Chapter 21 –
Zeva stirred and tried to stretch out. What was the pressure weighing down on her body? She opened her eyes only to shut them immediately when the harsh sunlight hit her eyes, making her head spin with pain. Why was her head hurting so badly? She gasped in pain when she opened her eyes again, though she had prepared herself for the onslaught of the sunlight. Holding her head to ground herself, she looked down at her body to find Cade sleeping with one of his mostly-naked legs wedged between her mostly-naked legs as her dress had ridden up to bunch at her waist. His arm was wrapped around her stomach and his head was resting on her chest. He looked like he was in a deep sleep. This annoyed the hell out of Zeva. What the hell was he playing at? He spends his birthday party clinging to strange females and then he decides to sleep with her? She narrowed her eyes at him in a glare but he obviously didn't stir as he didn't know that he was making a territorial female very angry.
Zeva huffed out and was about to wake Cade when a wave of nausea hit her. She panicked when she realized she really didn't remember much about the night before. Did Cade bring her home from the party? Was that why she was still in her dress and he thought he could sleep with her? A part of her wanted to shove him off but she loved him too much to even consider disturbing him when his animal instincts were relaxed. She knew that he was vulnerable in his sleep and that he could get hurt by her actions.
She tried to relax her tense body enough to be able to get out from underneath Cade without waking him. It was hard. What with Cade's hand following her and the purring sounds he was making every time she moved under him. But she managed to accomplish the task after a long time of holding breaths and maneuvering out of his very sexual touches. She knew he didn't mean to touch her like that, on her body. It was usually because he was dreaming of touching some girl. Probably, some gorgeous model he's always day-dreaming about. Well, she wasn't going to get jealous over that now. She had to get out of here before he woke up. She couldn't face him alone, like this.
Half an hour later, Zeva was greeted by the head-splitting noise of her three family-members chatting.
'Morning.' She said in a disheartened tone. She felt miserable.
'It's afternoon, honey.' Max saw the look on her daughter's face at this and laughed. 'I take it that you're feeling the effects of last night.' She smirked, ruffling an annoyed Zeva's hair.
'Mommy, my head hurts.' Zeva moaned as she shook her head at the plate of food her Daddy offered her. It seemed that her parents and Uncle Dean was the only one home other than herself and Cade. 'Where are the girls and Uncle Sammy?' She asked as she sat down on a chair, clutching her head. Her sisters couldn't have been at school, it was Saturday.
Dean chuckled when he saw Alec exchange a mischievous look with him. He knew what was on his youngest brother's mind. 'Zeva, baby, you sure you don't want some bacon cheeseburgers with extra onions or something?' Dean asked with a smirk gracing his face.
The two men looked on, mystified when they didn't get the desired reaction from her. 'Doesn't the mention of that make you feel sick?' Alec was impressed. Had it been Sam then he'd have been worshipping at the altar of the porcelain goddess by now. Although he'd been doubtful, it was evident his daughter could handle her hangover just fine.
Zeva glared at her Dad and Uncle. 'I have a strong stomach. Were you trying to make me sick?' She snapped at them in annoyance.
'Dean, Alec, leave her alone. Zeva, let me give you coffee. It'll help with the headache.' Max went to get her the elixir of life, according to herself. 'Sam and the girls have gone to Joshua's with Cece's girls. They waited for you for a bit but I told them to let you rest. I knew you wouldn't be feeling too good anyway.' Max handed the coffee to Zeva and motioned for her to drink up.
Zeva made a face as she sipped the bitter drink. 'Mom, you know I like milk and sugar in mine so why are you feeding me this?' She whined, moving the coffee cup away from herself.
'That wouldn't help you, honey. You need it strong if you wanna get better.' Max replied with a huff and made her way back to the kitchen area. Seeing Zeva shake her head in stubbornness, she planted her hands on her hips and gave her daughter her most bitchy look. 'Drink up.' Zeva pouted before taking another sip from the cup.
