“Show me,” Knox said, stepping up next to her at the stove. She showed him how to stir and turn the scrambled eggs, so they didn’t stick to the pan. He leaned over and kissed her cheek before going right back to minding the eggs.
“Tell me what happened.”
“About what?”
He tipped his chin toward her chest where the sprinkled scars from buck shot showed. Katherine’s stomach dropped to the floor. She never wore low necklines because of it. Not many people even knew she had them.
“You said that Harrison saved your life.”
“It was a long time ago. My dad got discharged from the army.”
“He was a soldier? A warrior?”
Katherine nodded and pointed to the eggs.
He stirred them around and then slid them out onto the two plates she’d set out.
“Yes. He saw a lot of ugly things overseas. He wasn’t the same man when he came back home. He hit all of us when he got upset or startled. He broke mom’s arm one time. He gave me a concussion once.”
Knox’s fangs descended, but he didn’t speak out. Instead, he let her continue at her own pace.
“It got worse and worse. He was seeing a doctor, but it didn’t help. I didn’t really understand it then, but now I know more about what was going on. He had PTSD really bad and would slip into states of mind where he didn’t recognize us at all.”
“Like a dream?”
“That’s a good way to describe it. Like a walking dream. He had more and more of them. One night he killed my mom and my brother. He slit their throats. He came in to my bedroom that night with a knife and kicked something in my floor. I woke up and saw him before he got to me.”
Knox reached up and touched her neck, stroking the unmarred flesh. She didn’t have a scar there. Had her dad not woken her up she would’ve died.
She knew that already, but Knox had just realized it. She could feel the tension in his hand where he touched her skin.
“I screamed and ran. We knew he had episodes. Mom told us to try and hide from him if we ever saw him with a knife or a gun. He threw the knife and got me in the back. Harrison said I was lucky the blade was shallow.”
“You have many wounds.” He touched one of the raised scars on her chest. “This one is not a blade.”
The oven beeped. Katherine grabbed a mitt from the counter and pulled the bacon out of the oven. She gave most of it to Knox and put a couple pieces on her plate.
“He tackled me after that first hit. Stabbed me multiple times. Harrison said I had to be running on pure adrenaline at that point. Somehow I got loose and ran outside into the snow.” Katherine pointed out the kitchen window. “We lived down that street. The tenth house that’s a pile of burnt ruins. I ran to Harrison. He’d always been a safe place to hide from dad.”
She put her hand on the shotgun wound on her chest and closed her eyes, remembering the pain and terror of having her dad chase her out into the dark and cold. “The first shot didn’t hit me, but it confused me enough in the dark to make me circle around and run in the wrong direction. Suddenly I was facing my dad again instead of crossing the street to get to Harrison’s place.”
Knox pulled her against his chest and buried his face in her hair, huffing in agitated breaths. His hands stroked up and down her back, but he didn’t say anything.
Not that he was sorry.
Not that she was brave.
He was just there. And that was all she needed.
“Harrison heard the shots and came running, but he didn’t get to me before one of them hit me. He stopped dad from dragging me into the house.”
“He burned the house?”
A heavy sigh slipped from her chest. She stepped away from Knox and met his softened gaze. “Harrison said he was lucid right before the end. He screamed my name when he saw Harrison trying to save my life. Harrison said he begged for forgiveness then set the house on fire and shot himself.”
“Do you think he was awake at the end? That he knew what he did?”
“Yes. I remember his scream. The pain and sorrow in that scream is the last memory I have of my dad. I passed out right after that. Harrison saved my life and Carl flew me out of town to the hospital in Fairbanks.”
“What happened to you?”
“Mama P took me in after that. I lived with her. Harrison was always around too. He taught me to hunt and fish and defend myself. He was a cross between a grandpa and a father. Mama P made sure I finished school. I never would’ve found myself again without her.”
Katherine picked up the plates of food. Knox followed her and sat down with her. “My place in this town, too. For the longest time I was the kid who lived. Everyone in town kinda helped take care of me.” Katherine smiled thinking of the happy memories she had in the center growing up. “Now I run the center, and everyone counts on me.”
“They do. And they adore you. I saw it every time I visited. You are important to this town.” He glanced at the floor and sighed. He rubbed his face and then ran his hands through his hair.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was going to ask you to leave Mystery.”
All the air fled Katherine’s lungs, leaving her without the ability to speak.
Leave Mystery?
The thought was like a knife in the gut, but worse than what she remembered from last time. But what sliced through even deeper was the thought of living without Knox. Bile rose in her throat, burning and clawing at the beginnings of happiness she’d found in his arms this morning.
“I’ll fix it. There has to be a way.”
“There isn’t, Katherine. I’m not only of the Wolf Tribe. I’m the brother to the man that not only attacked and kidnapped your friend, my Tribe was foolish enough to attack the dragon’s mate.”
“Not a lot of smart people in your tribe,” Katherine said, her voice coming out as sharp as the knife her dad had sunk into her back.
“They aren’t people. They don’t remember how to be. I learned with you. Don’t you remember the first time I came to the Community Center?”
“You didn’t talk a lot, but you didn’t attack anyone.”
