Chapter 7 - Kane
Having just returned from a patrol, with all quiet, Kane sat in the manor kitchen at the breakfast bar digging into a bowl of leftover rabbit stew from the night before. One thing could be said about their alpha”s mate, she was a damn good cook, and had become somewhat of a mother to the entire pack.
But the amazing taste of the food dulled when he sensed Jack’s presence in the doorway.
He bit back a growl. Whatever his alpha was there for, it couldn”t be good, and he didn”t want to know. All he wanted to do was crawl into bed and get some sleep.
But his senses told him that was going to be next to impossible even though he was bone-tired.
“What can I do for you, Alpha?” Kane asked, looking over his shoulder at his friend.
Jack bared his teeth. “How many times have I told you all not to call me that?”
“Maybe I wouldn”t if I didn”t get the sense you were here as alpha,” Kane said, growling. “I can practically feel your wolf trying to force me into submission.”
Jack chuckled at that and crossed the room to sit on the barstool beside Kane. “Then it”s a good thing I don”t take being alpha that seriously with my friends, because I can feel your wolf resisting.”
Jack clapped Kane on the shoulder and squeezed.
“Can you blame me? I can sense why you”re here.”
Jack sighed deeply and shook his head. “I spoke to the Peters family last night, but when I came to talk to you, you”d already gone out on patrol. You know you didn’t have to be out there all night?”
Kane shrugged and said, “My wolf needed the extra run. What happened with the Peterses?”
He cringed, already sensing he wasn”t going to like the answer.
“Mr. Peters took the deal,” Jack announced. “Miley is to marry one of my men. And as it was you who encouraged me to take such a deal, I think that man should be you.”
Though he had already suggested so once before, it still took Kane by surprise. When he had encouraged Jack to think more about the deal as rescuing Miley from her awful parents, the last thing on his mind had been himself or whoever would be forced into marrying her.
“I can”t!” he exclaimed in a gut reaction. How could he marry a human? What if they had children, and their children turned out to be human? It would raise all kinds of questions about his own birth—or lack thereof—as a werewolf.
He had gone so many years with the secret, his pack would hate him all the more for keeping it from them.
Shit! He cursed himself. Miley was only nineteen. She was practically still a kid. Who was to say she would even want to mate with him? Hell, who was to say he would want to mate with her?
Sure, she was beautiful, and the second his wolf had seen her in that hardware store, something had happened deep inside him, but he forced the thought of it away quickly.
“I can”t ask this of any of my other men, Kane,” Jack said, his voice low and sympathetic. “If you care about her, you”ll take the plunge.”
Kane ground his teeth and closed his eyes. Could he really do that? Was it really that easy?
Through his gritted teeth, he asked, “Can”t we just play along?”
He felt Jack stiffen beside him. “Excuse me?”
Kane opened his eyes and looked at the alpha. “Can”t we just play along long enough to get Miley away from her parents and then dispense with the idea of forcing her into a marriage she doesn”t want?”
Jack”s gaze darkened. “As much as I hate the traditional practice of arranged marriages, we werewolves are men of our word, and I have given the Peterses my word that one of my men will marry their daughter.”
Kane opened his mouth to try and talk his way out of it again, but Jack shook his head and continued, “It can”t be me. I already have Bonnie. And Zander has Layla. Will is nowhere near to settling down and mating for life, and can you honestly imagine her with Eddie?”
“I wouldn”t wish a lifetime of his horrid jokes on anyone,” Kane admitted, laughing. Then he asked, “What about Hanson?”
He knew it was a foolish question, and he also already knew why it was a no-go but still, he had to ask.
“Hanson has proven himself time and again, but he”s still far too new to the pack to ask this of him,” Jack sighed and shook his head. “It”s down to you, Kane, or I must break my word, and I do not wish to do that. I will not be made a liar.”
Kane dipped his head. Jack was right, even if he didn’t like it. He had nobody to blame but himself. He had been the one to suggest Jack take the deal in the first place. And yet, just imagining the way that Miley would look at him when she found out made him feel sick.
She was so beautiful, so young, so innocent. And, it turned out, about to be his bride, whether she liked it or not.
He closed his eyes and hung his head, thinking of how the hell he was going to make this work. He had never seen himself having a mate, let alone a wife. In fact, he had always told himself it was safer not to. But the urge to protect Miley Peters was like nothing he had ever felt before, and though he imagined her being one hell of a firecracker toward him when she learned he was the one she would be married to, he’d take whatever she threw at him if it meant she was safe.
Sucking in a deep breath, he lifted his head and looked Jack in the eye. “I’ll do it.”