He forced himself to break away and stand up, his face flushed and his wolf’s disappointment was palpable.
“India needs to see that you are okay, sweetheart and you need to eat something, keep up your strength,” he said softly.
“Come back to bed,” she urged with a playful smile.
“We have the whole long night ahead of us Imogen and we are going to make use of every last minute,” he promised.
“In that case, I will need my strength, I’m starving,” she grinned and hopped out of bed, stripping off the tank top and panties, “But first a shower,” she teased and he groaned as he watched her sashaying naked into the bathroom. When did she become so bold? He shook his head before going downstairs to tell the others she was awake.
Roisin loaded a tray with thick ham and cheese sandwiches and a piece of Imogen’s lemon cake and India carried it upstairs to her sister, Bree and Hope right behind her. Sean filled everyone else in on her change but not what had facilitated it in the first place and like him, no-one had a clue why she would be white instead of almost black like the color of her hair.
“Amos Green would know if there is any significance,” Roisin said as she made coffee, “He was around when your great grandfather was alpha, a long time ago, Seann, he is a veritable mind of pack information.”
“I will talk to him tomorrow; we also need to get Kandis and her parents here tomorrow morning and I have two prisoners still to question. Kellas was a pack member, not a mutt as we first suspected he was so we need to contact his alpha too but we don’t know about the others, Kandis didn’t recognize them. For now, I am going to look in on the human and then I am going back to bed.”
“He is still unconscious, Seann, but he is getting more restless in his sleep, it won’t be long before he wakes. I will do some snooping in town tomorrow, see if I can pick up anything about him,” he trusted Roisin to be discreet and nodded his agreement.
He picked up two cups of coffee and went upstairs to their room. His sisters took the hint and left and India a few minutes later after she was convinced her sister was okay.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” she kissed her cheek and closed the door behind her.
Imogen finished her sandwich and put the plate down and took the cup from him.
“Coffee? This will keep us up all night,” she commented and he picked up her hand and kissed it.
“No baby, I will keep you up all night, the coffee is just to keep you alert,” he was smiling and despite her earlier boldness she flushed pink but he heard her heart rate pick up and his wolf could sense the scent of her arousal. She wore short pajamas that left little to the imagination and Seann’s heart started to beat wildly as his imagination went into overdrive.
She took his cup and put it on the nightstand with hers and was on top of him again before he could blink. She threaded her hands into his hair and pulled his mouth toward hers and he was powerless to resist her. Her scent and taste could have been designed for him and his heart rate soared as she probed him with her tongue. She was everything he would ever want or need in a mate and tonight he could finally claim her completely.
His need to control her took over and the growl erupted from somewhere deep inside and he flipped her over until she was beneath him. If he expected her to be soft and compliant, he was going to be disappointed as she fought for domination of their union and he found himself flat on his back again. Her strength was tenfold but she still wasn’t a match for him. For now, he let her take control and closed his eyes as her lips and hands explored him, he could clearly sense her wolf and she was no pushover, she was strong and willful and perfect. His skin was on fire from her touch, god, she was amazing.
“SEANN, come quickly!” Bree’s voice pierced the air.
He groaned as the sound penetrated his foggy brain and his senses picked up the scent of anxiety, something was wrong. His sisters would never disturb him if it wasn’t important, not tonight. He broke away from her and she whimpered in confusion.
“We need to go downstairs, something is wrong, sweetheart, we need to go.”
It only took a second to register that he was serious and she jumped off the bed and pulled on her jeans and a sweatshirt to hide her arousal from the rest of the pack. Seann was dressed and he held out a hand for her as they hurried downstairs to see what the commotion was all about.
The house was ablaze with light and pack members milling around outside the Den too. Everyone was talking at once and Seann had to shout to quiet them down.
“Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?” he yelled and that got their attention,
Lachlan Scott pushed his way to the front of the crowd, his face flushed as his eyes rested on Seann, “My cousin, Colm just called to say his daughter, Aspen, is on her way here to see Kandis but you know she was to be mated to Kellas, I think she might be onto something.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Imogen
Seann ordered the crowd to disperse and asked that she be brought to him the moment she arrived, what had alerted the young woman that Kellas may be coming here? Lachlan was joined by Faye and Kandis and Sean asked them to stay with them until she arrived.
“We don’t know what she already knows but I am guessing she is not going to be too pleased that her mate has been killed,” Lachlan said to the room at large.
“He’s not her mate, they were to be mated in a few months’ time,” Kandis said and Imogen’s heart went out to the other girl. She had been through hell tonight and it didn’t look like it was going to get better any time soon.
“Why did they wait?” Imogen asked.
“Good question,” Kandis said.
She had thrown off her hostility toward Imogen but she knew she had a long way to go before she would be the woman she should have been before Kellas got his filthy hands on her.
