7. Kage
7
KAGE
I sat behind my desk, reading another report given by the council as they imposed their mindless dribble on us. I need not remind them of their place, as well as our position—where we stood above them, and they begged for funding from our pockets.
The door burst open. I didn’t look up from the pages before me as Rainor stood in front of my desk. Nor did I blink as his glare grew in intensity. However, the moment he opened his mouth, I silenced him.
“I gave my order. The beast is not to go out on another hunt.” Done with this conversation, I continued with my task.
“It becomes more difficult when I hold him in. You know this. He will snap and go running right back to her.”
“That is exactly why he cannot go on a hunt! We will find a way to deal with her, but now isn’t the time. I have the council breathing down our necks with these alpha murders, Weylin’s still in the armory—”
“He’s fine, back home, fully recovered.”
I scoffed. We hadn’t expected an attack as strong—or as calmly—as she had delivered. Just went to show that mates, even fated mates, could not be trusted.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Rainor tapped his leg over so slightly before balling his fist. He really was fighting the beast.
“You always know what I’m thinking.”
“Even the thoughts you don’t let through the pack link. How can we trust her when she doesn’t trust us, Kage? We backed her into a corner. Did you expect her to cower? Our mate?”
“She is not my mate. None of us will be claiming her.”
Growling ripped through my office, and I tossed the papers aside. I guess I was finished with work today. I leaned back as a very angry-looking Weylin stalked into my office.
“You benched me!” he snapped. “I have three murders to solve and an alpha killer to track, and you benched me.”
“You were talking nonsense. Are you in your right mind?” I didn’t miss the way he held his left arm close to his body, or the nasty burn mark peeking from the sleeve of his shirt.
“Since when are any of us in our right minds?”
“Since now,” I snapped, leaning forward and smacking my hand on the desk. “I know nothing of this wolf. I don’t even have her name—”
“Lila Evans. Adopted daughter of the late Jacob and Hannah Evans, both human. They lived an insignificant life.”
I shook my head. “And how were they able to adopt a wolf pup?” I asked, doing no work to hide my suspicions.
“According to the local newspaper, she was placed on their doorstep. They took her to the hospital, and when no one claimed her, they adopted her,” Rainor supplied. Of course, he had done all the research.
“You’re telling me the hospital didn’t do a DNA check, nothing was run, the council wasn’t informed, this pup lived her entire life among humans, knowing nothing?”
“It’s as fishy as it smells, but it checks out. I could see it in her eyes. She knows nothing of us. She was both worried and confused about Weylin. She shot the gun to injure, not kill, not knowing how fatal the silver was to his bloodstream, how the poison began spreading almost instantly.”
“She was worried?” Weylin asked, his voice low.
Rainor and I both turned to him. His hand was shaking.
I sighed. “When was the last time you shifted?”
He grinned. “In the armory.”
“They sent him out because he nearly destroyed half the building, attempting to leave, while still openly bleeding out,” Rainor explained.
My nostrils flared as I took in a deep breath. “You still bleed.”
Weylin shrugged. “It’s minor.”
“Four days isn’t minor, not for us,” Rainor snapped.
“I want to see my mate. Let us go,” Weylin said.
“No,” I whispered.
“I agree with Weylin. If the beast doesn’t settle—”
“No!” I bellowed. “Can’t you see I’m protecting you? A spy, a distraction, a sleeper. Whatever she is, she’s trouble.”
“The fates gave her to us!” Weylin argued. If he didn’t back down now, all three of us would shift.
“For what? Love?” I laughed. “The fates care nothing of love. The fates care nothing about what is happening in the real world. In the real world, a mate can be used to get to us. We are at the top, Weylin, the top. I don’t give a shit who she is, you are not to get close to her. You are not to see her, and under no circumstances are you to allow her to taste your blood.”
I stood from my seat and walked over to the door.“You will see,” I said, opening it. “You will thank me once her true character is revealed. Once we step away from this female you have met but one time, once you heal, you will see the situation more clearly.”
“And me, Kage?” Rainor asked. “I’m not hurt, yet I yearn-”
“The beast does. Let’s go to the arena and work him out, tire him. The more we subdue the beast, the better you will be.” I closed my office door behind me, locking it.
“Luna.” I turned to Emma, where she sat behind her desk.
She hastily got to her feet. “Yes, Alpha.”
“Hold meetings for the rest of the day, though Crammer can be moved to online tonight, eight p.m. Weylin and Rainor will be high-strung, so I ask that you give your services to them.”
Emma nodded, always the obedient one. Too bad that did nothing for me.
Weylin scoffed. “I will not betray my mate.” He turned away. “See you in the arena, Kage, I have a bone to pick.”
Rainor stared at me as if he were looking at a stranger. “I’ll be in the arena.” Turning to Emma, he added, “Your services will not be required in my room tonight.”
Emma’s eyes became wide. “A mate?” she breathed. “To the three of—”
“You are not to breathe a word of this. Understood?”
Emma swallowed hard before nodding. “Yes, Alpha. May I ask…my position as luna…?”
“Remains.” I walked away from her.
They didn’t see it now, but they would. They would see how much I protected them. They would see how secure their positions were. For now, though, we would battle it out.
