Chapter 9

Zayan's Point of View

She reminded me of myself. There was another level to her personality. Entrenched inside her soul. For some, it would have been too deep to try and find. But I adored a challenge and Kamari seemed like the toughest one yet. 

Kamari wasn't gone for long before Nolan showed up. Before my heart started aching slightly. It was the same cramp I felt whenever Eris would leave, only subtler. Stranger. I couldn't figure out whether I hated the feeling or missed it.

"How much?" I asked when my friend approached. His eyebrows were set into a firm line. 

"Zayan, are you sure you want to go through with this? Kamari looked like a mess earlier. I don't think she will be able to stomach any of it." Nolan said and stood in front of me. His dark brown hair was tossed in every direction. He had run here, some of it on foot, from the looks of it.

Steeling my jaw, I looked him square in the eyes. Made it clear that there was no turning back now. Whatever happened, Kamari would deal with it. I would help her deal with it. But we needed this closure. For them to feel the same pain we had felt.

Eris could go to fucking hell.

"Did he hurt her?" My tone was flat.

Nolan blanched. "No. But he was going to if I hadn't stepped in. You know what his temper is like, Zayan. You are putting her in harm's way." 

I felt my nostrils flare in response. Back muscles tightening. If he ever laid a hand on her, I would have his head. And the head of every pack member to ever shun her. She deserved more. Her shoulders might have been able to carry her burden until this far but I could handle it from here.

"Let me handle him when the time comes. How much did he ask for her?" 

My friend only shook his head in response. Sighed. There was no denying me anything that I set my sights on. It was that easy to understand. So why couldn't he?

"From what I could hear, 500 thousand," That was a quarter of what I had left to my name, excluding assets. Nolan knew this as well. "You won't be able to financially recover if you pay that amount and you know it. What you have left is going straight into the company. Arik is slowly leeching away your clients. Think rationally, Zayan."

I was thinking rationally. Or so I hoped. "If we go through with this plan, I will get twenty times that back. And that isn't even Kamari's cut. For now, this is the best financial investment I can make." 

"Or are you only doing this because somewhere in the last three days you decided to also get into her pants for good measure?" There was a twinge of anger in his voice. His feet had splayed open, taking up a defensive stance. Even his eyes seemed to take me in fully. Gauge where my mind was at.

I didn't appreciate the challenge. Not from my Beta. Or rather the Beta I was supposed to have if my father hadn't lost the pack.

"Don't you dare speak about her in that way! I have no intention of getting anywhere with her. We are helping each other, Nolan. You were the one that came to me to help her! Not the other way around! Now I am helping her and it isn't good enough for you?" I seethed. 

Nolan narrowed his eyes at me. Pursed his lips. 

"I have seen that look on your face before. You gave Eris the exact same look when she walked away. When you longed after her. This isn't going to end well for either of you."

"Spoken like someone who wants to get into her pants," I hissed. Having had enough of the conversation, I got back on topic. "I will do a direct transfer to you when I get home. Tomorrow morning, go in and pay whatever needs to be paid. I want her tomorrow afternoon." 

"She is going to hate you after all of this is done, you know that right?" 

His question made my heart clench. Break a bit. I wanted to sneer at him to get off his fucking high horse. Tell him that he had no idea what it felt like to be betrayed by the one you were supposed to trust the most. If Kamari wanted to leave at the end of this, then that was her choice.

Nothing kept her here. 

"Good. Maybe that will finally give you the shot you have always wanted with her. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get going. Get her free." 

It was my last instruction to him. A simple one. All he had to do was transfer the money over to Arik and Kamari could breathe easier at night. Spend her days however she wanted. With whomever she wanted.

A small piece of my chest caved in at the thought of her being touched by someone else. But it must have been me projecting. Thrusting my pain with Eris onto Kamari. Which was utterly wrong of me.

Kamari was nothing of me except a means to an end. Maybe a friend in the making. Whatever she wanted to be...

***

I had transferred the money a few miles outside of Crescent Shine. My initial thought was to head home. Catch up with my dad. Get to work on opening new branches of my security company. Maybe look into transport companies as well.

But I felt myself being drawn back to Crescent shine. Felt my soul give way when I headed in the opposite direction of where my home was. My true home. The very same one my dad built up. The one my mother nurtured for so many years.

Crescent Shine.

Parking my bike in the bushes, I tried to hide it the best I could. Since Arik took over the pack, patrols had gone lax. People could waltz in and out without the Alpha knowing. This made visiting a whole lot easier.

I stripped down in less than a minute. Felt my bones snap into place in half that time. Transforming had become second nature to me. As easy as breathing. Soon enough, I was on all fours and the world was bright again.

I had no idea where I was going. What I wanted to see. Who I wanted to spy on. Eris was off of the table. The bitch could rot for all I cared. 

Our relationship might not have been perfect but I had been working on it. Thought she was as well. Little did I know.

After a few minutes of mindless running, I realized where my body had taken me. Who my wolf craved to see. The house was light on the outside walls with a charcoal roof. Two stories. Nice porch with a rocking chair and a hammock on it. 

But just inside I noticed her. Kamari. Her hair was tucked back behind an ear. Feet propped up on the arm of the couch whilst she aimlessly leafed through a book. The title was a dark choice but one I had read before. The Haunting of Hill House. A twisted book that made you catch your breath at every turn. 

Behind her was the kitchen. Her father was standing there, kneading from what I could see. Nolan had only mentioned her address once. When he thought she would come here or to the cafe. I never realized I knew it by heart.

Speaking of which, there was a tightening in my chest. Tension in my limbs as I watched her smile at something her father had said. Curl her legs up beneath her and drop the book. She was wearing glasses. Kamari looked absolutely adorable.

None of this would have been possible without her strength. Her willingness to help herself. Heal herself, even if it was in the wrong way. Even if she was straying so close to the darkness I was so accustomed to. At the end of the day, she was a breath of fresh air. 

And I had to stop fucking breathing. Because she might just rip my heart out of my fucking chest.