“I was a man, not a wolf. My tribe doesn’t shift. At least not often. Mostly just to breed. Then back to their beasts. They act on pure animal instinct and hierarchy.”
“So, you really are wild animals.”
“In a way. Yes.”
“The one who came at me on the street. He would’ve attacked me if you hadn’t shown up, wouldn’t he?”
“Yes. Your vehicle hit him. He was merely attacking what caused him harm.” Knox got up from his chair and paced. “And if he’s out there, it’s likely that the other two he found are with him. I need to go to them. If I don’t establish dominance quickly as their new alpha, they could become unpredictable and dangerous to anyone in town.” He took a few steps toward the front door.
“You’re still too injured,” she said, jumping up to block his way. “You can’t go now. They’ll kill you. I won’t lose you.”
Tears erupted like a geyser. The truth she didn’t want to admit was gushing out of her without any restraint. She’d let Knox get close. She never let strangers get close. Never men. Rarely women. Tara was her only girlfriend. It wasn’t that she wasn’t friendly and cared about everyone in town, but none of them knew her as a close friend.
Not really.
But Knox had made it through her walls. He’d burrowed in slowly and steadily without her realizing it. One stolen moment at a time. And not only had he made through the walls she used to keep people from getting too close…from mattering too much, he’d made it into her inner sanctum.
She’d let him touch her soul.
Losing that connection would shatter everything.
His body language softened. The hard, golden glitter in his eyes faded to a warm honey-brown. “Shuarra.” He stepped closer and extended his arms. “You will not lose me. I am their alpha. But I have responsibilities too. This is one of those. The
pack is wild. Without a leader they will cause trouble for everyone. For all the Reyleans in town. And the humans.”
The panic rose in her chest like someone had grasped her heart through her chest and was squeezing. Tighter and tighter. “No. You can’t go. I have to talk to Tara. She will get Owen and the dragon and the others to listen. She’s in their group. We’re like family. She’ll be on my side. On our side.”
“I still have to get those boys somewhere safe. They are young and foolish. That’s why they followed my scent into town. They have no one else, Katherine.”
She understood that feeling. She took a deep breath willing the hand to release. It took a few moments, but finally she was able to raise her gaze to meet Knox’s again.
“If Li’Vhram stumbles upon them or the others, they will execute them. I can’t let the rest of my pack die if I can prevent it.”
“Then we do it together and methodically.” The fist had released completely. Now heat filled her belly instead. She would fight. Scary creatures from another world or not, Knox was worth the risk no matter what. Life would lose meaning without him. “I’m not letting you out of my sight because the same goes for you. The dragon would kill you too, wouldn’t he?”
“Yes.” Knox’s voice was filled with a finality that shook Katherine to the core.
9
Knox
“Turn there.” Knox pointed through the windshield toward a small park across the street from the Community Center.
“You told them to come here. To the park? There’re kids here.”
“They wouldn’t cross that line.” He rolled her window down and sniffed the air. “Dalmeck.”
“What?” His mate swung the truck around and parked it in the grass.
“I smell one of the cats. The tiger I think.”
“Stay in the truck. I’ll go get the others.”
“No.”
“They won’t hurt me. You told him.”
“No.” Knox got out of the truck and walked around to her door. He opened it and waited for her. “We’re doing this together, right? That goes both ways.” He sniffed the air again and looked over at the community center.
Katherine climbed out of the truck. The sun was high in the blue sky and a clean warm breeze pushed through his mate’s long hair. It glistened beautifully and for a moment he forgot that he needed to hide from the Reylean cat.
“What about the tiger? I still can’t believe there’s a tiger shifter too.” Katherine shut the truck door and turned back to him.
So much for forgetting about the tiger. “It’s the closest name of an animal to what humans would call him.”
“How did you learn that?” They followed the asphalt path around the playground and headed toward the tree line.
“I asked about an orange and black and white striped cat. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, but they did tell me that the only big cat like that was called a tiger.”
“You didn’t ask if they lived here, did you?” She threw her head backward and laughed. The sound soothed his worried soul. The soul glow still made her luminescent no matter what light she was in. It reminded him how much he wanted all this to work out. It had to work out or he would fail her.
“No, I asked where they lived naturally.”
His mate smiled. “Smart man. What did you learn?”
“They live naturally in a place called Russia and then some smaller ones live in the warmer southern countries like India and Malaysia.”
She was putting on a good face currently, but he knew she was scared to lose him. He knew she cared for him as strongly as he did her, but what she didn’t know is how scared he was to lose her too. He didn’t think the Tribe would punish her because of her association with him, but he couldn’t be too careful. The dragon had a personal grievance with the wolf pack. So did the bear. He didn’t have a chance in hell of either of them granting forgiveness.
“I’ll have to show you a globe sometime.”
Her words interrupted his worried thoughts. “A globe?” he asked.
“A map of the planet.”
“That exists? A map of the entire planet?”
“Yes.”
He sniffed the air again. He could still smell the tiger, but he could smell the wolves too…and blood.
Katherine thought her friend Tara would be able to change their minds, but his mate didn’t have a beast inside her that called for the blood of their enemies.
