#11 Meet Me in the Emerald Forest
Chapter 20

Clementine

“Are you in trouble, Clem?” Caleb asked me the second we were driving away from the packgrounds.

“What? No.” My head snapped to him in surprise.

“I’m not going to lie to you, that place looks very suspicious. It looks like a cult.” Caleb said.

“It’s not a cult,” I chuckled, mostly because I had the same thought not so long ago, “But, there is something going on.”

“Like?” Caleb prompted.

“You know me, Caleb, I can handle myself. You just have to trust me.” I shrugged. Caleb glanced over at me as he drove down the bumpy stone road.

“I do trust you, you’re my partner, dummy.” Caleb laughed and I joined in.

“You have some time off, don’t you?” I asked and Caleb was back to looking suspicious.

“Obviously.”

“Take it and stay around for a bit.” I said, trying to sound casual.

“Let me guess….just trust you?” Caleb cocked an eyebrow and I winked at him, “I don’t know, Clem, leaving the team down two men?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, if they can make it without me, surviving without you will be nothing.” I teased and Caleb nudged me with his elbow.

“Bitch.” He said while pretending to cough.

When we reached my house, I left Caleb in the car to call Aiden, our commander, and see if he could take a week or two off to stay here. I figured I mindswell head inside a while and calm down whatever storm Danny had cooked up in my absence.

“Clem?” Danny shouted, throwing himself off one of the island stools in the kitchen, “Where the hell have you been? I know you weren’t at Quantico.” He accused me.

“Geez, calm down, Danny. I was just with Lukas.” I scoffed.

“Why did you lie to me then?” Danny asked, sounding pissed.

“Because you’ve been acting like an overprotective father of a teenage girl for the last month and it’s killing me.” I snapped at him.

It wasn’t a lie, but I had grown used to it and learned how to deal with it. It made a good excuse now, though.

“You’re acting like a teenage girl right now, Clementine.” Danny snapped and I felt taken aback by his response.

“Seriously, Daniel?” I glared at him.

“You’re just strutting around with this boy you met a few weeks ago. I might not have been around during your teenage years, but I was around when you inevitably ended things with Bennett and saw how that went down.” He yanked off the bandaid to a very old wound.

“Way to hit below the belt.” I scoffed, feeling blown away by his attitude, “What are you trying to say, that I’m just whoring myself out?”

It was Daniel’s turn to look flabbergasted.

“That’s not what I said….”

“Then what the hell does Bennett have to do with any of this? I was 18 years old then. I’m freaking 25 now and you’re seriously trying to compare my friendship with Lukas to my high school sweetheart?” I shouted.

“Everything okay in here?” I didn’t even hear Caleb come in.

Danny looked between Caleb and myself with a horrified look on his face.

“I’m packing a bag and staying somewhere else for a while. Don’t you dare call my team and try to hunt me down.” I practically snarled at him, beginning to sound a bit like Bastian and Lukas.

“Clementine!” Danny called after me but I was already up the steps.

I randomly started shoving things into a backpack, grabbing whatever I could think of in the moment and figured I’d buy anything I needed or come back when Danny’s at work. I ran back down the steps, ignored Danny, and slammed the door to my office shut. I shoved the cases I was currently working on in a file box and grabbed my laptop and Ipad.

“Clem, don’t go….” Danny was waiting for me outside of the office.

“I’m done with whatever this is, Danny. I’m done with you treating me like a teenager, I’m done with your guilt, and I’m done with you trying to make up for lost time by pretending we never lost anytime. If you want to honestly talk about your feelings and why you’re acting like this, call me, otherwise, leave me the hell alone.” I shoved past him and found Caleb waiting for me by his car.

“Dude, what the hell just happened?” Caleb laughed as I tossed my bags in the trunk and climbed into the passenger side of his vehicle.

“You know Danny.” I sighed and Caleb nodded in response.

“I kinda figured something like this was going to happen after he called.”

“Did you talk to Aiden?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah, he’s actually happy about it. I think he wants all of us to take some well deserved time off and he’s hoping that, by me doing it voluntarily, it’ll encourage the others to do so as well. Plus, he’s worried about you.” Caleb said, glancing sideways at me.

“Good, how much time did you take?”

“Two weeks for now.” He replied.

“Let’s go get some food and I’ll tell you about the cult.” I said.

I was fueled by adrenaline and just pissed off enough to be a little bit reckless. Caleb’s eyes went wide,

“I knew it!” He shouted and I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

I remembered the way to the diner Lukas introduced me to and Caleb drove us there for a late lunch. We settled into a bar and I noticed how the waitress gave me a curious expression when she took Caleb’s order.

“She didn’t ask for your order?” Caleb noticed.

“I’m a regular.” I shrugged.

“Oooh fancy.” Caleb faked a snooty tone and I rolled my eyes at him.

“Okay, listen….” I started with the werewolf business and then dove straight into the rogue serial killers.

“You’re nuts.”

Was all Caleb kept saying as I explained that Emerald Forest was actually a pack, all the men and women he met there turned into giant dogs, and the people who murdered my parents weren’t people at all.

