6. Apryle

Chapter 6

Apryle

H is words ring in my head on an endless loop as we drive to the town where the hunters were last spotted. The truck is quiet, everyone deep in their thoughts, preparing for the fight we're about to have. They're probably going over strategies, and that's what I should be doing, but all I can think about is that I can still taste Kye on my lips.

He kissed me. Not just kissed, but kissed . I have never had anyone claim my mouth the way he did. It was brutal and possessive, and I liked it. It was as if every part of me was burning for him.

Denying this bond is going to be impossible if my traitorous body won't behave itself. The amount of control it took not to hump his leg like a horny terrier was alarming.

Getting close to him is a disaster I have to avoid at all costs.

I ignore his gaze boring into the side of my head as the truck hurtles down the highway. Kye insisting on tagging along and getting into my business annoys me, but there is also a part of me that finds it sweet that he wants to keep me safe.

I don't like feeling this way because I know I'm better off alone. I've always been better when I am the only one I have to rely on. Joining the coven was a huge step toward trusting others, but that was easier. They don't want to use or own me, and they are in the same position I am.

I don't know what to do with Kye's overbearing personality, so I made sure to have Archie sitting between us in the truck. He doesn't seem fazed by Kye growling at him under his breath, which makes me suspect that my mate is usually not the most approachable wolf anyway. In fact, I get the impression Archie is enjoying unsettling Kye.

I watch the Montana landscape pass me by. The pretty mountains and trees cover both sides of the road, and not for the first time, I wish I could transform into my wolf and run free. I envy those who can shift. Even more so, I envy those who have their wolves with them at all times.

As much as I hate to admit it, Kye's presence in my mind is comforting after all these years alone in there—even though I mostly feel his frustration. I thought being mean to him would convince him that we need to undo this bond, but if anything, it's made him more determined for it to work.

I have to figure my way out of this, but right now I have no clue how to make that happen.

You have to run…

The thought creeps into my mind unbidden, but the moment it settles through my thoughts, I know it's right. Running is the only option. If I stay, our bond will cement further, and we will become unbreakable.

But how can I run? I'm being hunted, and the last thing I want is to be locked in that creepy facility being rutted day and night while the Order tries to put a super soldier baby inside me.

You ran before.

I did. I stayed in the human world for a while, hiding my magic and cloaking my wolf. It won't be as easy to stay hidden this time, not while Kye has a direct line into my mind, but it is feasible.

The car stops, scattering my thoughts, and I twist to look out the window, trying to see where we are.

Quaint stores line the main street, the American flag billowing in the breeze above one door. There are a few people milling around, completely oblivious to any danger around them. Hunters aren't a threat to humans, but that doesn't mean they won't get caught up in the crossfire if there's an attack.

As Callum climbs out of the vehicle, followed by Beck and Ayden, I open my door and slip out. My feet have barely hit the asphalt before Kye has rounded the back of the truck and is at my side. I wait for that stifling, suffocating feeling to hit me, but this time it doesn't.

Before I can say or do anything, he backs me against the side of the car and his fingers wrap around my throat. His touch isn't heavy, but it is insistent. Still, I wait for that choking feeling, but it doesn't come. I know I should fight, but my traitorous body melts into his touch instead. Fickle bitch.

"Are you trying to drive me insane?" he demands, as if all of this is a personal attack on him.

"I don't need to drive you anywhere, Kye. You took the keys and drove yourself."

He lets out a low growl in the back of his throat that makes that spot between my legs throb. It becomes more insistent as he leans toward me to sniff. "I can smell him on you."

I'm confused, even as a shiver of need flows through me. "Who?"

"Archie!" He pulls back, his lips tugged into a snarl. "I could have killed him because of that little ruse you pulled. Don't use other males to keep me from you."

I fold my arms over my chest, feeling the waves of jealousy pulsing through the bond. He's really upset by this? There is a slither of guilt stirring in my gut that I've hurt him, but I don't want to encourage this behavior either. I feel like I'm being tugged in so many directions and the loss of control is overwhelming.

"So sitting by someone else is a problem now?"

His fingers knead the bridge of his nose. "You're testing my patience, sweetheart."

My stomach flutters. Why do I like him calling me that?

