5. Tate
Chapter five
Tate
Though I’d given off a relaxed persona to Jack and Julian back in the alley, anxiety actually fueled my blood stream, making my stomach twist into knots and my lip ring sting from where I’d been pulling on it so much.
It wasn’t unusual for Kyren to take out someone who had insulted or harmed me or Jack. I’d even helped him a time or two. Except this time he was being reckless, showing his powers when so many humans were near.
I shook my head and sighed, tapping my fingers on my steering wheel. Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at Jack, who hadn’t said a word since we’d gotten into the car.
In fact, I’d expected to have to drag her away from the bloody scene kicking and screaming. Yet she’d been the one to suggest we go eat.
Not that she had suggested any place to go or talked to me at all since then.
“So…” I dragged out, fiddling with my lip ring as I spoke, wincing and forcing my hands back on the wheel. “What are you in the mood for? Mexican? Italian? I know this great pizza place on Fifteenth and —”
“I’m actually not very hungry,” Jack interrupted, shooting me a guilty grimace. “Can you just take me home?” When I didn’t say anything, she quickly continued, “I’m sorry to cut our date short. I just… need some time to think.”
I bobbed my head. “Sure, yeah, I get it.”
As I changed directions, I swallowed down my disappointment and, if I was honest, relief. I wanted to spend more time with Jack. This was the most I’d been able to see her in weeks. Besides the odd text and phone calls, Jack had mostly kept to herself.
As someone who had spent the last five years with Kyren, I knew brooding when I saw it. And Jack had definitely been well on her way to winning the championship for the longest brood in history.
I had wanted to pull her out of the dark cloud she’d created around herself by taking her out.
Unfortunately, it hadn’t turned out the way I had hoped and now, I really needed to find Kyren.
If he was blood thirsty enough to cause that big of a mess in public, then I couldn’t imagine how he must be feeling right now.
“Do you want me to come in?” I asked, turning to her once we arrived at her front door. “I don’t mind. Your dads don’t scare me that much.” I gave a self-depreciating laugh.
Half of me wanted her to say yes and the other half needed to be at Kyren’s side.
Jack shifted in her seat to face me, her hand going to my cheek. I leaned into the feeling of it, wanting to bask in her touch. “As entertaining as that would be, I think I just want to be alone for a bit. Is that okay?”
I nodded, lifting my gaze to hers. “Always. Just don’t let this weigh on you too much.”
Jack’s brows furrowed.
“I mean, Kyren isn’t the type to go rampaging around the city, killing willy nilly. If he killed someone, it was for a reason. So don’t… don’t judge him too harshly for this.” I tried to force an encouraging smile, but feared it came out more of a grimace.
Jack cocked her head to the side, thinking on my words, then leaned forward and pecked me on the lips. “I won’t. Thank you for getting me out of the house.”
“It was my pleasure, but…” I cupped the back of her neck, not letting her pull away just yet. “I’m going to need a bit more than that. My Jack kisses battery is running dangerously low.”
She giggled, our breath brushing against one another’s lips. “Your Jack kisses battery? Really?”
I faux pouted. “I’m getting quite desperate, you know. Who knows what will happen to me if I don’t get it refilled soon?”
Her hands slid behind my neck, fingers tangling in my braids. “Well, we can’t have that now, can we?” Her mouth brushed against mine.
I flicked my tongue out, tasting her lips, then I dragged my teeth over her lower lip and sucked it into my mouth.
Jack groaned, pressing herself as close to me as she could get over the center console.
My hand crept under the bottom of her shirt, needing to feel more of her as I swept my tongue against hers, savoring every sound that came out of her.
Just as I was about to pull her into my lap, a round of cheers and hoots came from outside the car.
Pulling away from the kiss, I glanced over Jack’s shoulder to find five of the seven of her dads watching us from the front steps. Jack rolled her eyes at their antics, her cheeks turning an adorable shade of pink.
“Sorry about them,” she muttered, unbuckling her seat belt and moving to remove my jacket.
