18. Kane
“Come the fuck again?” Trez grits out, his eyes hardening as his jaw locks.
Jagger’s brows furrow, his mouth slowly opening as if he wants to refute my knowledge of that fact. That it’s impossible to be true. After all, we both know it can’t happen to a wolf shifter unless she’s in heat.
But Kate isn’t who we thought she was.
She isn’t as young as we thought, either.
As if my beta had the same revelation I did, his eyes round, widening in shock.
“Everyone, get out,” Jag seethes, his eyes locked on me, his words for everyone else.
“Kane,” Storm calls as she lightly steps my way. “I have to find my sister. I have to go tonight.”
“Wait and leave with me. I’m going that way. You might as well come with. Just give me time to speak to Jagger first,” I tell her, hoping she takes me up on the offer. I may not cross the border if I find Kate first, but at least I’ll know Storm will be safe while she’s with me.
She nods.
“I’ll go pack a bag.” She turns, sidestepping Trez to skip out the open door.
Trez crosses his arms, his feet shoulder-width apart, telling me he doesn’t plan to move from that spot.
“I said get out,” Jagger repeats.
“No,” Trez deadpans.
“Not happening,” Dad adds. “How the fuck did she go into heat, Kane, and you not know it? You, of all people, know the signs of a wolf going into fucking heat. Explain.”
“With all the respect I have for you, Dante, it was an order, not a request. Out. Now!” Jagger barks.
“Give us a minute,” I tell them. Flipping my eyes to my dad, I jerk my head toward the door that Storm left open, ordering him to follow.
“Fuck. That,” Trez spits, snarling at us.
His insubordination crawls my skin, but it’s the missing growl that should have rumbled up from my throat that grips the muscle in my chest like a vise that bothers me more.
My wolf is nowhere in sight. We’ve never had a wall between us. I can’t help the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, wondering if he’s gone; blocked from me forever over what I did to Kate.
It’s what I deserve, but he doesn’t.
Jagger growls when I don’t.
My mouth opens, about to piss off my father and my brother, but before the words form, my name is called, pulling my attention outside.
“Kane,” Ash calls, urgency in her tone.
An unnerving sensation creeps inside me, but before I can step in her direction, Trez whips around. In the blink of my eyes, he’s through the entrance and outside. I follow as fast as my legs will move. By the time I reach the edge of the wooden deck, Trez jumps off, tackling someone to the ground. Ashleigh steps back but doesn’t move to stop Trez in his attack.
Jogging down the steps, I reach for Trez, pulling him off, but not before he lands one hell of a punch to Ronnie’s jaw. I force him up the steps as Jagger descends them. My dad stops at the edge where Trez tries to plow through me to get back to Ronnie.
“Stop.” I plant my hand on the center of his chest, pushing against him. Luckily for both of us, he actually obeys.
Turning around, Jagger hauls Ronnie to his knees while Ashleigh stands with her arms crossed and a look of concern as her eyes roam over my shoulder to where Trez remains, noting the change in his appearance.
When I cut my eyes to the shifter kneeling in front of me, I see silver-coated cuffs connected by a thick iron chain wrapped around his wrists, binding them together and burning his flesh if the stench is any indication. Ronnie’s shirtsleeve being the only barrier between himself and the metal, weakening him while his body spasms involuntarily.
They were made by my grandfather’s father over one hundred years ago. I’ve never used them. I’ve never had a reason to. I can’t imagine why Ashleigh would have them locked around his wrists. I knew she carried them on her person often, but to shackle them around one of our own demands an answer.
“What is the meaning of this, Ashleigh? It better be good,” I seethe.
Trez growls from behind me as he takes a step down, my ears picking up his quiet movement.
“He’s the one that poisoned me,” my brother says as he stops to the left of my back.
My eyes flash blood-orange as rage billows up my throat.
“It’s true,” Ashleigh confirms, not that I wouldn’t have believed Trez. “I was running solo when I picked up his scent. I took off in his direction, but never once did I smell him.” Ashleigh juts her chin toward Ronnie. “When I got close, I saw him aim and hit Trez in the back. He had a bag full of tranqs, Kane.”
She tosses a brown canvas bag on the ground inches from my feet.
Trez knocks my shoulder while passing me, but I grab his bicep and yank him back, turning to face him at the same time. “Don’t make me put you in your place.”
“Go ahead,” he bites out, his angry eyes challenging me. “Nothing I’m not used to.”
Knowing he’s referring to the Marked Crest alpha who raised him, who stole him and my mate, my jaw locks as my fists ball at my sides. I’m so mad I want to rip someone apart, but that anger must wait.