"Then maybe you should agree to my plan to undo the bond between us." Even as I say it, I'm not sure I want it. I know this is the power of the bond, dragging me into his orbit, but it's impossible to fight against its pull.

When his nose moves to my neck, sniffing along the column of my throat, all my resolve disappears. The hairs on my nape rise, a shiver trailing down my spine. I squeeze my thighs together, willing my body to remain indifferent, but I am no longer in control of myself.

"I will never let you go." He breathes the words into my ear, making it sound like a promise but also a threat. "You're mine, Apryle. The sooner you accept that, the happier you will be." He licks over my pulse point, no doubt feeling the intense flutter of my heart beneath his tongue and the tremble of need that works through me. "You push me away, and yet your body craves me."

"I don't crave anything from you." It's a lie, and I have no doubt he knows it. I can smell my arousal, so I'm sure he can too.

"You're scared. I can feel it through our bond. Apryle, I saw a glimpse of something—a memory, I think. What happened to you?"

He saw it? I never wanted to open that part of me to anyone, and my shame crawls through me. I was weak that day, pathetically so. My wolf was hidden and my magic uncontrolled. I let my pack hurt me because I couldn't fight back. That helpless feeling is not something I ever want to experience again.

Needing to find control—of this conversation or my emotions, I'm not sure—I shove him back, and to my surprise, Kye lets go of me.

"Stay out of my mind," I snap at him. "We may be mates, but you don't get to dig into my private memories."

His heavy brows draw together. "That's not what I did, but I can't help what you transmit through the bond."

He can't, and I'm not being fair right now, but I don't care. I step around him and walk over to the others.

Archie and Beck both eye me as I slip in beside Ayden. I can't meet any of their gazes, but I know I'm being gawked at.

I straighten my spine, focusing instead on our task ahead. Saving hybrids from the Order.

"Where do we think these hunters are?" I direct this question at Callum, ignoring the tension radiating from the rest of the group. Talia smirks at me while Devon bounces his gaze between me and the others.

I sense Kye behind me, but I don't look at him, not even when Callum glances between us.

"I'm not sure. Let's fan out in pairs and see if we can pick up any scents."

"I'll go with Beck," I say immediately.

I don't want to be alone with Kye. He's just going to keep asking questions about my past and I don't want to give him those answers. Plus every time he touches me, my walls break down a little more. I can't let him in.

This suggestion is met with outright hostility from him. "Over my dead body."

"That can be arranged," I smile sweetly at him.

"I'll go with Archie," Beck says before we can argue further.

Traitor.

I glare at him, but he shifts his shoulders at me before he walks away with his brother. Callum stares between us.

"Is there going to be a problem here?"

"Nope," I say. I don't want to be left out. I have something to prove, and I'm going to do just that.

Callum glances at Kye, who huffs out a breath. "No."

"Good, because this isn't a game. It's dangerous and I can't have your… whatever the hell this is… distracting the others from our task."

"Which is why I think I should be paired with someone else."

"I told you that's not happening," Kye spits out before Callum can respond.

I feel a little sorry for him, but that sympathy fades as soon as he says, "He's your mate, Apryle. You stick together."

"What? No!"

"If you split up, you'll be distracted, and you'll get whoever you're teamed up with killed."

He walks away to join the others as my mouth flops open and closed like a land-tossed fish.

My hands fist at my sides.

"Can you look at me?" Kye demands.

"I don't want to."

"Apryle—"

"No! Let's just do the job we came here to do."

As I walk away, he grabs my bicep, stopping me in my tracks. My heart stutters, and my stomach fills with a hundred butterflies, all beating their wings.

"Stop grabbing me all the time." I want to snap at him, but it comes out kind of breathy.

"Then stop running away from me. I understand this is a lot to take in. It's a lot for me too. Do you think I woke up that morning expecting to find my fated mate? I was fine going through life alone."

There is something in the way he says this that makes my stomach dip unpleasantly. I know nothing about him. What brought Kye to Callum's group? No one would choose this path, not unless they had been driven to it, or forced, in the case of tau wolves.

What kind of pain has he gone through? What have I dismissed about him by only focusing on my own past?

