Chapter 21 Kane
Kane
The city’s at peak chaos when we leave the TTC to head back to the Tower. Traffic is a nightmare, as always, and every cab in Chicago seems determined to test the limits of my patience by cutting off my giant black enforcer-issue SUV with no regard for the laws of physics.
Violet rides shotgun with her bare feet propped on the dash, flipping through radio stations with one hand while twirling her still-damp hair with the other.
The last of the locker room adrenaline buzzes in the air between us, but there’s an unspoken kind of truce in effect.
A temporary ceasefire, just long enough to catch our breath.
I merge onto the expressway, and she immediately jacks up the volume on some old-school punk song, letting it blast through the speakers with zero respect for my eardrums. I consider saying something, but it’s the most relaxed I’ve seen her since this whole disaster started, so I let it ride.
For about three minutes.
My thoughts circle in on themselves, chewing holes through my focus. Too many unanswered questions. Too many things that don’t add up. My wolf paces beneath my skin, restless with concern.
“Where’d you learn to fight like that?” I finally ask, eyes fixed on the road.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Commander,” she murmurs absently.
Ain’t that the truth.
I adjust my grip on the steering wheel, flicking her a sideways glance. “Your technique’s shit,” I say bluntly, “but you’ve got real skill. Like you’ve had legitimate training.”
She stares out the window, pretending not to hear me, but the corner of her mouth curls into a smug little smirk.
“Well?” I press, irritation bleeding into my tone despite myself.
She finally turns to look at me. “Do you always interrogate women after you fuck them in a public shower?” she asks dryly, cocking a brow. “Or am I just special?”
“Only if they pull off an illegal takedown on a guy twice their weight,” I grumble. “That’s not beginner’s luck.”
She rolls her eyes and reaches forward, turning the volume down a hair. “What does it matter?”
I clench my jaw, fingers drumming against the steering wheel in a steady, controlled rhythm. Beyond my own curiosity, it probably doesn’t. Still… “You could’ve told me,” I say. “I would’ve looked into getting you a position in tactical instead of admin.”
She lets out a short, bitter laugh and turns back toward the window. “No thanks.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’d rather jump out of this car and splatter myself across the highway than become a mindless soldier for the pack.
” She whips her head around, blue eyes bright like the lake at dawn and just as cold.
“Stop trying to shove me into one of your neat little boxes, Commander. I don’t want or need you to find me a job. You’re wasting your time.”
“Can’t you see I’m just trying to help you?” I snap, banging my palm down hard against the wheel. “You refuse to take my money, so I found you a position where you could earn your own. It wasn’t a punishment, it was an opportunity.”
“I don’t need your help,” she fires back without missing a beat. “I can take care of myself, I just proved it in the gym. Or did you black out when I almost cracked your jaw?”
I shoot her a hard look before turning my eyes back to the road. “I never said you couldn’t. But you don’t need to, not anymore. It’s my job to take care of you now.”
When I glance over at her again, the glare she’s aiming my way is glacial. “I’m not anyone’s job, Kane. I’m a fucking human being.”
“You’re my mate,” I snarl.
She doesn’t flinch or look away, meeting my fury head-on. “Not by choice.”
The words hang between us, harsh and undeniable.
I grit my teeth, clamping down hard on the urge to lash out. To grab her by the throat and force her to understand how things are now. Instead, I lock my eyes on the road, my hands clenched so tight around the steering wheel it’s a miracle the thing doesn’t crack under the pressure.
We ride in silence for a few exits, the city sliding past in blurred streaks of concrete and steel. The bond hums in my chest, a low, restless ache that can’t decide whether it wants to fight or fuck. My wolf doesn’t like being denied either.
“Why don’t you just leave again?” she says eventually, voice deliberately casual, eyes still fixed out the window. “Run back to your lake house and pretend I don’t exist. Problem solved.”
I glance over, taking in the rigid set of her shoulders, the way she’s folded in on herself like she’s bracing for impact. And I realize…
She’s not telling me to leave.
She’s asking me not to.
Quietly, carefully, like she already expects one answer and is desperate for another.
Though she’d never admit it out loud, she wants me to choose the bond. Choose her.
Part of me wishes I could. But that’d mean letting her inside the walls I’ve spent years fortifying, and that’s a risk I can’t afford. She’s volatile. Unpredictable. A variable I can’t control.
But I can’t walk away, either. Not anymore.
I exhale slowly through my nose and loosen my grip on the wheel. “You know that’s not how this works,” I murmur. “This bond needs proximity.”
“Then maybe we should go back to Dr. Aspen,” she suggests mildly. “See if he has ideas for getting our wolves under control. He is a professional…”
“He’s a quack,” I growl. “I don’t want him anywhere near this.”
