Chapter 41: Curiosity Killed The Wolf

Caph had gone back to sleep after Ran left the house. Ancient wood sofas did not make for comfortable beds, so he didn't get a good night's sleep. However, just as he was drifting off into a dream where Ran also had her black hair braided instead of in her usual ponytail, it occurred to him that Ran had no reason to be going around looking that pretty without him beside her.
His eyes were wide open now and suddenly, sleep was for losers.
In a flash he was striding down the cobblestone path and descending the ancient stone stairs three at a time.
He contemplated turning wolf to chase her down.
But he decided that was a bad idea.
Even though Ran was dense, they were still bonded mates—she would notice that much.
As a result, he could only sprint down the old dusty dirt paths out of The Citadel to catch up to her, panting when he finally reached the bus stop outside the Cassiopeia werewolves' hometown.
Ran wasn't there anymore.
He could feel her at the edge of his consciousness, headed towards New City.
Why had she gone there?
She didn't know anyone from Polemon County.
A streak of annoyance jolted through him.
She did—the werewolf she had a private conversation with from the Gathering.
He had led Nusha to believe he wasn't cared a snort about that guy. Caph knew Ran better than she knew herself. He was her bonded mate after all. That male wasn't a threat.
Not in the way Dingo had been.
He wasn't worried at all.
He was standing at the bus stop outside The Citadel in the wee hours of the morning, his bed hair uncombed, his socks mismatched and his t-shirt the one he had slept in, but he wasn't worried at all.
He just wanted to make sure she was safe and knew the way home.
Yes, that's it, Caph decided, running his fingers through his hair, staring at his translucent reflection on the noticeboard.
He wasn't worried at all.
By the time he reached the Starbucks Fang and Ran had gone into, they were at the counter giving their names to the cashier.
'Black,' Fang was saying. 'I'm Black Smith. This is my ignorant sister, Silver Smith.'
Annoyance buzzed in Caph's ears.
He couldn't help snorting as he hid himself behind a newspaper left behind by a customer. He joined the queue just as Ran was scolding Fang about the fake names and he was laughing in response.
Caph felt restless.
Did other people think he and Ran got along when they were together as well?
Why was Ran letting Fang hug her? She almost always pushed Caph away when he so much as stepped into her personal space.
He fidgeted with the newspaper in his hands, watching them sit down at a two-seater table.
Someone tapped him on the shoulder.
A gothic looking girl with spiky headphones. She pointed at the counter, her eyes accusing.
The cashier was smiling at him, her eyes fixed on him.
'Oh. Um...Hot cappuccino. Grande.'
'Name?'
Caph glared in Fang's direction even though the blonde haired werewolf didn't even know he was here.
'Gold Smith,' he said.
The cashier's eyes also flickered over to Fang. Then, she gave him a faltering smile and wrote it down dejectedly. Caph was too busy looking for a table nearby to notice the assumption she was making about him.
He sat two tables away from Ran and Fang to evasdrop. He wasn't that surprised by what he heard.
Caph had already suspected his father was involved but he never thought the Alpha of Cassiopeia would be part of the attack himself. He usually left the dirty work for others to do.
There was more—more that even Fang didn't know about.
Caph stared at the words on the newspaper in front of him. The headlines blended together. There was no point getting agitated now. First, he had to find out why.
He could ask Zarth. The pack elder seemed to have been privy to the Alpha's plans. Zarth would know.
'What's the message?' Ran asked Fang.
Caph listened again.
Fang recited, 'The future of the werewolf is humanity. We must become like them and never taint them with our curse. We cannot forge our own path. We must join them. The Red Moon is only the beginning of the cure. The rest of it is...'
Caph's mind began to spin.
There was no need to talk to Zarth after all.
He knew exactly what Celphus had done.
And why he did it.
The reality of what his father had done, what his father was planning to do, hit him with the force of a truck and he forgot to breathe. He almost choked on the mouthful of coffee he had forgotten to swallow and coughed loudly, attracting the attention of the people around him.
Caph scraped his chair back violently and ducked out of the cafe with inhuman speed, to avoid being seen by Ran.
He raced across New City Central, itching to shift right then and there, in the midst of all the humans, just to get back home to think about everything he just discovered.
No wonder Celphus had gotten upset when Caph's bonded mate turned out to be Ran.
No wonder Celphus wanted one of his sons to be Alpha of Eridanus.
It hadn't made any sense before, but now it did.
With 4K clarity.
Celphus was trying to stop werewolves packs from integrating into human society—just like Ursa Minor had done, just like Eridanus had been trying to do.
But Caph would never choose his pack over his bonded mate. His father knew that.
So because he was unsure of Caph's loyalty, he didn't include him in his plans thus far.
Somehow, he needed Caph now. If Caph refused to cooperate, Celphus would definitely hurt Ran to make him obey.
He wouldn't even hesitate.
Cassiopeia was as important to him as Eridanus was to Ran.
And he wasn't the only one. There was one more person who would do anything to stop Ran.
Caph's pace faltered and then he stopped walking altogether.
His childhood friend stood in front of him at the bus stop, her arms crossed. She wore neon yellow jeans. It was hard to not notice her. She leaned against the bus stop pole, her yellow eyes fixed on him.
'Nusha,' he breathed.
She approached him and stood so close, he could smell her skin, feel her breath. She smiled. 'I've been waiting for you.'