Chapter 28

Kane is more surly than normal when we meet to head to town early the next morning. Neither of us knows the area, so we're trusting GPS on this little adventure. And come to think of it, I'm trusting him not to abandon me in town with no phone and only a brief understanding of how to get back to Cassian's house.

Oh well, luckily, he hasn't bonded Annika yet. If he decides to show his ass, we can see how that plays out once and for all.

The drive is exceptionally quiet, but his scent is sour, so I let him be. It takes the better part of fifteen minutes to make it to the closest town.

"I don't know how you do it," he growls, studying the row of businesses for the hardware store.

"Do what?"

"They didn't shut the fuck up all night long. Hell, I'm pretty sure they were fucking when I got out of the shower this morning too."

"Yeah, they definitely were," I agree. "I spent half the night with a hard-on from spillover in the bond."

"And yet you slept in the pack bedroom, not the nest."

"Yup." I point to the brick building on the left side of the street. "There it is."

"Why?"

I almost snort.

Everyone underestimates me.

It's a good thing.

The happy-go-lucky idiot with rocks for brains wasn't a personality I pulled out of thin air. It kept me alive when I was younger, and I learned very quickly that you have an advantage if people don't think you're a threat.

I could tell him that, despite my attempts to settle him down by assuring him that we ended up in a safe place, I never actually let my guard down. Sure, he roamed the house until almost three in the morning, but I slept in the pack bedroom to keep watch. To make it to the nest, any adversaries would have had to go through me.

Kane, at least to my knowledge, doesn't know that Anni bonded Cassian. Or rather, I guess, that Cassian bonded Anni. I've never known which way that goes, but the alpha does need to do the biting and have intent to form the link for it to work.

"Do you get off on sharing?" Kane growls, whipping the car into the parking lot.

"I don't mind watching or participating, but no. Not that there's anything wrong with that, you judgy bastard." I laugh, squinting. "Well, as long as it's all consensual."

"Then, why let Cas stick with her in the nest while you slept alone?" He pulls into a spot and slams the gearshift into park.

He's going to have a hard time adjusting.

I grin, shaking my head. "If you have to ask, then I'm not sure you're ready for a bond at all."

Tossing open the door, I move to climb out, but Kane grabs my arm.

"Just fucking answer me," he growls.

Shaking out of his grip, I look him dead in the eyes. "Because, Kane, it's not about what I want, it's about what Annika needs. If you can't put your own wants aside to ensure she's happy and fulfilled, then you and me, we're going to have problems."

More than that, they'll never last long-term. Annika has been surrounded by enough selfishness in her lifetime. Her family wanted her to become who they needed her to be to take over the family business. Her brother wanted her to be an easily managed doll that he didn't have to put any thought into caring about.

I might be a chameleon, but it came in clutch.

I'm adaptable.

I was able to transform into exactly who she needed me to be, to be content with a long-term partner, and I have no complaints about that. But Kane's ultimate goal is keeping her safe, and if he's not careful, he'll alienate her completely in the process. Not that I'll take needless risks with her safety, but at the end of the day, I would rather fight by her side than have her shoot me in the back for a chance at freedom.

I stand to my full height, rolling my shoulders back and pasting on a friendly smile. "Now, come on. If you cheer up, I'll tell you what I learned about tampons. It's fascinating."

I shut the door while he's still looking completely flabbergasted.

"Just pick something, so we can go," Kane growls, gesturing to the frozen case in the grocery store. He still hasn't simmered down at all. We've picked up everything we need, but groceries had to wait for last.

"I've got to make sure I grab her favorites." I shrug, perusing the options. "See, she likes the double chocolate fudge brownie." I snatch that one up, tossing it into the overfull cart. "Then we need the peanut butter cup." That one goes in too. "And Anni is simple at times. When she has a bad day, she wants plain chocolate."

"How the hell do you know all of that?" he asks, leaning farther over the shopping cart handle.

"You're always on edge." I drop the last container in and aim for the health section. "You've got to learn to multitask. Scan for threats, but keep your ears open. It's really not that hard."

"I hate you," Kane grunts, ramming the cart into the back of my legs.

I pop my ass out, slamming it back into him. He lets out a satisfying oomph, and I chuckle.

