Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Thursday

Upstate New York

“Well, this is fun,” Ashley announced to the otherwise empty living room as she sat there staring at the television, only to sigh heavily when she realized that she’d already watched this movie. That led to her worrying her bottom lip as she sent a hopeful look around the living room, looking for something to do, only there was nothing.

Damn it.

She definitely should have stretched out fixing up the house, but once she got started, Ashley hadn’t been able to stop, and now…

Now, she really needed to come up with something to do at three in the morning to keep herself busy, Ashley decided only to wonder if she should make cookies. That led her to remember that there was no one here to help her eat them. Then again, Jacob might stop by tomorrow, she told herself only to sigh when she remembered that he told her that he had to head down to Boston for a few days and to call him if she needed anything.

There was always Kale, but…

He wasn’t supposed to be back for a few days and something, mostly the fact that he clearly hated her, told her that he wouldn’t touch anything that she cooked even if he was here. The man loved to glare, Ashley thought as she grabbed a handful of popcorn and shoved it in her mouth with a heartfelt sigh as she debated going to bed only to shift her attention back to the movie since she really didn’t feel like spending the next five hours staring at the ceiling.

God, she was exhausted.

Maybe she should…wonder what someone was doing here at three in the morning, Ashley thought, trying not to panic when she heard the car pulling into the long driveway. It was probably just Jacob coming to check on her or maybe Kale decided against coming by weekly to provide her with blood and ordered another blood delivery, Ashley thought as she sat there trying to tell herself that everything was fine only to realize that she was an idiot.

That was followed by telling herself that there was nothing to be afraid of as she hugged the bowl of popcorn against her chest and listened as the car that she was really hoping wasn’t full of Sentinels coming to finish what they’d started, slowed down to a stop outside. She was fine, Ashley told herself with a firm nod, reminding herself that she was a Pyte and could handle anything, even though she still had no idea what that meant since Jacob’s explanation had left her confused and she hadn’t exactly asked any follow-up questions, mostly because she wasn’t sure that she wanted to hear the answers and now…

Now, she really wished that she’d begged Jacob to stay, Ashley thought as she stared at the front door even while she told herself that it was time to run. Definitely time to run, Ashley thought with a frantic nod as she heard the car door slam shut and scented blood along with apples as everything turned red only to find herself frowning when she caught the familiar scent getting stronger. Before she could wonder why Kale was here, he was walking through the front door and leveling a silver-eyed glare on her.

“Go to bed,” he bit out coldly as he headed for the stairs only to stumble while Ashley sat there, feeling her stomach drop as she took in all the blood covering him.

“What happened?” Ashley asked, moving to get up to go help him only to sit back and swallow hard when Kale shouted, “Go to bed!” while she watched him struggle to walk up the stairs.

As she watched him slowly make his way up the stairs, Ashley took in the cuts and bruises marring his handsome face, the tears in his blood-stained clothes, and the way that he held onto his side. He would be fine just as soon as he shifted, she tried to tell herself while she watched him only to remind herself that he didn’t want her help.

He was fine.

More than fine, Ashley told herself as she forced herself to turn around and-

Knew that this wasn’t going to end well when she placed the bowl of popcorn on the couch next to her and shoved the blanket aside so that she could go get yelled at some more by the stubborn jerk. He should have already shifted by now, which meant that something was wrong and as much as she would love to avoid being yelled at again, that wasn’t really an option.

He’d taken care of her during her transition, made sure that she was safe, and gave her blood when she needed it and no matter how much he hated her, she couldn’t let the big jerk suffer like this.

* * *

“Fuck,”Kale groaned as he reached for the hem of his shirt only to pull his hand away when the demon blood soaking through his clothes and sticking to his skin, burned his fingers.

He should have gone to the Williams mansion and had the human take a look at him, but he hadn’t been able to get the fucking demon’s words out of his head. As soon as he’d killed the demon, he’d dragged his ass back through the woods, checking the video feed to make sure that Ashley was safe as he went, but it hadn’t been enough. Not nearly fucking enough to make the panic tearing him apart stop.

He’d texted Jacob and told him to get his ass back here to make sure that she was okay and moved his ass, making the eight-hour drive in five to make sure that she was safe and once he did…

The need to take her in his arms and make sure had nearly fucking killed him.

He never should have stopped, never should have let that fucking demon distract him from his goal, but once he’d realized the demon could smell his mating mark, Kale hadn’t been able to stop until he’d killed every last one of them to make sure that they couldn’t get to her.

“Why haven’t you shifted yet?” came the question from the doorway that had Kale shifting his glare from the blood that felt like it was burning him alive to find Ashley standing in the doorway, wringing her hands together as she watched him.

“I thought I told you to go to bed,” Kale said, leveling a glare on her only to grab hold of the counter as more demon blood seeped into the gunshot wound that wouldn’t fucking close, making his knees buckle.

Holy fuck did that hurt, Kale thought, gasping as searing pain tore through his side. It felt like his skin was melting. He needed to get his clothes off, but every time he tried the demon blood saturating his clothes would cling to his skin and make it worse.

“Since you haven’t shifted yet, I’m going to assume that you can’t at the moment,” Ashley said, ignoring him as she hesitated at the doorway before taking a deep breath and-

“Fuck!”

-decided to take a closer look by trying to peel his ruined shirt out of the way.

When she gasped in pain and pulled her hands away, he released the counter to grab hold of her hands to make sure that she was okay. When he spotted the edge of her mating mark peeking out from beneath her tracker, he noted that it was red, letting him know that she’d been punished for trying to help him.

For a moment, Kale stood there, staring down at her mating mark, wondering if she knew what it meant when it turned red and waited for her reaction, only to curse when the rest of her skin turned bright red where her skin came in contact with the demon blood, masking the punishment for hurting him.

“What is that?” Ashley asked, her voice pained as she went to wipe the blood off her hand only to gasp in pain when the move made it worse.

“Demon blood,” Kale said, releasing her only to feel his own mating mark burn as the move caused the demon blood on his hands to leave behind a fresh burn on her skin. He barely managed to stop himself from grabbing her hands again to make sure that she was okay.

“Get out,” Kale said, forcing himself to grab hold of the counter as he dropped his head forward and closed his eyes as he tried to breathe through the pain.

“Kale, I-”

“Get out!” Kale shouted, tightening his hold around the counter, needing her to leave him alone. He couldn’t fucking think straight with her near him and…he didn’t want her to see him like this.

God, he just fucking needed her to go.

“Let me help you,” Ashley said as more pain tore through his side, threatening to drop him on his ass as he felt her small hand touch his shoulder and nearly fucking destroyed him.

“Fucking leave!”

There was a small pause and then, she finally left. His grip tightened around the bathroom counter as he struggled against the urge to stop her, wondering why he wanted her so fucking badly. He didn’t need anyone, hadn’t in a long fucking time. Whatever lessons that he’d failed to learn when he’d lost his Pack had been learned the hard way when he’d fucked everything up with Logan.

He never should have stayed after that first night, never should have gone into that village, but he’d been desperate and scared out of his fucking mind and…

It didn’t matter anymore, Kale reminded himself as he turned on the shower, hoping that the hot water would be able to cut through the demon blood that clung to him. Struggling to take his next breath, Kale stood there, staring down at the drain and waited for the water to turn pink only to end up biting back a scream of agony as the hot water that should have washed away the blood, made it worse.

Slapping his hand against the wall, Kale struggled to step out of the shower stall only to have his legs finally give out on him, dropping him on his ass with a pained groan as the silver bullet that had torn through his side slowly started to kill him.