by Tl Reeve
“Why don’t you go get cleaned up,” he said, meeting her as she got out. “I know how you feel about scents and things. I don’t want you uncomfortable while we wait for my brother and your sister.”
She nodded. Arousal wrapped in sorrow filled his senses. Too much had happened today and everything they’d been building started to fall apart. “Want me to shower with you?” He wiggled his brows.
A faint smile curved the corner of her lips. “As long as you promise to wash my back?”
The hint of humor chased away some of her upset, but he knew it was temporary. The moment his brother arrived with Danielle and little Aiden, shit would hit the fan again. He could only hope when it came down to it, Keeley and Dani were willing to give them a chance after everyone else fucked them over.
What a fucking position to be put in.
“Last one naked gets their ass spanked,” he growled, then leaned in close. “Run, little mate, so I can chase you, and make this all the sweeter.”
She gaped at him. The heady sweet scent of her cream hit his nose before she took off for the bridge between the houses. Jace glanced up at him and smirked. He leaned against the railing of the porch, drinking from the bottle of beer he’d been holding.
“Pussy whipped.” He smirked.
“Damn straight.” Kalkin grinned. “Keep our food warm. We might be a while.”
Jace rolled his eyes. “Whatever, pervert. Hurry up. I have shit to do tonight.”
He shrugged. “When you bring your mates home, then you can tell me how to tend to mine. Until then, I’m going to indulge and give her exactly what she needs.”
One of these days his brothers would learn. Never fuck with him or his mate. He’d hit them where it counts, especially when they needed it most. No one gave a shit about Jace’s orientation, they all wanted him happy. Too bad the fucker still hid. Kind of like your mate and her sister.
Shit. Pot meet kettle. You’re both black.
14
After their shower, Keeley learned having sex under the spray of hot water was pretty awesome. Who’da thought it? It had been the heady mix of the cool tile pressed against her breasts, the steamy water, and Kal’s big body pressed to her back that overwhelmed her senses, causing her to pass out during her orgasm. Or maybe it was the constricted capillaries…oh, shut up already, Keeley. Kal didn’t stop 'til he found his own release. As he kissed her awake and whispered in her ear about the next time…her sex slickened, turned on by the thought of what the devilish man could do to her. Then he raised his chin an inch and inhaled. The growl rumbling from the back of his throat…
Damn him and his amazing ability to smell my arousal.
He’d left her to recover and sought out dinner for them. Moments later, he returned with the hamburgers and fixings Jace had cooked for them to eat. Picnic style—they ate in the bed. Once they were done, he told her she had an hour to ‘pack her shit,’ his words not hers, and he’d be back to help take her and the necessities back over to his house. With a kiss and a smack on her ass, he left her to figure out what she needed to take now, and save for later.
Kal had decreed she’d be moving in with him at his house and Caden would move in with Dani. For about a second or two, she contemplated arguing with him about the fact he had made a decision without her input. She didn’t because his suggestion had merit. She’d already secured their home and the surrounding property, add in Caden’s wolf abilities and her sister would be safe.
At least for now.
After a shower and getting dressed, she set to work. Should be easy figuring out what would go first, but like everything else revolving around her, she tended to over complicate it. Now, a half hour later, it looked like a bomb went off in her room. She pulled everything out of her closet and dresser drawers along with half of her toiletries she’d tossed onto her bed as she went—it resembled a mountain instead of a place to rest.
Start with the basics. Panties and bras were definitely something she’d need. Digging through the pile, she quickly found those items and tossed them into the large, open suitcase waiting on the floor.
“Keeley,” Dani hollered from downstairs. “You here?”
“Upstairs,” she answered, digging out a pair of sleep pants and tank before throwing them into the case. She doubted Kal would let her wear clothes to bed, but they would be nice to have if she walked around the house early in the morning or late at night.
Pounding footfalls on the steps announced her sister’s arrival. “Hey.” Her sister gave a small wave as she stepped into her room.
“Hey. Where’s Aiden?” she asked.
