Chapter 5: Who Is Caph Really?

The week after the Full Moon Gathering, all her pack could talk about was Caph. How handsome and courteous he was. How gentlemanly and unlike the rumours they themselves had spread. How taken he was by their unromantic Beta.

How he would take good care of her if he become Alpha of Eridanus.

Ran had a hard time smiling her way through these conversations.

Did any of them know who Caph really was?

That question made her realise she had no idea either, and so between her Beta duties, she made it her mission to find out.

Most difficult part was to sort through rumour and truth. Werewolves didn't keep written records—they passed down history and facts through word of mouth. But that was the way gossip travelled as well, which was what made it was very hard to tell the difference.

There were, of course, stories that were not allowed to be changed by the authority of the Alpha and these were generally how the younger generation learnt werewolf history.

As a result, Ran spent her free time with her pack elders, asking about Cassiopeia.

The eyes of these old werewolves lit up with childish delight the first time she mentioned 'Cassiopeia' and they reassured her that being interested in one's lover was nothing to be ashamed of. Ran really wanted to correct them, but their misassumptions of her intentions made them all the more eager to tell her anything she wanted to know.

So she let them stew in their fantasies.

They didn't know much about Caph but the pack elders knew everything there was to know about Cassiopeia and its Alphas.

Cassiopeia was a northern werewolf pack, a 12-hour run in wolf form from Eridanus's hometown, Punggol. They were the most ancient and well-respected pack in Polemon County because they were purebred.

They were one of the few packs who did not intermarry with humans before the Human-Werewolf War, during the time when humans knew about the existence of werewolves and lived among them. They had kept their werewolf blood pure from the very beginning.

They had been powerful before industrialisation but when the humans began to mechanise the world, they erected a new capital far from Cassiopeia's ruling hometown, The Citadel, and this shifted the balance of power in Polemon County.

According to one elder, whose grandfather had visited the ancient castle that housed every generation of their Alphas, the Cassiopeia werewolves still kept to the ancient and traditional way of life.

Many of their younger ones found this tiresome and inconvenient, so they defected to other more 'modern' packs, scorning their purebred status which still made the name 'Cassiopeia' esteemed even today.

It wasn't much to go on, but it helped her to understand why Caph had said he could get something out of his fake arrangement with her.

Her debt to him would enable him to use Eridanus's influence and resources to rebuild his pack and restore them to their former glory.

She also realised that he was right—he had no need for her power.

He had plenty of his own as the fourth son of Cassiopeia's Alpha. His pack's name alone could make or break Eridanus.

Ran thought Caph cornered her by her secret place solely to intimidate and assert power over her, but she realised now that he had been warning her to tread carefully.

By proposing the fake arrangemant ignorantly, she had opened the window of opportunity to become Alpha that her uncle slammed in her face. At the same time, she was digging a tunnel through her pack's defences for other werewolves to take advantage of.

If she messed up or angered Cassiopeia in any way, they could become the enemy she had sworn to protect her pack against.

She had to be careful to make sure everyone believed their engagement was real—right up to the very end.

And when Caph fulfilled his promise and helped her become Alpha, he would make sure she compensated him well for it. After all, he had said, 'I agreed to your fake arrangement because I get something out of it.'

Ran stood in front of her bedroom mirror, staring at her impassive reflection, the cropped graphic tee she had chosen, her favourite pair of jeans, and her high ponytail with wisps of hair by her ears.

She was struck with the realisation that Caph was more intelligent than she gave him credit for.

The split second decision that she thought he made had been carefully calculated.

He had agreed to her proposal knowing all of this, perhaps more.

The subtle power he was talking about...it really exists.

She had just made a deal with a very frightening werewolf.