Chapter 13 - Kane

It had been a while since Kane had found the chance to take his Harley Davidson, Quinn, out for a good long ride. He only wished that it was under better circumstances. Being practically ordered to go on a search and retrieve mission for his bride-to-be wasn"t exactly his idea of a good road trip.

But the weather was fine, the roads were long, and it felt good to be alone for a little while.

Stopping at a gas station and a roadside diner along the way, Kane questioned those he could about Miley. To his surprise, nearly every person he asked said they had seen her passing through.

She isn"t much of a runaway, he thought. If she wanted to disappear, she was doing a pretty shitty job of it. But then again, a woman that beautiful would find it difficult to blend in, especially with that shock of vibrant red hair.

Paying the waitress for the takeaway coffee he had ordered at the diner, he asked her, "Did she give any idea as to where she might be headed, Cindy?"

Blowing a bubblegum bubble, Cindy shrugged and said, "She said something about visiting some family member."

Kane"s chest swelled. Maybe her parents hadn't been wrong.

"Thanks, Cindy, keep the change," Kane asked, hoping to be well on his way. He didn't want to run the risk of missing Miley entirely. For all he knew, she only planned to stay a night at her grandma"s while passing through. Who knew where she might end up after that?

He could only hope he wasn"t already too late.

He lifted his coffee to his lips and started to drain it.

"Careful, sir, that"ll be hot!" Cindy warned, but Kane continued to drink.

For a human, the coffee was likely boiling hot. To a werewolf, it was nothing but a tingle.

"Thanks for the warning, kid," Kane said, winking. He cringed the second he had done it. The old Kane might have flirted with Cindy. Hell, he might have even tried to add her to his conquest list and see if he could one-up the other fellas. But not this new Kane, the Kane who was determined to find Miley and see her safe, no matter what safe actually looked like.

He rushed from the diner, shoved his half-empty coffee into the cup holder he had installed on his bike, and clipped on his helmet.

After a quick check to make sure Quinn was still in roadworthy condition, he was on his way again, his stomach churning at the thought of what he might find when he made it to the grandma's farm.

Luckily for him, he had a somewhat photographic memory, and as a wolf, a good sense of direction. He barely needed to look at a map to know his way, and his time in black ops had only helped matters further. He practically had an internal navigation system by now, and before long, he was on the dirt track that headed up to the farmhouse.

Arriving at the yard gate to find it closed, Kane halted Quinn and killed the engine.

Sniffing the air, he smelled hay, garden herbs, orchard trees, a multitude of other things. But one thing he was weary of—a dog.

The scent was faint, and he scanned the yard before hopping over the gate in one leap.

It was only as he crossed the yard, still sniffing, that he heard the barking coming from around the back of the house. Kane stiffened. Dogs and wolves weren't exactly the best of friends.

He kept his cool even when the border collie came shooting around the side of the house as he put his foot on the first step of the porch.

Determined to show his dominance as the dog came at him, teeth bared and snarling, Kane did the same.

He turned on the animal, fangs bared and hands tightened to fists at his sides. It wouldn"t be the first time a dog had tried to take him on since he was turned.

"Try it and see how well it goes for you," Kane growled through gritted fangs.

It was only when the front door opened behind him that Kane quickly retracted them.

"Can I help you, young man?"

It had been a long time since anyone had called him anything like that, but when he turned to meet the elderly lady"s gaze, he saw why.

She had to be in at least her seventies, and though her face spoke of an age-old beauty, she was wrinkled and withered, and her eyes were tired.

"Mrs. Peters?" Kane said, his chest tightening. He prayed his instinct had led him to the right place.

Movement behind the woman told him he had; when he breathed in, he smelled her scent all too well. Miley was in that house. The mere scent of her made his entire body spark alive.

"Kane?" Miley's voice was little more than a gasp as she appeared in the doorway behind her grandmother.

As if even his name bugged the collie, the dog started to growl again.

"Oh, Mo! Stop it this instant or I shall fetch the dish towel!" the feisty old woman hissed at the dog, wafting him away. "Off with you!"

At that, the dog bared his teeth at Kane one final time before he darted off back in the direction he came from.

Then, the elderly woman turned to Miley and said, "You know this man?"

Kane held his breath. If she denied knowing him and Mrs. Peters denied him entrance into her house, what could he do? He was a man of honor. He would not go barging in and throw Miley over his shoulder like a caveman, no matter how much he felt the urge to do so.

He was surprised when Miley nodded. "I do."

The grandma looked between the two of them for a moment. Then she huffed, "Well then, don"t just stand there in the burning hot sun. Come on in and I"ll pour another iced tea."

The moment Grandma turned away, Miley scowled at Kane. Clearly, she wasn"t as pleased to see him, as he"d only now realized he hoped she would be.

Was he the only one elated to see her safe?

