A Ring

Cayden is Twenty Three Years Old

Cayden woke up at dawn. I was going on a mission and needed to get home quickly. Cassie’s tournament was coming up and I’d be there come hell or high water. I quickly showered and got ready to leave.

I paused to look at Cassie’s sleeping form in our bed. She looked stunningly beautiful. It took everything in me to keep moving. I could watch her for hours. I kissed her forehead, not wanting to wake her up, and left.

I went to the gym and ran a few laps before lifting some weights. I heard someone laugh, “Why did you bother to shower this morning if you were going to work out? You’re just going to have to shower again.”

My friend loved to give me shit.

I turned around greeting, “Good morning, Hendrix.”

Hendrix nodded, “I came to warn you to get moving. A certain someone was at the coffee shop saying they just HAD to talk to you before you left.”

I groaned, “Why does Cora keep insisting we need to talk? We have nothing to talk about.”

Hendrix laughed, “You don’t, but she’s been wanting you to be on an off period since…”

He trailed off then finished, “Well, several years but mostly since yesterday.”

I stiffened, “That’s ridiculous. Everyone knows Cass and I don’t have off periods. She has Werewolf blood so that would physically hurt her and I would never do that.”

Hendrix raised an eyebrow, “You know that I know that. Hell, everyone knows that but a certain someone doesn’t care.”

I rolled my eyes, “Anyone who thinks I would disrespect or hurt Cassie that way doesn’t know me.”

He nodded, “I agree.”

I sighed, “Thanks for the warning. Just tell Cora I only want Cassie.”

Hendrix snorted, “I HAVE done that. In fact, everyone has. Sadly, nothing gets through that thick little Cayden obsessed skull of hers.”

I glared at him grounding out, “She’s not obsessed with me. She’ll meet her mate, and this will be done.”

Hendrix muttered, “I wouldn’t give that psycho a mate.”

I raised an eyebrow questioning, “You think Aesir didn’t give her a mate?”

Hendrix said, “I think unlike the goddesses who refuse to admit some of their children are just crazy and would drag their mate down, our god doesn’t do that. I believe that Aesir hopes they will correct themselves before we have to kill them. He could always give them a mate if they steer away from the crazy path.”

I could see that logic.

He added, “The facts remain Cora hasn’t found her mate. Those three dudes obsessed with Haley never found their mate. We police our own, but I think Aesir is up there waiting to see if the crazy subsides before giving people mates to drag down and hurt in the complete chaos that they bring. Who wants their child to go through a rejection?”

I frowned, “What do you mean?”

He answered, “Cora would reject her mate if she found him. She’d reject them for a man who doesn't even like her. Aesir would never do that to his people.”

I frowned, “You can’t really think that. You know what the mate bond is and how strong it is.”

Hendrix nodded, “I truly hope I’m not right, but I think I am. Cora is crazy. I know you don’t believe it, but she is. Even Jed has started to see it. He’s tried to get her help, you know? She’s in therapy now. Ever since she disappeared for a few weeks, which is WEIRD. Yet we don’t talk about that.”

I frowned, “Why would we? It was nice.”

He groaned, “It’s weird. I see Jed and Cora arguing all the time. Now, she avoids him if she can. My sources say they argue about you and Cassie. Jed tells her to give up before she dies. See, I have to wonder what the actual fuck that means. Because as far as I know, she’s not really done anything to deserve death. Are you keeping things from me? Or is Cassie?”

I was astonished, “Cass…”

I trailed off because I was about to say that Cassie would tell me about something like that. I knew that wasn’t true though. Cassie wanted to do things on her own. It had to be bad though for Jed to say his sister was inching towards dying .

I shook my head because I knew she would tell me something that serious. I said, “If there are little things sure, but big things we didn’t miss that much. Especially something that could lead to Cora’s death. Cass would tell me.”

