Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Sighing heavily, Kale said, “I’m not going to hurt him.”

Ashley’s reply was a vicious growl as she bared her teeth at him and-

“I…can’t…breathe…” came the mumbled words that had her ears pointing up and her growl ending abruptly as she swung her large head back and moved away from the wall so that she could check on Marc, who she’d been protecting since the kid made the asinine request. With a quick lick of his face to make sure the boy was okay, Ashley swung her glare back on him, baring her teeth again.

Sighing, Kale reached over and rubbed her large muzzle. He pressed a kiss against the top of her head as he said, “Let me handle this.”

After a glare, and god, she couldn’t pull it off even as a werewolf without looking beyond fucking adorable, Ashley released a huff as she walked over to the corner and curled up with a glare locked on him. So fucking adorable, Kale thought as he gestured for Marc to join him in the living room.

“What’s going on?” Kale asked as he dropped down on the couch, well aware that his mate’s gaze followed his every move.

After a slight hesitation, Marc pushed away from the wall and moved to join him, his gaze turning curious as he took in Ashley, who’d shifted in record time to get between him and Marc before he could find out what was going on. He watched as the kid that he’d been terrified would grow up and destroy someone else’s world, stared down at his trembling hands, looking lost and-

He was just a kid, Kale realized, feeling sick to his stomach as he watched Marc struggle to hold it together.

“I’m sorry, Marc,” Kale said as he rubbed the back of his neck, having absolutely no fucking clue how to fix this. The longer they sat there, the harder it was for Kale to see him as that fucking monster that had destroyed his world. Marc was a good kid and Kale was…a fucking idiot, he realized.

“Why do you hate me?” Marc asked, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth when he finally managed to look at him.

“I don’t hate you,” Kale said, sighing heavily as he watched Ashley make her way to her old bedroom and carefully squeeze her large body through the door before closing it behind her.

“Yes, you do. I’ve seen the way that you look at me,” Marc bit out angrily as tears filled his eyes and his hands clenched into fists as he struggled not to lose it.

“I don’t hate you, Marc. I hate what you could become,” Kale explained, wondering how he was supposed to explain this to a kid without scaring him.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Marc whispered hollowly.

“You’re not going to hurt anyone,” Kale said, knowing deep down that it was the truth. He was so much like his father and brother, both good men who would never let Marc fuck this up.

“You don’t know that. I saw what my father did,” Marc bit out angrily. “I saw the look in his eyes when he came for us. He didn’t even recognize us. If it hadn’t been for you, he would have killed us.”

“Yes, he would have,” Kale said softly, knowing better than to lie to the kid. “But he lost control, something that he hasn’t done in a long time because he’s careful. Losing Jill like that took him by surprise and he reacted badly, probably welcomed it to escape the pain, Marc. He wasn’t thinking.”

“What if that happens to me? What if I lose control and hurt someone?” Marc demanded as Ashley, fresh from her shift, walked back into the room, wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and one of his shirts over a tee-shirt.

“You’re not going to hurt anyone, Marc,” Kale promised him as he reached for his mate and pulled her down onto his lap.

“How do you know?” Marc asked, looking completely lost.

“Because she hasn’t,” Kale said, making the boy frown.

“She’s a shifter. I’m not,” Marc pointed out, looking confused.

Shaking his head, Kale said, “She’s a Pyte and she’s mine.”

He watched as understanding crossed the boy’s features and then…

“You stole someone’s mate?”

“No, she’s mine. She was born a Pyte and a shifter,” Kale said, chuckling as he removed his watch and held up his arm to show the boy his mating mark.

“You’re mated?” the kid asked, looking confused.

“Yes,” Kale said, smiling at his mate, who was still fucking glaring.

So fucking adorable, Kale thought, leaning in to kiss the tip of her nose, which only made her narrow her eyes on him.

“Does Izzy know?” Marc asked, frowning and just like that, Ashley’s eyes turned red as he tried to bite back a wince at the reminder that there was still so much that his mate didn’t know about him.

“No, she doesn’t,” Kale said, clearing his throat as he tried to figure out how he was going to explain Izzy to his mate without mentioning that she was a Sentinel since that probably wouldn’t help.

“Who’s Izzy?” Ashley asked as Marc sent him a sympathetic wince.

“She’s my sister-in-law,” Marc said, and when that didn’t seem to help, he added, “You don’t have to worry about her. She’s a Sentinel and loves my brother.”

Oh…fuck…

“Sentinel?” Ashley asked, swallowing hard as she moved to climb off Kale’s lap and-

“She’s completely harmless,” Kale assured her as he pulled her back down on his lap, noting that the spike of fear that she gave off at the mention of Sentinels hadn’t disappeared yet.

When he found the Sentinel that fucked her over and handed her back to her stepfather’s Pack…

Nodding, Ashley took his hand in hers and held it as he tried to remember what else he’d neglected to tell her when Marc once again tried helping. “She’s really nice. Everyone at the mansion is and I’m sure that they’d love to meet you. They’re just down the road and…and…”

“Fuck,” Kale said, dropping back against the couch with a heavy sigh as he watched his mate jump off his lap and race across the living room, head into her old bedroom, and-

“Is…is she hiding under the bed?” Marc asked, looking confused as he glanced from the closed bedroom door to him.

“Yes,” Kale said with a long-suffering sigh as he tried to figure out how he was going to lure her out this time.

“She does know that she’s a Pyte and a shifter, right?” Marc asked, once again frowning at the closed bedroom door.

“Yes,” Kale said, moving to gesture towards the door only to give up and drop his arm back down with a sigh.

“Should we do something?” Marc asked as Kale heard Ashley’s quietly mumbled, “Stupid boobs,” as she tried to get more comfortable beneath the bed.

Nodding, Kale said, “A lot of fucking groveling.”