The force inside her rose with indignation. It looked down on Killian.
Good for you, she told the force. Too bad you’re completely useless.
She had no idea what kind of animal lived inside her. Shifters inherited their animal from their parents, but her mother’s witchcraft had muddled something inside Ashe. It left her unable to shift, to be like those around her. She cursed the weak creature over and over. Because of it’s weakness, she had suffered.
Cohen, despite the number of shifters still walking through the house, knelt and sat on the floor beside her. As an Alpha, even of his small pack, he should have felt the need to stand in the presence of those lower than him. She watched the way he looked at those passing by. He knew he was stronger than anything else in this house. He didn’t need to stand to show it.
Her mind drifted back to the shed and what they’d done in the darkness. She’d felt alive and powerful, even if only for a moment. It had been electric, unlike anything she’d ever imagined. There were surely bruises on her ass from where Cohen had held her, and she found a small bit of pride in them.
But the truth of the matter was that she could not be the person she needed to be to survive when she was with him. The walls she erected, the mousy visage she wanted the Pack to see, would come crashing down and they would see her for what she was.
For the truth even she wanted to ignore.
She wouldn’t be like her mother. She refused to follow in that woman’s footsteps, but she knew the same kind of power slumbered inside her. It was a curled beast, sleeping until it found it’s chance to strike. But it couldn’t strike if the walls remained standing.
“I can’t help you,” Ashe said, finally. “I’ll do what you originally wanted, but this mission is on you.”
His presence was warm beside her. She wanted to lean into it and feel his arm wrap around her, but she couldn’t risk it. Whatever laid between them would remain in the dark.
A low growling caught her attention. She looked up to find Cohen staring out the door. Killian had approached the doorway and Archer. While Archer stood with his arms crossed over his chest, Killian found windows between the bear shifter and the doorframe to cast suggestive looks at her.
Cohen’s fingers curled against the floor, his nails digging into the wood beneath them. Despite his fear of himself, he was a protective man. If he fought Killian, it would pull him into the Vancourt Pack. It would eventually place him at the top and he would have the same problem all over again. Cohen would be the Alpha of a Pack he didn’t want to lead.
She rested her head against the nearest cupboard and looked back to Killian. He winked and made a kissing face at her.
Faster than her eyes could follow, Cohen shot up from the floor. His hand was around Killian’s throat, Archer dazed as he staggered back. Cohen growled, lifting Killian from the ground. Archer shouted, but his words fell on deaf ears.
Ashe was frozen. Her mind reeled. Had Cohen done that… for her? No, it couldn’t be. He was just done with Killian’s posturing. That explained it. Killian was an arrogant piece of horsedung and Cohen’s patience had worn thin.
Slowly, she stood and approached Cohen. The same brilliant gold she’d seen glowing in his eyes the night before had returned. The bear had taken over. She glanced to Archer. Did he see what she did? Archer just kept telling his brother to put the man down, reminding him to kill the man with a formal challenge.
Realization struck her like a slap across the face. Archer didn’t see what was going on. Cohen’s brothers didn’t realize just how fragile the barrier between Cohen and his bear truly was. She touched his arm. He snarled until he saw it was her.
Her heart thundered inside her chest. Someday, he would try to hurt her. She should have feared that fact, but the force inside her rose and pushed toward Cohen’s beast. A soft cooing sound echoed through her mind. Cohen’s grip on Killian loosened and the man’s feet hit the ground. The bear regarded her with softness, almost as if in apology.
Then, Cohen reeled back. Killian struck him off guard. Cohen spun and snarled at the laughing man. Fear lashed through her. The bear would kill Killian, putting Cohen in a position for the Pack to hurt him. Before he could lunge at Killian, Ashe reached out. The power inside her uncurled and latched onto Cohen.
