Chapter 8

Loren's POV

     That son of a bitch!

     He choked the shit out of me and then went out with my sister?! And they're mates?!

     Goddammit! This isn't right! Why would my sister and my enemy's son be mated? Is Fate trying to tell me something? No. Hell no. Fate is trying to get me angry.

     "I swear if he tries something I'll-"

     "Loren, please. For one, I doubt he will ever try anything on her. I mean he was going to kill you but as soon as he heard her voice, did you see his face?" Ady said. I looked up at her. I shook my head. No, I didn't see his face. I was blacking out! Hello?! She sighed. "When he was choking you, his face was like...in serial-killing mode. But as soon as he heard her voice, it went from that mode to loving and caring. Like he'd do anything for her that moment."

     I rolled my eyes. If the bastard cares about her then he wouldn't have tried to kill me. Unless he didn't know that I was her brother. Man, whatever. "I don't trust him."

     "Well, I don't think he cares about getting your trust, honestly."

     "What are you, on his side or something?"

     She rolled her eyes. "No, Loren. I'm just saying....you kind of need to back off your sister. She's a big girl, she can handle herself."

     "Thank you, Ady!" I turned around and there was Cqari, holding hands with Amaris.

     Holding hands? Not in this house-hold! Not in a life time! I narrowed my eyes at Amaris and he just seemed to smirk at me. I don't like this guy, not one bit. And I don't like how they are holding hands in front of my face like it's totally okay!

     "Loren. Give it a break," Ady said next to me. It seems like she's taken their side. I'm not approving of it!

     "Yes, Loren. Give it a break." Amaris chuckled.

     I stormed across the room and stood face to face with him. "Why, you little-"

     I actually stopped right in my tracks when I saw him, protectively, cover himself in front of Cqari. It made me sick, but then it made me realize that he actually won't hurt her. He'll do anything for her. He'll protect her. I heard the low growl form in his throat and his lip curled up. I almost widened my eyes.

     Cqari's eyes flickered from Amaris and I, seeing what the next move will be. "I think we should go, Amaris," I heard Cqari say.

     Now, I got angry again. "No, Cqari, you are staying here. I don't trust him with you, plus, our parents will be home any minute."

     She cursed under her breath. "He's right, I have to stay. I'm sorry. I'll see you tomorrow?"

     He smirked. "Of course you will." He kissed her.

     I looked up at the ceiling, silently praying to God; needing his strength to hold me back from killing this guy right now.

     When they were done sucking face, Amaris left and Cqari was just standing there, flushed. She narrowed her eyes at me. "You just have to mess shit up, don't you?!"

     I was taken back. "Did you just swear at me?"

     "Yes, I did! Will you please let me live my life?! Stop messing things up! I don't care if you don't like Amaris, I do! Don't you care about what I like?"

     "You know I do-"

     "Then get off my back!" she yelled. She ran pass me without another word, upstairs to her room. She slammed the door and I jumped.

     Ady was quiet the whole time. "Go ahead and say it," I mumbled.

     "I told you so," she said, a smile playing on her lips.

     I put my head in my hands.

     A few minutes later, my parents came in with lots of groceries. They saw how lazy and stuff I was and they exchanged looks. "Loren, let's talk," my mom suggested.

     She took me out in the backyard while Ady helped my dad put up the groceries. "What's bugging you, sweetie?"

     I groaned. "Cqari found her mate. I don't like him one bit."

     She started laughing. I mean, seriously, laughing her ass off. "What's funny?" I asked.

     "Well, Loren, I don't think he cares about you not liking him. I think he cares about Cqari liking him."

     "Wait, so you're not shocked that Cqari has a mate?" I raised an eye-brow.

     She shook her head. "You are just like your uncle, Loren," she smiled to herself, thinking.

     "I have an uncle?"

     She shook her head again. "He died before you were born. He was always protective of me. When I found my mate, he exploded and wanted to kill Robert for no apparent reason. I mean, he didn't even know him! Do you know Cqari's mate, Loren, or do you just don't like him because he's mated to your sister?"

