Caleb’s P.O.V
I push open the door to the game room, stepping inside to find Caroline, Jade, and Damien already waiting. Caroline’s eyes immediately snap to me, her expression sharp, expectant.
“Where’s Aurora? Is she suspicious of anything yet?”
I close the door behind me, offering a reassuring smile. “She’s with Riley. Helping him with his schoolwork. She doesn’t know yet.”
Caroline doesn't seem entirely convinced, but she nods, her gaze flicking to the others in the room. "Good. We can’t let her know just yet. We need to find solid proof before we tell her about our suspicions."
“Wild guesses, you mean.” Jade sighs, but Caroline decides to ignore him.
I shift on my feet, glancing around the game room. My gaze eventually lands on Damien, who’s lounging casually, but the tension in his body says otherwise.
"So, what's with him still hanging around here?" I gesture toward Damien, a slight frown pulling at my lips. "Won't your parents get suspicious with him being here all the time?"
Jade turns to me with a calm look. “Damien’s stay here has been approved by the Alpha. Your dad told everyone that Damien’s staying to bond with you more after... well, after what happened on the field.” He lifts a brow, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.
"Packmates saw the fight, Caleb. Your dad’s trying to make sure there’s no bad blood, no questions. And it doesn’t hurt to have an extra set of arms to help.”
I cross my arms, still uneasy. “Right, but does that mean he’s here for good now?”
“For the next couple days, yeah,” Jade answers with a shrug. “If you don’t want it to look suspicious, then you’re stuck with him for a while. Everyone believes it’s for pack unity."
I exhale slowly, letting the words settle. The plan seemed foolproof at first, but now, with Damien hanging around like this, I’m starting to feel the weight of our situation. More than two Alphas in a pack was dangerous, it could lead to a power clash.
Damien gives a lazy smile, clearly uninterested in our conversation but still chiming in. “No need to stress, Caleb. We both know I could care less about you.” His words grated on my nerves, but then again, when didn’t it?
“You think I want to stay and suck faces with you?” I snap, gritting my teeth. “We’re in the middle of a crisis, Damien. Stop getting on my nerve!”
“I’ll try to stay out of your way as much as I can,” he said, his voice low, almost uninterested.
“I’ve got three days of freedom, and I’m going to make the most of it. Caroline... Well, I need to be close to her. She’s the only thing that keeps me grounded right now.”
I scoffed, rolling my eyes, not at all impressed. “You mean, you need to keep your hands off her for three days so you don’t make things worse and expose your relationship? Maybe you should start by staying away from her altogether. Until she’s ready.”
Damien’s jaw tightened, but instead of lashing out like I expected, he leaned back, exhaling slowly.
“I’m not here to fight, Caleb. I don’t want more trouble. I’ m here to spend more time with my mate and make sure she is okay. That’s what you should be doing too.”
Before I could respond, Caroline’s voice sliced through the tension like a knife. “Enough,” she said, her tone firm but calm. I turned to look at her, surprised that she wasn’t letting either of us have the last word.
“I didn’t call you two here for a pissing contest,” Caroline continued, crossing her arms. She looked at the two of us with an exasperated look before shaking her head.
“I have something important to say. And frankly, it might make all of this... whatever this is, seem trivial. But god…I need the guts to say it out loud, so everyone needs to fucking shut up and let me think.”
I straightened up, sensing the gravity in her words. Caroline was never one to use cuss words randomly, she only did it when she was really stressed. Damien, for once, kept quiet, his gaze fixed on Caroline.
“Go on,” I urged her. “We’re listening. Whatever it is, we want to help.”
“I have a…suspicion,” she went on, turning to face us, an almost haunted look in her eyes. “After what Jade told us last night, about the Lunar Sisters, I just…I think Aurora and I being linked... it’s more than just us being Lunar sisters. I think... I think we might actually be sisters. Real sisters.”
A silence fell over the room, the words hanging in the air. It felt like everything in me froze. Caroline’s face was unreadable, but I could see the uncertainty in her eyes. She wasn’t just theorizing, not this time. She believed it.
“Wait,” I said, my voice quiet but intense. “You think you’re sisters? How is that even possible? You’ve got to be mistaken. You know what you’re implying, right?”
Caroline nodded slowly, her gaze unwavering. “I don’t know what to think anymore, Caleb. Everything feels like it’s been flipped on its head. This connection between Aurora and me…maybe it needs a much more simpler explanation than urban legends and Lunar sisters and all this witch shit!”
I was silent for a moment, processing her words. Part of me wanted to argue, to dismiss it, but something in my gut twisted. Could it be true? Could it really be as simple as Aurora and Caroline being real sisters? And what did that mean for everything else?
Damien, who had been listening quietly, finally spoke up. “If it’s true... that changes everything, doesn’t it?”
I shot him a glare, not caring for his comment right now, but Caroline stepped in before I could say anything else.
“I need to know the truth,” she said firmly, looking at both of us. “For all of our sake.”
I crossed my arms, leaning against the doorframe, staring at Caroline in disbelief. "You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?" I asked, my voice sharp but laced with confusion.
"Your father’s been happily mated for over three decades, and now you’re saying—what, that he had an affair with someone? That he cheated on his mate? I don’t get it, Care. It seems impossible."
Caroline shifted uncomfortably, her hands trembling slightly as she tried to explain herself.
"Mistakes happen, Caleb," she murmured, her gaze dropping to the floor as if the weight of her words was too heavy.
"I can’t find any other excuse for how I feel so connected to Aurora. And even though we don’t share a pack link, it’s like there’s this pull between us. I’ve never felt anything like it before."
I let out a frustrated breath, running a hand through my hair. "Okay, fine, I get that part. But if your theory is correct, then—" I paused, raising an eyebrow, “what would that mean for your family? For you?”
“I’ll figure that out later,” she sighs, looking physically exhausted. “But first, I need proof. Maybe another DNA test? God…I don’t know, but I need to find out.”
"But if that’s the case, then how do you explain the Lunar Sister thing? One of them needs to be a witch, right?" Damien cut in. “And Aurora seems…human.”
“Aurora is human.” Jade’s voice was quiet but firm as he spoke up, offering a shrug. "That’s why the witch part still doesn’t add up. If…we were to go with this wild new theory that it was Beta Raymond who fathered Aurora…then it might explain some of the things happening, like the connection, but not everything. We won’t know the whole truth unless we get results from the symbol."
Caroline nodded thoughtfully, still lost in her thoughts. "Exactly. And that’s why I want to test their DNA. It’ll help me put my mind to rest. But in the meantime…" She looked up at me with intensity in her eyes.
"I need someone to look into Aurora’s old house, Caleb. I need to know what happened with her mother. I need to know if she was the witch. If there’s something we’re missing, something hidden—" She trailed off, almost as if she wasn’t sure what she expected to find.
Without a second thought, I pushed myself off the doorframe, determination seeping into my veins.
"I’ll go," I said firmly, meeting Caroline’s eyes. "I’ll figure out what happened there. We need answers."
Caroline’s lips twitched into a small, appreciative smile, but her expression quickly turned serious again. "Thank you. But you won’t be going alone." She turned to Damien, her voice steady but urgent.
"Damien, you’re going with him. We can’t take any chances."
Damien, who had been silently observing the whole time, gave a sharp nod, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Got it," he said, his tone grave. "We’ll find what you need, Caroline."
The tension in the room hung heavy, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were diving headfirst into something that was much bigger than we realized.