Chapter Fourteen
There were a lot of jokes aimed Hunter’s way as their group patrolled. Hunter let them slide off him, engaging in the banter now and then and not taking offense. But Seth was quick to shut it down before it went too far, which was just as well considering Hunter’s anger might well still be on a hair trigger. Given he was just pretending to be mated and not actually mated, losing his temper now would have people asking uncomfortable questions.
They returned to the center of the pack around lunch time and were met by Elena carrying a basket.
“I made you some lunch,” she said, holding out the basket to Hunter.
“I, uh…”
At that moment, Cade wandered over with Joe, glancing from Elena to Hunter curiously.
“Unless,” she said, “your omega has already made lunch for you?”
“We’re good, thanks though,” Hunter said, ignoring the basket, and skirting around Elena toward Cade. “There you are. Haven’t seen you all morning.”
He settled an arm around Cade, giving him a pleading look. They needed to act the part.
Cade managed his side beautifully, leaning into Hunter with a long, heartfelt sigh. “I missed you. But I know you had important work to do. Let’s go home, I’m sure you’re hungry.” He said ‘hungry’ in a way that suggested he wasn’t talking about food.
“Famished,” Hunter replied, playing along, letting his eyes trail slowly down Cade’s body.
Cade blushed. “Again? But we only… just this morning.”
“What can I say? I can’t get enough of you.”
Hunter could see Elena out of the corner of his eye. She’d dropped the basket and was standing there, her hands curled into fists, red in the face. He didn’t want to hang around to see her lose it, so he urged Cade toward their house, keeping their backs to her.
Once they were out of earshot, he started to laugh. Cade rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.
“What’s her deal, anyway?”
“I don’t know. When we were younger we hated each other. Then one day she seemed to decide that that meant we were supposed to be together. I let her down as gently as I could, but no matter how many times I do it, she keeps coming back to the same conclusion. She thinks I just can’t see it.”
“That sort of thing can turn dangerous. Your pack should really try to mate her off. She’d be happier if she found someone else.”
“You saw her at the Choosing, right?”
“I’m not talking about a Choosing. I’m talking about finding her a mate. She seems like the kind of person who wants to devote herself to someone.”
“But that’s not the kind of person you are, huh?”
Cade glanced sideways at him.
“That’s not exactly the life I’ve always dreamed of.”
“Not contrary enough for you omega?” They reached the cottage, heading inside.
“How would you know; your pack hasn’t seen an omega in decades. For all you know, I’m a beta with delusions of grandeur.”
Hunter grinned. “Delusions of grandeur, huh? Then it makes no sense that you’d refuse to mate the alpha of a pack like Baelon’s.”
The smile on Cade’s face faded and he turned away. Hunter had a fair idea what he’d said wrong and figured he should try to make amends.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
Cade shrugged. “That’s okay.”
But Hunter could tell it wasn’t
“How’d you wind up in Baelon’s hands?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Cade clearly wasn’t in the mood to talk. He went to the window, looking out, his back to Hunter.
“How about some lunch?” Hunter suggested. “I think there’s some of Angie’s food left over.”
The omega brightened at the mention of food.
“I am hungry.”
“Good. Sybil says we need to feed you up before the winter. You are kind of skinny.”
Cade glanced down at himself, tugging self-consciously at his T-shirt. “I’m not usually like this.”
Hunter frowned at that, another sign of Baelon’s mistreatment.
“And once we get a few good meals into you, you’ll be back to normal.”
That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, Cade’s shoulders sagging.
Hunter was gone again after lunch and Cade, wanting to get the pack comfortable seeing him out and about, went for another walk with Joe. After an hour of wandering together, they went to Joe’s house. Joe had been receptive to some of his suggestions about getting noticed by Axel. The biggest issue was them being in separate packs. But their packs were neighbors and Axel was friends with Seth and Hunter, so it wasn’t impossible for them to see each other. Joe didn’t feel comfortable making his feelings known so Cade suggested he try to draw Axel’s attention to him in other ways.
