Chapter 5

That night was possibly the worst of my life. Being locked up, with bars on the balcony and windows, and locks on the doors— really obscured the room.

It had been chilling to spend the night in there, alone. Dylan was really mad. I had first assumed that he would eventually come back.

When midnight came around, I started getting worried. I could hear him downstairs. He was in his study. He was quiet for the most part. Whenever he growled at something, I pictured him throwing a small tantrum on his own, like a little kid.

The image made me smile. I hated it though. I was angry at him. I had to keep reminding myself that I was angry at him. But it was so hard.

I felt so lonely. When the loneliness crept into me more, the sadness of it all followed close behind.

All of my dark thoughts, Dylan not going into the room, and being locked up— got to me.

I was more than surprised when there was a knock on my door early the next morning.

“It’s me,” Eric said, his voice sounding strained.

“Come in, I guess.”

It wasn’t like I could open the door. If Dylan had sent him, Eric probably had the keys for the locks.

“I brought you breakfast,” Eric told me once he entered the room.

“Homemade,” I commented sarcastically.

“The Alpha’s mom made it for you.”

He walked closer to me and placed the plate of food on the bed. I was still wearing the same clothes from the previous day, and I suddenly just wanted to get out of them.

“I’m going to shower,” I told him, dismissing him completely.

I hardly looked at him when I passed by to walk to the closet.

“So that’s it?” he asked, stopping me mid-step.

Eric held onto my wrist tightly. He was looking at me the same way he had the day before.

“What is it?” I asked, even though I knew what he was talking about.

“I can see why you ignored the Alpha. I understand it, I do. But you could’ve told me. I would’ve gone with you,” he said— the reproachful tone in his voice sounding loud and clear.

“I didn’t have control over it,” I said, defensively.

I knew I had hurt Eric. He was mad at me and he had a right to be. But I didn’t know how to fix it. The only thing in my mind the day I ran away had been Jake and finding a way to hurt him.

“What about when you did? You had control of your Wolf when you woke up in Blake’s territory.”

“If I had told you to come with me, Dylan would’ve followed you. I know him. He would’ve found a way. He’s still your Alpha, Eric. If Dylan had ordered you to tell him where I was, your Wolf would have made you obey him.”

Eric swallowed audibly, and he nodded at me in what seemed like agreement.

“Maybe you’re right in that, but you still should’ve told me. I was worried. I thought you had gone to find Alpha Jake,” he said.

He loosened the grip on my wrist, which made it easier to slide my hand into his. I gave him a sad smile, and tightened my hold on his hand.

“I know I don’t stand a chance against Jake. I don’t think Jake would've hurt me. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have made him angry. It would’ve been more embarrassing to have Jake return me to Dylan if I had really gone after him.”

Eric shook his head and gave my hand a squeeze.

“Your Wolf took control. Since she was angry at Alpha Jake, she could’ve assumed that she could take him on. That’s the main thing that worried me.”

Like always, he was right.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

Eric gave me a half-smile, lowered his head to my level, and pressed a kiss on my forehead.

“I know you and Christy are planning something. The Alpha knows too but he doesn’t know what it is,” Eric told me.

My heart started pounding faster in my chest. I didn’t know how he or Dylan knew about that.

“We overheard you two yesterday,” he shrugged.

“Oh,” I mumbled.

“Whatever you plan, I’m in,” Eric firmly stated, giving me a slight nod.

I was about to argue with him, but I couldn’t. If I did do something with Christy against Jake, having Eric by my side would make me feel safe, or as safe as I could be with what we were planning to do.

Since Eric had strict orders not to let me out of the room, he hung out with me in there. We had breakfast there, and Emma also sent us lunch, which John passed by to drop off.

It was so strange to have that arrangement. I was used to making the meals at the house, and doing basically everything in there.

While Eric had the TV on and he was playing one of his videogames, I was talking to Christy on the phone.

I figured the only opportunity I had to actually make plans with her was when Dylan was out. It turned out better than I expected, since Christy had the same problem as me.

She had to do everything behind Blake’s back. Christy told me he’d been pestering her to tell him if we were planning something.

