He barked out a singular laugh before answering, "Fuck off, Tamara."
She scowled before flicking her mousy brown hair over her shoulder and turned to retreat back to her chair.
"I hope that clears up where we stand and how we'll react to your disrespect moving forward."
A corner of my mouth tugged up in response to the blatant aggression bleeding into Seth’s otherwise polite words.
Right on time, Kira pushed through the door, her cherry blossom scent hitting my nose within seconds. She mumbled around the food in her mouth, "Geez, what's going on here?"
Seth and I grinned maniacally as all heads snapped to look anywhere other than at us or Kira.
Mission accomplished.
"Oh, nothing. Just scoping out a table for us to eat at in peace," I answered with ease, steering her towards the table nearest us with her plate of food in hand. Taking note of the black leggings clinging to her ass now, I realized she must have grabbed them from the clothing pile out back from the previous night. Resourceful woman.
She called out to Seth, "I made plates for you guys in the kitchen." He nodded and disappeared to grab them.
Settling onto the benches at the wooden table, I positioned her with her back to the room while I sat across from her, able to keep my eye on everyone else. Without a second of hesitation, she dug into the eggs, bacon, and sausage piled high on her plate.
Crunching happily on a piece of bacon, she did an odd little dance in her seat and moved her head around as if to a beat she was singing in her head.
Cocking my head to the side in confusion with my brows scrunched, I hesitantly asked, "What're you doing?"
Her shoulders moved up and down, continuing her dance as she reached for a sausage link this time, "I'm enjoying my food, duh."
Note to self: Food makes Kira happy dance. Feed her often.
Seth walked back out with two plates in his hands, both piled with the same food, and passed one over to me as he sat down next to Kira while asking, "How did you manage to cook all this so fast?"
Chuckling lightly, she swallowed her mouthful of food before answering. "I only had to make the eggs just now. When you're responsible for feeding a pack of wolves, you learn to prepare meat in bulk and just reheat any leftovers for the next day."
The reminder of her status in the pack to this point made me halt the fork full of eggs I had raised to my lips. Setting it back down on the plate, I asked in honest confusion, "How could you invite Jameson to dinner tonight after everything he’s done and how he’s treated you? He's reveled in making your life hell for how long?"
Leveling me with an exasperated gaze, she folded her hands in her lap. "You seem to have no complaints about Seth being with us, even though he never helped my situation growing up."
My eyes darted to Seth, who flinched and let his shoulders sag forward as he mumbled towards his plate, "I will regret that for the rest of my life, Kira."
How could she not see the difference between him and Jameson?
"I know that, Kira. The difference is that he hasn't rejected your mate bond, and he never actively tried to hurt you in the past, plus he regrets not stepping in." I growled the last part as rage coursed through me at the memories.
“Milo, I appreciate your concern for my well being, but I don't need you to make the decision on who can be in my life for me." She resumed shoving eggs into her mouth like that was the end of it.
Picking up my fork, I muttered, "I guess I'm just supposed to welcome a bully into our family with open arms."
A loud clang sounded as she slammed her fork down onto her plate and glared at me.
"You know why I'm giving him a chance? Because maybe he’s trying to figure out who he is and what he wants now that things have changed, just like I am. I’m learning who I was always meant to be after spending my whole life thinking there was nothing special about me." Her eyes flashed with determination, and I knew she wouldn't back down on this point.
Seth pulled her hand into his own as she continued, “I won’t ever forget the way he has treated me, but what I can do is forgive him and move forward.”
Scowling, I shot back, “I understand forgiving people for the sake of moving on, but it seems like you want to move on with him," emphasizing the issue.
Her fire dimmed as she looked down at the table. “Maybe I do. You didn’t see inside his soul like I did this morning. You didn’t see his constant internal struggle." Glancing up at me, a single tear rolled down her cheek, "Part of him wants to feel the happiness he knows he could find with me, but the other half of him hates that he could ever think of being with me."
Seth chimed in, "Listen, I have been Jameson's best friend for as long as I can remember. He doesn't want to allow himself happiness because he doesn't think he deserves it." A humorless laugh came from him before he continued, "I practically had to force my friendship on him, and even that came with strict emotional boundaries."
I rubbed my eyes and sighed deeply, "I'm not saying the dude hasn't been through some shit, but shouldn't he atone for his past transgressions before we're having dinner together? It's just a big leap, and I don't want to see you get hurt, Kira."
Shaking her head in response to my explanation, she retorted, "That sounds like my problem to navigate, Milo."
Fuck it, I was done trying to protect her from his arrogant and vile ways. If she felt she needed to put herself through that, then so be it.
"Okay."
She looked at me like I had sprouted another head, and I explained my response, not wanting her to interpret it the wrong way. "I'm not going to stop you if that's what you need, but I'll be there to pick up the pieces when he eventually breaks your heart. Because he will, Kira."
Standing from the table, she grabbed her plate and swung her leg over the bench, not bothering to look back at us as she called out, "In case you’ve forgotten already, I won’t have mates left to fight for if I can’t conquer my powers and rally the wolves to my side. I need some time alone tonight to work through everything."
