Kane~ June 9

Roman gave up on trying to make Owen believe we weren't doing anything indecent. Truth be told, I would not mind if Roman and I fooled around but sadly, that would probably only ever happen in my dreams.

Owen was now sitting at the opposite end of the table as me. He was doing everything he could to not look at Roman or me while my little red-headed friend fixed him a plate of food.

Roman turned away from the stove and walked to end of the table, placing a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of Owen. Owen's eyes widened slightly as he looked up at Roman. The red-head smiled at him before moving to the fridge and pouring a glass of milk for the Lycan. "Here you go." Roman set the glass beside the food and sat down to watch him.

Owen stared at the plate of food for a minute before swallowing. "Can I really eat this?" He glanced between Roman and me waiting for one of us to answer.

"Of course," Roman replied first.

Owen looked down at the food again and raised a hand from his lap to reach for a piece of bacon. He paused, hand hovering over the meat. His eyes darted to me like he was still waiting for my permission.

I let out a long sigh through my nose. "Dude, just eat it! If you don't, I will." I told him.

That was apparently all he needed to hear because he wasted no time grabbing two pieces of bacon at a time and stuffing them in his mouth. Not bothering with the fork that was sitting next to the plate, he started into the eggs. He scarfed down nearly all the food before stopping to chug half his glass of milk.

"Slow down there!" Roman leaned forward to take the milk away from him. "The food isn't going anywhere. You don't need to swallow it all in one go. Try chewing this time." He encouraged.

"Damn, you act like you haven't eaten in a week," I added.

Owen looked down and leaned back in his seat. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before folding his hands in his lap and mumbling a soft, "sorry."

I sighed again. "He said slow down not stop. If you're still hungry, I'm pretty sure Roman will make you some more." I leaned back in my seat that was still turned out sideways from the table and draped my arm across the table. Roman gave me an approving smile that had me looking away.

Turning to Owen, he said, "Just say the word, and I'll make another batch of eggs." He stood for a minute and grabbed the plate of remaining bacon from the counter. "Here you can have this too." He said offering the last five or six pieces to the boy.

Owen stared at Roman a second before reaching for the bacon. He scooped it all up and dropped it on his plate. Picking up one piece, he began to eat again. This time much slower. "Thank you." He whispered.

Roman leaned over the table and dropped his chin into the hand. "You're welcome." He said with a smile.

We all sat in silence as Owen ate. He kept shifting uncomfortably and glancing at me. My irritation was slowly growing. The look in his eyes clearly said he wanted to ask something and I could guess what it was. "You can relax you know? I'm not going to kick you out or whatever. After what you told me, you have nowhere to go so-"

"He can stay with me!" Roman cut me off.

"Absolutely not!" I yelled. "I'll be damned if I let him stay here alone with you. Just because I was nice enough not to send him packing does not mean he can stay in this house."

"Why not?" Roman challenged. "He can't stay with you. You send him into a panic attack if I leave him alone with you."

"There are other Lycan's here he can stay with. I'm the Alpha, any one of them will let him stay if I give the order."

"You can't send him off to strangers!" Roman argued.

"They're not strangers. They're my pack mates." I insisted.

"They're strangers to him." He shot back.

As we went back and forth, our voices slowly got louder, and we had started to lean towards each other as if that would get out point across to the other.

"Hey!" Owen suddenly yelled. I jerked my head to him, and he visibly shrunk back into his seat. "I was just... going to say... um, I don't care where you send me. Anywhere is better than with the hunters." He explained.

Roman turned to look at me with a straight face. "He's staying here." I ground my teeth together as Roman gave me that look that said there was no way I could change his mind. I rubbed my hands up and down my face as I let out a long defeated groan.

"Damn it, Roman!"

Running my hands through my hair, I leaned back in my seat again and glared at Roman. He gave me a triumphant smirk before turning back to Owen. I felt a low growl rumble in my chest. That little bastard! He knows I can't say no to him.

I sighed and pulled my phone out. The corners of my lips turned down when I saw I had 17 missed calls and 32 unread messages from Derik. You know that feeling you get when seeing something like this from your mom? Yeah, that's how I feel right now.

