Chapter 31: On The Other Side

She stared into Caph's frantic blue eyes. He was panting, breathless from conveying his feelings.
Ran lost herself in the slideshow of emotions flashing through his eyes: loneliness, desire, despair, hope, delight, joy, confusion, helplessness, lust, bliss, guilt, frustration. What he felt for her conflicted with his resolution to wait for her.
'I'm also,' Caph said, his voice raw, 'unable to stop thinking about you.'
His eyes glowed fiercely.
'So you're not allowed to stop thinking about me either.'
Despite herself, Ran started laughing. It was an awkward choked kind of laughter but at the same time, the confusion that had been clinging to her fizzed away. He was so childish!
Her fingers released the folds of his shirt behind his back. She ran her hands up his side and rested them on his chest in front of her.
'Okay,' she said at last. Her hands warm with his pulse. 'I'll consider you seriously.'
He smiled, a heartrending beautiful smile that reached his bright blue eyes.
He let go of her face and sat back down, eyes never leaving her.
She examined the relief in his eyes warily, the reality of what she had promised sinking in.
Since Dingo 'died', she had not let anyone into her life the same way.
Ran was afraid.
Afraid of losing the people she loved.
Afraid of being betrayed.
'Just so you know,' she said, urging Acamar's truck forward again, 'I'm only doing this because you agreed to help me become Alpha. I've worked hard and persevered on my own for the past ten years. I can protect what's mine with my own strength, so my goal isn't going to change. If you get in my way or try to lead me astray, I'll cut you loose immediately.'
He needed to know that her pack came first.
But it was because of her pack that she put up with him in the beginning.
So it was only to benefit her pack that she agreed to this.
The boyish grin from last night bloomed on his face now. He hooked one hand behind the headrest, torso turned towards her and saluted with the other hand.
'Yes Alpha.'
The silence wasn't awkward anymore.
Caph's good mood was palpable.
'Ran, can I hold your hand?'
Did he understand what she said? 'I'm driving.'
'You have two hands.'
Vicky barked to remind both of them that she was present.
Two hours later, they handed Vicky back to her worried parents and returned to the manor.
Acamar was waiting in the foyer for both of them.
Ran began to report what happened the day before but the Regent held up a hand to stop her. 'I heard. The Gamma reported it.'
His dark eyes turned to Caph, gleaming ominously.
'I received a message from your father. He requested that you bring Ran to Cassiopeia for the Full Moon Gathering. Pack your bags, leave this afternoon. I've booked your flight already.'
He handed Ran the tickets.
It wasn't hard to guess why. Caph's last conversation with his father had been about the territory dispute that Celphus didn't have time to explain to him.
Things must have gotten worse.
Announcing his connection to Eridanus via Ran would be the fastest way to make the other packs back off.
Ran noticed the return ticket was for a week later, not the day after the Gathering. She turned to leave the manor again, ready to shift. 'I need to brief Toji—'
Acamar held up a hand to stop her. 'I'll brief him. He will learn the duties of Beta while you are gone.'
From me, his hard black gaze finished.
Ran gritted her teeth.
He had seen through her and anticipated this. As Delta, Toji was supposed to work closely with Ran but he often disagreed with the way she chose to go about managing the pack so she split up their duties and did the bulk of it herself.
She did this to preserve her father's legacy and make it hard for Acamar to get to Toji but clearly, her uncle was just as serious as she was about becoming Alpha.
Ran met his gaze with her own blazing coal eyes. She wouldn't go down easily.
It was just one week.
She spun on her heel and stormed upstairs.
Acamar's expression turned to Caph suspiciously.
She hadn't shown the slightest sign of worry for Caph and had left him behind.
What exactly was her relationship with Caph?
Caph shrugged, reading the Regent Alpha's eyes.
'I would like to know too,' he admitted.
Acamar was startled by Caph's honesty. He gave the younger werewolf a grunt of agreement and gave him insight to his thoughts through his black gaze.
He had expected that she would be the one seduced by Caph, not the other way around.
That, Caph told Acamar with his blue eyes, was just how little people actually understood him.
And with that, he turned to follow Ran upstairs.