“My goddess... how awful.”
They were silent a moment, all feeling awkward, especially Caia for having brought it up. Finally, Sebastian cleared his throat as he sat up on the bed, “Imogen is my mom, by the way,” he offered. “Sunday’s my little sister, she’s five. I have another little sister, Seana. And Isaac’s my dad.”
Caia shook her head. “I’m never going to remember everyone, am I?”
Jaeden stopped exercising. “It’ll take time. There’s a few of us.”
She nodded, and was quiet as Jaeden scolded Sebastian for putting his feet up on the bed.
“Hey, I have a question,” Caia mused interrupting their squabble.
“Yeah?” They both quizzed.
“Where do we run?”
“At the back of your place.” Sebastian shrugged, indicating her window with his a nod of his head.
“Lucien and my father bought acres of the woodland just outside Woodrush,” Jaeden added. “It’s so we have privacy.”
“About that?” Caia leaned towards them, looking from one to the other. “How come you don’t get caught?”
“We haven’t had any trespassers.” Jaeden looked at Sebastian for confirmation.
He nodded and continued for her, “Yeah, even in the past when there have been the occasional sightings, nothing ever came of it. We guessed they just couldn’t believe what they were seeing. There have been teenagers who saw us and told but … ach, everyone just thinks it’s the retelling of the werewolf myth over and over again.”
Jaeden snorted. “We’re safe due to the modern age of cynicism. Thank the gods superstition’s out right?”
Caia didn’t laugh; she had a far more pressing question on her mind. “What about the war?”
Both Jaeden and Sebastian stilled, their entire bodies stiffening in alert, like prey catching the sounds of a hunter.
Sebastian cleared his throat. “Uh, what about it?” he asked nervously.
Caia just shook her head, pleading with her eyes for a response from the two of them. “You never talk about the war-”
“The war doesn’t touch us. There is no need to talk about it.” The three of them turned towards Lucien standing in the doorway. What was with him and doing that? Caia narrowed her eyes. Sebastian jumped up from the bed, reacting to Lucien’s tone. The Alpha’s eyes were glinting dangerously as they flickered over Jaeden and Sebastian. Was he angry at them?
“It’s not their fault. I asked.”
“Well stop asking,” his voice was like ice.
She flinched as if he had struck her. Why was he was being such a jerk when he had been so kind and friendly all week? Now he had all of them acting like they’d been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. They hadn’t done anything wrong, and neither had she for asking. “I have a right to know,” she heard the steel in her own voice, watched her friends react in surprise to the strength she showed him, and it encouraged her to continue, “I withheld from asking Irini because it seemed to upset her, but I have a right to ask now.”
“No, you don’t,” Lucien countered, stepping towards her. “I will not have the war brought up. We are peaceful, and the pack does not need those kinds of memories being dredged up at the moment.”
Caia didn’t back up. Instead she took a step towards him, telling him physically that he didn’t frighten her. “The Hunter was part of the war. He took my parents from me before I had the chance to get to know them. I deserve to know the whys and the hows.”
“I told you all there was to know a week ago, so drop it.”
She glared at him for a moment, her green eyes clashing into his silver ones with heat and anger. She was flushed with the warmth of her annoyance and could feel Lucien’s anger melding into the air around them with hers until it was hard to breathe in the stifling atmosphere. Slowly realizing that Jae and Sebastian were shifting uncomfortably, she backed down, forcing on a tranquil expression. She felt like she had the day she’d encountered Yvana in the kitchen. Just when she was beginning to feel a part of these people...
Lucien must have read something in her eyes because he sighed deeply, running his hand through his hair as if frustrated. “Jae, Seb... give Caia and me a moment please.”
They couldn’t have scrambled out of the room fast enough.
“Caia, I’m sorry,” Lucien said softly, closing the door behind them.
She nodded, a little unsure of him now. “You don’t have to treat me like a child, you know.”