Thirty-Six

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CoffeeAndABook6

*****

I wasn't even sure what to do. At some point Sam had entered the room and her and Daniel were staring at each other. Sam was concerned, worried... you name it. Daniel's face was scary blank. His eyes had slight emotions but seeing him so empty was a huge contrast to his normal grin.

Caden stood still as the visitors knocked again. He went to move but I stopped him, "Caden, you're not alone. Whoever is there, we'll deal with it, okay? You're not alone." I knew he felt alone, almost like he was reliving the time after their death- if they died.

"Thank you Bee." He suddenly wrapped his arms around me bringing me close and I just hugged him back. I rubbed my hand up and down his back and after a moment he relaxed a bit more. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"You'll never have to find out Caden. Just breathe. I'm not going anywhere." He nodded and took a few breaths, almost completely calm. Considering the circumstances, I was shocked how calm he could be, pulling back, he held me at arms length and just studied my face before a huge smile broke out across his face.

"You're literally perfect, angel."

I shook my head but then just pecked him on the lips, "Do you want me to answer the door?" I asked quietly.

I was shocked, hopefully I didn't show it, when he gave a small smile, "Nope. We will. Because we're the best team there is. We work best together, this is no different." It came out as more of a question so I nodded to reassure him and he took a step forward as he grabbed my hand. I intertwined our fingers and he put his arm around my waist.

I looked back at Daniel and gave him an encouraging smile before looking back at Caden, "Ready?"

"If you are." I nodded and he exhaled before opening the door with as casual a smile as he could muster, which surprisingly, was pretty casual.

Everyone froze.

I know it's naive of me, but I was hoping he was wrong and his parents weren't there. I know it's terrible, since it would be a miracle for them to be in his life again, but I didn't want him to get hurt again. It would tear him apart to lose them again. And why would they ever leave their two sons? But at the same time I was happy we could meet, and he could have all those conversations he missed out on. I had so many emotions and thoughts and I'm hoping it was the pregnancy hormones, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. My thoughts were literally everywhere and I focussed hard on trying to stop them so that it wasn't stressing Caden.

As I looked at the couple, I knew for a fact that he hadn't been wrong. His father was almost identical to him, but Caden had his mothers kind eyes and smile. Although hers were nervous right now, I knew he got his kindness and gentleness from her. He had a build like his father though, the resemblance was striking.

"Son-" His father went to say but Caden interrupted him abruptly.

"Please, come in." Caden said and I was shocked to find that he was angry, felt betrayed, and at the same time, extremely sad, with a touch of curiosness and a load of confusion. It shocked me, but then again, all of them made sense.

How about we hear them out and then see where we're at? After a moment in which he kept quiet, I realized how dumb that was, I'm so sorry Caden, I can't begin to know what you're thinking-

No, no, no, no, that wasn't dumb Bee. You're right. He let them pass before he held me tighter, I love you angel.

I love you too. I said as I placed my lips gently against his palm. He relaxed a bit from my touch and followed his parents to the living room off the lobby.

"Please, take a seat." He said as they stood awkwardly.

"Caden?!" Daniel said hysterically.

"Dan we-"

"How are you just letting them back in to our lives? They destroyed you, they destroyed us! They let us believe for over a decade that they were dead! They let you just take over a pack without barely being an adult!" He said some more sentences that were barely coherent before he threw his arms in the air and turned to his parents, "You know what? Screw you both!" He yelled and I was blown away that Daniel was that angry. I've never seen him mad. Mad didn't even cover it, he was outraged. Beyond angry. He didn't even make it out the door before his wolf took over and he sprinted out. I noticed Sam shifted too and followed him. She seemed so shaken, but I couldn't blame her.

I knew she would be able to handle him, his wolf would calm from just her touch. Eventually anyways. They were as good as mated.

He's right Bee. He said as he turned to me.

Then tell them. He looked at me like I grew a second head. What? Tell them.

