Kane

by Loribelle Hunt

“Am I?”

  She sighed, and there was a tinge of sadness to her voice. “You make my point for me about the whole mate thing. I could never have a husband that kept such important things from me.”

  Damn. He really didn’t want to get into all this pack stuff now. She had enough to deal with.

  “Someone might try.” Determination made his voice hard, clipped.

  Shock lit her eyes at the answer, then a tentative smile stretched her lips. Her tongue darted out to moisten them, and he suppressed a groan, his cock hardening at the sight. Shifting awkwardly in the saddle, he willed the erection away. That kind of thing could do permanent damage. She noticed his discomfort and jerked her gaze back to the road.

  “Good. I’d hate for something to happen to you.”

  He grinned. “So you’re finally coming around?”

  She shook her head. “The Branch…that’s not something I can live with. Sorry.”

  He should tell her, explain that he was leaving and staying in the city to straighten out his pack. But he held back. Why? He wanted her to accept him no matter what he did, yes. But there was something more, a part of him that was afraid he’d be giving up too much control. And control was the most important thing in his life. He needed her to come to him no matter his circumstances, and he hated that need, hated that his need for her was already slipping from just physical to something else entirely. So he said nothing, struggled to shut himself down and remember Sebastian’s buried mate.

  They rode in silence until night fell, when the weretiger stepped into the road and signaled them to follow. He led them to a small cave a few yards in the woods and shifted back into human shape. Kane walked in and looked around. The ceiling was high enough he could stand, but it wasn’t very big, about twenty feet wide and thirty feet deep. At least it was uninhabited and would give them shelter if the gathering rain clouds let loose.

  Sebastian and Mathias took the horses, getting them unsaddled, fed and watered while he and Calista searched the bags for food. It would be dried beef and biscuits. They didn’t dare risk a fire for something more palatable this far south of the city.

  After they ate, the other two weres spoke softly with him before grabbing a couple of bedrolls and heading outside.

  “Where are they going?” Calista asked.

  “Keeping guard,” he answered, pausing before adding, “and giving us privacy.”

  She snorted and opened the bedroll with a flick of her wrist, letting it settle to the ground. “No need for that.”

  Her implication was clear, and he was glad she couldn’t see his relieved expression in the dark cave. She spoke with her usual caustic tone, not the rage from this morning. He picked up the other bedroll and approached her, staying quiet so as not to alert her and caught her hips in his grip before she could sit down. A gasp caught in her throat, and she shoved a hand against his chest.

  “Don’t sneak up me like that.”

  He pulled her forward, lowering his lips to her neck. “Yes, ma’am,” he whispered, distracted by her taste, her tantalizing scent. What was it that drew him to this woman so strongly?

  He bit into the soft skin on her nape, and a gasp caught in her throat. She released it on a moan, leaning into his embrace and tugging his shirt free. Running her hands up under it, she stroked his skin. Started a fire raging in his veins. By unspoken mutual agreement, they broke apart and hurried to strip all their clothes off.

  When they came back together, her skin was hot, and the hand he pushed between her legs came away wet. He brought a finger to his mouth to taste her. Perfect. His. He wanted to finesse her, drive her high like he’d done last night, but his need was too great. He spun her around and pulled her back up against his chest. Reaching around her, he palmed her breasts, their lush fullness spilling into his hands, the nipples hardening under his caress.

  As he kneaded them, pinched them into hard tips, she ground her pelvis back against him, spreading her legs a little so his cock slid between them. The scent of her arousal grew heavy in the night air, and it drove the wolf side of his nature. He couldn’t hold back anymore. Pushing her to ground, he positioned her on all fours and moved in behind her. She thrust back against him, impatient, demanding. He chuckled, but didn’t comply. He ran a hand down her back, from the nape of her neck to her ass. Soft, gentle, commanding. He doubted she’d understand how beautiful he found her like this, how much it appealed to the wolf in him, how submissive it was. He reached a hand between them, found her clit and rubbed it, pinched it when she groaned and shoved against him again.

