Chapter 8 - Kit

My chest felt tight as I looked at Kaiden. He just stood there waiting for me to deliver my experience to him on a silver fucking platter. We hadn't seen each other in over a decade, I was not in this pack or even a wolf that he might compel with his alpha status, and yet, here I was, ready to spill the proverbial beans.

It was just something about what he'd said.

I did know what it was like to protect a family, a pack, and I could see that dedication to them in his eyes. He'd openly mentioned how new he was at this, which was definitely a change from his previous "untouchable jock" vibe that he gave off when we were teens.

Goddamn. Fine, Kaiden. You win.

Releasing a heavy breath, I slumped down onto the edge of the bed and thought back to what I did know about Eli.

"He's cruel. I can tell you that much. Always has been, for as long as I can remember, and he doesn't like humans. Stumbling into his territory, being what I am, afforded me a quick education in what things he likes and which he doesn't tolerate."

Kaiden nodded, his expression steely and cold. I couldn't tell if he was disinterested or trying to keep himself composed, not offer something that might be misinterpreted. Still, I could see the tense set to his jaw, the way he clenched down on it, maybe even literally biting his tongue.

"Go on."

I rolled my eyes, shaking my head as a mirthless smile took up residence on my face. This wasn't exactly what I'd call an easy conversation, so excuse me for taking too long. Here comes the trauma dump.

"He got what he could out of me about Jet's pack. I don't know if he used the information or not. I was locked away in a separate area of his house for a while. It's insanely big. Like I said, there's wings and shit, and I'm pretty sure a basement, but I've never been down there."

Picturing the compound, I tried to describe it as I remembered the typical route of my cleaning routine.

"There are at least three floors I have been to. The main floor, the second floor, which is mostly bedrooms, and the attic, which is pretty much just storage and where my room was."

"Could you lead us through some of it? Draw a map?" He cocked a brow as he spoke, leading this particular witness with his hopeful question.

"Maybe. I don't have a photographic memory or anything, but I can give a guesstimate."

Kaiden nodded, his arms folding over his chest as he took another step forward. "All right. What else?"

"After a while, he finally let me out. I'd been eating scraps for a long time, and I was promised my first real meal that night if I agreed to serve the pack with whatever they needed. Of course, I said yes, and after that, I was escorted to a smaller room up in that attic I mentioned and then shown where the cleaning supplies were."

I fiddled with my fingers, tracking my eyes over the imperfections in Kaiden's wood floor. The house here was so different from Eli's, and giving me something to focus on helped to ground me as panic crawled up the back of my throat. Still, images of the locked door to my room, the tiles beneath my hands as I scrubbed, the pain racking through me as I worked, threatened to silence me.

"He let his wolves run the place ragged. I had to mop up after drunken parties, including several missed bathroom breaks and dirty sheets. If it wasn't done to his satisfaction, I was beaten."

"He beat you?"

I jumped slightly. I'd actually forgotten that Kaiden was there, my words just tumbling out of me like water through a leaky sieve.

"Come on, Kaiden. You're not that na?ve, are you? Didn't you say that the alpha before you was a bit of a dick? Yes, he or his wolves made sure I learned every lesson he was intent on teaching me."

A soft growl emanated from Kaiden, and I looked up at him, ready to snap. But he didn't look dissatisfied with the information per se. I couldn't really tell what he felt, but something about his expression told me the anger wasn't directed at me, but…

No. That's stupid, Kit .

"Keep going," he said, his voice tight, and I could swear that he was fighting back a shift, his eyes going yellow.

I swallowed hard, curiosity and concern fighting for my attention as I sank back into the flow of memories.

"I tried to escape three times. The first time, I was caught almost immediately and went three days without food after he flogged me. The second, I was caught when they found me passed out in the woods nearby from exhaustion. I made it an entire day before his wolves dragged me back."

"The third?"

The rough quality of Kaiden's voice had tripled, and I could see the hairs on his arms lengthen, the deep black color of his hair feeding into the midnight color of his wolf's fur. He was fighting back a shift.

But why?

Eyeing him, I continued. "The third was this time. I have your wolves to thank for finding me first. After that second time, I stopped trying until now. Having hot pokers on your feet has a way of keeping you from running."

When I focused on Kaiden, studying his expression for any sign of what was going on in his head, the look on his face would be etched into my mind for the rest of my life. He looked sick—straight-up green—and at first, I thought the disgust was centered on me. After all, why wouldn't it be?

" He …did that to you?"

"You mean Eli specifically? Yes." I blinked, my eyes stinging. "He has a way with creativity. Too bad he's not using it for macrame, right?"

The joke was meant to defuse some of the tension, but Kaiden's body shook even harder. I could visibly see him warring against his own instinctual need to shift into his wolf form. I'd seen him do it a few times when a shift was less than convenient. But he was a grown man now, not a teenager.

Why was he having such a difficult time with it now? Obviously, the guy must have learned to get his wolf under control. Defeating the previous alpha aside, they wouldn't let Kaiden be the leader of this pack if he was going around shifting at random times.

It was something about me .

My presence was making it hard for him to keep a lid on things, and that entertained me way more than it should. Little old human Kit was messing with the big bad alpha wolf, making his shift gnaw at him.

That was hilarious. And frankly, it was nice to see that I could get under his skin, too. He'd teased me enough over the years that taking Kaiden down a peg felt great.

"What's the matter, Kaiden? You seem to be having a bit of a control issue there."

"Drop it, Kit," he snapped. "Is that all? Can you think of anything else that might benefit me?"

I smirked, narrowing my eyes at him as I mirrored his posture, folding my arms over my chest.

"Benefit you, huh? Sure, this'll benefit you. Take a fucking chill pill. You're not the one recounting their torture, so wolf up. I'm doing you a service, and you're standing there fighting against a shift because what? It's a lot? I'm the one who lived it, Kaiden, so I don't want to hear it."

He growled low again, his brows sinking down over his eyes as he sneered at me.

"Jesus, what is with you? Why is being around me so hard for you? Scared to confront your past?"

Before I could even blink, Kaiden crossed the room in a flash. His clawed fingers latched onto my shoulders, gripping hard. It nearly hurt, and as I stared up at him, I saw the yellow glow of his eyes and the lengthening of his canines into long fangs.

I'd never been around him when he was in wolf form or in this half-state so close. My heart slammed against my ribs as my pulse skyrocketed. I could intimately sense how much of a predator he was and how much I was his prey.

It was genuinely terrifying, and yet, a part of me knew without a shadow of a doubt that he wouldn't hurt me. Which was beyond strange.

I'd never trusted him like that before. But with Kaiden so close, his grip on my shoulders was iron as his wavering human-to-wolf-and-back eyes looked down at me like I was the only thing in the universe.

What the hell is happening right now?

"Don't…Kit…" Kaiden whispered, and I could hear the strain in his voice.

As the moment hung, tense as a piano wire, I seriously considered if my need for a bit of revenge just got me into way more trouble. Trouble that I could not handle.