Since helping the little pup shifter, her sister had rarely left his side. “Caden is watching him at his house.” Dani gazed around the room, then stopped at her bed. “What are you doing?”
“Packing,” she said, looking for her hairbands.
“Ooo-kay. Why? Do we need to leave again?”
“No,” she answered truthfully. The quiet desperation in her older sister’s voice disturbed her. Dani had no desire to leave Window Rock now or in the future and neither did she. This is where we make our stand. Look at you, all Thunderheart over here.
Dani found the only empty spot on Kee’s bed and sat down. It hit her then, she had blocked her. For some time now, Keeley couldn’t glean anything from her sibling. No emotions, thoughts, nothing. It confused and irritated the hell out of her. It had been something her sister rarely did, but when Dani did, it felt as if she were missing a vital part of herself.
“Did Caden mate you last night?” She wondered if he had told Dani about Simon’s visit with Kal earlier that morning.
She gave a bitter laugh. “No. Aiden cock blocked us.”
“Can a baby even do such a thing?” she pondered.
“Apparently, because he did. I guess Kal mated you?” Dani glanced at her.
“Yes,” she replied.
“Was it any good?” Her tone turned curious.
Good?
Hell, good was understatement. Amazing, fantastic, life alternating were perhaps better words to describe what had occurred between Kal and her. She couldn’t tell her, though. They’d shared every aspect of their lives, except this. To do so would betray Kal and their budding bond. She could tell her the fundamentals without being specific, though.
“Did Caden explain anything to you last night?” Keeley dug through the pile on the bed while her sister sorted some of Kee’s things and stayed quiet. “Do you want to know?”
Her sister shrugged. “I want to know why you’re packing.”
Dani’s eyes betrayed her. They held a yearning to know the nitty gritty details of the mating between Kal and her. For now, she’d allow her sister to lead this. It might behoove her find out if Caden explained what happened with Simon first.
“I’m moving in with Kal. Caden will move in here, with you and Aiden,” she announced, waiting to see how her sister would react.
A flicker of surprise flashed across Dani’s face before she schooled her features again. Her actions screamed she hadn’t been told. She didn’t know if she should be pissed the hell off or saddened by the fact Caden, for all his liking her sister, didn’t seem ready to protect her. Pissed the hell off. How dare he? Then it struck her…what if they weren’t mates?
“Did you guys have a fight?”
“Yes…no…I don’t think so,” Dani admitted.
“You don’t think so?”
“Well, everything seemed fine. He left to go into town, came back and now he seems like a totally different person. I can’t figure him out.”
Shit. Fucking perfect.
“I might be able to explain why he’s acting odd.” She sighed, not really wanting to be the one who did this, but since Caden hadn’t…
Leaving Dani in the dark helped no one.
Kee crossed to the bed. She ignored the clothes and piles of crap to sit she sat beside her sister. “Simon came into town today, he’s looking for us and he sought Kal out,”
she said softly, working to keep her voice calm, cool and collected. If she allowed her emotions to take over, her sister would hear it, and it would scare her as well. “Simon told Kal he had been in town the night before, with his wife.” A look of shock washed over her sister’s face. “He said she disappeared and he apparently had evidence and pictures of said wife.”
“When did Simon marry?” A frown formed between her eyes.
“He didn’t. He’s claiming you’re his wife,” Keeley confessed.
“Me?” Dani blinked in confusion, and then a look of horror contorted her face. Who could blame her? Simon was a pig. “I wouldn’t marry him if he was the last asshole on the face of the earth.”
“Yeah, well hold your horses, there’s more. He also informed Kal you’re pregnant, with his child.”
“I think I’m going to throw up,” her sister announced. The blood drained from her face before she stood, slapping a hand over her mouth as if to prevent herself from vomiting.
“Throwing up won’t go far in convincing the guys you aren’t pregnant. All it’s going to do is make them think we’re lying to them.”
“I’m not pregnant, Keeley,” Dani sobbed.
“I know.”
