THE MORNING

I woke up late with a full headache and the memories of last night.

When I tried to stand up from my bed my head felt heavy. My mum would always tell me to take a cold bathe whenever I felt a headache so that was what I was going to do.

I took off my clothes from last night and remembered I had sunk into my bed and let a few silent tears drop before succumbing to sleep.

It was the wine because why would I cry because Caine was in bed with another woman.

I flung the clothes to one side of the bed and walked to the bathroom.

Turning on the shower, I let it run over my body. From my head to my feet I felt myself relaxing and the groggy feeling of sleep slowly washing away.

The memory of Caine and Tatiana flashed through my head and I froze. The way his hands moved across her body came into my head. I hated that man.

I sighed, I wasn’t going to think about that I needed to be happy and prepared to move out of this house. Be focused on being happy with Tristan today and be thankful I wouldn’t be seeing Caine everyday after tomorrow.

After the shower, my head still had a low thud and I knew I had to ask Megan for some aspirin.

I dried my hair as fast as I could and put on a sweat shirt and some pants I took from my dad’s things.

As I headed downstairs I could hear some giggling. Megan don’t sound like that.

Tatiana was still here. In the one week I spent here with the Kingston’s she I had never seen her with the others who stopped for breakfast. Why was she here?

I went inside the kitchen and met Megan flipping some pancakes and David squeezing juice out of some oranges and saying something to his wife, while Tatiana sat close to Caine giggling at whatever she was telling him. Caine sat stoic.

I tried to enter the kitchen silently but it was loud enough for everybody to stop what they were doing to look at me.

I’m conscious of his eyes burning through me the moment I step into the kitchen. I’m aware of his eyes watching me and studying me thoughtfully. There’s something different in the way he’s looking at me this morning

Be nice, smile, act like you were not bothered by yesterday.

“Hey honey, I’ve been waiting for forever for you” Megan spoke up and it was obvious her bubbly spirit was all over the place this morning.

“I slept in late” I fix my self on a chair in the dinning table.

“I know you had enough fun yesterday so sit down and have some breakfast” David said and Megan got a plate set to dish me some pancakes. I couldn’t help but notice how In sync there were’ like my parents.

“What did you do with you hair, you look like you came straight out of a New York magazine” David chipped in trying to lift my dull morning spirit up and I found myself smiling.

“Oh stop it David, don’t mind him hazel he’s always had an fake infatuation with hair” Megan hit him playfully on the shoulder.

“It is beautiful, look at the curls and the way it shines” I knew he was pushing to get a reaction from his wife.

“When do you know so much about female hair”

I smiled at their playful back and forth and the way the always looked in love every time.

“Dad’s not lying, her hair looks beautiful”

The whole kitchen went into silence

David looked at Caine, and his eyebrow went up questioningly

Megan looked back and forth between me and Caine

Tatiana looked shocked and she scowled at me and put her hand around Caine shoulders at that moment.

It was Caine who spoke up, Caine complimented my hair.

As he stared at me and I remember how his eyes looked at me yesterday night when he had another woman on top of him.

I wasn’t going to say anything to him, I wanted to roll my eyes at him but my head reminded me of my headache and closed my eyes in pain.

“Are you alright honey” Megan noticed my discomfort.

“I just have a hangover, do you have an aspirin”

“I’m sorry, I’ll get it for you from my room” Megan turned off the cooker and headed upstairs.

At the stairs she called out “David I might be needing some help”

“Coming madame” He stopped what he was doing and went out for her almost immediately.

As his Luna he was bound love her the way he did, and boy he did every moment and made sure to show the world.

Without Megan and David the kitchen was quiet.

“Did you have a good show last night” Tatiana spoke up breaking the silence. She took her glass of juice and sipped, prepared for drama.

“Cut it out Tatiana”

I tried avoiding looking at them so when Caine spoke up I was surprised.

“You wished that was you, huh”? She looked pointedly at me wanted me to react. I looked like a doe in headlights.

“Do you have wax in your ears?” Caine growled at her. I could hear the animal side of him in the warning.