“Keep it,” I told her and then caught her hand before she opened the door. “And you should be proud you have parents who care so much. One day, you’ll miss them, no matter how embarrassing they are.”
“Yeah.” Jack swallowed, her eyes softening. “Anyway, I’ll call you later?”
“You better.” I lifted her hand to kiss it before releasing her to her dads.
They crowded around her, jostling and teasing, but I could feel the love coming off them in waves.
Except for one of them. He was tall, dark in features, and glaring at me like he was trying to decide if it was worth killing me if it would make Jack unhappy.
Looks like I had my work cut out for me if I wanted to win over all her dads. Which was fine by me. She was worth it.
The whole way home, I thought about Jack and her dads and how much I wished my dad was still around to tease me about my love life. Not that he had ever done that.
I tried to imagine my dad treating me the way Jack’s dads treated her and scoffed.
No, my pops was more about duty and responsibility and less about love and fun.
If he said anything to me about dating Jack, it would be that she wasn’t a werewolf and asking how was this going to help the future of our pack.
Because, in his mind, nothing else mattered. Not even his children’s happiness. He’d made that completely clear when I had told them I was leaving with Kyren.
Parking my car on the street, I contemplated how to approached Kyren on what he’d done. There was no telling what kind of mood he’d be in once I got inside. He could he drowning in his shadows for all I knew. Or completely unfazed by it all.
Unfortunately, the only way I was going to find out was by going inside and facing him.
I blew out a long breath and jogged up the steps. I didn’t bother to knock as I unlocked the door and stepped inside.
Silence greeted me.
“Kyren?” I called out through the apartment, searching for the telltale sign of my lover and friend. “You here?”
I sniffed the air, catching wind of his scent further into the house, and it grew stronger with each step.
Eventually, I stepped into his office and found him sitting in his chair in front of the fireplace, reading a book, one leg over his other knee.
He didn’t seem to have a care in the world or show any evidence he had just ripped someone apart and left an ominous message in blood like some television psychopath.
“Kyren…?” I began, not sure what kind of mood I was going to find him in. “How’s it going?” I shoved my hands into my pockets and tried to seem nonchalant as I walked toward him.
“Hmm?” He lifted his head from his book, blinking those long dark lashes of his in my direction. “Did you say something?”
I sank into the chair opposite him, hoping that if I was at his level, he’d be more willing to open up to me about what happened. “I asked how you are.”
His brows furrowed his eyes dipping back at his book, flicking the page before answering. “I don’t know what you mean.”
I blew out a long hard breath. So denial it was. Wonderful.
“How was your date?”
This time it was my turn to be confused. “Uh… it was fine. Great even, until it was interrupted by a murder.” I ended with a hard note and a pointed look.
Kyren hummed and turned the page. “How unfortunate.”
“Yeah, you know it kind of was, Kyren.” I huffed, tired of his games. “What were you even doing there?”
Leaning his face on his hand, he leisurely turned the pages of his book, not even reading the words anymore. “Can’t I miss my lover?”
He always said I was the one who liked to cause a fuss and make a scene, but out of the two of us, he was far more the dramatic one. Especially, it seemed where Jack was involved.
“You knew I was going to be with Jack today. Were you trying to come see her, too?”
This question Kyren didn’t answer. He snapped his book closed and lifted his eyes to the fireplace where the wood crackled and popped. He didn’t need the fire, he didn’t even feel the cold, and yet he always wanted a fire going.
The shift in his expression had my own softening. “Kyren, baby.” I shifted forward and reached for him, placing my hand on top of his on the armchair. “It’s okay to miss her. No one will know if you choose her over vengeance.”
“I will.”
Blowing out a breath, I stood and went to the side of the room where Kyren kept the alcohol and tumblers. I popped the lid off the crystal bottle of rum and poured a generous amount into the glass.
When we first got together, I listened to Kyren complain about the Durands and how he would make them pay for killing his sire.
It was all he could talk about most days unless I distracted him in some way.