I can't just say 'Well, Dan's right but...' He trailed off.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to his parents, "I know you don't know me, and this is probably a terrible first impression, but Daniel is right. You forced Caden into being Alpha at a seriously young age, and although he's the best I've ever seen, it wasn't fair. Daniel was strong enough to step up to the plate, but he was even younger. That shouldn't even be legal! Not to mention the pain he went through for thinking he lost his parents at such a young age? Both of them. Then you just knock on the door years later and act as if nothing has happened? They've both gone through so much without parents for advice or a hand. I hope, for your sakes, that you have a good reason. I'm sure Caden would like to hear it."

I thought Caden might be mad at me for basically telling his parents off, especially since I've never met them, but instead he gave me a gentle squeeze, and I'm taking that as a good sign.

"Well...?" Caden pressed after silent moments passed and they gave each other a look before his mom stood up but his father held her wrist and made her sit.

"We didn't have a choice son-" He started.

"You can stop with that." I was confused until it clicked. He felt betrayal that his father would call him 'son' when he treated him like he did.

After a short nod his father continued, "Caden we didn't have a choice. Your mother and I were put in a bad circumstance and we chose the route that we thought would do less damage-"

Caden let out a humourless laugh and his hand squeezed mine a tad tighter but I let it go. I could care less about my hand right now, "Least damage? That's what you call your sons losing their two parents and before they could even get over it they were given the responsibility of running a pack? Yeah, you're right, that was probably the route with the least damage." The last sentence had more of an edge to it and the chill in his words... I can only hope that I never hear that tone again.

"So-" Caden's growl cut him off, and his father nodded before continuing, "Caden you don't know the whole story." I was getting mad at them. They treated their family as if they were the least priority way back when and have the guts to say 'You don't know the whole story', yet say nothing to elaborate and fill him in.

"Then what's the story father?" The coldness in his tone when he said father reminded me of how I addressed my own father, except colder. That was not a good sign. There was no respect, love, or life in the word. It was completely empty. Emotionless. I almost shivered. "If I don't know it, how about you fill me in? Give me the 'whole story'."

"Caden! Don't talk to your father that way!" His mother said to him and the room got extremely tense when Caden shot his mother a glare. If looks could kill his mother would've been six feet under in that instant.

Caden-

I'm so sorry Bee. I'm so sorry. I knew he was on the verge of breaking down but didn't want his parents to see the affect they still had on him.

You have nothing to apologize for. I told him before looking to his parents, "I don't think you have any say in how Caden speaks to either of you any more. That ended when you decided that running away without a word was the best option." My voice was colder than I expected and his mother looked down in shame.

"I guess you're right," she mumbled as she grabbed her mate's hand for support.

"Are you going to tell us the whole story or are we going to wait another thirteen years for that part?" His voice could cut ice as he held my hand a tad tighter.

"I don't even know where to start-"

"You went on an airplane to Europe, at least that's what we were told, and it crashed. How about you start there." All business. I got a chill at the memory from the first week I knew him but squeezed his hand and focussed on the present.

"We were on a plane, but we weren't going to Europe." He paused and looked to Caden's mother before continuing, "We were going to Alaska. The plane did crash, but since we were on a private flight nobody was injured and it was kept out of the news."

"Private?"

"Council was flying us there for... reasons."

When his father didn't elaborate Caden growled, "Cut the shit. You either tell us the story or you leave without another word. I'm not seventeen anymore. No more lies. No more part truths. If you're not telling me the whole stroy I'm not listening to any of it. You can leave. As you can see," he motioned to me, "I've found my angel and my life couldn't get any better. At least before you came in destroying it. So either fill me in or don't." They both seemed to weigh the pros and cons as Caden spoke clearly and precisely. "If not I will forget this happened and act as if you're dead. Trust me, I've been doing it for years without knowing, it won't be hard."

I looked up at him and his lips were in a straight line. He didn't look at his parents, he simply waited for their answer. Or any movement to tell us they had decided.

His father's next words came out in one breath, "The council sent us to Alaska to see about running a new pack. They were going to divide Bluelake territory up since it is relatively small, and send us to start a new one in Alaska since we would then have no pack to run. Many werewolves were found without a pack and they had agreed to be one, but there was no one council trusted to lead it. Well... most of them agreed. Some decided that they wanted to remain rogues. They got violent and we were supposed to go keep peace, but... it was too late." His father said before looking down and Caden's mother took over.