She kept distracting him with other things, most of which I was really not interested in knowing. I guess now I knew Blake and Christy had a healthy sexual life, even though it was something I could’ve gone my whole life without knowing.

“We’re going to need money.”

I could hear the frown in Christy’s voice, which made me wonder why that was even a problem worth discussing.

“Okay…” I said, stretching out the word, wondering where she was going with that thought.

“I don’t know how that’s going to work out since Blake has been on my case since you and Dylan left yesterday.”

“How much money do we need?” I asked as I made my way to the closet.

Eric’s head snapped up and he made his way towards me, suddenly looking interested in my conversation with Christy.

“I don’t know. Well for food, and if we see anything we like. It’s going to be like a vacation, except we’re getting rid of an Alpha, of course. Oh, and for hotels too, since I am not going to be sleeping in the woods,” she said in a whiney voice.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the real Rogue?”

“After living with Blake all this time in a big ass mansion, I got used to the good life,” she replied, shamelessly.

I laughed out loud at that, and Eric just shook his head.

I kneeled down on the ground and opened the drawer that Dylan always kept full with money. It was up to the top with wads of cash, just like it had been the last time I’d taken a few packs.

“Should we both take some?” I asked, running my fingertips over the money.

“Damn,” Eric muttered.

He kept his eyes on the money the whole time, with a dreamy look on his face.

“I already spent all of my allowance,” Christy complained.

“Allowance?” I asked her, frowning at just hearing the word.

“You know, the money I get transferred into my bank account every month,” she said, like if me asking the question had been something stupid.

“I don’t get an allowance,” I told her.

“You don’t?” I could hear the humor in her voice when she asked that.

“No, Dylan just has a lot of money stashed all over the place. I get some when I need it,” I shrugged.

Eric laughed when Christy growled through the phone, loudly.

Christy told me that she got an allowance every month. If she needed money for anything bigger that she didn’t afford with the allowance, she asked Blake or Michael— Blake’s Beta— for it.

Blake usually gave her any extra money she asked for, but Christy thought if she asked for more money during these days, it would seem suspicious. Blake already thought we were planning something against Jake behind their back.

That was when the call ended. I was glad that it did though.

As much as I tried to bring Christy back to the topic at hand, she couldn’t concentrate.

When I brought Jake up, she asked me if I thought Jake limited his mate, Angie, on money. When I talked about Caine and the war he was about to start against Knight Pack, Christy asked me if I thought he limited his mate on money.

I spent the last half hour of our conversation hearing Christy rant about how unbelievable Blake was for giving her an allowance.

“I’m going to give him hell for this,” she said in a growl.

Christy couldn’t believe that Dylan let me have free reign on his money. According to her, Dylan was the type of guy to give a monthly allowance, since he ‘liked to keep a tight leash on me’.

Her words made me angry.

Dylan arrived at the mansion just after one in the afternoon. We both heard when Dylan called for Eric, who had been lounging around in the couch of our room.

As soon as Dylan figured out Eric wasn’t downstairs, I heard him loudly making his way to our room.

He barged into the room dramatically, like if he was expecting to catch me doing something bad. I shook my head at him from where I was on the bed, while he was glaring at Eric.

“What are you doing here?” Dylan asked Eric in a snappy tone.

I cocked an eyebrow at him, while Eric was quickly standing up and straightening himself up.

“Eric brought me lunch,” I told Dylan, nodding at the plate of food that was still over the bed.

I had finished eating a while ago, but the plate was still there because I had hardly touched my food. I had been too distracted talking to Christy and writing notes down.  

“You haven’t eaten,” Dylan frowned, looking down at the food that I’d been ignoring most of the time.

I shrugged and continued writing down notes. Very discretely I turned the page.

My Wolf, who didn’t seem to care that Dylan had locked us up and ignored us all last night, wanted to be in his arms. She was craving his touch. I just did my best to ignore him.

Dylan remained standing by the bed, staring down at me. Eric was still standing next to the couch, looking very uncomfortable with the situation.

“You can go,” I told Eric.

