak was begging and she hated the whole prospect that was even expected of her. Looking at the bigger picture and sitting on it a while she more than likely would see why Caden was saying it, but right at this moment, all it did was churn up a whole host of emotions and cause a massive knot in her stomach. 

She watched the change in his composure, the way his shoulders went back and how he inhaled deeply. Jordan wanted him to tell her it was okay and that she didn’t have to do any of it–but if anything, just to go to Harlow should something happen to him–without the whole begging stuff. Yet his gaze said otherwise. 

“No…..”

At the mention of her name, it was Jordan’s turn to take a deep breath but for a whole different reason. The way his gaze locked on hers and refused to shift was actually intense and the tone of voice to match, just commanded her wolf side to listen. Of all the times she had trouble controlling that side of her and how it was so unpredictable, her damn wolf started to fall perfectly in line and listen to the order from her alpha. Sure, she shook her head to object, but try as she could, Jordan found it was impossible to look away right now and even more, her objection was far less vocal than it had been. She desperately just wanted a brief few seconds break in eye contact, a small reprieve that would allow her to shift her glance away and then perhaps stop the pull she could feel towards his orders.

–she should have known better though.

Jordan knew what it was like to receive an order from an alpha. When it was truly meant and in the way Caden was delivering it, it was impossible to go against that. It was just not something a beta would do and so she had to press her lips together, biting on the inside of her cheek in agitation. 

“I understand.” She sure as hell wasn’t happy about it, but she understood. She wanted to discuss it more–explain how it made her feel, hoped that he would understand and perhaps rethink the orders he had given. Any hope of that had frittered away in the last twenty seconds though. 

She often flinched away from most people these days if she wasn’t expecting them to touch her. It was an instinct that had been ingrained into her after losing the rest of their pack. She didn’t flinch with him though, trust–even when she didn’t agree, was always there. So when he pulled her a step closer by the nape of the neck, the young wolf remained silent and just looked up at him, dark brown hues not hiding the unhappiness she felt about the whole situation. It was only as he mentioned her parents, it really hit Jordan and the feelings she always hid day in day out, surfaced as she tried to stop her bottom lip trembling by sucking it in between her teeth. She missed them so much and it never really got easier. There were times that she could paint over the cracks and enjoy herself for a while, but the intensity of grief about what happened was always there deep inside her heart and mind. 

“I am doing as you say. I will go to her if anything happens to you–which it won’t.”

She hoped that was satisfactory enough for him to hear and Jordan wasn’t naive, she knew that life was fragile–it could be lost in the blink of an eye, but she wasn’t quite sure her psyche would cope with losing him–it was fractured enough.

A small nod and a blink were directed at him, one hand quickly wiping away the tear which had escaped and she mentally cursed her body for betraying her like that. There was a sense of security and reassurance in his eyes and it really couldn’t have come at a better time. The tension had built up in her chest and spread to her throat, tightening around the vocal cords and restricting her voice a little. If it had have been anyone else but her alpha, Jordan knew this scenario would be playing out very differently. 

“Then if she is like you say….Harlow…she will accept me if I ask…which I will…I promise.” If the female Alpha was all the things Cade stated she was, surely she wouldn’t have to beg–she wouldn’t make her resort to that to be accepted would she? It wasn’t something she was going to ask Caden to elaborate on. The conversation had been stressful and concerning enough without extending it further.

She did prefer the truth, even though sometimes it hurt far too much. So her expression finally softened and welcomed the hug he gave her, slim arms slipped around his waist as she hugged him back. It was one of those moments where she yearned to just cave in and be lost to the embrace, break down and let open the floodgates which permanently held back a torrent of emotions, but she kept herself together, held it back until only the four walls could be a witness.

“Alright…alright…I am giving you that. “ If that was what it took to remain at his side, then she was forced to accept any terms and conditions that came with it. At least it wasn’t some hidden clause in the small print. 

Finally, her arms released him and she was back to her previous position, wondering if all of this had thrown a dampener on the whole finding a place to stay. She had been looking forward to it–excited even and had surprised herself. There hadn’t been much to be excited or pleased about lately. She’d nodded to him though when he mentioned getting her home–even smiled a little in his direction. There was never really going to be any animosity there for long. She also had to believe this was their home–however long for because the memories which her mind saw as home, were just that–images of how things once were and would never be. She had to believe a new home could be made at some point in the future, it was what helped keep her going. 

The short drive was quiet for the first half and had Jordan staring out of the window, but it wasn’t long at all until she had returned back to her normal self. So when they’d finally entered their new place, the young wolf’s mood had lightened dramatically when she’d seen where they were going to be living. 

“A selfie….yes. Send it me afterwards.”

She smiled widely and stood just off centre and in front of him. Her hands made the ‘rock on’ gesture and she stuck out her tongue. It was a picture that would make her smile every time she would look at it in the future and she needed that right now–she needed new memories too but never forgetting the old ones. 