     I know he's Carnell's son but that's all I know. I didn't answer but my mom knew already.

     "Listen, Loren," she put her arm around my shoulder. "I know seeing your sister be mated with someone you don't know could be hard. But, that's life. You didn't know Ady when you found out you were mated with her. And you didn't talk to her until 9 years!"

     "But-"

     "Cqari's mad at you." It wasn't a question. She already she knew. "You two had an argument. She wants you to get off her back."

     "How do you know?"

     "I told you, Loren. I had a brother who acted just like you." She patted my head and ran her hand through my hair, repeatedly. "You get your protectiveness from him." She smiled. "Apologize to her. She already knows that you want to look after her. But, let's face it Loren, you can't keep mates apart from each other."

     So true.

     "It's gonna kill her, almost literally, if you keep this up. You have to let it go. Maybe you should actually get to know him." She shrugged and kissed my forehead before standing up and going back into the house.

     Maybe she's right. I guess I am a little too protective. I just don't want the same thing to happen to Vinny. And that was pretty much Carnell's fault. I guess I'm just worried that Amaris has picked up the devil side of his father.

     I sighed, for a long time, and then got up to go to Cqari's room. I didn't knock, I just went straight in. She was laying on her stomach with a pillow and reading on her Kindle.

     Wow, I haven't been in her room in a while. It's all bright and there are a lot of posters. Cqari didn't look at me. "Your room is still the same, huh?" I asked.

     She shrugged. I walked over to her bed and sat by her. "Cqari, I'm sorry."

     She giggled but quickly covered it up. I looked at her confused. "That rhymes."

     I rolled my eyes. "See, I can put a smile to your smile in no time!" I ruffled her hair, something she really doesn't like.

     "Hey!" she smacked my hand away. "You know I hate it when you do that."

     "And you know I just wanna keep you safe."

     She set her Kindle down. "Yeah, I do know."

     "And I know mates can't stay away from each other. So, I'm really sorry that I try to keep you two apart."

     She shrugged. "It's okay. How about when I go see him tomorrow, you come with me?"

     My eyes widened and my mouth twisted in disgust. "Seriously? You know I can't-"

     She threw a pillow at me. "Loren, just because he's Carnell's son doesn't mean he's as bad as you say Carnell is. Live, laugh, and love."

     "You've been reading too many books. I'm out," I say and get up, going towards the door.

     "Think about my offer! I'm leaving tomorrow at 2pm!"

     I rolled my eyes and trotted downstairs. My parents were no where to be seen and Ady was standing around, looking innocent. "Uh, Ady?"

     She looked up at my voice and her cheeks turned pink. "Oh, Loren, hi!" She smiled.

     I went to her and threw my arms around her. "Okay, what's going on?"

     "Nothing. Just day-dreaming."

     "About what?"

     She blushed even more and turned away. "Me, in that lingerie that I was talking about and dancing."

     The first time Mel had said that on the phone, yes, I did get a boner. Oh how I would love to see my sexy mate in lingerie dancing. That will be something I will never forget!

     Ady must of known I was thinking kind of negative because she hit my arm. Well, it sure did get my mind off of Cqari and her mate.  Is that what she's trying to do? Get my mind off of them? She probably wasn't even day-dreaming about it. She really must have tried to get my mind off of it.

     Well, hell, it worked.

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Third Person's POV

     He could not believe he was doing this, but Amaris went back up to Loren's house and knocked on the door.

     He heard shuffling and then someone running. A girl he recognized as Ady, the one who looks exactly like his mother, opened the door. Man, they do look alike. He had to stop himself from calling her Mother.

     "Amaris?" she asked. "What are you doing here? Are you back for Cqari?"

     Cqari? Oh, that must be Cqarina's nick-name. He almost chuckled. It's cute. "No. Well, actually, I need to talk. To all of you," he said.