  “God, Kane. Now.”

  She trembled in the beginning of an orgasm. Yes, now. He entered her in one long stroke, grimacing and forcing his own orgasm down as she clamped around him, her contractions threatening to make him come before he was ready. It was a losing battle, and he pounded into her, let go and came with a growl of possession. Mine.

  They collapsed in a heap, breath soughing in and out of their lungs. She rolled to her side, giving him her back, and he slung an arm over her waist, drawing her closer. After a few minutes she dropped off to sleep, but he lay awake a long time, starring into the night.

  He was drifting off when she began mumbling in her sleep, thrashing around. He whispered nonsense to her, ran a soothing hand up and down her arm, and she finally settled. But he was left disturbed. What plagued her in the night? Memories of her parents? Her bounties? At least now he had a good idea why she never slept with him. She’d see nightmares as a weakness, something he could use against her. And she was right.

  *

  They traveled three more days before they reached the outskirts of the old city. The tension level in the group ratcheted up about fifty notches. Responding to the increased anxiety, Calista pulled one of her pistols and rested it across her lap. She wanted it in easy reach if she needed it fast.

  Night was falling when Sebastian, in tiger form, led them off the road into the ruins. They set up camp in a burned out barn and since they could see campfires spotting the hills around them, decided to risk one of their own. She wasn’t sure that was such a great idea, but she wasn’t turning away hot food after the last couple of days of dried road rations.

  They were settling in for the night when the attack came. She had to give it to the weres. They were fast. Everyone spun into action, rising from where the lay or sat. She’d been sitting next to Kane, talking quietly, and they rose as one, turning back-to-back and squaring off.

  The enemy came at them with blades. Was that because they weren’t any better armed or had they been told to take them alive? She didn’t have time to ponder it as a man rushed her. She ducked low and thrust her knife arm up in a wide arc as she rose, hitting him across the neck. She ignored the spurting blood and turned to face the next threat, adrenalin pumping through her veins.

  They came too fast, too many of them. She couldn’t get to her guns, and she saw Mathias and Sebastian also fighting at each other’s backs working their way around the fire. When they were close, Kane yelled to his brother.

  “You have to get Calista out of here!”

  “Like hell he will,” she growled back.

  A man rushed her, and she kicked out, catching him in the groin. It gave her just enough time and maneuvering room to draw a revolver, and she fired it at the next man, hitting him square between the eyes.

  “Nice shot.” Mathias grinned when he reached her side.

  “Switch places,” Kane ordered. “Mathias, you two work your way out. Sebastian and I will create a diversion.”

  She ground her back teeth, gun in one hand knife in the other and faced reality. Odds were better than even that one or all of them were going to die here tonight. She’d be damned if Kane did it alone, without her at his back. A sense of peace settled over her, something she’d been working around to the last few days finally coalescing into clear thought.

  “You are such an ass, Kane, if you really think I’m leaving you out here. Even if two of us could fight fr
ee.”

  “Damn it, Calista. I need you safe. When I give the signal, you go.”

  “Fuck you. I love you and I’m not running away.”

  He growled. “You’re timing stinks, woman.”

  She grinned and fired at a man rushing Kane, who now stood next to her. “Oh, I thought it was pretty good.”

  “Mathias, drag her by the hair if you have to.”

  “Be ready to run, Calista,” Mathias said.

  Everything in her screamed no, but she didn’t respond, too busy trying to stay alive.

  “Now, Sebastian,” Kane yelled and both men shifted.

  Fast, without stripping first, but the clothes didn’t encumber them. They were on the attack before anyone noticed. Panic set in, mayhem followed. Mathias grabbed her arm and dragged her straight through the melee. She struggled as they went, craning her head to see over her shoulder. Terrified for Kane and the reticent weretiger she’d come to respect. One of the men got a lucky strike at the tiger, slicing him down the side, and she screamed, struggling to free herself from Mathias’s grip, wanting to go back and help.

