Bitter Sweet

Chapter 18

Chapter 18 - Mates?!
Cadrian's POV
I've never been a morning person. NEVER. But after Arron and I's night of passion I thought that maybe I would be woken up by soft kisses or his snores, something other than this. I would have maybe, just maybe enjoyed this particular morning if I hadn't been woken up by someone yelling at me to get up and put my hands behind my head. Aw shit. We were on someone's territory!
"I'm gonna tell you one last time! Put your hands behind your head!" Through my morning grogginess I could barely make out the fact that it was a male voice. It was full of authority too. I could also smell a delicious scent that smelled of...mango?
I groaned with annoyance and replied, "Oh, fuck off." With that I was grabbed by my wrists and pulled off the ground. They did the same with Arron. Our hands were quickly cuffed behind us and they started leading us somewhere. Well, I guess I should say that they lead Arron. They got tired of me tripping over everything and acting like a dead fish so the man that was leading me swooped my up and carried me over his shoulder. I was not a morning person...
We walked for some ways before both men stopped and looked into the distance. Mind link. my wolf thought. She was right because soon a couple more wolves made their way out of the shadows, making their way towards us. I was dropped on the ground with a thud only to be yanked back up by two more men. Arron had been trying to struggle his way out of their grip so it took three more men to restrain him and continue to lead the way.
When we reached what I assume was our destination, it wasn't at all what I had expected! I expected a huge pack house with a garden and a driveway, something permanent. But when we stepped through the clearing I saw a whole slew of tents and a large fire pit in the center of the little camp site. This wasn't a pack. This was a rouge pack.
As I was lead through the pack to a rather large tent I started to panic! I hadn't struggled before beacause I knew I had no chance to run but most of all, I knew they wouldn't hurt someone that looked as fragile as me. It happened a lot actually. Me and Arron frequently wandered into other people's territory! We were also soon released though, with a little convincing from myself. Alpha's had a weak spot for me. It wasn't alwasy a romantic attraction like it was with Hagean. Sometimes it was pity. I would make up a fake sob story and that was usually that. They released us and let us on our way. But right now, I wanted to die. I wanted to die on the spot because there was only one rouge pack and they were ruthless! They wiped out packs like nobodies business. They were alies with my old pack.
I struggled to get out of the man's grip but he just held tighter. He wouldn't budge and I knew it. I looked behind me for Arron, I was going to look to him for help, but he was still on the edge of the clearing. They were tying him up.
As we came closer and closer to the large tent my stomach dropped farther and farther down. This had to be the Rouge Alpha's tent. I expected the two men to stay but nstead they just pushed me face first into the door of the tent. I took in a little of my surroundings before trying to bolt out of the tent, only to be met by a hard chest to the face. I started to fall backwards but I was caught by the man I had just ran into. He held me close, too close for my liking.
"Where are you going little one?" I simply shaked in his grip and looked at his black tshirt. It reminded me of the ones that Luke used to alwasy wear. I didn't answer him and continued to keep my eyes away from his face.
"Answer me, rouge." I opened my mouth but the words wouldn't come out. Everytime I tryed to speak I started shaking harder and harder.
"Sweety, I'm not going to hurt you." I didn't belive him because even though I hadn't seen his face I knew he had danger written in capital letters along his forhead. He sighed and let me go, taking a step back to look me over. He continued to look at me for sometime. After he was finished checking me out he held my chin and forcfully pulled my face up so that he could look at my face. His blue eyes softened a bit. That's when I took in the sight infront of me. This man had chiseled features along with firey red hair. I had never liked red hair on anyone until that very moment.
"Come on, sit down, I'll get you some water." I obeyed and sat down on one of the blankets that were covering the ground. I sat there staring at him.
"Why am I not restrained like the man I was with?"
"I wanted to talk to you in a sivilized manner. Only you." Only me? He sat down beside me and handed me a bottle of water. "Drink." He comanded. I quickly downed the entire bottle. When I was finished he asked me another question, "What's your name?"
"C-Cadrian.." This came out as a bit of a wimper. I couldn't help it. He was intimidating to the point that just being in his prescense made me want to ball up and cry at the power that was radiationg off of him.
"Well Cadrian, I've never met a female rouge before." I wasn't surprised. Female rouges were very uncommon. I was one of probably about five female rouges in the entire world!
I laughed a bit, getting more comfortable around him. "Well, now you have."
"What's the man's name, that you were with?"
I didn't know if i should give him Arron's name but I did anyways, "Arron." His eyebrows furrowed a bit and he looked off into the distance. I assumed he was mind linking someone. Pretty quicly after that, Arron was brought into the tent and relieved of his binds, although a gaurd stayed and watched Arron.