“When we get back to the pack, I can show you.” I said just as the waitress returned with our plates.

“Back to the pack?” He spat the words in shock.

“Yes, I’m going back. I’m going to stay there for a bit.” I said confidently, knowing that I didn’t even need to ask Lukas for permission to stay, he was going to be all too excited about the idea.

“If all this is true, how can you stay there?” He looked properly scared.

“Because I know I can trust them.” I spoke the words before I even had time to think about them, but I knew it was the truth.

Without a single doubt, I trusted Lukas, Garrick, Mateo, Lily, and all the rest. I didn’t know anything else, but I at least knew that. Caleb stared at me with wide eyes, shock written all over his face. He knew I didn’t trust anyone, let alone someone I just met.

“Okay.” He nodded once, suddenly completely on board.

“Okay?”

“If you trust them and I trust you, then there’s nothing else to think about.” He grinned at me and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“You know I love you.” I laughed and he winked back at me,

“I know.”

“Oh, you should know that Lukas is the Alpha and he’ll probably try to kill you every time you do something like that.” I mentioned as I picked up my fork.

“I noticed he seemed a little infatuated. Does he have a thing for a lady who’s strapped?” He said, waving his fork in the direction of my waistband. I snorted and nearly choked on my soda.

“Oh, God, please don’t say that to him.” I nearly died laughing.

“Seriously, though, he looks at you like he’d bulldoze over anyone who glances in your direction the wrong way.” Caleb’s smile faded away as he spoke seriously.

“Okay, so, there’s more….” I explained the matebond.

“Please, you don’t believe that.” Caleb scoffed.

“If I believe in werewolves then I have to believe in everything else.” I sighed, “I’m still trying to come to terms with all of this myself.”

“This is crazy, Clem, it sounds like he’s just claimed you and your life is his now.” Caleb looked upset. I shook my head quickly,

“Not a chance in hell, Caleb, you know better than that. I won’t allow that to happen. I’m still me and I’m still going to live my life. Right now, we’re just trying to figure everything out, get to know each other, and work it all out.” I said,

“Sounds like a mess.” Caleb laughed and I started gnawing on my lip.

“It’s your mess, too.” I said and Caleb’s smile turned right to a frown.

“What? Why?” His tone was unamused.

“You remember that guy who freaked out at the pack? Mateo?” Caleb nodded, “Yeah, well, he’s your mate.”

Caleb’s face paled and he was frozen for a second before he threw his head back and started laughing loudly, so loudly that everyone in the restaurant turned to make sure he was okay. I shushed him and he covered his mouth to try and muffle the sound.

“I’m sorry, but that’s just ridiculous, Clem.”

“Well, it’s also the truth.” I said plainly.

“Clem,” he leaned in towards me, “I’m not gay.” He whispered loudly.

“That’s what I said, but apparently the Moon Goddess doesn’t make mistakes.” I quoted Lukas in a snobby voice.

“Who? No, nevermind,” he shook his head, “Maybe the dude is just confused.

“This isn’t really something they get confused about.” I sighed loudly before leaning across the table to speak quietly to Caleb so I didn’t embarrass him, “You know, it’s okay with me if you’re gay.”

“Clementine….” He tried to make a joke out of it, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. His face fell and his entire body paled. He leaned back on the cushion of the booth and dropped his shoulders like some sort of weight had just been lifted off of him.

“I swear, Caleb, I don’t care who you love and no one on our team will either.” I assured him.

“My parents did.” He confessed in a voice so small that I hardly heard him.

“Caleb?” I wasn’t even sure I heard him correctly.

“My parents kicked me out of the house when I was 15 and came out. My grandparents took me in and sent me to college. I was too traumatized by what they said and did to me, too damaged from my family completely ostracizing my grandparents and me, to ever come out again to anyone else.” He whispered.

I reached across the table and grabbed his hand, giving it a squeeze; he clung to mine for dear life.

“I love you, Caleb, no matter what. I swear, the team will, too, I just know it. We’re your family, screw blood.” I said sincerely.

“I love you, Clem.” Caleb smiled sadly at me and I felt the weight of his words.

“I know this is all a lot, believe me, I know it.” I laughed humorlessly, “But, the one thing I do know for sure is that these people are good people. Lukas, Mateo, Garrick, and everyone else I’ve met are fiercely loyal and protective. Lukas cares about me. I don’t know, maybe it’s obsessive and twisted, but there’s no doubt in my mind that, given the chance, he’ll live up to all his promises; he’ll give me whatever I want and ensure that I live the life I deserve,

“I’m not saying go in blind, because I’m sure as hell not, but I am saying that I think Mateo can make you happy and that you deserve to give happiness a chance. We both do.” I spoke passionately.

I was saying everything and anything that came into my head, completely speaking freely from my heart as a way to convince Caleb and myself of what I was feeling. It was hard to separate fantasy from reality, truth from fear, but I needed to be honest with myself if I was ever going to get to the bottom of this crazy life I had just crashed into.