Chapter FOURTEEN
–Tréan–
“brOTHERS,”
MAVE DECLARED in greeting, swaggering toward our table as if she owned the place.
Yet she showed Kaia the honor due her by smoothly lowering to a knee and bowing her head in respect, “and, of course, my new alpha queen,”
before she closed the distance and stood at the head of the table.
Before I had a chance to say anything, she crossed her arms over her chest, made a point of eyeing Kaia over, sniffed as if catching her scent, and nodded at me with approval.
“You chose well, alpha.
She is a strong one.”
Her gaze raked over Kaia again, and she winked.
“And well worth bedding if you ever get around to it.”
“Have you no respect, Mave?”
Callum muttered under his breath before he grabbed a plate of meat, tipped his head goodbye to Tréan and Kaia, and stalked off.
“Moody mutt,”
Mave called after him before she grinned winningly and more than a little flirtatiously at Kaia.
“I cannot stay long as we’re craving a run, but I wanted to say hello.”
She gestured at the wolves-turned-people who had so smittenly trailed in after her.
“Kaia, meet my harem.”
She flicked her tongue over the temple of the woman on her left, then dropped a quick kiss on the lips of the man standing to her right, who was clearly adored by the man beside him.
She blew the second man a kiss, then gestured at Kaia.
“Harem, meet our new queen.”
Her harem offered my mate a little bow.
I wasn’t surprised when the corner of Kaia’s mouth shot up.
“Let’s lose the queen title and just go with Kaia.”
She nodded once with approval, eyeing the clear affection the four of them felt for one another.
“And go you, for the diversity.
Happy hunting and loving, darlin’”
The corner of Mave’s mouth shot up in return.
“I like you.”
Kaia winked.
“I like you too.”
Mave shot me another look of approval.
“Well done, brother.”
She nodded at Bain in passing.
“Brother.”
Then, like usual, as quickly as she’d come, she was gone.
“Well, well—”
Kaia smirked at me— “aren’t you full of surprises?”
She looked from Callum, eating alone in a darkened corner, staring moodily after Mave, back to me.
“I guess every family’s got it’s drama, eh?”
“’Tis a long story.”
I moved the plate closer to her, encouraging her to eat.
“One I’m in no mood to talk about right now.
This is an eve of new beginnings as you meet your pack.”
“And all after you exiled a mate for treason,”
she reminded, “while glossing over the fact things aren’t as peaceful within your own ranks as you led me to believe.”
“I gloss over nothing, as you call it.”
There was no stopping a sigh.
“I but wish this night to go well.”
“And it is,”
Kaia said, her tone suddenly softer and more compassionate as she merged more with my inner beast and understood how important this night was to me.
“I like it here...I like your people.”
“And they like you, too, Kaia,”
Bain kicked in, sensing the unrest in my inner beast as well.
He raised his mug in toast, trying to ease the tense moment.
“’Tis a good night and ‘twill only get better, brother.”
“Hell yeah.”
Kaia raised her mug and grinned from Bain to me.
“Here’s to new friends, pack members, and—”
she narrowed her eyes a little at Bain, shrugging as if bygones were bygones— “not being tied up anymore.”
“Until next time,”
I said, unable to help myself.
Raising my mug, I shot her a teasing look.
Well, mostly teasing.
“As there is enjoyment in it.”
Kaia’s eyebrows swept up, and a small smile hovered on her mouth, telling me all I needed to know.
Her gaze raked over me in a way that said she’d like to tie me up just as much.
“I bet there might be under the right circumstances.”
Fortunately, even though I knew she had lingering questions, as far as I could tell, she set them aside and enjoyed the celebration.
Despite her craving meat, she only ate vegetables, which put me somewhat at ease because I knew she needed food.
Though Callum became scarce after that, the three of us feasted, drank, and even laughed, enjoying a pleasurable reunion with our pack.
Some couldn’t be there for various reasons, but Kaia met most of them, and despite her blunt ways, they took to her every bit as much as I did.
