Chapter 37: Deja Vu

'Excuse me.' Ran dipped her head respectfully to the three women. 'There is something I must do.'
She vanished, leaving Panri, Yula and Ruby staring at the edge of the stone seat where she had been sitting just a moment ago.
'Ehhh!' Yula squealed.
'Tell him I said congrats,' Panri yelled.
Ran wove through the crowd of werewolves, searching for Caph. She could sense him vaguely on the periphery of her consciousness by the buffet spread talking to someone—just like she guessed.
No, it wasn't a guess.
She knew it.
If she found him there, it would be the final proof.
She forced her way through the huddled groups of werewolves in her way, making a beeline for Caph.
After that, she wouldn't deny it anymore.
Finally! Finally, right?
Ran slowed, stepping around people instead of charging straight through them.
But what would this mean for their betrothal that had been just announced?
And their fake arrangement.
And her plans to be Alpha of Eridanus.
She was so excited to learn about her relationship with Caph that she threw these once-important considerations out the window.
There had been a reason she didn't think about Caph properly till now—he was in the way of her goals.
She would deal with him after she became Alpha, that's what she thought.
Sort out her feelings for him when her position of power had solidified.
Ran recalled what Nusha had accused her of: getting Caph involved in her power struggle with Acamar, taking advantage of his weaknesses and pretending to be the saviour of Cassiopeia when what she really wanted was to use him for her own purposes.
She really was manipulative and pretentious.
It was true. (She dodged two young werewolves playing tag.)
She knew it and it didn't bother her before. (She narrowly avoided a drunk werewolf carrying six mugs of cow's blood.)
But it bothered her now. (She searched for his red head through the sea of brown and blonde.)
Not because of Nusha.
It was because she had fallen in love with him.
Caph was there, right where she thought he'd be. His tousled hair glinting under the fluorescent wall lights, blue eyes like pools of spring water. Ran picked up the pace, heat rising in her.
Suddenly, a large hand grabbed her from behind. Instinctively, she lifted her leg and swung it at her attacker. The offending party dodged her lethal kick with inhuman ease and she hit someone else instead.
That person let out a snarl and threw his cup in her direction.
She ducked. The cup hit another werewolf.
A brawl started.
The hand that grabbed her the first time reached for her again. She caught his wrist and glared into the eyes of the real attacker.
Her grip slackened.
'Fang?'
Her voice was drowned out by the boisterious roars of the brawl she had started.
Fang pulled her to the entrance of the cave near the waterfall just as food and fists started to fly.
'How are you– You're...alive?'
Fang had long blonde hair now, unlike his cropped brown do ten years ago. But his dark eyes were still the same. Serious and grey. He had just come of age then and had pledged to do his best for the pack, when they were attacked.
Fang had gone with the scouts dispatched to find her parents.
That was the last she had seen of him.
The werewolves with him had been badly injured.
Unlike Dingo, who vanished without a trace, Fang's blood and fur had been found by the river along with signs of a bloody brawl. (A more violent version of the one happening now.)
'How did you survive? What happened to you? Where have you been? Who—'
'Woah! Easy, girl,' Fang laughed, patting her on both shoulders to calm her down.
His dark grey eyes flickered furtively to the crowd of werewolves who were finally getting a hold of themselves and calming down.
'Can you meet me tomorrow? At New City Central? I have something important to tell you.'
'What is it? What's wrong?'
'He told me to tell this to the next Eridanus werewolf I meet.'
'Who?' Fang stared gravely into Ran's coal eyes. His own flashed with memories Ran knew nothing about.
'It's a message from your father.'