–then she was looking at her sleeping space, the room which would see her struggles on a daily basis before composing herself for the outside world.

“Air mattresses are great once blown up…freakin’ nightmare without an air pump though….there is a pump yeah?”

She’d grab her bags from the main room in a minute. Not that she really had many belongings, just a large bag with her woodwork tools in and rucksack with clothes, shoes and toiletries. There was a tin at the bottom of it that she was protective of. The contents of it held a couple of torn photos, a pin badge and a couple of bracelets.

She was busy letting her imagination run away with ideas when Caden appeared in the doorway and Jordan gave him a soft smile.

“It’s perfect for us…..”

–and she genuinely did mean that. 

Instead of walking to him, she jogged a couple of steps and kissed him on the cheek. It wasn’t something she did often–not enough really, she knew this, but she was working on trying to not be so tightly wound. It was just going to take some time. 

“Did I pick the best room?”

Her brow hiked up slightly. 

“…..or did I just get carried away too early?” 

There wasn’t much of a wait before she’d disappeared to the other room opposite the main floorplan. She let out a quiet chuckle and shook her head.

“Damn I think I did…..get carried away too early that is.”

The question that shot through the condo to his position near the kitchen earned a heavenward glance, clenched eyelids, and a shake of his head. Forget the damn air pump once and you never hear the end of it. “Yeah,” he called back to Jordan, unable to hide the amusement from his tone if he tried. Which he wasn’t. “There’s an air pump.” 

As he opened up their current text conversation and attached the picture he’d just taken of them, Caden grumbled to himself, “You’re never gonna let me live that down, are you.” It was fine if she didn’t. He welcomed the teasing. It made them feel all the more like family.

When he’d amassed New Haven Pack all those decades ago, it’d been for one reason, and one reason alone. War. Once upon a time, he’d convinced himself otherwise. Way back when he would’ve sworn up and down that it was actually the prevention of war that made him go from pack to pack, challenging alpha after alpha, until all the scattered packs in Vermont marched under one banner: his. It was a lie that he’d needed at the time - to believe that he’d come back to Roseville with an alternative to the Accords, one that didn’t involve a blood pact that made the Wolfsbourne Crescents deferential to anyone’s laws but their own. It was the same belief that got his old man killed. 

It didn’t take long for his gathered warriors to become more than that, more than cannon fodder or a show of force. In a matter of years they became his family. And, as their Alpha, their prosperity and longevity had to mean more to him than a pack he didn’t have a place in anymore. Cade gave himself over to them entirely, wholeheartedly, and forced himself to give up on a war no one wanted for the sake of leading a pack of his own making. 

Jordan was just one of the many pups born to the New Haven wolves. She’d been surrounded by people who loved her and looked out for her, surrounded by warriors and fighters who would kill and die for her in a second because that was what it meant to be in a pack. Now all she had was him, and all he had was her. They were a family, and that meant teasing, bickering, and riding each other’s last nerve. After everything they’d been through, it was the first bit of normalcy they’d reclaimed. And one he’d be grateful for for the rest of his damn life.

With the text sent and his phone sheathed in his back pocket he walked the stretch of hallway to the room she’d claimed and leaned his shoulder on the doorjamb. His arms folded in front of his chest and a smirk twisted his lips affectionately, which stretched further when she aimed her own smile at him. 

“I thought so too,” admitted Caden, glancing around her barren bedroom, imagining the possibilities of what she’d do with the space. Tone casual, though warm in its undertones, he continued, “Big enough for both of us to have our own space, with the kitchen between us so that you can’t forget that I also live here.” A teasing wink was shot her way. 

Nodding toward one of her windows, the one to the side with the fire escape landing just outside of it, he revealed, “There’s roof access from that window, too. Just a section of roof, but it’s basically private.” He shrugged, motioning that he wasn’t making any particular point, or implying anything specific. It was just that he knew that sometimes having your own room wasn’t enough. And since they weren’t all that close to any forests for her to run through, sitting under the stars on a rooftop could be a possible alternative. 

“Oh,” he said, suddenly reminded of another purchase he’d made in addition to the air mattresses. “I almost forgot.” Cade walked over to her closet and pulled the mattress’ box from the shelf he’d pushed it onto, before tossing Jordan the second box he’d stored there. 

Once she’d caught it he watched her turn it over to inspect what it was, explaining, “It’s a Polaroid camera. I know photography’s not really your thing but,” his shoulders jerked. “I saw it and I thought of you.” He glanced down at the box, noting again the small camera printed on the front, it was black and vintage-looking. Very grungey, or whatever the fuck the kids were calling it these days. 

The kiss to his cheek was welcomed by a broader smile. There was a fond warmth to his gaze as he stared down at Jordan, more appreciative of her in that moment than the little wolf could ever guess. He ironed out his expression when she asked if she’d picked the best room. The single shoulder that lifted didn’t offer any kind of reassurance, and the teasing was back in his eyes. She darted off and Caden followed slowly after her with a chuckle. 

