12. Kade

Kade sits in a hard plastic chair with his elbows on his knees. Once again, Guy has left him with more questions than answers. They were talking about the ritual and the sacrifices when Guy clammed up and turned his back on him, snapping that they needed to focus on the stolen vials.

Kade watched him walk away with his jaw dropped and his anger rising. He's beginning to understand why Elara gets so riled up when he withholds the truth from her.

Guy left without another word, leaving Kade in a veil of mystery, like usual. Closing his hands into fists, he slams them into the arms of the chair twice before propelling himself to standing. He's breathing hard, his chest rising and falling under his t-shirt so hard that it seems as if the cotton will tear.

Looking around the facility, at all the equipment and paperwork, stacks of books and scientific equipment set on tables, all he wants to do is smash it all. This can"t all be for nothing, it can't all be a mystery. There has to be more than a prophecy and the words of an old woman to go off!

Running his hands angrily through his hair, Kade storms toward the front entrance of the building, his eyes only on his acid-washed blue jeans and his black Converse shoes the whole way. When he gets to the door and pushes it open, the door flies towards him with much more ease than it should.

A feminine yelp shocks him, but not more than the feeling of a soft body colliding with his. Kade blinks in surprise, his eyes wound around a form he knows far too well.

"Elara?" he asks, surprised.

"Will you look at that." Elara smiles a little , turning her face up to him and placing her hands on his biceps. "This time, I found you."

"Yes, you did." Kade's astounded that she managed to find him. Her skills at tracking are getting better at a seriously shocking pace. "How?"

"There"s only one wolf who smells like you, Kade. Only one wolf who created me. You." She looks intently into his eyes as she nervously bites her bottom lip. "I had to see you."

Kade swallows hard, Adam's apple bobbing in his throat as he stares at her pretty pink mouth. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's just…" She trails off, eyes dropping to his chest before she steps out of his arms nervously. "It's been a long day, training was really hard, and, well… I wanted to ask you more about your past. About Merlin." Her last sentence comes out rushed as if she had to think of an excuse to be here. As if she needed one besides she just wanted to see him.

Kade angles away from her and rubs his jaw, hiding a smile. The fact she tracked him here with such accuracy fills him with heat like never before. He wants to grab her, kiss her, and tell her she never has to leave again.

Even though he can't.

Suddenly, Elara gasps in excitement. "Oh my gosh! This is like a fully set up laboratory! Is that a library?" She slips past him and runs a few steps into the building. She turns in place, clasping her hands in front of her chest and beaming ear to ear. "How have you kept something like this secret?"

"Uh, magic?" Kade offers lamely. He's not really sure how everything has been kept under wraps, but nonetheless, everything in here is research on wolves, shifters, and all the magical history that Kade and Guy have gathered over the long years. He tells Elara as much as she practically skips from table to table, finally stopping at a stack of genealogy books.

"I could find out so much by just reading this one stack right here," she muses, her eyes alight.

"I can help you if you want?" Kade offers before he realizes. He steps up close enough that their shoulders brush. He knows he shouldn't, but he feels like he needs to touch her, as if he doesn't, his soul might shrivel a little more.

"Oh, I would love that! But first, tell me more about you?" she turns to face him, their bodies inches apart.

Kade clears his throat in an effort not to stutter, "Like what?"

"Like everything you know about Merlin. How you're his descendant. Anything you know. Please?"

Kade can feel her desperation for information like he can feel her eyes on his. "Alright, follow me." He resists the urge to take her hand, but he can see that she noticed him reaching and changing his mind. He turns away before she can see him blush, then he leads her to the chair he just vacated. Signaling for her to sit, he takes a seat opposite her on a low rickety table.

"Tell me everything," Elara says as she takes her seat. She folds her hands in her lap, her eyes eagerly scanning the building before landing on Kade.

He smiles as he folds his arms over his chest and leans in conspiratorially. "What if I told you that Merlin was responsible for creating werewolves?"

Elara gasps. "No way! Are you serious?"

"Serious as a heart attack." Kade leans back, bracing his hands on the table and taking in every slight nuance of her reaction.

"Do you know how he did it? Do the legends tell you that?"

"No one is quite sure how he did it, but everyone knows it was him. The story I was told was that it was deep into Arthur's reign. They were facing a great power that even Excalibur wielded by the true king of Camelot could not face alone." He pauses for effect, relishing in excitement as Elara leans towards him and listens intently.

"It's said that Merlin descended into the bowels of the castle for days on end. The only thing people could see or hear from him was his deep voice muttering into the night and strange flashes of light. One day, a serving boy went down to Merlin to bring him a meal, and when they ascended the stairs the next morning?—"

"Merlin made the boy a werewolf!" Elara finishes for him, clapping her hands excitedly.

"That's right. That's the second time you've impressed me today."

"The second time?" Elara scoots closer to him, their knees brushing. "What was the first?"

"When you showed up on the other side of that door. You successfully tracked me and I had no idea you were here. I didn't smell you, sense you, nothing. You've become quite amazing at being a wolf, Elara."

"You think I'm amazing?" Her voice is little more than a whisper, her chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. She reaches out and slips her hand into Kade"s, tugging his arms from across his chest and pulling him closer.

"Everything about you is amazing." Kade sighs, spreading his legs so her knees can slip between his and pull them even closer together.

"And this whole time you've been following me, it's to protect me?" Her hands slide from his and up to his elbows, clasping there as if holding on for dear life.

"It is my life's purpose to protect you. I'll always be here to protect you."

Elara nods solemnly, her eyes lowering and her dark lashes fanning over her cheeks as she seems lost in thought. "Training with Denzel got heated today. I wish you'd been there. I got overconfident and…" her voice trails off and she shivers slightly before her beautiful eyes slowly rise back to Kade's. "Denzel got a strike in. A hard one."

Kade sucks in a slow breath between his teeth. "Elara," he breathes, almost choking on her name. He shifts her grip on his arms so he can slide his hands around her waist and pull her even closer. Their lips are mere inches apart when he speaks again. "If I was there… If I'd been there and seen that, I would've made Denzel pay for touching you."

"Oh, Kade," Elara whimpers, closing the distance between their lips.

He groans, unable to stop himself from lifting her out of the chair and sitting her across his lap as he deepens the kiss. She tastes so sweet, like clover blossoms when they first open their petals at the beginning of spring. Her lips are soft as they brush against his, and everything in him begs for him to press his tongue to the seam of her lips and press inside her mouth.

But he resists.

Kade knows in his heart that Elara isn't for him. Except despite his best intentions, his body call for her. His mind is obsessed with her. Contrary to what his heart knows, he's in love with her. Irrevocably and forever in love with this woman meant for someone else.

Kade deepens the kiss, moaning against her lips as he threads his fingers into her hair at the nape of her neck. The wolf inside him begs for more, begs for everything, but he holds it at bay.

"Never leave me, Kade, please?" Elara begs, her swollen lips brushing against his with every syllable.

"I never have, and I never will," he promises.

Kade knows it's true, he knows this because of the prophecy. Even if he isn't the one she's supposed to love, he's meant to be beside her.

He has a role to play in this as well, even if it isn't the one he wants.