     "Okay, well, come in." She held the door open wider and Amaris stepped in. "Take a seat."

     He almost growled. No one tells him what to do. He took a seat anyway.

     "Cqari! Come downstairs for a minute!" Ady called.

     "Coming!" He heard her beautiful voice. When she came downstairs and spotted Amaris she looked confused, but happy. Her brother also came downstairs, too, looking at Amaris like he was a bum.

     "What the hell do you want?" Loren asked, slowly coming down the stairs and sat next to Ady.

     "Watch your tone," Amaris growled. He could take this guy any time of the day, knowing he could kill him.

     "I don't have to watch my tone. It's my house-"

     "Will you two shut your faces?!" Cqarina yelled out. Amaris raised his eye-brows, pleased as to how she knows how to handle things. She rolled her eyes at Loren and turned to Amaris. "What's up?"

     He cleared his throat. He really didn't want to talk about this, but, he had to. "After I killed my mother-"

     "You did what?" Cqarina gasped. Amaris cursed. Goddammit, he didn't tell her about that! He appreciated Ady when she told Cqarina why he had to do it. Cqarina nodded, still in shock. Loren wanted to smile. "Continue."

     He sighed. "After I killed my mother, guards were looking for me. I couldn't fight them off. Not even an Alpha's son could fight off five dozen of guards. I had to leave. I couldn't stay and hide in the city. I ran away. I've been living in tree's, stealing food and clothes when I needed to."

     "So, what you're saying is, you have no home?" Loren asked, concern in his voice.

     Amaris simply nodded. Everyone was quiet for a while, thinking and taking it all in. "You don't have grandparents?"

     "They died."

     "You're an orphan," Loren mumbled.

     "No shit, Sherlock."

     "Loren, don't you have one of those cottages by the beach he could stay in?" Ady suggested.

     "Amaris, let's go talk outside," Cqari suggested. "Let's let them decide what they're going to do."

     He followed his mate outside to the back porch where there was a huge backyard. He'd seen the backyard but he'd never really been this close to it. "Why didn't you tell me you were an orphan and didn't have a place to live?" she asked, green eyes looking into his.

     Amaris ran a hand through his light brown hair. "I didn't want you to be worrying so much."

     She groaned. "Amaris, being your mate, I could help you at things like this. I could get my brother, okay well, I can try to get my brother to help, too."

     Amaris almost snarled. "Your brother is arrogant."

     She laughed, music to his ears. "He is not. He just doesn't really trust you."

     "Because I am his enemy's son?" Amaris suddenly yelled. "He doesn't know me or know everything I've been through. I grew up without a father who was so busy looking for my mother, not even wondering if she had a child or not. He was so stupid to even realize that Ady was not his mate!" Amaris wanted to punch something. His hands were in fists.

     He was so inflamed that he hadn't realized that Cqarina was looking at him with wide eyes, like she was almost scared of him. "Please, don't look at me like that," he cooed. His mate blinked. "I'm sorry if I scared you. Please, forgive me."

     She put her soft warm hand on his big hand and sighed.

     "You know, I always knew you would never hurt my sister." Amaris looked up at the voice and stood up. "But, I just didn't like you because you almost killed me."

     They all laughed. "Well, sorry about that," Amaris chuckled.

     "It's cool. So look, we'll show you to our cottage on the beach."

     Amaris nodded. "Thank you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     They showed Amaris to the cottage alright. It was built with bricks, but overall the place looked very nice. Now, the inside was another story. The floor was cherry wood, the furniture was nice and it smelled like the ocean everywhere.

     "There are some clothes in the closets. I'm sure they'll fit you," Loren says. Cqarina threw herself onto the big giant bed that Amaris might be sleeping alone in.

     "Thanks, man."

     Loren held his hand out. "Truce?"

     Amaris shook his hand. "Truce."

     Cqarina squealed with excitement. "Now, was that so hard?!" Her voice was muffled by the sound of the big fluffy pillows.

     The guys laughed.

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