“No take backs,” he said when she circled the master bedroom. This time he entered fully into the room a few steps before settling in against one of the walls. Still smirking at Jordan, Cade’s silence was broken by a level, “I’m bringing Willow by later, either tonight or tomorrow, to ward the place. I’m also gonna install some home security and change the locks and shit. After that we can hit up a mattress store and start picking out some furniture.”

Harlow fought the urge to release a low warning growl at his tone and words. “Watch yourself, Caden.” she said too calmly as she adjusted her stance and crossed her arms over her chest. “What happened to just coming here out of courtesy? Now, you feel the need to question my skills as an Alpha? I don’t know where you came from, but I know that it didn’t make you that stupid.” Harlow finished with a cocked brow.

“Good to know that your strength has increased, but so has your nerve.” Surely he knew better than to do something like this. In any other situation, Harlow would have taken it more lightly, but there was too much at stake for that now. “I mean, the fact that you are in my territory means it concerns my pack. Also, it raises a lot more questions. How do I know you’re not running from something and you just dragged it back here?” her physical demeanor still hadn’t changed. She respected Caden, knew he was meant to be an Alpha someday. But, the fact that he’s running in here keeping secrets is not comforting. 

When her arms folded in front of her chest, his uncrossed and he tucked his hands into his pockets, thumbs left out as an eyebrow cocked at her tone. That hard edge and blood chilling calm had no effect on him. They both trained under his parents as their Heirs Apparent. He knew the tactic. She’d find that it worked a helluva lot better directed at her subordinates. Other Alpha’s weren’t so easily intimidated. Least of all him.

Caden didn’t need to watch himself, because he hadn’t said anything wrong. Just stated fact. If Harlow was going to let it get under her skin she could own that problem as hers and hers alone. 

His shoulders raised, the gesture as cavalier and taciturn as the stoic expression hardening his features. “Is it stupid?” he countered dispassionately. “I assumed my beta was safe on your front porch. You’re the one who said she wasn’t, and if that’s true,” Cade shrugged. A critical glint glimmered in his eyes while his face stayed as unreadable as ever. “It’d be stupid not to question the handle you have of the situation here. I wasn’t insulting you, Harlow. Just stating that I expect Jordan to be as safe out there as she would be at my side because you wouldn’t let an innocent girl get hurt, unprovoked, on your doorstep.”

Their unyielding gazes were locked together. Caden’s voice was level, calm, and cold as winter when he finished with a prompting, “Would you?”

A sigh expelled through his nostrils and his shoulders slumped, bored. He fought the urge to roll his eyes by clenching his teeth when she claimed he had nerve. He did. More than she’d ever guess, truth be told. But his refusal to give her a PowerPoint presentation on what had brought him back to Roseville, and what he’d do now that he was here, wasn’t about nerve. It just wasn’t her fucking business. Plain and simple. 

“I’m passing through your territory,” he rebuked mater-of-factly, stony-eyed as he held her gaze. “Which means it doesn’t concern you at all. If I was setting down roots in the Outskirts it’d be your problem. Since I’m not, it isn’t. If it was, I’d tell you otherwise.” That much was true. Cold as he was being with her, Caden wouldn’t intentionally endanger the Crescents.

Another jerk of his shoulders met her last question. “I guess you don’t,” was his answer, and it was the only answer he could give her. Cade was pretty sure that whatever slaughtered his pack wasn’t going to circle back for more. If it was, it would have finished the job already. God knows it had plenty of opportunity between Vermont and here. Plus if it was still hunting him down, keeping Harlow out of the loop kept her and her pack safe. 

If Caden hadn’t been holding onto Max’s shirt, the beta would have been stumbling backwards from the force of the punches. Every punch was worst than the previous but Max tried to stay calm. Tried to keep control over his own temper so that Caden could get some of his out. It was hard for Max, considering the first punch made his body want to react drastically.

The cracking of bones filled his ears, and he wondered if it was his face or Caden’s hand that was breaking. Moments later, pain shot through his whole face, making him realize that even if Caden’s hand broke, so did Max’s face. The pain made Max cringe, trying to get away from Caden’s fist that was rearing back once more. Max needed to stop this or else his face wouldn’t be able to be fixed. His quick reflexes reacted and he wrapped his fingers around Caden’s wrist.

Max’s face was screaming in pain as he maneuvered Cade so that he was pressed onto the bar counter, face plastered on the surface of the bar. He fought against the pain, forcing himself to focus on what was happening. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold Caden down for long, considering his Alpha status. But he needed to hold him there until Cade at least stopped going at him.

With his hand gripping Caden’s wrist and arm tightly behind his back, Max knew that he could easily break his brother’s arm. He could get payback from Caden destroying his face. But Max didn’t want to keep going. The tit for tat game would go on and on and they would never get to some sort of compromise. Max wanted a compromise. A truce. Something where they weren’t constantly angry at one another. 