Alec's heart constricted painfully as he looked closely at the tired eyes and disheveled hair of his daughter for the first time since she'd come into the room. Remembering last night, he asked her the most important question of all. 'Baby, do you remember anything from the party?'
Zeva didn't really remember everything. She looked at them all, feeling nervous. All the adults were giving her an intense look as they waited for her answer. 'I don't remember much. I was talking to Sara for a while when everyone was dancing. And, then I think I sang one of my favourite songs because those other singers were just awful. That's it. I'm kinda blank on what happened next.'
Dean was wondering what drink could make a transgenic drunk. 'You remember what you were drinking, kiddo?'
Zeva shut her eyes to try to remember the name of the drink. 'I asked for the strongest drink. Oh yeah, I remember. It was tequila, I think. It was my first time. I liked it.' She gave her Uncle a toothy smile because he was grinning like mad.
Max's eyes widened. 'How much did you drink?'
'I don't know. Maybe, two bottles.' Zeva moaned as another sharp pain in her head blinded her for a moment.
'Zeva, that is too much. What were you thinking? Why did you drink so much of the stuff? Have you gone crazy? Even I wouldn't drink that much of such a strong drink.' Max yelled at Zeva in disappointment. She could expect her son to do something so stupid but she hadn't thought one of her daughters would be so careless. 'No wonder, you were so out of it.'
Tears started falling out of Zeva's eyes as her Mom chastised her. She had let her pack down. She hadn't even known she was doing it. How would she know she would become drunk? No other kids her age ever did and they drank all the time.
Dean saw his niece trying to hide her tears by holding her head in her hands. 'Max, you're being too hard on her. She didn't know what she was doing. I won't allow for you to shout at the kids for no reason. You wouldn't have been so hard on Cade if it was him who got drunk.'
'That's because he's never gotten drunk.' Max fumed. She wasn't going to let it rest until she got a promise out of Zeva that she would never drink so much in one go again. 'Zeva, I need you to promise me you aren't going to be so careless again. You can drink but just not such a stupid amount. Okay?' Max demanded.
'Mommy, I won't drink anything ever again. Please, just don't shout at me. My head hurts.' Zeva pouted through her tears that kept falling. She was already feeling awful, she didn't need her Mom to make her feel worse.
'Zeva, baby, I didn't mean to shout. You know I only say it because I love you and I don't want any harm to come to you.' Max softened her tone and pulled her daughter against her stomach. Stroking Zeva's hair, she kissed her on the head. 'I'm sorry, baby.'
'No, Mommy. I'm sorry. I should've been acting more responsible. Lima and Mila look up to me. I should set a good example, not a bad one.' Zeva sniffed as she rested her aching head against her mother's stomach. It felt a little better like that.
That was the moment, Cade chose to walk in. 'Hey, everyone.' After grabbing an apple, he came to stand next to Zeva. He had been so worried about her. She looked like crap, tired and hurt. 'Zeva, how are you feeling?' He asked her in concern. Reaching his hand forward, he was about to caress her cheek to determine whether she was feeling okay. However, she snarled at him aggressively as she batted the hand away.
Zeva couldn't believe it. The nerve of him, thinking he could touch her and talk to her whenever he felt like it. Like hell, she'd let that happen. 'None of your goddamn business.' She growled as she got up from her chair and got in his personal space. Her eyes blazed at him as she challenged him. 'You spent all night dancing with other girls and now you're going to pretend you care about me? Where were you when I was drowning my damn sorrow in bottles of tequila?' She punched him on his chest lightly, feeling frustrated.
Cade looked around at the others, blushing in embarrassment. He really didn't know what to say. Her angry almost-confession of her feelings shocked him. 'Zeva, I…' He tried to calm her but she cut him off.
