by Jayme Morse
He paused for a long moment, but I could still hear his breathing on the voicemail. Finally, he spoke again.
“Oh, and in case you hadn’t already figured it out, it’s me… Kane.”
It all came back to me then, the memories from this past summer spiraling through my mind like a tornado.
Once we finally reached an alley, the guy set me down on the black pavement.
“Reveale,” he said, using the word for “reveal” in the witch language.
I watched as both of our bodies came into view.
Once he was fully visible, my eyes scanned his body up and down.
He was the guy from my memories. He looked the same but different now.
His short dark brown hair was no longer cut short; now, it fell into his eyes, and he had golden, sun-kissed skin. It looked like he had spent a lot of time working outdoors.
Just like in my memory of him, he looked strong—like a warrior, with some of the most muscular arms I had ever seen in my entire life. And, considering I went to school with a bunch of werewolf guys, that was saying a lot.
As my eyes locked on his own emerald green eyes, my breath hitched in my throat.
That was when I felt it: the way my body was reacting to him. It wasn’t a way that I ever normally reacted to guys, outside of my pack. And there was a reason for that.
Just like me and my other mates, he was an Ancient.
“You still haven’t told me your name,” I whispered.
His lips curved upwards, into a smile. “I’m not even sure which name you go by nowadays.”
“It’s Raven,” I murmured as I stared into those eyes… those sparkling emerald green eyes.
There was something about him that stood out to me. I thought about it for a long moment before realizing what, exactly, it was.
He was evil.
That was the first thought that came to mind. Even though he had rescued me once before, and again now, I somehow just knew that his intentions had never been good or pure.
There had been ulterior motives the first time he had rescued me. He had wanted to marry me to gain some sort of power, some sort of control.
And there were ulterior motives now, too. I just wasn’t entirely sure what they could have been.
What sort of monster had I let rescue me from Milos’s dungeon?
“Well, are you going to tell me your name?” I pressed him, growing sort of annoyed that he hadn’t told me it by now.
“I thought we could maybe start with a ‘thank you’ first.” His eyes pierced through mine.
“Thank you for rescuing me—not just this time, but last time, too,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure how genuine I was being.
On the one hand, I was so relieved to be out of Milos’s dungeon, once and for all. I was relieved that Iris hadn’t gotten the chance to kill me the way she wanted. But my gratitude stopped there.
Mostly, what I felt was fear. Fear of who this guy was, and why he had rescued me not just once but twice now. Fear of where he was taking me or what he could have wanted me. Fear of why he had saved me not just once but twice in my lifetime. Fear of the attraction I felt towards him.
I couldn’t tell what his intentions were. There was this air of mystery about him, and truthfully? I didn’t even have the slightest clue of whether he was good or bad.
“Don’t you wonder why I keep popping in your life to rescue you every time you manage to find yourself as the damsel in distress?” The guy asked me, the slightest hint of amusement swirling around in those gorgeous green eyes.
“Yes, actually, I am very curious about that,” I admitted with a nod. I waited for a long moment for him to elaborate. When he didn’t, I said, “Are you going to tell me the reason why you keep rescuing me, or are you going to leave me wondering?”
“Perhaps one day I will reveal the reason to you, but today is not that day. Some things are better left to mystery.”
I found myself rolling my eyes at him.
“I know. You hate mystery. I haven’t forgotten. My memory is surprisingly good.” He chuckled. “I’ve never seen someone look more beautiful when they roll their eyes, by the way.” He stared at me like I was the most interesting specimen he’d ever seen in his life.
“You are rather interesting,” he murmured.
“You can hear my thoughts?” I asked with eyebrows. I knew, for sure, that I hadn’t spoken those words out loud.
“You didn’t have to speak them out loud. We’re more connected than you realize, Raven.”
“How are we connected?”
He stared down at me for a long moment. It became clear to me then that he didn’t actually plan to answer my question.
And yet, I believed that he was right. We were connected; I wasn’t sure how, exactly, but I could just feel it.
This pull that I felt towards him, the fact that he could hear my thoughts… There was obviously something that connected us. I just wondered what it could have been.
The guy moved in closer to me then. His arms fell to my waist, and he pulled me closer to him—so close that I could feel his hot breath against my neck.
I knew that I should have taken a step back. I should have moved away. I should have done something.
But I didn’t. I didn’t want to.
“My name,” he whispered, staring down into my eyes, “is Kane.”
Kane.
That was the name of the former Alpha of the Darken pack. He had died from the virus that had killed off nearly the entire population of the Ancient werewolves, except for the Darken, me, Milos, and, apparently, Iris. At least, the Darken pack had thought Kane had died. That was what they had told me.
But there was no way that could have been possible if Kane was staring here in front of me.
“You’re supposed to be dead,” I whispered.
“Well, luckily for both of us, I’m not.”
“If you survived the virus, then how come none of the other Darken knew it before now?” I asked him.
“Easy. I made sure they didn’t know about it.” His eyes met mine. “I faked my own death.”