"There were fires and riots and the violent rogues started rebelling. They didn't want to be tied into a pack. They liked their freedom. We tried to tell them that we weren't going to control them, but it didn't work. The crash wasn't an accident, they were trying to kill us. They almost succeeded except that the pilot steered us towards the ocean and we all made it to shore as the plane sunk." She paused and I knew she was reliving the moment.

"Council got in touch with us after about a week of us living on an island. They found our plane at the bottom of the ocean and scanned surrounding land until they found us. By that time the co-pilot had died, but we were all brought to Alaska safely. Your father and I-we-" She stuttered over her words and I noticed that Caden flinched every time she said mother or father, understandably so. He squeezed my hand harder and I couldn't feel a couple of my fingers but I remained silent.

"Your mother and I asked if we could just come back, but they insisted on us staying there. We had no way of getting in touch with you for another week and then we were told that we couldn't have contact with you unless we were going to come back here. We had two options Caden. We could either help them out or we could come back. Your father knew that you would be fine to run the pack-"

Before I could react Caden had stood up, letting go of my hand, "So rather than be parents you decided to help rebelling rogues?! You're so fucking right father! That was definitely the least damage." Caden turned to leave and I followed. He stopped beside the door of the room and motioned to it, "Get out. I don't want to see your faces again. Neither of you are welcome on our territory."

His mother broke down at his words and his father gave Caden a hard stare, "How dare you disrespect your mother! She did this to protect you! You don't think we've regretted it since we made the decision?! You don't think we haven't thought about you every day since we got on that plane? The choices we could've made? What we could've done differently? You don't think we wanted to come back?!"

"You had two choices! Two fucking choices and you chose random strangers over your pack! Over your family! Over your own two sons! It wasn't you who started running a pack as you watched your only brother look dead inside. He didn't even smile for months! He was devastated. Fucking devastated. What kind of parents are you? What kind of Alpha are you?"

"They threatened you." His father spoke quietly and the atmosphere changed drastically with those three words.

"What!? Who?"

"The rogues. They knew who we were. They said they would hurt you two if we came back. Not the violent rogues, the other ones. The ones that wanted a pack, they knew between the two choices that we would choose you two. We would choose our family. But they also knew that because they wanted a pack and wanted us there that they would be killed when we left, so they threatened to hurt you, our only two sons, if we didn't do everything we could to start up a pack. It was an ultimatum Caden. I suggested sneaking away but we couldn't chance your lives. They were reckless Caden."

"Why didn't you just call? Why did you let us believe you were dead?"

"Council dealt with everything on this end. We thought you would be told as much as possible. We had no idea what you were told. It wasn't until a year later that we found out what you were told."

"You let it go for a year!?" His hold on my hand tightened again but I kept it where it was. I knew this was only a fraction of the hurt Caden was feeling.

"It's council. What do you think we could've done? They blocked everything. We called, we wrote, we emailed... Caden, we did everything except get on a plane and leave, because then we would come back to find two bodies. We couldn't chance it. We found out after two years that it wasn't that you weren't just responding, but not receiving anything. We had explained as much as we could in those letters, but council or the rogues must have stopped them."

"We're so sorry Caden." His mother was shaking and Caden was mulling over everything in his head. He rubbed the back of his neck and I turned to his parents. He pinched the bridge of his nose and I heard him slowing his breaths.

"Excuse us." I said to his parents.

"Of course." His father mumbled, even though I wasn't asking, before comforting his mother.

The moment we were in the hall Caden tried to stop but I pulled him into the kitchen and into a hug. He tried to pull away after a few moments but I just held him tighter. His anger slowly faded with my touch and soon he was shaking but he was holding onto me. I knew the tears were coming and I didn't want his pack to see him like this. "Come on Cade," I said gently, leading him to a small room off the kitchen.

