Page 12 of Caged Between the Beta & Alpha
He had lost his father in that final battle, he had been through a lot, but I had shut everyone out. Now that I was back, I knew, deep down, I did need to tolerate him, but that meant I needed to do something about us, about Raven, about everything. I couldn’t keep shutting it all out because it wasn’t helping anyone.
I had a pack to run. He was my Beta, and she... she was meant to be my Luna. My wolf stirred, and I pondered on their words. Do something about it... what I wanted to do was take her and claim her as my mate. I was an alpha, and I was done stepping down. I had given them a chance... and now that we were back to square one, it was high time I took what was mine for the claiming.
It was evening. Mom had mind-linked me to stop by, only for me to realise she had tricked me.
“Me alone with her?” I asked, looking at the little pumpkin.
“She’s a good girl, Liam,” Mom said dismissively. Dad smirked.
“Yup, a real angel,” he added, not sounding very convincing. “We could do this tomorrow?”
“No, baby, we are going,” Mom said firmly.
They were going to visit some lone wolves who lived near our pack territory. Considering the murder, Mom and Dad decided to check in on them, and here I was stuck with my little sister, Azura- Aunty Indy’s girl that Mom carried.
“Wiyam, I be good.” She blinked those large blue eyes as she assured me.
No, that was an alarm bell right there. No kid who says they will be good will be good… and I had seen the devil, Dante. Kids were scary… don’t mess with them.
“So, since you’re visiting a few elderly wolves… you should be home by eleven?” I asked. Mom smirked.
“Yes, hopefully. Relax, Liam, but I do think we will be back before eleven. It’s only six pm now,” she said, glancing at the clock on the wall.
“Anything I need to know…”
“No, just keep her away from the sugary stuff. There’s pizza in the oven. It should be done in twenty minutes. Eat, get her ready for bed, tell her a story, then she should knock off,” Mom said, grabbing her jacket before meeting Azura with a hug and kisses.
The fact that it had been just me and my twin, Kiara, growing up, we didn’t have younger siblings, so seeing Mom like this was strange. Not to mention, I wasn’t here for Azura’s entire three years of life. Was she really going to sleep? Didn’t look like it…
“Oh yeah, Liam, Raven was saying she wanted to move to the packhouse, get something sorted for her. I was going to tell you earlier, but then with everything that happened last night, I wasn’t in the right headspace,” Mom said just when she was about to step outside.
“Sure,” I said emotionlessly.
Raven at the packhouse? Fuck, that’s where I was staying… I couldn’t deal with this, not when just looking at her made me want to go over to her and claim her as mine.
Once the door shut after Mom and Dad, I looked at the little girl who had her finger shoved up her nose.
“Don’t do that. It’s gross,” I said, crouching down in front of her.
“Do what?” she said, taking her finger out of her nose and… fuck! She ate it!
“Azura, pumpkin, you don’t eat that.”
“Eat what?” she asked. Did she not realise what she had just done?
“Okay, let’s wash your hands…” She frowned as I tugged her into the kitchen. Goddess, kids were gross.
“I washed my hands after I went to the toilet, Wiyam.”
“Yeah, but you were picking your bogeys,” I said, lifting her onto the worktop.
“Oh, they’re tasty,” she giggled. I cringed. Were we this disgusting as kids?
“Alright, how about we get the pizza and watch a movie while you eat?” I suggested.Hopefully, she’ll fall asleep in the process.I took a tray out, grabbing what we needed before taking the pizza out.
“Wiyam, can I have Coca-Cola?” she asked as I took a can from the fridge for myself.I’m sure Mom said no sugar…
“Aren’t you too little?”
