Chapter 27

Chapter 27

She didn’t trust him, Kale thought later that night as he glared at his ceiling, wondering why he fucking cared. She was just an inconvenience and…

She really fucking said no.

He couldn’t fucking believe it. He’d asked her if she could trust him and she said no without batting an eye, leaving him sitting there and-

He should have left, Kale thought, shifting his glare to his closed bedroom door as the sounds of another fucking romance movie managed to break through the thunderstorm that had been rocking the house for the past hour, letting him know that the little brat had moved on from the Hell’s Kitchen marathon that she’d had playing all fucking day in the background while she’d baked, cleaned, read, and ignored him.

He had better things to do, Kale told himself as he shifted his glare back to the ceiling, watching as lightning lit up his room, throwing shadows on the ceiling seconds before thunder shook the house again. He had the little bastard to find and a bounty on his head that he had to take care of before it got in the way of doing his job.

Vane had seriously fucked up by placing that bounty on his head. For a man who claimed to know his reputation, Vane should have known better than to draw Kale’s attention. It wasn’t the first bounty that had been placed on his head, it probably wouldn’t be the last, but it wasn’t going to end the way that Vane thought it would. Vane would be dead within the week, which he’d probably figured out by now, Kale thought, sighing heavily as he found himself glaring at his bedroom door again.

He didn’t fucking need this.

She didn’t want his help, didn’t trust him, and he had twenty million reasons to get the fuck out of here before-

“Oh, no,” came the softly mumbled words from the living room as the power went out, finally putting an end to the romance movie bullshit that was starting to give him a fucking headache.

Finally, he could fucking think, Kale thought, folding an arm behind his head as he allowed his eyes to shift, making it easier to glare at the ceiling. While his unwanted mate spent the day ignoring him, he’d spent the day trying to find out where the little bastard was now.

He’d made a few calls, checked Vane’s bank records, called in a few favors and…nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing. He needed to figure out where Vane was hiding his son, where the asshole was now, and what those fucking demons were since he knew that they were going to be a problem. Demons that couldn’t be scented or heard weren’t really something that he wanted to fuck with, especially demons with blood like theirs. He needed to find out what they were and figure out a way to identify them so that they couldn’t take him by surprise again.

Knowing that they could scent his mating mark…

He needed to find out everything that he could about them and make sure that they knew it was a bad idea to take any jobs that drew his attention. His reputation was usually enough to convince demons, vampires, and other shifters that it was a bad idea to come between him and a target. Even Logan knew better than to place a bounty on him and he would do anything to bring him down. He would have to make sure the next time that he came across one of the demons that he got his answers before he made an example of them, ensuring his mate’s safety.

The same mate that ignored him all fucking day, Kale thought as his glare intensified only to shift to a frown when the scent of her fear reached him. Shifting his attention back to his door, he listened as Ashley’s heartbeat sped up, her breaths became shallow as the smell of her fear became stronger. Kale grabbed the comforter to shove it away as he listened for the threat that had his mate-

Racing upstairs, shoving his bedroom door open with a softly muttered curse, only to close it, throw the lock, and dive onto his bed and yank the comforter over her head as he sat there, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Since the alarm hadn’t gone off, that meant…

Christ, his mate was afraid of the dark.

Sighing heavily, Kale pulled the comforter back and asked, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Keeping you company,” Ashley said as she blindly reached back, grabbed the comforter away from him and pulled it back over her head.

“I see,” Kale murmured as he pulled the comforter higher to make sure that she was completely covered. “And is there a reason why you’re doing this?”

There was a slight pause and then, “No?”

“And the fact that we suddenly lost power?” Kale asked as he lay back down.

“Has nothing to do with it?” was the response that was accompanied by his mate wiggling closer until she was curled up next to him.

“So, you just missed me?” Kale asked as thunder shook the house, which led to Ashley wrapping her arms around his as she pressed her forehead against his bicep and held on.

“Immensely,” Ashley murmured in agreement.

“And if the power turned back on?” Kale asked as Ashley somehow managed to snuggle even closer.

“It would make it easier for me to see that you’re glaring at me,” she said as he felt her nod against his arm.

“You can see in the dark,” he pointed out, only to wonder if she actually could. Maybe he’d been wrong about that too, Kale thought, biting back a sigh only to frown when Ashley said, “I don’t like being able to see in the dark.”

“Most people would,” Kale pointed out even as he noted that the scent of her fear had all but disappeared.

