A Love that Lasts Forever Ch. 05

Caleb sighed, slouching back against his seat. "I know what you're going to ask me but really, there's nothing to tell. There is nothing special about me. I'm just your average, everyday, omega. I don't know why Seth Bowden thinks I'm so special because really, I'm not."

"I don't think that's true." Quinton said. His expression more serious now. "I think you know exactly why Seth Bowden wants you back so badly, and I think your scared of what might happen if you tell me the truth."

Caleb splayed his hands out across the table, palms up, and shook his head. "What he thinks I am, it's not true anyway. So, it doesn't really matter. I wish I could give you more than that but there's really nothing more to tell."

"Well, why don't you tell me what he thinks you are, and let me decide if I think it's important or not." Quinton did his best to keep the anger out of his voice but his frustration with Caleb was mounting. Sooner or later he'd have to report to the shifter council and he really wanted the whole, true, story before that happened.

Caleb appeared to consider what Quinton was saying. He looked around the restaurant, a bit nervously, then leaned across the table and spoke in a voice low enough that only Quinton could hear him. "Okay," He said. "I'll answer whatever you want but, could we go some place else first? Some place more private?"

Quinton nodded. "That's fine." He stood up and placed a five dollar tip on the table. "Wait for me outside while I pay the bill, then we can go somewhere else and talk."

Caleb stood up from the booth and went outside and waited. A couple of minutes later and Quinton rejoined him. "I know where we can go." Quinton told him. "And no one will bother us." Caleb nodded, following along behind him as Quinton led them away from the diner.

***

Caleb had expected Quinton to take him to an office or even another interrogation room. What he hadn't expected was to be taken a picnic table that sat in a secluded spot between a large pond and the forest that bordered pack lands.

"No body ever comes here anymore." Quinton explained as he seated himself at the table. "It's a shame too. It's such a beautiful spot. My parents used to bring us here for picnics when I was a pup. Rhys and I used to swim in the pond when we were kids too."

"Why doesn't anyone come here anymore?" Caleb asked.

Quinton smirked. "Rhys and I may have unintentionally started a rumor that the place was haunted. We even hung wind chimes for effect."

"Unintentionally huh?" Caleb raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Okay, maybe it wasn't unintentionally." He blushed. "It was funny though, watching other, big, bad, werewolves run away in fear when they heard the wind chimes, or ghosts, moaning at night. Especially around Halloween."

Caleb had to laugh at that. Imagining Rhys, or Quinton, scaring other pack members. That wasn't something he could ever imagine an Alpha or future Alpha doing. Seth Bowden wasn't playful and he never appeared to have a sense of humor at all. At least, not around Caleb.

Caleb's impression of the man was that he was always angry about one thing or another. Honestly, he couldn't remember ever seeing the man smile. Not that many people did smile in Silver Moon. Maybe they thought it was a sign of weakness or maybe they were all just so miserable that happiness was a rarity for them.

"So people still think this section of the woods is haunted?"

Quinton nodded.

"That's funny." Caleb smiled.

"Yeah, it is."

Caleb sat down at the table across from Quinton. He could actually hear they wind chimes now that he'd thought about it. With each gentle breeze he heard the slightest ting that somewhat reminded him of church bells on a quiet Sunday morning. A sound that had always brought him the smallest hint of peace. At least until the rest of the house woke, and his day of severing a family that were never really his own, despite having been born into it, had begun.

"How could that sound frighten anyone?" He asked, almost wistfully. "It's beautiful."

Quinton shrugged. "I guess, people interpret things differently." He said.

"I suppose so." Caleb looked down at his hands which were now resting on the faded wooden table. Faded by years of being worn away by the weather. Not beautiful, but still strong, sturdy, and unfailing, even after all the abuse it had taken over the years.

It may not have been pleasing to look at, and being forgotten for so long added a hint of sadness to it, but it was beautiful in it's own right. Maybe due to the fact that it was a piece of history. Caleb could only imagine what the old, tired, table had seen over the years. Families enjoying each others company on warm summer days. Perhaps even young lovers, sneaking away in the night to steal a kiss beneath the light of the moon.