Hendrix raised an eyebrow, “Cayden, when Cassie used to mention Cora to you, you’d brush it off and say that you two dated a long time ago. That it was the past. Your fiery redhead has a plan, and I need you to see that. At this exact moment you need to get moving before said fiery redhead kills Cora on this gym floor for bringing you coffee.”

I muttered, “I stopped drinking coffee after high school.”

Hendrix said, “See, I know that, and you know that. Hell, everyone knows that. Cass would never bring you coffee. Your stalker refuses to let go of it since it was ‘your thing.’ She’s buying you a coffee and bringing it here. Get a move on.”

I took off for the showers then paused. She’d catch me if I showered here, and I had zero desire to talk to her. I grabbed my bag from my office and texted Micah.

Me: Meet me at my parents’ house instead of the training facility.

Micah: This is going to be a good story.

Me: Not really.

Micah: Mmmhmmm.

I jogged over there and opened the window to my old room. I quickly showered, grabbed my bag, and was about to climb back out when my dad cleared his throat. I knew he’d been getting closer in the bond, but I didn’t think he’d want to talk to me. His feelings told me he had something important to say.

I turned saying, “Good morning, dad.”

My dad warned, “If you fought with my beautiful daughter in law and now have to shower here, I’ll kick your ass. It can’t be that your water isn’t working, she could just snap your water back on.”

I explained, “She’s sleeping and we didn’t have a fight. I was getting in a workout before Micah and I left. Hendrix warned me Cora was on the way with coffee…”

My dad interrupted, “You don’t drink coffee anymore.”

I sighed, “I know that. I didn’t want to get hung up with her, so I just decided to shower here. Sorry if I woke you up.”

My dad said, “No, I was up and about to go for a run myself. I’m glad I caught you though. I have a question and a few statements.”

I replied, “I’ll stick around for them if you promise to keep an eye on Cass and Cora while I’m gone. I’ve heard rumors there might be more going down there than I even thought would ever be.”

My dad nodded, “I’ll watch over Cassie since I always do when you leave, but there is absolutely more going on than you know about.”

I frowned, “You know?”

My dad winked, “A lot of things happen when you leave, son. You do remember when Cassie tattooed the words ‘lying bitch’ across her chest with magic, right? Cora started a rumor which Cassie shut down. Cassie is handling it, but I’m wearing thin on patience for her way.”

I asked, “What rumor?”

He winced admitting, “I don’t know. It got locked down before I could find out. Your mate is good.”

I rubbed my face, “Well, do what you have to do to keep Cass safe.”

My dad laughed, “Me and her family just might take extreme measures. Logan’s children have been cursing Cora for years.”

I winced wondering how I had been so blind. My dad said, “Anyway, back to my question.”

He pulled out the engagement ring from my closet that I’d bought for Cassie last year and opened the box. I smiled seeing it again. I’d seen it on a mission and knew it was perfect for my Duchess.

It was a square cut diamond that was her favorite color, golden yellow, sparkling in every direction when the light hit. The stone was set in a platinum band with diamonds down the sides. It reminded me of the sun, and she had sunlight hands.

I shrugged, “That’s not a question.”

My dad laughed, “I was looking for a tie. Your mother said none of mine were appropriate. So, I came in here to look at yours you’d left behind, and I found this.”

I searched the bond, but it didn’t tell me anything other than he was both surprised and not .

I asked, “Are you disappointed?”

My dad snorted, “That you bought an engagement ring? No. Judging by the dust on the box, you’ve had it for a while though. I want to know if our traditions are holding you back from doing what you want.”

I frowned, “Huh?”

My dad said, “I know you, son. You would not have bought this ring if you didn’t want Cassie to at least be your fiancée. Why haven’t you proposed?”

I answered thinking it was obvious. “Our people usually don’t get married so fast. You and mom were together for eleven years before you got married.”

My dad frowned, “What other people do is not what you have to do. Your mate is not a full blooded Hackura and you’ve always marched to the beat of your own drum.”

