Casper

"Stop stressing about it!" I said to Jamie, getting a little tired of his sulking.

"But it wasn't fair!" he moaned.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. He didn't see me though because he was laid out on his back on the grass with his arm over his eyes.

"The green team won. They didn't break any of the rules."

He opened his eyes and looked at me intently. "Of course he broke the rules! He pissed in my territory! How's that not breaking the rules?!"

There was just no talking my beta out of this one. He was fiercely competitive, as all beta's are, but it drove me a little mad sometimes. It was, after all, only a game.

"It's not breaking the rules," I said. "Sure, it was a little disrespectful, but I think that was the whole point. He wanted to distract you, and the best way to do that was to get you angry. No one thinks straight when they're angry."

"Yes, but he also pushed you off that branch earlier. How can you not be mad about that?"

I just shrugged.

"SERIOUSLY!?!" he shouted.

I raised my eyebrow at him, and that was enough for him to visibly back down.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled looking down at the grass, "but I don't understand why you're not more mad about that. He basically assaulted his Alpha. You should have torn him apart for that."

I barely contained a snort of laughter. "Assault? Really?" I said. "He barely touched me. He's got guts though, I'll give him that. Have you any idea who he is?"

Jamie shook his head. "No, but I'll find out soon enough. He needs to be brought down a peg or two."

I laughed and stood up. I knew that Jamie would probably carry on sulking for some time, and I had somewhere I needed to be. Or rather someone I needed to see.

"Well, let me know when you find him," I said, "I'll catch you later."

Most of the wolves had disappeared and the training ground was nearly empty. I wandered round for a while until I spotted a familiar face.

"Hey," I said walking up to a young female with blonde hair.

She looked back at me, her eyes wide as saucers.

"Have you seen...." Damn it, I really needed to find out his name. "....your friend?"

"Errm, yes," she said, her cheeks flushing pink, "he's just gone to the manor house to see his uncle."

"Ok, thanks, er.." I guess this was the point I should try and find out people's names, "what did you say your name was?"

She chuckled slightly. "I didn't, but my name is Lyla."

"Oh, right, well thank you Lyla" I said, before turning and heading over to the manor.

I was amazed to find that my heart was racing slightly. Why did I find it so difficult to talk to people normally? Put me in front of a whole pack of wolves and I was fine. Ask me to make polite conversations with someone way below my status and I was a nervous wreck.

By the time I reached the manor I unintentionally had a scowl across my face. I was annoyed with myself. Annoyed that I had put myself in that position. I didn't need to talk to her, so why did I do it?

I was so absorbed in my private thoughts that I nearly ran into someone as I entered through the staff door.

On reflex, I glared at them for getting in my way, only to be met by a pair of slightly nervous hazel eyes with a gold ring, staring back at me.

"Oh hey, Cub!" I said dropping the scowl immediately.

The nervous look immediately vanished upon hearing the name I had given him, and it was replaced with a mixture of amusement and confusion.

"Why do you keep calling me Cub?" he asked.

"What, don't you like it?" I asked with a smirk on my face.

He smiled back with a glint in his eye, "Would it make a difference?"

I rolled my eyes. "There you go again, answering my question with another question."

"Isn't that what you just did?" he quickly retorted.

Another member of staff walked passed and did a bit of a double take when they saw who we were.

I should probably be more careful.

"Come with me," I said, as more of an order than anything else, and quickly led the way into the manor.

I walked swiftly through the staff corridors and up the stairs to the family living area. After a quick glance around I headed up another flight of stairs. I heard the footsteps behind me hesitate, so I turned round and quickly barked out, "come on," before carrying on. The footsteps quickly followed.

I opened a door and entered, waiting for him to follow me. Once he did, I shut the door behind him.

"Where are we?" he asked looking round the room.

"This is my room," I replied.

His eyes grew wide and his mouth opened slightly as he gazed around.

It wasn't uncommon for new members of staff to have this kind of reaction to our living areas, but what was uncommon was my reaction to his reaction.

Usually when members of staff stared like this I would become annoyed. I felt like they were intruding on my private space, and that they should just keep their eyes to themselves and focus on the job they were paid to do.

Right now though I felt somewhat different. I liked the look of awe and wonder on his face. It gave him a certain innocent quality that I couldn't help but smile at.

"Wow, you have your own lounge?"

"Yes," I said with a small chuckle. I don't know what he found so amazing really. Sure, it was a large room, but all it had in it was 2 sofas, a couple of lazy boy chairs, a desk, a large wall mounted TV, some games consoles, a large floor to ceiling cabinet full of CDs, DVDs and games, a piano, a drum kit, oh and a rather large ornate fireplace.....

Ok, so maybe it was rather impressive.

I watched as he wandered round the room, looking at various objects. "Is it ok for me to look around?" he asked, a slight shyness to his voice that I hadn't heard for a while.

