Chapter 47: What's The Use Of Family?

When Dingo's warriors burst out of the adjacent hotel rooms, shifting into their wolf forms, the logical thing for Ran to do was shift into a wolf as well and defend herself. Instead, Ran hauled a winded Dingo to his feet and shifted only one arm, holding a bared claw to his artery.
'One move and your Alpha dies,' she said.
They stopped instantly, skidding to a halt in front of her, helpless because of who she held hostage.
'Bow,' she commanded.
The wolves lowered their heads reluctantly.
Dingo groaned in her arms.
Nusha pulled herself into a sitting position, spitting blood from her mouth.
'You can't threaten me with his life,' she rasped, staggering towards her. 'Kill him if you like. We were just using each other to get rid of you.'
Just as she was about to shift into her wolf, Ran dropped Dingo and plunged her hand into Nusha's chest, digging past the bones to rip out her heart.
Her fairy-like face lost its colour, her yellow eyes dimming like a latern that had been blown out.
Now that their Alpha was no longer in immediate danger, the Leo werewolves lunged at Ran. She dispatched them with practiced ease, with a ferocity that bordered on excitement—as though she had been waiting all her life for this moment. With every werewolf she tore to pieces, her coal eyes burned even brighter.
A werewolf pounced on her from behind.
She swung the one attacking her from the front into him, sending him hurtling down the corridor.
With a quick scratch, she dispatched the last of the Leo werewolves and picked up the half-conscious Dingo.
Ran wanted to kill him.
A traitor like him should be dead.
It would be the loudest message she could send to anyone who dared to consider messing with her Eridanus. But she couldn't. It wasn't his familiar chocolate brown eyes. Nor the husky voice with similarities to the Dingo she remembered. Or the fact that she once loved him and wanted to marry him.
As she marked his face, she felt her heart bleed as well.
He was the last of her family.
She would never be able to kill him like she killed Nusha.
After she spoke, she staggered backward, her legs giving way.
Just before she hit the ground, a pair of arms enveloped her. A familiar smell. A familiar voice.
A familiar face.
'Crap,' she mumbled. 'You heard that?'
Caph's blue eyes glowed and darkened with desire. 'Yeah. I did.'
'I can explain,' she said, struggling to sit up.
He held her down, leaning over her possessively. 'Don't.'
And he kissed her so she couldn't try.
Caph carried Ran from the scene with the excuse to his 'superior' that he was going to take her to the hospital. The older man eyed him suspiciously but let him go. Ran was a guest of the hotel after all.
They left through the back door of the hotel.
Caph returned the unconscious hotelier (what's left of) his uniform and insisted that they turn wolf once they were out of New City to get home faster.
In wolf form, Ran regained her energy quickly and soon she was outrunning Caph on the way back.
She grinned at him as they sloshed their way into the foyer of Cassiopeia's ancient castle. 'You're so slow! And you weren't the one ambushed by ten werewolves.'
Caph tucked her wet hair behind her ear. 'Yes, yes. You're the strongest werewolf in the world.'
She smiled sadly, her coal eyes clouding over. 'Sorry,' she whispered. 'About Nusha.'
He removed his hands from her shoulders. 'I need time.'
'Okay.'
Celphus stalked into the main hall with a growl. 'What about Nusha? Does she have something to do with this?'
And Ran told him what happened.
Caph noticed she left out details about the attack on Eridanus his father organised.
When she was done, Celphus grunted, his face impassive.
It was impossible to tell if he was furious that she killed a member of his pack—a purebred wolf.
He must be really desperate for her union with Caph to work out.
Ran pointed this out carefully.
Celphus's yellow eyes gleamed. 'Come to my study. We should talk about this privately.'
He cast Caph a wary look and walked away.
Ran squeezed his hand gently and followed his father.
Leaving Caph alone in the main hall with his head reeling.
The Alpha of Cassiopeia didn't beat around the bush. As soon as Ran sat down, he spoke:
'During your father's time, Eridanus had already been on good terms with Ursa Minor. But Ursa Minor was encroaching our territories and ridiculing werewolf traditions in favour of living like the humans. They disrespected Cassiopeia and eventually became the most powerful pack in Polemon County.'
He examined Ran's impassive expression.
He continued, 'You have seen our people. You know we're dying out. Hostility with a powerful pack like Ursa Minor is disadvantageous to us.'
He leaned forward.
'That's why I want a union with Eridanus. To convince Ursa Minor we mean no harm. To bring peace to the county.'
There was silence.
Finally, Ran responded tentatively, 'I have not heard of this from my uncle.'
Celphus's eyes flashed with unspoken warning. 'He must have simply forgotten to tell you,' the Alpha of Cassiopeia intoned. 'After all, you don't have a good relationship with him, do you?'
Ran tilted her head. 'How do you know that?'
The answer flickered in his eyes. Nusha.
She had underestimated him.
She forgot that he had been planning this for years.
'You will marry Caph anyway,' he said matter-of-factly.
It was not a question.
It was not even a statement.
It was a threat.
Ran saw it in his yellow gaze. He knew they were bonded mates. He knew more than she did about how this bond worked.
And he was willing to sacrifice his own son to ruin Eridanus.
The hair on the back of her neck prickled.