“Caden…oh my gosh, Kee, he thinks I am. It explains the attitude adjustment when he came back from town.” Her older sister whimpered as she sunk to the floor.
“Kal knows you’re not.”
“Does Caden know, though?”
She shrugged. She didn’t have the answer to her sister's question.
“What are we going to do?” Dani whispered. Her wide, wild stare met Keeley’s before blanking as though an iron shield slid down in place. It drove her nuts when her sister did this. Locked her out and alone.
No. I’m not alone. I’ve got Kal.
“I thought about leaving.” She hesitated when her gaze clashed with Dani’s. Her sister’s eyes showed her confusion, panic, and fear. She didn’t blame her, she’d felt the same way earlier. Still felt some of it in the pit of her belly. “Kal’s waiting for us to bolt. He won’t allow it and has most likely already set a plan into play if we do.” She sensed if they left, the animal he repressed would break free and Keeley would have to deal with not the man, but the wolf.
“Easy for him to say, it’s not him they want to cut open and experiment on.” Dani pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. She rested her chin on her knees. Dani was going into protection mode, burying her thoughts and feelings even deeper. “Do you trust him?”
Keeley realized no matter how many times they ran, Simon would find them. His resources and financial backing were unlimited. Her gut clenched and her heart ached even thinking about walking away from Kal. She knew it was too soon, but deep in her soul, she knew she loved him and she knew he loved her.
Unsure how to answer Dani’s question of trust, she ignored it and got to the heart of the matter. She hoped and prayed Dani didn’t demand any answer.
“We can’t continue to run. They’re eventually going to catch us. If it’s not Simon, it’ll be someone similar to him. All these years, and I’m still making mistakes, somewhere.” She sat down in front of her sister, crossing her legs. “Aren’t you tired of running? I know I am. Don’t you want to stay some place longer than a couple weeks or months? Make friends, build relationships, maybe fall in love. Get married and have a bunch of babies?”
“I resigned myself a while ago, those things aren’t for me—us,” she admitted.
“Did you now?” Dani lied to her and she’d be damned if she allowed it. “Interesting. If this is the truth, why’d you take Aiden in? Form an attachment to him and Caden?” she pressed.
“Who says I have?” Her sister’s gaze refused to meet hers.
“Lie to yourself. Don’t lie to me. I know you. I know how you think. You love Aiden already. I’d even go as far to say, you’re feeling like you’re his mom. If we run, you’re gonna have to leave both of them. Life on the run is no place for a pup. You know this, right?”
Dani blinked and Keeley watched as a single tear rolled down her sister’s cheek, dropping somewhere on her shirt.
“You need to decide if you want to stay and fight or run and hide.”
“You want to stay, don’t you?” Her voice was wobbly as a smile trembled across her lips.
“Yeah, I do. We either take the risk now or die alone. Stripped of our humanity, caged like an animal as they run test after test on us, while trying to reproduce who and what we are.”
“We won’t win,” she mumbled.
“You’re wrong. It’s not just us anymore. We have an entire pack willing to help us, and one very pissed off Alpha who’s bound and determined to protect his mate.”
“Alpha’s mate? Who's…” Dani’s eyes went wide and her mouth gaped. “Holy shit, Keeley. Kalkin’s an Alpha?”
“Yes.
“That makes you—”
“The Alpha female.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m going to drive him, his family and his pack nuts within a year.”
She snorted. “Pfft. A year, I give you three months.” The corner of her lips turned upward.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Well, I know you. They don’t.” Her sister took a deep breath and let it out slowly, giving her a moment to gather the tattered wits, battered to hell by the information Keeley had given her. “Tell me you have a plan.”
“I do…I mean, we do,” she said, correcting herself. She needed to start thinking as person who was mated, not a single woman. “I’m going to use myself as bait.”
It took a full minute for her sister to react. When her sister did, it was explosive, scaring the shit out of Kee. “The hell you are! Are you nuts? Have you forgotten what he’s capable of, what he did to you…me?” Dani pounded on her chest.