With damp hair, over side T-shirt and a raging headache, I was no match for this beautiful angry woman, that looked like she didn’t even sleep at all.

Perfect hair, nice satin pajamas, well manicured nails and a symmetrical laid face.

I looked to Caine and saw him looking back at me In a challenging way like he was telling me to stand up for myself.

“You sounded like a horse” I said and stood up to pour myself some of the orange juice David was squeezing.

Tatiana gasped.

Caine tried to conceal a smile.

“Screw you” Tatiana said angrily and slammed her glass cup on the table. It was a surprise it didn’t break.

Leslie picked that moment to pop into the kitchen. We were so engrossed in our drama that we didn’t hear her car pull up the driveway.

Tatiana humphed at the sight of Leslie and stomped out of the kitchen almost bumping into Leslie.

“Well someone’s got their panties up in a twist this morning ” Leslie chuckled

“Hello Caine” she waved admiration written all over her face.

“Hey Les how’s Kyla and beany penny” he sounded calm talking to Leslie.

“It’s been long I had a play date with penny” Megan said addressing Leslie and bursting into the kitchen with her hair a little bit scattered like she just did something with her man .

“They both doing great. Kyla is off to work and penny is at school”

“Here honey” Megan passed me the aspirin tablet and a glass of water.

I told her thanks and swallowed the drug immediately.

“Well look who had a fun time yesterday” Leslie was smiling at me.

“I have a date today” I said feeling giddy.

“Ohhhh, with who?” Megan sat ready to get all the details

“Tristan” I said meekly.

Megan and Leslie both did an ohhhh and said “I told you so “ in unison.

“You guys have been talking behind me back, I can’t believe this” I pretended to look shocked.

“I mean we both saw it coming” Leslie shrugged and that made me wonder how obvious have I been with him.

Caine grunted from where he sat listening to us, he was back with his usual scowl and a crease in his forehead and looked engrossed in his phone.

“Caine are you free today?” Megan asked him almost immediately.

“I have a meeting with the elders” with that he stood up abruptly and kissed Megan on the forehead and left the kitchen almost looking angry.

“So tell us about What you’ve been up to with Tristan”

****

By noon I was sitting in my room waiting for Tristan’s call.

I was putting on an off shoulder floral print lace up ruffled hem layered maxi dress, and I paired them with some platform wedges and a mini purse. I let my hair fall down and applied gloss and a little mascara.

My phone rang and Tristan’s name appeared on the screen.

“Hello”

“Hey brownie, I’m downstairs”

“Alright, I’ll be down in a second”

When the call ended I turned to Leslie in panic

“He’s here, do I look good enough”

“I feel like a proud mother” Leslie dabbed fake tears from her eyes. “You look exquisite” she said and blew me an air kiss.

“Stop that and let’s go” I laughed and playfully pushed Leslie out of the room.

When we got outside, Tristan was leaning against his truck going through his phone.

The sun shone on his freckled face and highlighted his prominent features, he was beautiful.

“I get to see these men everyday but my oh my” Leslie broke my ogling and I turned to her to see her ogling at him also.

“If you can’t have him can I have him?”

“Girl, do you forget you’re gay and happily married”

“Where do I get my fun if I don’t do this?” Leslies shrugged. She was crazy

I walked up to him leaving Leslie at the stairs.

“Hey”

“Hey brownie”

“Brownie?”

“The color of your eyes”

“Oh” he made me want to open my eyes more. It was only my dad who complimented my eyes.

“You ready?”

“Yeah”

He opened the passenger door and held his hand out for me.

“Thank you”

I sat down and settled to fasten my seatbelt

He went round to the drivers seat and entered.

I waved to Leslie as she looked on smiling happily and Tristan peeled out of the driveway.

Heading to town we engaged in small talks and I caught Tristan stealing glances every chance.

We arrived at this restaurant that looked too chic for my dress and Tristan’s white tee and plaid shirt.

“The Grande” I read the name of the place out loud

“I think I’m underdressed for this place” I said subconsciously straightening my dress.

