Caine

"I can't believe you found him," Tyson and Daniel finally go back to Daniel's suite and I have my mate to myself.

"I already told you, I didn't. He found me," Amira is cleaning up the mess from the pizza and I can't help but admire her as she does so. I've found myself falling for her more quickly over the past few days, but what frustrates me is the fact that I don't think she feels the same. Why hasn't the mate bond affected her?

"How did you do it?" I ask.

"Do what?"

"Get him to trust you," she shrugs her shoulders.

"I guess I'm just trustworthy," she bends to pick up a glass from the table, but before she can grab it, I grab her wrist and swiftly yank her into my lap.

"And cute," I bury my nose in her neck.

"Caine-" she tries to pull away.

"Please, Amira. I need this, you owe me. Just for a minute" I beg. I've been craving the feel of her skin on mine. I just need a small fix of those sparks. To my relief, she stops struggling.

"Thank you," I sigh, pulling her closer while I can. After a few minutes, she mumbles again.

"Caine," and I hesitantly let her go.

*****************************

Amira

I can see him growing weaker, and I know it's my fault. The bags under his eyes, the drooping of the outer corner of his lips, it's all my fault. All because I won't let him mark me.

I watch his face drop as he lets me go and I pull away. I walk into the bathroom and lock the door, leaving him slouched over and alone on the couch.

I stare at myself in the bathroom mirror and sigh.

Maybe I'm just being selfish. He is my mate, after all. I belong to him and he belongs to me, and nothing is going to change that. I guess what scares me is the level of responsibility that I'm going to take one with being his mate. I care for him, and it hurts to see him hurting, but I don't know what to do.

So if you care about him, why do you let him hurt? My fists clench around my hair and I huff in frustration as I argue with myself.

He has been making an effort to grow closer to me, and that's worth something. Maybe I'm just arguing with myself because I haven't fully accepted what I already know.

I'm starting to fall for Caine.

I open the door and Caine is still sitting on the couch, leaning forward on his elbows with his hands buried in his hair. I walk over and sit down next to him, but he doesn't raise his head to look at me.

"I'm sorry, Amira, but I can't do this anymore. If you're going to reject me, just do it."

"Caine-" I scoot closer to him and lean my head on his shoulder. His body immediately tenses in response. "I'm sorry." He sighs and is about to get up and walk out when I grab his bicep and pull him back.

"I'm not going to reject you, I accept you. I'm just not ready to be marked," a large smile stretches across his face and he turns to me. He grasps my hands.

"Can I- umm," he stutters and I smile.

"Yes."

He moves one of his hands to my jaw, his thumb caressing my cheek, and stares into my eyes. He rests his forehead on mine and closes his eyes, inhaling a deep breath before finally connecting his lips passionately to mine. After a few seconds he pulls away, and when he opens his eyes, I can see life flowing back into them. The blue that has grown dull over the past few days is frigid and icy again.

"Thank you," he says lightly.

"For what?"

"For giving me a chance," then he kisses me again before pulling me closer and wrapping his arms around me in a tight embrace.

********************************

Daniel gives us a funny look when we walk down to the hotel restaurant to meet him for breakfast the next morning. His eyes immediately fall to our entwined hands. I avoid his eye contact and look over at Tyson, who is stuffing his face full of scrambled eggs.

"First things first, we need to teach you how to act like an Alpha," Daniel looks at Tyson with an unimpressed face and I can't help but lightly laugh.

"I am an Alpha, so therefore, this is how an Alpha acts. Is it not?" he speaks with food still in his mouth.

"He got you there," I tease Daniel, but he just shakes it off.

"Honestly though, what do we do now?" Caine pulls my chair out for me before sitting next to me, keeping his arm rested on the back of the chair and earning yet another confused glance from Daniel.

"We go home," Daniel elegantly raises his fork to his mouth and Tyson chokes.

"This is my home," he says.

"No, the Malignity Pack is your home," Daniel finishes chewing his food before he speaks.

"You'll be staying with us while we figure out how you're going to get your home back, though, so the Obsidian Pack will be your temporary home," Caine shocks us all by saying that.

"You're going to let him stay with us?" I ask the question that everyone is thinking. Caine takes a sip of his coffee.

"Of course," he shrugs. "Why wouldn't I? It was our idea to find him wasn't it?"

"Thank goodness. I don't think I could stand another night with this one," Tyson motions towards Daniel, who glares in return. Caine chuckles.

"Plus, I like you, kid."

"You realize he's only a few months younger than you?" This time Caine glares at me.

"He's officially the youngest Alpha, so he's kid," I just shrug, not willing to fight over something so stupid.

"So when do we leave?" Tyson asks, surprisingly willing to leave Hawaii.

"Wow, you give in easily," I say. Tyson shrugs.

"I like adventure. Maybe leaving wouldn't be so bad. Besides, it's not like I have anything to stay for."

"Easy enough. We'll leave tonight. I'll tell Pekelo to set it up," Daniel stands from the table. "Now, if you'll excuse me, there's something I need to do before I leave," and with that he walks out of the dining room.

"So," Caine speaks up, "Not a fan of Daniel, huh?"

"Are you kidding? The guy couldn't loosen up if his life depended on it. Talk about high-wired." Caine chuckles.

"We'll get along just fine, kid. And as much as I agree with you, you should know that Daniel has a lot of responsibility and is greatly respected, so you should respect him, too. He's very powerful," Caine's seriousness surprises me, but I don't say anything. "Trust me, you don't want to piss him off."

"If you say so," Tyson mumbles before continuing to eat his breakfast.

"We should go pack," Caine says, "You know how Daniel is with his time schedules."

I nod and say goodbye to Tyson before following Caine to the elevator.