  It was no use. He outweighed her by at least eighty pounds, had the superior strength of a werewolf and had honed it to a fine edge. He got her to where the horses were hobbled and threw her over the back of one, while leaping onto another. He took both reigns and they were off. It was all she could do to straighten herself and not fall off.

  They rode for an hour, twisting into the old ruins but steering clear of any lights. Finally, he called a halt, and they dismounted, checking to see which supplies they’d gotten away with. She reloaded her revolver, double checking to make sure the other had six shots.

  “You know he wants me to take you home,” Mathias said softly. The night was silent. Too quiet.

  She stilled. No way. “And you know I won’t go.”

  “And why is that little human? What’s it to you?”

  The voice came from the brush in front of her, and the vampire who’d helped Izzy earlier stepped into the clearing. Alec.

  “I won’t leave my sister,” she answered. “I won’t leave Kane and Sebastian.”

  He held her gaze, and she looked back steadily, trying to pour all her resolve into it. She was not going off without them. All of them. Finally, he nodded, and she released a pent up sigh of relief.

  “We need a plan, then,” he said and her relief was even greater. They had help, the best kind probably. A vampire.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Kane paced the small cell, glancing worriedly over at Sebastian every few minutes. The weretiger wasn’t healing as fast as he should. The cut down his abdomen still oozed blood, and Kane was afraid infection might set in. That was rare among his kind, but under these conditions, where they couldn’t flush the wound out and clean it, it could happen.

  If he knew Calista, she was already planning a rescue attempt, and if she did, he’d tan her hide when he got her home. Not to mention Mathias. He and Sebastian needed to escape on their own, before anymore of his people were put at risk.

  When Sebastian had gone down, he’d leapt to his defense, and the attackers overwhelmed them both. They’d surrendered and gone quietly. As long as Tobias’ men were kept busy with them, Calista had a chance to get free. They’d been brought into the inner city, to a large, walled compound. A house sat in the middle with several buildings surrounding it. An armory and barracks, Kane guessed. The building they were taken to had been set up as a small jail, with two cells. The back wall and side wall of the cell they were in was wood, with iron bars separating them from the next cell and the main room on the front side. The door was locked, the guard was gone, and the idiot had left the keys on a hook by the door. The question was, how was he going to get to them? For the first time in his life, he saw the use for snake shifters. He stretched his arm through the bars again, knowing it was futile. The keys were several feet out of reach. Banging his head against the bars, he let his hand drop to wrap in a white knuckled grip around them. Fuck!

  “That helping much?” Sebastian asked.

  “No.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  No, he didn’t want to talk about what Calista had said to him out there, didn’t want to know about it. Wished like hell she could take it back. Mostly. He was also pleased. Even if he couldn’t allow himself to love her back, he wanted her to love him. He knew how crazy that was, how hypocritical, but it was hard to care when he remembered her saying the words. His heart raced all over again, and his cock rose in response.

  He paced around the cell, forced himself to face reality. He’d tried to hold back, to keep from fully bonding with her until she was ready and he’d tried like hell to keep his heart out of it. He hadn’t succeeded on either count. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do when he got out of this mess, but letting her go wasn’t an option. Neither was letting her back out of what had to have been a heat of the moment declaration. But the fear…the fear was almost crippling.

  “How did you do it?” he asked softly, almost whispering. “How did you go on when Karen died?”

  He felt awful for asking and lowered his head in shame, but he was desperate for insight. He didn’t expect Sebastian to answer and was so surprised when he did that he stood and turned around to face him.

  “For awhile, it was just a minute at a time. Then an hour, then a day. I would have given in, but the pack needed me.” He shrugged, as if apologizing for what they both knew was Kane’s shortcoming. His voice was quiet, subdued when he continued. “I wouldn’t go back and undo it. I wouldn’t give up the time I did have with her. Don’t make that mistake, Kane. Take what life gives you and make the most of it while you can.”

