Page 196 of Caged Between the Beta & Alpha
I walked over to the window. It looked out towards the training grounds, and I wondered how much time she spent here watching us, or Liam. Even in such a place, behind such an innocent mask, there was a killer, burning from within with hatred and vengeance…
There are all types of masks that those around us wear; masked by our fake smiles and passive expressions, the lies hidden inside, the pain we hide to pretend we are normal… the jealousy, the bitterness, the sadness… we all wear them. I did, too. Lately, though, I’ve talked about how I felt. Maybe it took Liam marking Raven to make me snap, but it worked. It had been a turning point that perhaps I needed. I just wished it hadn’t been something so horrible as that to finally make me step up.
Liam crouched down by the skirting board, and I glanced over at him.
“What is it?” He stood up again, holding a small photograph.
“Who would have thought that piece of scum had a child…”
“I know…” I said, glancing at the picture for a moment. “If only she actually asked someone the truth rather than just wrapping herself up in lies and her assumptions.”
“I’ve assumed stuff, so I can see it happening,” he sighed as he opened his hand, his aura surging around it. I watched in shock as the photograph began to shrivel up as if it was burned by the blue flame-like aura.
“Whoa…” He gave me a small smile.
“I guess I have some similarities to Kiara.”
“How did you hone it on just your hand?” He shrugged, dropping the burned paper to the ground.
“I’ve always been more in control than Kia. Besides, she carries the Asheton power whilst I think I’m definitely more Deimos.”
“You are the Deimos Prince,” I said, crossing my arms.
“I don’t like that title; I think I’ve used titles enough to last me a fucking lifetime,” he said, sighing again as he crushed the remnants of the picture beneath his boot. “You are an incredible beta, Damon. One who has stepped up to the job the moment your father passed away, but I know if I just say I don’t think of you as anything less than me, it’s worth nothing. So… I want to show you something.”
He jerked his head towards the door, and I raised an eyebrow as we both left the room and packhouse, heading towards the north side of the pack into the trees. It was nice to see the children playing around the pack again.
“Is this like a surprise set up in the middle of a forest where you are going to confess your undying love?” I joked.
“Not exactly,” he smirked as he headed towards the river. I frowned when he crossed the bridge and kept walking.
“Okay, are you planning on killing me in the middle of nowhere?” I asked.
“Definitely not,” he replied as we walked through the trees, not stopping for a good ten minutes until he suddenly slowed down. I raised an eyebrow, looking around. We were on pack grounds that were only really used for running.
“What are we looking at?” I asked, glancing around.
“We are looking at the future home of the Blue Moon Pack.” I frowned; this was Blood Moon territory…
“Are you changing the pack name?” I asked, looking around.
This location was big, but I was sure our current location was larger. Why would he move this way? He chuckled.
“No, the Blue Moon is going to be the Blood Moon’s sub-pack, led by its own Alpha… Alpha Damon Nicholson, my brother,” Liam said quietly.
My eyes snapped up to his. His words resonated in my head, and I was shocked to see the glitter of emotions in his eyes. My heart raced as I stared at him. There was no guilt in his eyes, simply sadness and sincerity.
“I wish I could keep being selfish and keep you by my side forever, to have you as my Beta, but you are worth far more… and the pack’s growing too large. To start with, it was two packs combined. With whathappened, it’s clear a pack of this size is far too great to be run by one alpha, and so I thought, who more fitting than you? You have always been loyal to me, come whatever, but I don’t want you bound by my side when you are worth so much more. So… this is going to be our sub-pack. We will break the far wall, and you will take two-fifths of the territory. I’ve talked with Dad about buying the land around to the west, so we can spread both packs over more ground. You can start planning what you want and how you want the pack arranged. Once we decide how we split the pack, with the members’ approval, of course, we will get two-fifths of the pack moved here under your command.”
It was too much to take in. Me as an alpha? I never considered that… I ran my hand through my hair, staring at the land. The vision of a packhouse and how I’d set it out already filled my mind.
I looked at Liam, who was watching me with a small smile on his face. I knew he probably knew it was hard for me to see them together, but I also knew he was doing this for me and not to get rid of me. He’d made mistakes, but it was like everyone kept telling me that I was more than I felt, Liam included. I had always been second to him, and there he was giving me the rank of Alpha, telling me we were equal… brothers…
We made mistakes, we hurt each other, but was one woman enough to destroy it all? I knew the answer to that. No, and I knew with time, things would get better.
“I don’t know what to say…”
“You don’t need to say anything. Maybe this way, the packhouse rooms can have their own bathrooms. Do you know there’s one pack member who has anonymously left a long essay explaining why the packhouse needed renovating? Damn, it was long…”