In fact, I think they liked her all the more because of her blunt nature.
They knew where they stood with her.
Kaia was comfortable with who she was, and that translated.
I wouldn’t say she was naturally social, but she held her own. More than that, she took the time to get to know everyone beyond what they allowed her wolf to sense. She seemed to genuinely care about their happenstances, whether a problem with a family member or a goal they hoped to achieve but struggled with.
“You are good at finding resolution,”
I praised as the hour grew late, and we sat on a log bench by the fire together.
“I would say you’re a natural-born leader.”
“Just a vigilant big sister of sorts to my cousins.”
Her eyes were haunted as she gazed into the flames, her tongue loosened by whisky.
“We lost our parents at the same time in a freak boating accident, of all things considering we were poor Southie kids.”
She sighed and sipped her drink.
“Uncle Connor took us in and watched over us the best he could, but he was still pretty young himself at the time, so—”
she shrugged— “ya know.
It was what it was.”
I did know because I sensed it in her.
While a good man at heart who supported them the best he could, her uncle had been involved in what they called organized crime in the twenty-first century, leaving the girls to fend for themselves more often than not.
Kaia had taken on the role of mother to her younger cousins when she was still a child herself.
Taken on more responsibility than someone her age should have, no matter the century. She never got to be a child. Not really.
“You did well, Kaia,”
I said softly, certain of it not just because of what I felt inside her but because of how protective she was of Naya and Storm.
My gaze lingered on her lovely face.
“You are a survivor and protector.
A truly admirable person.”
And because it needed to be said as much as I hated saying at least part of it.
“Everything I could have hoped for in a mate...if you choose to remain by my side at the end because neither I nor my wolf will force you.
We, I, want you to choose to remain here because you truly want to.”
“I appreciate that, Tréan.”
Kaia’s gaze drifted to my face, her words not entirely unexpected.
“But I can’t leave my cousins alone.
They need me.”
I need you, I nearly said, but now wasn’t the time.
Nor was it the time to tell Kaia her inner beast may give her no choice.
Her draw to her mate would become a compelling force.
Yet I sensed in her a strength and fortitude to fight that force if it meant keeping those she loved safe.
“Tell me more about Callum’s woman,”
she said, not surprising me when she changed the subject.
“The one you're supposedly trading me for.
Is she his wolf mate? And how did Tadc get her?”
“She and Callum were mates but not fated mates,”
I said.
“Because there is a difference.”
Swigging my ale, I rehashed a sadder side of our pack’s tale.
“They were friends, or packmates, before it became something more, which is common with wolves.
While Callum was fond of her, I cautioned him against marrying her because I knew he didn’t love her.
Sadly, soon after, she was injured during a hunt and lost a good portion of her front paw.”
I swallowed back emotion, recalling how ashamed she had been.
“As you can imagine, it affected much.”
To this day, I carried guilt over what happened after that.
I should have made her understand she would always serve a purpose.
Never be shunned or exiled for her deformity.
I also wished I hadn’t cautioned Callum against marrying her because perhaps things would have gone differently had they.
“Unfortunately, in the end, she was too upset and fled, assuming we, Callum, would be better off without her.”
Staring into the flames, I recalled vividly what it had felt like to wake and know she was gone.
The sense of loss.
“As I’m sure you know, wolf packs generally shun those maimed and unable to serve the pack and help hunt.”
I shook my head again and ground out, “But we are not that kind of pack, and she knew it.
Knew she was important and part of us, no matter what.”
Or so I thought.
“I’m getting that,”
Kaia said softly.
“What happened next?”
“My enemy took her.”
Closing my eyes, I remembered receiving the news like it was yesterday.
The tightness in my chest when I realized the danger she was in because I hadn’t convinced her she should stay.
Hadn’t done better protecting her.
“He found her rogue in the woodland and took her. Imprisoned her...and it has not been good for her since, according to what I’ve heard...from what I’ve sensed from her even at a distance.”
I should have known what Kaia would say next.
“We’ll get her back, Tréan.”