I took my time heading to the underground arena. Weylin had some energy to burn off before I arrived. If he didn’t, and we went head-to-head, I would regret pushing him too far. I took the outer elevator the first dozen floors down before getting off and taking the stairwell the next dozen floors.
It was in the echoes of the stairwell I found myself able to think. Nothing but my footfalls, one after the other. Never too fast, never too slow.
It was the only place I could think. The only place I never felt my father’s presence. The only place that didn’t demand anything from me.
Lila.
Her wolf was magnificent. They thought they were the only ones affected by her ghost-like charm? By her strength and speed? Even now, as I stood alone in the stairwell, picturing those dark eyes staring up at me as she challenged me with the lift of her chin, my cock grew hard.
I cleared my throat, taking a step down as I inconspicuously adjusted myself. The warmth of my palm gave me pause, though. The sight of her hands wrapped around that gun as she pointed the barrel directly at me.
She hadn’t gone for Rain or Weylin. She’d gone for the highest threat.
I found myself moving my hand, feeling my length through my pants.
If only that evening had played out differently. If only I had pushed her further, challenged her more, would she have rised to that challenge?
The zip of my pants echoed in the empty stairwell, as did the grunt from my chest as I palmed my rigid cock, grasping it and squeezing. Only, I imagined Lila squeezing the trigger.
My movements turned to stroking. Her eyes were on me while Weylin jumped in front of me, the bullet snagging into his flesh. Still, she watched me, her target, every bit the predator we were.
It was the curl of her lip when she realized she hadn’t hit me. It was the glare of her eyes as she cocked the barrel again, ready to fire a second time. It was the way she held herself strong and true that had me on the brink of coming.
Shit . My balls were ready to explode. What was I doing? I gripped the rail with one hand and my cock with the other, a drop of pre-cum dripping from the tip and onto my fingers.
I held tighter.
A curse slipped, and I fell forward into the wall, the pain keeping me from finding a release. I held tight, no matter the agony, refusing myself the satisfaction of finishing to thoughts of Lila, the wolf that would be the undoing of this pack.
The wolf that was nothing but temptation and sin, attempting to pull us down. The wolf I had warned the other two to stay away from not moments ago.
After a few deep breaths, I was able to release my hold, tucking myself back into my pants, feeling the throb and bruising while I pulled up the zipper. Every time I was reminded of her, I would think of this ache.
Of the pain she caused, even if she had only generated it in my mind. It was safer for it to be in my head than to feel it in my heart.
The underground halls were filled with Weylin’s team members coming and going in and out of rooms. Every time I passed by a group, they would stop and step to the side until I passed. I ignored them; they didn’t need any acknowledgement from me. They took their orders directly from Weylin.
The halls themselves were sterile. Unlike above ground, there was no need for pleasantries here. Down here, it was bare walls and bare halls. I turned towards the arena and entered the viewing suit where Rainor stood.
“Your plan to keep us away will not work.” I could hear the slight shake under his voice. “Each passing day her scent lessens is another day the beast demands more control. I am slipping, Kage.” He turned to face me, his eyes rimmed with the red.
“We will fight it out.”
Rainor shook his head. “He doesn’t want blood. He wants her.”
“Can you trust that he won’t claim her?”
He said nothing, he didn’t have to. He couldn’t trust that monster with anything. We turned towards the window and watched Weylin in wolf form go head-to-head with members of his team. I recognized one as head of security for my building, he was a worthy opponent.
“He still bleeds,” I said.
“The silver wound is slow to heal. Slower still that he refuses any treatment.” Rainor paused before continuing. “It is unnatural to ignore a fated mate.”
“I want no more talk of this!” I ordered. “Mates can be rejected.”
He was practically vibrating now. “Let me see her.” His voice was a mixture of himself and the beast. The beast never scared me, though. I had gone head-to-head with him on more than one occasion.
“No,” I bellowed, ready to shift here and give him the fight he so desperately needed.
“You have to!”
“Why?”
Rainor slammed his hand against the viewing window. “That’s why! Only, this time, you won’t be able to stop me.”
I turned and looked through the glass. Weylin stood in his human form, naked, as he assisted his men back up to their feet after defeating them. Bright blood still dripped slowly from the healing gunshot wound on his arm, but that wasn’t what Rainor was talking about. Covering the left side of Weylin’s shoulder and chest was the most gnarly, ripped-up, gruesome scar I had ever seen on a shifter.
That day, the beast had gotten a taste of Weylin’s heart. I had nearly failed them both. I had promised I would never let that happen again. This was my pack. I was in control.
“Let me set boundaries for him,” Rainor said as I turned to face my second-in-command. “I can’t guarantee he will obey, but cutting the beast off completely will not work.”
“We can’t, Rain. We worked so hard to get to where we are now. We can’t allow ourselves to fall into temptation. It’s a test.”
“Not everything is a test, Kage.”
A tap at the viewing window drew my attention back to Weylin. He stood in front, looking through the glass at me. “I’m making her my partner.” He yelled in order to be heard through the bulletproof barrier.
I raised an eyebrow.
“Lila. I’m assigning her back on the case.” Weylin grinned, his chest heaving from all the exertion the fight had caused, looking as if he had just come up with the most brilliant idea.