Bree and Hope were making food and India was supplying everyone with drinks while they waited. Garrett’s eyes followed her wherever she went and Imogen would have found it sweet had it not been for the dark cloud hanging over them. She couldn’t imagine how much pain it would bring her to find out Seann had been killed and her heart ached for the woman she had yet to meet. She felt sick at the thought and glanced at Kandis who was also dealing with the guilt that she was the one to cause her all of this pain.
Liam had stayed around too and he stood behind Kandis, watching her closely and Imogen wondered if she had any inkling of how much he cared for her.
“Someone help me understand why they would have waited?” Imogen asked again as she took a seat on the floor in front of the log fire, “I thought the need to mate was instinctual.”
“I don’t know, honestly,” Seann said, “Sometimes we will have young, newly transitioned wolves want to mate and we encourage them to wait for a while until they become of age but it doesn’t mean they are happy with the decision, bottom line is that they want to be together, their wolves recognize each other and that’s a force greater than nature,” he looked at Imogen and she felt the magnetic pull that bound them push to the surface and stood up abruptly and walked over to look out of the window. She needed a moment to get her wolf under control.
“It can be a conscious choice too,” Garrett said suddenly and Imogen turned to look at him but his eyes were on her sister, “Sometimes you just need to be sure before trusting your instincts but your wolf will rarely steer you in the wrong direction. Wolves mate for life, never for a passing fancy,” he looked angry as he stood up and went into the kitchen and India had that stubborn shut-down expression on her face that Imogen recognized so well. India was scared of her feelings for Garrett, she had major trust issues since they lost their parents but she didn’t have time to deal with that right now, they had bigger fish to fry.
She helped Bree clear the cups and plates and stack the dishwasher for something to do while they waited and her incessant chatter brought a smile to her lips. Seann’s sisters were great and Imogen knew she was lucky to
be readily accepted by this family. Hope had told her one day that some packs wouldn’t accept a bitten wolf in a position of any power, they preferred their hierarchy to have come up through the ranks. Bitten wolves had a less than stellar record of integrating into pack life and customs and some packs had even written it into law. She was grateful no such laws existed here.
She wandered back into the living room a little unnerved by the silence, everyone was talking in whispers. Wolves were raucous by nature and the Den was very rarely quiet.
A lone howl pierced the air and she tensed and looked to Seann who merely nodded, Aspen was here.
Garrett was dispatched with Lachlan to collect her from the gate and bring her to the Den. Seann was as tense as Imogen had ever seen him and she wondered why. Surely when they explained the things that Kellas had done, she would understand that they had no choice.
“What haven’t you told me?” she asked him bluntly.
“Tell her, she is part of this pack and has a right to know what goes on,” Kandis said and Seann threw her a sour look before he turned back to Imogen.
“We will talk about it later, it’s not about you, I swear,” his eyes were pleading but she stood her ground.
“No, let’s talk about it now, Seann,” hands-on-hips she faced him.
No one said anything for the longest moment and Imogen turned away from Seann in anger just as Kandis sprang to her feet and faced her.
“Pack law dictates that we can exact revenge for a mates death on the wolf responsible by demanding the same fate for the killer. Aspen is within her rights to ask for my death in return for Dan Kellas’s...despite what he did to me. Unfortunately, I have no proof and my cousin already thinks I had a fling with him back then so why would she believe me now?” Angry tears blurred Kandis’s vision.
“Seann, you need to do something!” Imogen implored him but he was already on his feet, barking orders.
“I won’t let that happen, Kandis. Liam, take Connor and bring the prisoners here. Bind them so that they are unable to shift and keep them outside until I say so, hurry!”
“I am going to ask some of you to wait in the kitchen while we talk to her,” he added and everyone filed out leaving just Kandis and her mother, Seann and Imogen.
She went to the door to join the others knowing Seann would likely try and stop her but it was Kandis who called out.
“Imogen, please stay,” she held her gaze.
She hesitated for a moment but the rare show of vulnerability in the other woman’s eyes made her close the double doors and sit down at her side.
The front door opened and Garrett came in with Lachlan and a young woman who Imogen guessed to be about the same age as she was. She resembled Kandis in looks, her blonde hair hung down her back and her slight frame belied the wolf that resided inside her. She was as white as a sheet as her eyes darted around the room and realization dawned on her that she didn’t yet know of her mate’s demise.
Imogen’s eyes flew to Seann’s and he nodded slightly to confirm her suspicion, this was going to be so difficult for Kandis and for Aspen, Kellas had a lot to answer for.
“Where is he,” she said softly, “Where is Dan?”
“Aspen, please take a seat,” Seann said gently and she shrugged off her jacket and sat beside her cousin on the sofa.
“Where is he, Kandis, where is Dan Kellas. I know he was coming here because he told my sister weeks ago he was coming her to find you but she wasn’t supposed to tell me. She finally did today and I had to come here.”
“Aspen, there is so much you don’t know, honey and it’s going to be really hard to understand but please give Kandis a chance to tell her story,” Faye said and Aspen looked to her cousin without comment.
