Chapter 12: What Happens During 'Couple Time'

Caph was a fast learner.

In the day, he followed Acamar to various parts of Punggol and learned about every inch of Eridanus's territory. In the evening, he would hole up with Ran in her father's study for what Cass dubbed 'couple time'.

As much as Ran disliked the thought of Cass coming up with more illicit rumours to spread about the both of them, she needed the cover it unwittingly gave her to show Caph what her father had been up to without her uncle getting suspicious.

'He was not a brute force kind of person,' she said, unrolling a large ancient-looking map on the darkwood desk. 'He preferred to talk instead of fight, which you know is unusual for a werewolf.'

Caph smiled. He peered over her shoulder at the map, his warm breath making her neck tingle.

She resisted the urge to elbow him backward.

'My father would negotiate with both werewolf and human, instead of burning bridges and declaring war. As a result, Eridanus territory shrank over the years. He gave up disputed land to t