I didn't think it was selfish of me to hope that when I woke up Matteo would at least still be in the room with me. Apparently, it was. Much to my disappointment, the first face I got to see when I woke up was Daniella's.

I groaned in annoyance seeing Dani sitting on the chair beside Matteo and I's bed and rolled away from her.

"Well, good morning to you to," she grumbled. I decided to just stay quiet and pray that she ended up leaving.

Instead, she pinched my arm.

I jerked forward at the pain of her perfectly manicured nails digging into my skin.

"Ow, bitch!" I snarled, slapping her hand away. As if I hadn't said a rude word to her, she rolled her eyes at me and sat back into the chair. "Where's Matteo?" My eyes followed the curves of her body allowing me to take in exactly what she was wearing. A thick, black leather belt held a pair of form-fitting black jeans securely around her thin waist and hugged her legs. A light blue button up with sleeves that cuffed at her elbows was tucked into the jeans. She didn't have a bit of jewelry on which was weird to look at considering she always had at least a bracelet, but she was wearing a pair of black heels with a light floral design on them.

The thought crossed my mind of how was she supposed to protect me in such a shoe, but then it occurred to me that Daniella's first steps were probably taken in stilettos.

"Conference. He's been there for about three hours now," Dani stated.

"Three hours? Why didn't he wake me up?" My eyes snapped over to the alarm clock. Daniella was indeed right. This morning's conference was set to start at six, but it was already 8:40 am.

"Based on what Matteo told me, apparently you didn't even fall asleep until like four, Kaia," Dani scoffed as she played with a strand of blonde hair that hadn't made it into her messy ponytail. "Having a Luna fall asleep during the middle of a conference isn't exactly something that's not frowned upon."

Thinking back to it, it hadn't felt like it had taken eight hours for me to fall asleep, but then again it didn't feel like I was held in a prison for four whole years either. I guess I just have a terrible perception of time.

"What about Kaden?" Immediately, a cold chill ran through my veins at the mention of my brother.

"Kaden?"

"Aleksei," I corrected remembering that apparently Kaden Aalish didn't exist to these people.

"Oh," Daniella drug out as she connected the two with a slight chuckle, "right. I forgot about the whole name change thing."

"Yeah. Where is he?" I really didn't want to waste time with our stupid bickering small talk. I'd already wasted so much by allowing my anger to flare up previously.

"Well," she said sighing, "considering I haven't left this room today, I can't exactly give you a for sure answer, but I can assume that he's where everyone else is currently."

"You could have just said that he's probably in the conference," I grumbled as I ripped the covers off of my body and got out of the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"Going to talk to my brother," I stated, making my way to the door.

"No, no, no, no, no you're not," Daniella rushed in front of the door, blocking me from getting out.

"What? Why?"

"Because you're a mess. You haven't brushed your hair, your breath smells like shit, and there's this thing called deodorant," she explained as she continued to lean her body against the door. "Actually, I would just recommend a shower."

"Ha, you're funny," I scoffed, "but seriously, move it. I need to speak with my brother." Daniella closed her eyes briefly and drew in a deep breath before looking back at me.

"I can't. Alpha's order." I immediately began to laugh. After a moment of her dead serious facial expression not wavering, I stopped.

"Oh, you were serious," I realized. My brows quickly drew together, and I took another step toward the door. Again, she blocked me. "Daniella," I warned just to be interrupted.

"Listen, I'll get your brother. Just stay here, and maybe like brush your hair or find your other sock or something," Daniella compromised, looking down at my sockless left foot. I quickly wiggled my toes which earned me a weird look from the princess herself.

Yep, that is definitely my foot that's missing a sock.

"I can just get him myself," I argued like the seven year old that I am mentally. Daniella growled lowly in response.

"Do you not understand that I can't let you leave?" She snarled taking me by surprise. Daniella had surprisingly been able to remain mostly calm throughout our conversation. I guess that was over now.

"Do you not understand that Matteo's orders have never stopped me from doing what I wanted to do before?" I snapped back. "What makes this time any different?" Daniella let out a stress-filled groan.

"Okay," she sighed after a moment of me just staring at her like she was insane for freaking out about this so much. It was very unlike her to keep up with our bickering. Normally, she would have just told me to have fun and kill myself while I was at it. In one swift motion, Daniella pushed my body back to the bed. The back of my legs hit the edge of the bed causing them to buckle and my butt to land on the bed.