The second he laid eyes on her, his heart skipped a beat. She had to have felt that too, surely? He couldn"t possibly be the only one.

Stroking a thick red curl back behind her ear, Miley averted her gaze and stepped out of his way. With a gesture of her hand, she said, "Come on in."

"Please, have a seat. Any friend of my granddaughter"s is welcome," Grandma Peters said, gesturing to the round kitchen table with its pink and white polka dot tablecloth.

"We aren"t exactly friends," Kane grumbled without really thinking. He bit the inside of his lip the second the words left his mouth.

Having already sat, he felt entirely at the old lady"s mercy as she turned with a jug of iced tea in hand and her brow raised. "Oh? Then what exactly are you?"

She looked between him and Miley, who had taken the seat closest to him.

"You aren"t in some kind of trouble, are you, Miley?" she asked, looking to her granddaughter. "You don"t owe this man money, do you?"

Miley seemed to bite back laughter at that, and Kane straightened his back.

"Grandma, Kane might look like a drug dealer, but he isn"t," Miley said, and with a smile, she turned to Kane and added, "Are you?"

"Definitely not! I"d have been court martialed for certain if I was," Kane said, imagining how his pack might rip him to shreds if he'd ever brought that kind of trouble to their door.

"A military man, then?" Grandma asked, intrigued.

"Yes, ma"am," Kane said, tipping his head respectfully as he took the glass of iced tea she offered, "Thank you."

Grandma placed another glass in front of Miley and one on the table for herself before she sat down opposite them.

"So then, how do the two of you know each other and how did you come to find my farm, Mister…?"

"Please, just call me Kane," he said quickly, trying to avoid the question. How did he tell this sweet little old lady that her son had sent him for the daughter he had promised to him in exchange for the pack paying off all his debts?

"Well, Kane, how do you know my granddaughter?" Grandma asked again, her expression more than a little suspicious.

Kane opened his mouth, unsure what to say, and was utterly shocked when Miley placed a hand on his forearm.

"I told you my boyfriend would be picking me up to finish our road trip, didn"t I, Grandma?" she said, and Kane's breath caught in his throat.

Boyfriend? Nobody had used that term toward him, not in a long, long time—not since his human life had ended.

Grandma looked between them again. She still looked suspicious, though slightly less so now. "It must have slipped my mind."

"Kane had some work to finish up in Nightstar before joining me, didn"t you, babe?" Miley said, and the strength with which she squeezed his forearm was most surprising indeed. He hadn"t ever known a human to be that strong. It was actually painful.

"Yes," he said through gritted teeth. "I would have liked her to wait for me, but as I"m sure you"ve realized, Mrs. Peters, your granddaughter is a stubborn one."

"Indeed," Grandma scowled at Miley before looking to Kane again. "She has refused to let me do any of the heavy lifting since she got here yesterday."

"Sounds like my Miley," Kane said, forcing a smile, though as he placed a hand on top of hers on his arm, he realized it wasn"t entirely forced. The warmth of her hand was welcoming, and he only started to scowl again when he realized she was shaking. "Miley? Are you alright?"

Miley cleared her throat. "I"m fine."

Kane looked closely at her, his stomach twisting. Something was wrong. He sniffed discreetly. Now that he was closer, he realized, she smelled different.

He couldn"t quite put his finger on why.

"You"re looking a little pale, sweetheart," Grandma said. "Drink your tea."

Miley smiled and slipped her hand out from beneath Kane"s to take hold of her glass.

"You too," Grandma insisted, gesturing to the glass in front of Kane with a nod of her head.

He did as she instructed and took a deep swig before he turned his attention to Miley again.

She seemed to be growing paler by the minute.

"Maybe you ought to go and rest, dear?" Grandma suggested.

"No, honestly, I"m fine," Miley protested, but Kane pushed back his chair.

"No, your grandma is right. You need to rest," he said. "I"ll take you to your room…if that is alright with your grandma?"

He looked to the old woman.

"Of course. Be my guest," Grandma said, gesturing them down the hall. Kane rose to his feet and tried to help Miley up, but she brushed him off.

"I can take myself to my room. You stay and finish your tea."

Like hell I will, Kane thought, gritting his teeth to stop from saying the words aloud. Instead, he slipped his arm under hers and said, "Don"t be so stubborn, love."

And before she could protest, he swung her up into his arms. Her entire body stiffened immediately before he whispered in her ear, "I thought we were playing along?"

It was then that Miley's wrapped her arms around his neck, maybe a little tighter than was necessary, and said, "Thank you, but you don"t have to carry me. I can walk."

"What kind of man would I be if I let you walk when you"re clearly feeling unwell?" Kane demanded, carrying her down the hall.

"Careful not to lose that one, dear!" Grandma called down the hall after them. "He"s a keeper!"