Ronnie has to have a reason for doing what he did. He wouldn’t have used Wolfsbane unless he thought he had to. For the life of me, I can’t fathom any reason he would have or why he’d have darts filled with poison.
Turning back around, I eye Jagger, making sure he doesn’t do something on his mate’s behalf before we hear the man out.
“Stand him,” I tell Jag. When Ronnie is on his feet, I breathe through my nose before saying, “Speak for yourself. Explain this to me.”
“You said that if any Marked Crest wolf entered your territory, they’d be killed. I was doing exactly?—”
“How the fuck would you know that? I never issued that order to the pack.” My guilt over threatening Kate returns, but I jerk my head, trying to shake the feeling. I can’t deal with those emotions until I find her. I can’t right my wrong until she’s back.
“I-I…”
“You would’ve had to have been near my cabin to have overheard that, Ronnie.” I step forward, and as if on reflex, he takes a step back. Ashleigh is on him before Jagger, stopping him and then shoving him forward. “Only a few are allowed that close to my cabin. You aren’t one of them.”
“Alpha, I was…” he trails off. I can feel his fear, but there’s also something else I can’t pinpoint. He smells funny. Almost like burnt fuel or dirty motor oil.
“You were what? Trespassing. Not following your alpha’s explicit orders.” I snarl. I growl too, but it’s all me, not my wolf. “Explain. You have one fucking chance.”
“Kane,” he says quickly. “I wanted to make sure you were fine. Kate showing up this time of year wasn’t right. Wasn’t normal. I was afraid for my alpha. When I heard your orders, I knew she wasn’t to be trusted. That he wasn’t to be trusted.” Ronnie looks to Trez, then back to me. “I was protecting the pack when I saw him running through the woods, heading toward our alpha. I thought I was protecting you and following your orders. I’m sorry, alpha. I thought…”
His voice cracks, but a cold shiver runs down my back at the same time. That doesn’t explain why Ash couldn’t pick up his scent when she smelled Trez.
“Please, alpha. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think I was following your orders,” he adds.
“I should banish you for using Wolfsbane on another shifter, for bringing it onto pack land.” I turn to Ashleigh. “Take the chains off.”
He knows the rules. I don’t have to reiterate them. He’s been following them longer than I have. But he’s also right. I did say what I said. At the end of the day, this was my fuck up, no one else’s, and I’ll take responsibility.
Once the metal falls from his wrists, relief on his face is instant.
“Get out of my sight before I change my mind. And if you ever bring Wolfsbane back here, you won’t be banished. I’ll kill you myself.” I hold his stare so he knows my promise is true.
Backing away, he holds my gaze for a long beat, then cuts to his left, running in the direction of his home. The one he shares with his sister and niece.
The moment he’s out of sight, I’m shoved forward, stumbling, but I recover and whip around, my eyes flashing at the audacity. I know who it is before Jagger tries to step between Trez and me.
“That’s how you handle that piece of shit?” Trez’s mouth is agape. “Are you for real? He poisoned me, Kane. He wanted to kill me, in case you missed the stench he was drenched in.”
I didn’t miss it, but we don’t execute our wolves. It was a misunderstanding on his part. That doesn’t mean he should pay with his life. This isn’t the Marked Crest pack. I don’t kill unnecessarily. I can’t even recall a time we’ve ever banished a shifter. That shit doesn’t happen in my pack. We have each other’s back. We respect pack rules and value everything we’ve built.
“It was my fault, Trez. He shot you because of me.”
That’s the truth. Still, there was something amiss about what Ronnie did. I can’t tell my brother that or admit I don’t know. Not while my father is here, looking at me like he’s angry and disappointed at the same time.
“His actions are on him,” Trez argues, but he’s wrong.
“Not this one. My orders. My pack. My responsibility. You want to take out your anger, take it out on me, but let’s find Kate first. That’s an order from your alpha, Trez.”
“You’re no longer Alpha, son.” My stare cuts to my father. He still stands on the porch deck, his arms crossed, his eyes with an orange tent coloring the whites. “I’m taking it back. When Eli gets home tomorrow, he’ll be beta again. You and Jagger are going to step down.”
Jagger starts to pass me, but I jut out my arm, halting him.
My father doesn’t know me if he believes I’m going to do what he says when he says jump. I’m the alpha of the Bloodmoon pack. Me. Not him. He had his time, and though it was short, that was his choice.
“Dad, there is no one that I have ever respected more than you. I also know when you stepped down so that you and Elijah could hunt for our missing mates, it wasn’t either of your times to do so, but you still did it. That was your decision and Eli’s. I’m not stepping down as alpha. Jagger isn’t stepping down as my beta. If you want the role, you’ll have to challenge me. But it won’t be until submission. You’ll have to kill me.”