My wolf went on high alert at her tone and need for space, his agitation and annoyance with me ringing loud and clear through our bond.
As she left, all heads swiveled towards her, and Seth's voice boomed when he saw their stares, "What did we fucking tell you?"
Dropping my head into my hands with my elbows on the table, I groaned in frustration.
"It'll be okay, dude. We're all just trying to figure this shit out the best we can. It'll take time," Seth reasoned.
Picking my head back up, I sighed, "She's obviously mad at me, but she shouldn't run off alone right now without access to her powers and the Daimona sighting. Can you watch over her tonight?"
He answered with a swift nod and rose to follow her, leaving me with just my tumultuous thoughts and an angry wolf for company.
Chapter Twenty
Kira
Calm down, Kira. He's just being protective of you because he cares.
No matter how many times I repeated this to myself, it didn't help my simmering annoyance with Milo. I had too many things on my plate right now without also having to deal with his overbearing attitude about the situation, even if it came from a place of love.
Groaning at the thought of love coming into play, I kicked at the loose rocks lining the pathway back to my cottage. They scattered haphazardly, bouncing a few times before settling on the dirt. I had walked this path more times than I could count, but this time it felt different with everything that had changed in my life.
The last time I was there, I had pined for a greater purpose in life than being the shifters' maid. Boy had I gotten what I asked for—and then some.
Taking a deep breath and blowing it back out, I focused my thoughts on the most important task at hand: connecting with my wolf again. If I let everything else pile on me at once, I knew I'd never surface from the anxiety and pressure that weighed down on me like a boulder.
Seneca had told me to try meditating, and wi
thout any other ideas, I figured I'd give that a shot. First, I wanted to change into warmer clothes that were preferably my own, with the temperatures dropping as the sun set.
I wasn't as cold as I normally would have been during this time of year, and I figured I could attribute it to the changes my body had undergone with the shift.
My cottage came into sight, and I froze, gasping in horror, just as I heard Seth's deep voice call out, "Kira, wait up!"
My feet were rooted in place and tears pooled in my eyes as I took in the destruction of the one place I had felt safe. It looked like someone had taken a sledgehammer to the walls. I could see my bed through one of the larger holes, and it looked like the interior of my home hadn't been spared either.
The words painted onto the remaining walls didn't even phase me anymore. They’d called me a worthless human countless times. It was the decimation of the place I had been able to feel comfortable—to let out my tears and anguish throughout my life—that brought me to my knees.
I hadn't had many things in life to call my own, and it looked like that wasn't going to change. These people continued to take everything from me, just for the entertainment of seeing me broken and beaten into submission.
What had I done to deserve this?
Warm arms surrounded me, pulling me up from the ground and cradling my head on a firm chest. I expected Seth's support to help me feel better like it had before, but this time it didn't.
He had stood by countless times and watched them bully and mistreat me, and maybe it had been the excitement of the mate bond and my wolf pushing me to accept him that had made me forget about that. But my wolf wasn't in my mind at that moment, and the reminder of the pack’s harassment and hatred of me brought it all boiling back to the surface.
Working my hands up between us, I pushed at his chest to put distance between us, but his arms only tightened around me like a steel band. My anger blended with my sorrow as hot tears fell down my face.
"Let me go!" I screamed, needing to be alone in my pain.
"I will never let you go, Kira," he grunted out as I pressed against his ribcage, refusing to give up despite his superior strength.
Curling my hands into fists, I pounded his chest over and over as I cried out, "You didn't give a shit about me before this bond!"
Snarling, he released his arms and quickly grabbed my fists in his hands. Sniffling between sobs, I could barely see him through the tears muddying my vision.
"I was a fool for not seeing the pain they caused you all these years, Kira. Every time I saw you, you just had this...air of confidence, and you refused to show them that they got to you. You seemed like an impenetrable fortress." He sighed before continuing, "I thought you handled it with grace and that you truly didn't give a shit about what they did. The way you brushed it off time and time again..."
His words—and the lost look on his face—made me pause my assault, and his arms quickly encircled me once more.
Had I really seemed so strong?
The idea was absurd to me. I had certainly not thought myself anything of the sort in those moments. They'd broken me. Every fucking time they'd spouted their vile words and harassed me over the past sixteen years, a piece of me had shut down, slowly making me numb to it. But that wasn't strength, that was depression. Surrender.
If people told you that you were a worthless piece of shit enough times, you started to believe that maybe they were right.
In my state of confusion, I had allowed him to pull my head onto his chest, where a sense of déjà vu overcame me. Two nights in a row of crying on his chest. Pathetic.
"Talk to me, Kitten," he pleaded with me in a whisper while stroking my hair with his hand.
"Why should I help these people who have brought me nothing but pain?" His chest muffled my voice, but I couldn't find the energy in me to move. My tears had dried up, and a familiar numbness was settling into my limbs and soul.