Max’s thoughts were interrupted when he felt something hit him in the foot and he lost his balance. His hands slipped from Caden to try to regain it, shuffling his feet, when Caden slammed into him and Max stumbled backwards. His body hit a nearby chair, threatening to cause him to fall down, when his brother’s fist grabbed at his shirt once again. 

He grunted and let out a hiss when Caden shoved Max into the bar, his back connecting with the edge of the counter. “All right!” Max’s voice was raised and he put his hands up as if showing his brother that he surrenders. “I will stay away from her.” He promised as he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Every movement of his jaw shot electric pain throughout every nerve in his face and he groaned as he placed a hand over the length of his face. “Fuck.” 

His breath was ragged as the pain continued. The pain was almost as bad as when he turned into wolf form. Not exactly the same, but it was similar. Fuck, Caden was strong. He turned towards the bar, keeping his head down before shaking his head. “No.” Was all he said to answer the barkeep. 

He snatched the ice pack from the guy and placed it on his face. Max wanted to used his fingers to assess his face, but he was too nervous to see what bones had broke. He knew for sure that his nose was broken, but it felt like so much more than that. 

Max moved and sat down next to Caden, grabbing his drink and downing it quickly. He needed more than just one drink if he was going to numb the pain in his face. The ice pack was hardly doing anything for him. “A bottle.” Max muttered. “And a towel.” He tasted his own blood and he could feel the liquid oozing down his face. Every time he spoke, or tried to open his jaw and stretch his face, he could feel odd movement underneath his skin. Like bones scraping together. 

When the barkeep brought the towel, Max removed the ice pack and set it aside while dabbing his face with the rough fabric. He coughed and spat into the towel, trying to get as much of his own blood out of his mouth as he could. “Fuck dude, you know my face is my money maker.” Max groaned as he placed the towel over his face. “You couldn’t have picked another place to punch?” 

Two hands came up and Max said what Caden needed to hear in order to be fully able to let his hostility go. If his brother had chosen now to be a contrary pain in the ass, he’d have had no problem driving this lesson the rest of the way home. Nothing said ‘message received’ like a little internal bleeding and a coma. Max using his head metaphorically rather than literally erased the need for things to go that far. 

Cade wasn’t too pissed to be impressed. Only a few days in town and he was back just in time to see some personal growth with his own two eyes. Their mother would be so proud.

The thought of her chased away everything that wasn’t numb detachment. Without further acknowledging Max, he strode to the bar and claimed the seat still standing. Only a portion of his attention was focused on his brother’s interaction with the barkeeper, waiting to see if Max would call the cops on him like a pansy, even though Cade knew in his gut that he wouldn’t have. No matter how bad shit got between them, it stayed between them. Always. They settled their business like men... Well, more like wolves, but that was biology and not something either of them could help. Aggression came with the territory. 

As he nursed the whiskey in his glass, he stretched the ache out of his fingers a frowned at the blisters on his knuckles. The impact scraped off tattooed flesh and he sighed a churlish sound at the thought of having to get it touched up again. Were the tattoo anywhere else he’d have done it himself. 

Thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the toppled over bar stool scuffing the floor as it was set upright again, then it groaning under Max’s weight as he settled in beside him. After downing the glass in front of him in a swig, his brother ordered a bottle and Caden held up two fingers to double that order. The bartender moved his glower from Cade onto Max and shook his head. 

“You need an doctor and an MRI, my man,” advised the man behind the bar, who didn’t immediately move to fetch the ordered bottles and towel. 

Caden huffed an amused exhale and when the human’s sharp glare landed on him again, he assured the man, “He’s fine.” When the man’s eyes narrowed so did Cade’s and his glare won the staring contest in the half second it took for the human to break his gaze and look away. “Just bring the man his towel before he bleeds all over your bar.”

The bartender left without further argument and Cade watched his back with a hard glare as he lifted his cup back to his mouth for another swig. Slowly the dead silence that had settled over the dive began to lift as conversation started back up and someone turned on the television over the bar. The bar tender returned with a bottle of Jack in each hand, and a fresh towel flung over his shoulder. Once a Jack Daniels was set down in front of each of them he removed the towel from its perch and handed it off to Max. The man left them for another one of his patrons and Cade got the feeling they wouldn’t be getting more by way of service from him for the rest of the night. 

Glancing back at Max when he started talking, a smirk tugged at the edge of his mouth and he exhaled an amused breath. Yeah, he was aware that Max’s ugly mug made regulars out of soccer moms and lonely house wives at Shifters. Shame that it didn’t make him feel bad about knocking his teeth loose. Setting his cup down on the coaster, he stared sidelong at Max and admired his own handiwork. His shoulder jerked, unconcerned. 