“Why would you do that?” I questioned.
“There were things I needed to attend to.”
“For like five-hundred years?” I just stared at him. “How could you fake your death for such a long time? They were worried about you, I’m sure.”
“They couldn’t have been worried about me when they thought I was dead. It was the kindest thing I could have done for anyone involved. They didn’t have to worry about me, and I didn’t have to deal with them for five-hundred years. It was a win-win for everyone.” He shrugged. “I guess they’ll be pleasantly surprised when they find out I was never dead at all.”
“Or really fucking pissed at you.”
“My, my, you do have the mouth of a sailor.” He cupped my chin with his hand, continuing to stare into my eyes. “There’s something you should know, Fallyn.”
“I told you that I go by Raven now,” I murmured. I wanted to break our gaze, to move away from him. Every bone in my body knew that I was way closer to him than I should have been. Kane couldn’t be trusted. That much I knew, for sure—and I had a feeling it had to do with more than just the fact that he wasn’t even supposed to be alive. No, something must have happened between us back during the ancient times, something that I couldn’t remember but that my instincts were picking up on.
But I couldn’t move away from him. For reasons I couldn’t even begin to understand, my body was drawn to him like a moth to a flame, and I absolutely hated it.
We were just inches away from one another, and his hands were on my face. Yet, somehow, my body was completely craving his touch.
It was sickening.
“Raven, there’s something you really need to know.” Kane’s eyes continued to hold mine, not unlocking me from the spell he seemed to have me under. “I loved you when I first met you as Fallyn. It was love at first sight, and I know you felt it, too.”
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I wasn’t sure if love at first sight was what it had been, but I would have been lying if I said I didn’t feel something out of the ordinary for him. It sort of reminded me of the first time I had met my mates.
“Even though we have been apart for many years now,” Kane continued, “the love that I feel for you has never died. I’ve been quietly watching you for years now, from a distance. I watched you back in the human world, and I’ve watched you at Werewolf Academy.”
I knew that I should have been creeped out by that confession, but I wasn’t. If anything, it only made me feel more intrigued by him.
“After all of these years of watching you, I can honestly tell you that I fall more and more in love with you each day. I’ve watched you with all of them—with all of the Darken. And it kills me to watch you love them the way you do, knowing the truth. And the truth is that I love you more than any of them ever could love you and more than any of them ever will. I am hopelessly devoted to you.”
My heart pounded against my chest. I was speechless.
Kane began to lower his head, and I knew then that he was about to kiss me.
I knew that I shouldn’t let him kiss me. I knew that nothing good could actually come from it. My head was screaming at me to run far, far away from him.
But for some reason, my feet just remained frozen in place. It was as if I couldn’t have moved even if I wanted to. It sort of reminded me of when Javier had compelled me to kiss him to be his blood mate. Except, I didn’t think Kane was compelling me.
No, I was pretty sure that some small, completely irrational part of me actually wanted to kiss him.
And so, when his lips came crashing down on mine, I didn’t even try to fight it.
Almost as soon as his lips hit mine, I felt some sort of shift taking place.
It was hard to explain at first, but I just knew that something was changing.
Suddenly, I could no longer feel my other mates anymore… not the way that I had felt them before, anyway. I just knew that I was no longer connected to them.
Another realization that hit me was that I was no longer Alpha of Darken.
Before I even had time to fully process what was happening, I could feel myself growing lightheaded.
Oh no. I was about to faint, and I knew exactly what that meant.
Kane was my fifth mate.
And that wasn’t all. The reason I was no longer Alpha was because he was.
As my eyes were about to flutter shut, I realized something else, too.
Kane was more than just Alpha of the Darken pack.
A powerful energy, a different vibration, had filled the air around me. I could feel it deep in my gut; it was a feeling I couldn’t shake.
Everything had shifted, and it was all because I had kissed him. Something in the universe had completely shifted when our lips had met for the first time.
I didn’t know how or why, but somehow, I just knew. Kane was the third missing piece of the puzzle Milos and Iris had been trying to complete all summer.
He was the third part of the Triangle.
There was a knock on my bedroom door then, which brought me back to reality.
I glanced up to find Theo standing in my doorway.
His light blue eyes locked on mine. “Are you okay? Your heart is beating like a hummingbird right now.”
I swallowed hard. I tried to hide the emotions that were flowing through me from him, but I knew it was no use. The look in his eyes told me he could feel everything I was feeling.
“I’m okay. I was just remembering things that happened over the summer,” I explained to him.
“I see.” He stared at me, a look of worry in his eyes. “Do you want to talk to about it?”
I shook my head.
“What triggered the memory?” Theo asked.
“They come and go. I guess that’s to be expected with PTSD. I’ve been having memories more overall, ever since Iris came by.” I swallowed hard. Even though I didn’t want to talk about it, I knew that I couldn’t keep this information to myself. “But this time, it was because Kane called.”
“Yeah?” Theo asked.
