Chapter 11
I’m beyond ready for bed, but I know my day isn’t even close to over. I need to check on Mom and Peter, then chat with Kasha. Asking her to take care of my family isn’t something I foresaw myself doing, but she’s offered to help enough that it’s time I took her up on the offer.
Between the story Drake shared with me and what Lia, the unknown shifter, just said, I know we need to go after this witch. I can’t exactly say why I trust Lia, but there was something in her eyes that gave my skin goosebumps and instantly put me at ease. As if she was a long-lost friend and could do no harm. Not only me, but my wolf as well.
While normally that would have made me run in the opposite direction, today has been full of things I couldn’t have predicted. I’m trying to accept that sometimes it’s better to just let things happen instead of trying to command them.
I have spent too many months—years, really—keeping everyone at bay because of what I’ve been told. It’s time I stop listening to others and learn how to trust my gut. Not that I think my mother was wrong in warning me about others knowing about my wolf, but I’m starting to see I used her words as a crutch.
That time is over.
“Are you sure you want to take back the rejection?” Drake asks when we’re only a block from Kasha’s, taking me by surprise.
My head whips up toward him. “What? Why do you ask that?”
He shrugs and shoves his hands in his pockets. “You haven’t really said much since we walked away from those shifters. Just wondering if you’re having second thoughts.”
My head shakes before he’s even done speaking, and the desire to soothe any doubts that I’ve put in his head nearly overwhelms me. “Sorry, just a lot on my mind. I don’t regret taking it back earlier, and I’m still sorry for my harshly spoken words.”
He stops and reaches for my hand. “I took you by surprise. I understand why you tried to run.”
“Yet, you’re not sorry for refusing to let me get away,” I say with a chuckle, very tempted to find out what kissing him will be like when I’m fully accepting of his touch.
“Not even a?—”
We both turn as a burst of magic appears behind us, and it’s almost adorable how he tries to move in front of me as if I need protection. While sweet, he’s going to need to learn that he can be my mate, but I’m my own heroine.
Plus, this new arrival isn’t a threat.
“Natalia,” I say with slight suspicion. “I thought we wouldn’t see you until morning.”
Her stare is wide and bright as she glances around, then throws a velvet bag at Drake. “You need to leave here and never come back.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I demand. I’ve never seen her all twitchy and with her head on a swivel before, and I don’t particularly like it.
“His blood,” she whispers. “He’s been marked, and I won’t have that kind of dark magic in my home. Not anywhere in Crossroads.” She looks at him again and glares. “Maudit.”
The witch says the singular word with a French accent I’ve also never heard her use.
“What does that mean?” I ask, glancing between Natalia and Drake because he doesn’t seem all that surprised by her reaction to him.
“He is cursed,” she says reverently. “Destruction will follow him before great death, and I won’t have that here. Not when we’ve spent years making Crossroads the safe haven so many of us need.” She unclips another bag from her side and tosses it at me. “Here is what you’ve asked for. I don’t need anything else from you. Just get him the hell out of our town.”
Natalia disappears before I can ask any other questions, so I’m left hoping Drake is going to be more forthcoming.
“What the hell is she talking about?” I ask him the moment we’re alone.
His mouth downturns. “I don’t know exactly, but I’m also not surprised. Kel kept me contained for years just because she could. She could have killed me, but the thrill she got out of torturing told me all I needed to know about her.”
“So, you have no idea how you’ve been marked and why Natalia thinks you’re the epitome of destruction?” This isn’t making any sense, but I also want to have patience with Drake. Taking into account the little he has told me already, this isn’t his fault. He came here trying to fix things before I got in his way.
His fingers rub over his shirt, right above where I know his tattoo to be. “This could be the mark she’s talking about. I always just assumed it was a symbol used to keep my wolf chained, but maybe I’ve been wrong. The destruction piece makes no sense at all.”
“Obviously the destruction is going to be us tearing that witch bitch to shreds,” I say with a huff. “We need to get back to my family. All of this just became a lot more complicated, and I need to know they’re safe.”
I start to walk away, and he grabs my wrist, halting my movements as heat runs up my arm. “I won’t let anything happen to them or you. You know that, right?”
My first thought is to tell him no, because I don’t know him, but I also don’t think he’s lying. I believe that Drake would do whatever he can to protect me. Except I’ve seen shit I can’t unsee. We don’t always get to control what happens, no matter how much we want to.
“Let’s just hurry.” When I turn away from him, a sour taste fills my mouth, and my chest tightens. Damn it. What the hell is wrong with me?
That’s a question I don’t have to think long about for the answer.
The mate bond.
The longer I’m with Drake, the more I allow myself to care about what happens to him, the stronger the pulsing sensation within me becomes. My wolf even seems to be waiting for the moment I fully give in and fuck his brains out, but I need to get my head clearer before I let that happen.
I might have taken back my rejection, but I’m not going to walk into a lifetime commitment blindly or lock him into having a mate who leans heavily toward crazy.
When we walk into the backyard and I see the shed door open, my heart stops and any other thoughts are a distant memory. Where the hell are they?
