Chapter 10 - Kit

I stood there in the room alone, and I just…stood there. I was completely frozen in place, rooted to the spot like I was a tree. One that had just been struck by lightning, at that. What in the absolute hell had just happened? Kaiden had been so weird , coiled up like a snake ready to strike.

My heart still pounded in my chest, hard enough to be noticeable. Kaiden had been so close to me, his nose buried in my neck like that.

"Why did he run off like that?" I whispered to myself.

It was all so strange. He'd never really acted quite like that before, and this version of Kaiden was simultaneously alien and familiar. What had he been about to say? And why the fuck did it seem like the guy was interested ?

That's insane, Kit. It was just the proximity. Hell, he's probably close to a rut or something. Does that happen for male wolves?

I couldn't remember, but it was beside the point, anyway. As I'd stated a number of times, I wasn't a wolf, and I wasn't about to have sex with the guy, so if he needed to go run his hormones off, he could be my guest.

Still…

Memory swirled in my mind, and I could remember one other similar instance, drilling into my mind like a railroad spike.

My heart hurt. There was no other way to put it. It was achy and empty and cracked open—a vase spilling its contents onto the floor.

Papa Glen and Mama Tansy were gone—just like that. I was alone again, with no parents, and despite what anyone might think, no siblings or pack.

Grayson tolerated me before, and now he fucking hated me. He was convinced it was my being here that caused his parents to get sick. It was ridiculous, of course, but Grayson didn't seem to care. He was too upset and needed someone to blame.

That person was always me, the useless human.

I felt the chill creep up my feet as I dangled my legs over the bank of the river. The water just touched the bottoms of my toes, and I sighed, my chest too heavy to take a full breath. Why was life like this? I hadn't done anything. I hadn't betrayed the pack or revealed their secrets to other humans.

Hell, I never even spoke to other humans. I knew they were all worried that I was some wolf in sheep's clothing, but it wasn't true. I was just some girl whose parents had been killed by their own dumb hunter friends.

Glen and Tansy had taken me in. They didn't have to. I could have been adopted by the humans left alive, but there was something that connected us that day. They'd lost some of their family, and I lost mine.

So we became each other's.

From the time I was four, Glen and Tansy were the only parents I knew. I loved them dearly.

And now they were just gone.

"It's not fair," I mumbled to myself, throwing the rock I'd been fiddling with into the river.

"Yeah, it usually ain't."

I yelped, jumping and nearly falling into the water when Kaiden's voice cut through the silence around me. When I turned over my shoulder, he was fighting back a grin, and I glared at him.

"Go away, Kaiden."

"This Jet's territory. I can be wherever I want." He smirked, plopping down a few feet away and dangling his legs over the bank's edge just like I was.

"Seriously? My parents are dead—again—and I just wanted some time alone. Why are you such a bully? I've never done anything to you."

"'Cept be human. It's your dumb kind that got themselves killed, and since you came here, there's been more sickness. So…yeah."

I glared, my eyes stinging with tears. "Is that really why you came here? To make me feel worse? Well, fuck off. I feel bad enough without your help, jerk."

He laughed, that lilting sound like the water rushing over the rocks below me. "Well, look who's got some stones. And no. I'm not doing anything I don't want to. And I happen to like this bank."

As he looked down, seemingly ignoring me, I sighed and then rolled my eyes. Kaiden had never been here before, as far as I could tell. It was a regular hangout spot for me, and I'd yet to see him darkening the cheery atmosphere with his bullshit.

"You're such a liar," I mumbled under my breath.

It was just as easy to sulk at home, though, so I started to stand up, intent on walking back to the empty trailer.

Kaiden's hand snaked around my bicep, squeezing hard. "Did you forget what good ears I have?"

I startled, yanking away from him instinctively as I tried to get my arm back and get out of there as fast as my short little legs would carry me.

"Let me go, Kaiden. I'm leaving. You should be thrilled."

He growled low, the sound rumbling out of him like a rattlesnake, and I could see his fingernails lengthening as I looked down at my arm. As I looked up, his eyes were beginning to glow yellow, too.

Oh, shit. Is he going to shift? Christ, Kaiden could tear me apart in human form. This is so not good .

"Did you forget what sharp claws I have?"

The situation was just too insane, and that rational bid for survival faltered as I pulled my arm out of his grip, Kaiden's claws tearing through the fabric of my shirt.

"The fuck is wrong with you? Do you hear yourself? You're not the big bad wolf, Kaiden, so just leave me alone."

That growl rumbled again, and when I met Kaiden's eyes, they were entirely yellow now. The wolf within him was driving things, not his higher-thinking brain. Fuck, I'd really played with fire by taunting him. I needed to get out of there.

I turned my back on him and started to walk away. My parents had just died, and now I had to deal with this shit? No way. Kaiden needed to find someone else to pick on for a change.

But just as I took my third step, he pounced. I was thrown to the ground, Kaiden at my back, pinning me to the earth. Grass tickled across my cheek and nose as my face smushed into it, and his claws were gripping either shoulder, holding me down.

Panic swirled higher, and I worried he might actually…"take" something from me. I mean, even if he didn't truly find me attractive, he could still have his way with me and then just leave me here. No one would ever believe me if I said he did, and we both knew that.

As I lay there, trembling with tears smearing down my face and mixing with the dirt, I couldn't move. I told my body to thrash, to get him off, but it wouldn't listen. That's when I realized that Kaiden hadn't tried anything. He held me to the ground, yes, but he didn't move his hands from my shoulders.

"Kaiden, please, get off me. I just want to go—"

"What? Home? You don't have a home here." His voice was gravelly and dark, twisting my insides as it did something primal to me. "Do you know what you being here does to me? Does to my wolf?"

My mind reeled. I had no idea what Kaiden was talking about. Clearly, this was just more wolf magic bullshit that he was thrusting on me.

"You're just a dumb human. How are you doing this to me?"

"I'm not doing anything! Get off me!"

Finally, my body listened, and I thrashed against him. It didn't do me much good, however. I pulled and tried to shrug Kaiden off, knocking him to the side, but he was too strong.

"This is all your fault. You and that human scent of yours. Why are you doing this?!"

But just as his voice was changing to a growl, his fingers disappearing from my back to be replaced with claws, I felt something brush against my ass as I fought against him.

No, it can't be. You're so imagining that. Kaiden does not have a hard-on.

Before I could say anything else, though, he leapt off me, fully shifting into a wolf before my eyes. His clothes were shredded, and Kaiden ran off into the woods, jumping across a thick fallen tree trunk to reach the other side of the river and disappear into the trees.

As the world refocused around me, I still stood in Kaiden's alpha quarters. I had no idea when or if he'd be back, and it was beyond late. I needed rest, and it didn't look like I'd be let out of this room anytime soon. So, I pulled back the covers and lay down in Kaiden's bed.

If he was going to piss off with his wolf, then he'd forfeited his bed, and I didn't care if I stunk up the entire thing with my human smell. I was tired, and at the very least, I deserved to get my sleep in a bed.

I didn't know what tomorrow held, but one thing was certain after all this talk with Kaiden—he needed answers about a drug I knew nothing about, and I wanted out of this place.

But I was going to get some answers of my own before I left.