It wasn’t his fault that Dylan and I were having problems.

“You’re not dismissed yet.” Dylan’s tone was commanding, even though Eric wasn’t doing anything to challenge his order.

Something told me Dylan just done stopped Eric from leaving to contradict me.

I finally looked up from what I’d been writing, most of which was nonsense just so that I could pretend to look busy, and stared at Dylan.

“Downstairs,” Dylan ordered.

He ignored my gaze and started walking out of the room, with Eric following after him.

Dylan was still mad. I felt too tired to argue with him, so I let it go. The thought of running away, if only to run through the woods in Midnight Moon Territory, crossed my mind.

The only reason I didn’t go through with it was because I didn’t want for Dylan to put more guards on me once he caught up to me.

The plate Eric had brought me for breakfast had all the food in it, and the lunch John had delivered at noon was left almost untouched.

Both of them were on the floor, right next to bed.

I laid down when I got bored of writing and coming up with ideas on how to get across Staten Territory boundaries without Jake noticing.

Watching TV didn’t interest me. I could both hear and feel Dylan downstairs.

I got up from the bed and went to get my purse, where I had my phone filled with music. Dylan had disconnected the line, but all I cared about was listening to the music.

I drowned out the noise of Dylan moving around in his office, by putting the music full blast. I wasn’t used to it, and actually cringed a few times with how loud I had it. After a while, the music started to soothe me.

I wasn’t sure when it happened, but I ended up dozing off.

Even though I kept my eyes closed, I could tell it was already late at night. The lamp on the nightstand was on, but that was it. The room looked dim and eerie, just like it did the previous night when I’d been alone.

This time, however, someone was in there with me.

My Wolf had already felt him there with us, but it had taken me some time to notice him. Maybe I hadn’t wanted to notice him.

Dylan was lying down on the bed. He wasn’t touching me, but his hand was on the bed, inches away from mine. He could’ve made more room between us. After all, the bed was huge. But he chose to sleep closer to me.

It surprised me that he was even sleeping in the room with me.

I wanted to be mad at him. It was the perfect opportunity, since he had pretended all day to be mad at me yet he was lying down beside me.

But I couldn’t be mad.

He looked so innocent when he was sleeping. While his features where usually hardened, and he had been mad at me lately, it was strange to see him so relaxed.

I ran my fingertips over his jaw, and pressed my hand fully against the side of his face. Dylan opened his eyes when I touched him.

He didn’t speak. His expression remained blank. He was staring at me and I stared back. I could tell his eyes were still red from sleep.

“You didn’t eat,” he said when he finally spoke.

“I wasn’t hungry.”

“You should eat. I don’t expect us to be mating any time soon,” Dylan said with a frown.

“It’s good that you’re not counting on it,” I said, trying to suppress a grin from appearing when Dylan growled at my words.

“I know you’re mad at me. I’m angry at you too. It doesn’t seem like we’re going to reach an agreement any time soon,” he said.

I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering where he was going with that.

“That doesn’t mean you should starve yourself. There’s always going to be a chance that we have a pup on the way. You can’t put it at risk by not eating or not taking care of yourself,” Dylan said in a reprimanding tone.

His words were enough to shut me up. Dylan seemed satisfied with my silence. He probably thought he’d made me think about what he said.

In reality, it was the guilt that silenced me. If Dylan knew I was taking precautions not to fall pregnant, he’d probably be angrier than how he’d been when I ran away.

Dylan wanted a pup, an heir for Midnight Moon. At the moment, it was something I wasn’t ready to give him.

“Sleep,” he ordered.

Unlike other times, where he would pull me closer to his chest, Dylan actually kept to himself.

I didn’t think he was sending out any message by doing so, but I felt rejected when he didn’t try to hold me. I would’ve preferred for him to hold me, even if I pushed him away, than for him to not even try to touch me.

When I woke up the next morning, I could hear the shower running.

I sat up in the bed, wondering what to do when Dylan came out. I had no idea why I had woken up. It was still early, and I hadn’t gotten too much sleep lately.