“I can’t exactly start doing cartwheels in front of him. I don’t want to be obvious.”
“It depends on how oblivious he is,” Cade countered. “If he’s totally blind you may literally have to flaunt yourself in front of him. Or steal his T-shirt. Actually, that’s a good idea.”
“What, stealing his T-shirt? I’m not sure that’s how this works.”
“No. We need to engineer some little incident that gets you two physically close and preferably needing to shed some clothes.”
“What kind of incident?” Joe seemed skeptical but curious.
“Well, we’re surrounded by the sea and plenty of rivers. Let’s plan to get them in the water for a swim. You stick close to Axel and see where things go.”
Joe actually looked relieved. “That sounds simple enough. We go swimming and I hope he casts an eye my way once or twice.”
“I’ll talk to Hunter about it.”
Cade wasn’t sure why he was doing this. He had more important things to worry about. But it had been a while since he’d had someone to talk to, to scheme with. And there was nothing he loved better than some matchmaking. If he didn’t have to leave as soon as possible, Joe would make a good friend.
“How come Hunter took a mate this year but not Seth?” he wondered out loud. That had bothered him a bit since their arrival. Seth was actually older than Hunter by nearly a year and yet there was no sign of him taking a mate.
“Well, it’s not like they gave Hunter a choice,” Joe said. That piqued Cade’s interest. “What do you mean? Why did they make him choose a mate?”
Joe paused, looking uncertain. “Oh, I probably wasn’t supposed to mention that. Forget I said anything.”
“Joe, come on, he’s my mate. Is there something I need to know?”
Joe hummed and hawed for a few moments before answering. “Hunter arrived at the pack as a young kid. His mom, Angus’ sister, brought him here. She was having trouble keeping him under control.” He’d heard part of this from Elena already.
“She was raising him outside of a pack?”
“Yeah, they were in a human city.”
“Well, that’s hardly a surprise that he was having trouble controlling himself.” Except it was, a little. Hunter couldn’t shift so, really, he should have fitted in just fine.
“It was more than that. He… it’s his anger,” Joe blurted out.
“His anger?” Cade could see Hunter had a bit of a temper, but he’d seen worse.
“He just sees red and loses it. And when he’s fighting, it’s like nothing else exists in the world. He’s the best fighter the pack has. I’ve even heard some of the older pack say that he’s the best they’ve ever seen. But he can’t control himself. He was getting into fights with everyone. With Seth, even. Angus was worried that he’d lose control some day and kill someone.”
“And the solution was to mate him off? What kind of a half-assed idea was that?”
“They thought it would ground him, settle him, and help him control his anger. It seems to be working.”
Except he and Hunter hadn’t mated. Which meant it was only a matter of time before Hunter blew a fuse and that would likely break their cover. Angus would start asking questions about their mating and they’d figure out what Hunter and Cade were only pretending they were together.
“I guess it is working, for now. But what if it doesn’t? What then?”
“Hunter will be exiled. Angus doesn’t want to do that, but I heard that was the threat he made if Hunter didn’t choose a mate at the Gathering.”
And now Cade understood Hunter’s attitude. He’d been forced into an awkward position. He didn’t really want a mate but neither did he want to lose his family. What would happen once Cade ran? Maybe they would help him find another mate, one more suited to him.
It also put Cade’s need to get away on a timetable. He needed to be out of there before it became critical for Hunter to mate with him. And before Hunter lost his temper with him or someone else. But he still needed another few days to make a plan. He’d have to bring some supplies with him, it could take a week or two to cover the distance on foot. Unless he didn’t travel on foot.
“So, does all the food come from the farm?” he asked Joe, changing the subject.
“We buy some in from outside too, but a lot of it is our own, yeah. Would you like to see the farm and the storehouses?”
Cade took Joe up on the offer, hoping the beta would forgive him when the truth came to light. He didn’t like to use people or lie to people and hoped he’d have the chance to help Joe somehow before he had to leave.