"What the hell, Dan?" I snapped, but my words affected her little to none.

"You have about thirty anxious Alphas accompanied by their Lunas, Betas, and other high-ranking pack members roaming this building. After your stunt, which I happened to hear was a giant mess, we don't know what the hell any of them are thinking. Matteo doesn't want to take any chances, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with him. It's not safe for you to be hop, skipping, and jumping around here with all of your shit and this conference shit going on. We can't afford you having another mental break at the sight of Aleksei with all of those Alphas around, again," Daniella explained. I pursed my lips contemplating what she had said.

"Well," I sighed. A little voice in my head was screaming, 'she's not wrong, dumb bitch.' I knew I had to agree with the annoying voice. I didn't exactly want to die right now, and I was still dedicated to prove to everyone that I wasn't just some indecent rogue thing, "how do you plan on getting him up here if it's during a meeting?" I was not willing to outright tell Dani that I knew she was right and give her that satisfaction. No way, man.

"That's for me to know. Just go brush something," she shooed me away as she began making her way to the door. "Your hair, your teeth, anything," she instructed before leaving me in the room alone.

"What's with her and brushing things?" I grumbled to myself as I made my way to the bathroom that Matteo and I shared. I soon realized why she wanted me to brush down the tornado of hair on my head once I had the opportunity to see myself in the mirror.

After ripping the hair out of my head with a brush for five minutes, an announcement went over all of the speakers in the hotel.

"Aleksei Kade please report to the front desk. Again, Aleksei Kade please report to the front desk. Thank you."

"Ha," I chuckled to myself, "not bad, Dan." My chuckles quickly turned to a painful grimace as I violently ripped the brush through my knotted hair, again.

I was really due for a hair cut or maybe just some conditioner.

By the time I had brushed my teeth, decided that a shower could be taken at a later time, put on some deodorant, and had a toothbrush in my mouth, I heard the door barge open. Judging by the bang from the door bouncing off the wall, it was as if a linebacker ran into it at full force.

"Alright, we are on a tight schedule. Ten minutes, no more. I don't need your Alpha, mine, or anyone else coming up here in search of you," Daniella stated to whom I'm guessing was Kaden.

I spit the minty, white foam in my
mouth into the sink, and tossed the toothbrush onto it, not caring to rinse the toothpaste out of the bristles. I instantly ran out of the bathroom and came to a dead stop when my eyes connected with the icy blue eyes of my brother.

My stomach starting rolling, and I immediately came to the conclusion that I had food poisoning.

"Okay, you have ten minutes to talk out your shit, and you just wasted two of them staring at each other," Daniella interrupted, causing Kaden and I to return to reality. "Let's get this show on the road, guys."

I gulped and brought my bottom lip in between my teeth as Kaden ran a large hand through his dark hair. For once, I couldn't find a single word to say.

"Um, hi?" Kaden finally said, breaking the silence.

"You left me with no intention of ever finding me again, and that's all you can say?" The words fly out of my mouth before I have time to stop them. Like they say, drunken words are sober thoughts. The only thing is, I'm completely sober, just internally enraged.

"Yep, I was waiting for that," Kaden muttered as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Waiting for what?"

"A snappy remark. Well, actually, I was waiting for a slap to the face or a kick to the balls, but a snappy remark works," he explained.

"One of the others can be arranged. Both if you'd like," I chided causing his face to go white a bit and take a step back.

"Come on," Daniella scoffed as she brutally pushed Kaden forward, "hug it the f--k out."

"No, not until you tell me what happened," I stated, pointing at Kaden accusingly.

"About what?"

"When you left! Why?" Kaden's eyes shifted from my eyes to the floor, to the wall, and then back to me.

"Kaia," he began. I could see the sorry swimming in his eyes, "the last thing I wanted to do was knowingly leave you alone."

"But you did," I interjected.

"I left you with mom and dad."

"Yeah, you left me alone. You were the only friend I had. Maybe I wasn't physically alone, but it felt like it." If anyone, I would have hoped that Kaden would have understood. Our parents were barely company. Kaden was the only person I ever truly had to reach for when I needed someone.

"You dedicated your life to proving yourself to Dad. If I took you away from him, you'd lose your entire personal purpose," Kaden argued. The more he talked, the more memories surfaced. I felt like we were bickering just like we did before he left five years ago. That alone made my hands feeling as though they were just inside of an icebox.

