The Alpha's Eden

Complicated siblings

Caleb PoV

There was a great atmosphere in the Silverhaven packhouses large dining room as our family had gathered to spend some quality time together.

The sound of laughter filled the air, an array of delicious foods laid across the table and everyone had smiles plastered across their faces.

But if you looked at them close enough you could see the tension in their expressions.
Their lips were pulled just a little too tight to be genuine and there was a hint of something in their eyes. It was different for each individual but it all came from the same reason.

Some were full of fear, for themselves, their loved ones and for the future. Others were more concerned with the more practical side of things. Were they doing the right thing, how would we survive this nightmare. Could they trust in the plans that had been made and come out of this alive.

However they were all making an effort to hide their emotions and make the most of the time we had left together.

Eden's brother Sawyer had strolled in like he owned the damn place and swiftly parked his ass in the empty chair that I was pretty certain had remained vacant for Jace.

Not that he seemed to give a shit about that because his burg barely touched the seat before he started piling food on his plate like a man that hadn't eaten in days.

Maybe rogue life wasn't as easy as he made out.

Eden laughed at his antics and rolled her eyes before going back to her conversation with Iris. But I noticed Blake bristled at his presence and his eyes narrowed in on him, watching him like a hawk. It was clear he wasn't as comfortable around Sawyer as Eden was.

Who could blame him either?

Imagine finally sending your beloved, your mate after hundreds of years of drifting from one loveless relationship to another. He may have had companionship throughout the years but his heart had never been full and he had never been truly loved.

Then finally finding them, and they are bleeding profusely in the middle of a forest so close to death that you could practically see the grim reaper himself prowling beside her?!

He had been so fucking close to finding pure happiness and there she was, his first sight of her, dying before his very eyes.

My brother always acted tough. He hadn't let all the violence and hatred we'd witnessed over the years we'd travelled this Earth taint him. He had never been warped by the way people seemed to senselessly destroy one another.

Not until that day. Not until he found Eden and discovered the culprit of her savaged injuries.

Blake had been hellbent on ripping Sawyer apart limb by limb, inflicting an agonisingly slow torture upon him until the very last drop of his blood fell from his body. But Eden stopped him.

The purity of her bond to her brother and the way in which she'd been determined to move forward with her life without letting her trauma define her had made him bury his hatred deep down inside him.

He placed his sole focus on Eden and helped her heal a bit more each and every day until she was the strong, happy and incredible woman and Luna she was today.

But me, as much as I tried I just couldn't get my head around how she forgave Sawyer so easily. I'd seen her not long after Blake found her and I am not even sure how the hell she survived long enough to get Blake's blood inside her body.

I'd seen a lot in my lifetime and Eden's injuries were some of the most brutal I'd ever witnessed. I wasn't even certain she knew the full extent of what she'd been through at her own brother's hands.

Blake wasn't going to tell her, that I knew for certain. There's no way he would inflict those kinds of nightmares on another person, especially one he adored and worshipped like a goddess.

I scrubbed my hand over my face as images of her frail, broken and bloodied body flooded my mind. I closed my eyes and tried to think of anything but that. Eden was like a sister to me, she was my sister. She was also my friend and the thought of anything happening to her made my gut twist into a tight knot.

"Penny for your thoughts" a gentle voice jerked me from my memories.

"Having fun?" Forcing on a smile I gazed down at the heavily pregnant and glowing Luna of this merry band of supernaturals.

I think this is exactly what we all needed. But you look like you've got a lot on your mind. I saw you watching my brother, what's up Caleb, talk to me?!" Eden sweetly pleaded, trying to encourage me to share my concerns.

" Eden, I don't want anything to change things between us but I have got to ask this as it's been bugging me for months" Well here goes, I guess it was now or never.

"What is it? You can talk to me about anything, we're family" she was far too damn sweet for this awful world.

"after everything that happened between you and Sawyer, you're still so close. I can't say it's something I've witnessed much in my life, a person forgiving someone of trying to kill them" it was true. I'd seen people murder one another in cold blood for far less.

" I bet you think I'm crazy huh?" Typical Eden just chuckled totally unoffended by my comments.

" no, not crazy, not at all, I guess I'm just curious. I've done some pretty terrible things before and I'd like to think that someday I can make it up to the people I hurt. But you and Sawyer, your bond is so strong it's fascinating if I'm honest "

"But you've also been hurt too haven't you? By someone very dear to you?! Do you believe in things you can't quite explain? Like you know in your heart it's true but you don't understand the why or the how?" That was another thing I'd noticed about Eden, how good she was at reading people. She saw through my bravado and saw the pain underneath it all.

"yeah I know what you mean"

"Right from my very first memories as a little child my brother was there beside me. Everytime I needed him, he was there. Whenever I got in trouble or my parents tried to do me harm or were just so fed up with me that they abandoned me someplace to fend for myself or die. Sawyer was there to cover for me or rescue me. He would just appear out of nowhere and he always knew just when I needed him the most"

"like a good big brother huh?" A protective big brother was something I could definitely understand.

Big brothers were a huge part of my life and not always the good parts.

However much I tried to push the thoughts of my own sibling issues down into a dark vault that kept them locked away, Eden and Sawyers complex relationship seemed to be bringing them to the forth front of my mind again.

Perhaps it was me projecting my own personal demons onto Eden more than being solely concerned about her and her brother.

But I knew how quickly a sibling bond could be broken and I hated the idea that Eden would be hurt again like that.

Blake would never forgive himself or recover from that.

He'd barely been able to hold himself together after finding Eden so badly hurt the last time, so if anything ever happened to her again I knew the eternal, downward spiral it would send him into.