Caleb could have had that with Rhys, maybe. If things had gone differently. He could have had a happy life. But that would never happen now. Especially if he were to be sent back to Silver Moon. To a pack that feared him, and Alpha that only wanted to use him for his own gain, and a mate who most certainly didn't want him. Any chance of happiness he might have had seemed so fleeting now. Especially after being in Black River and seeing how belonging to a real pack could be, but he supposed it just wasn't in the cards for him.

"At the diner, you said that I was afraid of what might happen if I told you the truth. Well, you were right about that. I am afraid. I'm afraid of what will happen if you turn me over to Silver Moon and Seth finds out that I'm not what he thinks I am. But more than that, I suppose, I'm afraid of what will happen if it turns out that he was right."

Caleb put his head in his hands. His shoulders slumped, and he had to force himself to keep from crying. How pathetic he must look to Quinton. This sad, sorry, broken omega. He was sure that Quinton was wondering what Rhys had even seen in him. The truth was, Rhys knew what Caleb was, or what he was supposed to be. Caleb had confessed all to him and Rhys didn't care.

He didn't fear Caleb, he didn't hate him, and he most certainly had never wanted to use him. Rhys had only wanted to protect him. What started out as desperation had slowly turned into love, and that love was what had made Rhys sacrifice his own life to save Caleb's. Of course, Caleb knew that Quinton would never see it that way. He could only see Caleb as the cause of all his sorrow. How could Caleb blame him for that?

All Caleb could do at this point was lay it all out on the table and hope that Quinton, like Rhys, would see that Caleb wasn't the enemy. Just a scared omega that was in desperate need of his help.

"I don't know much. Only what I overheard Hector, the Shaman, telling my family." The people he was related to through blood, though not really what one could consider a real family. "A long time ago, like hundreds of years ago, I guess there were omegas that were supposed to have magic powers or something. I don't know. It all sounds like fairy tales. I don't know of any omega that's actually been born with any magic powers but Hector seemed to believe in it.

Anyway, he started to believe I was one of them. Like, how ridiculous is that? Me of all people! Magic?" Caleb huffed. "I guess humans would call us magic but so what? I mean, I can't do anything more than what every other shifter in the world can do and suddenly everyone in my pack is thinking I have some special abilities. It was a nightmare!"

Caleb took a moment to calm himself and gather his thoughts before continuing. "It all started during a full moon run and just escalated from there." Caleb explained to Quinton about the betas who had attacked him, being left for dead in the woods, and his miraculous recovery.

Of course Quinton already knew that part of the story but he let Caleb continue, wanting to hear it from the omegas own mouth. It was worse listening to Caleb tell it. The details of the beating were lost in the report made to the Council but Caleb explained everything, reciting it all as though it had just happened, reliving every painful detail until Quinton had to stop him and take a breath himself.

"Were there any repercussions for the betas that attacked you?" He asked.

Caleb shook his head. "No one believed me. The betas said they were chasing me, just trying to scare me, and then I fell. Seth was happy with that explanation. It was chalked up to me being a stupid, clumsy, omega and the issue was dropped."

Quinton took in a slow, steady breath. He clenched his fists beneath the table, his nails digging into the palms of his hands. He'd known that falling down a hill wouldn't have caused the injuries that had been reported, that was just stupid, but hearing the truth of what really happened caused a fire to build inside of him that wouldn't be easily extinguished.

How could Seth Bowden ignore this sort of attack on one of his own pack members, omega or not? The entire pack sounded barbaric. Even Caleb's own family had just abandoned him? Who the hell did that?

"Anyway, Hector couldn't explain how I'd managed to heal myself. That's when he came up with the magic omega thing and people just started to buy into it. Suddenly I was a 'magic omega' with all these weird powers. There were a lot of people that were scared of me. They wouldn't speak to me or even look at me anymore. Others wanted me to use my 'powers' to help them in someway.

There were a few others that said I should be burned at the stake." Caleb laughed bitterly. "As if this were the middle ages and I was a witch or something. I think most would have been happy just to have me out of the pack. My parents most of all. My father wasn't really around all the much and he never paid much attention to me but now he was acting like I didn't even exist. I know they were pissed that I didn't die. It would have been easier for them if I had but then I came back, and they didn't know what to do with me.

