38. Kate
Idon’t remember falling asleep or Kane moving us to the bed, but that’s where we are when my eyes crack open.
I’m lying on my back, still naked, with half of Kane’s front draped on top of me and the other beside me on his bed—or our bed, if I look at it like that.
I’m not going anywhere, at least not willingly. Then again, I killed someone in a pack I never knew I’d once been a part of, even if it was only for a short time.
Ronnie deserved what he got, but it’s possible I made a rash decision taking his life. Maybe the rest of The Bloodmoon Pack doesn’t want me here despite being their alpha’s fated mate.
It’s hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I’m not a Marked Crest shifter. It’s fair to think it’s as equally hard for them to still see me as a wolf shifter from a rival pack.
“You’re thinking way too hard when the sun hasn’t even crested the horizon yet,” Kane comments. With his arm draped over my lower half, he slides his hand underneath me, wrapping his fingers around my hip. He squeezes the meaty flesh while pulling me firmly against his front, securing me to him like he’s afraid I’ll bolt.
“I’m not going anywhere.” A breath I hadn’t realized he was holding leaves his lips, warm air coating my chest and hardening my nipples. “Not unless?—”
Kane moves fast, jumping from his lying position to being over me, his legs straddling my hips and his arms braced against my shoulders.
As if that would hold me in place if I didn’t want to be under him.
“Unless what?” he demands, growling over me. The fright in his eyes from hours ago returns, or maybe it never left during his slumber.
“I killed someone. A pack member no less, or does last night not ring a bell?”
“You doled out the only fitting punishment for betrayal. That was your right as alpha.” He says alpha through clenched teeth, his canines elongating like he wishes he could do the same.
“I’m no one’s alpha, Kane. That’s you, not me.” I blow out a tired breath.
“Have you not been hearing me, or do you not know?” Kane’s brows furrow, the line between them deepening.
“The Luna thing?” I ask, almost rolling my eyes, reminded of the memory when Kane’s father commented on the subject.
It doesn’t work like that, Kane.
That was close to the point in which I ducked out when all eyes were on Kane and my father.
Kane nods his head.
“Jagger mentioned it, but I never got a chance to ask him more, and yes, I heard you say it to…” I pause, my voice cracking. I can call him my father in my head, but I can’t bring myself to say it out loud. “Elijah. But Luna wolves were called stupid myths in the Marked Crest pack. I don’t know if I can buy it. It’s all just too?—”
“Trez told me you believe you’re an alpha,” he says like an admission, cutting me off, but I don’t get the impression it’s to speak over me. The feelings inside him are flowing steadily into me, leading me to think he’s trying to stop my doubt from mounting. Kane continues when I remain silent. “All a Luna is, is a female alpha wolf shifter. It’s not a stretch. Forget whatever those motherfuckers filled your head with. According to Storm, Richard isn’t even a real alpha. Another dark witch gave him the power to control others, not fate.”
Tension takes root between my shoulder blades, but it isn’t my own. It’s his. He wants Richard dead as much as I do, but with Kane, I feel his guilt as well as his almost broken restraint, telling me that if I want my pound of flesh, it’s mine, not his.
I do want it, but I’m also still holding out hope that Salem handled it.
I won’t chance going after him right now. Not when I have my baby to think about. I won’t risk not coming home. But… if Salem doesn’t end him and he comes after us, I will fight for my life, my child’s life, Kane’s, and everyone else I love and care about. If I’m honest, that’s the entire pack… because this place feels like home. It feels like my home, and if it comes down to it, I’ll defend it and everyone that lives here.
“What’s the point of a special name then if they’re just the same as normal alphas?”
“I never said a Luna was a normal alpha, Kate. Because you aren’t. A Luna is special and rare and a fucking endangered supernatural. Alpha females are more powerful than regularalphas. You are more powerful than me.”
“You almost had me until you oversold it.” My lips purse, and then a scowl rolls across my features. I know because it’s reflected in his annoyed eyes staring back at me. “Move. I’d like to get dressed now.”
When he doesn’t move, just hovers over me, looking at me like I need a spanking, I place one hand on his hip and the other on the back of his thigh and flip our positions, me now on top between his legs.
Kane’s dick jumps at the contact, thumping my mound. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want him again, this time with more than just his fingers and tongue inside me.
“You are a Luna, my Luna,” he grits through his teeth. “This pack’s Luna wolf. You’re their alpha too.”
“So, we’re equals now?” My question sounds filled with doubt, my sex drive forgotten.
Sure, I’ve heard him hint at that, but I’ve been shoving it out of my head as soon as it hits.
Where I come from, or… where I was stolen and taken, it isn’t like that. We were ruled by one man with absolute power. Henrik was Richard’s second, his beta, but everyone, including him, knew he didn’t have any more say than the rest of us.
“In case you weren’t listening when Jagger said it to my father, or when I told you…” He pauses and stares at me while taking a breath. “You’re above me, Kate. A Luna wolf shifter holds the most power, more than I do. This is ultimately your pack, and we will follow your lead. But I also know you better than you think I do, and the thought of dictatorship boils your blood. I may have been the sole alpha for the last three years, but I’ve never made decisions that affect the pack without consulting Jagger and, oftentimes, Ashleigh. The pack even. If you want me by your side, that’s where I’ll be. Jag, Trez, and Ash with us.”
“What if the pack doesn’t want a Luna? What if Dante and Elijah don’t get on board with that idea?” I can’t help but ask. “What if they aren’t okay with what I did, who I killed? Elijah said it himself: I can’t do what I did, attacking and slaughtering another pack member. Dante agreed.”