“I don’t know, Max,” started Cade, still smirking that impassive and impersonal smirk. “The whole ‘swollen and leaking tomato’ look suits you. Besides, you know how women get all weak in the knees for butterfly bandages and some bruising. I did your ‘money maker’ a favor.”

A final swig saw his glass empty and Caden reached for one of the unopened bottles of Jack. The plastic tore off and was tossed onto the bar top as he commented, “Besides, I figured the best way to get anything through that thick skull of yours was through the front.” His smirk spread further across his mouth as he first poured some whiskey into Max’s cup before topping off his own.

maxxclayborn‌:

nicholasxshinko‌:

callofxthewild‌:

One simple sentence. Jordan did not want to go. It wasn’t because of her dislike for Harlow or any of her pack at all. It was for the whole situation altogether. She didn’t know them–and yes she was aware that was how you got to know someone by spending time with them, but one to one was unpredictable and stressful enough right now, without adding a room of them. 

So when they pulled up in the truck and the engine was turned off, the young wolf inhaled slowly and calmly before turning her attention to Cade. “Dinner that’s all. I got this. Nice food…free food…pleasant conversation and not one kill you as you stand look from either of them….”  Even though apprehension coursed through her veins, Jordan was injecting a little humour to try and lighten things, if only to help her own nervousness about it. 

Reaching down and grabbing the bag of booze, Jordan swung the door open and slowly slid out of the vehicle. Looking at the building, she swallowed thickly.

“Was this mandatory?…I mean if not I think I will just go wait in the truck and listen to some music, you can bring me something out later.”

Again, she was joking–kind of anyway, but the reassurance he offered by putting his arm around her was enough to not bring on too many nerves. If all of this was done by Harlow with no ulterior motive, then Jordan had to admire her a little for that because she didn’t have to. 

“It’s going to freakin’ grand ain’t it….”

Her expression and words didn’t represent what went on behind her eyes and she knew this, but panicking before they’d even entered the building, was something she was hellbent on not doing. Cade’s behaviour helped though, especially when he ruffled her hair and had the young wolf ducking slightly out of his way. 

“Hey…do you know how long it took me to do that?….all of…a minute maybe.”

She gave a lopsided smirk and ran her fingers through her hair whilst he knocked on the door, but nodded seriously at his words. She was reluctant to talk about what had happened with anyone else anyway. 

“Okay….”

She watched him try the doorbell and then gave him a nudge in the ribs.

“I don’t think they’re in…shall we go?”

@nicholasxshinko​

If there was a word that could even begin to suggest Nicholas’ feelings about the summons, it was uuuuuuuuuuuuugggghhh! If there were two? That, followed by a resounding no.

Technically, technically, getting to where the dinner was happening wouldn’t take him more than five minutes. Short distance, long legs, the math was simple. Was he going to get there in the estimated time? Nope. No. Not at all.

Why the hell would he arrive on time, much less early, to be around people who didn’t like him? Not that he had given them much of a chance, but still.

After a seventh or eighth languid walk around maybe nine or ten blocks, Nicholas came to face the right direction with a sullen expression. It wasn’t that he had just lost his fifth round on Smash Ultimate (a little of that), but that he could see, could even hear others arriving. Two, one of whom tried the door then the bell itself.

Fishing out his phone, he ducked around a corner and decided he could walk around the blocks a few more times in the opposite direction. Hey, he texted Harlow. Can’t make it. Cough cough. Very sick. Considering it was Harlow, he didn’t guess she would buy it. Their species almost guaranteed it.

Worth a shot, though.. right?

“May I remind you that you’re the one that called everyone to this dinner.” Max chuckled as he walked over to Harlow, wrapping his arms around her from the back. “It could have just been me and you…” He leaned his head down to press a kiss to her neck. “Having dinner together and then seeing where the night led.” He smirked before pulling his head up and then kissed the top of her head. “It’ll be fine. It’ll be great.” He said, a smile on his lips as he moved away from her. 

He knew that it might not be great, or fine. He hadn’t seen Caden since the other punched him, and Max hadn’t seen Jordan since he almost made her turn. Caden had even specifically told him to stay away from her. This dinner was definitely breaking that promise. And then Nicholas. Well, Max couldn’t actually remember the last time he had hung out with him, honestly. Unless he was going to him to relay orders from Ben or Harlow.

When Max heard a knock on the door he moved to open it and then paused. “Is this a good time to tell you that Caden told me, specifically, to stay away from Jordan?” Max asked, an amused grin plastered on his face as he glanced towards his Alpha. A chuckled escaped his lips before he heard the doorbell ring. “Hold on tight, Harlow. This might be a bumpy ride.” He winked at her before grabbing the door handle and pulling the door open. 

“Welcome to my humble abode.” He forced a smile as he saw Caden and Jordan. He glanced around them, frowning slightly. “Where’s Nicholas?” Max asked as he moved out of the way so that the two could come in. 