“Why not? If he’s right about us being fated, then maybe–”
“I said no,” I cut in, tone flat and final.
She groans, like I’m the one being unreasonable. “Oh, come on. Did he really bruise your ego that badly by saying he’d go over your head to Alpha? Or do you just not want Alpha knowing the doc thinks we’re fated mates?”
She cuts herself off, suddenly quiet. I unclench my jaw, schooling my expression– but not fast enough.
Her head snaps toward me. “Holy shit. You don’t want him to know,” she breathes, eyes bright with realization. “Why? Do you think Dr. Aspen’s right? That we’re fated?”
I keep my gaze locked on the windshield. She’s too perceptive for her own damn good.
“They say fated bonds make wolves a hell of a lot stronger,” she muses, fitting the pieces together faster than I’d like. “So what, you think he’d feel threatened by it? I mean, it’s his own damn fault. He’s the one who put us together.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I mutter, taking the exit ramp into downtown. “There’s an order to things. He’s the Alpha, and nothing’s changing that.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
I roll to a stop at a red light and finally turn to look at her.
“The problem is, our wolves have always been closely matched in terms of dominance,” I say calmly.
“It’s never been an issue because mine knows his place.
But if anything tips that balance, even the perception of it, he’ll see it as a threat.
Keeping me in a position of rank would suddenly be a risk to him. ”
“And fate forbid you lose your precious job,” she scoffs, spitting out the words like they’re sour on her tongue.
“My job means a great deal to me,” I reply simply.
“Oh, I know,” she clucks, rolling her eyes. “You just love licking Alpha’s boots.”
“Watch your fucking mouth,” I growl.
She flips me off and turns away with a huff, glaring out the passenger window. The light changes, and I hit the gas a little too hard, coming close to kissing the bumper of the car in front of us before I rein it in.
“You’re young,” I say after a beat, keeping my eyes forward. “So maybe you don’t get it yet. But when you spend your whole life working toward something, you don’t just toss it aside. Holding rank gives me a purpose. It lets me protect people who matter.”
“And squash the ones who don’t,” she mumbles bitterly.
“You still don’t get it,” I snap. “If I wasn’t in this position, the pack would be a hell of a lot worse off than it is now. Everything goes through me before it ever reaches Alpha.”
She turns back toward me, brows drawing in. “What’s that supposed to mean? That you’re the one really pulling the strings?”
I give a quick shake of my head, cutting myself off before this can go any further. I’ve already said too much.
Her head tilts, eyes narrowing with suspicion. “How many secrets are you keeping, Kane?”
“Only as many as you are,” I say, taking the ramp for the underground parking garage.
I hit the remote and wait for the door to grind open, then glance at her reflection in the windshield.
“You ever gonna tell me what really happened the night you came home bleeding?” I ask, watching carefully for a reaction she might not be able to hide.
She lifts her chin, meeting my gaze in the glass, lips pressed into a hard line. “You ever gonna stop asking questions you don’t want the answers to?”
I sigh and ease off the brake, rolling into the garage. The door seals shut behind us, silence stretching as I coast down the aisle toward my reserved spot, pull in, and shift into park.
“Listen,” Violet sighs, tone lighter than before. “This doesn’t have to be some fairytale. Our wolves just need proximity to keep the bond from going feral. So, let’s live our own lives and just fuck whenever we need to relieve the tension. No drama or feelings. Just the basics.”
“Fine by me,” I mutter.
“Good,” she chirps. “Glad we’re on the same page for once.”
I turn her way, and her scent hits me– bright and intoxicating, edged with something that makes my wolf want to bare his throat and surrender. I shove the door open and step out, needing air before it crawls under my skin and stays there.
She hops out of the passenger side, slamming the door behind her.
I round the SUV, and we head for the elevator together.
She’s already a few steps ahead, her walk all hips and defiance, but I catch up easily and fall into step beside her.
We’re just two people heading in the same direction because there’s no other choice.
She stops at the elevator, hitting the call button.
I study her while we wait– the tight purse of her lips, the way her arms fold across her chest like armor. For the first time, I don’t see a job to manage or a problem to contain. I see an equal. A partner. Maybe even a rival.
“Think this might be the first time we’ve ever actually agreed on something,” I grumble.
She glances over at me, a slow grin curling her lips. “I call that growth, Commander.”
I snort a laugh as the elevator chimes. “Whatever you say, mate.”
We step inside, the doors sliding shut with a soft thud that seals us in.
There’s no telling how long this truce will hold, but at least it’s something. For once, we’ve got a plan; a way forward. Even if we both know it’s one that’s destined to fail.