When we got in there he pulled away from me and I knew he was trying to stop the meltdown but I slowly wrapped my arms around his waist from behind and whispered little nothings. I didn't want him to think he had to look strong for me. I didn't want him to think he had to hide his feelings. If he couldn't be vulnerable around me... we had issues.

Soon he turned and held me as the sobs wracked his body, "I thought they were dead Bee." He would cry for a few more minutes and choke out another sentence, "They abandoned me." He did this a few more times and I wish I knew how to comfort him. I was totally lost.

"They did what they thought was best Caden. I don't agree with what they did, but they were trying to protect you."

I knew he tried to stop and control himself but I just held on, "I'm so sorry Bee. I just couldn't hold it in. I don't- I'm sorry."

I knew he was mentally scolding himself for crying but I grabbed his face and gently kissed his lips. "Don't ever apologize for crying. You're so strong Caden. You stand by me through everything, and I will be here for you too. I'm glad you don't hold it in. I love you Caden, but if you hid this side of you from me I would be disappointed. This makes you no less of a man. If possible, it makes you a better one."

He shook his head, "Only you would see crying as a manly thing." A slight laugh came out with his words and I gave a small smile.

"It's not the fact that you're crying, it's just the fact that you wouldn't hide it from me. You're open with me, you let me see you at your best and worst, and I love you more for that."

He kissed me lovingly before pulling away and resting his forehead on mine, "I love you angel."

"I love you too Caden." It was quiet for several minutes before he hugged me to him, "Do you think you can face them again?"

"What do I say to them? I don't even know if I want them in my life. Am I hurting our pup if I didn't let him meet them? I don't want our pup to think I would ever aband-"

"Caden. Our pup would never think that. And nor would I. What your parents chose has nothing to do with your choices."

"Bee I strived to be the alpha I thought my father was. But now..." He trailed off and my heart broke for him.

"Caden you're not your father. You would never abandon family, ever. Or your pack. You will protect our pup with everything in you, I know you. And you're father is still the man who raised you. He was put in a bad situation with no good ending. I don't blame him for trying to protect you. He thought it was best Caden, you do realize that, right?"

He nodded, "I just don't even know how to feel. Logically it makes sense. I will protect our pup too, I would already die for them, for you, I just hate how they did it. Why didn't they just tell someone about the threats and have council protect us and deal with the whole situation rather than just cutting us out? The pack would've protected us, I would've fought. Heck, Dan would've fought them. Do they have no faith in us? Do they doubt us? Did they doubt our pack?"

I just held him. I didn't have nay answers. I wish I did, but I wasn't even in the pack back then.

After a silent moment he spoke quietly, "I was a ghost for months Bee. I was like a zombie, if my wolf hadn't have made me pick up my socks and look out for Dan and the pack I might still be like that. I just- I can't not feel the hurt when I look at them." I knew this since it tore at me to feel his constant pain. I didn't care about the pain, I would take that easily, I just hated that he felt it all over again. Losing a close parent is awful, I know losing my Grandfather killed a part of me, but to go through it twice is... unbearable.

"I wish I could do something Caden. I wish I could stop the hurt. I wish I couldv'e been there for you when you had to go through all this the first time. I wish I could but I can't go back." I looked up at Caden placing a chaste kiss on his lips, "But this time I will be right beside you. You're not alone. I support whatever decision you make. Whether you ask them to leave or let them stay. Either way the pack and I support you. Always."

"How could you look at me after I turned my parents away?"

"Because I know why you would do it. If it had just been you, you probably would've forgiven them by now. You would've taken them back and tried to make it work. But they hurt Daniel too. They left their pack in capable but unsure hands, and they left two sons grieving needlessly. They affected the whole pack. They hurt their Beta, friends, and family. You wouldn't be turning them away because you can't go through it again, but because they hurt those that mattered most to you. You wouldn't be doing it because of selfish reasons but because of what they did to your pack way back when."

He looked down, "What do I tell our pack?"

"The truth. Like you always do. Caden whatever you decide, I support. I'm right behind you."

It was silent for moments before Caden stopped pacing and looked at me, "What would you do Bee?"