I spent all of my time trying to figure out what to do so that Dylan wouldn’t just catch me waiting for him, I didn’t realize when Dylan came out of the shower.

I hated how good he looked with only a pair of dark denim jeans. Little droplets of water were rolling down his bare chest. It was too tempting.

For a moment I considered the thought that he’d done it on purpose. But then I remembered I was usually asleep when Dylan left in the morning.

There was no way for him to know I’d actually be awake this time.

“You’re awake,” Dylan said, his eyebrows scrunching up into a frown.

“I couldn’t sleep,” I replied.

“You look tired. You should go back to sleep. Eric will be here in a while with your breakfast.”

“I want to leave the room,” I said, more in a statement than in a question.

Dylan closed his eyes and shook his head, acting like he was scolding an errant child.

“Is that why you’re behaving like this?” Dylan asked— motioning around the room with his arms spread wide open.

“What?”

“You’re not eating. You hardly slept last night or the night before. I could hear you up here, tossing and turning on the bed,” he said.

I hadn’t realized that he’d been listening in on me. I didn’t know why, but that made me feel good. I didn’t feel so abandoned.

I smiled, which in Dylan’s book, was a bad thing.

“You think this is funny?” He asked, closing the distance between us until he was standing over me, right next to the bed.

“No I don’t think it’s funny. I was smiling over something else.”

“Over what? Because it’s starting to seem like you were happier when you ran away from me to chase after Blake,” Dylan snapped, accusingly.

“Yeah, says the guy who’s been ignoring me since I came back. You locked me up in our room and you’re wondering why I don’t seem happy? Did you even want me to come back? Or did you go and pick me up because you were scared that I would embarrass you?”

Dylan hardened his eyes at me. He seemed like he was about to yell. Before he could get a word out, something in his eyes changed and he stopped himself. I was surprised when he took a seat on the bed with me and let out a deep sigh.

“The fact that you even have to ask me that question angers me. You doubt our relationship every single time,” he said, emphasizing each of the last three words. “That isn’t right, Leila,” Dylan said, shaking his head in disappointment.

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to defend myself.

I could practically feel it coming. My lower lip was trembling and a light shake took over my body. For what seemed like the hundredth time, I broke down crying.

Dylan’s arms were around me when the first sob racked through my body. I tried to control myself, I really did, but it was like something had taken over.

I felt so vulnerable. When Dylan held me tightly against his chest, his strong arms wrapping around me and he brought me onto his lap— I completely lost it.

By then, I wasn’t sure if I was crying for my mom, or for all the pressure resting on my shoulders, or if I missed Dylan even though he was right there with me, or if the things I was keeping from him were finally catching up to me.

I didn’t really care in that moment. I just let it happen.

It was almost an hour later that I finally settled down. Dylan didn’t let go of me in all that time. He held onto me.

Whenever he thought I would start crying again, he tightened his hold on me and pressed feathery kisses on my neck, on my cheek, and against my hair.

After about ten minutes into my break down, Dylan had climbed into bed, rested his back on the headboard, and settled me over his lap once again.

He kept whispering things to me, which had only made me cry harder.

I had lost count of how many times he had apologized to me or told me how much he loved me. At a certain point, when I looked up at him, I noticed his grayish blue eyes were watery. It was so unrealistic, from Dylan at least.

I’d probably scared him with all my crying.

I could feel Eric downstairs, but he hadn’t gone up. I was guessing Dylan had warned him of the state I was in.

“We can go back to bed,” Dylan suggested.

I only sighed loudly and snuggled closer against him.

“I wasn’t kidding, Leila. You need to get some sleep. You can’t tire yourself out like this.”

“I’m not tired.”

“I can tell that you are,” he told me, and kissed my cheek.

“I’m not,” I muttered grumpily.

Dylan smiled at me, and nuzzled his head against my neck.

“No, you’re not.”

“You’re agreeing with me?” I asked.

Instead of replying my question, Dylan placed his hand under my chin and made me look up at him.

“I know that you want to get back at Jake for what he did.”

“You’re going to convince me out of it?”

My voice cracked when I asked the question, and I closed my eyes, not wanting to see Dylan looking at me like he expected me to understand.