'No, Cade. Today, I'm not listening. I want you to listen.' She bunched the front of his t-shirt in her hands. The fact that they had an audience was forgotten by her as she let her feelings pour out. 'I'm confused, Cade. One minute, I think you care about me but the next minute, you prove me wrong. I don't know what to think anymore. You wanna know how I'm feeling? I feel like shit. My head is on the verge of exploding and it's your fault.' She stomped her foot angrily to show how mad she was feeling. 'You know what? I'm done with you. I'm sick and tired of this bullshit. From now on, I'll be happy if we pretend the other doesn't exist.'
Cade panicked when the meaning of her words registered. 'No, Zeva. Don't be like this. I'm sorry.' He was begging her.
In a split second, she made her mind up. Telling herself that it was for the best, she sighed before she ended whatever was going on between them. 'Cade, I refuse you as my pack. I don't accept you as an alpha male. You have no right to touch me or exchange scents with me anymore.' She swallowed around the lump in her throat. 'And, I don't want you to come to sleep with me at night ever again. I refuse to be your damn body pillow. Anyway, I'm sure a lot of females would pay good money for a chance to keep you warm at night. You don't need me.' She said bitterly before letting go of him and sitting back down, taking deep breaths.
Max exchanged worried looks with her mate. This wasn't good. To have Zeva reject Cade was going to hurt Cade's male pride. They both knew how insulting it was for an alpha male to be refused by a female. And, Zeva wasn't just any female but Cade's pack. To have her practically disown him from her life was going to probably awaken her son's animal side and make him more aggressive.
Alec moved closer to Zeva and placed a calming hand on her shoulder. 'Zeva, sweetheart, you know how serious the issue of rejecting a pack member is?' He hoped that she would confirm his belief that she hadn't known about it. That wasn't to be. It appeared to be a bad day for luck.
'I know, Daddy. But I have to do this.' She tried to keep her face emotionless and blank as she trained a stony glance at Cade.
Cade was in complete shock. He had never known how it would feel to have his heart ripped out, until this moment. Zeva had rejected him as her pack. He had no right over her now. How was he ever going to be able to lay claim on her as a mate if she didn't even acknowledge his alpha rank. 'Zeva, please.' He pleaded softly, holding her gaze in the hope to change her mind. But all he saw was determination in her eyes and stubbornness in her expression. He nodded in acceptance. Not knowing what else to do or say, he placed the uneaten apple on the dining table and grabbed his jacket. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. He didn't know how long he could hold his emotions inside of him. Already, feeling humiliated by the not-so-private rejection from his chosen female, he didn't need to add crying to the list as well.
Coming out of her trance, Max made a grab for Cade. 'Cade, baby, where are you going? Have something to eat before you go out.' Normally, the mention of food was enough to diffuse the tension in the air in her household but today it didn't work.
Cade cleared his throat. He prayed he didn't choke on the tears he was holding at bay. 'Mom, I promised Ryan I'd meet him.' Cade tried to smile at his Mom. Instead of a smile, a tear fell out of his eye. He looked down. Composing himself, he quickly managed to get a few more words out before making a mad dash to the door. 'I'll eat out.'
The deafening silence that followed Cade's departure was crushing the air in Zeva's lungs. She couldn't hold it in any longer. The dam of her tears burst, leaving her gasping for air. 'I know I hurt his feelings but I had to.' She tried to explain but no one was listening. Her parents kept telling her in soothing voices that she didn't do anything wrong. How could they think that? Why were they comforting her when they should've been comforting Cade?
'Dean, can you go and check on Cade. See, what's he up to?' Alec gave Dean a pointed look. They both knew how serious this really was. Cade was possibly feeling inadequate and suicidal because he hadn't only been rejected by a pack female but his chosen mate. That was some deep shit. Alec felt a sudden rush of anxiety and remorse for his son. He smothered his desire to join his big brother as he saw Dean leave to go after Cade.
Alec knew his son well enough to know that he would want to be alone right now. But he also knew of Cade's habit of getting aggressive when he was hurt. It wasn't hard to imagine how Cade must've felt when Zeva disowned him. Having experienced similar feelings himself with his own mate, he knew only too well. Before Max had mated with him, she had always dismissed him. To be fair to Zeva, she had only rejected Cade because he wasn't manning up to his real feelings. So, he couldn't blame his daughter much, though she could've punished Cade in some other way rather than taking away his privileges.