That was true.

He added, “If you want to get married tomorrow then your mother and I, along with the royal family, would support you. I don’t care about tradition; I care about my son being happy. If you want to propose and get married, then do that. Marriage was not on either your mom’s, or my mind, for a while.”

I knew that.

He assured me, “That’s not because we didn’t want to get married. Here we were considered married from the moment we mated and marked each other.”

I replied, “I know that.”

He grinned, “It’s a beautiful ring, and Cassie will love it.”

I frowned, “She might want to wait.”

My dad laughed interjecting, “Do you actually believe that?”

I pointed out, “She loves her parents' love story. She’s spent a month in Faerie. She wasn’t here though, and I just...”

I trailed off and realized his point. “need to talk to her about it.”

My dad hugged me, “There you go, son. Congratulations, Cayden.”

I laughed, “She hasn’t said yes yet. Hell, I haven’t even asked.”

My dad smiled, “Make a plan then, because she will say yes.”

I asked, “Keep that safe for me, would you?” My dad nodded and I started to go out the window. My dad scoffed, “Go out the damn front door for god’s sake.” I laughed and took off.

Micah was waiting out front for me. He told me, “A certain blonde is crying over the fact you aren’t in the gym.”

I rolled my eyes, “Did Hendrix tell you that?”

Micah laughed, “No, Max did. He was ready to kill her. He’s getting a workout in here since he wanted to stay with me as long as possible.”

I joked, “Those Conners’ kids man.”

Micah wiggled his eyebrows, “They’ve got stamina.”

I laughed, “That they do.”

Max jogged up joining the conversation, “Like you wouldn’t believe, and don’t answer that Cayden because you screw my sister.”

He slammed his lips on Micah’s. When Max pulled back, he ordered, “You stay safe.” He walked away muttering how he wished I was going with him.

I raised an eyebrow linking, “Max doesn’t know that I’m going with you?”

Micah answered, “Maybe he just assumed you were giving me mission details and not coming. I didn’t mean to let him think I was going alone. I know we can’t tell him where I’m going, so I might have just left a lot of details.”

I nodded knowing it was hard for them.

Max was more involved with the Conners pack than Cassie was. Cassie was still involved there as the Alpha to a small group, but her Beta and Gamma had a system down pat with that for theirs.

I was damn proud she was the first Female Alpha with an all-female leadership group. Hell, I was even part of the pack, which is how I could link Micah.

Cassie chose to know everything I knew so she could have my back. Max knew I had Micah’s, but I was positive it ate at him.

I opened a portal, and we stepped through. Micah sighed, “Good old Franklin, Tennessee.”

We went to the apartment we’d set up for him. We’d just given him an alias with his actual first name, per his preference, but a fake name as his last name. I ran over mission specifics with him several times peppering him with questions.

When I was satisfied, I declared, “You’re ready.”

Micah smiled, “I am. I’ve studied all this information backwards and forwards.”

I gave him the contacts we wore on missions. I’d be nearby in a car with tinted windows. Vans were too obvious for things like this. His contacts were actually transmitters. I would see everything he did with them in. I wished we could use them to keep our eyes from going gold, but that wasn’t possible. This way though, Micah was literally my eyes and ears.

I told him, “I’ll be watching everything so if you need me, I’ll be there.”

Micah nodded, “My dad is here somewhere too. Which means my other dad is too.”

I smiled, “I figured Harper and Gunner would be around. You know that Cali probably tried to talk them out of it.”

Micah laughed, “I’m sure momma Cali tried with my other two moms did too. I’ve got this, Cayden.”

I nodded, “Them being here is not an indication that you don’t. You know that right?”

Micah nodded, “They worry, and I did get burned on a mission seemingly out of nowhere.”

That still bugged me.

He shrugged, “It’s fine. They do it to all my siblings. Let’s get moving.”