“Not this time,” he assured.

“He didn’t have to kill her,” I said, my voice trembling.

Dylan could probably tell that I was about to cry once again. He didn’t waste time in wrapping his arm around my neck and just pressing me close to him.

“He’s an Alpha, Leila.”

“So being an Alpha is the excuse for everything? Just because you’re an Alpha you can get away with anything?”

“Yes, you basically can. But that isn’t the point and you know it.”

Everything between us had been going great until he brought up the same story again.

“Jake knew that she was my mom. He knew I would get angry. What good did killing her do? He could’ve locked her up and it would’ve been the same thing. I understand that he was angry. But isn’t there some kind of Alpha respect here?”

“There is, but I’m not sure anyone would respect that in this case because pack Wolves died,” Dylan replied, thoughtfully.

“She was his Beta, and she was my mom. Out of respect, I think he could’ve at least waited for me to have a say in this. And that’s only if my mom really did all those things Jake said. I still don’t believe him.”

“I have wondered why Jake didn’t call me. He made a hasty decision, I agree with you on that. But again, Jake is an Alpha. It’s in his blood to get overprotective if a pack member is in danger.”

“You should’ve seen my mom, Dylan. She’s not like that. My mom was the type of person that shifted into her Wolf when she had to, when my dad forced her to change.”

For a few moments, memories of times I’d spent with my mom and my dad came to mind. 

“Didn’t her Wolf ask her to shift?” Dylan asked.

“It was like she didn’t even care for that part of herself. My dad had all the control and it was just easier to do so by ignoring my mom’s Wolf. My mom was the most submissive Wolf I have ever met. I can’t imagine how she could’ve even gotten as far as hurting another Wolf.”

Dylan rested his head on the headboard of the bed, and was facing up at the ceiling, even though his eyes were closed.

“So you think Jake did this on purpose? Dylan asked.

“I honestly don’t know. I’m just saying I find his story unbelievable.”

“She was your mom, Leila. You might not want to see a dark side in her. Things like this happen all the time when Wolves lose their mate. Your dad was a Beta. That meant their bond was stronger than a regular Wolf bond.”

“I know that,” I snapped.

Dylan didn’t get mad at me for raising my voice, but he did look like he was trying to understand me or find a way for us to compromise.

“You should accept Jake’s offer to come here and explain what happened.”

I pulled away from Dylan then. I got up from the bed. My legs were shaky, and my body felt weak, but I managed to stay standing.

“I don’t want to see Jake. He’ll come here and what? He’ll explain the same story he told you? What good would that do to me? I don’t want to keep torturing myself with the same thing!”

“I spoke with Caine.”

It was an abrupt change in subject that wasn’t too welcoming for me.

“You two are still set on going to war?” I asked, already knowing the answer to my question.

“It seems that Derek is already making his way into Locus Territory. Caine is upset about it.”

“Caine is under attack?” I asked, hearing the panic in my voice.

“He’s not, at least not yet. That wasn’t the reason for his call either,” Dylan said, practically growling at me.

“What’s wrong?”

I placed my hand on his arm, and began slowly sliding it up and down, hoping to calm him down.

“Liam is in Caine’s territory,” Dylan stated through gritted teeth.

“He is?” I hadn’t been expecting for Dylan to say that. “What is he doing with Caine?” I asked, hoping Liam didn’t get the brilliant idea of attacking Caine.

“It turns out Caine’s mate, Charlotte, is Liam’s sister. She’s the sister Liam wanted to go get back. Charlotte also happens to be a former member of the Knight Pack.”

“That is amazing,” I finally said when I was able to speak.

“Leila, Liam was a Rogue. Before he was a Rogue, he belonged to New Elite. He has no ties whatsoever with Knight Pack.”

“So?” I asked, frowning at what he was insinuating about Liam.

“We can go and visit Caine. While we’re there, we can take care of Derek and I can talk to Liam, so we can clear this mess up.”

“I don’t want you to hurt Liam,” I warned Dylan.

“He can handle himself,” Dylan replied in his Alpha tone.