Dean went to Biggs' home, hoping to find Cade there. However, Cece and Biggs were the only ones in. They told him that Ryan was out too. Not knowing where else to look, he returned back home and told Alec that Ryan and Cade were more than likely together wherever they were.
Ryan heard the crunch of leaves underneath someone's approaching steps. Judging by the relaxed reaction of the cougar pack whose territory this patch of forest was, it could only be one male. 'Cade?' He shouted his brother over.
Cade saw Ryan sitting under their favourite tree. Sighing, he sat down beside Ryan. 'What are you doing here?' He didn't meet his brother's eyes as he feared he would break down.
'I could ask you the same question.' Ryan retorted. He peered closely at the hunched profile of Cade. Something was wrong. He could smell tears. 'Cade, hey, look at me.' Not getting any response from him. He jostled him. 'Cade?'
Cade started sobbing his heart out. He couldn't hold it in longer. 'She doesn't love me anymore. She rejected my alpha status and me as pack.' He wailed.
Ryan knew who the she was. 'Dude, Zeva would never reject you.' He tried to comfort Cade. He found it unbelievable that Zeva would reject Cade. He would believe that Earth was flat before he believed something so insane.
'You think I'd make something like this up.' Cade shoved Ryan away, fuming.
Rolling his eyes at Cade's aggressive display, he muttered 'Jerk' under his breath. 'Calm down, dude. Of course, I know you wouldn't. It's just…maybe, it's a misunderstanding.' Ryan suggested.
'Yeah, I misunderstood her telling me she didn't want me to touch her or exchange scents with her because she didn't accept me as pack.' Cade gritted his teeth together as he let his sarcasm take over. It was a defense mechanism, for when he was too hurt to express himself in words.
Ryan saw the hopeless look on Cade's face. He was mad at whoever was in charge of the world or cosmos or whatever. Why did it have to be them two suffering over girls? 'Cade, it's okay. We'll work it out.' He insisted. Realizing he was trying to comfort his brother as much as himself, he barked a laugh. He was just glad, he wasn't the crying type. Cade was the Emo, not him.
Cade was confused. Had something funny happened that he wasn't aware of? 'What.? Why are you laughing?' He bumped his shoulders with Ryan, who looked pretty sad all of a sudden.
'Cade, you asked me what I was doing out here?' Ryan didn't know if he should tell Cade what had happened with him. His friend had enough problems of his own; he didn't want to add to that. But, he needed to tell someone. 'I'm in deep shit, dude. You won't believe what happened to me…' The next ten minutes he spent recounting what had happened.
*About twenty minutes earlier...*
Ryan wasn't sure why Sara had called him to meet her in the same place they had spent being cooped up, over a month ago. The memories of those few hours were still so fresh in his mind, he woke up with a hard-on most mornings after dreaming of those hours. Though he would never admit to that being the case, he had a hard enough time accepting it himself. The female of his recent dreams, literally speaking, walked into the basement, looking extremely nervous and if he was completely honest, looking cute as sin. 'Hey, what did you call me here for?' He didn't waste time on pleasantries.
Sara saw Ryan give her a bored look. She felt like crying. If he didn't think she was worth his time then how was he going to take the news she had to give him? She looked away from his penetrating gaze. 'I needed to tell you something. Please, don't be mad.' She said in a small voice, chewing on her lips between her words. He always made her feel vulnerable.
'Why, what have you done?' Ryan asked, feeling nervous suddenly.
Sara prepared herself for his outrage before quickly fessing up. 'Ryan, I'm pregnant.' She saw his expression change from bored, shock, anger and finally determination.
'What?' Shit. What the fuck. Oh god, what was he gonna do? This wasn't good. This couldn't be for real. Getting no response from Sara other than a stream of tears, he added. 'Are you sure?'
