Caine

I groan as I once again hang up the phone in my office. I've been trying to contact Alpha Daniel for three days now, and every day his secretary has some lame ass excuse as to why he can't talk. Fine, if that's how you want to play, I guess I'll just have to come to you.

Making my decision final, I mind link Brayden to come into my office immediately. Five short minutes later he walks in; gym shorts, no shirt, sweating, and panting.

"What?" he's never formal with me, like the rest of the wolves in our pack.

"Shit, you were at training weren't you?"

"Yeah, which is where you're supposed to be, too," he chuckles, "Its okay, I needed a run anyways. What did you call me here for?"

"I'm going over to the Whitefire Pack for a few days, leaving tomorrow afternoon. Alpha Daniel won't answer my calls so I'm going to force him to talk to me," I stand up and start towards the door. Brayden follows closely behind.

"Don't you think if we want him to help us that intruding maybe isn't the best solution to this problem." There he goes trying to talk sense in to me again. I shake my head.

"I tried to set up a meeting and he's not responding, so now he has no choice." He sighs at my stubbornness.

"So are you telling me this because you want me to come with you or because I need to stay here and take over while you're gone?"

"You're staying here. I can't have Daniel using your power to read my thoughts when I'm trying to negotiate with him. You know how he is. Amira is coming with me," he raises his eyebrows in surprise at my words.

"Are you going to tell her?"

"That she's coming? Yeah, that's where I'm headed right now," I avoided his question.

"You know what I'm referring to, Caine," he says sternly.

"Yes, okay? I'll tell her when we get back," I know he'll just keep pushing me and even I have to admit that marking her is best for all of us.

"I know you don't want to, but Amira has a right to know," he continues to try to talk sense into me, even though I've already given in.

"I have a right to know what?" Our heads shoot down the hall to see Amira exiting her room. Brayden smiles at her.

"Amira," he greets her and she returns the smile.

"Brayden," she turns towards me, "Alpha," she bows. I can't help but feel a little jealous at how comfortable she is around Brayden already when she's only been here for about a week. I know he won't do anything with her, but my wolf gets all protective whenever I see them together, even if he has no reason to.

"So what is it I have a right to know," she stands in front of us, her book of drawings clutched to her chest, which just causes my eyes to draw south, growing dark at what they see. I look back up into her eyes.

"You're coming to the Whitefire Pack with me," I give her an answer to her question to get her off my back. "Be ready by tomorrow afternoon and try not to jump Alpha Daniel when we get there." I have to admit, taking her to the Whitefire Pack after knowing what she was thinking about the last time we spoke made my wolf super protective. Maybe I should tell her before we leave instead...

No. I turn and leave her in the hall with an amused Brayden.

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

Amira

What's up his ass? I watch Caine walk away from me and mentally groan. I don't want to go to a pack far away from our own with him. That means hours on end in a car with him. I won't be able to stay sane through it. Brayden chuckles and I switch my gaze from Caine's back to him.

"What?" I ask annoyed. I've only been here for about a week, but already I felt myself growing to like Brayden. Our late night gossip sessions have become a routine and he always made sure I was comfortable, knowing how much I didn't want to stay here.

He taps a finger to his temple, indicating that he broke our deal.

"Alpha Daniel, huh? Surprising you could find him attractive and still be repulsed by Caine."

"Like you said," I clutched the book closer to my chest, "they're opposites. Alpha Daniel is kind and caring and Alpha Caine is..." an asshole. I know stopping myself from saying it out loud meant nothing in front of Brayden, but at least Caine wouldn't hear it, because he can probably hear our conversation.

"He's really not a bad guy, Meer."

"Why do you call me that?" I scrunch my nose at another one of his nicknames for me.

"I don't know, you remind me of a meerkat, always alert," he chuckles and I suddenly become aware of his shirtless state. My eyes graze over his sculpted abdomen and down to the 'v' just above his shorts. Do the men around here just not wear shirts ever?

Brayden crosses his arms and leans in before whispering to me, "Still thinking about my penis?" He smirks and I glare up at him. A low growl sounds from down the hall and Brayden rolls his eyes. "Go pack, Amira. If you're not ready to leave by tomorrow Caine will throw a fit," with that he turns and walks away, the muscles on his back rippling with every step.

