Chapter Fourteen #2
They had no mating bond, no official declaration of possession, but Kimberly knew it was fact. She belonged to Shane. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, and she was helpless to fight it, even against herself. He belonged to Kimberly, too, even if she never proclaimed it.
That meant only one thing. She wouldn’t let him hide. She wouldn’t let him fester in this pack crisis. He wouldn’t go through it alone.
So, after work, she grabbed them both dinner and headed straight for his apartment. If he still wasn’t good company, then tough. She wasn’t going to leave him. They would work through this together.
Before she could knock even once, his apartment door flew open.
Her lips parted in mild surprise at the way he looked.
Hair tousled like he had run his hands through it too many times.
He wore the clothes from the day before, suggesting that he didn’t shower and didn’t go to work that day.
The shadows beneath his eyes told her that he was tired, but the spark of excitement in his posture said that her presence woke him up just a little more.
Kimberly stood in the carpeted hall, a brown sack inside a plastic bag in her arms and an amicable smile on her face that begged for acceptance.
“I’m going to assume you still like Chinese. Pork low mein with spring rolls and—”
“Wontons. Please tell me you got wontons.” Shane’s voice was breathy, with an almost desperate quality, as if he had been looking forward to this meal.
Kimberly’s smile widened. “Yes, I got wontons. They don’t taste the same as Jin Jin’s back in Warrington. The place here uses more cream cheese and their batter is different, but I kind of—”
Shane grabbed her by the waist and hauled her into his apartment.
He kissed her, hard and fast like an addict taking a hit of their favorite drug after going without it for too long.
The warmth from the bag of food between them seeped into her core and the smell of it overpowered his raw scent.
It made her stomach growl with a need that didn’t take priority over a different sort of hunger.
He missed her just as much as she missed him.
She held on tight to the moment and let the kiss deepen. Only then, when the worst of the craving for him was satiated, he pulled away.
Waxing giddy, Kimberly looked up at him. “Seems like you needed that.”
“I did.” He took the bag of food from her. “I hope they had your favorite. Orange chicken, right?”
Kimberly nodded. “Mm-hmm. Theirs isn’t as spicy as I like, but it’s got plenty of flavor.”
Shane brushed another kiss on her lips, then took their dinner to the kitchen. “I was actually about to call you. Good timing.”
“Are you better company now?”
A tightness passed across Shane’s shoulders as he pulled out two cans of pop from the fridge.
The word choice had been intentional. This wasn’t about her.
He wasn’t rejecting her. He was trying to save her from having to be around a stressed-out alpha.
But he had to realize the separation hurt them both in the end.
“I am.” He gestured to the laptop. “I’ve reached a good stopping point in this proposal.”
Kimberly glanced at the laptop. “What proposal?”
“The proposal I need to make to Dominic so our pack can move to Oakfield.”
Our pack. What did he imply by that?
Shane continued, “I’ve been spending most of the day making phone calls and crunching the numbers to make sure this would work.
I haven’t given the pack the final notice yet.
Logistics need to be figured out first, then I make the pitch to Dominic for the financial help for the move and the first few months while we get on our feet. ”
Again, there was that word. We.
Kimberly shook it off, still unsure how to feel about this change that seemed more like an inevitability than just a possibility. “What about Andy?”
“Andy is not my problem anymore.” He popped the top on the can.
Kimberly’s stomach dropped. “Why is he not your problem?”
“Kicked him out of the pack and out of Tolstone. I gave him until this morning to get out. When I stopped by earlier this afternoon, he was gone.”
Kimberly went stone cold and just as still. “But, why?” The question came out more like a condemning bark, but that was unintentional.
Shane seemed to bristle at her tone. “He committed a crime, Kim. He jeopardized our pack’s security in Tolstone because he could have exposed our secret to the humans. Isn’t it obvious?”
Her gaze went sharp as obsidian. “It’s an extreme punishment. It doesn’t sound like you to do something like that.”
Shane looked as if he wanted to bow up to her accusation, but she could see the restraint.
“You should know better than anyone that I can’t just give a slap on the wrist. I can’t be too soft when it comes to keeping my pack in check.
See where that got us?” He swung his arm to show off the nearly empty apartment.
“Andy wasn’t planning to take over the pack like Kevin was.”
“How would you know that? What if he got away with stealing a gun and tried to use it on me eventually? What if he, like Kevin, tried to turn the pack against me, believing it was for the good of the pack? That was his whole reason for stealing the guns, to protect the pack. If one shifter steps out of line, if they can’t respect the rules, they don’t belong in my pack. ”
What was going on in Shane’s head to make him act this way? This wasn’t him. This was something else. Someone else. Kimberly’s jaw worked, the words she wanted to say just on the tip of her tongue, as toxic as venom in her mouth. She couldn’t let them out.
“Say it,” he ordered with a growl.
“You sound just like your father.”
Shane went quiet, probably knowing all too well that what she said was true.
“What’s done is done. Even if I wanted to take it back, I can’t, and I wouldn’t.
The pack bond is severed and he’s long gone.
Cole will probably put out a warrant for his arrest since he skipped town. He’s Cole’s problem now.”
Kimberly looked away and a heaviness hung in the air around them. There was no way they would agree on this, and they both knew it. She knew the pain of being kicked out of her pack, but she couldn’t understand what brought him to make such a cruel decision.
“I’ve got a spare container for your food if you want to take it home.” He thumbed toward the takeout bag on the counter. “If you don’t want to stay, I won’t make you.”
Kimberly snapped her stare back at him. “You’re kicking me out too?”
Shane quickly backpedaled. “No, no! I’m just making it clear that I’m not going to force you to have dinner with an asshole if you don’t want to.”
She sighed and a bit of the starch leaked out of her. “I still want to have dinner with you, even if you are being an asshole. I missed you today, and last night.”
A corner of Shane’s mouth twitched, tempted to smile. “Me too … In that case, do you want to eat straight out of the carton or use a plate?”
As they did when they were kids, they ate their Chinese out of the little to-go cartons and stood against the counters across from each other in his kitchen, the card table too cluttered with his mess for a proper spread.
Shane told her about his proposal and the logistics he had to work out before pulling the trigger on Oakfield.
She listened with keen interest while she shoveled chunks of orange chicken into her mouth with her chopsticks.
The topic was a momentary distraction, but their previous conversation continued to burden her thoughts like a scratchy blanket.
“So, Oakfield is it, huh?” she asked.
Shane nodded as he shuffled around his noodles. “I think so. I didn’t really see anything that was a major conflict with anyone’s preferences.”
“Are you going to put it to a vote?”
He snorted. “Yeah, why not? It went so well last time.”
Kimberly tilted her head. “Do I sense some sarcasm?”