Chapter 90 - Get A Mate

Christians scrutinizing gaze was hard to avoid, so to break the tension Caleb declared, "We won't have to pretend". He shrugged. "We are dating for real".

Christian's raised one of his eyebrows before shifting his gaze to Ashton. Ashton nodded slightly in acknowledgement and anticipation. He waited for him to lash out on him for breaking his promise or whatever, but Christian simply said, "That settles it. Come on", Christian gestured his head to follow him before getting out of the room himself. 

Ashton breathed with relief when he noticed Caleb was smirking at him. Caleb winked at him after which he left Ashton all by himself in his room. Ashton took his time familiarising himself to his surroundings as he looked around. He still didn't feel like unpacking so for now he simply put the locket away beneath his soft mattress. 

~~~~

"What happened"? Caleb asked his brother as soon as he left the room.

"You tell me? When did this happen"? He asked him back pointing at Ashton's door. 

"This morning… I guess". Caleb shrugged. "After my big confession we got into talking and we decided to give dating a try". Caleb informed unable to stop himself from smiling.

"Wow" Christian smiled. "What do you mean decided? He has feelings for you right"? He asked just to make sure his brother was okay. Caleb nodded at him which did make Christian feel convinced, but he was still unsure how he felt about Ashton dating his brother. He wasn't sure he felt with anyone in general, given how overprotective of a brother he was. "What about Dad? Did he say anything… strange to you"? Christian asked carefully.

"He asked me about Ashton, why I chose him, and all. He was surprisingly calm which kind of creeped me out" Caleb cringed visibly.

"Yeah, calm Dad is not a good news" Christian sighed. "So? Did you tell him everything"?

"Not really, I just told him how we found each other's secret, and that we fell in love gradually and decided to date. Although now that I think about it it wasn't exactly a lie. That is in a way things went down" Caleb chuckled. "Besides, before he could ask many questions I drew his attention towards the photos. I was very careful when I was there, more importantly Ashton was careful, he makes sure no one is nearby when he is shifting. Who took our photos"? 

"Dad told me he received it in the letter" Christain folded his hands. "I wonder if it's someone we know. It's weird that even though the letter was addressed to Dad it didn't say who sent it". 

"Exactly. I think someone is trying to hide their identity. It's the twenty-first century! They could have mailed. Why go to such lengths to send some photos"? Caleb questioned.

"Maybe he is like Dad and worries that Ashton would harm him if he found out"? Christian suggested.

"I doubt it. If they were really so scared they wouldn't have dared to take pictures in the first place. What I don't get is how did we miss someone's presence" Caleb sighed in frustration.

"Maybe you were busy romancing with each other" Christian cringed and soon as he suggested.

"Come on! I am being serious". Caleb fist bumped his brother's shoulder. "I wonder if the person knew about my secret. Thanks to him the whole pack does" Caleb huffed.

"No, they don't," 

"They don't"?

"Nope, they still think you are an Alpha. Even if you are an Alpha, a pureblooded Alpha comes above you in the hierarchy of blood ranks, thus making it seem plausible that an pureblooded Alpha marked a regular Alpha '' Chirstian clarified.

"Well, if it's someone who holds any grudge against our pack, our family, you, or even Ashton, things might get even difficult for you. They exposed Ashton today, tomorrow it might be you. Be careful" His brother patted his arm and left.

Caleb did all the things he was set to do before he arrived at the dinner table. Having the Parkers as the house guest, they joined the Wrisbergs for the dinner, well half of them anyway. Mr Wrisberg and Chirstian had to stay out late again so they weren't home. 

Dinner was a little awkward than you would expect. While the moms were busy sneaking glares at each other, our very own Caton (A/N: That is right! I hereby confirm this as their official ship name) were busy giving each other flirtatious smirk. Twins, however, were very confused and thus they finished their food as soon as possible just to get out of this situation as fast as possible. They barely spoke ever since they arrived here, and knowing that their brother was in a tough spot, they remained mostly quiet as to not make matters worse.

