His Moon

XXIV | Sparks

"Why is Mizpah relevant to Kaia's plan?" Kaleb asked, following closely on Cole's heels, "Do you have any idea what it's-" 

"Can you be quiet?" Cole snapped. Cole wasn't happy with him for having let Kaia do this. Kaleb wondered if he should have just grabbed her and dragged her back to the Pack Mansion. Maybe he should have just locked her up, done anything to keep her safe. But Kaia would have hated him for it, so there was no way Kaleb could stop her. Even if he had a choice, it had been a simple one in which one option might as well not even have existed. He knew that Kaia needed to be free. Locking her up, even if it were to protect her, would be like taking a brutal swing of an ax to their relationship. 

"Cole, it's not his fault Kaia's gone and done this," Lionel said defensively. His tone seemed conflicted even as he spoke the words, though. Lionel instinctively defended Kaleb, his Alpha and friend, but he probably didn't want to push Cole any further. Cole was already keeping it together better than expected. There was no need to risk that. 

"I just need to get my sister back," Cole breathed as he turned around a corner. This hall was farther into the house than Kaleb had ever been. The walls were covered in pictures of Kaia and her family, smiling faces in every one. There were surprisingly few photos of the woman Kaleb could only assume was Kaia's mother. She had the same dark eyes that Kaia did, and Kaleb could tell just from the photos that she loved her children more than anything. 

"We'll get her back, Cole. We have the entire Pack on our side," Lionel said confidently. 

"That's not all we have," Cole said, heading up the stairs. Lionel hesitated at the foot of the stairs, looking at Kaleb like he wanted to say something. 

But then Lionel's phone buzzed. "It's Jaeda. She wants to know what's happening, where Kaia is."

Kaleb clenched his jaw, "Tell her we'll be back soon and to find Elias. We need to bring everyone together to figure this out. I'm hoping this little meeting will be informative."

"Ok," Lionel said, "But Jaeda needs to know. She's very worried. And we should probably tell Rosy and Ben, too."

Kaleb nodded, "I know. I just didn't want to see the look in their eyes."

Lionel gave Kaleb an understanding look and started up the stairs. He paused halfway up when he realized Kaleb wasn't following, "You coming?" 

But Kaleb just nodded his head towards the stairs. "Go on." 

Lionel huffed and turned, "Fine, then." And off he went. Kaleb lingered for a bit, shoving his hands in his pockets and staring at one of the pictures of Kaia. He wondered if he should feel anything, staring at it. But all Kaleb felt was the same emptiness, a sinking deeper into his dark hole. He was stuck, and staring at pictures wasn't going to do any good. 

He looked at the image of Kaia's mother again and felt a strange surge of regret. She had been such a beautiful woman. From what Kaia had told him about her, she was also kind and caring. 

The world was painfully unjust. What kind of reality allowed monsters to flourish and angels to perish? But he believed Kaia could carry out her plan and succeed, that she was stronger than this monster of a man. Perhaps Kaleb wouldn't completely lose faith in the world if she was able to get justice for the wrongs she'd had to endure. 

When he finally found his way upstairs, he discovered Lionel and Cole together in what looked like a study at the top of the stairs. Cole was sitting at the desk in a swivel chair, looking up at Lionel, who was standing over Cole. They were staring pretty intensely at each other, and Lionel was unmistakably blushing. 

Kaleb cleared his throat awkwardly. Cole's head whipped toward Kaleb like he hadn't known Kaleb had been standing there. 

"Wh-Where were you?" Lionel asked.