Alpha - Forever #1 (Complete)

Chapter 14 - Part 1

Scarlett

When we arrived back at Cade's house, Blake was waiting in the kitchen with Gary. I was surprised to see him because I thought he'd gone to school. It was another couple of hours before school ended for the day. I walked in first and Cade followed behind.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Blake.

"I thought I'd skip as well to make sure everything ran smoothly while you guys had your talk."

I hadn't even thought about it. It was then that I realized the responsibility that Cade had on his shoulders.

Blake began to stand up and Cade walked over to him and before I even realized what he was going to do, he hit him in the face. Blake took the hit and didn't even attempt to defend himself or try and hit Cade back. It was like he'd expected it.

"What the hell?" I gasped, taken by surprise as I rushed over to Blake. His lip was cut and bloodied.

"That's for being a shitty friend," explained Cade calmly and then he turned and walked over to the kitchen sink.

"I deserved that," Blake said to me. He didn't deserve it. He'd kept my secret because I'd asked him to. I would never understand guys.

"No, you didn't," I weighed in as I threw a glare at my mate.

"Yes, he did," stated Cade as he rinsed blood from his hand.

"We good?" Blake said, wiping the blood from his lip.

"Yeah, we're good," confirmed Cade as he walked over to the fridge and got out a bottle of water.

The slate was wiped clean. Men were so confusing. If they were girls, they wouldn't talk to each other for a couple of weeks. Gary looked from Blake to Cade and shook his head.

"What are you doing out of school?" Gary asked when he realized I was home early.

"Cade and I had some stuff to sort through," I began to explain. I sat down in-between Gary and Blake.

"Remember what Blake and Cade told you about mates and stuff like that?" I asked.

"Sure, I remember," he answered as he nodded.

"Well, Cade is my mate," I stated. Gary's gaze flickered from me to Cade and then it settled back on me. Cade leaned against the kitchen counter, keeping his distance as Gary took in the information.

"Wow," he mumbled as he pushed away from the table and turned to face me.

"How are you feeling about it?" he asked. It was so like Gary to worry about me.

"It's going to take some getting used to," I replied with a shrug. It was inevitable and it had to happen sometime, I just wanted to wait for a time when I would be ready.

It wasn't like I wasn't physically attracted to him, because I was. There was no denying it, but I wasn't sure if I was prepared for the emotional side of what would happen.

"I've decided I'm going to join Cade's pack," I revealed to Gary and Blake. Blake smiled and shot a look at Cade, but my eyes were focused on Gary's reaction.

His eyes widened in surprise and then he reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze.

"You know what you're doing," he said. "You've always had a good head on your shoulders. You've never needed me to point you in the right direction or tell you what to do. There is a reason I never fought you when you wanted to take control of your inheritance. You were responsible enough then and you are responsible enough now to make your own decisions."