“First, fuck Eli and my dad if they don’t get on board with any of it. Second, and do not take this as me defending your dad, but he didn’t know Ronnie helped Hale and the witch take you. He didn’t know because I didn’t tell him. And now, I’d wager my parents and yours are feeling angry, but not toward you, Kate.”
“Elijah wasn’t exactly happy about what I did, so…”
“You didn’t stick around to hear V’s confession, did you?” His chest rumbles with a held-in growl as his amber gaze flashes blood orange. Kane blinks and they’re back to amber.
“I was covered in blood. I left once you started going on about me being a Luna wolf. Elijah’s shock and disappointment was a little much,” I admit.
Kane reaches up, cupping my face in his warm hand, his heated anger diminishing into empathy.
“He isn’t disappointed in you, baby. I may be mad at our fathers, but I can tell you they’re both torn up inside. It’s up to Eli to make things right with you, so I won’t get in the middle, but he is feeling a lot of self-hatred and failure.”
“V… Veronica, right?” I ask for clarification, not wanting to dwell on letting my real father down any longer, knowing if I do, I won’t be able to contain the emotions smothered inside me.
“Yeah. Ronnie’s sister.” Kane scoots himself up the bed until his back is against the headboard, me straddling his lap. “I don’t know all the details, but V traded your life and Trez’s to save herself and Laney. Her brother helped her. That was as far as I’d gotten when I realized you were gone. I couldn’t feel where you were since our mate bond wasn’t complete. I panicked. Then I ended up here.”
Dots dance down my spine as if to tell me something.
But what?
“Is there something more? Something you haven’t shared?”
“Yeah, Kate, there is.” He breathes long and slow. “Hope you weren’t thinking about killing her too.”
“Why is that?”
“My mom already did.”
Both of my eyebrows lift in surprise.
“Minutes after I left, Jagger told me she sliced V’s throat with her claws and ripped her head from her shoulders with her other hand.”
My eyes round, remembering who all had been present before I left. “In front of her daughter?”
“Don’t think mom was taking that into consideration after hearing that two shifters from her own pack were responsible for her son and you being taken from right under her nose. In her fucking home.”
“Wow.” I sit back—or fall back rather—onto the top of Kane’s thighs.
“I don’t know if Laney knew any of what her mom or uncle did, but I’ll deal with it. Just be vigilant and don’t trust her right now until we know. V wore a talisman around her neck. It concealed her deceit.”
I cock my head and arch a brow. “That girl is the last person I trust, Kane.” I deadpan.
“Care to elaborate?” he says with an edge of annoyance in his tone, and I almost choose not to answer him. He isn’t that dumb, but instead, I purse my lips and spell it out for him.
“She wants you, and she never cares to hide it.”
“You wanted me and never hid it either.” The smirk on his lips makes me want to reach between us and twist his balls in the palm of my hand with my claws out.
But he’d probably like it, so I cluck my tongue instead.
“In all seriousness, stay the fuck away from Laney. I don’t know how unhinged she is after what happened.”
“I thought this was an equal partnership between us.”
I’m about to cross my arms over my chest when he bolts upward and over me. His hand wraps around my throat as my back melts into the soft mattress, my head almost hanging off the end. Kane leans down, his claws just breaking skin.
“It is, and it’s not. Ultimately, I’ll defer to you more than I don’t. But if you think I’m going to allow anyone near who could potentially harm you or him…” Kane’s free hand rubs the length of my pregnant belly, and I swear a dam breaks between my legs as he bares his teeth. “I will maim. I. Will. Kill. Anyone. That hurts or tries to take what’s mine.”
“Ahh.” A moan slash whimper exhales past my lips.
Fucking hell, he knows how to make a girl all needy and shit with his possessiveness. It hits differently when you can feel the promise in your bones, not just hear a declaration.
The ache between my legs intensifies until I’m panting.
“Fuck me. Fuck me now, Kane.”
He rears up and back. The next thing I know, I’m on all fours.
“Fuck me hard,” I say, out of breath despite Kane not being inside me yet. “I need you inside me. Fill me up. Please.”
His long, thick cock slips inside, and his hips slam forward, shoving me. If his hands weren’t holding my hips in place, I would have fallen off the bed I’m so close to the edge.
His fingers dive between the strands of my hair at the nape of my neck. Kane’s claws scrape against my scalp when he curls his fingers. I’m yanked upright, my back to his chest. His mouth touches the shell of my ear. “Begging is going to make me come.” He growls, feeling the vibration down to my core. “If I come before you do, I’m going to punish you, mate.”
His hips buck forward, the tip of his dick hitting hard and grazing that sweet spot inside, making my eyes roll to the back of my head. His lips move down my neck slowly, stopping over his mark bite.
My hands find my tits, and I squeeze them, then rub my nipples between the pads of my thumbs and index fingers.
The hand in my hair releases me only to wrap around my front, holding the opposite side along my ribcage while his fingers, on his other hand, locate my clit.
He pulls back and slams into me again.
“Harder. Please fuck me harder,” I beg again, needing more. “Fuck me like I’m your enemy, please.”
“You’re going to fucking kill me here, Kate.” His breath warms my skin. “But I need you to come first. Outside, in front of the pack, I’ll gladly do anything you say, obey any order you give, but when I’m inside you, and I tell you to fucking come, you come, goddammit.”
I pinch my nipples, twisting them at the same time. Kane’s index and middle fingers press against me harder while circling my clit so fast I can’t keep up. He fucks me raw. Hard and fast. His cock rocking in deep. My pussy walls contract as unintelligible words roll off my tongue loudly.
He grunts but doesn’t stop rutting inside me.
It feels so good I don’t want it to stop.
Kane follows me over the cliff, coming with me and spilling inside me. Nothing could make me happier than this moment right now with him.
My always… my forever.
Kane and me.