The Other Part of Me
Chapter 19

Cassie

The turn of events so shocked both Cassie and Eva, they headed home in unspoken understanding of forgiveness towards one another. Thinking you were at death's door apparently had that effect.

Besides that, there was too much to take in and so many more questions that now needed answers. If this rogue wolf knew her father, did that mean her father was rogue as well? Is it possible he could have been from the area as well? If so, is there a chance her father and this Caspian had anything to do with the destruction of the Bloodstone Pack all those years ago?

When she mentioned her father's name to Braden, he didn't say the name was familiar to him, of course, if her father had been rogue, there's no reason for Braden to know him. Would a rogue have been interested in her human mother? Aunt Marie said her parents had been in love-- by the same token, she doubted she would have told her if she had been the result of a one-night stand.

She never really thought about her father before. All he had been before was a name on a birth certificate. Just letters pieced together on a piece of paper.

There wasn't even a signature to attest to his existence.

Now there was Caspian Maximus with his head containing memories of her father while he lived. Cassie wanted to turn her Jeep around and look for him to get a better feel of whom her father had been in life.

Yes, Caspian said he was good, but what does 'good' mean to a rogue?

Cassie had been deeply consumed in thought, she had no memory of the drive back home when she found herself driving through the Bloodstone Pack gates.

She parked her Jeep, but remained inside. She leaned against her steering-wheel and realized she just wanted to be alone right now.

She had been given validation that her father had lived. Like an angel, his name on her lips saved her and protected her as she now wanted to pretend he would have done in life. For the first time in her life, she felt a sentiment close to love for a man she never met. She closed her eyes and let a few errant tears roll down her face.

Would her life have been very different? Maybe once she was born, he would have left the rogue life behind, if that was even possible. Cassie thought of Caspian. He didn't seem rabid with chaos.

For fuck's sake! She mentally chastised herself. She would have gladly been rogue if it meant she would have known both parents. She would have been happy, she knows this in her heart.

Not that Aunt Marie didn't try to fill that void, she was the closest thing to a mother that Cassie knew but in retrospect, although there wasn't a doubt in her mind that she was loved by her aunt, Marie just had never been very maternal. She did the best she could, for which Cassie was grateful and she would never take that credit away from her.

Cassie startled when she heard a soft rapping on her window. She looked up to see Braden looking at her with concern. She wiped the moisture from her face and opened the door.

"Is everything alright?" He put himself between Cassie and the open door, not allowing her an escape. "Bridgette was looking for you. She said you were supposed to meet for lunch but you didn't show." Fuck. She forgot about Bridgette.

"Ah, that's right." She reached under the steering wheel for the lever that opened the hatch. "Would you mind helping me with the bags, please?"

He walked to the back of the vehicle.

"Are you okay?" He asked again. "Did something happen?"

Cassie nodded. "I'm fine. I was just thinking of my aunt and I got a little melancholic," she lied.

He looked at her in obvious disbelief.

"I don't want to talk about it," she admitted. "And don't read me either." She stepped out of her Jeep, realizing she was still barefoot. "Oh, no, my shoes!" She whined a little.

Braden closed the Jeep's back door. He was about to open his mouth but she mind linked him before he said anything.

"I said I don't want to talk about it." Her thoughts drifted back to her favorite heels. She imagined them sitting alone and scared, probably being peed-on by one of the naked rogues she encountered by Lake Reva.

Which reminded her of the reason she was there in the first place. She walked around to the passenger side and grabbed the mason jar from the floor. Braden waited for her on the opposite side, loaded with all the different shopping bags. "What's that?" He asked, looking at the container in her hands.

Cassie held it up so he could catch a better glimpse. "Apparently it's a Native American remedy of some sort." She lightly shook it like a snowglobe. "I'm trying to show your pack I can be a good Luna for them."

He smiled and leaned down to give her a quick peck on the lips. "Did you replace everything you need?"

She nodded. "Mostly, yes." She reached into her shorts and pulled out his credit card. She then cradled the jar in the nook of her arms and reached into his jeans as he held the front door open for her. She pulled out his wallet to put the credit card back in its rightful place. "Some items were ordered, which I'll have to pick up next week and what I couldn't replace, I can order online."

The mansion was buzzing with life. Members were scattered about in different activities. A large group came in behind them and were headed to the dining area. Members looked up at their Alpha the respect in their eyes but when she met their gaze, she noticed a few members giving her the stink-eye. She ignored the visual daggers they sent her way. These were the ones she would have to win over.

They walked up the stairs to the second floor. Just as they were going to enter through Braden's room, Cassie looked up and saw Elsbeth coming down from her quarters with a young, male pack member behind her.

Despite the shower they obviously recently took, they smelled strongly of sex. For some reason, Elsbeth gasped when she saw them. Cassie wondered why she would look guilty? Both she and the young man behind her were free to copulate, if they desired which, they obviously did. She wouldn't judge and she didn't think Braden was the type that would either.

Cassie walked towards Elsbeth handing her the jar. "Here's the mud from Lake Reva."

Braden flinched immediately. "The what?!" He growled and gave Elsbeth a death stare.

Cassie looked at Elsbeth's bare arms, which actually looked flawless. "Your rash is gone!" Cassie remarked. "Did you see Bridgette after all?"

Braden opened the bedroom door and dropped all shopping bags on the floor. "Cassie, you should probably go see Bridgette in person, she was worried." He turned to Elsbeth. "I need to talk to you."

Cassie nodded. She was about to return the wallet but he stomped right past her.

He marched over to Elsbeth, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away.

Cassie stared at Elsbeth's partner with confusion.

"Respect," he told her before walking away.