Caine

"That's it?" I glance at Amira as she walks down the stairs with a small duffle bag in her hand. After Brayden gave me a pep talk at training, I realized he was right. I need to mark Amira. Who knows, maybe I'll grow to like her. I doubt it, though. I'm not one to settle down and no mate is going to change that. If I wasn't the Alpha I wouldn't be wasting my time.

"No, I have one more bag," she set her bag down and ran back upstairs.

I turn and examine the small book shelf in the corner of her living room. It is full of old folk tales and history books. She really is into what happened in the past. When I walked in before she was reading about the first Obsidian-Malignity War, which could actually be helpful in the following weeks. Maybe I'll show her the archives just to keep her busy.

A small red book catches my attention. There is no title on the binding, like the rest of her books. I cautiously pull the book off of the shelf and turn it face up in my hands. There is no title on the front, either, and my curiosity gets the best of me as I flip the book open.

I find drawings inside. The first is of a man kneeling on a pillow. Most of the drawing is done in charcoal, but the pillow is dark red. I can't see the man's face, his head is down, but I think I know who it is based on his red and black crown: Trenton.

His fists are clenched at his sides. What surprises me about the drawing is the background. The sky is scribbled red and black, giving me the sense of anger. I flip to the next page and see the same man, who I still assume is Trenton, since he's wearing the same crown, but this time he doesn't have a shirt on. His arms are chained to the sides of the page and a crescent moon lurks behind him. His head is down again, and there's a large, red X in the center of his chest. I didn't understand it. It looks like a Changing, but the X doesn't make sense to me. The moon would also be full, as it always is on an Alpha's twentieth birthday.

On the page next to that one, there is a drawing of a younger man sitting on the ground with his head buried behind his arms that are resting on his knees. I turn the page again and this time there is an elaborate drawing of the younger man's face. His jaw is sharp, his hair dark, and a scar stretches from his ear to his cheek, running right beneath his eye. What catches my eye is the color of his irises. They're the same crimson red as the pillow from the first drawing. I'm not a big art guy, but in this drawing even I can see what the boy is feeling in his eyes: lost.

Suddenly I hear Amira running back down the stairs and quickly shove the book in my jacket. I turn towards the stairs to see her lugging a large suitcase down the stairs one step at a time. She changed and I stop my eyes from roaming down her body too late. Her shirt hugs her frame and my eyes grow dark with lust. Maybe trying to seduce her won't be the worst thing...

"What the hell is that?" I raise my eyebrows in disbelief.

"My books," she huffs as she reaches the bottom. I turn to look at the bookshelf then back at her.

"You don't need those, sweetheart. I have a library bigger than your house." She cringes at my nickname for her, which makes me smirk.

"First things first, Alpha," she emphasizes my title, "rule number one: if we're working so close to each other every day, don't expect me to be respectful." Her hand remains on her suitcase handle and I swear she can see the mischief dancing in my eyes as I move closer to her. Just to be a tease I bite my lip as I stare at her and I see her gaze drop to my mouth before quickly flicking back up to my eyes.

"What if I do?" I lower my voice and see her eyes darken. She may not know we're mates yet, but the pull is already affecting her. She's attracted to me and soon she won't be able to fight it. Luckily, I have more self control.

"Then I'll quit," she crosses her arms. Damn, I love her feisty attitude sometimes.

"I am an Alpha, Amira. Disrespect to me results in punishment," I try to act serious but a small smirk sneaks onto my face. I lean closer to whisper to her, "Then again.. I wouldn't mind punishing you." She narrows her eyes at me.

"Second rule, this is going to be strictly professional. Is that clear, Alpha?" She stares me down. The way she always sarcastically pronounces 'Alpha' should make me angry, but somehow it just irks me on even more. She grabs her suitcase of books and pulls it past me right out her front door.

This should be fun.

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

Amira

"Is this real? It's huge!" Caine pushes the large doors to the massive library open and I slowly walk in, my hands moving to my mouth to stop myself from screaming. Everywhere I look there are shelves upon shelves of books. There's multiple floors and several sitting areas. To be honest, I didn't even know this many books existed. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Caine smirking and I sense yet another dirty comment coming.

"I get that a lot, but not normally concerning my library," he winks and I roll my eyes.

"Rule number three, no more of that," I wag my finger at him and walk up to a shelf, running my fingers delicately along the spines of the books.

"I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be the one making the rules, Miss Amira," he purposely rolls my name seductively off his tongue and I tense before correcting myself and continuing down my line of books. There is no way I am going to let an Alpha seduce me when I'm trying to wait for my mate. I have more dignity than that. Even if that Alpha is strong and handsome and...

I snap myself out of those thoughts and

grab a large book off of the shelf, opening it up to find words like 'knight' and 'thieves'. I think I'll like this one.

"That one is pretty good," my dignity flies out the window as I tense up at Caine's voice in my ear. "A knight trying to save a princess all for the glory," his voice is husky against my neck and I feel his hands move to my hips. "Women can make men do pretty crazy things," I feel his breath against my neck again and I feel tingles move through my body. I unconsciously lean back into him before I realize what I'm doing and quickly pull away. When I turn around I think I see disappointment on his face, but if it was there, he quickly wipes it away and a smirk finds it's way onto his face.

"What's the matter, Amira? Not used to men touching you?" I scoff at his words.

"Please," I say sarcastically. Truth is, he was right. I have never been in a relationship because I'm waiting for my mate, and I'm not going to let this arrogant, cocky Alpha mess that up for me. He doesn't need to know that, though.

His eyes grow dark at my response and the smirk is immediately removed from his face. He walks closer and I back up in response until my back is up against a shelf.