I sigh and return to the room I just walked out of, already dreading the upcoming 'trip'.

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

Brayden

"Calm down," I say to Caine as I turn the corner and find him standing there.

"Asshole," he mumbles, but I hear it.

"Just sitting here eavesdropping?" he walks by my side down the hall.

"Just hitting on my mate?" He's jealous, which just amuses me.

"Thought you didn't care," I say with a smirk. These two are going to be he most annoying couple ever, I already know it. Both bull-headed and stubborn. Both convinced they hate each other.

"Shut up." Lame.

"Nice comeback, bro. And I'm surprised you openly called her your mate, progress." He growls and I roll my eyes once again. "Careful, Caine. Your wolf is showing."

"I'll show you my damn wolf if you think he's showing now," he mumbles. He doesn't bother keeping anything in around me anymore, not since I discovered my talent.

"Is that a challenge?" I raise an eyebrow at him and peek at him from the corner of my eye. I took off and down the stairs and made a beeline for the backdoor, Caine on my tail. We both jump off of the deck at the same time, fully transformed by the time our paws hit the ground. We take off at lightning speed towards the woods as our clothes float to the ground in shreds.

The wind breezes through my golden fur as I catch sight of Caine's obsidian black wolf pass me up on my right side. He's faster since his changing. I lunge at him and take him out from the side. We tumble down a hill, through a creek, and into a clearing. I pin him down, showing that even though he's Alpha, I'm still strong enough to fight him. We've fought like this since we were kids, always challenging each other. Most of the time I lost.

Caine kicks his hind legs up at me and I go flying in the opposite direction.

"Nice try, jackass," he mind-links me as he shakes his thick coat out, water droplets spraying in every direction.

"I had you for a second there."

"Wait, do you hear that?" Caine's ears perk with attention and I strain to hear what he's talking about, but even with my werewolf hearing, I don't hear a thing.

"What are you talking about?"

"Shh! Listen," he turns his head to the side, but I still fail to hear anything. Caine's talents allow him to be the perfect hunter, so maybe that's why I can't hear what he's talking about. "Rogue."

He takes off towards the house and I quickly follow him. When we reach the back yard of the Alpha's Mansion I see what he is talking about, though I still can't hear the creep's heartbeat. Must be a spy wolf, with the talents of a thief.

The deranged looking wolf is stalking towards someone sitting on the hammock under the willow tree, their back cluelessly turned towards the attacker. As we get closer and I catch a scent I can see something flow through Caine's eyes.

"It's Amira."

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

Caine

I'm running faster than I ever have before, but I don't think I'm going to make it in time. Throwing my head back, I let out a howl and Amira lifts her head from the book she's reading, finally seeing the wolf coming up behind her. The wolf turns his head towards us and, with a snarl, leaps at Amira. I leap just in time, jumping over the hammock, past Amira, and ramming into the attacker mid-air. Our bodies come crashing to the ground in a fit of teeth and growls as he tries to bite at my neck.

I firmly grab his shoulder and shake my head, ripping some of the skin there off. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Brayden standing protectively in front of Amira, both of them staring at me as I fight the intruder. In my state of distraction, the wolf twists his head around, grabs my neck, and throws me off of him. My body hits the tree trunk with a thud. Before I can get up and lunge at him again, I hear a fit of snarls and whip my head in that direction.

A small, light gray wolf has made an appearance and is on the intruder's back. It's teeth are sunken into the attacker's ear as he yowls in pain, trying to kick the smaller wolf off of him. I turn towards Brayden and see his head tilted in awe at the fight. I also notice that my mate is no longer on the hammock behind him and my head whips back to the small, gray wolf.

Amira?

Her head shakes back and forth as she grabs a firm hold on the wolf's neck. The larger, brown wolf jumps around, still failing at shaking her off. When he makes the mistake of raising his head, Amira quickly moves her grip to his throat and he yelps in pain before running towards the woods, my feisty little mate still attached to his throat as she is dragged behind him. I feel pride fill me.

Fuck, that's hot.

