My stomach sank at the same time anger burned in my veins.
“What the fuck are you doing here? You aren’t welcome here anymore, Daniel,” I muttered. I started to close the door again but Daniel slapped a hand to it, leaning his weight into it.
“Please, Kelsie. I want to apologize.” His brows were pinched together. He looked haggard and tired and pathetic. And I didn’t care.
I set my jaw and shook my head.
“Kelsie, please—”
“You called the cops on me!”
“I was afraid you were going to get hurt. That thing was dangerous—”
~ Kelsie ~At the sound of Cain’s voice, Daniel whipped around. Apparently his first instinct was to hold up his hands like Cain had a gun trained on him, because suddenly both hands were high and he was leaning back. He started stammering excuses, but then he trailed off and his eyes went even wider. He straightened and his hands slowly lowered.“Wait… aren’t you the new Professor at Chandler?” he asked in a high voice.Shit. I forgot that he'd seen Cain in the hallways the other day when I was on my way to class.Cain didn’t answer immediately. There was a jolt through the bond. Not fear, exactly. But deep caution. A predator suddenly u
~ Cain ~Being so close to Kelsie without touching her had been hell. There would be a lot of touching when I got back to her.A lot.All the touching.Every kind—‘Cain! Stop! This is hard enough as it is!’I hadn’t realized I was forming pictures in my mind of the two of us together, turning them, showing them to her, showering her in images of us naked and entwined and…My wolf howled and I felt Kelsie jolt with need for me.For me!I twitched, the urge to run straight to her so acute
~ Kelsie ~If I hadn’t been in Cain’s mind, hadn’t been able to feel his heart and know his intentions, I would have found those first moments terrifying.He was a man obsessed. He came at me like he’d tear through my skin to get to the core of me if he had to.But I could feel him. I could feel the ache of need and fear, the way his heart hammered when he thought of being apart from me.Beyond the fury at Daniel, I could sense the insecurity and desire that pushed Cain to drive Daniel away—protection, possession, hope, need, joy…I wasn’t sure if he knew he was doing it, but he kept sending ima
~ Kelsie ~There was a night in the first year Daniel and I were together that I fell asleep on his couch and came home after curfew.My parents didn’t freak out, but they were worried. The irony was, Daniel and I had gotten a lot closer to sleeping together on other nights when I hadn’t stayed out late, but I didn’t want to tell them that. I was able to reassure them the next day that it hadn’t been anything bad. That I’d just fallen asleep. And they could tell that I was telling the truth.But it also made my Mom decide that I needed The Talk again.I’d been so ir
~ Kelsie ~“I just realized something… something really cool,” I said, biting my lip because it was making me a little giddy.“What’s that?” He seemed genuinely interested, which was mind-blowing all on its own. Most of the time when Daniel, or other guys asked me to talk, it felt like they didn’t really care; they were just trying to keep me happy.“I realized that before… before I was always being careful. With Daniel. With other people.”His eyes narrowed.“Careful how?”I swallowed, because his immediate jump to being defensive on my behalf made my heart flutter, and that made me love him ev
~ Kelsie ~It was a good thing I timed dinner for half an hour after Cain was supposed to get home. My casserole hadn’t been ready when Daniel showed up, but with everything that happened after that moment, I completely forgot about it and it cooked it for at least twenty minutes too long before I remembered. Then I gasped.“Dinner! Shit!”I hurriedly threw my clothes on and raced downstairs, Cain at my heels, chuckling as I groaned when the unmistakeable smell of overcooked casserole met us in the living room.But in the end, it didn’t matter.It was a little dry, but Cain ate like a starving man. Inhaling the food like it was delicious.I was hungr
~ Kelsie ~A low, deep puttering roll began in his chest, somewhere between a growl and a groan. It was all male, and all power and it made my heart race so I couldn’t quite breathe right.“You’re so fucking beautiful,” Cain said hoarsely, his eyes dragging down my body again.“Thank you.” Gosh, I felt stupidly turned on.He snorted and his eyes—blazing—snapped back up to mine.“You’re thanking me for your beauty?”“I’m thanking you for thinking that. And for telling me. I like it when you tell me those things.”
