12. Kane
Idon’t know how long I was blacked out. Seconds. Minutes. Hours. I haven’t the first clue.
By the time I came to, it was pitch black in the sky. I woke in the middle of the trail on pack land, naked and covered in dirt. Payback from my wolf for locking him inside my body like it was a prison cell. My throat was parched and sore. My calves and the top of my thighs were throbbing.
He must have howled and run a marathon the way my body aches. Not that it wasn’t every bit of what I deserved.
Kate.
A sense of dread, or maybe foreboding, crashed into me as hard as the waves breaking against the rocks not far from where I was.
Everything that happened between us replayed in my head like a horror movie. The words I’d said to her like daggers driving into my chest one at a time, over and over.
My dad taught me when I was young to never say something I don’t wholly mean. But that’s exactly what I did. That wasn’t the only thing I recall from my adolescence. At that moment, I remembered the time when my alpha taught a group of us about the Birds and Bees—shifter edition. It was a lesson on recognizing when a female wolf shifter is going into heat.
It was the cringiest moment of my life: my father describing my mom going into heat for the first time. I could swear on my life it would explain what happened last night between Kate and me to a T. Yet, I know that’s impossible. She isn’t of age.
Right?
Of course, I’m right. Because if I’m wrong…
Fuck, it would damn near be impossible for her not to have gotten pregnant. My wolf wouldn’t have allowed us to stop going at it until he was sure his seed had fertilized her egg.
Mate or not, it’s still possible and very likely to impregnate another shifter during her heat cycle. That was why we were taught the same thing year after year. Dad wanted to ensure his wolves knew the consequences of sticking our dicks inside another shifter if we planned to wait to start a family with our fated mate.
I thought for sure we’d eventually find Anna. We’ve scoured the world more times over than I can count, and still, she and my brother remain missing.
How can fate be that cruel? Giving me a mate, only for her to disappear and then dangle Kate in front of me like the forbidden fruit. Anna was too young. I never developed feelings for her the way I have Kate.
With Anna, my head tells me she’s mine. With Kate, it’s my heart that craves her every second of every day. When Kate isn’t near, something in me is missing. I feel half-empty inside.
I can’t have them both. Nor do I desire two women. I want Kate to be the one, my mate, but she isn’t. And what if we do find Anna? I can’t choose another over her. I won’t do that to her. I made a vow I have every intention of honoring.
Even if I’m going to pine for another for the rest of my supernatural life.
After I trekked backto my cabin, I showered and put on clean clothes. My wolf refused to shift, and I’d been closer to my hideaway than I was to the lodge.
When I finally take the steps up to the lodge, I hear a voice in a delicate female tone I’ve come to feel as protective over as I do any of my wolves.
Stopping in front of the door, I turn and watch Storm jog up the steps toward me.
“Got a minute?” she asks.
Ambient lights are strung across the front of the porch, along the ceiling and railing. It lights up her pretty face, showing me evidence of where she recently cried. A low growl rumbles up my chest in displeasure.
“What’s wrong?” I demand in too harsh of a tone.
“The urn,” she reminds me with a shrug.
I’d forgotten Jag and Ash dropped it off with her last night while I was with Kate, doing things I don’t regret despite what I said, and deep down, I know she believed every word.
Fuck, I’m a royal dick and then some.
“Come inside.” I gesture with a nod to the door as I press the lever with my thumb, opening the door and waiting for her to enter in front of me. “Tell me what you discovered.”
Closing the door, my eyes snap to the kitchen sink, where Jagger splashes water over his face and neck. Hearing us enter, he grabs the hand towel lying on the counter, then turns to face us as he scrubs the cloth down his face.
“Where the hell have you been?” His eyes are round with confusion but also anger is clouding his hardened stare. He tosses the towel behind him, and it drops into the sink.
I raise my arm, halting him with the palm of my hand facing him.
“Tell me, Storm,” I say in a calm manner.
“Ashleigh said your wolf shifter friend from out of town brought it here. What pack is she from?”
“Kate is a Marked Crest wolf. That’s common knowledge,” I add, feeling defensive on Kate’s behalf. I said she was my enemy, but that’s never been true, even if it should be. Trez, either, despite my threat. It’s the only one I’ve ever made that I’d never carry out.
I can’t. I love them both for reasons I cannot explain to myself or my pack.
“I didn’t know that,” she claims. “I’m not exactly friendly with anyone besides Ash and Maddy, you know.”
That’s true. Storm is timid around most of the pack. She keeps to herself even though I’ve invited her to every pack get-together we’ve done except for when we run.
I suppose she’s only sociable with Ashleigh and Maddy because she shares a cabin with them. Being roommates might make it difficult if you aren’t on friendly terms. Storm and Maddy are the same age and have a lot in common, so it makes sense they’d be friends. Maddy is also a human who doesn’t have supernatural strength like the rest of us.
