Chapter 28 Kane
Kane
The birds are waking up in the trees, and there’s a light mist hiding among the trunks. I like to imagine there are magical forest creatures watching us as we run to keep us safe as the foliage grows thicker and it becomes more shadowed overhead.
“So, Timber found out,” Ollie says quietly before the silence swallows me up.
“Yeah, I guessed,” I reply, keeping my gaze fixed ahead. I wanted to go first, but now it’ll feel like I’m hijacking the conversation. “He hasn’t said anything, but the whole team can tell something’s going on.”
She goes quiet again, and it’s hard not to be impatient. I already know what happens when I push her, but it’s a chore not to bombard her with questions.
“What are you doing back at your apartment then? Did he kick you out?” I finally ask.
She chuckles as we run around a wide bend. “No, I left.”
“What the hell? You left!?” I say before thinking.
“Well, there wasn’t really anything to do about it. I was going to leave anyway, and it would have been awkward for both of us if I’d stayed. I’m going back to pack up my things, and then that’s it.”
I have to force myself to keep running and not grab and shake her.
My mates are both so stubborn. They can be so expressive—when they want—but they lock up like prison doors as soon as it gets difficult.
“You can still fix it, though. You don’t have to vanish after one argument. I mean, we had an argument, and we’re fine!”
“Oh, are we?” she hums as she looks up at me.
I grimace, realizing I spoke too soon.
“Er, well, we’re talking, aren’t we?”
“So? You haven’t exactly done anything to say you’re sorry. For all I know, you’re only here because it’s another one of your plans to mash me and Timber back together.”
Oops.
“I came here because I wanted to apologize,” I say, completely serious. I wanted to change my sneaky ways, which was why I was brilliantly speaking to them separately instead of getting them to meet like a true genius. Though I still felt guilty now she’s pointed it out.
“Yeah? Go on then. Give me some grand apology that can make up for how furious Timber was when he saw the purple pendant.”
I give her a confused look, but she carries on and explains.
“I couldn’t properly change out of that get-up when I ran home. There were things I forgot, and the pendant was the first thing he saw before he tore my clothes off and told me he loved me.”
“He told you he loved you!?” I shout loud enough that my voice bounces off the trees around us.
Eyes popping out of my head, breathing fast, I stop dead as I watch her come to a halt as well.
Her look is so dark it aches. “I’ve also betrayed him so badly that he probably never wants to see me again.”
“I’m so sorry,” I rasp. She just shakes her head as she glares at me.
“Ollie,” I say as I step toward her, and she folds her arms. “Ollie, I mean it. I screwed up so badly.” I take another step, and she turns her face away from me.
Her beanie covers most of her piercings, but I don’t miss the plugs in her lobes the same color as Timber’s car.
“I should have just trusted you, and I’ve hurt you so much more.
I’m sorry.” I cup one elbow, and she shudders under my touch.
“I mean it. Look at me, sweetness. I’m so sorry I made everything harder for you.
I’ll apologize as much as I can, even if you don’t forgive me. ”
She lets me take her other elbow, so I’m holding her, but not embracing her like I want to.
“I was going to leave before my heat, Kane,” she whispers, her voice growing louder as she continues, “All I had to do was have that dinner with him, and I could have gotten away fine. If it were up to me, Timber wouldn’t even know that I’m having a heat.
But you—” She cut herself off, her throat bobbing as she swallows her anger.
“You set us up and, in the end, it turned out exactly how you wanted.” She lifts her chin to glare at me again as my heart cracks.
“So well done, Kane. Good job. Now Timber knows I’m Ollie and that I’m going into heat.
Oh, and he also knows that we’ve been hiding my secret behind his back since we first met, so you can have fun dealing with that one, because I can’t ever see him talking to me again. ”
I could tell her again that she didn’t have to come to the hockey game, that that part wasn’t all my fault. But that would be stupidly childish, and it doesn’t make up for the pain she’s feeling. The blame for everything at the restaurant definitely lies with me.
“Shit, Ollie, I’m s—”
“No, Kane.” She sighs, her shoulders deflating. “I really… you…” I never in my life thought I’d see her twist her lips as she holds back her tears.
I wrap my arms around her, pulling her to my chest as she growls. But she still softens into me, and her arms come around my waist. My tough, cheeky omega is holding onto me as she needs me to support her.
I said so many fucking times I was going to be her alpha. Even though my warped thoughts brought me to a place where I thought it was okay to hurt them as long as I got what I wanted.