My social anxiety was kicking in

“Hey” Tristan cooed and took my hand

I looked between him and the restaurant standing in front of us.

“You’re going to walk In there and you’ll see how you outshine every other person in there. You’re beautiful and you need to know that and besides you with me, I’m here”

His reassuring words had a way of warming my heart.

I was about to thank him and tell him how much his words seemed to calm me every-time before he said

“Besides Caine owns here, so we…” my heartbeat sky rocketed

“What?!!” I looked outside in alarm

“Relax, I left him at the meeting. He’s not here”

I relaxed a bit and breathed a sigh of relief.

He unbuckled his seatbelt and went round the truck to open my door. I inhaled and exhaled one more time before I took the hand he offered again.

We headed inside and went straight for our reserved table at End of the restaurant.

It was concealed and looked like where no one could bother us.

A hostess came to our table to take our other and she was all flirty towards Tristan. I felt no jealousy it was just amusing.

“She’ll have a smoked salmon bagel, Maine Lobster Benedict, a marinated steak for me and bottle of Moët champagne thank you”

I stared wide eyed at Tristan.

“Okay, Mr “I’m the beta”, you’re trying over feed me”

“The best for the best” he said smiling at me and stealing glances at my lips.

He was really being nice to me and I was feeling my heart beat twice faster.

“So we all see you don’t like Caine” this wasn’t how I expected our conversation to start.

I rolled my eyes, not happy Tristan brought him up in the middle of our date.

“He’s been a jerk to me since I came here what’s there to like about that”

Tristan laughed a little and said “He’s the Alpha, it’s his way of looking out for his pack. Although not the part you said he did with you, that’s annoying Caine, we only see him once a while”

“And when’s that”

“When he wants something he can’t have”

I wanted to ask more questions but the waitress brought our order and we went straight to dining and talking about other things.

Tristan forgot about the table manner rule and made me laugh till we were almost done with our food.

Midway a sentence, he paused and sighed loud enough I knew something was wrong.

Before I could ask what was wrong i looked up and I saw Caine from afar heading towards us with a bottle in his hand and a smirk on his face.

Tristan knew, he sensed him, smelt him.

I thought he had a meeting with the elders he talked about this morning, my heart raced four times faster.

I felt no fear but I couldn’t put a name on why my heart raced.

Tristan had stopped eating and was pouring himself some champagne.

I was frozen with my fork in my hand looking at this man who made me feel all things at once heading for our table and all eyes were on him.

“Hey diners” Caine grabbed a seat from another table sat his full frame in the empty chair and kept the bottle of Ciroc on the table still with a full blown smirk.

“How about we add a little spice to this” he dramatically waved his hand over the food and continued like he didn’t just interrupt a nice date we were having.

“What are you doing Caine” Tristan looked calm.

“Bringing fun, c’mon don’t be a Debby downer” he popped the bottle he brought and grabbed my wine flute and started filling it.

Signaling for another glass, he collected Tristan’s wine flute, poured the remaining of what Tristan was drinking into his mouth and topped it with the drink he brought.

I had lost my appetite and sat watching Caine in silent annoyance. He was obviously doing this to spite me.

His wine flute came and he hurriedly collected it with a thank you and poured his bottle’s content into it and handed it to Tristan.

I was surprised he still had some sense of politeness amidst this scene he was causing.

“Now people, let’s party” he said while looking at me. His smirk no longer there.

He looked at me with eyes that looked fiery.

“We don’t have all day, Tatiana’s waiting for me “ he dropped and turned to look at Tristan sinisterly.

This man had no one stopping him. It sparked something inside of me, jealousy I guess but not for Tristan, he was breathing heavily.

“I told you to stop using my sister as one of your play thing” Tristan was sitting stiff in a fight like stance.

It hit me, this was the reason why he refused to come inside the house yesterday, he didn’t want to hear his mateless sister get plowed by his best friend and Alpha.

“She keeps coming back” Caine continued. He was spoiling for a fight.

Tristan growled, If no one stepped in the Alpha and Beta of the Moonstone Pack were going to engage in a battle right now.