I’ve always thought Storm’s shy demeanor was a defense mechanism. Her eyes are brown and bold. Her long, sandy blonde hair, which she keeps covering her front, is straight. She wears long dresses that cover her skin except for her hands and neckline. Her appearance is guarded, but from day one, I’ve sensed great power within her. It’s only grown stronger since she arrived three years ago, just after I became alpha.
“Did you recognize the remains? I know the person was a witch. A female. Did you know her?” I ask.
A thunderstorm flickers through her eyes, lightning flashing within her irises. Only witches that possess the water element can do that. It happens when their emotions are raw and uncontrolled. Storm has all elements: water, fire, wind, and earth. She’s the least uncontrolled witch I’ve ever met.
“They’re my mother’s.”
Jagger gasps at the same time a curse slips from my lips.
“Fuck. Had I known, I wouldn’t have sent them over the way I did. I’m sorry. Fuck. I don’t know what to say,” I admit.
“Did you know she was…” Jagger trails off, not wanting to finish his question.
She shakes her head in reply.
“My former coven resides in Kate’s pack territory. If they sent her to deliver the ashes then my coven leader knows where I am. It means I’m not safe here anymore. I have to?—”
“Stop,” I command as I grab her shoulders and squeeze them gently. “I promised you safety. I meant it then, and I mean it now. You are safe with us.”
After a breath, she finally nods, but I see the lie in her eyes. She doesn’t believe she’s safe, and that washes down my back like molten lava. Everyone in my care should feel protected by Jagger and me.
“Kate thought the ashes might be her brother’s,” I tell her. “She brought them to me to find out if his remains were inside. She didn’t know they belonged to a witch. To your mom.”
“Are you certain? Because if you aren’t, I need to leave. For your pack’s safety as much as mine.” Her voice grows urgent. “Salem will use Kate’s pack to get to me if she has to. She’s the worst kind of witch, Kane. She’s more powerful than you can imagine. She’s pure evil. A dark witch.”
“We’re certain, Storm,” Jagger answers for me as he walks toward us. “Kate isn’t like her pack. Neither is her brother. They’re our friends,” he bites out, the edge in his tone telling me that last bit was for me, not the witch among us. Storm swallows as Jag flicks his blue eyes on me. “We need to talk. Now.”
“I have a sister,” Storm blurts out. “When I left, my mother wouldn’t come, and Ivy was too young to decide for herself. I have to get her from them.” Terror and worry swarm within her, the thunder in her eyes growing stronger, causing a gust of wind to open the front door, slamming it into the wall behind her.
“We’ll get in touch with Kate. We’ll help you find Ivy,” I tell her, knowing I have to find Kate anyway. I can’t leave things the way I left them. I have to right my wrongs even if she doesn’t forgive me for what I said, for what I did…
“Are you sure about that?” Jagger spits, a snarl firmly in my place as he stares me down. “When I said we needed to talk, it wasn’t a request.”
“If you were anyone else, you wouldn’t be standing right now,” I say too calmly for the rage he sparked. My alpha eyes flash. I see the color change in the reflection of my beta’s eyes, but he doesn’t flinch.
“If you were anyone else, I would have ripped your fucking throat out already.”
My spine straightens, my eyes widening, shocked at his admission. Jagger’s temper has always matched mine, but he’s harder to rile up than I am. He’s my voice of reason. It’s why there was never a choice as to who would be my beta. My best friend knows me better than anyone, the same as I know him.
That’s how I know he knows what happened between Kate and me, or he at least knows part of it. They’ve always been close, but for him to take her side without hearing mine? That’s unacceptable as the beta of our pack. As my best friend.
A warning growl leaves my mouth through clenched teeth. A fight between us may be what I need. We’ve had plenty over the years, just none since we took our places as leaders of the pack.
“Should I leave?” Storm voices.
Neither of us blinks or looks away from the other. We may tie up in here tonight, but Storm has nothing to fear. We’re coordinated fighters. She won’t get hurt.
Jagger’s claws extend, his growl louder, provoking me. My beast is nowhere in sight, still refusing to acknowledge me. He can stay mad all he wants. I don’t need his help to defeat my beta, to make Jag submit. I can do that all on my own.
“You really want to do this?” I ask.
“No,” he spits out, shaking his head slowly. “But you shouldn’t have made Kate cry.”
His admission is sobering, but at the same time, if you’d asked me two days ago, the thought of Kate crying would be laughable. But I saw her. I saw her eyes when I told her to get out, that I didn’t want her, that I’d kill her if she returned. I hurt her worse than anyone else ever has. I damaged her the same as I damaged myself.
But by Fate, I hope we’re not unrepairable.
Heavy footsteps behind me cause me to whip my body around to tell whichever shifter is here to piss off when I see my dad standing in the open doorway.
“We’ve found our wolves.”