Fighter (Outsider Series) (25 page)

“Oh yes, I think show
ing is much more effective than telling,” he grinned.

“And
, I think I just threw up in my mouth.”

Caeden and I both turned to see Bryce standing in the doorway.

“And
you
are supposed to be gone,” snapped Caeden.

“Geez,” Bryce put his hands up in surrender. “I just wanted to grab a couple bottles of water. You don’t want us dying of dehydration
, do you?”

Caeden narrowed his eyes. “Get the water bottles and get out of my house
, before I hurt you.”

“You’re getting grumpy in your old age,” Bryce edged towards the refrigerator.

“And you get more annoying every day,” Caeden told him.

“I try,” Bryce grinned, looking so much like Caeden that it was scary, and grabbed the water bottles. “See ya later,” he ducked out of the kitchen.

“How am I related to him?” Caeden placed a hand on either side of me.

“Well you see a sperm and an egg-”
I started.

He narrowed his eyes at me and I giggled.

“I’m very much aware of
that
part, Mrs. Williams.”

“Oh, are you
, Mr. Williams?” I cupped his scruffy cheeks.

“Want me to tell you about it?”

I leaned towards him, so that my hair brushed his neck, and my lips tickled his ear. “I prefer show instead of tell.”

twenty-three.

“What are you doing?”
I leaned down and kissed his neck. “You seem tense. Has something happened?”

Caeden leaned back in his office chair. He was shirtless, his pajama bottoms hanging precariously low on his hips, and his hair a wild mess. He’d never looked sexier to me.

He pulled me onto his lap and lowered the edge of my robe, kissing my shoulder.

“Just thinking.”

“About what?” I smoothed a finger over his brow.

“Travis. Why he’s the way he is.”

“Caeden,” I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Travis is a sociopath.”

“Yeah, well, how’d he get that way?”
he asked.

“Are we going to end up in a discussion of the whole nature versus nurture thing? I’m half asleep and I don’t have the
brain power to talk about this.”

He chuckled and the movement jostled me up and down.

“What woke you up?” he asked.

“The bed was cold,” I snuggled closer to him.

“Sorry about that… I couldn’t sleep.”

“I’m worried about you,” I said softly.

“Why?” he asked, clearly puzzled.

“I can see what a toll all of this is taking on you and it bothers me. I don’t want to lose you.”

He sighed. “It’s just that…”

“What?”

He flinched. “People are going to die, Sophie, and there’s nothing I can do.”

“Nobody’s going to die
, Caeden. There are a lot of us, and one of him. How much damage can he do?”

“
Enough,” he growled. “He’s unstable and alone. That’s going to make him extremely violent, not to mention, completely unpredictable.”

“We’ll come at him with everything we’
ve got. He won’t see it coming,” I assured him.

“And yet, somehow I think he will.”

“Caeden-” I took a breath. “You can’t do this to yourself and I can’t do this to myself either. I have to
believe
that everyone will be okay. If I don’t, I’ll go crazy. This is out of our hands.”

“You’re right
, but I just hate not being in control. I hate not knowing what’s going to happen beforehand.”

“That’s life
, Caeden. We never know what’s going to happen. We just have to trust that whatever it is, is happening for a reason.”

   He intertwined our hands and brought mine to his lips. “How’d you get to be so smart?”

“Who are you kidding? I’ve always been this smart?” I joked. Sobering, I said, “I came to realize that this situation is out of
our hands. We can’t control fate. It is what it is.”

“Fate sucks.”

“That it does.”

He sighed. “You’re right. I can’t do anything, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to try.”

“You wouldn’t be the man I love if you didn’t.”

He chuckled. “Even after you’ve already told me there’s nothing I can do?”

“Caeden, you never listen to me. Why start now?”

“Very true.”

I rubbed his smooth chest and then gripped his shoulders. “We should do something fun tomorrow that will take your mind off things. You’re too stressed.”

He sighed. “Soph, I really need to focus on the pack and Travis right now.”

“I know that
, but I think you’re stressing yourself to the point that you won’t even be able to think straight. Everyone needs a break sometimes, Caeden. How about we see a movie? That won’t take all day. We can stuff our faces with buttery goodness and then you can come back here and plot Travis’ death,” I smiled.

“Fine,” he grinned. “I can never resist you when you look at me like that.”

“Like what?” I batted my eyelashes innocently.

“Oh you know, when you pout that delectable bottom lip
of yours,” he traced it with his thumb, “and give me those puppy dog eyes.”

“You make me sound like I’m five and I did
not
pout.”

He laughed, the husky sound of it echoing around the room. “Okay, I
may
have over-exaggerated.”

“Ya think?” I asked. He shook his head and I hopped up from his lap. “Come back to bed,” I grabbed his hand and tried to pull his heavy body from the chair.

“I really do have some things I need to do,” he turned back to his desk.

“I d
on’t like sleeping without you.”

He looked up at me, those cerulean eyes glimmering. “
I guess this can wait till morning.”

“Good answer,” I winked.

* * *

We ended up inviting Bentley, Chris, Bryce, and Charlotte to go with us to the movie. We all needed a bit of lightness and fun right now.