This is all just so confusing. His overbearing behavior makes me push back, but I haven't considered there may be a reason for it. Was he mated before me? Has he lost someone to the Order? Questions assault my mind, but now isn't the time to ask them. We both need to focus so we can stay alive long enough to save others like us.

I soften my voice. There is an ugly feeling of guilt spreading through me, but I still counter with, "I haven't asked you to take care of me."

"I know, but I'm going to anyway."

Okay, that makes my insides melt a little and I suddenly get a little choked up.

"We'd better get moving," I say, my voice tight.

"Please stay close to me, no matter what happens, okay?"

I don't fight back this time. Instead, I nod.

As we walk down the streets of this small town, I'm on high alert. I can't scent anything unusual, nor can I smell or sense magic in the air, but that doesn't mean the Order isn't here. They're good at covering their tracks, so we have to be vigilant.

As much as I don't want to admit it, I do feel better with Kye at my side. I know I'm not strong enough to face a full-grown wolf or man alone. I tried that in the past, and I hadn't come out on top. My trust in others might be eroded, but that tells me I can put my faith in Kye, who is walking beside me, looming like a skyscraper. There is this inexplicable pull toward him, as if he has me on a rope, tugging me to him. I can't deny my attraction to him, and I can't help but wonder if that's only because of the bond.

"You're thinking too hard," he remarks, his eyes scanning the street we're making our way down.

"I'm surprised you know what that looks like. Have you ever had a single thought in your life other than wanting to fuck me?"

He snorts at my bitchiness. "If this is the method you're planning on using to push me away, you will have to find another. This will not work."

"We'll see," I mutter.

He keeps close to me as we make our way along the sidewalk. I sneak glances at his profile, trying to decide if I would be drawn to him if we'd met under normal circumstances.

"It's the lack of choice that bothers you," he says suddenly.

"What could possibly bother me about being forced into a relationship with an overbearing maniac who only wants me because magic tells him so?"

Kye stops walking and my footsteps falter too. "Is that what you think?"

"It's true. You would never choose someone like me if you were given the option."

His head tilts to the side. "Someone like you?"

I snort at his attempt at deflection. "You wanted to be stuck with an abomination of nature?"

His expression falters. "Apryle, that's not what you are."

"It's not? I'm neither one thing nor another. I'm too witch to be wolf, but too wolf to be witch, and neither side is strong enough on its own. I'm a failure of evolution, Kye, and you can't pretend that's not the case."

There is sadness in my tone, and I hate that it makes me sound weak. I shouldn't care what anyone thinks of me, but I still find myself wanting the approval of others.

"If you're a failure, then so am I. Vargr wolves aren't exactly welcome in most packs."

"Being unwelcome isn't the same as being hunted down and killed or forced to breed because of your genetics."

"No, it's not, and it shouldn't be happening, but it's not just tau the Order are targeting." It's not. Jackson is vargr and had been a prisoner. Other vargr wolves and full-blooded shifters were also taken by that bunch of maniacs. "I'm never going to let that happen to you, Apryle."

My heart squeezes and the ice around it thaws a little more. "Don't make a promise you don't intend to keep. Too many people have let me down over the years, Kye."

"Your pack? Or family?" he surmises correctly.

"Both." I laugh, but there's no humor in it. "No one really cares about blood ties when they find out you're a monster."

He grabs my face. "You're not a monster. Don't fucking say that."

"I'm not," I agree, "but other wolves and witches feel differently about me, and that's why I wanted to be here today. I have to do something, be the thing that drives change. I'm tired of people trying to kill me or use me."

I walk ahead of him, and after a moment he follows. I can feel his pensive state through our bond, and I'm sure it mirrors my own. Life really is unjust, and I'm not sure if we can make things better, but this is the path we were given. For better or worse, we have to walk it.

Maybe having a mate won't be so bad after all. I've been on my own for so long, afraid to connect to anyone, and the last person I did connect to turned out to be a deceitful bitch. Clearly, I'm not the best judge of character.

I barely take two steps before Kye's arm bands around my chest, tugging me against him. I let out a surprised cry, which he subdues with a hand over my mouth.

Keep quiet, little mate.

My instinct is to fight him, but then he pulls me back behind a nearby vehicle as the first pops of gunfire fill the air.