A beast that demanded vengeance.
A beast that sometimes acted before the soul inside could influence it otherwise.
He grabbed Katherine’s hand and started running. They crossed the field and into the tall scrub and trees behind the park.
“Oh, God! Knox.”
Knox turned and looked in the direction she was pointing. About twenty yards away the bodies of two men lay on the ground either dead or knocked unconscious. There was a lot of blood, but he couldn’t be sure. Another body hung limply from the mouth of the same animal that had attempted to tear Knox limb from limb.
“Stop!” Katherine shouted. “Don’t kill him!”
The tiger stared at Katherine and dropped the wolf to the ground with a heavy thump. Then he put a paw on the struggling young wolf’s neck to hold him in place.
They didn’t deserve this fate. Raish had pulled them all into violence. The whole pack. It was his brother’s fault and they were all being punished.
“There’s more!”
The sound of his mate’s terrified shout sent the purest personification of fear like a silper—a twenty-foot constricting reptile common on Reylea—coming to consume him whole. Two low growls came from behind Knox. He yanked Katherine tighter to his side. He couldn’t protect her on all sides. Three cats. It was impossible. He should’ve made her stay at her house. He could’ve forced her to stay.
Somehow.
Maybe.
Probably not.
Dalmeck.
“You can have me, just leave her out of this.” How had he missed the lions? The cats’ scents hadn’t mixed, but the lions had been downwind. He’d missed them all together. He’d been careless.
An eternity passed in moments.
The tiger shifted into a tall redheaded man wearing normal human clothes, pants and a shirt. The male wiped the smear of blood away from his mouth. The blood of his pack. Anger rose in his chest and a growl rattled out. He was their alpha. They were his responsibility and he’d failed them.
The wolf on the ground shifted. The redheaded male bent and punched him in the face. The younger man fell to the ground with another thud.
“They don’t deserve to die. You can’t just kill them. That’s not how life works here on earth.” Katherine shouted angrily, saying all the things stuck in his throat.
The redheaded male canted his head and sniffed the air. “Saul, Kann, she’s human.”
“Dalmeck!” A male voice shouted from behind Knox. He glanced over his shoulder. The lions had shifted from their beast forms too.
“It’s the woman from the Community Center, Katherine,” the other lion added.
“Tara’s friend?” The tiger male said, irritation in his voice escalating. “This can’t get worse.”
“I’m his mate.” Katherine’s shout crashed through the silent trees like a stampeding kroven.
“I spoke to soon,” the redheaded male spoke again. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Vraka is going to lose his shit.”
“No one is going to lose anything. You’re all gonna leave right now.”
Knox tore his gaze from the two lions who were closer than the tiger and glanced down at Katherine where he was holding her tightly at his side. She’d pulled a small hand gun from…where? She didn’t have a bag. Had she had it hidden under her shirt?
“That’s brave, Katherine, but the man you’re with is a dangerous animal.”
“What do you call yourself? A harmless house cat?” Katherine spat back at the tiger shifter. She waved the gun toward the
redhead.
The tiger shifter stepped back and raised his hands. “Hey, I’m not looking for trouble. I’m just protecting our Tribe.”
“You killed them.”
“They aren’t dead…yet.”
“Yet,” she said, taking aim at the tree the tiger was slowly moving to hide behind. All three wolves had climbed to their feet and were limping toward Knox. The tiger didn’t move to stop them.
“Katherine. It won’t stop them. Any of them,” Knox said, keeping his voice hushed.
“The wolves attacked us first. They attacked a human woman. Kidnapped her. Your friend. They would do the same to you or any other in town.” The redhead spoke again, sticking his head out from behind the tree.
“I know that’s not true and you know it. Raish was behind this whole thing. The alpha controls the pack. The Tribe. The Vraka, right?”
“It doesn’t matter, Katherine.” One of the lions spoke again from behind Knox.
He turned and so did Katherine’s aim. Now she was staring down one of the lion males. Tall. Braided hair. Wearing the standard Reylean tosa and tattoos and a variety of scars that said he wasn’t new to fighting.
The lion held up his hands, no weapons save for the beast glowing from his eyes.
“The wolf you’re with has been sentenced to death. And these.” He pointed to the three crawling toward Knox. “Our Vraka won’t allow him to live. It’s better if you let him go with us. We’ll take him away from here. You won’t have to watch.”
“I’ll call the sheriff.” Katherine said and pointed the gun at the other blond lion male. Unlike his counterpart, this male didn’t have braided hair and his clothes. He wore regular town clothes, work boots, and his hair was twisted up on top of his head in a loose bun.
“Don’t do that. None of us need that trouble.” The redhead’s fangs descended, and he took a step closer to Katherine, making Knox step forward and push his mate more behind him.
The only problem was he was pushing her closer to the lions.
There was no win here.
Only losing.
Knox bared his fangs and growled at the tiger. “Are you willing to die here today,” he said, his voice dark. “I am. And I will take at least one of you with me.”
Wolf At The Door: Soulmate Shifters World (Soulmate Shifters in Mystery, Alaska Book 5) Page 9