@harlowxkhatri​

Harlow rolled her eyes at him, “Believe me, I’m aware. As painful as it’s going to be, it needs to happen.” She closed her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her waist. A small smile crept onto her face, “I know, I know. It would be much more enjoyable than this. If we survive tonight, we’ll do dinner tomorrow. I promise.” She took another deep breath as he began to move away, “I hope you’re right.”

The Alpha’s ears perked up at the sound of knocking and ringing the doorbell, Jesus, who’s this eager to start? she thought to herself. Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone buzzing with a text from Nicholas. Harlow scoffed before replying, Ha ha. Nice try. You have five minutes to get here before I send Max to find you. Which meant the wolves at the door were Caden and Jordan. 

One of Harlow’s eyebrows shot up in concern as Max conveniently just told her what he had promised Caden. She threw her hands up in the air, “Well, don’t talk to her then because there will not be another fight where I have to clean up either of you.” Absolute worst case scenario, she’d throw them outside and step in only if they were about to kill each other. 

Hearing Max ask where Nicholas was, she stepped into the entryway with the three of them, speaking calmly once more, “Late. I let him know that if he wasn’t here within five minutes, you,” she pointed to Max, “would go retrieve him.” Turning her attention to Caden and Jordan, she put on a smile, “Thank you for coming.”

@cadelehane​

A light scoff left his nostrils when Jordan wondered if tonight’s dinner was mandatory. “Kinda,” he answered with a half cocked simper as an arm draped over her shoulders and they walked toward the front porch together. “Harlow said it wasn’t optional, but she has no authority over me or you, so.” Caden shrugged a shoulder in a careless, amused gesture. 

“But, since I’ve decided to humor her, for you, yes, this is mandatory.” His arm around her shoulders shook her a bit as he drawled out a teasing, “Come on, Jor. It’ll be fun. You, me, a bag full of booze and a table full of food, surrounded by people you don’t know and I don’t trust. What could go wrong?” A lot, actually, considering everyone who was about to be gathered under a single roof. But Jordan didn’t have to worry about that. Not when he’d stand between her and anything that made her feel even remotely threatened.

Another chuckle grated out of him and he bobbed his head in curt agreement. “Grand,” he parroted, smirking. “Let’s set the bar a little lower, eh? It’s gonna be a night, we’ll play the rest by ear.” With a huff of amusement he ruffled her hair and grinned at her protest. When she tried to duck from under his arm to avoid the continued mussing of her hair, he pulled her tighter to his side and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. 

Jordan was released as they stepped up to the front door. His shoulder met the molding and his arms folded in front of him as he waited for someone to come answer his knocking. A slight quirk at the corner of his mouth met her easy acquiescence of his instructions. Vermont, their pack, their purpose in town, none of it was going to be table talk tonight. Cade knew that Jordan didn’t open up easily, if at all, but reassurance was welcome anyway. 

Another smirk was sent her way when she observed that the delay meant no one was home and they were free to go. Before he could grab her by the scruff to keep her from high tailing for the truck the door opened to reveal Max on the other side of the threshold. The humor waned from his expression a bit at the sight of his brother, hackles rising a bit at his proximity to Jordan. The instinct to move in front of her and stand between them was one he beat back, even as he narrowed his eyes on Max a bit, a warning in the squint of his eyes that he didn’t bother putting to words. Though Max’s “money maker” was good as new, he wasn’t likely to have forgotten what compelled Caden to rearrange his face in the first place. 

At his brother’s question, he muttered, “What the fuck is a Nicholas?” and shouldered past him into the house. A nod greeted Harlow who informed them that her stray wolf was running late and under threat of being hunt down by Max if he didn’t make an appearance in the next five minutes. 

Cade’s inhale filled his lungs with the scents of food and a heady something else. He cocked an eyebrow before flickering his focus between Max and Harlow, an ember of humor sparking behind his eyes as a smirk fought for a foothold on his mouth. Muttering a meaningful, yet inexpressive, “You’ve been busy.” Gaze settling on his brother a large part of him wished things weren’t so tense between them. Under better circumstances there would’ve been affectionate hazing. Circumstances being what they were, Cade left it alone. 

With a nod for Jordan to hand the bag over to their hostess, he said, “We brought booze. When can we eat?” 

This wasn’t her, she didn’t get like this. Willow was ever the calm in a raging storm, the one to quell emotions, not fuel them. But here and now? With her love returned and the world at her feet, she wanted to scream at the injustice of it all. Of having to lose everything she’d ever loved not once but twice, of being left alone to fend for herself in a world as cruel as this.

He left her, and her heart was broken. Without him in her life, there was nothing. No hope, no joy, no excitement. There was only her fingers between her thighs beneath the sheets and the pained cries of his name on her lips as her mind and body became overwhelmed by the memory of a love that once was.

She held onto him, onto the history they shared. When Willow had been at her lowest of lows, she thought back to any one of the blissful moments over their thirty-year run. A lifetime for mere humans, a blink of an eye for her. Though they did not live as long as the Vampires, two hundred years was more than double the life of most… and to think that a quarter of that was simply lost as he walked this earth without her, broke not just her heart but every part of her being, as well.