  Kane took a steadying breath, wondering if he could do that, wondering if he could withstand the same kind of loss.

  Sebastian chuckled. “I know what you’re thinking, and I’ve watched you with her for how long now? Two years? It’s too late to go back. You’ve already bonded with her…you already love her,” he added in a whisper that held an edge of pain.

  Kane’s heart constricted, in fear and something else he refused to name. He only nodded in response. After taking a minute to compose himself, he changed the subject. “Where do you think they’re keeping Isadora?”

  Sebastian stood, holding a hand against his side and looked out the cell’s window. The wound was finally starting to knit together. He jerked his head. “In the main house, I bet.”

  Kane moved to stand next to him. They studied the house in silence, and a dark shadow darted by. They exchanged a quick look and took up positions next to it, not in a clear line of sight of whoever was out there. The shadow didn’t move like Calista or Mathias. He’d seen them in action enough to recognize them. This was an unexpected element, but maybe they’d be able to make their escape while the stranger was distracting the house.

  Then there was a loud boom and one of the other buildings caught fire. After a few seconds it exploded, fiery debris flying through the roof like fireworks. Men ran across the yard, yelling questions to each other, and confusion reigned. The door of their building flew open, and both men whirled around to face whatever danger approached.

  Relief flooded him when Calista and Mathias came in, but the relief was quickly replaced by fury. He’d told them to leave, damn it. Neither one could take orders worth a damn. She walked in and looked him up and down. He didn’t bother to hide his feelings. He wanted her to understand how much trouble she was in. She paused under the look for a minute, then seemed to collect herself, shake it off, and grabbed the keys from the hook while Mathias kept watch at the door. She wasn’t hasty, but she moved with speed. Her hands trembled a little as she turned the key.

  “There they are,” Mathias said from the open doorway. “Let’s move.”

  Kane exited the cell, held the door open for Sebastian who limped out behind him. “Who?”

  “Alec and Izzy,” Calista bit out. “Can we get out of here?”

  He grabbe
d her, pulled her hard against him and kissed her. Firm, possessive, furious. Proud. Shoving all his conflicting emotions away, he released her and nodded, concentrating on getting them all out alive.

  “Let’s go,” Kane said.

  Calista reached into the bag slung over her back and started passing out weapons—revolvers and knives. When everyone was armed, Mathias looped an arm around Sebastian’s waist and helped him through the door. Kane and Calista brought up the rear.

  They did it naturally, without any need for discussion. It was just instinct to pair up with her. If he’d had time to think about it, he would have wanted to protest even though he knew it was a better arrangement. She wasn’t strong enough to support Sebastian. He or Mathias would have to do that. So he ignored the nagging feeling he was putting her into even more danger, and followed everyone out the door.

  He could see Alec and Izzy working their way through the shadows to the main gate, and he waved Sebastian and Mathias ahead. He dropped back to protect them and Calista fell into step beside him. Some of Tobias’ officers were organizing men. The confusion was beginning to pass.

  Calista moved in front of him, stepping into the shadow of a doorway when shooting broke out. He tried to blend into a wall, and they whispered at each other.

  “Who’s shooting?” she asked. “And at who?”

  He shook his head, but realized she couldn’t see his response. “I don’t know. It’s stopped for now. Let’s move.”

  Alec and Izzy slipped through the gate, probably using Alec’s ability to confuse minds. Kane heard the distant whinny of a horse and hoped they were leaving the area. He spared half a second to worry over the vampire, hoping he had some place safe to hole up. The sun would rise soon. Sharpening his attention on the here and now, he saw one of the guards at the gate drop to the ground, clutching the knife protruding from his throat. The other one quickly followed, and his men were out.

  The yard was filling with light, lanterns appearing in odd places and leaving shadow in spots but brightening the area around the gate. The downed men were noticed, and Kane knew time was running out. He grabbed Calista’s hand and sprinted up the side of the building they stood by.