Silence stretched between us for a few minutes as I repeated that question to myself mentally, truly trying to figure out the answer. After everything I'd endured and the disgusting qualities they'd shown, did the pack truly deserve to be saved?
"Because you're better than us."
Those five words shattered my internal numbness, and I looked up into his eyes, floundering at the emotion reflected back at me.
He continued on as I stared at him in confusion, "Honestly, we probably aren't worth saving—not after how miserable this pack made you by treating you like dirt for so long. But, I don’t believe we should sacrifice thousands of other shifters’ lives because of our pack’s errors either."
I could hear the sincerity in his voice and see the grief he wore plainly on his face, and in that moment, I knew I had already forgiven him for the past. I shouldn’t have yelled at him like I had, but my heightened emotions had driven me to lash out, and that was unfair.
My voice came out a bit shaky, "I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been so quick to yell at you. I would never give up on any of you. I couldn't just walk away like that."
Hesitantly, he leaned down towards me, and I rose up to meet him, melting against his lips. He kissed me with so much tenderness, as if afraid I'd change my mind. I deepened our kiss, my tongue parting his lips and tangling with his.
Yes, two of my fated hadn't treated me the way I deserved for a long time, but I realized that I was only hurting myself by holding onto the pain. Seth was at least trying with every fiber of his being to be here for me in the way I needed him now.
Jameson tortured himself enough by denying his chance at love and freedom from his pain. I could never add onto that and be able to live with myself.
Seth groaned as my breasts pushed against his chest, and his hands snaked down to palm my ass tightly. He whispered against my lips, "Come home with me."
The offer was enticing, and I felt my body responding But it also reminded me that I couldn't stay in my own home, which was sobering as hell.
Dropping back down flat onto my feet, I glanced back at my broken home. "Okay. But let me see if there's anything salvageable inside first."
His fingers twined with my own as we crossed the short distance to the wreckage of my home, his silent support welcomed this time. It grounded me in the knowledge that I wasn’t alone anymore. Maybe the desolation of this cottage was a sign that I was leaving the past behind and starting anew.
The front door was shattered into wooden splinters littering the ground, and I gingerly walked on top of them as I entered. I let go of Seth's hand as I made quick work of grabbing a clothes bag from next to my cot and shoving the few pieces of clothing that I owned into it. Thankfully, they’d remained unscathed, unlike the rest of my belongings.
My cot had been shredded, the down feathers of my pillow scattered everywhere, and red paint poured over the mess. It must have been excess that they hadn’t used painting the walls with insults.
I stood there amidst the damage, glancing around, and realized I didn’t own anything else of value besides my clothes. This is what my life's belongings came down to. A singular bag of clothes.
Shaking my head, I vowed to never accept such low standards for myself or my life moving forward. How pathetic my life had truly been thus far.
Walking back out over the shattered remains of the front door, I held my head high and took in Seth's worried face. I hadn't realized he had gone back outside while I surveyed the damage inside. "I'm okay," I assured him, smiling as the tension visibly melted away from him.
He nodded and offered his hand to me, and I hesitated. It symbolized so much more to me than just his physical presence. It represented the true beginning of my new life. I would never come back to this cottage, and I would tackle everything life threw at me with him and Milo by my side. As a team, a family.
My resolve solidified, and I gripped his hand tightly, "Let's go."
Chapter Twenty-One
Seth
Mate.
Mate.
Mate.
"What's wrong?" Kira inquired, looking over to me with her large doe eyes that held so much compassion in them.
I would never be worthy of her affection—or dare I say love? I'd meant it when I said she was better than the rest of us.
Dropping her hand, I walked up the two steps to my front door and opened it, motioning for her to go in first while answering nonchalantly, "Oh, nothing. Just my wolf being restless."
She winced at the mention of my wolf, and I immediately wanted to bang my head against the door frame at my ignorance. I started to apologize, but she cut me off with a sad smile as she walked into the house and asked, "Why’s he so restless?"
I knew it must pain her to talk about my wolf like this while she still felt disconnected from hers.
Reaching for the light switch by the door, I flicked it on, illuminating the sparsely decorated space that I called home. I wasn't great at decorating and had never really given it a second thought.
Kira padded over to the leather loveseat in the living room and plopped down, dropping her bag onto the floor beside it. The way she just made herself at home brought a smile to my face. It surprised me how incredible it felt to have her here and at ease in my space.
"Seth?"
Fuck, I’d never answered her question.
Coughing to cover my awkwardness, I closed the door and answered as I walked towards the kitchen, "Oh, it's nothing. He's just being...him." She hummed in response as if that was enough explanation, and I sighed in relief at not having to explain to her that my wolf wanted me to sheath my cock in her until we made her scream for us.
Claim.
Pulling two beers from my fridge, I popped the caps off and tossed them into the trash before heading over to the loveseat. Settling in next to her, I offered her the beer, and she scrunched her nose up at it. The action was adorable, but honestly everything she did had me thinking she was sexy, beautiful, or adorable.
Outcast: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Pack Prophecy Book 1) Page 13