'Of course, I'm sure. I wouldn't have told you if I wasn't.' Sara rolled her eyes, despite the tears falling from her eyes. Was he stupid or something? What did he take her for?
'And, you think it's mine?' Ryan scoffed outwardly for the sake of bravado. He knew for sure that if she was telling the truth then the kid could only be his.
Sara was mortified. 'You think I've been with other males?' She exhaled sharply. Her heart broke when he shrugged as if he wasn't sure. How could he think that? She had told him that she had only let him touch her because she loved him. He must not have believed her if he thought she could let other males do what he did to her. Wasn't it obvious that she wasn't the type of female who would allow any male touch her? 'Ryan, you know I've never...' She couldn't go on. She bit her lip to stop the choking she felt bubbling up in her throat.
Ryan wanted her to stop crying. He had the insane urge to comfort her. Moving closer to her, he relaxed his stance a little so she could relax. 'Sara, erm..it's okay. We'll work something out. Just stop crying. It can't be good for the baby.' And, it's not good for my heart either, he silently added in his mind. Fuck, what was wrong with him?
'Are you going to mate with me?' Sara asked the question that had been on her mind since she had realised she had a life inside her. A part of her and a part of Ryan. She wanted her baby to have a proper family, a proper pack. Her instincts were telling her she needed to mate so she could have a pack for her baby.
Ryan huffed and rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, sure.' He mocked her, sarcastically. 'Sara, you having my baby doesn't mean I have to mate with you. Ordinaries have babies all the time, they don't become life partners or anything.' He gave her his own logical reasoning. Hearing it out loud and not in his head, he knew it was an awful excuse.
'We're not ordinaries. What is everyone gonna say?' Sara gave him a horrified look.
'About that...Sara, I think it'll be for the best if you don't tell anyone who's baby it is?' Ryan felt like a mean bastard for asking her to weather the storm alone but he tried to justify his cowardice by telling himself that no one was gonna kill or hurt her for getting pregnant. Whereas, if everyone found out he was the male who took advantage of her innocence then her pack was gonna definitely kill him if his own pack didn't do it before them.
'What do you want me to tell everyone? That I am the virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus.' She asked him, incredulously. Her lips twitched on their own accord when she saw the grin on Ryan's face. She couldn't stay mad at him at all. Not even for a minute. This was seriously bad. She couldn't love him like this when he didn't even like her. It wasn't fair.
Ryan held her gaze and lost himself in the pools of beautiful hazels. After a while, he realized that he was staring when he noticed her discomfort and shyness as she looked anywhere but at him. 'I'm sure you will come up with something.' As an afterthought, he added. 'I just hope it doesn't look like me.' Though, he knew how she'd understand his comment, he really didn't mean it in that way. He just thought Sara was better looking than himself so he wanted the baby to look like her. Wait, what the hell. Since when did he think Sara was good looking enough for him to want his offspring to look like her. He was going crazy. Yeah, crazy in love, a small muffled voice inside him pointed out. The voice had been making itself known for a couple of weeks now.
'He, not it.' She corrected, feeling shy. Butterflies were fluttering in her stomach. She blamed them on the baby. It had to be the baby, it surely wasn't because Ryan was looking at her in an intense way.
'What?' Ryan peeled his eyes away from her gorgeous face for a moment to concentrate on what she was saying.
'It's a boy.' Sara smiled, looking down at her stomach. She subconciously started to stroke it, lovingly.
Ryan followed Sara's movement with interested eyes. 'How do you know it's a boy?'
'My instincts told me.' She stated proudly.
Ryan couldn't believe it. He had a son in there, in her small stomach. Feeling a sudden rush of emotions towards the baby and his mother which scared the hell out of him because of their intensity, Ryan started to back away out of the basement. 'Sara, I...erm...I have to go now. I'll talk to you later about this. I need time to think.' He saw her give him a sad tearful look before nodding and then he turned around, leaving without a backward glance. However, he heard a choked sob escape her as he left and that made him lose some of the control he thought he had on his feelings.
