CHAPTER 30

CAINES POV

“Tomorrow, don’t be late,” I almost choked on my pretense the moment I heard my girlfriend's voice. “Lucy,” I called her, shifting my gaze from Jasmine with what I hoped was a neutral expression. She was standing at the end of the corridor, hands colder with a brow corked.

“I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?”

“Lucy,” Jasmine chirped in before I could give a response. She hurried past me and pulled her into a hug. “You got us worried. Are you feeling good now?” She asked, pulling away and scanning Lucy’s body.

The smile that played around Lucy’s lip looked fake, forced. But dge managed to maintain it until she was done talking with Jasmine.

“You look exhausted. Has Caine been stressing you,” she glanced at me.

“No, Caine and I only had a hectic day. We urm.,,we saw…”

“Jasmine,” I had to cut her short. We weren’t supposed to talk about it until we were sure of what we were dealing with. “Head to your room, I’ll like a word with Lucy,” I ordered, forcing the mean attitude out.

I saw the way it hurt her, the tone I used on her. But I believe she understood, so she simply buried her head and walked away. I inched closer to Lucy and kissed her. But instead, my mind drifted back to my kiss with Jasmine and the taste of her lips.

“What’s going on? You’re becoming distant and now I’m seeing you standing in a corridor alone with her?”

I exhaled heavily, running my hands through my hair as I pulled her into a hug. “You’re imagining things, Lucy. By the way didn’t you dare me to do something?”

“Yeah..I did. But I didn't fall in love with her. She’s manipulative, and a bitter person. And I wouldn’t want anyone…”

“Hey, hey, hey,” I had to cut her short, kissing her again. “No one is falling in love with anyone here, okay? You have nothing to worry about,” I assured her and took her hand.

“Tomorrow the training begins. But before then, I might have to meet with my father. There has been a massacre in the woods. Dead humans scattered all over the land. Jas…,” I almost involved her, but then Lucy would know we were together.

“I believe we have a new threat. The Seekers,”

“The Seekers?” She sounded scared and surprised.

“Yeah, that’s all I can say for tonight. Go have your rest, Luce. I’ll be with you by dawn tomorrow,” I kissed her forehead and her lips. I stood in the corridor, watching her retire to her room before I started making my way up the stairs.

I arrived jasmine's room, and for a second I thought I heard her crying. I knocked. “Jasmine,” I called with a whisper. There was no response, and my heart fluttered. What if they had taken her again? “Jasmine?” I knocked twice again.

“What do Caine want?” Her voice cracked from the other side of the door. I reached my pocket and took out her list of offenders from my pocket, then I slid it through the space above the door.

“You forgot this,” I said. I heard her footsteps approach, then she picked it. “Are you…crying?”

“Good night Caine,” she dismissed.

“Jasmine,” I called her back, hoping she would stop listening, and she did. “Thank you…for today,” I added. I waited to get a response, instead I only heard her returning to her bed. I retire to my room, my mind blur with thoughts.

This was becoming more than a dare to me. My wolf was growling restless and uncomfortable at some point and I could only guess the disaster waiting at the end of the road after all this.

How are the expecting me to hurt my mate?

******

The next morning, I couldn’t shake the memory of Jasmines’ kiss as I prepared for the meeting. My wolf was restless, his instincts fixed on her.

“Focus,” I muttered to myself, buttoning my shirt. “The Seekers are the priority now. Whatever was between me and Jasmine could wait—if it even existed. My phone beeped, it was a text from my dad telling me the pack guardians and the cops needed eyewitnesses.

We were working with the cops now because humans were involved—so that meant another day to disguise.

A knock came on my door and Jasmine walked in, escorted by a student.

“Thank you, Eliana,” I thanked the girl whom I had sent earlier to call Jasmine. “My dad wants us at the scene of the incident,” I announced.

“What? That’s a deadman’s land, Caine. We can’t possibly be going back there,” she objected.

“You have nothing to fear, we’ll be with the cops and the pack guardians,”

“But I have to show up at the diner today,”

“You will,” I tossed a leather jacket at her as I made my way out. “Let’s go”.

I drove down the same path we had taken the night ago, and I already saw the police vans from a distance. When we arrived, I walked up to the scene with her and was given access at my fathers orders.

“This…is more serious than you made it sound last night Caine,” my dad said.

“I know. I just didn’t have the right words to describe it,” I replied. I looked at the officer who was interrogating Jasmine. That didn’t look good from my angle. We hadn’t taught her how to handle a human interrogation.

I walked to where they were but the officer dismissed her immediately.

“What did he say?” I asked.

“He believes the cause of this is still hanging around somewhere here,”

A whistle was blown, alerting the rest of the cops and the dogs. We all followed the found and emerged at some part of the woods where I found Jasmine last night.

A pack guard was crouched at the base of the tree, sniffing the sand he’d picked up. The police began to discuss in low tones while the wolf guard approached us.

“This was the doing of a wolf. Was there someone else, a wolf precisely beside the two of you here last night?” He asked. I tried to think, but there was no one coming into my thoughts.

“None I can think of,” I answered.

“Bryan,” Jasmine mentioned. “Bryan was here with us last night, and he’s the only one capable of doing such,” she added, staring at the guard. The wolf guard and my father exchanged glances before he was given a command.

“Find Bryan,” my father ordered.

*******