Still, she held on. Every day, Willow told herself he would be back. He had to be. They were kismet, destiny, the king and queen of hearts in the hand dealt by fate. You could not have one without the other, and that invisible tether would bring them back to each other once again. Even if it meant packing what little she owned and going in search for him, herself.

What she hadn’t expected, was this. To be greeted with a mirror image, the broken shell of a man who had so clearly lost everything he’d ever cared for. Well, almost everything. Still- she recognized the pain. Knew it intimately. Not in the way that an Empath could feel as others felt, but in the way that she too had walked this same, broken path. She took had seen the cruelty of fate, watching as all you loved was destroyed and knowing that there was absolutely nothing you could do to change it.

She was tired of arguing. The issue came with their personalities. Willow cared too deeply, wearing her heart on her sleeve and willingly offering it up to anyone who wanted to take a stab at it’s soft centre. Caden, hardened by life and all he’d had to endure, filled with the kind of pride that came with being a man of his stature.

He wouldn’t see her side, wouldn’t see in this moment right now that she thought him not as a coward, or a man scared of his destiny. She thought of him as a brave man, one who was faced with the unthinkable and decided to walk away instead of disgrace his pack. In so many ways, she was proud of him. Her pain came not from his actions, but of his leaving her.

Even though she understood why, she couldn’t shake the heartache. Even though she had quite literally done exactly as he had- though it wasn’t quite like him. Where he ran to save his pack, she ran to save herself. If anything, Willow had been the coward.

In retrospect, she wondered if the bulk of the weight on her shoulders came from that single strain of thought. It was one she’d never uttered out loud, not even to Caden. The man who knew every drop of her deepest, darkest, secrets knew not of this one. She wished she’d died with her parents that day, instead of disappearing into the Horizon.

Again, that Bitch called fate had intervened, had brought her to him, and she found something worth living for again, someone worth fighting for. Even now, after all of these years, she’d fight for him. For what they had put on pause the day he left. It had merely been waiting for this moment, for someone to stoke the fire and reignite the flames. She felt them, even now, as she stood before him. Felt the hot coil of her love burning in her core.

When she could no longer stand the distance between them, and the painful, verbal sparring match they’d been sharing, she had flung herself at her wolf. Unsure of the reception and yet so inherently grateful at the way strong, thick arms wrapped themselves around her smaller frame. He crushed her to his washboard chest, and she felt every bit of achingly hard muscle beneath her as she nuzzled against him.

He smelled exactly as she remembered him. All intoxicating strength and natural masculinity. Like fresh rain seeping into cold wood in the autumn. The dark spices of his bonding scent had already begun to emanate from within, seeping into her skin like a permanent stain that needed to be reinforced.

He didn’t respond to her hard words, even though she expected him to lash out again.

He did in a way, just not the way she’d been expecting. The tattooed hand, printed with a stunning open rose, inked to his beautifully tanned canvas in honour of her, lifted to the nape of her neck. Cade’s lips crushed against her own in a world-shattering kiss. The kind that moved mountains and shifted the earth off it’s axis.

Small arms tightened around his neck as she melted against his body even more. Though they were connected from head to toe, it wasn’t enough. Her body yearned for him, and as her fingers tangled in his hair, and the tips splayed across the thick ropes of muscle running down his neck, she inadvertently transferred all the emotions she felt through to him.

Though he could smell her already, their connection forced him to feel her love, her need, her sheer desperation for the alpha wrapped so tight around her. Their union was like the dark clouds of a looming storm had parted to make way for the glorious rays of sunlight. It told you that somehow, everything would be okay, that the world was right once again.

Deepening the kiss, Willow moaned softly, teeth finding his lower lip as she bit down. A subtle attempt to bring her alpha back to the fore. She needed his wolf now, more than ever. Needed him to cease all thought, to forget his worries and let everything around them fade away until there was nothing left but them, right there in that moment. Forever more.

 Her man was home, and he deserved a proper greeting.

There was nothing left to say. By the look in Willow’s wide hazel eyes, he knew that there was no use in talking. He was a stubborn bastard when he wanted to be, and she could dig her heels in with the best of them. They could talk in circles all night, and get nowhere, or they could drop the pretense and just let go. After everything in Vermont, after visiting the pack house, and running into Max, all Caden wanted to do was let go and be with her. 

So he wound his arms around her slender waist and crushed her against his chest. Cade buried his face in her neck and inhaled that familiar chamomile and cinnamon scent. His hand slid up her spine, between her shoulder blades, over her nape and into her hair. He held her by the base of her skull, fingers twined within the silken strands of lush caramel, and pulled her closer still. Not a sliver of light could pass between them, and it was nowhere near close enough. 

