In the Eyes of the Wolf

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

-Farley-

I gently pulled Pax into the living room; he was shaking. I had to admit that I was incredibly nervous too. I didn't know what Caspian was going to say, nor did I know if Pax would be able to stay. We had, very literally, dragged him away from the only home= he knew.

Caspian stood with his arms crossed, staring me down. That was until his eyes travelled to Pax. His expression softened and he dropped his arms. "You must be Pax," he said and held out a hand for him to shake. "I'm Caspian, the alpha of the pack."

Once again, I didn't have to tell Pax that there was a hand waiting for him. He shook Caspian's hand timidly, as though afraid to break him. "Nice to meet you," he replied in a smaller voice than I had ever heard from him. "I'm sorry for coming unannounced."

Caspian gave a dry chuckle. "Don't worry about it, the twins coming to tell me five minutes before is more warning then I'm usually given."

I rolled my eyes at his comment. Thumping started to come from upstairs. "Is that a new voice I hear?" Clementine shouted down the stairs. The thumping grew louder and louder, until she stood in the doorway. "It is, hello!" She rushed forward and gave Pax a big hug. "You look so sweet. You must be Pax, I'm Clementine."

I looked at her startled, I wasn't surprised that she would hug Pax, it was her nature. I was curious and frightened about how Pax would react to the sudden hug. "Nice to meet you," Pax replied. He sounded a little out of breath, pink started to come to his cheeks. It could've been due to the lack of oxygen from Clementine's hug, or he could be getting overwhelmed. Both were very possible.

"It's wonderful to meet you, how'd you get here?" Clementine turned her attention to Caspian, who shrugged and gestured to me.

"Iris and Rowan followed me into the woods, I ran into Pax, and then his alpha kinda ran into us. So, we then ran away. Now we're here," I said quickly.

I wasn't quick enough. Caspian groaned and turned away, rubbing his eyes. "When I say things, does it just go through one ear and out the other?" he muttered. "We specifically can't have drama with other packs."

"I'm sorry," Pax said. "I didn't mean to cause trouble; I could just go back and pretend I've been in the woods the entire time."

"You are not," Iris stated. "You were trapped in your house for a month. You were very willing to run away. You're not going back to that house."

"I gotta agree here dude," Rowan added with a nod. "He didn't sound at all pleasant."

"Even I'm aware of the fact your alpha is..." Caspian trailed off, not being able to find the word he was looking for. He shook his head and sighed. "I don't mind, the act itself is harmless. I just hope that your alpha agrees."

"He won't." Pax's shoulders slumped. "He thinks that everything is an attack these days. Especially after what happened four years ago."

Caspian flinched and Clementine moved to put an arm around him. "Yes, that was quite the event." Caspian ran a hand through his hair. "Some packs have recovered better than others. It doesn't surprise me that specific event caused a change in your alpha's behaviour."

"It caused a lot of packs to split," Iris added on softly. Rowan and Iris' parents were from one of the packs which split. The two struggled to search for a pack of their own, prioritising their children getting into a small and sturdy pack. "Some still haven't recovered."

"Is that what happened to your pack?" Rowan asked Pax.

The boy beside me nodded. He started to rock on his heels. "Kian lost a lot of followers after the war; his techniques were never the most popular."