Chapter Fifteen
I don’t know if any of us younger pack members were awake when we left that morning. We somehow managed to get all our luggage into the cars and then I promptly fell asleep once the vehicle started moving. Someone had to nudge me awake when we reached the airstrip. Groggy, I helped load some of the luggage and then found a window seat in the small plane that looked mighty comfortable. Someone sat down beside me, but I was already half asleep and didn’t acknowledge who it was.
I was jostled awake as the wheels touched down a few hours later. I found myself leaning to the side, my head resting on a shoulder. I shook myself awake and saw my head had been resting on Seth. He grinned down at me as I moved back over in my seat.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“I didn’t mind,” he shrugged.
“Did I drool on you?” I asked sarcastically, but Seth looked down at his shirt to inspect the area.
“Nope. All good.” He smirked and I rolled my eyes in response. I looked out the window to see we were taxiing to a private hanger where vehicles waited.
“Oh look, more riding,” I said dryly.
“Yeah, but we’re getting closer.” Seth said, clearly excited about the upcoming events.
“And Dad says we are stopping for a quick lunch.” Cassie chimed over the seat in front of me.
“Sit down?” I asked, thinking of how hungry I was.
“Yeah, he wasn’t keen on all of us going through a drive through. He thought it would take forever anyways.” Cassie replied. I had to agree there was probably some truth to that. The plane rolled to a stop and Seth and I waited our turn to step off the plane. I was about halfway down, Seth in front of me, when I heard excited shouts and felt a peaceful sensation flow through my body. I glanced up, searching the small crowd. There was only one thing, or person, that ever made me feel that way.
“Cade!” Cassie squealed as she flung herself into her brother’s arms for a hug. He hugged her back, but his eyes were trained on me. I swallowed nervously and tore my gaze away from him to finish walking down the steps of the plane. I could feel his eyes burning into me the whole time.
“We didn’t know you were going to be here,” I heard Mica say happily as she gave her son a quick hug. Liam clapped a hand on Cade’s shoulder.
“Glad you could be with us,” Liam beamed at Cade, clearly happy to have him with the pack.
“Thanks.” Cade replied with a ghost of a smile before making his way towards me. I’d stopped near the bottom of the steps, not sure what to do with myself. Seth was watching as he helped transfer bags to the vehicles. Cade stopped in front of me, taking a deep breath. His eyes narrowed and his eyes shot to where Seth stood.
“Why is his scent all over you?” Cade growled, taking a step toward me and pulling me into his arms. His hands ran up and down my back, his face buried in my neck. It took me a moment to figure out he was talking about Seth, probably from when I fell asleep on his shoulder. And then another heartbeat to realize that Cade was covering me in his scent, ridding me of Seth’s. I pushed him away, annoyed.
“What’s your deal?” I hissed, trying to be quiet but knew my voice would carry to all the shifter ears. Cade frowned at the distance I put between us.
“Who is he?” His eyes cut to Seth again.
“A friend.” I clipped, crossing my arms in front of me.
“Why do you smell like him?”
“Probably because I sat by him for the last few hours.” I said dryly.
“I don’t like it,” Cade growled, still glaring in Seth’s direction.
“Well tough freaking cookies.” I laughed sarcastically. “Deal with it.” I went to move around him, but his hand shot out and caught my arm.
“Are you mad at me?” His eyes were confused, like he couldn’t figure out why he was getting this reaction.
“What was your first clue?” I shrugged off his hand and crossed my arms again, annoyed.
“What did I do?” He squared up with my body and frowned down at me. My anger was spiking fast, unusual for me.
“Really? If you have to ask that, then we need to rethink things.” I winced as the words left my mouth, not meaning them at all but couldn’t really unsay them.
“What? No, Kendra, I’m sorry. Things have been stressful.” Cade ran a hand through his hair, clearly lost as to why I was mad.
“And you don’t think my life has been stressful?” I rounded on him. Deep down, I knew I was being unreasonable, but dang it! Why did I have to always be the one in control of my emotions? I was dealing with a lot too, and I didn’t need him barking at me the moment my feet touched the pavement.
“I’m sorry okay? I was excited to see you, but then when I smelled the other wolf on you, my protective side came out, and I…” he trailed off, at a loss for words.
“Was jealous. You were jealous. For no reason.” I finished for him.
“Yes, okay. I was jealous. I was looking forward to seeing you, after how we left last time-”
“You mean the fight? The one where you were not happy to see me and told me to leave?”
