Caspian knew he had fucked up but he had moved on autopilot. He never imagined that he would ever hear Dahlia’s voice again.
As he got older, Caspian didn’t have a lot of friends, he wasn’t exactly sure why.
Maybe it was because his male friends found it awkward because he was an Omega, and the girls felt threatened for that same reason.
Or maybe it was because he was an awkward teenager and his parents were the leaders of the Pack.
It could have been a mix of all.
Dahlia was the only friend who stayed into his early teens, and things were perfect until his parents died.
The days around that had been a blur but when he could finally process reality again, he discovered that Dahlia was just gone.
No one agreed to tell him anything, and he couldn’t reach her or even her parents.
They were just gone... like they had never existed.
At first, he couldn’t focus on anything other than the death of his parents, it took months for him to accept that she was truly gone.
And even after that, it took him years to stop trying to reach her, hoping that one day, her phone would ring, one day, he would get a text back.
After waiting for so long, he buried her memories. The lack of closure was driving him insane.
And now that she was back out of the blue, she was going to just pretend like everything was fine between them?
At that moment, he cared very little about the guise he was supposed to be keeping up.
Had Alpha Warren been the one to send Dahlia away? Or had she stayed away all by herself?
Dahlia didn’t stop running until she got to Alpha Warren’s office where she expected him to be waiting.
She however ran into the very last person she wanted to see... Noah Reeves.
Noah looked up when she barged in, black eyes flat... he didn’t recognize her.
Caspian stormed in at that point, clearly not giving up on her.
This time Noah’s lips stretched into a smile, "Cassia! Is this a friend of yours?"
Caspian glared at him, "Shut up," He shut the Alpha down, refocusing his attention on Dahlia who intently watched their interaction.
"How dare you treat your mate so coldly?" Dahlia said in a quiet tone filled with anger.
"What the fuck do you know about my mating?" Caspian snapped, barely containing his emotions.
Noah stood off to the side, a frown on his face. He couldn’t follow their conversation, unsure if they were still talking about him.
"Everything." Dahlia choked out, her voice holding so many emotions.
Asher quietly slipped in at that point, he had no plans to stop Caspian, he just wanted to make sure the Omega was safe.
Seeing Caspian flip out was cathartic, he had been through so much to be so quiet about it.
He stored too much inside of him, he needed to let it out.
"How? You weren’t even here!" His voice escalated to a pain-filled cry.
Alpha Warren and Luna Tammy showed up at that point, standing in front of the open doorway in total confusion.
"And how could I stay?" Dahlia bit out, too far gone to notice the new arrivals.
She really didn’t want to open this can of worms but having Caspian treat the one thing she wanted most in the world so badly set her off.
"You knew I was in love with Noah! No wonder I was always being told to cut my friendship off with you," She said in a venom-filled voice. "You stole him from me!"
Disbelief filled Caspian’s veins like a rush of adrenaline. "You say it like I had a fucking choice! My parents’ died, my best friend left me, and I was forced to mate my bully."
Dahlia fumed as listed off his misfortunes, too overwhelmed with jilted love to care.
"Why don’t we fucking swap places then if you think my life is so great?" His words cut into her.
Alpha Warren had to step in here - none of this was going according to plan. Tammy wouldn’t let him hear the end of this.
"Dahlia, Cas-Cassia?" He tried tentatively.
Caspian shot the Alpha a glare, holding his gaze as he placed a hand on his wig and ripped it off.
In the loud silence that followed, Noah’s gasp was the only thing to be heard, the only one surprised by this development.
"Are you happy now, Warren?" He turned on him. "Have you gotten what you wanted?"
Caspian was sick, his emotions were suffocating him, making his stomach lurch.
He had wanted an answer for so long, and now that he had finally gotten one, he wanted to break something.
Hearing Dahlia admit that she had left him because he was arranged to be mated to Noah made something snap inside of him.
"You’ll speak to the Alpha with respect," Tammy stepped in, indignant.
"Then why aren’t you speaking to me with respect, Tammy?" He handed to the older woman and watched her flounder for words.
The silence stretched even longer after he said that, and in the silence that ensued, Caspian was just exhausted.
It was a bone-deep tiredness, one that made him want to curl up on the couch in Asher’s bedroom and doze in the afternoon sun with him.
Thinking about the Alpha reminded him that he wasn’t alone, and he looked over at Asher to find him leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, studying him intently.
"Look, Caspian, we just want you back in the Pack and away from that dangerous man," Warren took a tentative step forward, the only one able to say anything.
Tammy was still reeling from Caspian’s outburst...
The Omega was supposed to be obedient and malleable, he should be grateful that he hadn’t been kicked out of the Pack for having inferior blood.
While Dahlia had deflated, she just wanted to leave but she was trapped in the room, Noah only a few inches from her.
"I’m not coming back," Caspian said quietly.