I frowned, "Honestly Caden, I don't know. I wish I knew what to say to you, but I don't. My father was never with me so I never lost him. His death barely affected the pack personally, just the legalities and alliance. And my mother, well, she wasn't a Luna. I can't imagine losing her, but we don't have the same relation as you had with your parents. My Grandfather and I were inseperable, but he wasn't my parent. And I didn't have any responsibilities when he passed. I can't imagine what you went through losing them, and I know you feel betrayed. Letting them stay won't be easy. It will take you a long time to trust them again, if ever. But I also know you'll feel guilty turning them away, even when you shouldn't be, so it isn't easy either."

He looked at me and slowly nodded his head, "Will Dan hate me if I accept them?"

"No. Daniel will never hate you. He'll come around. Trust me." I pecked his lips and smiled encouragingly, "He'll support you too. Always. He's true family. He's the very definition of the word itself. He just needs time to cool off. He was so much younger Caden, not even close to an adult. And he was close to his mother, losing her was devastating I'm sure. But since they were close the thought that she would just leave him is probably tearing him apart. He probably blames himself for the whole incident. We both know he had no part in it, but Sam will help him. And so will we."

He nodded and stood up. I followed suit and he grabbed my hand. I winced as the fingers that were numb earlier broke out in that pins and needles feeling, making Caden instantly looked worried. "What did I do? Did I hurt you?" He looked at my swollen, red, sensitive fingers growing more worried by the second.

I shook my head as if to say nothing, "Just numb."

I must have let him get too many thoughts when he kissed them tenderly, "I'm so sorry Bee. Please forgive me. I never meant to hurt you. There is no excuse for grabbing you like that." He looked so torn and I held his hand. "Fuck! You do all this for me as I hurt you. Fu-"

I kissed him to stop the string of expletives I knew were coming. He never swears. The only other time I heard him swear this many times was when he found out I was attacked during the war. Although Daniel had told me about it, mocking him, since I didn't hear them. "Caden it's nothing. I would've said something. I know you would never hurt me. There's nothing to forgive you for."

He kissed my fingers gently and held my other hand hesitantly, "I'm so sorry Bee."

I held his hand firmer, "Don't be."

"If I'm ever hurting you again say something Bee. I hate seeing you in pain, and knowing I caused it-" He looked torn, he looked so guilty for even hurting my hand.

"I will. I promise." He kissed my fingers gently again but his hold on my other hand was how it usually is so I was happy about that. He turned me and held my back to his chest. He kissed right under my ear and I was all tingles as he wrapped his arms around my torso, "I have to be careful Bee, you're carrying the second best being in the world. You're my whole world. My whole family."

I was so happy he was so caring and loving towards our pup already. I knew no harm would ever come to us, "You're going to be an amazing father Caden, the best dad." I looked down at my hand and smiled, "And the perfect husband."

He squeezed me gently, "How could I forget, my beautiful little fiancee? Mine, in every sense of the word." He kissed my mark, and I failed at holding the moan in, and if he hadn't been holding me I would've fell over. He chuckled, his voice came out low and husky, "God damn that makes me want to take you upstairs."

I ran my hands over his arms, and just nodded. About a minute later I turned and his chest before hugging him and he grabbed my hand with a smile, "Ready sexy?"

He smirked, "We're actually going upstairs? I'm always ready for that angel." For a minute I almost forgot about our unexpected visitors and pretty much the whole world, excluding Caden.

I laughed, "You're hilarious." It got quiet and he looked towards the door.

We walked out of the room with his hand around my waist tucking me into his side.

We both stopped in the kitchen, and his grip toghtened fractionally on my hip when we heard a howl outside. We both knew it was Daniel. It was filled with pain and anger.

I squeezed Caden's hand, "Just give him time. You'll make the right choice. We all support you Caden. Even Daniel."

******

So... will he accept them? Will he ban them from the pack?

Let me know what you think with a COMMENT!

I love hearing from you, which is why I like dedicating chapters to people!

Thanks for the amazing amount of reads!

CoffeeAndABook6

P.S. hopefully tonight I will actually get that research essay done...