I just sit in awe as she fights. She finally falls off and he quickly turns, not ready to give up a fight to a she-wolf. I make my move and bolt towards them, once again jumping on the wolf when he tries to land on my mate. With a low growl, I quickly sink my teeth into his neck. It takes all of three seconds for his body to stop struggling under my hold, and I let his lifeless body fall to the ground. Glancing behind me, I see Brayden has transformed back into his human form and taps Amira's wolf, the blanket from the hammock in his hands. She transforms back and he immediately wraps the blanket around her, covering her naked body while leaving his lower half exposed. Thankfully, Amira didn't look there.

Snarling at him, I mind-link one of the guards to bring us some shorts. Brayden rolls his eyes in response, but when the guards quickly come out with our clothes, he doesn't hesitate to pull them on. I make eye contact with Amira and, to my disappointment, she looks down in shame before I change and pull the shorts on.

"What the hell was that?!" of course her feisty voice is the first one I hear. She doesn't hesitate to yell at me. "You didn't have to kill him!"

"Are you fucking with me right now? He was going to kill you! I just saved your life, you should be thanking me!" I can't help the anger that spills into my voice. "How did you not hear or smell him?! His scent was stronger than a carcass that's been sitting in the sun for two days!"

"I didn't smell anything," she pulls the blanket tighter around her body and, to anger me even more, I have to fight the urge to walk over and pull it back. Asshole wolf.

"There's something wrong with your senses," I cross my arms and see her eye flicker down before moving back up to angrily glare at me. Point Caine.

"No, man, I didn't hear him until you howled. He was a spy, can't you smell the stench of Malignity on him? He wasn't a rogue. He must've muffled his heartbeat and covered his scent and when you howled his guard was let down," Brayden spoke up, "Your talents must have grown stronger when you changed." I sniff the air again and Brayden's words are confirmed. The rotten stench of the Malignity Pack floods my nose.

"Well, I guess Trenton got our message," I sigh, "Maybe I shouldn't leave the pack tomorrow."

"No, you have to go. It's only going to get worse. Maybe Alpha Daniel can help us stop this. I've got things under control here," Brayden crosses his arms and talks sternly to me. He's right, though.

"I'm not feeling too well," Amira interrupts our conversation. She is still seated on the ground and I walk over to help her up, the blanket scratchy against my arms.

"What's wrong?" I try to lace the concern in my voice. If I show I care too much she might think something is up.

"I don't know. Something just feels... off," her face scrunches in confusion.

"Did he get a hold of you at all?"

"No, I just.. I don't know, I don't feel good," she suddenly stumbles and I swiftly swoop her up bridal style, my arm supporting her back and the other in the crook of her legs, my skin still only making contact with the damn old, scratchy blanket.

"Brayden, why don't you call the doctor up to her room? Just to make sure everything is okay," Brayden nods at me and I start towards the house, carrying Amira to her room.

"I'm fine, I think I just need a cold shower and some sleep," I shake my head.

"We'll just have him look at you, it's no big deal." As I approach the house I see a figure standing in the living room. Great timing, Dad.

"Son," he greets me with a nod, "Who's this?"

"Amira," I say bluntly as I continue to walk past him, "I'll be right back." He nods at me and I trudge up the stairs. A few halls later, I reach Amira's room and kick the door open, lightly setting her on her bed. She holds a hand to her head as she tries to sit up before giving up and laying down. The doctor comes in shortly after with Brayden and I motion for him to follow me out the door so we can go talk to my father.

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

"Brayden," he nods and smiles lightly at my Beta behind me.

"Elijah," Brayden returns the greeting and my father turns back to me.

"I just want to see how you're handling everything, but I guess the dead wolf out there and the girl you carried in explain it," he raises an eyebrow and I can sense the doubt in his voice.

"Everything's fine. Just a Malignity Pack spy. Amira is here to help us avoid war by studying the history of our packs."

"How's that working out?" I can just tell my father is judging everything I'm doing, and it pisses me off.

"I have it under control," I snarl. Brayden stands quietly behind me as I bicker with him. Suddenly something floods over me, and I feel my eyes go dark. My nose lifts into the air as I catch an irresistible smell. Looking over at Brayden, I see he looks the same. Feeling my last ounce of control break loose, I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

That fails as all hell breaks loose and I race Brayden up the stairs, only one thing on both of our now out of control minds: Sex.