“I’m not most people,” she mumbled, not really sounding all that happy about it.

“No, you’re not,” he murmured thoughtfully, only to bite back a smile when she shoved the comforter away so that she could glare at him.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Ashley demanded with the cutest fucking glare that he’d ever seen.

“That,” Kale said, sighing as he reached over and pushed the comforter back away from her head so that he could see her better, “most people would be happy to find out that they were going to live forever.”

“And I’m not,” Ashley said, sighing heavily as she propped her chin on his bicep as she considered him, making him wonder if she was even aware that she was doing it.

“No,” he said, reaching over to push a strand of her hair back behind her ear, “you’re not. Why is that?”

Worrying her bottom lip, Ashley thought it over only to sigh heavily as she rolled over onto her back to stare up at the ceiling. “It’s hard to explain.”

“Try me,” Kale said, turning his head to look at her.

“Why didn’t you shift?” Ashley asked instead, making him bite back a sigh at the reminder that she didn’t trust him.

“I don’t shift,” he said, returning his attention to glaring at the ceiling as he told himself that he didn’t care, only to end up wondering when he’d started lying to himself.

“How is that even possible?” Ashley asked as she rolled back over onto her side so that she could look at him as she waited for an answer that he’d never given anyone else, not even Izzy.

“I control it,” Kale said, biting back a smile when he felt her small chin come to rest on his bicep again.

“I’ve never heard of a shifter being able to do that before,” Ashley said, reminding him that there was more that she wasn’t telling him.

She had a history with shifters, and he had no idea what that was. He’d looked into her background, hoping to find something that would link her to a Pack, but there was nothing. The only thing that he knew was she suddenly showed up on the steps of Social Services when she was ten years old, and they had no idea where she came from. He needed her to start answering his questions, but he knew that she wouldn’t do that until she could trust him and he had no idea how he was going to make that happen.

“That’s because no one else can do it,” Kale said, noting that she felt comfortable with him. There was no denying that from the way that she was curled up against him right now, but he also knew that from the videos he’d watched today. During the past week, while he’d struggled to heal, she’d taken care of him, fed him, ran wet cloths over his body to bring down his fever, held his hand, ran her fingers through his hair as she held him, and promised him that everything would be okay as he screamed in pain, never once leaving his side.

For that alone, he owed her.

“Why not?” Ashley asked, shifting so that she could lay her head on his arm as she snuggled closer.

“Because it hurts like hell,” Kale said, pulling his arm free so that he could wrap his arm around her.

For a brief moment, Ashley went still, and then, she was snuggling closer and placing her head on his chest with a soft sigh. “Then why do it?” she asked as she placed her hand on his stomach.

“It made me stronger,” Kale said as he gently ran his fingers down her arm, more relaxed than he had been in years.

“How?”

“Alphas can retain their abilities when they’re in human form, it makes us stronger, faster, and able to detect danger to protect our Packs, but it also leaves us with more energy than our bodies can handle and a shift allows us to release the energy so that the next time we shift, the power running through us is balanced and we can maintain control of it. But if we don’t shift…” Kale said, letting his words trail off as he stared at the ceiling, unable to deny just how good it felt to hold his mate.

“The energy doesn’t deplete,” Ashley correctly guessed.

“Exactly. The first two years were hell, but eventually the symptoms became manageable and soon, they were completely gone. I had to learn how to control the power, but once I did, I was stronger and faster than I was before,” Kale explained as he continued to absently run his fingers up and down her arm, enjoying the feel of her soft skin beneath his touch.

“Doesn’t it hurt not to shift?” she mumbled sleepily.

“Not anymore. It did for the first few years,” Kale said, deciding not to mention just how fucking much it hurt. It had felt like every bone in his body had been dipped in acid and his skin was being sliced open and slowly ripped off as his body was rocked with tremors and so much fucking pain that he hadn’t been able to think straight. He’d prayed for death, struggling to stay in control when all he wanted to do was to shift to escape the pain.

“Why would you put yourself through something like that?”

“Because I wanted to stay in control,” Kale said even though there had been so much more to it.

He wanted to be unstoppable.

“Could I do that?”

“What’s that?” Kale murmured absently as he closed his eyes and slowly exhaled as the exhaustion that had kept him company for years made itself known.

“Learn to live without blood,” Ashley said after a slight hesitation, letting him know just how much she hated this.

“No,” he murmured, pulling her closer.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to see you in that much pain.”