I nodded. “He calls sometimes, but this time was different.”
“Different how?”
“He left a voicemail this time. He wants me to call him back. It’s the first time he’s left a voicemail since he dropped me off here.” That had been in July. He had dropped me off at the Darken house with the promise that I would see him again really soon. It was December now. Not only hadn’t I seen him yet, but it was also the first time I had even heard his voice since July.
Even though he may have been there at two critical moments of my lifetime, both times when I needed someone the most, he didn’t seem to be the most reliable. It was sort of disappointing.
“I see.” Theo sat down on the bed next to me. “Well, are you going to call him back?”
“I’m not sure.” Every part of my being knew that calling him back was a risk. I had been avoiding him for so long now, and he knew it.
But I also couldn’t ignore the fact that I owed him. Or that my heart actually wanted to call him back, that I actually longed to hear my mate’s voice. Because even though I was well aware that Kane wasn’t good for me or for the pack—or for the entire world, for that matter—I also couldn’t ignore the fact that a part of me actually cared about him.
Every hour of every day that had passed since the last time I had seen Kane, it felt like my body was experiencing withdrawals from him.
“I would really prefer if you didn’t call him,” Theo said finally, interrupting the awkward silence that hung in the air between us.
“Yeah, I know how you feel about him,” I replied quietly.
“It’s more than just the way I feel about him, Raven. I’m afraid that he’ll try to hurt you.”
“He won’t hurt me,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m his mate, Theo. Remember? It’s painful for us to lose our mates. You said so yourself.”
“Yeah, I know, but do you think Kane cares? He’s merciless, Raven. The guy faked his own death,” Theo insisted. “He can’t be trusted.”
“I know.” And I did know that he was right. Kane was the furthest thing from trustworthy. He was an arrogant, cocky jerk with a hidden agenda that none of us had quite figured out yet. I didn’t trust him at all. And yet, my heart didn’t care about any of that and my craved him. Sometimes, it physically hurt for me to be away from him. So as much as I didn’t want to make that call, I also didn’t know for sure if I would be able to control myself.
And I hated that. I hated feeling like I wasn’t in control of my feelings for Kane.
I couldn’t control my feelings for any of the Darken, but there was a big difference. I would have trusted my other mates with my life. I couldn’t say the same about Kane.
“You’re thinking about him right now,” Theo murmured, his blue eyes meeting mine from where he was sitting on the bed.
“What makes you think that?” I asked him.
“I can always tell when you’re thinking about someone who isn’t me. You get this dreamy look in your eyes.” His gaze didn’t move away from me. “I’ve known forever that I only had a twenty-five percent chance of winning you over in the end, but now? Now, it’s only a twenty percent chance, but it might as well be a zero percent chance.”
“Zero?” My eyebrows knotted together at the center of my forehead. “How do you figure?”
“Easy. When it comes to Kane, I always lose.”
I knew Theo was referring to their positions within the pack; Kane had always been the Alpha of the Darken, while Theo had been the Beta. There had always been an ongoing competition between the two of them—one that Theo was still bitter about to this day, even though it had been literally centuries since Kane had faked his death.
“The worst part is that I know Kane better than anyone,” Theo went on. “I can already predict his next move. Even though he’s a loose cannon, he’s al
so calculated and predictable.” His blue eyes locked on mine. “He’s going to try everything he can to make you fall in love with him just to steal you away from me. He’s going to act like he loves you, even though he doesn’t.” He paused. “Can you promise me one thing?”
“What?” I questioned.
“Can you promise me that no matter who you end up choosing in the end, it won’t be Kane?” Theo asked.
I just stared back at him, unsure of how to respond. Deep down, I believed that I would pick one of the Darken who I had spent the past two years with. It was hard for me to imagine what my life would have been like without any of them.
But I didn’t really know Kane that well. We had only just met a month ago. What if he was The One?
How could I make a promise to Theo that I couldn’t keep?
“You’re not answering me. There’s an answer in silence,” Theo said. He stared at me for a few long moments before rising to his feet. “Can I give you a piece of advice?”
“Sure,” I replied with a nod.
“Eternity is a lot longer than you probably realize. No matter who you do choose, you should choose wisely.”
Then, without saying another word, he turned his back to me and walked out of the room.
As he left me sitting there on my bed alone, I knew that he was wrong.
Theo could think whatever the hell he wanted, but I had seen it in Kane’s eyes; I’d heard it in his voice. It was evidenced by the fact that he had been following me around for literally hundreds of years.
Good wolf or bad wolf, I believed with all my heart that in some crazy or twisted way, Kane really did love me. And even though knowing that gave me all the feels, it scared the shit out of me, too.
Aiden had told me a story about Kane. He had once killed a girl who he had been in love with, a girl who hadn’t loved him back.
Knowing that there was a chance that Kane could do the same thing to me if I didn’t choose him in the end wasn’t what scared me the most, though.
No, the part that scared me the most was that I genuinely, and foolishly, believed that he would never do the same thing to me.