"Aw, you two are mates?" The Alpha asked.
Before I could clear up the confusion and tell him no, Arron took control of the conversation and said, "Yes, Alpha." I didn't object.
"Please call me Eathan."
"Eathan...Please if you let us go we won't be a bother, I promise." I expected him to take my offer and let us on our way but he objected, saying that "Us rouges needed to stick together" and that we were going to join his rouge pack. He didn't ask, he demanded.
"Alpha-" Arron began.
"Eathan."
"Right, Eathan...We don't want to belong to a pack. It hasn't done us much good in the past and we prefer to stay the way we are. But thank you for your generous offer."
"That's what's great about my rouge pack. It isn't really a pack at all. We are all rouges that stick together. That's all." I didn't really want to be a part of this cruel lifes style. From the stories I had heard, everyone in this pack was ruthless and cut down anyone that stood in their way, I didn't know if I could do that.
"Thank you Eathan, but we just can't." I said this and immediately regretted it. Arron and I had been living alone on the streets for the past year and It was awful. I mean how bad could a tent and clean water be? I wanted to take my words back.
Eathan sighed and said "Let me give you two a tent and you stay one night. Maybe you will change your mind." He was being very generous. It surprised me, not many alphas were this generous to rouges, but then I remembered, he's just like us, rouge. The only difference is that he has a family he can rely on, his pack. I smiled at him, confirming that we would stay and he continued with clapping his hands together and gestering to the guard saying, "Trent, lead these two to their tent."
Trent bowed his head and did what he was told. We were lead to a slightly smaller tent and left us with one last sentence, "Be ready for dinner and the after fire." After fire?
I pushed all thoughts out of my head and looked around the tent. It was small but much better than our current living situation. The tent was set up in a square shape and there were blankets spread out on the ground that matched the ones in Eathan's tent.
"Okay, let's make a run for it." I stared at Arron in shock. Was he really going o pass up hot food?!
"Arron, let's just stay for the night."
"No, we are leaving right now, Cadrian." He said with finality evident in his tone. I flinched a little at it as well at him calling me by my whole name and not Cade. I couldn't even remember the last time he called me Cadrian. "Now!" I flinched back from him and he noticed and soon came to comfort me. "Cade, I'm sorry, baby."
"Please, can we just stay one night? Can we not sleep on the ground just this once?"
He looked down at me with love radiating from his eyes. He kissed my forhead, pulled me close, and said, "Alright, one night."
-A couple hours later-
I smelled the mango before I saw him. I turned towards the scent and came face to face with a handsome boy. He couldn't be more than 15. "Hello, Cadrian, Arron." He nodded his head down in respect before continuing. "I'm the one that carried you here. My name's Travis. I'm Tren't younger brother."
"Hello Travis." I stuck my hand out for him to shake. He took it and smiled at me. Travis was young but my lord, was he handsome! He was very large and muscular for his age. He had black hair and green eyes. I took an instant liking to him.
I noticed I had been openly staring at him and he back at me when Arron took my hand out of Travis's and stood infront of me, blocking me from him. He growled before saying "What did you come here for?"
Travis was still looking at me as I peeked out from behind Arron. "Dinner is waiting. It will be followed by the fire, Arron." He said this while still looking curiously at me. He broke our stare and looked at Arron. It was funny beacause, he was barely taller than Arron. So, he was looking down at him. I giggled and he wore a smirk. "I'll lead you to the fire pit." Arron's eyes narrowed a bit but he still nodded.
By the time we got to the fire pit the party was in full swing. There was food everywhere and people danced around the fire while drinking out of red solo cups. The stench of alchohol hit my nose. Arron and I cringed back a bit but Travis didn't seem affected as he was handed a red cup filled to the brim of what I assumed was beer. He took a sip as he took my hand and said, "Dance with me!" Arron growled a bit but I ignored it and tugged my hand out of his and took Travis's hand. He pulled me close to the fire. I could feel the warmth as we danceed around the fire along with all the others. At this point I noticed I was the only female here. I should have expected this but for some reason it slipped my mind.
At the moment I was a little distractd by the dancing me and Travis were doing and the man sitting a couple feet away. He had a guitar and sang a familiar song. It was Drive by Incubus, I noted.
We stopped running around the fire for a minute, just long enough for me to look at Travis. Realization hit me like a train. He looked like Luke. I mean when you really looked at him, he didn't have the same straight nose and hard jaw line however, he did have the silky black hair and those eyes. I stopped and stared for a minute until I was broken out of my trance by the guitar guy saying, "Alright everybody! Food's over here!" Travis wrapped a lazy arm over my shoulder and lead me over to where the food was located at. He grabbed a plate for him and myself. I filled my plate with all the food I could. I hadn't had warm food in ages!!! When Travis glanced at my plate he just shook his head and laughed.