“Alright, then I don’t want you two fighting. Liam is a good guy. He proved that to you already,” I reminded him.

“Liam ran away from the pack. His actions aren’t exactly screaming loyalty.”

“I don’t want you to hurt Liam. I don’t care what his actions scream or don’t scream. He asked you permission to go get his sister and you turned him down without any considerations. You basically pushed him to do it.”

“I hope, for the sake of our pack, that you never repeat those words outside this bedroom,” Dylan snapped.

“Why not, it’s the truth.” I used the same tone he did, and we were back to arguing.

“If I allow what Liam did to go unpunished, other pack members might think they have rights that they really don’t. I’m not going to bend my rules over a Rogue who used to be my prisoner.”

Dylan’s Alpha side was out, and was willing me to back down.

“So do what you have to do, but hurting him won’t do any good. He’s already done it and most of the pack is oblivious to what really happened. Liam had a good reason to leave. I would’ve done it too.”

“Anything to run away from me, huh?” I was surprised that Dylan said the words playfully.

I smiled and rolled my eyes, breaking some of the tension that had surrounded us before.

“There’s something wrong with Liam’s story, and I’m going to find out what that is,” Dylan continued.

“What does all this have to do with Jake anyway?”

“Derek and Tristan, the Alphas from Knight Pack, used to be good friends with both Jackson and Nicolas. I hadn’t thought about that until Jace brought it up. I don’t know how close Jake and Derek are, but my best guess is that the friendship didn’t end just because Jackson is dead.”

“You think,” I started to ask, having trouble even finishing my thought. “You think that if you and Caine go to war with Derek and Tristan, Jake will side with them?” I asked, my voice sounding unsure.

“I don’t know what to think, but I’m not leaving any possibilities out. Jake understood that killing his father was the right thing to do. He even chased you down to make sure he was in on it. But at the end of the day, we still killed his father.”

“What brought this on? Just yesterday you were so against the idea of going after him. Just moments ago it seemed like you were siding with Jake. I mean, you agreed to kill him if that was what I really wanted, but it didn’t seem like you were really into the idea.”

“I spoke to Caine,” Dylan said, sounding uncomfortable all of a sudden.

I grinned widely when I realized what that meant.

Lately, every time he ‘spoke to Caine’—it was because Caine had given him advice on something. Dylan thought that wasn’t ‘manly’.

“If I didn’t want you and Caine to go into war when it was just you two against Knight Pack, now that Jake might be involved too— it sounds a lot more dangerous.”

I took a few steps and closed the distance between Dylan and me. Dylan placed one of his hands on the side of my face, making me look up at him. He wrapped his other arm around my waist, and with one hard pull, crashed me against his chest.

When we were pressed so close to each other and he wasn’t leaning down to reach me, it was when I felt how strong, and tall, and powerful he really was. I felt so small in his arms.

“I don’t know if Jake killed your mother on purpose. I also don’t know if Jake is going to join Derek and Tristan in the fight against Caine and me. I know Liam and his sister lied to Caine and me, but I’m not sure with what purpose.”

It didn’t seem like he was finished speaking, but interrupted him before he kept going.

“That sounds like a lot of ‘I don’t knows’,” I told him, smiling sadly.

The war hadn’t started, I hadn’t even met with Jake, and we had yet to visit Caine— but it was already starting to feel really overwhelming.

“We have the biggest pack in the US. Not only that, but we have the most Wolves who actually fight. Caine follows us in numbers. After us two, the biggest packs that follow are Imperial and Blue Bloods. Both Blake and Layton are friends. There is no way Derek, or anyone else for that matter, will stand a chance against us.”

“You sound really sure.”

“It’s the only thing I’m sure of,” Dylan said, before leaning into me and brushing his lips against mine.

It would take less than a month for Dylan’s words to turn against us. 

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Recap: Caine- Alpha of Locus Pack, second biggest pack in the US. Layton- Alpha of Blue Bloods, third biggest Pack in the US. Caine and Dylan are about to go to war with Derek and Tristan, who are both Alphas of Knight Pack.