Over the years, I thought I’d done a good job getting his mind off of the Durands and vengeance. Until Jack showed up in our lives.
Now, he was about to let his grudge not only ruin his own happiness but my own and I wasn’t going to have it.
Swallowing a large gulp from the glass, savoring the burn going down my throat before I turned back to Kyren, I stated plainly, “I’m done.”
Kyren’s eyes lifted to mine. “What?”
“I’m done fighting with you about Jack. Be with her, don’t be with her, but you’re not fooling anyone with this act you have going on here.”
Anger flashed through Kyren’s eyes, his jaw tightening. “What act?”
Holding the glass between my hands, I walked over and sat on the arm of his chair my side pressed against his. “Why did you kill that vampire?”
Kyren’s gaze turned back to the fire. “She annoyed me.”
I snorted. “How about a real answer now?”
His eyes didn’t move from the fire for a long moment before he answered. “Why do these imbeciles think just because I’m not with her at the moment that I wanted to help them kill her or take out the Durands?”
My brow lifted. “And you don’t?”
A low growl rumbled against my side. “I do not want her dead.”
“And the Durands…?”
Kyren grunted. “I guess I could see where they were coming from. If someone had kidnapped and threatened you or… Jack, I wouldn’t show any mercy either.”
I huffed a laugh. “I think your little display today proved that.”
He shot me a flat look before taking the glass from my hand. “She kept insulting la mia. Wanted me to join their little group of anarchists to take down the council.” He tipped the rest of the glass back and drained it.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. “Why didn’t you just tell her no?” I asked, my hand dipping in to pull it out.
“I did. She wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Kyren continued and then noticed that I was staring at my phone. “What is it?”
I blinked at the words on my screen, not quite sure how to respond to the message I’d just received. “Uh… it’s my brother, Jacob.”
“I thought we got rid of them,” Kyren growled.
“So did I,” I sighed, then put my phone back into my pocket.
Unfortunately, that didn’t stop Kyren from asking more. “Mi lobo, what do they want?”
I shrugged, taking the glass from his hand and walking over to the tray of drinks. I gave the glass another generous pour but didn’t drink it.
“Did I tell you that I was engaged?”
I could feel Kyren’s presence behind me as the room darkened. I slowly turned and leaned against the side table, letting my eyes find his in the growing shadows around him.
“My dad arranged it with another pack long before we met.”
The shadows lightened slightly.
“Well…” I blew out a breath. “My brothers didn’t just come here to make me take over the alpha position. They wanted me to complete the agreement my dad made with that other pack.”
“Which was to marry one of their wolves?”
I nodded. “The alpha’s daughter.”
“And you told them no, correct?” he asked, unsure of his words.
“Of course I did!” I waved a hand in the air. “That doesn’t mean they listened. Or even care what I want. It’s all about duty and continuing the family line for them. Which I wanted no part of.”
“So what’s the problem?”
I sipped from my glass, letting the liquid burn my throat as it went down. “Apparently, I’m off the hook because the bride is missing.”
The shadows completely disappeared from the room at this point, Kyren’s expression more quizzical than anything. “Well… that’s convenient.”
“Isn’t it though?” I sighed and sank down into the opposite chair once more. “A lot of convenient things happening today.”
Kyren cocked his head in question.
“Well, you know Jack saw you in that alley.” I waited for him to nod. “Then you probably guessed she called the hunters to come do the clean-up.”
“I would expect nothing less of her,” Kyren grunted.
“Then she wanted to leave right away without putting up a fight to find out who the vampire was and why you killed her.” I arched a brow at him, pointing a finger with the glass in my hand. “Does that sound like our girl?”
“No.” Kyren’s eyes narrowed. “No, it doesn’t.”
I blew out a long breath, getting tired already and then downed the rest of the drink as I stared into the fireplace. “I just hope that she stays out of trouble and lets the hunters do their job. I’ve had just about enough of her turning up hurt to last me a lifetime.”
Kyren’s shadows wrapped around me, a comforting warmth embracing me. “Me, too.”