“I’ve been so selfish, sweetness. I’m sorry.
I won’t push you; I won’t force you into anything.
I won’t try to make you two meet and talk or be a mediator or the glue between you or whatever.
” I know I’m beginning to ramble, and all those notes I’d prepared and practiced were forgotten.
“I just love seeing you two together so much. You’re both perfect for each other, and I’m so sorry I rushed you because I was scared I’d lose you both.
I don’t want you to go into heat with anyone else, and it felt like we had a deadline, and I was scared that we just—”
She suddenly choked under me, and I gasped as I realized I was squeezing her tighter the more we talked.
“Ollie? Sweetness? Are you okay?” My worry is so thick in my voice as I loosen my hold, and she groans.
“Will you shut up?” Ollie says, tipping her head back to look at me. Her smallest smile gives me hope.
I was panicking because she wasn’t replying, but the second I see she’s not angry, I relax as well. With the winter cold seeping into me, I don’t want to let her go, but I don’t fight as she eases away from my chest. Her hands slip to my waist as mine lower to her hips.
I could keep the mood heavy, go deeper into it, but her expression says there’s another way. It’s a risk, but I’m going for it.
“Come on, you can’t be angry when you see my handsome face. I’m like a breath of fresh air in a field of flowers.”
She smells better than me, though. Her top is soaked, and her scent is growing even more lush the longer we’re out. I’m pretty sure that if I bend down to sniff her, I’ll lose it.
She glares at me again, and I inwardly wince. I stroke my thumbs in circles over Lycra as the tension softens.
I don’t miss the way she draws in a breath, and that her eyelids flutter, because I know my lavender sweat is luscious as fuck.
“Why don’t you get a drink with me?” I say.
“My heat is overdue, and there’s only so many suppressants I can take before I get sick, So I don’t think it’s good for me to be around either of you right now.”
“Well, we could always sneak off into the woods and go for the tried-and-true method of knotting until the sun sets.”
I’m getting addicted to the way she narrows her eyes at me.
“I thought you were stalking me because you wanted to apologize.”
“We can make up with our bodies as well as our mouths,” I purr, and a rush of pleasure runs through me as she snorts.
“I’m getting cold,” she says, her voice lighter than before. “Let’s keep moving.”
We fall into a silence again. The only sounds are our heavy breaths, our footsteps crunching on the gravel path under our feet, and the birds around us.
“How bad was it?” I ask softly as we climb another hill. She can use it as an excuse if she wants to avoid the topic.
“It was pretty awful,” she murmurs. “But good as well.”
“Good?” I ask, trying not to get too hopeful.
“Yeah, to be honest, I’ve never been eaten out like that before.” Her head stays dipped, but I can see her smile.
Happiness bubbles in me. If they had gone that far already, then we were one step closer to being a real pack.
“What? Was he even better than me?”
“Sorry, Kane.” She chuckles. “He pushed you out of the top spot for best moustache ride ever.”
“This is a tragedy! Now you definitely have to sneak off with me so we can fix this!”
She laughs as we crest the top of the hill, and an easier quiet sweeps over us as we slow down to look at the trees spread over the valley in the rising sun. I really want to pull her close, to nuzzle and scent mark her.
“Okay, but you can’t just tell me you hooked up with Timber and not give me any more details. I literally live for this kind of stuff. It’s my new life goal since you pointed out so succinctly what an asshole I am for pushing you and Timber into this situation.”
I might have gone too far into ‘playful’, but I keep going.
“Besides, the more we run, the less chance my dick has of getting hard when you tell me the story.” I grin at her. “Or we could just fuck against a tree if you want?”
“Oh my God, haven’t you heard of the mood?”
“I’m always in the mood, sweetness. But I was kind of easing us into it this time.”
“That was about as smooth as a brick through a window. What happened to the seductive Kane that promised me all these amazing things when he said he wanted to be my alpha?”
“Oh, he’s still here. He’s just waiting until we get back to the lot when you’re so hot and sweaty that I can push you against your car and slide right into you.”
Her mouth drops open, and I quickly shoot off in case she wants to bring her elbow back into play.
“I thought you weren’t going to make this about sex?” she yells after me, her voice bouncing off the trees.
“Let’s go!” I shout back, and I grin as her laugh echoes out behind me.
I’m laughing with her, but relief pours through me as I ball my shaking hands into fists and hide how scared I am that I almost lost her.