“Da—”
“No, Keeley.” Her sister stood up, her hands going to her hips. “You’ve had some crazy ideas in the past, and I’ve gone along with them. But not this. I won’t go along with this. He’s fucking dangerous. And crazy. Don’t you get it?”
Keeley marched over to her sister and stood in front of her. Because of their height difference, she was forced to stare up at her sister. Didn’t matter, she wouldn’t back down, no matter what her sister said or did. Kal backed her in this. Somewhat. Even if he did have some dumb ass rules...which she couldn’t wait to hear exactly what they were.
“Oh, I get it. If the beating he gave us both wasn’t enough, he kind of nailed the hammer home with this latest stunt. What you don’t get is he’s not going to give up. We have to draw the line in the sand at some point and fight.”
“You always told me we couldn’t trust anyone but ourselves, Keeley. Over and over you’d tell me that. Remember?” Dani whispered.
“I remember.”
“Do you remember the last time you placed your trust in someone other than me?” Her body jerked in pain at her sister words.
“Don’t do this,” she pleaded, knowing where her sister was going.
“You trusted him, Keeley. You brought Simon into our lives. You,” Dani sneered. “With your need to experience normal life, when you know we’re not normal. He beat you and me. Tried to rape me. And now you want me to again place my trust into someone I barely know?”
“He’s your mate,” she softly reminded her sister.
“Really? Because from where I’m sitting, he thinks I’m married to your psycho ex and pregnant. You didn’t see the look in his eyes. He’s disappointed. He thinks I betrayed all of you. So, no, Keeley. He’s not even close to being my fucking mate!” Dani declared.
Keeley didn’t miss the harshness or resentment in her sister’s voice. She wondered if Aiden had been used as an excuse to prevent the mating from occurring last night. Dani had a fear of intimacy thanks to Simon. The pain she saw reflected in her sister’s gaze almost killed her. The guilt she felt due to her involvement reared its ugly head. Though her sister had never said
it before, Keeley didn’t blame her for putting their lives in such peril. All of it sat directly on her shoulders. If you hadn’t brought him into our lives…
She needed to calm herself, remove her emotions, which rolled over her like a crashing wave battering the coast. If she didn’t get her shit together, this discussion would escalate and they’d both end up saying something they’d regret later. She took a deep breath and held it for the count of ten. She then willed her galloping heart to slow and her thoughts to calm. She needed to focus.
Keeley pulled herself to her full height and squaring her shoulders, stiffening her spine while meeting her sister’s gaze full on. “Caden’s your mate, just like Kal is mine. There is no denying it. You and your constant damn talking about wild wolves and your fascination with how they mated for life. You wanted to experience it yourself. You told me so, on more than one occasion. We have a chance. Both of us. It’s palpable. All you have to do is let go of your fear. Don’t you think we should take the risk?”
Dani remained silent, blanking out on her.
“I’m doing this for us!” Keeley yelled. “So you can rest, enjoy life and be a mom to Aiden and a mate to Caden.”
She answered with a humorless chuckle. “And you’re getting nothing out of this, right?” She shook her head. “How about this? You keep Aiden. You have the perfect life with your mate. You’re free. You’re not pregnant with a monster's baby or married to him. I am apparently and everyone fucking believes it.”
“You are such a shit! You think this is easy for me, Danielle? Do you think all the changes are simple? They’re not. Then to hear what that bastard said. I might get Kal and the knowledge I’ve avenged my sins,” she stated, “but that’s all. I will always live with the guilt of understanding my shitty choices put us here. But you know what, I wouldn’t have it any other fucking way.” She stepped back up to her sister and poked her in the chest with her finger. “Why, you’d ask? Because at least I know we’re safe. We’re wanted. Here we’ll thrive and here we belong. You think this is easy?” It was her turn to give a mirthless chuckle. No, it’s not even fucking easy. But at least I’m fucking trying. What the hell are you doing? Hiding? Having a damn pity party because what? I’m happy? Be fucking happy for me!”