My feet are running before I’ve even fully processed what I’m seeing. All the air is sucked from my lungs as I nearly yank the door off its rusty hinges to confirm what my head already assumed: the shed is empty of the two most important people in this world to me.
“Mom? Peter?” I yell their names as if that will magically conjure them, but I can’t even scent them. They’re not here.
Panic is quickly replaced by fury, and all I can see is red when I step into the shed to grab my bag that I never unpacked earlier.
A hand wraps around my shoulder and the arm attached to it becomes well acquainted with my fist as I break the contact, but before I can land the second hit, I realize I’m not alone. The threat isn’t here with me.
“Shit,” I mutter to Drake who hasn’t backed up an inch and doesn’t appear to have even considered defending himself from me. “I’m sorry. I forgot.
“You can forget a hundred more times,” he says, face filled with concern, “and I’ll still be right here with you.”
Is he really this damn nice? He can’t be. Not all the time. Maybe that’s my problem with him. He needs to be more of an asshole for me to like him more. Did I really just think that? Gods, I really am fucked up.
“Pence?” Peter’s young voice calls out from the house, and I practically shove Drake out of my way to see my brother.
He’s standing in the doorway of Kasha’s house that I’ve never even entered myself. He’s changed into clean clothes, possibly even showered, and is holding a steaming cup of hot chocolate if I’m smelling it correctly.
“Your friend is so nice,” he says with a wide grin. “She made me cocoa and Mom something else I’m not allowed to have.”
Kasha has never given me a reason to distrust her. Hell, I was even going to ask her to do just as she seems to have already done, but I can’t seem to stop my guard from going up anyway. The hybrid invited my family into her house when she shouldn’t have even known they were in the shed. That I’m not okay with, regardless of her intentions.
“Peter, come here,” I command, then glare at the shadow that appears behind him.
Kasha steps out in front of my brother and rolls her eyes. “I’ve always thought you were a bit ridiculous, but this is over the top. I won’t harm your family, Spencer.”
I step forward, but Drake stops me, whispering in my ear. “Take a deep breath. It’s been a long day. What matters most is that they’re safe and not actually missing.”
Closing my eyes, I lean into his warmth without meaning to, but the moment my back touches his chest, I can breathe a little easier. Drake is right. I know he is, and I want to stop being so damn paranoid, but no matter how much I want to, changing a lifetime of distrusting the whole world in a day isn’t possible.
“Spencer Lane, get inside this house,” my mother’s voice calls from farther away.
When I finally blink, Kasha is still there on the porch. My first instinct is to glare at her, but I know she probably only did what she thought was right. At least, I hope so. If not, the upside of all this is that I’m about to let out a lot of the aggressions I’ve been keeping at bay today.
For now, I’m going to have to go inside that house and pretend that none of this bothers me until it actually doesn’t or something else changes. Otherwise, I risk making an enemy out of Kasha. Considering I already have a witch to contend with now, I don’t need the fae-wolf on my bad side, too.
“Thank you,” I tell Drake as I look over my shoulder at him.
“Everything is going to be fine, Little Dove,” he promises with a sexy grin.
I do my best to agree with him, but until I know that my family is truly safe and that this witch Kel can’t do any more damage to my mate, I’m not sure I’ll be able to believe his words.
With only a slight reluctance, I go up the wooden steps to Kasha’s back door and she moves out of my way. Peter instantly pulls on my hand and drags me into the house. “I don’t know why you’ve been staying out there. Even the couch in here is more comfortable than the flat thing out there.”
Yeah, I bet, but being comfortable hasn’t been my focus these last few years. Though, I don’t tell him that.
“Can I have a drink of your cocoa, bubby?” I ask, wanting to make sure there isn’t anything in the drink that I should be worried about.
He hands me the white mug, and as the porcelain touches my lips, Kasha steps in behind me. “You really think I’d poison a child? You’re more paranoid than even I could have guessed.”
More guilt weighs down on me, because I know she’s right.
Taking a quick sip, I hand the cup back to my brother. “Where’s Mom?”
“In here,” she answers, and I move past the kitchen, through a short hallway, and into a living room.
My mom sits on the couch with a crystal glass filled with dark red liquid I can assume is some sort of wine. Her face where there had been deep bruises forming when I’d left her is now completely free of any signs of the injuries that I know she sustained earlier. More importantly, but also concerningly, there’s a smile on her face.
“Mom,” I say with hesitation. “Are you okay?”
She pats the cream cushion next to her. “Better than okay. Come sit.”
I glance behind me, and I don’t see Drake. I can sense him in the house, but I’m surprised he didn’t follow me. Peter, too.
Interesting.
Mom hands me a glass, and her grin falls a little. “I think we’re overdue for some real talk.”
Great. Just how I wanted to spend the rest of my evening.
Still, I don’t tell my mother no. I might not have always agreed with her decisions, but I love her more than my own life. I’m pretty sure there isn’t anything in this world that I could deny her, which is also one of the reasons I stopped fighting Drake.
Sitting down next to her, I take the offered glass, but I don’t taste it. Alcohol is probably the last thing I need right now.
My mind is already screwed up enough on its own.