He left first. I faded back before leaving so I could follow him. I jogged a lap and spotted where Gunner and Harper were. I tapped the car’s window for fun and went to my own car.

I called Harper. He answered, “Cayden.”

I teased, “Do I need to send you the feed or not?”

Gunner snorted, “Don’t insult me.”

I joked, “Right. What was I thinking?” We went silent when Micah got inside with the Hunters. The two he’d been cozying up to welcomed him in.

He greeted, “Wow. This place is intense.”

One guy said, “Oh yeah. We are serious about removing Werewolves from existence. They are dangerous.”

I felt Micah push his anger down. He nodded, “Sure.”

They showed him around.

I wanted to scream in rage because they were armed to the teeth with weapons. All their bullets were silver. I was trying to keep my own anger at bay thinking of Cassie. I fist pumped when the two guys wanted him to meet the leader. YES! We wanted to get someone embedded inside with them.

I knew we’d have to be careful on what information we acted on, but we’d have inside knowledge. We needed to know who was behind this. I watched as Micah was taken down to a basement where far too many kids were hanging out.

I hit the dashboard, “These fuckers are recruiting these human kids. How could they do that?”

I zoomed in, trying to see if they were given the Hunters mark. I wanted to rage and kill everyone in charge when I saw some did.

My eyes narrowed on two of the girls. They were not human, and I was pretty sure I knew them. I asked, “Harper?”

Harper answered, “Yes, those two girls are exactly who you think they are. Gunner just pulled up our surveillance on Black Path. That’s Addison Davis and Sierra Kiern. Daughters to Alpha Davis and Beta Kiern.”

I asked, “What the HELL are two Werewolves doing with Hunters?”

Gunner mused, “They don’t have their wolves yet. They could send them to spy on the Hunters. Franklin is close to Tennessee.”

I argued, “That’s incredibly dangerous. Even if they don’t have wolves, they are still Werewolves. They are in a house with weapons designed to kill them.”

Harper snorted, “Yes, they are.”

Everyone got quiet. I watched Addison and Sierra exchange glances when they saw Micah. That was weird. Their dads didn’t know him by his face, we’d checked.

A man stood and crossed his arms, “I’m Dante. You must be Micah.”

Micah nodded, “Yes, Sir.”

Gunner laughed, “He’s pissed about calling him Sir.”

I said, “It’s a good move though.” They knew that. Dante nodded, “My recruits seem to think you could help us with our cause.”

Micah lied, “I would be honored.”

Danta replied evenly, “Sure. We will accept you if you take off your shirt.”

Micah tensed, “I didn’t come here for some weird shit. I’m out.”

He turned to leave, but there were people blocking his path. Micah snorted and easily took two of them down. This wasn’t going as well as I’d hoped. I was ready to head in if needed though.

Micah warned, “You can’t keep me here if I don’t want to be here. Let’s get that straight.”

Dante laughed, “No one is going to harm you or mark your skin with a Hunter's mark at this time. That’s a personal choice. I just want you to take off your shirt.”

My hand was on the door handle as I got ready to bolt out of the car. I was one second away from taking action when someone asked, “Micah? Is that you? Oh my gosh…it is!”

That was a woman’s voice. I yanked the laptop back into my lap.

A beautiful girl, probably fifteen, with black hair and red lipstick gracefully strode into frame. She had the most interesting shade of green eyes I’d ever seen. She ran over and touched Micah’s arm. I asked, “What did she put on him?”

Gunner answered, “I don’t know, but it didn’t hurt him. He knows she did it too.”

We all did because his eyes jolted down. He was still staring at it, and I couldn’t tell it was there.

She squealed, “it really IS you! How are you? Is Dante being dumb? I mean… he usually is… so I’ll just consider that question answered. Ignore him.”

Dante asked, “You know this guy, Ashley?”

Ashley nodded, “Obviously, since I said his name.”

I snickered and Harper and Gunner were as well.