"But, you didn't have to disappear." Although I was practically spitting ever word, the vulnerability in my sentence didn't go unnoticed. Kaden's eyes softened, and his lips formed a thin line. "You could have told someone. Hell, you could have left a f--king note. You didn't have to vanish and leave us all to think you were dead."

"Kaia, I—"

"You didn't have to change your f--king name! Was being an Aalish really that bad? Shit, I knew you and Dad didn't get along, but did you hate us all that much that you had to completely give up the name?" I ranted. It wasn't a secret that Kaden and Dad never got along. Kaden wasn't a big fan of the rogue life style. He never was. It only got worse as he got older. He only ever did what Dad told him to do, and that was it. Nothing more.

"You know I never wanted that life!" Kaden suddenly burst. "That was barely a life. We were barely living. We weren't running to fulfill our lives, Kaia. We were running to save them. We were dead men walking from the minute we were born." My anger died down, and regret washed over me for even bringing up Dad. He was always a touchy subject for Kaden before. "I couldn't spend the rest of my life living as an Aalish. If I did, I'd still be as dead as I was when I took my first steps. I took the chance to actually start my life, Kaia. I wasn't going to risk it by bringing Kaden with me. I had to change it."

My eyes shifted from Kaden''s to the floor as I chewed on the inside of my cheek. My brows drew together, and I was sure if I had the strength to look back up at Kaden without saying something stupid.

"I understand," I whispered. I did. I didn't want to admit it, but I understood it. Being an Aalish came with consequences—consequences that I would no doubt be paying for for the rest of my life.

"You do?" He said in surprise that he actually got something through my thick skull.

"Yeah," I nodded, "I do. Kaden Aalish is who Dad wanted you to be. Aleksei Kade is who you are." I paused for a moment to collect my thoughts. I held my bottom lip in between my teeth once again and inhaled deeply before saying anything else. "I could never change my name because I'm still Kaia. Sure, you left, we have no clue where Mom and Dad are, and I'm not trying to prove myself to Dad every chance I get, but I'm still me. I'm just growing. I'm still Kaia, but you're not Kaden. You're Aleksei, now. Some big Beta dude that Dad would be so disappointed in," I concluded with a chuckle. Kaden—or Aleksei as I presume I should call him now— chuckled, as well, most likely imagining our father's bright red face fueled by pure rage at the thought of his eldest child being a Beta and his youngest being a Luna.

The world sure does work in mysterious ways.

"Yeah, he'd probably try to castrate me or something," Aleksei joked. "Say something like 'you aren't man enough to have balls' or some shit."

"He never really was the best with the whole family-love-thing was he?"

"Nope. Not a bit," Aleksei answered without a single thought.

"How'd you become Beta anyway?" I asked, curiosity finally consuming me. A cheesy smile lit up his features.

"Long story short, I accidentally challenged the Beta, and I won."

"Accidentally?" I questioned, not even sure how accidentally challenging someone was possible.

"Yeah," he sighed with a crooked smile, probably thinking back to the memory. "What about you? How the hell did you end up on Caedes Territory, and why the hell didn't you leave?"

"Well," I began. I was fully prepared to get into the details of my meeting with my hunk of a mate, but I was rudely interrupted.

"Nope. No time for story time. You have to get back to that meeting. You two can gossip at a later date," Daniella interjected as she pulled on Aleksei's shirt to get him to go toward the door.

"Wait!" I shouted stopping both Aleksei and Daniella in their tracks. Before anyone had the chance to ask any questions, I was already in front of Aleksei, and the palm of my hand had made contact with his left cheek. The sound of my slap practically echoed throughout the room. "I've wanted to do that for a while," I said with a smile as my brother cupped his cheek and stared down at me in disbelief at what had just happened. I wrapped my arms around my big brother and leant my head on his chest.

"I missed you, prick. Don't ever leave me like that, again," I threatened, earning myself a deep chuckle.

"I missed you too, Kaia. More than you know."

________

I have no words for why it took me this long to update. I legit just did not realize how hard it would be to juggle two jobs, a social life, and writing a novel.

IM TRYING OKAY.

alright. Enjoy the chapter. I'll try not to be such a shithead with the updates next time.

Until then

Hasta la pasta bitches 8/9/17

Ps my birthday is tomorrow lmao (8/10)

Oh I also didn't edit BC I'm a piece of shit lol