Her warm hand covered mine, the first real contact we’d had since falling asleep beside each other.
“No matter what it takes, we’ll get her back, even if I need to turn myself over to him. Even if—”
“No,”
I bit out, opening my eyes to her, surprised to find her blinking away what I swore were tears before I could look too closely.
“You’ll be in that monster’s hands over my dead body.”
“I will if it means saving an innocent woman who was only trying to be strong for her pack and doing the right thing as she saw it.”
All stubborn warrior, Kaia notched her chin.
“Just try and stop me.
I’ve yet to meet a man I can’t handle, so Tadc can—”
“No,”
I said more vehemently, cupping her cheek, trying to stomp down my fear at the thought of her in his clutches.
“You cannot.”
Though it might be more than she was ready for being so newly made, I rested my forehead against hers and let her see.
Truly understand.
“Look, mo maité.
See everything I’m not telling you.”
Although she would have seen it eventually, this wasn’t what I wanted her to know of me so soon, and perhaps too much for a young wolf, but it was necessary if it meant keeping her safe.
So, I let the memories of my time with my enemy unravel.
Showed her everything.
How I had saved him as a young man, turning him moments before death took him when he pled for it, then the years that followed.
She was shown the love I’d felt for him and the distance that had grown between us regardless.
His was a soul that never should have been saved, but I learned that too late.
It started as small things, a cruel word here and there to pack members before it began showing in his wolf during our runs.
His hunting methods turned from merciful and quick like I had taught him to a slow, ruthless slaughter. He had taken maniacal pleasure in killing his prey bit by painful bit.
After that, darkness only grew and manifested more in his human half until one day, having killed one of our packmates without provocation, I had no choice but to exile him.
Terrifyingly enough, he then went rogue and did the unthinkable, turning innocent people into lycans without their permission.
“I should have killed him then and there,”
I ground out.
“I should have—”
“No.”
Kaia pressed a finger to my lips, her voice hoarse with emotion.
“That’s not who you are, Tréan.
You could never have known what he would do because even I know, newly made, it’s unconscionable. It’s...”
When she broke off, her emotions blew through me.
How she had met that same monster in her maker, Niall.
He’d been a trusted friend of the family before he grew darker, relishing a life of crime.
Then, horrifically enough, he’d taken it upon himself to bite Kaia and her cousins because he wanted to recruit them into a faction of the Irish mafia far more lethal and brutal than most. Bitches who would serve purpose not just for breeding but because they knew the life and could be useful.
The only one of the three cousins who wasn’t threatened by what had happened and didn’t consider Niall a monster was Naya.
It seemed she and Niall were close in age and just as close growing up, so she wasn't all that worried even though Kaia knew she should be.
It was only a matter of time before Niall molded her into something she would never be able to break free from.
So not only did Naya go Renegade during an especially powerful moon but she was already allies with the enemy.
A dangerous combination, but I kept my concerns from Kaia for now.
We would cross that bridge when we got to it.
“We’re going to get both Niall and Tadc,”
Kaia swore through clenched teeth, cupping my cheek, her mouth so close to mine now I could taste the hot sweetness of her breath.
Feel the way her heartbeat increased with mine at our proximity.
“We’re going to—”
I meant to let her swear her revenge and voice everything I felt, but she was too close, and I couldn’t hold back any longer.
Not when I felt I’d wanted to sample her my whole life.
So I closed my mouth over hers, thinking it would be as simple as any first kiss, but it wasn’t.
Not nearly.
It swamped me in sensation from the warmth of her lips to the minuscule droplets of moisture that had been lingering on them.
She tasted perfect in a way I couldn’t describe.
Flavored just for me.
And I wanted more.
Now.
Cupping my hand around the side of her neck and cheek, I angled her head and locked my mouth more firmly over hers.
Ran my tongue into the hot recesses of her mouth, not tentatively but hungrily, seeking more.
Right there with me, she released a throaty groan, and her tongue met mine just as desperately as we tasted each other for the first time.