Once they were done, Caleb decided to talk to the twins. Even if they were quite sharp, being in a new environment was sure difficult for them, especially in the environment of the pack house provided. After all he didn't miss their expressions on the dinner table. He went upstairs and knocked on their room. While he didn't hear any reply he did hear a few whispers.

Deducing that they must have been panicking, he spoke "Hey guys, it's me, Caleb". After a few seconds Ava opened the door for him letting him in. Their room was a bit different than that of Ashton's. It had two beds, each large enough to fit both of them. The twins didn't show their usual enthusiasm instead they simply waited for Caleb to continue. "How are you feeling"? He asked them carefully.

They looked at each other before Ava replied, "We are okay" 

"Will Ashton be okay"? Ariel popped the question. Ava glared at her sister for asking him that so Caleb jumped in.

"Of course. I will not let anything happen to him. I promise". He smiled.

"They were saying you are his mate" Ariel continued. "Are you really"? Caleb nodded with a tiny smile at them. 

"So you love him"? This time Ava mustered the courage to ask him that earning him a chuckle from Caleb.

He nodded, " I do, and I love you guys too. So, if you need anything, don't be scared to ask me. I am still your friend" He smiled at them. 

"We know" Ava spoke. "But, this place is...very creepy" Ava mumbled while Ariel nodded in agreement. 

Snorting Caleb replied, "Is it? No wonder despite staying here for nineteen years this place never felt like home". He mumbled as well. "I know you are worried about Ashton, but I will do my best to keep him safe". Caleb tried to assure them.

Both the twins nodded before Ariel mumbled, "The things is, everytime his secret is revealed bad things happen. In fact that's one of the times we lost our Dad". 

"I see, makes sense why you are so worried" Caleb nodded. "Well, I don't know if it helps or not, but bad things keep happening all the time here, so it's not just because of your brother's secret. So, maybe this time things will be different". Caleb shrugged. The twins nodded at him, visibly calmer than before. "Well, I should get going. Go to bed and get some rest, okay? Good night"! And he left.

After getting down from the elevator he ran into none other than his own brother. He gave Caleb suspicious looks before saying, "Can't stay away from Ashton, can you"? And scoffed. 

Surprised by the sudden attack he blushed a bit before retorting, "Okay, just because he is my mate not everything is about him! I went to see the twins". He admitted. 

"Whatever bro" Christian however didn't appear so convinced. 

Caleb sighed before saying, "If you have so much time to bother me, then maybe you should start dating, or better get a mate! You're about to be twenty three how long do you plan on being single"?

Christian was taken aback by the sudden attack from his brother. "What the hell, bro"? He barked. Even if Christian was single at the moment his dating history was far better than Caleb's. When he was himself a teenager, he used to be much more reckless than his brother, and thus dated quite a lot. 

He never got serious with anyone, and after graduation he enrolled in an nearby college for 2year online course before giving away the academic life altogether. After that he got way too engrossed in his pack activities to care about dating, and just decided to wait for however long his fated mate took to show up. They never did, and he completely forgot about finding a mate for himself altogether.

"You know, if I could I would go get a mate right now" Christian admitted. "But, you should know how hard it is. While they are people who would love to be my mate, you know with the prospect of being the future Luna of the pack, I don't think they will actually like me". 

"Then why don't you start dating again? No one is getting any younger, even if our aging process is slow" Caleb suggested. 

"Maybe I should? I don't know. The pack duties keep me quite busy. Why bother dating when you don't have time for the other person". Christian suggested. 

"Who knows, like I found someone, maybe you will too. You know, who hates to be around you too much" Caleb winked. "You won't have to worry about not giving enough time". Caleb teased while his brother simply shook his head at his brother's unbelievable nature.

"Go to sleep and stop irritating me" Chirstian smacked his brother's head before taking his leave, leaving Caleb chuckling in the hallway.