“You had to go. We were making arrests soon. I didn’t want you involved in that.”
“And you couldn’t have warned me?”
“I couldn’t tell you.” He argued, running a frustrated hand through his hair again. The others milled around us, holding quiet conversations, no doubt paying attention to the drama unfolding in front of them. “That would be a breach in protocol.”
“Protocol? What the hell Cade? My friends were almost arrested because of you.”
“I don’t see how it was my fault. They were the ones attending an illegal fight.”
“Right. So, tell me, how many wolves did you arrest that night?”
“Kendra,” he growled warningly.
“Two? Five? Ten? Oh, wait, that’s right. None. Zero. Because wolves are so superior to the other shifters.” I glared at Cade.
“Okay, you two,” Liam said as he walked toward us. “I don’t know what this is about, but we need to keep moving.” He looked at me with a questioning look. “Kendra, you were at an illegal fight?”
“One.”I clipped out.
“You didn’t mention you saw Cade.”
“Slipped my mind.”
“Okay,” Liam cleared his throat. “Well, we will revisit this little…discussion…later. Both of you, get in the vehicles so we can leave.”
“I’m not riding with him,” I seethed as I marched toward an open door.
“Kendra, come on,” Cade tried but I cut him off.
“Not now, Cade.” I slide in the vehicle and slammed the door after me. I glanced out the window to see Cade and Liam exchange a few more words before Cade’s shoulders slumped and they headed to another vehicle.
“Wow that was intense.” Brody’s voice piped up beside me. I whipped my head around and saw Brody smiling beside me. “Any hugs for old friends?” He asked as he held his arms out. I was so happy to see him and overwhelmed with everything else that I leaned over and buried my face into his shoulder. I tried to keep my tears at bay but being in Brody’s familiar company was very comforting and a few slipped down my cheek.
“It’s good to see you, Brody,” I sniffled.
“Right back atcha, Kendra,” Brody said softly while rubbing my back. “Do you want to talk about it?” He asked. I took a deep breath and gathered my emotions, beating them back with a stick before leaning away from him. I looked around the vehicle to see two enforcers in the front, and Jake and Seth in the back.
“I don’t want to talk right now.” I straightened in the seat and gave him a weak smile. “I’m glad you’re here though. Liam said something about you having some tasks to do today?”
“Minor sweeps around the compound, probably while you get all dolled up.” He smiled.
“Then you’ll be with us the rest of the night?”
“Yep, Cade and I will be part of the enforcers for our entourage tonight.” I smiled tightly at the mention of Cade’s name and turned back to the window. After a brief pause, Brody struck up a conversation with the two in the back, but I didn’t listen or pay attention. My mind was elsewhere.
I texted Ian who still hadn’t returned any of my calls or texts. Did he regret finding out I was his sister? Was that why he didn’t want to respond? I thought about texting Amber, but we didn’t really text that much, and I didn’t want her or the others getting suspicious about why I was wondering where Ian was or what he was doing. I wasn’t ready to tell anyone that Ian and I were related. It felt special, for just the two of us to know for now.
The cars sped down the highway, winding through traffic. I rested my head against the windowpane, watching but not seeing the scenery pass by. What was Cade’s deal? Why did he have to go all protective on me and be angry? So, what if Seth’s scent was on me, it’s not like I can help brushing up against someone. Okay, yeah, I was a little closer than that, but still, he had no reason to get angry.
I sighed and closed my eyes. One thing at a time. I needed to get through this stupid gala then worry about our relationship, or lack thereof maybe.
The car pulled into a breakfast chain and we all filed out. I kept myself immersed in the group, but I think everyone else was working against me. They shifted and moved around until I found myself once again beside Cade as we made our way to the front door. Cade held the door open for me, and I mumbled my thanks before walking in, Cade on my heels. We sat near the back of the restaurant, taking up most of the section. I sat down by Cassie, and Cade took the seat beside me. Brody was across from me, watching us for a reaction. I smiled tightly and picked up a menu.
“Are you going to talk to me?” Cade asked, looking sideways at me.
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked, perusing the menu.
“I’m sorry, I overreacted.” He ran a hand through his hair and leaned toward me. “I’m happy you’re here. I’ve missed you.” The heartfelt emotion radiating from him thawed most of my anger toward him.
