Chapter 28: Treasure Trove of Junk

Chapter 28

Treasure Trove of Junk

“He’s serious, then? I can’t leave.” I flopped down on a stack of furs and old blankets.

“Alpha’s word is law,” Titus sighed. “Sorry.” He sat down beside me and played with my hair. “Your parents are going to be furious.”

I groaned and buried my face in the mound. “I’m going to be grounded until I graduate.” I let out a puff of air. “I can already hear the lecture about making stupid rash decisions, that end up causing problems for everyone.” I picked at one of the hides I was laying on. I didn’t think animal fur would be that soft. “We’re going to have to mate before I leave?”

Titus shook his head. “No, give my dad time. He’ll reconsider.”

“What if he doesn’t?”

“Aden,” he breathed, rubbing his forehead. “If we mate, you still won’t be able to go home. You’ll be a werewolf and under the jurisdiction of my father.”

“Oh.” Sliding down the pile of furs, I leaned against it and stared across the room. “There’s no way around it, then?”

“Not at the moment.” Grabbed my shoulder, he pulled me to him and kissed the side of my head. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” I shifted my weight and folded my arms. “You didn’t force me. I made the choice myself.”

A noise came from the hallway.

Darius appeared. “Let’s go. The hunting parties heading out.”

Titus nodded and stooped down at my side. “I’ll be back in a couple hours.”

“You’re leaving me?”

His father had threatened to kill me last night, and now he was running off. This really was the stupidest plan I ever thought up.

“Just for a little while. No one will come near you, so just stay in the room.” He kissed my cheek before hurrying out the door.

I scowled at the brothers as they walked off. The last thing I needed was to be alone in a cave full of werewolves. I really might die.

After sitting there moping for awhile, I decided to explore Titus’s man cave of disaster. I ended up trying to organize some of it. The boy had crates full of old ripped up shorts mixed in with some that were half decent. He had other boxes with shirts and shoes throw haphazardly about. I may not be the cleanest person, but this was ridiculous.

I dumped out a box and started filling it with everything I deemed needed to be thrown out, which was a good portion. I organized the rest of the clothes and stacked things neatly against the wall, before turning to his treasure trove of junk. With an empty bin in hand, I started going through the rest.

It was weird to see nearly all of Titus’s books were human history. The others, by the look of titles and covers, were werewolf literature. I put those to the side. If I was going to be stuck in here all day, I found what I would be reading to pass the time.

I had nearly everything done accept for one. The only bin that was neatly put together and even had a lid. I was hesitant to open it. What if this is where he kept his stash of “dirty” stuff? After looking around to make sure no one was around, I pulled off the lid.

The smile that crept across my lips couldn’t be stopped. Inside was the stick I carved for him the first day we met and the two wolves. I pulled them out and took out the paper. Every drawing I had given him was inside, along with pictures of us I had sent him from my phone. Each photo was placed in a protective clear covering. I thumb through them, still smiling like a foul. For such a large man, it was nicer to see this cuter side to Titus. That werewolf really did love me.

“You cleaned?”

I dropped the stack of picture I was holding. They toppled onto the ground, sliding off in different directions.

“Sorry.” I bit my lip. “I was bored.”

Titus walked around, examining everything. “Wow, organized all my books even.” He gave me a grin. His face fell through when he noticed all the picture. “I can explain.” Hurrying over, he tried to get them away from me.

“No,” I grabbed as many as I could and turned my body away from him. “I’m looking at them.”

“Aden,” he whined. “This is so embarrassing. Just give them back.”

“No,” I snatched the one from him that he had in his hand. “They’re picture of me, so I can look at them.”

“It’s so weird though.”

“No, it is not,” I stated, staring him in the eyes. “It’s cute.” I looked at one with him kissing my cheek by the creek. “It’s really cute actually.”

He whined like a hurt pup and laid down on his side. “There’s a reason I kept a lid on that one.”

“I know,” I patted his cheek. “And it really sweet that you didn’t throw these all over the place too.”

He frowned at me. “You’re not funny.”

I laughed and went back to looking through the photos. I stopped on one with me sitting on my bed drawing. “I don’t remember this one.”

Titus groaned and hid his face. “I stole your phone why you weren’t looking and took it. I sent it to me, and delete it.”

With a smile, I put the photo to the side and laid across his back. “It’s really cute to see the macho werewolf’s softer side.”

His head popped up. “Don’t say that. Someone will hear.”

I laughed and kissed his neck. Titus didn’t respond and kept on moping. He needed a reward for all this teasing, so I placed kisses along his shoulder while running my hand along his chest. He looked over at me.