I heard my father actually tell my mom that they should just drive me to the main road out of town and dump me off. I think they were actually planning to do that. Maybe it would have been better if they had." Caleb sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Quinton could see the pain in the boys eyes and it only made him angrier.

"I was ready for it. I'd have even packed if I had anything worth packing. Maybe being on my own wouldn't have been so bad. I mean, it couldn't be any worse, right. So, I was in the kitchen cutting up vegetables to put in the stew and I heard someone knock at the door. I didn't think much of it until I heard Seth speaking to my father. I thought, okay, this is it. He's going to tell my parents that I was to banished or something. Great. Good riddance. Except, that's not why he was there.

I hid around the corner so I could hear better and that's when I realized that Seth was talking to my father about a mating contract! I was confused at first because I knew that the Alpha was already mated but then he said I'd be mated to his brother Jace. I nearly passed out right then and there. Of all the alphas in Silver Moon, Jace was the last one I'd have ever wanted as a mate. The man is vile! I thought about running then and there, but then my father called me into the other room.

He told me what Seth wanted and I begged him to say no. There was no way I could mate Jace. I'd rather die than be mated to him. My father back handed me then and told me that I was lucky to have him."

Caleb shook his head as though he himself couldn't even believe what he was saying. "Lucky," He continued, "Was not the word I would have used. You probably think I'm being unreasonable. He's the Alpha's brother. I know it seems like a good mating but you have to understand, Jace hates omegas, and I mean hates. He thinks we're the lowest form of life on earth. I even overheard him telling another alpha once that if his mate ever gave birth to an omega, he'd kill it.

I could only imagine what he'd do to me if his brother forced us to mate. I was terrified. It didn't matter what I said or how much I begged, no one cared. Crying only got me beaten and I couldn't refuse. In Silver Moon omegas have no rights. We belong to our fathers until mated and then we belonged to our mate. It didn't take long for me figure out why Seth was so eager to have me mate his brother. He wanted the supposed powers that I tried to tell him I didn't have.

He didn't believe me. He expected me to be able to work magic. I knew I'd be dead when I failed to live up to his expectations. That's why I decided to run. I knew it was risky but not as risky as having Jace find out he'd mated me for nothing. If he didn't kill me, Seth would. So I ran. I didn't steal anything either. I literally left with the clothes on my back. I made money by doing odd jobs here and there. I couldn't get a real job because I didn't have any identification, but I m good at cooking, and cleaning houses, so it wasn't all that hard to find something.

I was hired mostly by older humans that just needed extra help. I'd see an add in the newspapers or on a bulletin board in a super market and I'd call them. I never stayed in one place for too long though because Seth had his betas out looking for me. I was on my own for about three months when Rhys found me. I thought, this is it, I'm done. He's going to bring me back Silver Moon. But, when I explained to him why I'd run in the first place he agreed to help me."

Quinton scratched his chin as he tried to process all he'd just been told. "So, you confided in Rhys and he just agreed to help you? Just like that? No questions asked?"

"Well, not right away." Caleb chewed his bottom lip, laughing nervously. "Honestly, at first, he thought I was some kind of witch. He had a vague idea of why Seth wanted me back, just not the entire story. I actually tried to run away from him too, at first. He caught me right away though. He was really good at his job."

Quinton smiled. "Yeah, he was."

"He dragged me back to his truck, in handcuffs, then picked up his phone and started to call Seth. That's when I broke down and told him everything. I was in hysterics, crying, and trying to fight him. He could see how scared I was and so he told me he would hold off letting Seth know he'd found me. He wanted time to think about it I guess. I didn't care. I was just glad that he agreed not to turn me over right away. It gave me more time to come up with a plan."

"To seduce him?"

Caleb narrowed his eyes, suddenly recoiling as if Quinton had just slapped him. "I'm not some kind of whore!" He yelled. "Even if I was desperate, I wouldn't use my body just to get what I wanted. I thought we were past that!"

Quinton held his hands up in defense. "Hey, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to piece together what you've told me so far. I didn't mean to jump to conclusions."