Not just tasted but drowned in each other’s flavors, our tongues tangling, our rhythm so perfectly synchronized I knew, at that moment, without question, I’d never take another female.
Knew no other flavor, scent, or groan would ever be good enough.
Never be Kaia.
I wanted her now.
Right this moment, on this log.
I would pull her close until she straddled me and sink deep inside her welcoming heat before this kiss ended.
Everyone would clear out with one ordered telepathic thought that I was seconds from issuing had Callum not cleared his throat.
“Not yet, brother,”
he said.
“They, we, need you first.
‘Tis time to run.”
Hell.
It took almost more than I was capable of to pull away from Kaia, but I knew he was right.
More than that, I knew he needed to run with me.
When I looked at him, it was right there on his disgruntled, lost face. Right there in his wolven eyes. We made each other strong, and he needed that right now.
“Go,”
Kaia whispered huskily, as caught up in what we had just experienced as me.
“Be with them...love them.”
She nodded, telling me all I needed to know.
“I’ll be waiting for you when you get back.”
“I could shift you painlessly.”
I brushed the pad of my thumb over her plush lower lip, wanting her moisture on my paw when I shifted.
“I have that power.
You could run with us now.
Experience your pack in a whole new way.”
Interest flared in her eyes before hesitation, and she shook her head.
“I’m not there yet, but I could use—”
“And our matriarch will see to it,”
I assured, instinctually knowing what she craved.
I offered a thankful smile to the elderly wolf I had taken into the pack years ago when she finally emerged, however slowly, out of the darkness for the first time.
“She no longer goes by a name and refuses to take a new one, but she will see your needs met.”
Kaia took in the elderly wolf with her white muzzle, scarred face, missing ear, and a stub of a tail that tended to offset her balance.
“Thank you,”
she said softly to the old wolf with a warm smile that was new to me.
One that made clear she was every bit as kind as I knew she was on the inside, locked away in a place she kept hidden for fear of appearing weak.
Her smile vanished, and her features turned stern when she looked at me again and gestured that I get moving.
“Go be alpha. I’ll be just fine.”
While tempted to make sure she was truly all right with it, I knew better.
Kaia was me, and I was her.
We were one.
That meant loving when we could love and being there for our people the rest of the time, doing what we had to do.
And so I did, shifting into my wolf.
Proud of her for being the mate I needed, admired, and respected, I looked at Kaia with gratitude and headed after my pack.
Leading them into the cool, moonlit night, I relished being in my homeland again.
Lost myself to the feel of flying through the trees, more swift-footed than my human half could ever be with my blood brothers on either side of me.
Pleasure shot through me when more and more fell in with our pack.
Those who had remained at my brothers’ kingdoms.
Mave and her pack were the only ones missing, but that would take time.
She and Callum had fences to mend, and it would not be tonight.
For now, we had this.
Those here.
And I loved every minute of it, pulling in their scent along with the pungent woodland around us and the cool, salty air blowing off the distant ocean, telling us the seasons would change swiftly this year.
Winter was eager to arrive, and our wolves could not complain.
Winter was our season.
We didn’t bond as long as usual tonight before wolves began peeling off, eager to do what came next after an invigorating run, whether it be hunt or rut.
It was almost always one of the two.
The rush of the run would have it no other way.
Eventually, I ran alone with Callum’s and Bain’s wolves, soaking up what it felt like to be with them again.
The unique strength we offered each other.
A sanctuary that could only be found with my blood siblings.
Yet even they peeled off when it was time, Bain after a female wolf that remained just close enough to tempt him and Callum into the shadows to brood.
I’d yet to ask him why he had howled in such misery when he’d first approached Kaia, but I would when the time was right.
Now wasn’t it, though, and I sensed my pack knew that because our runs typically lasted longer.
All night if they needed me.
Rather, I suspected they wanted me to get back to Kaia and see through our Fated Mate Cycle.
Something I wanted more than I’d ever wanted anything, and that became painfully clear when I returned to my den and what awaited me.