She turned to Micah, “Saying your name makes it obvious… I’d say don’t judge on his lack of intelligence but you kind of should… so… take that how you will.”

This was entirely too amusing. Harper asked, “Is he really going to let her talk to him like that?”

I replied, “It looks like he is.”

Ashley waved, “Anyway, Micah’s fierce. What’s your kill count up to Micah? I feel like it’s got to be in the thirties…. maybe forties…. it’s upper thirties for sure.”

Gunner asked, “How does she know that? He has killed that many rogues.”

I knew that, but I didn’t know how she knew.

She boasted, “He’s impressive you guys, and you KNOW I'm not often impressed… since not one of you has EVER impressed me.”

Gunner gasped, “Holy shit!”

I asked, “Did they recruit someone with Fairy blood? This is the most entertaining op I’ve been on. It was headed to a bad place, but she turned it around.”

Harper said, “I think she does.”

Ashley continued, “He could beat ALL your butts, so easily… it’s kind of sad… you should work out more… not that it would help… he’d still beat you, but it could be less tragic for you.”

The face I was making had to be comical because I was shocked. My dad sent me his feelings wondering if he should be concerned. I let him know he shouldn’t.

Ashley asked, “What are you doing here, Micah?”

Micah said, “Hey, Ashley.”

I silently prayed Dante had given the right name for this girl. “I was thinking about joining your cause, then shit got weird.”

Ashley crossed her arms and sighed, “Dante, what did you do? Why are you even here? Where’s Nate? You know we hate it when you show up. Well…. ‘We’ could be strong word…I mean me. I definitely do, but I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in that.”

Dante answered, “I heard we had a new recruit, and wanted to meet him personally. Especially when I heard his name was Micah. There’s a Micah mated to one of the Conners brothers.”

Everyone stiffened. Ashley rolled her eyes, “Yeah, sure Dante that’s logical. Like a mate of the Conners would just stroll on up in here.”

She shot Micah a sly glance saying, “That’s like the WORST idea of all time. Also, Micah is near the eighty-seventh most popular names for boys dating back to biblical times…so…that’s a horrible reason to be weird…about a name. There are over three thousand boys and two hundred girls name Micah every year ON AVERAGE. Do you know how many people are named Ashley?”

He cut her off, “Spare me your statistics.”

She waved, “Seriously, Dante, you are paranoid. Go back to Nashville and whatever hole you crawled out of. No one here likes seeing your rat face….you’re surprisingly unattractive for a supernatural.”

I raised an eyebrow.

Gunner said, “That girl has some balls on her.”

I agreed, “Yeah, she’s also evasive as all get out.”

Harper snorted, “Probably because she can’t lie.”

I was currently going to agree, this girl had Fae blood. Dante finally said, “You can’t speak to me like that.”

Ashley snorted, “I think I just did... so I’m pretty sure that I can.”

I was certain she could, because she’d been disrespecting his authority since she stepped into the room. A fact he’d done nothing about. Ashley fake juked at him saying, “What are you going to do about it? Oh yeah, that’s right... nothing.”

He jumped back while I gaped at my screen.

Harper said, “Damn. She’s got some serious attitude.”

I blinked rapidly trying to think of what to say. Finally, I managed, “He’s scared of her. He jumped back five feet thinking she’d hit him. No wonder she doesn’t respect him. What the hell is going on?”

Gunner replied, “That’s a good question.”

Dante was turning purple he looked so pissed. He also looked quite embarrassed. He tried to save face saying, “I’m not leaving until he takes off his shirt.”

Ashley rolled her eyes and looked directly in Micah’s eyes and blinked twice. That was a sign to any Hackura to trust them and everything would be fine. That the person in the room had their six.

Harper shouted, “WHAT THE FUCK?! How does she know we do that?!”

I answered, “I have no idea.”

I called my dad on my backup phone. He answered, “Yeah.”