Caleb rolled his eyes. "You alphas. You always think the worst of us. Just because I'm an omega doesn't mean I'm a brainless slut. To answer your question, no. I did NOT try to seduce him. I tried to make a bargain with him. I knew he was expecting a big payout. I didn't know how much, but I knew it was a lot, so I tried to convince him that he might be able to get more for me from someone else. Hopefully someone better. Honestly, just about anyone would be better than Jace.

I told him someone might wanna pay big bucks for a shaman or something. You know, if I had the magical powers that Seth claimed I did. Why should Silver Moon get the benefit of that when there were other packs more deserving? He seemed to consider it but I don't really think he bought into the whole magic omega thing anymore than I did.

I knew I was screwed though when he told me to prove I had powers. I couldn't. I never lied to him. I just told him why Seth wanted me. Seth believed I had powers so I figured others might too. At that point I thought he was going to turn me over since, you know, I really wasn't worth anything to him after all."

"But he didn't turn you over?"

Caleb shook his head. "I was shocked. He told me that if he gave me back to Seth and Seth found out he'd paid all that money for something that didn't exist, he'd kill me. Rhys said he couldn't live with himself if that happened. Especially knowing that he could have done something about it but didn't."

"You shouldn't have been so shocked that he would have chosen to help you. It's in an alpha's nature to protect."

"That's what I was hoping for." Caleb admitted. "But knowing how the alphas in Silver Moon were, I wasn't sure that Rhys would be any different."

Quinton nodded. "I understand." He did understand, to a degree. He could understand Caleb having doubts about Rhys, considering where he'd come from. What Quinton couldn't understand was the attitude the alphas at Silver Moon had. It was infuriating. He was sure that Rhys had felt the same way. That was why he ultimately had decided to protect Caleb. Just the fact that he had to protect him from his own Alpha though was heartbreaking.

It was no wonder Caleb had run. He was just lucky that Rhys, another shifter, had found him and not a human bounty hunter. Though, knowing what he did of Seth, Quinton doubted he would have trusted a human to track Caleb down anyway. Shifters still tended to be somewhat secretive when it came to humans. Letting a human find out that another shifter possibly had special powers, true or not, would not have been a good thing.

"So, that's basically it." Caleb told Quinton. "Rhys wanted to keep me safe and out of Seth Bowden's hands and he thought the safest place would be here, in Black River. That's why we came here. There's no conspiracy. Seth isn't after your money, or your pack, or anything like that. It just so happened that Rhys was from your pack. I'm what he wants. Me and nothing else."

"Well, not anymore." Quinton propped an elbow on the table and cracked his neck. Something he often did when he was worried about something. He could feel the stress building and it wasn't about to subside any time soon.

"What do you mean?" Caleb asked. His own concern now evident on his face.

"He still wants you." Quinton told him. "But now he also wants compensation."

"For?"

Quinton grimaced as he rubbed the back of his neck. "You were promised to Jace. Contracted to mate him. Whether it's what you wanted or not doesn't matter. Your father sighed the contract so Jace has a legal right to you, but now he deems you as ruined. Seth still wants you returned though I'm not sure if Jace is still willing to take you as a mate. They want payment though, for Rhys having mated you without consent."

Caleb leaned back, his hands flat against the table. Quinton could see the tension working its way into his jaw. His eyes had gone wide and he pursed his lips. "Ruined." He hissed the word between clenched teeth. "Rhys didn't ruin me, he saved me, how dare they!"

"Just calm down now. It's more of a legal matter than anything..."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Caleb practically screamed, rising up and off the bench. "Rhys was my mate! I don't care what any stupid contract says, or what Seth fucking Bowden wants! I belong to Rhys. Rhys and no body else!"

"But Rhys is dead." Quinton said softly. "Technically, the contract still holds. The good news though is that your pup belongs to Black River. Because Rhys was his father neither Seth nor Jace can claim him without my consent and honestly, I don't think they'll even challenge it. Like you said, it's you they want."

Quinton thought that little fact would make Caleb happy but instead, he was seething. He glared at Quinton hard. "How is that good news?" He growled. "You think you can just separate me from my pup? Let Seth take me and I never see him again? How would you even think I'd ever agree to that!"