With her tiny frame pinned against him, he felt every second of the last fifty years bear down on him. Gravity became crushing, the force of it knocking the air out of his lungs and atomizing fortified walls that kept safe that too delicate thing that barely passed off as heart. The hand splayed on the small of her back pulled her tight against him. The fingers in her hair curled. 

Cade pulled her head back by the tendrils tangled in his fist and stared into those expressive rings of hazel. He didn’t know how to tell her that he’d never leave her behind again, not when his words meant so little. But he could show her, and she’d know in her heart that the next time he went anywhere without her was when his soul left his body. Even then, he’d never stray far from her ever again. 

Their lips met in a collision of cosmic inevitability. It shook loose that which had already been broken. Leveled walls turned to dust. A fragile heart came alive with a light unfelt in half a century. A groan rumbled up from the base of his throat as he was reminded of just how soft her lips were. Cade could live a vampire’s lifespan and never find another pair like hers, or another female that had half the effect on him as she did. 

The longer they kissed the more it felt as though an effervescent glow was spreading through his nervous system with his each accelerated heartbeat. He knew what it was, that vibrant firelight that caught on the kindling of his red blood cells. It was Willow pouring all that she felt and all that she was into the connection of their locked lips. Warmth bloomed from the center of his chest. The sun was caught between his rib cage and each solar flare burned away the doubts he’d come with. 

Willow was his. Nothing had changed that. Not distance. Not time. Not the brutal onslaught of life’s adversities. She was his, and tonight he’d reclaim what had always --would always-- belonged to him. 

Max stood in his dining room, glancing towards his mother’s long wooden dining room table. There had been many family dinners there, once upon a time. Now, not so much. But he missed it. He mostly missed his parents being there and his brothers and sister all gathered around the table to have dinner. Now these were just fond memories. Ones that didn’t cross his mind very often.

The Heir Apparently still couldn’t believe that Harlow had called a pack dinner and invited Caden and Jordan. Max hadn’t seen Caden since he had punch him in the bar. Granted, they talked a little bit after, and Willow had even used her ability to show Max how Caden had felt, but still. Caden had told Max to stay away from Jordan but if they were both in the house together, that was kind of impossible. Max couldn’t help but still wary around his brother. He wished it could go back to normal overnight but sadly, that would never happen.

He walked to the kitchen and grabbed the plates and the utensils, moving back to the dining room and setting the plates and silverware around the table. He was trying to help Harlow set up as much as he could. He didn’t want her to have to do everything on her own. 

Max glanced towards the clock that hung on the wall. The pack, as well as Caden and Jordan, should be there any minute. He heard footsteps coming up behind him and his lips tugged up into a smile. “Are you nervous?” He asked as he glanced over his shoulder at Harlow. “You know that once they walk in, they’ll automatically know what we’ve been up to.”

@harlowxkhatri

This was a stupid idea. Why on earth did Harlow think it would be smart to invite the pack and Caden and Jordan to dinner? She needed to mend all the fissures that were quickly forming between them all. If anything, the wolves needed to be allies now more than ever. 

Harlow could cook a mean meal, well Max helped. Laid out on the table was a variety of things, steak, steamed vegetables, rolls, and mashed potatoes and gravy. She knew the appetite of wolves was immense, even during times of discomfort which was how she suspected the night was going to go.

Max had taken the rest of the cutlery out to the dining room and Harlow made sure nothing was left in the kitchen. Noticing the time, she walked towards Max who had just finished setting the table. “I’m not going to even bother saying no, because you’d know I was lying.” She sighed, “Honestly, that is the least of my worries. I’m going to focus on keeping everyone from murdering each other.” This was going to be a stressful night.

Neither Harlow or Max had been discrete in their mutual verbal excavations for answers. They wanted to know why he was back in town, and his refusal to fess up was frustrating. Whatever this dinner was tonight, it was likely to lead to more questions they had no business asking and he had no interest answering. This is gonna be good, he grumbled to himself before glancing over to the passenger seat to the uncomfortable looking female beside him. 

“Hey,” he said, grabbing her attention and offering her a comforting, half-cocked smile. What he said was, “it’s just dinner.” What he meant was ‘I’ve got you, kid.’ Nothing was going to happen tonight. Not to her. 

With a nod to the bags on the floor of the cab at her feet he said, “Grab the booze. We’re gonna need them,” then threw open his door to step out of the truck. Glancing over the C-10′s hood to Jordan, he offered her another reassuring smirk as they converged in front of the grill. An arm went around her shoulders and he tucked her into his side in a brotherly embrace, mussing her hair as they walked up to the front door. 

To the young beta he advised, “We’re here for the food and to hear Harlow out on whatever the fuck it is that made her think it was a good idea to shove us all under the same roof.” Once they were on the front porch, he dropped his arm from around her shoulders and rapped is knuckles against the door before leaning on the frame beside it. “Vermont and what brought us here is none of their business. It stays between you and me.” 

When the door took too long to open Cade tried the doorbell.