"You hear that, love? I"m a keeper," Kane scoffed, winking at Miley.

He felt the sting of her pinch on the back of his neck like the bite of a horsefly then. "Ouch, what was that for?"

Miley said nothing, only sticking out her tongue at him until they reached the end of the hall and she said, "This one is me."

Kicking the door open with his foot, Kane quickly deposited her onto the bed and stepped away to shut the door again.

"What was that all about?" Miley demanded almost the moment it was shut.

Kane stood with his back to her, his shoulders tensed, ready to bash his head against the door. Ever since she walked into his life, she had been nothing but trouble.

"I was just playing along with you," Kane growled through gritted teeth. "Boyfriend? What the hell was all that about?"

"Well, that"s what you are, isn"t it?" Miley demanded angrily, and Kane was so surprised he whipped around to face her. Before he could say anything, she hissed at him again, "Oh, wait, you"re more than that, aren"t you? That"s why you"re here, isn"t it? You"re the one I"m being forced to marry!"

The venom in her tone stung Kane more than he would ever care to admit.

"You think I want to force you into this? I"m doing this for your benefit, not my own!" Kane snapped back at her, anger fizzing throughout his entire body.

At that, Miley laughed. It was a haughty, in-your-face kind of laugh, the kind that suggested she didn't believe him for even one second.

And it only made him angrier—so angry, in fact, that he growled. This wasn"t just any old human, grumbling growl, it was a deep-throated, rumbling-in-your-chest wolf growl, one that he had no control over.

Miley"s eyes widened at the sound. Her pale pink rosebud lips fell open. They closed and opened again as if she were about to speak, but she appeared quite speechless.

Kane was even angrier now, at her, at himself, at everything.

He wasn"t sure how much longer he could face her without doing something utterly stupid. Allowing a wolf growl out in front of her was bad enough.

Closing his eyes, he gritted his teeth and pressed his fingers to his temples. "Let"s just keep up this pretense for the day so we don"t worry your grandma. Then we can tell her we need to get on our way and head home."

"No way!" Miley snapped, and his eyes flew open just in time to see her rise from the bed. "I am not going—"

Miley cut off mid-sentence as she started to stumble forward, her hand reaching for her forehead as if she felt woozy.

Without stopping to think, Kane rushed to her side. He grabbed her before she could fall and pulled her close.

The scent of her wafted into his nostrils once more. It was different still, earthier somehow. He told himself it was the day she had spent on the farm.

She trembled in his arms, fragile and dainty, and he felt the urge to pick her up again.

Instead, he reached down and placed his fingers beneath her chin to turn her face up toward his. "What"s the matter?"

She didn"t answer immediately. Her beautiful green eyes met his, sparkling with something he couldn"t quite put his finger on. Whatever it was, he liked it on her a little too much.

He forced himself to blink, and whatever spell had come between them dissipated. She cleared her throat said, "It's nothing. I"m just exhausted, and it"s making me dizzy."

Kane"s stomach twisted when she pulled herself from his arms and said, "You should leave me to rest."

"I…I should leave you to rest," he repeated, but in that moment, it was the very last thing he wanted to do.

Though she had pulled away, she was still so close, and the urge to take her into his arms again was infuriating.

"If you need anything, just shout," Kane told her gently, brushing back a strand of her hair back behind her ear, the same strand she had shoved back earlier.

Miley smacked his hand away and glowered at him. "Don"t pretend to care about me."

The disgust in her tone stung Kane. He bit back the urge to tell her he wasn"t pretending. What good would it do? She wouldn"t believe him, anyway.

Dipping his head silently, he left her to rest, closing the door firmly behind him.

For a while he stood at the door, his back to it, able to feel her just on the other side. He could sense how she slipped back onto the bed and how her breathing slowed as if she really were trying to rest.

And when he closed his eyes, he could still feel how wonderful it had felt for her to be in his arms, even if it had only lasted a moment or so.

The smell of her lingered on his clothes, and he picked up the hem of his t-shirt to breathe her in deeply. Closing his eyes, he breathed her in again, wishing he could return to her room and tell her the truth.

But what good would that do? She would never believe him. She would never believe he had been unable to stop from thinking of her since that very first day he had laid eyes on her in her father"s hardware shop.

No, it was best to try and put all that out of his mind, at least for now. The most important thing was her safety, not what he felt for her.

And besides, he could barely admit it to himself; how was he supposed to admit it to her?

"How is she?"

The question shocked Kane. He had been so intent on his thoughts he hadn"t even heard Grandma Peters approaching from the kitchen.

Kane shrugged and sighed, "As stubborn as ever."

"Well, since you"re here and she"s all tuckered out, perhaps you might be able to help me? It"s been a while since I had a man about the house."

Kane couldn"t help but smile. The boldness and cheek of old women had always amused him.

"What exactly did you have in mind?"