"Sure," I said, trying to hide just how much I was enjoying watching him.

He slowly made his way around the room, looking rather than touching, like a child in a shop full of breakable things. He walked passed the fireplace and stopped at the door on the other side. "What's in here?" he asked, with his hand hovering over the door knob.

"Take a look," I said.

He opened the door and wandered in. I waited.

"Wow!" he shouted, and I could hear him laughing lightly.

His head suddenly peered back round the door. "It's massive!" he said, before disappearing again.

I chuckled. "Yes it is," I replied, more to myself seen as he wasn't in the room with me.

I waited, knowing he would be back in a moment. Afterall, how long would you want to spend in someone's bathroom, no matter how big or fancy?

Sure enough he soon reappeared and shut the door behind him. His face was beaming.

"This is amazing!" he said, his body practically dancing with excitement.

"Oh another door, what's behind this one?" he said, but this time he didn't stop, he just opened the door and stepped right in.

"WAIT!" I shouted and started to quickly make my way over to the door.

He reappeared immediately, before I'd even reached him, embarrassment across his face.

"Never go into there without my permission! Do you hear me?!" I ordered.

He stared at the floor, shoulders slumped, the previous joy completely erased.

"I'm so sorry," he said, "I didn't think. It's a bit stupid of me really, I should have known it was your bedroom."

I stared hard at his bowed head. Not all wolves were territorial over their bedroom, but many were. And I definitely was. No one went into my bedroom without my permission, and I very rarely gave my permission.

I felt my anger dissipating, and eventually my overriding emotion was that of disappointment. I was really enjoying the moment prior to that, and I didn't know how to get it back again.

I suppose I should have the conversation that I originally brought him here for.

"Come and sit down," I said in a soft but authoritative voice.

I walked over to the sofa and sat down, patting the seat next to me.

He didn't move immediately, but eventually raised his eyes from the floor to look over at me.

I could see the uncertainty in his eyes and it made my chest constrict slightly.

I gestured again to the sofa, and this time he walked over. He sat down, making sure he left plenty of room between us.

I had to fight the urge to grab hold of him to pull him closer.

"So what happened in today's training then?" I asked him.

His eyes widened slightly then he looked down at his hands, fidgeting nervously. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean, how did you do? I didn't see you at all, or at least I don't think I did." I paused when I suddenly realised something. "What does your wolf look like?"

He looked at me for a few seconds, and I couldn't quite read his expression. He shrugged then said, "fairly normal. Sort of brown with a bit of black. Nothing special."

He'd just described the majority of the wolf pack so it wasn't really any help.

"So how did you do today? You were on the winning team weren't you?"

He looked away shyly, and I could see this conversation was making him uncomfortable. I wasn't sure why though.

"Yes, they did win. I was out pretty early on though, so....." he trailed off.

I assumed that maybe he was wasn't comfortable because he hadn't performed well and so was a little embarrassed.

"I can get you some extra training sessions if you want? Help you improve a bit?"

I hadn't really thought my offer through, because how I would manage to swing that without arousing suspicion was beyond me, but for some reason I just wanted to help him.

What surprised me though was the look of absolute horror and disgust that flashed across his face at my offer. But the expression was gone in a second, leaving me wondering whether I even saw it in the first place.

"No, that's ok," he replied, "but thanks for the offer."

I didn't say anything, but just stared at him a while, trying to figure him out. He was fiddling nervously with his hands. Something I'd noticed him do quite a lot.

"So do you know who it was who helped your team win then?" I asked.

He shrugged and said, "Like I said, I was out pretty early on, so I didn't see anything."

He continued to play with his hands and not look at me. For most people, this would be normal, but for him, I think this was the longest I had not seen his eyes. Was he hiding something?

"I think your friend Lyla was still wearing her collar at the end. Maybe she knows who it was?"

His eyes finally shot round to mine, confusion written all over his features.

"Lyla?"

"Yes Lyla," I replied. I knew that he was shocked that I knew her name, but I continued to act like it was normal for me. Hell, I didn't even know his name, of course it wasn't normal for me.

"Maybe you could ask her then," he snapped, going back to staring at his hands.

I found that rather odd. I thought he'd have been pleased that I knew Lyla's name.

I decided to change the conversation, and tell him what I really brought him here to say.

"So Miss Hartley is coming round for dinner tomorrow evening, and she's expressed a wish for you to assist her while she's here."

His head shot up, and I could see that some of the sparkle had returned to his eyes.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yes, really." I said chuckling lightly.

"Does my uncle know. Is that why he wanted to see me?"

"I'm sure he does know," I replied, "but I don't know if that is why he wanted to see you....wait a second, is he expecting you now?" I looked at my watch and saw that I'd taken up nearly half an hour of his time.

"Oh, he can wait," he said flippantly.