Archer didn’t see what happened as he placed himself between Killian and Cohen, his back to them. Her heart shuddered in her throat. She could already feel bile rising, disgusted with herself. Cohen was caught, mid-motion. Her power slithered through his limbs, holding him in place before he could destroy himself. His golden eyes slid toward her, hurt and with confusion in them, before they faded into Cohen’s dark shadows. He glowered at her.
What she’d done was unforgivable.
She snatched her hand back as if she’d touched fire. Betrayal was a knife in her chest, all the worse since she knew it was she who’d betrayed her friend. Her hold over him dropped and he spun toward her. Unable to bear what she’d done, Ashe ran. She darted out the front door, fumbling in her pocket for her keys.
Joanna called out behind her. Kaylee appeared, reaching for her arm, but Ashe dodged them both. She didn’t belong here. She wasn’t part of the Pack. She needed to go back to her apartment and hide.
It was only a matter of time before Cohen told the Pack what she’d just done. It had been an accident, a moment of desperation, but they weren’t going to understand. Ashe needed to run before someone grabbed her. Before…
She yanked the car door open and threw herself inside. Just as the engine ignited, she saw Cohen standing in the doorway. There was no way she could apologize for what she’d done.
Chapter Seven
Fury rolled over Cohen in waves. The beast had retreated after Ashe’s interference, but there was still a fire burning inside him. The loss of self, between his beast and the witch, sparked a raging fury within. His body had not been his own. It’d been taken from him twice over and bent by the hands of the witch. Her power had been strong and all consuming.
Before he knew it, Gage and Kaylee had come to flank him. They lingered nearby, like therapy dogs. Soon, their presence had helped calm some of the emotions roiling through him. He could think straight again. In a matter of seconds, so much had happened.
He’d nearly murdered Killian just for making a kissy face at Ashe. No, not Cohen. His beast. The switch between the two of them had been instantaneous. Not even Cohen had seen it coming.
With his packmates on either side of him, he wondered what that meant. What was it about the witch that twisted him so? Was it her manipulation? There had to be some kind of spell she’d woven over him. He was an easy target, unsuspecting at best. She could take control of him and use him as a kind of protection against the world.
Yet, the longer he was caught in his own thoughts, the more he realized it was different. Watching her leave had struck him. Part of him was furious at what she’d done, and perhaps a little afraid. Yet, another part of him ached as he watched her leave.
If it wasn’t a spell, then what was it?
He needed to know before he left. He needed to uncover what it was that lay between him and the young witch, because if it was more… Cohen looked to his youngest brother and his mate. They leaned against the nearest wall together, their bodies mimicking one another with their arms crossed over their chests.
The two were an inseparable duo, pitted against the worst odds. He glanced at Archer and Joanna, arguing over wedding details while Archer still served as door guard against Killian. Cohen’s heart thumped inside his chest.
Could it be?
No, he shook his head to dispel the wayward thought. The witch was his ticket out of the bond Gage and Kaylee had forced onto him. He would keep dealing with her and her enchantments as long as he needed to see this ended.
But, what then? The voice crept into his mind, nagging and gnawing. What then? The Vancourt Pack was a mess, in disarray because of his father and Killian. Already, Grover had proved i
ncapable of defeating the jaguar shifter. Would one of his brothers rise to take the challenge? Cohen knew Gage did not want the responsibility that came with it. He didn’t have the kind of power that it took to keep a Pack together.
Archer might do what needed to be done, but that was the kind of person he’d become. He did a task and nothing more. Where would that leave the people of the Vancourt Pack? Cohen knew he had the power. Several times since he’d been home, he’d drawn upon it. The first time, it had taken him by surprise. All he’d wanted was order and the power had slipped out of him and bent the room to his will.
Cohen had the power to command a Pack, but what would happen if he stayed. He sat, his hands on his knees as he regarded the house full of people. The two packs mingled as if they were one, brought together by Archer and Joanna’s mate bond. Cohen scratched at the scruff growing along his chin.