I elbowed him in the side and said "Hey, I haven't had hot food since I left my pack, Don't judge!"
We made our way to where everyone was sitting. I spotted Arron talking to an older black man. Travis leaned down and whispered, "The guy with your mate is the doctor of our little family." I nodded and made my way over to them. Travis trailing behind me. I took a seat next to my "mate". He didn't notice me, clearly engrossed in the conversation he was having with the old man. Travis and I started talking about why we left our packs. I made sure to leave out the part about Luke. I could tell we would probably become instant friends. We were soon joined by Eathan and another guy I recognized as the guard, Trent, Travis's bro.
Eathan sat acrossed from me and asked "How are you liking it here so far?"
I truthfully answered, "Well, aside from being the only female, It's great!"
"Good, I'm glad. The after fire is always the best part though, just you wait."
"After fire?" I quizzed.
Trent answered me this time. "Its when we do the whole sit around the fire thing and someone tells ghost stories and whatnot. But other times we duel and have matches. Last night's champion was-"
"Me." The owner of the voice came and sat down in our little circle. "And sometimes I break out my guitar. Like tonight. I'm Kenneth by the way." He stuck out his hand and I shook it.
"I'm Cadrian but call me Cade."
"It's nice to meet you, Cade." He replied.
"And this is Arron." I said as I nudged the guy beside me who was completley ignoring me. "My mate, well not exactly." I elbowed Arron again and finally got his attention. He nodded and went back to the conversation with their doctor.
"What do you mean by not exa-" Trent was interupted by Kenneth.
"Do ya sing?" Kenneth had many tattoos but one caught my eye. He had a bird on the side of his neck with a name under it, Allison. I guessed that was his mate's name. I wondered where she was...Dead? Rejected?
(I'm talking about Kenneth Nixon if you were wondering. He's lead singer to my favorite band, Framing Hanley)
"No, I don't." I said with a smile.
"Yes she does. She's a great singer." Arron. Damn you. I hadn't realized the older black man leave. But Arron had wriggled himself into the conversation. I scowled at the smirking Arron and then turned back to Kenneth. "Fine, maybe I sing a little."
"Ya know it's not everyday that I have a woman voice acompany my guitar. It would be an honor if you would sing with me."
I smiled at him and realized people were still hollering, clearly drunk, and running around the fire. "I would love to sing with you."
"Great! Come on over here." He led me to where he was before and asked if I knew Universe by Ghost Town.
"Oh my gosh, yes! It's practically my favorite song!" I replied. He started playing the tune of the song and right on que I started singing the lyrics.
(If anybody was wandering I wanted her to sound like Serene Mahmound on youtube. She is absolutely amazing!! Please look her up and subscribe!)
I'm not in this universe my body's stuck in reverse.
My lungs are always short of breath,
you see these tracks you know the rest.
My face is skuffed my eyes are black...
Where's the point where I turn back.
And I can't help but think that this isn't me...
But maybe they're right... Maybe this is all a lie...
And I followed a sign that brought me to my life as I know it...
and I can't find myself cuz...
You've taken control
of my heart and my soul
Tried to call but your phones disconnected
Girl you know that I can not accept this
Now I'm stuck in my head
While you lie in your bed
Tryin to sleep just to forget my name
Tryin to sleep just to block out the pain
Born to believe what the world gave to me was everything that I'd ever be...
As we're lifted up high. These thoughts have arrived
to bring back some sense to our dwindling minds...
And so it goes the years fly by..
The more regrets the less I try. I just might die.
And I can't help but think that this isn't me...
But maybe they're right... Maybe this is all a lie...
You've taken control
of my heart and my soul
Tried to call but your phones disconnected
Girl you know that I can not accept this
Now I'm stuck in my head
While you lie in your bed
Tryin to sleep just to forget my name
Tryin to sleep just to block out the pain
Don't wanna feel this pain anymore...
I'm not in this universe my body's stuck in reverse.
My lungs are always short of breath,
you see these tracks you know the rest.
My face is skuffed my eyes are black...
Where's the point where I turn back.
You've taken control
of my heart and my soul
Tried to call but your phones disconnected
Girl you know that I can not accept this
Now I'm stuck in my head
While you lie in your bed
Tryin to sleep just to forget my name
Tryin to sleep just to block out the pain
By the end of the song I was belting out the song lyrics like I knew I could. By the end everyone was clapping for us and whistling.
"It's a shame you will be leaving so soon! You are truly an amzing singer, Cade!"
"Oh don't worry, I plan on staying for a while." It was the truth. I wasn't leaving whether Arron liked it or not.