I raised an eyebrow at him. That was usually all it took for people to know I was displeased with what they had said and correct their behaviour.

Of course it didn't work with him. Nothing ever worked with him.

"What?" he said in response to my look. "Would you rather I made you wait, because I'll happily do that next time?"

I stared at him in silence. I always felt so conflicted around him. I should be cross that he had spoken to me like that, but I actually felt a little pleased that he had got some of his sassiness back.

So I did the only thing I could think of. I picked up the nearest cushion and bashed him in the face with it.

I swallowed back the laugh that threatened to come out when I saw his shocked expression, and slightly messed up hair.

"Oh no, you didn't," he said, his eyes suddenly turning menacing.

I saw his eyes flick to another cushion and before I could even move, he had slammed it into my face.

By the time I had pulled it off me, he had shot up and was running to the other side of the room giggling.

I stood up and began gathering as many cushions as I could. I then hurled them at him as hard as I could, one after the other.

The first hit the top of his head, and the second straight in the stomach, making him give off a satisfying "oooff" sound. The third took him by surprise hitting him full in the face and knocking him to the floor. The rest just ended up piled on top of him.

By the time I had run out of cushions I was doubled up in laughter.

I didn't look up until I heard a manic "aaarrrrrrrr" coming from behind me, and I turned, just in time to see him coming barreling towards me with a handful of cushions. I took a step back in surprise, and he just kept on coming until he slammed right into me, knocking me back on the sofa.

The momentum kept him going and he ended up fully on top of me, with several cushions pinned between us.

I finally opened my eyes to see him staring down at me, his eyes wide and his face only a few centimeters from mine.

This close, his eyes looked more beautiful than ever. I raised my eyebrows at him, but didn't say anything. To be honest I was perfectly comfortable and was just enjoying the view.

I noticed his cheeks start to go a little pink round the edges.

"Sorry," he almost whispered.

"It's fine," I whispered back.

Neither of us moved.

For some reason I tore my gaze away from his eyes and looked down at his lips. They looked a little dry, probably from all the training this afternoon, and unconsciously I licked my own.

I heard him take a small intake of breath and tense up.

Without thinking my hands reached up and grabbed hold of his hips, pinning him place.

I didn't want him to get off me yet.

He pushed his shoulders away from me a little, raising his eyebrows at me. I watched as the nervous expression on his face morphed into something more confident. His smile came back, and there was that cheeky glint in his eye that I loved so much.

"Casper, what are you doing?" he said, in a tone that a parent would use on their naughty child.

"Nothing?" I replied coyly, averting my eyes away, playing the game.

"Do you like me being on top of you?" he asked and I turned to see the playful sparkle still glinting away.

This felt so wrong, So so so wrong. So why did I like it?

And I could tell that he liked it too. And that made me feel......well....good.....like really good.

I knew it was dangerous but I couldn't help myself.

"I think I'd prefer it if I was on top," I said with a smirk.

He pretended to think about it. "No, I think I prefer it this way," he finally said with a grin.

I agreed with him, but I wasn't going to admit that, so instead, I gripped tighter onto his hips then flipped us over so I was now on top.

He gasped slightly in surprise but the smile soon returned.

Most of the cushions broke free in the movement and so there was only one left between us. I would have prefered it if there weren't any.

"Fine, have it your way" he huffed, "but if you squash me to death, I'll blame you."

"How can you blame me when you're dead?"

He looked thoughtful for a second. "I'd haunt you."

I smiled at him. I couldn't help it. He always made me smile. "I don't think that would be a bad thing," I said gently.

The mood instantly changed and I could hear his breathing become shallower. I saw his eyes flick down to my lips.

Was he going to kiss me? Did I want him to kiss me?

His eyes returned to stare at mine and I suddenly realised that it was up to me. I was on top now, so I was the one in control.

All I needed to do was lean forward.....just a few inches.....

A loud knock jolted me out of my bubble and I jumped off him as if I had been burnt.

"Just a minute," I shouted, to whoever was behind the door.

I shot into my bedroom and grabbed the tray of breakfast items that were still in there from this morning.

I brought the tray out and shoved it in his hands. He took it, and I quickly guided him to the door.

I opened the door and Simon, my usual Valet stood there waiting. I saw his eyebrow twitch slightly at the sight before him.

"Take those to the kitchen, then go see Duncan for further instruction," I said in a firm voice.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, then obviously changed his mind and closed it again, nodding slightly before walking out of my room.

"What do you want?" I asked the Valet who'd interrupted us.

He lowered his head, "Your father has asked to see you in his study, Sir."

"Ok, I'll be right down," I replied, before shutting my door.

I turned round and placed my back on the door, slowly sinking to the ground.

What had just happened? What was I doing?

I wasn't sure, but I knew I needed it to stop before it really got out of hand.