Chapter 26: Let's End This Arrangement

Ran drove through the quiet outskirts of Punggol and onto the country road that circumvented the unnamed mountain. Periodically, she'd glance at Caph whose head lolled when the truck swayed.
He slept with his lips slightly parted. His red-brown eyelashes were long.
Her eyes flickered back to the dark road lit only by the flickering headlamps of the truck. His eyelashes had nothing to do with her.
She thought about what Caph had said was the reason she would be a good Alpha.
She had been surprised by his thoughts on power and his understanding of responsibility. Most people thought power would make them responsible, not the other way around.
He was more mature than she gave him credit for.
Ran thought he was someone who liked being at the centre of attention because that must be how he was raised as the fourth child of a purebred pack, entertained and pampered all the time. Without having to lift a finger, he was handed the chance to be Alpha on a silver platter. Someone that spoilt wouldn't hesitate to grab a hold of the power to secure his comfortable lifestyle.
Yet Caph had said he wanted nothing to do with the positions of Alpha or with pack politics.
She frowned. Then why did he feel the need to 'be nice'—as he put it—to every female in sight?
Not that she cared about how many people he's seduced before.
Nor did she care about the human girl he made out with that caused his suspension.
Ran slammed on the brakes violently to avoid hitting a cow crossing the road in the dark.
The old truck stopped abruptly, causing Caph's head to collide with the dashboard in front of him.
'What's happening?' he grumbled, eyes barely opening.
Ran lowered her window and bellowed at the shadow of the cow that had reached her side of the road, 'Curse you!'
Caph rubbed his eyes and yawned.
'I'm guessing that cow doesn't belong to your pack,' he said.
'Go back to sleep,' she snapped. 'We're not there yet.'
The sky lit up suddenly, for a heartbeat. Then, thunder growled from above.
Ran could smell the storm in the air as she rolled up the window again.
She accelerated the truck as suddenly as she had stopped it. Caph had to clutch his seat so he wouldn't get a second forehead bruise.
He had been asleep for a good two hours.
What made Ran cranky while he was out of it?
He was about to ask her but she spoke first.
'If you're looking for your bonded mate, why do you feel the need to seduce every girl you meet?'
Caph blinked. Was he still asleep?
This was what Ran was bothered by?
He smirked.
How did this happen?
'Because they might be my bonded mate. I wouldn't want her to hate me at our first meeting.'
She snorted. 'So you seduce them instead?'
He was grinning so broadly now, he couldn't hide it. 'I don't seduce them, it—'
'It just happens,' she repeated. 'Yeah, you said that already.'
Her hard coal eyes glared at him.
'But have you thought about what your bonded mate might think about that when you finally do meet her?'
Caph was speechless for a moment. Did she feel it as well?
Did she know they were bonded mates?
'Well,' he said evasively, crossing his arms, 'I think my bonded mate might be attracted to this very trait of mine. Of course, she would worry about it but I would reassure her that—'
Ran interrupted, 'What about our arrangement?'
She turned her deep black eyes on him. A bolt of lightning made her two orbs of coal light up in the dark for a heartbeat.
'What would she think about our arrangement?'
His smile faded.
She didn't know then.
It probably never even crossed her mind.
The only thing she ever thought about was her pack, Eridanus.
It disappointed him more than he thought it would.
'Let's end this arrangement,' Ran said.
She turned back to squint at the dark road.
Rain had begun to fall.
'It was selfish of me to suggest this. To be honest, I was only thinking about myself and getting what I want. I shouldn't be deceiving my pack like this. I'll talk to my uncle again and make him understand. You don't have to go along with this anymore or 'be nice' to me. Go find your bonded mate and live the life of freedom you've always wanted to live.'
'Ran.' Caph spoke in his usual tone of voice but it seemed muted somehow.
She refused to look at him.
Visibility was poor so she had to make sure she didn't hit anymore cows.
'I've already found my bonded mate,' he said matter-of-factly.
'Oh,' Ran said to the bleak black road in front of her. 'Then let's end this arrangement right now. Tomorrow, you should go and be with her.' She forced herself to meet his sky blue eyes. Electric warmth shot through her almost immediately. She resisted the frantic gasp rising in her throat. 'Thanks for putting up with me.'
Caph felt as though he might burst.
She tried to make sense of the laughter in his eyes, the bolts of electricity that passed between them.
Was it because of the storm?
His blue eyes deepened.
'I'm with her right now though.'
And Ran was lost in the intensity of his gaze.
'You're my bonded mate, silly.'