SOUNDTRACK: “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims.*****~ Cain ~Fingers clawing, I took Kelsie's face in my hands and devoured her, delving the velvet depths of her mouth, my body shivering with need. My head was spinning with all the ways I could take her, all the places this joining could take us. But there was one thing, one end that stood higher than the others. The thing that called me. The thing I’d been resisting.The Claiming.Among wolves, Claiming was the ultimate commitment, and the only unbreakable vow. And it was happening less and less. Because if a mate was claimed, then lost, their partner was... destroyed.I hadn’t told Kelsie about it, hadn’t ever been able t
~ Cain ~The celebration lasted late into the evening. We talked and joked through the afternoon until the bonfires were lit. Then we feasted and danced. And the pack… whatever had happened between all of us was a miracle. Because suddenly, Kelsie could hear all of them clearly, and they could feel her—sense her love, her strength, and her heart.And they were starting to love her as much as I did.Well, almost.For the past hour we had huddled together on a log next to the bonfire, a thick blanket over our legs. But then Kelsie leaned into my ear and whispered, “I need to go to the bathroom. And I’m going to have to put pants on, there is just too m
~ Kelsie ~I’d been giddy all morning. Nervous, but only the kind of anticipation that came with something exciting. Cain and I were already mated, already claimed and marked. So I didn’t expect the ceremony to have any real impact, except to make me and my mother cry.But the moment the wolves closed in around us, it was like the air began to crackle.And then, when Cain started the words, goosebumps trickled down my spine.He swallowed hard, his voice deep and husky—and echoed a second time in the pack link.“See here my will that is bowed to yours,” he started quietly. “I eat my pri
SOUNDTRACK: “Every Part of Me” by BASHAM. ***** ~ Cain ~ Staring at Kelsie as she looked up at her Dad—whose face was a picture of relief and pride—made my heart begin to beat even harder. I didn’t know where she and her mother had found such a gown, but she looked stunning in it. It looked like the entire thing had been knitted—like a thick, luxurious cableknit sweater, yet somehow it hugged every curve of her body from the high turtleneck, all the way down to her hips where it flared and hung in heavy gathers—but when she moved, the fabric clung to her legs beneath the skirt as well, revealing every curve and… I had to clear my throat and remind myself we had an audience as Kelsie reached up to hug her father, and the pack began to gather
SOUNDTRACK: “N E W H E A V E N” by Conquer Divide ***** ~ Cain (three months later) ~ ‘Where are you, beautiful?’ ‘Won’t be long, they’re just finishing my hair.’ ‘Your dad is just about ready to plan a siege of the house if you don’t come out soon.’ ‘Mom will keep him under control, don’t worry,’ she laughed. I wasn’t so sure. I stood at one end of the small clearing near our packhouse, arms folded and my sweater-sleeves pulled up to my forearms because that was how Kelsie liked them. My breath made a cloud in the winter air, b
~ Kelsie ~I was stunned when Felix became human again. Then hope rose in my chest, because he was clearly weak and struggling. Bleeding and panting, staring at Cain and struggling to speak.A little piece of me crumbled. He looked so shaky and broken. I wondered if he would submit and Cain would let him live. I could feel my mate’s conflicting emotions, that he didn’t relish killing his brother. But the betrayal…The fiercest emotion burning in Cain was rage—at the betrayal.I knew this wasn’t easy on him.I swayed closer, wanting to go to him, but knowing I couldn’t intervene while they were still technically fighting.All the wolves stared at them, eyes cold a
~ Cain ~Had I been fighting another wolf who didn’t know me so well, this was the moment to engage, to rush and take their neck high and bear down, flip the dog on his back and close on his throat if he didn’t submit.But Felix would be expecting that. And sure enough, in the blink where he realized there was no danger behind him and returned his full attention to me, he switched—rushing his longer body and heavier weight forward, on the attack, to make me hesitate.I didn’t even think, just let my instincts take over and feinted, first to one side, then the other, waiting for the third switch and praying Felix would instinctively anticipate it.And he did.A howl of victory started in my head as Felix shifted h
~ Cain ~‘Kelsie, get back!’ I screamed in the link as I leaped into my wolf to meet an attack for the second time in a handful of hours.There was a sick pit in my stomach, something that told me I would hate remembering this day. But there wasn’t time to think about it or give in to regret.I had a wolf to kill.I didn’t hesitate.As Felix raised his hackles to make himself look as big—and be as difficult to grip—as possible, I was already flying through the air towards him, ready to take the throat of my own brother.But for the second time in a few hours, time slowed, as if I moved through thick mud and saw ever
~ Cain ~Shaking with the intensity I turned to Lauren. “You hated me that much?”“I never hated you,” she breathed, but she didn’t meet my eyes. “I just… I wanted to have what you had. And… Felix…” she trailed off. I waited, but then my patience snapped.“Felix, what?!” I roared.Many of the wolves flinched, including Lauren, whose head dropped even lower. She clutched her hands in her lap.“Felix admired me. He needed me. He wanted me. You… you didn’t.”“Didn’t need you?” Are you fucking kidding, Lauren?! You were my mate!”
~ Cain ~“Tell me,” I growled, low and hard. “Tell me how that day went down when I ended up betrayed by my mate and my brother.” I seared him with my eyes, let him see and feel my fury.But although he tensed, Felix only sighed.“I had already been… enticed,” he admitted.I felt sick. But Felix went on, relentless.“She’d promised me that she’d raise me. That I would become Alpha over the others, except her. She’d promised me that I would have her all to myself. I just had to make you believe that it was me who was running the whole coup. She didn’t think… she didn’t think she could fool you if you had a chance to actual