*Now...*
Cade pulled Ryan in for a hug to show his support. This was a bad situation for Ryan. 'Dude, you're screwed. What you're gonna do?' His own problem looked small in comparison to his brother's.
Ryan shrugged. 'Don't know. Stay here until Drag's pack kicks me out of their territory.' He didn't want to talk about Sara or the baby anymore so he abruptly changed the topic. 'The pack is a little hostile today, don't you think? I mean, we've been here quite a while now and I haven't seen any females or their cubs.'
'Yeah?' Cade sniffed the air and immediately felt his hair rising in alarm. 'I can only feel alpha males in the vicinity. And, they are angry for some reason.'
'I feel it too. I think we should leave before some shit hits the fan.' Ryan looked around, cautiously.
As if on cue, the cougars started to gather near them. The dominant alpha male growled, angrily, at the other males as he paced, up front, away from the group. It wasn't long before both Ryan and Cade realised what was going on. They exchanged panicked glances. The dominant alpha had been challenged by some other younger males and now there was going to be an alpha fight and the two teenagers were effectively trapped. They knew how dangerous alpha fights were. They needed to get out before they got hurt.
Cade signaled that Ryan should leave from behind and that he will follow him. But, Ryan had other ideas. He refused to leave, telling him in signs that he wasn't going to leave Cade alone with the pack of angry alpha males who were ready for some action. Whatever way they were gonna leave, they had to do it together. Cade glared at Ryan. Fine. He took a deep breath. Repeating the mantra in his head that they were gonna be okay, Cade grabbed Ryan's arm in a manly fashion and started backing out slowly.
Nearly out of the cougar territory, they relaxed a little. In their relief, they failed to notice one of the younger male alphas slip out of the group of cougars and stalk them. He lunged at Ryan. However, Cade got him just in time, so the cat couldn't get to Ryan's neck or spine. Cade's instincts were stronger than Ryan's so he had felt their stalker earlier than Ryan did himself. Cade kicked the alpha away from his friend's body but the cougar was strong. The cat's teeth stayed deep in Ryan's leg. A moment later, Drag, the pack's dominant male who was being challenged arrived and dragged the young male off Ryan. Drag looked sad. Cade reached out to pet him but the male bowed his head and left to go back to his place in front of the angry battle-hungry alphas. Cade felt sad himself. He wished he could've helped Drag in some way. The big cat had always welcomed him and Ryan in his territory since they were kids. Drag was like another pack member and it hurt Cade to see him in danger. But, he knew he couldn't do anything.
Cade focused his attention back to Ryan and saw red when his eyes travelled to the deep gash on Ryan's leg with a lot of blood seeping out of it. He slapped Ryan upside his head. 'You idiot. Dad's gonna kill us for this.' He tried to hide his worry and helped his brother up. Cursing at Ryan for being such an asshole, he practically carried him out of the forest. By the time, he'd gotten him to his own home, Ryan was unconscious and the wound was trying to heal up.
Max's eyes widened in horror when she saw Cade carrying a wounded Ryan into their home. 'What happened?' She cried out.
Alec was discussing something with Dean in his brothers' room. He felt his mate's distress before he heard her. 'Something's wrong.' He ran to the living room, closely followed by his big brother. At the scene that met his eyes, he blinked rapidly to make sure it was real. The smell of the blood hit him as he moved closer to Ryan's pale body colouring his favourite couch, making bile rise up in his mouth. He gave his son a questioning look.
Cade didn't want to talk about it. 'Can we patch Ryan up?' He hoped that would distract the family enough to forget the questions.
Alec silently went to grab his kit. On return, he sat by Ryan's legs and started to patch him up. 'Cade, what happened? Tell me the whole story.' Knowing that the kid couldn't refuse, he made it an order. He listened to Cade confessing everything as if he was giving a mission report. Every now and again, his eyes found those of his brother's to receive comfort and his mate's to offer comfort. He'd never seen his Maxie cry like this before and he hated it.