I started to slowly put my phone back in my pocket and just ignore it when my phone began to vibrate. Derik's name was displayed on the screen, and I debated whether or not to answer it. I knew if I did I was in for a long scolding. I may be the Alpha, but Derik was the one that actually kept things running smoothly.

I groaned and answered the call. Slowly I raised the phone to my ear and casually said, "Hello?"

Immediately I jerk the phone away from my ear as a very pissed voice bellowed down the line, "WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" He was loud enough that Roman and Owen turned their attention to me.

I held the phone in front of me as Derik went off on his rant.

"Do you have any idea how long I have been trying to get ahold of you?! You had better have a damned good reason for leaving like you did! I told you to get this shit done and what did you do? You just up and left this big ass pile of paperwork on your desk. I swear I'm going to strangle you to death one of these days! How you ever became the Alpha of this pack, is beyond me! You have responsibilities, Kane! You can't keep playing doctor with your little human. Grow the fuck up and do your own freaking paperwork! What would you do if there were an emergency and-"

I scratched at my ear and let out a sigh. Sooner or later he would run out of things to complain about.

"Did you just sigh at me?! Don't you fucking sigh at me! Damn it, Kane! I'm not even 30 yet, and I'm already growing grew hairs because of you! I need a fucking vacation - No! You know what?! I need to just change packs! See how long you last without me!" My Beta let out another string of curses and threats about leaving before he finally went silent. All I could hear was his heavy breathing from all the yelling he did.

"Are you done?" I asked in amusement as I put the phone to my ear. He may scream and yell at me, but I know Derik would never leave our pack. We had been through too much, worked too hard for him to just leave me after all we had accomplished. I have pissed him off more times then I can count like this, and he's threatened to leave before but never has. Us being friends since we were pups is probably the only reason he can put of with my lazy ass.

"Yeah, but I'm still pissed at you," Derik warned. I heard him groan and I could picture him rubbing his hand down his face. "So, where are you? Roman's? I bet you forgot he had the day off and freaked out when you couldn't find him at the hospital."

I narrowed my eyes as I listened to him. It annoyed me how right he was. In all fairness though, if you can't find me, nine times out of ten, I'm with Roman.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm at Roman's, and we have... a guest. A pack-less Lycan broke into Roman's house last night. He says he escaped from Hunters. He had a bullet wound, bled all over the place, but Roman patched him up." I explained

I heard rustling and keys jingling in the background. "A rogue and hunters. Just what I needed to hear." Derik said in an annoyed tone. "What do you plan to do with him?"

My eyes darted to Owen who was staring right at me. I knew he could hear everything we were saying. We stared at each other for a minute while I thought about my answer. I told Owen that I wouldn't kick him out but was that really what was right for my pack?

I exhaled through my nose before finally deciding on my answer. "For now, nothing." I heard a truck engine roar to life over the line. "Roman has already decided that the kid will be staying here with him."

Derik's laughter sounded through the phone. "I can imagine how that conversation went." He teased. "I'll be there in about ten minutes. I'll call Darrius as well and tell him to beef up security and keep an eye out for hunters."

"Good." With that, the line went dead, and I set my phone on the table as I looked up at my audience. "That was Derik," I said more to Roman. "He'll be here in a little bit to help us figure out what we are going to do about all of this," I told them.

"Is he," Roman started. "Is he like you? A Lycan?" He asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. He's my Beta. Which means he's like my second in command. He runs things when I'm not around."

Owen stiffened slightly at the mention of my Beta.

Roman nodded slowly. "And... What did he mean by 'playing doctor?'"

Shit...

Ah, yet another lie I would have to come clean about. I stood up and turned my chair so that I was facing the table then sat down again. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table, I laced my fingers together in front of me on the table. "Right," I began. "About that..." I pressed my lips together. Should I tell him? He accepted that I was a Lycanthropy pretty easily so this should be nothing, right? "So, I haven't been entirely honest with you. I don't actually work at the hospital. At least not as an employee." I quickly added. "I... own the hospital and pretty much this entire town."

Roman stared at me in disbelief and shock. Eyes wide, jaw hanging open. Even Owen's eyes were wide in surprise.

"Excuse me?" Roman finally said.

Owen's only response was, "Damn."