It was a room of casualties, he decided. He couldn’t help but look at them and see their bodies mangled by bear claws, empty eyes staring into the sky. If he stayed, it was only a matter of time before his beast cost him everything. If anything, he’d just proven that. He could not protect the people he loved if he was what threatened them. He couldn’t protect them from himself and that scared him.
He needed to get away.
“You alright, Cohen?” For once, Gage called him by his given name. It was a sign of how concerned he truly was.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll be fine.”
He wanted some air, some space to clear his mind, but he didn’t dare leave while Killian was still prowling around the house. Instead, he stood and found Archer. Tapping his brother’s shoulder, he took his place. Cohen’s form nearly filled the doorway, taking up the windows of space Killian had seen through earlier.
He shoved his hands in his pockets as if he didn’t need them to kick his ass and stared down the jaguar shifted. Killian avoided his gaze. It made a smile creep over Cohen’s lips. If he fought Killian, and he ached to do so, he would fight him with no one around. He would smear the earth with this bug of a threat.
“Can’t look me in the eye, kitty cat?” He wished he could think of a better name. Killian and his boys had coined the sobriquet ‘Teddy Bear’ for Archer. If he called Gage over, the youngest Vancourt would have dropped something funny and demeaning in a second. Alone, the best Cohen could think of was Kitty Cat.
“Don’t want to,” Killian said, flopping back into a lawn chair and threading his fingers behind his head.
Silence filled the space between them, eating up the seconds and minutes that passed. It was boring and made Cohen’s mind return to what happened earlier, replaying it over and over until he could barely make sense of what happened.
“What keeps bringing you back?” Cohen blurted out, unable to live with his mind any longer.
Killian didn’t open his eyes. “I pissed off the wrong people, a bear shifter bigger than your dumb ass. Big surprise there. Now, I’m just looking for a Pack to protect me.” Killian’s face bunched, and he cracked open an eye, wary now. “Why did I just tell you that?”
Cohen had an idea, but he wasn’t about to tell Killian. He wondered if he could use the Alpha power in his voice to command the stray cat to leave, too. But, he didn’t want Killian to leave that easily. He wanted to make him pay for his sins before Cohen released him.
Killian threw his feet to the ground. He still cast wary glances in Cohen’s direction, as if just now seeing him for the monster he was. But, just as Cohen caught it, the wariness disappeared. A cocky smile lit up his face as he stood. He yawned and stretched, baring the carved muscles of his stomach.
Cohen didn’t have that kind of toned structure, but he knew he didn’t need it to be stronger. Pure power surrounded Cohen, while Killian was all show. It made Cohen’s spine straighten.
“This has been fun, but I’m going to call it a night,” Killian said without turning to face Cohen. He took a step forward and paused, throwing a daring glance over his shoulder. “We’ll see if you have any fight in you at all tomorrow, Papa Bear.”
He watched Killian disappear the same way he’d come.
Not while the packs watch, not while they were close enough to get hurt. Cohen could call the witch and ask her to be his failsafe. He knew what she was capable of. No, not the witch. Ashe. He needed to start calling her by her name. She’d agreed to help him. Hell, he’d gotten a taste of her. The least he could do was call her by her name.
Ashe, he repeated in his mind.
The word was silk in his mouth. It made him crave the taste of her all over again. She was terrifying and small all at once. And, if she wasn’t careful, the Pack would turn on her. Someone already had, he realized. He looked over his shoulder at the people milling through the house. There was a house full of good people, people with lives and dreams. Among them was a murderer who’d betrayed them all.
The thought made him growl. The bear rose and echoed the sentiment.
While the old man had been knocking on death’s door, Cohen knew he couldn’t let it slide. His eyes bounced from head to head, trying to gauge their motives. Who would want to kill Sampson and blame it on Ashe?