The weight of what we were about to do was taking its toll on everybody. Even though Travis was as evil as it got, we would still be committing murder when we ended his life.

I knew from experience that i
t wasn’t easy to end a life, even if you had to. I was often still haunted by the image of light leaving Robert’s eyes. I killed him to save Bryce, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat, but that didn’t mean it was easy. Not by a long shot.

“What should we see?” Caeden squinted at the blinking red letters that displayed the movie titles.

“Something funny,” I answered.

“That sounds good to me,” Bentley shrugged.

The others agreed as well.

We paid and made our way through the theater. It was small but nicely decorated. Since
it was the middle of the week there were only a few other people milling around.

“What theater are we in?” Bryce asked.

“Four,” Caeden answered.

“Sa-weeee-t,” Bryce drew out the word, grabbing Charlotte’s hand.

We picked seats in the middle of the back row of the stadium seating. I sunk into the plush red leather seat and Caeden handed me a menu.

Wait, a menu?

“What’s this for?” I raised a brow.

“Oh,” he said, “I forgot you haven’t been here. They serve food while you
watch a movie.”

“Like actual, food-food? No popcorn?”

He chuckled and brushed the ends of his brown hair from his eyes. “They have popcorn, but regular food too. None of that cheap concession-stand food.”

I flipped through the menu, reading over the item. “Hmm, I could get used to this.”

“Just grab one of these,” he pointed to pieces of paper in a little cubbyhole, “and write down what you want. When you’re done, just fold it up and stick it in the bar.”

“Easy enough,” I shrugged.

He grinned and picked up one of the pencils scattered around on the bar area in front of the seats and started writing down his order on a slip of paper that was provided. When he was done he slid it my way. I perused the menu, at a loss of what to get. Everything sounded
so
good.

I finally settled on a steak and cheese sandwich, and of course, popcorn. I scribbled it down and folded the paper just like Caeden had said. I stuck it in the metal holder and it reminded me of a white flag of surrender waving in the wind.

A waitress came by, asked a few questions, and said she’d be right back with our drinks.

A few minutes later
, the lights dimmed and the previews flickered on the screen.

I wiggled around in the seat, trying to find a comfortable spot, and Caeden wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I lifted the armrest and snuggled close. His lips brushed the top of my head and I felt him inhale.

“Cookies?” I whispered.

“The most deliciou
s cookies on the planet,” he whispered.

The movie ended and I was so relaxed and full from the delicious food that I didn’t want to move.

“This was nice,” Charlotte stretched.

“Yeah, I think we needed this,” Chris smiled at me.

“Good, I’m glad,” I said, with a smile.

We walked to the parking lot and Caeden looked at his watch. Turning to me, he said, “It’s our turn for watch duty.”

I took a deep breath. I knew I
had
to do this but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to have to watch Travis drag another human into his hideout, torture, or kill someone, and not be able to do anything about it.

Just two more weeks, I told myself. Two more weeks and this will all be over.

If only, I could really believe that.

twenty-four

Who’s on watch with us?

My mom and Nolan.
Caeden answered me.

A little thrill went through me at the thought of seeing Nolan as a tiger.

Caeden’s chuckle filled my mind.
The dude looks just like any other tiger you’d see in a zoo.

I don’t care. It’s still awesome that he’s a tiger.

You know, there are all kinds of other shifters out there. Panthers, eagles, bears, lions, cheetahs-
Caeden rattled on.

I get it!
Just keep in mind, I haven’t grown up in this world and this is all new to me. I think I have a right to be a little excited.

Sure, sure.
Caeden snorted.

The wolves we were relieving
appeared ahead of us.

Jeremy stepped forward.

Nothing has happened. According to the others, he went in just before we came on duty and he hasn’t come out since. We haven’t heard anything either. Everything has been strangely silent…

Thank you
. Caeden said.

Jeremy bowed a little on his front legs and then took off running. The others sprinted after him.

I followed behind Caeden to a spot near the one we’d first hidden in. His mom was already there. We hunkered down beside her.

Anything?
Caeden asked.

Nothing.

A noise from behind had us turning around, ready for a fight.

It’s just me
. Nolan’s voice purred. A second later his tiger form appeared from behind a tree.

What are you doing? Be quiet.
Caeden snapped.

Sorry, had an itch.
Nolan rubbed against the bark of the tree.

Stop that! You’ll leave your scent!
Caeden roared.

Travis doesn’t know me; therefore he doesn’t know my scent.
Nolan reasoned.

Yeah, but he’ll know there’s a tiger around, and the last time I checked
, tiger’s don’t live in Virginia.

Geez, you’re grumpy today.
Nolan slinked towards us. He was huge, double, maybe even triple, the size we were as wolves. He was an intimidating sight. I couldn’t imagine an entire pack…
streak
, was the word he’d used, of them.
What’s buttercup up to?
Nolan nodded at the cave.

Buttercup? Do you give everyone a nickname?
Caeden looked towards Nolan.

Aw, Cay-berry, did you think you were special?
Nolan purred.

Caeden growled.

Just answer my question, Cay-berry. There’s no need for jealousy.

According to the others
, Travis has been inside for around five hours.

He hasn’t come out at all?
Nolan asked.