I turned my head and smiled, feeling a familiar warmth spread through my body at his smiling face. “I’ve missed you too.” He reached for my hand and held it on the table without saying anything else. I caught Seth looking at our joined hands, but he looked quickly back down at his menu. I didn’t comment as I looked over my own menu. I’m sure Seth was curious about my relationship with Cade. We weren’t lifemates, but sometimes it felt like we were. Cade was definitely protective like one. It took a while for the waiter to take everyone’s order and deliver the food, but everyone was happy to be together again and catching up on all the news. Cade and I didn’t talk one-on-one during the meal, but he held my hand throughout the entire meal.
****
The drive to the remote resort took a little while, but once we were there, time seemed to fly by. Brody and Cade left to report to Enforcer Kane. Cade’s eyes tracked me until I was out of sight as I followed everyone else into the resort. Liam secured our room keys and led our entourage to the bank of elevators. There were a lot of wolf shifters in the lobby watching our progress. Liam and Mica headed our group and greeted a few shifters along the way. I, along with Cassie, were ensconced in the middle of the group. We were the only two women who were unmated that were attending from our pack. Once inside the elevators, and out of view from prying eyes, Cassie glanced over at me.
“You ready for this?” She had an excited grin plastered across her face.
“As I’ll ever be,” I half smiled in return. I was no where near as excited as Cassie was for the gala.
“It will be fun. I’m positive.” Bree replied encouragingly. “Dress up, mingle, eat, dance, and smile. Can’t be too hard.”
“Right,” I mused.
“Do we have to dance?” Hunter mumbled, looking sideways at Bree. She turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “I guess that’s my answer.” Hunter sighed.
“Oh, you’ll survive,” Cassie rolled her eyes. “At least you’re always guaranteed a partner. I’ll have to have all my dance partners vetted before I can say yes.”
“Or you could just dance with Brody. He’s a good dancer.” Hunter offered. Cassie rounded on Hunter who stepped back in the small space at Cassie’s look.
“I did not travel all this way to dance with my own pack members. If I wanted that, I would have stayed home.” She stated fiercely.
“Got it.” Hunter nodded, agreeing all too quickly. Cassie turned around and folded her arms across her chest and glowered at the elevator doors. I heard Bree smother a giggle and I looked back to see her face pushed into the side of Hunter’s arm. I smiled and turned back around, catching Cassie’s eye.
“What about you? Going to dance with any other wolves tonight?” She asked me.
“Uh, no. I’m not really into dancing.” I shook my head.
“I’m sure those McClain men would be happy to-” Hunter started but I interrupted him.
“I said I’m not dancing.” I said sharply, ending all conversation on the matter. Thankfully the doors opened, and we filed out, following the instructions on room assignments. Cassie and I were sharing a room, adjoined by Bree and Hunter’s. Across the hall would be Cade and Brody and then Cassie’s parents. I didn’t see Seth and Jake, but I guess they were staying in another part of the resort. We were just their ride after all. I grabbed my backpack and dress bag off the luggage rack and disappeared into our room. I heard Liam remind everyone we would be meeting in the lobby at seven and we were on our own for meals in between. I glanced at my phone and saw that it was midafternoon. We had a few hours to kill before we had to start getting ready. I swung my bag and dress onto the bed and walked over to the window. Pushing the curtains opened, I was glad to see we had a small two chair balcony. I slid the door open and stepped out into the mountain air.
It was refreshing to be away from other people and back in the wilderness. I didn’t realize it, but life on campus must have been grating on me more than I thought. I took the farthest seat and relaxed back, closing my eyes. A few minutes later, I heard Cassie’s voice talking to someone.
“Hey, you guys, open your adjoining door!” Cassie’s raised voice carried, and I assumed she was talking through the door to Hunter and Bree.
“Maybe we don’t want to see you.” Hunter answered, and I had to smile, because while I’m sure he meant it as a joke, I had to think there was a sliver of truth to that.
“Tough. Get over here. We need more bonding time.” She pounded one last time on their door then made her way to the balcony. Seeing the two chairs, she yelled out, “And bring your chairs!” She sat down beside me, pulling out her phone to text someone. I heard scraping on the balcony next to us, assuming Hunter was bringing over their chairs. Soon, the four of us were crammed onto the small balcony that overlooked the back of the resort and mountains in the distance.
The afternoon passed quietly, with each of us sharing stories from the past two weeks and catching up on any news. Cassie had ordered room service and we polished that off late afternoon. A few times I almost mentioned Ian but caught myself just in time. It didn’t feel right telling my pack before Cade. I’d have to find a time tomorrow when Cade and Brody were around to break the news. I wasn’t sure how they would handle it, but they would have to accept it. Ian was my brother, and nothing would come between me and my newfound family.