I asked, “Do we have any partial Fairy Hackura’s old enough to be on missions I don’t know about?” He answered, “No, and you’d know. You’re the Commander. Why?” I answered, “Because I’d swear I’m looking at one. I’ll call you later.” He muttered, “Please do and explain all that.” Yeah, I’d have to.

Ashley encouraged, “Go on Micah. If he tries to make a move on you, we can both kick his butt. Easily. I mean I’ve done it… like thirty seven times… not like, actually thirty seven times. Ok…it’s actually forty-five…I was lowballing it for some reason…To be fair, I’ve had to.”

Harper said, “That seals it. She’s definitely a Fairy. I’ve heard that ‘to be fair’ shit so much it’s crazy.”I replied, “But she said thirty-seven and her voice squeaked so high I knew she was lying.”

Harper reasoned, “She could’ve estimated then done the math.” True.

Ashley waved at Dante saying, “He’s a bit of a pervert. Though… most guys are. I mean I swear, what’s up with the grabby ‘I’ll own you’ or ‘let me fuck you’ crap? Honestly. Oh I can’t forget the time honored ‘I’ll possess and tame you’ rhetoric. It’s like people forget women have standards.”

My jaw dropped yet again. Or maybe I’d never closed my mouth since she started talking. This is where having a wolf would be nice. I could ask said wolf.

Ashley sighed, “I’ve had to ask a few of these guys if their pick up lines actually work for them. I mean obviously, they have some reason to think they would. It’s not like any of them are god’s gift to women or anything so… I don’t understand how it wor….”

Dante shouted cutting her off, “ASHLEY GRIFFEN WILL YOU STOP RAMBLING FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!”

Thank you for the last name. I said, “Gunner.”

He replied, “All over it. Running a quick background.”

He paused then groaned, “Holy shit.” I asked, “What?”

Gunner explained, “She’s a Werewolf, not a Fairy. She’s fifteen years old and from Missouri. Her parents and older brother died. She does have one surviving brother. She was sent to an aunt in Black Path after her parents were killed.”

I asked, “What Aunt?”

He answered, “Stephanie McCann. I had to dig for that though.”

I questioned, “How did the family die?”

Gunner clicked his tongue, “Break in. Ashley was shot too. She woke up in the hospital and was already in Nashville. That’s how I found her aunt. She signed Ashley out into her custody.”

I asked, “Why did the pack keep the brother and not her?”

Gunner answered, “I don’t know that yet. He was old enough to keep her though. If I had to guess, he blames his sister.”

I sighed, “Let’s look into that. Grief can cloud your judgement, but that’s cold. I’d never let anyone take Aubrielle or Tenley from me. Or any of my brothers.”

Micah had decided to cooperate and took off his shirt. The guys who brought him in hit each other smugly. Huh? One guy said, “See? I told you he was cool, Dante.”

Ashley snorted, “If we are being technical, I believe I said he was cool. He’s killed more Werewolves than you’ve ever thought about killing. He could also snap you all like twigs. Seriously, you all want to fight Werewolves, and you can’t lift twenty pounds... it’s sad... honestly...”

Dante yelled, “SHUT UP, ASHLEY!”

She glared at him.Harper announced, “She knows him. How does she know him?”

I answered, “I don’t know. Gunner, how sure are you she’s a Werewolf?”

He said, “Both parents are wolves. I’m looking into their lines, but I haven’t found even a dash yet.” Harper said, “Micah will know if she is or not.” That was true.

He’d been around Fairies with a dash of Fae blood, all the way to full blooded at Haley’s partial practices. Dante stood and walked over to Micah. He moved his head to the side and studied his neck. He looked pissed off and I realized he was looking for his mark, and they didn’t see it.

Harper questioned, “How do they not see his mark?”

I answered, “Magic is the only answer, right?”

Gunner asked, “What magic can be on whatever Ashley put on him? That seems more like science combined with magic.”

It really did.