I smiled and sucked hard on his collar bone. After leaving a pretty good hickey, I sat up to admire my work. “There, I marked my territory.”

Titus snatched me and pulled me under him. “Hmmm… I think I need to reestablish mine.”

***

Titus led me down the hall to a natural hot pool inside the cave.

“Wow,” I looked over the edge to see it was quite deep. “This is pretty nice.”

“Yep,” Titus kicked off his shorts and yanked my shirt off.

“Titus,” I snapped, looking around. My chest had been mauled with hickeys. The boy had gone overboard, and I’d rather no one saw.

“You’re fine,” he replied, before pulling down my pants.

“Titus!” I moved away from him. “I can undress myself.”

He just smiled and slipped into the water. I discarded my underwear and climb in after him. I walked further out until the water hit my just below my shoulders. The temperature was like bathwater.

“Closer you go to the waterfall the hotter it is, but even that’s not bad. It a nice place to take a shower, especially during the winter.”

“This is really cool.” I kicked off the bottom and glided across the pond. “I want a swimming pool like this.”

“Maybe one day,” chuckled Titus. He moved back closer to the edge and sat down on a overhanging submerged in water.

The couple from before entered the chamber. I swam over Titus and sat down beside him, trying to cover some of the marks on my skin.

The shorter of the two ran off to the waterfall with a basket of soaps. I watched as he shifted into his werewolf and started washing his fur. The scarred man slipped into the water nearby.

“Aden,” said Titus. “This is Rupert. They’re in the cave next to us.”

“Hi,” I waved.

“And over there is Peter.”

“Best not to interrupt him,” chuckled Rupert. “The boy takes pride in his fur and gets pretty cranky if you bother him while he’s grooming.”

The boy was very focused as he scrubbed his arm with a sponge.

“H-he was human once, right,” I asked.

Rupert spread his arms out across the ledge and nodded. “Yes, but he’s been a werewolf for a few years now. He’s fully adjusted to his role within the pack.”

Titus tensioned.

“Role?” I questioned.

“As a dominant’s mate.” Rupert glanced at Titus. “You haven’t talk to him about this yet?”

“No, he hasn’t,” I stated, eyeing the boy next to me.

Titus laughed hesitantly. “Well, we’re werewolves right, and we have a hierarchy.”

“Where do I fit in this hierarchy?” I raised an eyebrow, scowling at him.

“Sub,” answered Rupert. “Like Peter. Without your mate though, probably lower rank to omega.”

“Omega,” I snapped. “Wow, thanks for letting me on that little secret.” I climbed out of the water. “I’ll be back at the room. Omega, I think I can do better than an omega.”

“Aden, Aden wait.” Titus grabbed my ankle. “It’s not that bad.”

Rupert shuffled out into the deeper water. “I think I’ll go check on Peter.”

I sat down and glared at him. “Explain now, because I don’t think sub means bottom in your little hierarchy.”

Titus bit his lip and shook his head. “Not exactly.” He looked up at me with sad eyes. “You won’t understand it yet though. You don’t have instincts. Human are naturally defiant, and think submitting to another person is wrong, but for us...” He stood up on the ledge and leaned in closer to me. “For us, it normal. Our instincts tell us to submit and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

I took in a heated breath and exhaled sharply. “Being on bottom doesn’t make me less of a man, and I’m definitely not an omega. I know what that word means, Titus,” I said firmly.

“You wouldn’t be one.” He kissed my shoulder. “You’d be my mate. You’d be my handsome, powerful, head strong mate.”

“And a sub,” I muttered.

“Yes, but only to me,” he said softly. “Don’t you like it when I tease you?” He grabbed my waist and pulled me closer to the edge. “When I take care of you? Don’t we already natural fit the roles. They just have names now.”

“You should have told me sooner,” I said softly. “I get what you brother met now.”

Taking a deep breath, I looked at Peter and Rupert. Both were in werewolf form and seemed happy together. The white wolf started pouting though when the larger brown werewolf got some dirt on his shoulder. They appeared happy though, even when it was clear that Rupert was in charge of the relationship.

“It doesn't look too bad, right?”

“I guess not,” I said softly. “Instincts make this easier?”

Titus nodded and kissed me gently. “Yes, I have no shame in submitting to my alpha or any wolf stronger than me. That’s how our society is ran.” He brushed my wet hair behind my ear. “No one ever going to hurt you, Aden. I’m strong, and I’m only going to get stronger. I’ll be a high ranking wolf, and no one in the pack would ever touch my mate.”

I bit my lip to stop from smiling. “Then I guess, I’m okay with it. Being a sub, your mate.” I peered up at him. “One day.”

He smiled. “One day.”