Caged

Chapter 19

Writing this gave me warm and fuzzy feelings!! Eeeek. Enjoy.

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**| Sang's POV |**

They didn't wait. The moment I said yes, Silas, Luke, and Nathan took off to the cabin to collect the little bit I did have. I didn't even know why all three of them went. All I had to my name were a handful of outfits that could all fit into a small bag. Silas could go by himself.

Then I thought about the rogues who attacked. Probably was good for the three of them to go. They could protect each other. I stared out the window, watching where I knew they would come out of the woods when they came back. I'd been like that since they left. How long did it take? The cabin I stayed at was a few miles away but they were shifters. Even in human form, they could cover that quickly.

"Sang?" the familiar smooth and gently voice drew my attention from the swaying trees. I could almost feel the wind ruffling my fur.

"Kota," I said.

He gave me a small smile as he came into the room. As Beta, he was strong, and he walked a very delicate balance with Alpha Blackbourne. Then again, when I compared the two and the way their energy felt, Kota still had years to go before he would be strong enough to take over the pack.

If he wanted to. Something told me he wasn't interested. They had found a balance between the two of them. I knew too many wolves who loved to flex their dominance, so to see the two strong wolves together was a new experience.

I kept waiting for the two of them to tear into each other, but they hadn't done it yet.

"Would you like to come see the library?" Kota asked.

His cheeks turned a little pink and I blinked in surprise. The cool, confident Beta wolf was acting shy. Why? His eyes met mine and we both stiffened. My wolf growled in my head but I bit my lip and forced myself to look over his shoulder. I needed control, not to go into dominance fights every time I interacted with a wolf.

I licked my licks. "There's a library?"

He broke out into a smile and I stared at his lips, the way they curved upward, nothing sinister about them. He was relaxed, his energy a gentle touch against me. He wasn't going to try to force his dominance on me and that helped me calm down.

"One of the best," he said. He tilted his head toward a door. "Follow me?"

I nodded and let him lead the way as I stayed a good couple of feet behind him. While I was definitely comfortable with Silas, and getting there with Luke, Sean, and Gabriel, I still struggled with the others.

Luke and Gabriel were the easiest. My wolf told me they were ranked the lowest in the pack. Sean was a pack doctor and didn't care about dominance fights, even if he was stronger. He never even tried to challenge me. When our eyes met, his was always filled with warmth and friendliness. His dominance only ever came out when he was in doctor mode, but I could tell he was stronger than Kota, but not the alpha.

And Silas, well, he was Silas. He was a protector. He wasn't a high ranking wolf, but he fought ferociously and I trusted him at my back. We went through too much together to not trust him.

I kept my nerves hidden as we went up to the third floor. Luke's special room was to the left at the top of the stairs. We went right, to the very end of the hallway. The heavy oak door there just screamed library. My nose could already pick up the scent of old and new books, some dust, and a cleaning product. My fingers twitched at the thought of touching the books.

Kota turned to look back at me and grinned.

"This is the library. Alpha Blackbourne and I like to spend a lot of time here." He pushed up the glasses on his face and again I wondered why he wore them. He was a wolf. He didn't need them. Kota reached out and pushed open the door, stepping inside and off to side to give me space.