“Hey” I said softly and put my hand on Tristan’s “let’s go”

“That’s not gonna happen Hazel, our beta Tristan here has some work to do. Right Tristan?”

Tristan looked livid and I was angry as well. Why he crashed our date was a something I really wanted to know.

Tristan pulled out his hand out of my grasp forcefully while also standing up and his chair scrapped the floor loudly. Caine noticed that and his nostrils flared.

He wouldn’t let anyone hurt me but he was doing these things to irk me. What maths was that?

Tristan grabbed his keys and phone from the table and walked out of the restaurant.

I saw him sat inside his truck for a minute before pulling away. All these while he refused looking at me.

I was beginning to get sad.

“And you, you’re coming with me” Caine spoke up and stood up immediately he said that. I looked at our forgotten meal and noticed the eyes of everyone who had gone silent watching this drama Caine gave them.

I couldn’t argue, it was his place and he had the right to do whatever he wanted , I grabbed my purse and my phone off the table and wordlessly followed him.

I could feel these eyes of everyone burn into my back and I headed outside.

When we were out of the restaurant Caine headed straight for a sports car and I couldn’t help but applaud him in my head. He really prepared for this theatrics.

He stood by the passenger side and held the door open for me, I scoffed and walked to the car.

“So much for being a gentleman” I said when I was close enough for him to hear and sat inside the car.

He closed the door not as I expected but softly and in no time he was inside too.

Caine leaned over and for an instance he looked like he wanted to kiss me, but he grabbed my seatbelt and tucked me in. I was still stunned and angry to talk to him.

He turned on the car and peeled away from the restaurant, the way his hands moved on the steering and the way the veins popped out just made my core heat up.

The car was cool but I felt hot, my insides felt hot and my heart was beating twice. This wasn’t anger, it was need. I hated this man but my body wanted him.

“What was that for” I finally spoke directly to him after a few minutes.

“My mum was asking about you”

What was that!!?

“Your mum asked of me and you couldn’t call me? Is that even a reasonable excuse for what you just did?”

“My pack, my rules Luella”

Luella? How did he know that name? My middle name!!

“How did you know that?” I was confused but the way he said my name hit a soft spot.

He looked at me and turned his face, he didn’t answer my question but increased the speed of the car.

“What are you doing Caine, slow down” my eyes were starting to feel fuzzy and my had felt light.

I couldn’t tell this man I had motion sickness

“Caine, slow down please” I stretched my hand to the dashboard to steady myself and covered my face with my other hand.

All of the sudden the car came to a stop.

I was about to pass out.

A bottle of water dropped on my lap and I hurriedly open it and gulped it.

“I’m sorry” Caine spoke up after a while

This was new of him.

I looked at him and saw no cocky or sinister Caine. He looked at me searching for something and I wanted to hit his head.

He caused this and now he’s looking at me that way.

“Take me home” I turned away from him and faced the window.

There’s was no way I was his erasthai

He wanted me and didn’t want me at the same time.

In the middle of the night I was awoken by his sound of pain and agony again. The sound of him trapped in his nightmare repeatedly saying the name “Caleb”.

I lay in bed listening to his agonized groans that kept getting louder. I wouldn’t go back to his room tonight.

The sound was tormenting and I felt sorry for him.

Suddenly I heard his door opened and I think it is Megan. I know she was holding him like I did.

After a while the sounds die down and I let out a sigh of relief.

I let Megan do her magic with him and decided to go down for a glass of water to help me go back to sleep.

As I stepped out of my room I saw her standing in front of his room, her hands on the banister looking lost in her thoughts.

“Are you okay”

She turns towards me

“His brother destroyed him, he keeps refusing to see a therapist” she looked forlorn.

I didn’t know what to say. I saw the grief of a mother seeing her child suffer but couldn’t do anything to help.

“Do you want to join me for a glass of milk?” I was surprised she still wanted to talk after what she just witnessed.

“Yes please” she sighed and gave me a small smile before heading downstairs.

Following Megan behind, I turned to look at his door one more time.

Someday I was going to know what happened between Caine and Caleb.