Beta: Cade (completed)

17

I laid in bed alone while Cade was at his parents' house. After Elizabeth checked me over to make sure I wasn't injured, Cade told me to get some sleep. I desperately tried to remember more from the crash, but nothing came to me. I remembered the start of the car flipping and that was it. Nothing until I woke up being carried.

I wasn't crazy though. If vampires fucking with my head for years hadn't broken my sanity, I sincerely doubted it was broken now. I didn't know what happened to the crash site, but I couldn't have imagined it. When that plane touched down near the castle, it would be obvious my parents weren't on it. It was only a matter of time before I had proof I wasn't insane.

It bothered me that Cade didn't believe me, but I couldn't blame him. I looked crazy. I knew damn well what it looked like and I hated it. The more I tried to explain, the less sane I looked so I decided to just bide my time. It was the only thing I could do. I didn't want to sit and do nothing, but acting would make it worse.

Cade quietly opened the bedroom door, probably expecting me to be asleep. He looked caught off guard by me watching him walk in.

"I thought you'd be asleep," he said as he sat next to me on the bed.

I shrugged. "I'm not tired."

He humored me with a breath of a laugh and laced his fingers together.

"Can we talk about what happened?" He asked.

"No."

"No?"

"The more I try to make you believe me, the less you will. When the plane lands and my parents aren't on it, you'll know I was telling the truth."

"Are you sure you're not just confused?" He asked carefully.

"I'm not confused and I'm not crazy. You'll see."

He nodded slowly. "I don't think you're lying. I just think . . . I don't know what I think," he admitted. "You have to see where I'm coming from on this."

"I do. I know what it looks like, Cade. "

I shook my head. There was no point going in circles with him. He wanted proof and I couldn't provide it yet. I wasn't going to beat my head against a wall in an attempt to make him understand.

"Let's talk about something else. Tell me about how you grew up or something."

"I mean, it was pretty typical. Christian's six years older than me so I always tried to do whatever he did. Drove him nuts half the time."

"You said he has a different mother?"

"Yeah. Claire or something. She was banned before I was born."

"What does that mean?"

"Banning is pretty much the worst punishment out there. No one from the pack can interact with them not even their family. In her case, my parents sent her off to some work camp on an island off the coast of Alaska."

"She must have done something pretty awful."

"She tried to have my mom killed. They don't like talking about it, but Christian asked once so they sat us down and explained. Our mom has been with him since he was two months old though."

I nodded absently. "What about Hannah?"

He let out a light laugh. "She's definitely my dad's pride and joy. Just like him too."

"She is?"

"Oh yeah. She's gonna give her mate hell one day."

"Christian doesn't have a mate?"