He crept toward the living room and regarded Grover, groaning on the couch. It’d been clear Grover had aspirations much larger than he could bear. Not long after they’d arrived in Stonefall, Archer had caught the man trying to steal upstairs and beat him almost as senseless as Killian had. He had wanted Sampson dead, but he wasn’t smart enough to poison him. Grover was all misplaced bravado and nothing more. .
Nancy sat in a chair a few feet away, her short legs propped on the coffee table. Her gaze was shrewd as she looked around the room. Cohen racked his memory to remember what kind of animal lived inside her. A housecat, he thought. It was the reason she packed guns.
Nancy was smart enough, but did she have the drive to commit such an act? Cohen knew so little about the people who’d once been Pack. He wasn’t sure he was going to be able to root out a killer among them. Not quietly at least. He knew, if he wanted to, he could use the power of his voice to make the killer confess. If it came down to that, he would do it.
But, he wanted to give Ashe some privacy for a while. If he started shouting orders at a Pack that was not his own, it would surely blow up in his face.
“Feet off the coffee table,” he snapped at Nancy, arms crossed over his chest.
She tried to meet his eyes, but failed. With a scowl, she threw her feet to the floor.
Chapter Eight
Cohen stared at the dark ceiling of his bedroom. Every now and then, he flexed his muscles just to make sure he was still in control of his body. What Ashe had done earlier had been strange. She’d taken control of his movements, freezing him where he stood. His body had been less his own, shoved aside by his beast and then controlled by a woman.
Cohen rubbed his face with his hands. The way Killian looked at her, the promise that was unspoken, had pissed Cohen off. The man was a walking, talking threat not only to the Pack that had once been family, but to Ashe. He seemed to know how to strike to hurt them. Going after Ashe, apparently, was where it hurt Cohen.
His beast had taken over in a split second. Cohen hadn’t even noticed the transition. One moment, he was there and the next he was watching his body assault Killian from afar. He could have ended Killian right there and then, but that wouldn’t have been where it ended. The beast was uncontrollable. Once unleashed, it would have kept hurting. It would have crashed through anything that stood in its way.
As strange and off-putting as it had been, Ashe had saved him. She’d saved him from retribution by the Vancourt pack and she’d probably saved him from having to be put down. There would come a day when she wasn’t there, and it would have to happen. She’d only put off the inevitable.
“Ashe?” he whispered into the dark, hoping her specter would visit him in the night again. “If you’re there, I’m not mad at you.”
A long moment passed. He waited, ears strained to hear
even the slightest sound. He could hear Grover snoring downstairs. He could hear a family of mice nesting in the wall.
He sighed and rolled over. It was too much to think she would visit him. His desire for her presence was unfounded. He should listen to his father’s warning and put more space between them. Especially if he was going to leave again.
“Are you sure?” her voice was low, nothing more than a whisper.
Cohen shot up. He searched the darkness for her form, as if she might be there in the flesh. His heart pounded, and he tried to ignore what it might mean.
“I’m not mad,” he repeated. “But you are terrifying. I never thought you would have power like that.”
Silence. He cursed himself. He’d said the wrong thing again. When would he learn? Words held weight and he threw his in all the wrong directions.
“You should be mad at me. I’m an awful person. What I did was… unforgivable.”
He shook his head. But, the weight of her presence was gone. He didn’t know how he knew, but he felt it like one might feel the loss of a limb. Cohen made a quick decision and threw his feet to the floor.
***
Ashe couldn’t sleep. She waited by the window, as if a riot might find its way to her door at any moment. Her mind was filled with images of torches and pitchforks. Cohen had been pissed with her. If he feared her power like her father had, he would have told the Pack. They would come knocking her door down any second now.
She’d screwed up and now her life was forfeit. Not even the sigil drawn over her door would protect her from their fury.
She hated herself for what she was. She wasn’t sure if it was fear of her mother or fear of her father, but Ashe knew there was something wrong with her. She’d known since she was little that she was all wrong. She was a monstrosity that didn’t belong in this world.
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