"Let me put it to you this way. You want her to come to you to keep her safe? Then, you've got to make her feel safe enough that she looks to you for safety."

"Wow, thanks for that shocking piece of wisdom." Kane snorts.

"You don't get it." I sigh, shaking my head. "You want her, but you're not able to curb your alpha impulses to control everything. Anni doesn't really want to be in control, she just thinks she does. She wants to be consulted and allowed to have an opinion. If you do that, nine times out of ten, she's going to let you take the lead, as long as you give her options. Does that help?"

"Not a fucking bit," he says, following me down the feminine care aisle.

I browse the limited selection of lube and grab a couple, because why not? Then we move to the pads and tampons.

"You really think she needs two kinds of pads?" he asks with a snort.

"Yup." I nod, tossing them into the basket. "Day and night. Then tampons, let me tell you about this. The size on the box has no correlation to the person's size. It's actually how much blood they can hold. Isn't that a revelation? Why didn't they teach us this kind of shit in school?"

"That was your fascinating fact about tampons?" Kane asks dubiously.

"Yup, now you never have to sound like an idiot when you have that conversation with Annika." I smile a little ferally. "You're welcome."

Kane scoffs. "I am genuinely fucking baffled how she puts up with you."

"That's why I'm giving you all my trade secrets…" I swagger off toward the checkout counter. "You're just a shitty listener." He rams the cart into my legs again, and I smile without looking back. Oh yeah, he got the picture. He just needs to digest the information now. "Hey, when you were doing your perimeter sweep, did you happen to see what's behind the house?"

"The pool?"

"Nope, behind that."

Kane chuckles. "Yeah, why?"

"Because I have an activity I know, for a fact, Anni Girl loves." Not a damn person can accuse me of being a bad friend or packmate. I might have fucked him over three years ago, but I'm going to more than make it up to him tonight.

"Hey, baby," I purr, lugging in the shitload of groceries.

"Did you bring me something edible?" She twists to face me with wide eyes. She's sitting on the countertop, slathering peanut butter on bread. "It was thoughtful of the caretakers to stock the house with food, but outside of meat and casseroles, I couldn't find crap. I actually had to settle for a peanut butter—no jelly—sandwich."

I chuckle, dropping the bags on the table.

"And I even brought you a couple courting gifts." Snatching up the bags with the ice cream, I aim for her and put them down next to her. She drops the bread and knife on the plate on her other side and turns to face me.

"I missed you." Her golden brown eyes sparkle as she smiles up at me.

Kane stomps in with a bunch of shit, but I ignore him.

Annika licks her lips, and I growl as I shove my mouth to hers. Her hands tangle in my T-shirt as her caramel scent floods the air.

"Did you have fun last night?" I swipe my tongue over Ward's bondmark and plant my forearms on either side of her thighs on the counter. She leans back, placing her palms behind her.

"Yup, now on to courting gifts." She laughs. "You know I don't need anything, but you opened the can of worms, so now I'm interested."

I chuckle, fisting one of the bags and dropping it onto her lap.

"It's cold." She squeaks. "Ohmigod, you got me peanut butter cup ice cream. I love you so damn much."

"And sandwich meat, stuff to make salads, fruit and veggies, and a whole shitload of sweet treats for once you start craving them again."

She tosses the ice cream aside and pulls me to her with a hand in my shirt. "Best courting gift ever."

Kane scoffs, stomping over with his load of groceries.

I chuckle as Anni gives me a quick kiss. "I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I'm pretty sure Kane has something extra special planned for you tonight too."

"Really?" she asks, leaning around me to eye him.

The big fucker coughs, clearing his throat. "Yeah, if you're open to it."

He really should have more game.

He's hot as fuck.

Now he just needs to learn to relax a little and go with the flow. If he can manage that, I don't see any roadblocks to Annika claiming him, and I think we'll all feel safer once she has her lovely band of psychos completely claimed. Well, three psychos and two princesses, then our pack will be complete.

I laugh to myself at the thought.

That's really never going to get old. Not that I've got any problem with Cas, but he's probably going to need to toughen up a little to fit in with the rest of us. Luckily, he comes from a ruthless bloodline. I have no doubts that he'll step up when we need him.