Kandis took a deep breath and told her story, not leaving out a single detail and Garrett had to hold her father in place as the whole sorry tale spilled out. Faye was weeping gently but everyone else sat in horror as she calmly told how he tricked her into thinking he liked her, took her to the cabin, tied her up and raped her repeatedly. She told them how much enjoyment he got from watching her scream and cry, begging for him to stop.
“When he was finished I was thanking god it was over and then he opened the door and he invited his friends into the cabin to violate me too, while he watched them. I detached myself from it all then and closed my eyes until it was all over and they bundled me into the car and dumped me at the end of the lane to your house. I sneaked into the bathroom and stood in the shower for an age trying to wash away their filth,”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone,” her father’s voice was breaking, “Colm would have killed him, Kandis.”
“He promised me if I told anyone that he would kill all of my cousins keeping Aspen for last. He told me in great detail what he was going to do to her and I had no reason not to believe him as depraved as he was. When the other two men disappeared without a trace I believed he had killed them to send a message to me and I wasn’t going to risk any harm coming to you.” The last part was directed to her cousin who was staring at her in shock.
“He told me when we got together about that summer but he said that you had flirted outrageously with him and he had turned you down then because you were so young. I believed him, Kandis, I never saw that side to him at all. He was always respectful, too much so, that was when I began to wonder about him. I mean, wolves have healthy sex lives and in all the months we have been together we have never had sex. He told me he wanted to wait until we were officially mated but he was in no hurry to do that either, but to be honest, I was in no rush either.”
“What do you mean?” Kandis asked.
“As time went on his facade began to crack and there was a meanness of character that he tried very hard to hide but it was coming through more and more often and I tried to break away from him. He disappeared for days at a time and a couple of months ago my sister, Katie, disappeared too. When she came back she refused to say where she had been and has been acting so out of character, despite my father’s threats to ground her for the rest of her life. Then yesterday when I confronted her she broke down and told me where she had been.”
“Oh no Aspen!” Kandis stood up quickly, fists clenched, her face contorted in anger.
“He lured her away and kept her for two whole days, he raped her several times and told her he would slit my throat and then my parents if she ever told a soul. My parents don’t know any of this yet but I intend to tell them when I go home. He told my sister he had unfinished business with you Kandis, that’s how I knew where he had gone.”
“How old is your sister?” Imogen asked gently.
“Sixteen, she is only sixteen years old,” she was trying her best to hold back her tears and her rage, “I came here to find the bastard and kill him.”
Kandis looked to Seann who nodded and she took her cousin’s hands in hers, “Aspen, I’m sorry for what happened to you and Katie, I truly am, but you are too late. Dan Kellas is dead, I killed him and if it’s any consolation, I enjoyed every single minute of it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Seann
They left Aspen alone with Kandis for a while to fill in the blanks and Seann was relieved she wasn’t baying for her cousin’s blood for killing her mate. Kandis had suffered enough and even in these early days, Seann could see the difference in her already. He suspected that Liam was more than a little smitten but wisely he wasn’t trying to rush things, she would need time to heal.
It seemed Kellas was much more interested in taking over the pack as alpha than he was in mating with the current alpha’s eldest daughter. Seann wondered if he planned on Colm O'Briens’ early demise to get him the position he craved so much. Aspen admitted she had been having second thought about him for quite some time but that it was expected they would mate and she thought her parents would be angry if she broke their agreement.
She didn’t recognize any of the two prisoners either and he suspected they were mutts Kellas had picked up
somewhere along the way. One of them, trying to save his own sorry ass, was singing like a budgie and told Seann that the first thing Kellas wanted to do as alpha was to change the age of consent to thirteen years old, not that he had asked for Katie’s consent or Kandis’ before that. How many more young girls had he raped? He was just a filthy pedophile.
Seann shook his head to clear it, the world was full of predators and the pack always took care of their own. He would offer Colm the opportunity to deal with them, Kandis had already gotten her revenge and was starting to finally heal, but the chances of those two making it out of his dungeon were slim and he didn’t have a single regret about their fate. How many more young girls had they violated? They would have done the same to his mate if they hadn’t been caught and the rage that coursed through him as he thought of Imogen at their mercy was unlike anything he had ever felt before. He stripped off and went running through the woods before Imogen came outside looking for him. How did he explain to her that it wasn’t the right time to consummate their relationship, he wanted it to be perfect, not sullied by everything that had been happening here. She deserved so much more than that.
Tonight had been so important to him but everything had changed since. He could wait a little longer. He wanted to take her away from here, back to a time before their world was tainted by child molesters and rapists and he hoped she understood. The full moon was in two days and after that, they could go away, just the two of them and the pack would manage without him, they would have to.
He was running full speed through the trees when he realized he wasn’t alone and he turned his head to see the snow-white wolf barreling toward him. Imogen!
Pride inflated his chest as he watched her gain on him and she quickly caught up and they ran side by side, overtaking him until they reached the river bank where she pulled up and waited until he shifted back.
The Children of the Moon Page 13
