Mated To An Enemy

Chapter 768 Outside The Window

Caleb had been surprised by the strength of his own emotions after that first visit with Galen and Fiona. He knew it would be challenging, but he did not expect it would leave him feeling as pained as it had.

After Ashleigh had found him, after she had told him that five years had passed, he thought he understood. It was a shock, of course, but as she shared with him the details of her life during those missing years, it felt like a story, like something that had only happened to her.

He understood how it affected his life, that things had changed. But more than anything, he just felt how hurt Ashleigh had been. How much she needed him to comfort and reassure her.

When she told him about the struggles of Summer, how hard Galen and Fiona had fought to wait for him, to keep his place for him, he knew he needed to come home. He knew he needed to tell them that he was okay. That he understood what had happened and that they had done the right thing in making Galen the Alpha of Summer.

But until he saw his family, until he witnessed their pain, the reality of times passing hadn’t registered for him.

As Caleb held his mother, as she gripped him tightly in her arms until the strength in her body was drained away by the surge of emotions that overwhelmed her, he knew he had made the right decision.

When Galen fell to his knees before him, Caleb felt the painful grip on his heart that he knew paled in comparison to what his family had suffered in the time he was gone.

As he walked down the dark, empty hall toward the room where Ashleigh had told him they would stay, he felt the weight settling on his shoulders.

That was why he couldn’t hold himself back when he got into bed with Ashleigh. Her scent, her presence, her warmth. It all soothed him. It eased his mind and allowed him to breathe again.

Five years were gone, and his life was nothing like it used to be. But the bond they shared, the love and desire between them, was still the same as it had been. Still stronger than anything else he had ever known.

As he felt himself being crushed by the weight of his entire life shifting around him, he desperately needed to be consumed by the strength and comfort of that bond.

Over the next several days, Caleb began to worry that Ashleigh’s initial fears were correct. That he would feel lost, as though he had no place in this world anymore.

He and Galen met several times. There were still things to discuss and concerns to work through. But Caleb reassured Galen that he was satisfied with how things had turned out.

He also met with Fiona over those first few days. She told him about Cain’s lab and the treehouse. It was painful to hear, but Caleb told her it was all right, that it didn’t bother him. She, too, struggled to accept his acceptance.

He did mean what he said. He didn’t blame either of them or anyone else for anything.

Ashleigh did her best to keep from hovering and worrying about how he was adapting. She knew he was struggling with the changes, but he had asked her to give him time to get used to it.

Still, it was more complicated than he expected to get used to the changes in his pack in that first week. They were thrilled to have him back, and he was welcomed everywhere he went. But hearing his wolves call Galen their Alpha, watching as they greeted him with bowed heads, stung more than he cared to admit.

As that first week ended, it didn’t seem like his feelings were changing, and Caleb was beginning to grow concerned.

There were small things, location changes, organizational changes, and learning about those he expected to see but who were lost five years ago.

Each new thing he learned reminded him again and again that he was essentially a stranger in this place now.

He found himself wandering to where his treehouse had once stood. Where he and Ashleigh had bonded as Alpha and Luna, where they had dreamed of a future together.

Even knowing it wouldn’t be there, he was still shocked by the empty hole left in its place.

Even though Summer was and had always been his home, it felt different. As though he were watching a happy family from outside the window. He recognized the warmth and joy on their faces but could not feel it from where he stood.

A celebration of his return was planned. Dancing, food, Alphas, and wolves were invited from packs all over the territories.

Caleb wasn’t entirely thrilled about the idea. He was hesitant to meet with even more people he had known before, worried about what else he would find to be changed. Still, he agreed, knowing that his friends and family wanted this.

The celebration was two days away, but first, there would be a family dinner. His and Ashleigh’s family, both by blood and choice.

“Everyone is so excited to see you again,” Fiona sighed.

Caleb smiled and nodded.

He wanted to be excited as well. He missed them all and wanted to see them. But he couldn’t help but think about how much simpler things had been when it was just him and Ashleigh at Liam’s inn.

Fiona looked over at her son.

They were standing in the same place where she and Landon had met a little more than two years ago. Where she had first begun to consider accepting that Caleb would never come home.

She swallowed and looked down at the people below. Just as they had been the night she stood here with Landon, they were rushing back and forth, jobs to be done, tasks to be completed.

Fiona smiled.

“Different, but still the same,” she said softly.

Caleb furrowed his brow and turned to her.

“What?” he asked.

She smiled at him and pointed with her chin to the wolves below.

Caleb looked where she directed. He saw the guards moving along their patrol routes, the researchers that stood beside the entrance of their building, arguing about this or that. A man emptying the garbage, a woman watering the plants.

His eyes scanned the crowd below, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary, nothing out of place.

“What aren’t I seeing?” he asked.

“The differences.”