"Tell me, Amira," his voice is husky and scratchy again and, again, I feel myself shiver, as much as I didn't want to. "Did all these men make you react to words like I do?" He pushes his body up against mine and runs a leather clad finger down my jaw. I try to duck under his arm, but his other hand comes up and pushes my hips back against the shelves and I sharply take a breath.

He leans in by my ear, "I guarantee I can make you feel better than they can." My eyes flutter closed as he runs a finger across my collarbone and down my arm, sending tingles up and down my spine. "You'll be screaming my name so loud they'll all know I'm better than them." My eyes shoot open and I realize what is happening.

Roughly pushing him away I clutch the book to my chest. That stupid smirk still spreads across his face.

"Well you could've told me you like it rough," he winks and I give him the most disgusted face I can muster.

"Excuse me, Alpha, but I'm going to do some research. It'd be a shame if I become another one of your panty-dropping toys, wouldn't it?" My comment doesn't wipe the annoying smirk off of his face, but I am proud of myself for saying it. I take the book with me and walk away from him to find another one on the Luna Era.

What bothers me the most is the burning feeling, knowing Caine's watching me walk away.

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

Caine

I stare at the drawing of the scar-faced boy from Amira's notebook. Something about him seems so familiar, but I don't know what it is. What is with all the drawings of Trenton? It kind of pisses me off how jealous my wolf is getting knowing she was drawing Trenton, but why? Why so many pictures of that asshole? And who is this boy whose face she knows every detail of? Is he a boyfriend of some sort? I know these pictures mean something, but I don't know what. I have a feeling it could help us with the Malignity Pack.

I flip the page and see the scar-faced boy screaming with fur sprouting from his body. He was obviously mid-transformation, but it shouldn't be as painful as the look on his face makes it seem. Unless he was changing... I need to ask Amira what these drawings mean. She's going to get mad at me for taking her book, but she's going to have to get over it. Afterall, she thinks she is here to help the pack in case of war. Technically, I wasn't lying...

I walk into the library, but Amira isn't there, much to my surprise. She probably went back to the room we assigned her, so I turn in that direction, the small red book clutched in my hand. When I turn down the next wing I see her door open a crack and hear faint voices coming from inside. Who could she be talking to?

I push it open a little further and my wolf seethes with rage. Amira is sitting on a chair, an amused grin spread across her face. Brayden sits across from her, shooting out some lame, overused joke. My wolf hates it, which just pisses me off even more. I want to rip my Beta's throat out for making my mate laugh like that, but I also want to rip my wolf out of me for making me so jealous about my Beta making my mate laugh like that. For only the second time of her being here, she looks generally happy, the first being when I first showed her the library.

I push the door open and they both look up to me. Brayden immediately recognizes the look on my face and huffs out a strained breath.

"Caine," he nods at me and stands up. "I'll see you later, Amira." He nods at her. Like hell you will. My eyes follow him as he walks past me, with a look of determination in his eyes, and right out into the hallway. I look back to Amira after Brayden clicks the door shut.

"What was he doing?" I ask, cringing at the obvious jealousy in my voice.

"If you must know, Alpha, he was entertaining me. For how big this house is it is surprisingly boring," she glares at me.

"Well no one said you couldn't leave," my voice is snappier than I intend it to be and she flinches back in the chair.

"Is that my notebook?" her eyes widen and I see anger cross her features. Why does that get me going?

"Who is this?" I flip open to the page of the boy.

"That's my personal notebook! How did you even find it!?" she angrily lunges at me and I raise the red book.

"Answer my question," my fists clench at my side, frustrated that this is turning me on when I'm supposed to be getting information. To my surprise, she hits me in the chest, not gently.

"Give me it back!" I'm not going to lie, she looks adorable jumping up and down in front of me like that. Thank god I have on a long sleeve shirt, since she keeps grabbing my arm and trying to pull it down. I let her waste her time and when she finally gives up I speak again.

"Sit down, Amira," to my surprise she listens and I take Brayden's previous seat, setting the open book down on the table and sliding it across the coffee table to her. "Who is this?"

"I don't know, okay?" she throws her arms up in frustration and glares at me.

"Okay, I'll ask one easier," I flip the page and point to Trenton in chains with the X on his chest. "Why did you draw Trenton?"

"Alpha Trenton? I just drew what I saw, I don't know if it's Alpha Trenton," she scrunches her eyebrows together in confusion. It's actually kind of cute. I mentally slap myself for that thought and focus on the task at hand.

"What do you mean what you saw? When did you see Trenton's Changing? When did you ever see a Changing?" she recoils into her chair and hesitates before responding.

"I saw it in a dream. I don't know what or who it is, I just drew it. All of those drawings are from my dreams. Why do you think that's Trenton?"

"That's the Malignity Pack's crown on his head. What does the X on his chest mean?" I lean forward with my elbows on my knees, trying to be gentle but get answers at the same time. I realized earlier that we're not going to get anywhere if I yell at her.

"I don't know. And I don't know who that kid is, okay? I just draw what I dream. I don't know why."

"You're lying," one of my talents comes in handy when I clearly pick up on her nervous actions. Amira's eyes narrow once again. "I can tell when people are lying, it's one of my talents."

"That would've been nice to know. Any other talents I should know about?" she crosses her arms in front of her chest, causing her breasts to push up a little further and I fight to keep my eyes from trailing south.

"Don't change the subject. You know what these mean," I say it as a fact and not as a question.

"Okay, fine. I know it might sound crazy, but ever since I was fourteen most of my dreams have come true. I don't know for sure what those drawings mean, but I have an idea." I raise an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to go on.

"Trenton never Changed. He isn't an accepted Alpha."