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“Relieved?” Raynah asked.

“I don’t even know what I feel,” she admitted as she tucked her phone into her purse. “Excited maybe?”

“Did he say why he hasn’t been talking to you?”

“He said he was waiting on me to text him.” She thought about it. “He was encouraging me to take alone time and figure things out.”

“Two days is a lot of alone time,” Raynah pointed out. “I wouldn’t know what to do if I had two days to myself. I’ve been away from Breah for a couple hours and I’m already missing her like crazy.”

“You should’ve brought her.”

“It’s Garret’s day off. He does this thing where he takes her to lunch every week and calls it dad-daughter-date, because he’s convinced if he spends that quality time with her, she will expect the moon out of a man when she grows up, and won’t settle for scraps.”

“That’s actually amazing,” Jess said, a little emotional. She wished her dad had done that for her. Maybe things would’ve ended up differently. Garret cared about his daughter and already anticipated her future. Good dad.

“Yep, and then tomorrow night he will ask one of the Crew to watch Breah so we can get a date night just the two of us. He feels like it’s important for us to get grown up time where he can spoil me.”

“Any tips on how to secure a dream man like that?”

“Girl, I don’t even know. I’m messy, but he handles it easily. I think it’s just got to be the right match, and things are easier.” She gestured to her pizza, all boxed up. “Are you ready to go?”

“Kind of. I’ve had fun hanging out with you. Thank you for calling and checking on me, and for inviting me out. I haven’t just gone out with someone for fun in…I don’t even know how long. We only go out with purpose in Sister’s Edge.”

“Well in Wreck’s Mountains, we will create purposes to go out,” Raynah said with a laugh. “I think the boys are doing guy’s night out at some local bar none of us has been to tonight.” She shrugged. “Just because they are all dudes wanting to hang out without us, I guess. They’ll be bored in ten minutes. We have a bet going on how long it’ll be before they call one of us and ask us to come out.”

“What’s the bet?”

“Ten bucks. So far, we’ve just been betting on it by minutes. Katrina thinks ten minutes, Timber said they’ll make it half an hour. Harley said thirty seconds after they get through the door, and she bets Cash will send her an ‘I miss you’ text.”

Jess snickered. From what Raynah had said about her female Crewmates, they seemed fun. Way more fun than the females in Sister’s Edge. “I’ll be curious on who wins that bet.”

“I’ll text you the results,” Raynah promised.

They left the pizza place, and Raynah drove her back down the street to her house—errr, her rental temporary house. Jess waved her off and made her way inside grinning like a lunatic. That was the most fun she’d had with another girl in as long as she could remember. Raynah was an easy talker and seemed so chill. Oh, she felt big, and dominant, and her animal was probably a monster, but Jess liked that about her. When she’d been able to Change into her animal, Jess had been a monster too. It was nice to be around a woman who harbored a beast and knew her power, and had confidence, and not one who had been badgered into thinking she was smaller than she really was.

It made her even more curious about the Cold Foot Crew. She kind of wanted to meet more of them.

She hoped Kade would get off work soon. She was starting to build up things she looked forward to.

Coffee mornings on the back porch with the firepit turned on.

Picking her outfit from the ton of clothes Raynah had sent over, fixing herself up, liking herself a little more each day, realizing no one was here to tell her what to do.

Then she usually biked around town and explored little shops and restaurants, and today, she’d excitedly told Raynah some good news pretty much immediately after talking to her for the first time, and that’s why Raynah had taken her out—to celebrate. And now she got to tell Kade? Who had apparently been asking his friend about her?

That had to mean something, right? He liked her or something? At least as a friend, and that was pretty cool. Sure, he was a murderer, and probably a liar about that murder, and because of her lineage, she could never really fall in love, but she was putting that in the back of her mind so she could just live in the moment here.

She was experiencing happy moments, and it had been so damn long since her heart had smiled like this.

Her phone rang, but when she jogged into the living room to check it, her heart hit the floor. Misty was calling. Again.

Jess considered answering, but she knew how the conversation would go. It would go like her texts and her voicemails. It would be guilting her into coming back. Shaming her for wanting more than the adequate life she’d had.

The call stopped, and then another came through. This time, it was a Facetime call from Derek, and there was that pull of the bond to her Alpha. She tried to resist answering. She tried so hard, but she couldn’t force herself to put the phone down.

Heart hammering inside of her chest, Jess accepted the call and sank slowly onto the couch as her Alpha’s face showed up on the screen.

“I tried to do this the nice way,” he said as his greeting.

“What do you mean?” she asked softly.

“I tried to have you make contact with Misty, whom you have formed a friendship with.”

Had she? Misty was Crew first, and Jess’s feelings dead-last, but okay. She was her sister-in-law though, so she could see how Derek would think that.

“Is there something you need?”

Derek’s eyes flashed brighter, and he bared his teeth, which were too sharp. The terrifying expression lasted for just a moment before he composed himself and relaxed his face once more.

“Would you like to ask questions?” he asked.

“What kind of questions.” God, she hated playing games, and that’s all the Sister’s Edge Crew did. Wait. That’s all that they did. She frowned. Jess had never realized the amount of game-playing until right now, at this moment.

“Perhaps you should want to ask about how your Promise is doing? Ask me how Connor is? Ask if he lived?”

Dread washed through her. Had he died from his injuries after all? Had Kade killed him? “Is…” She swallowed hard. “Is he alive?”

Derek waited five seconds before he answered. “He’s fine.”

“What the fuck,” she said on a breath, turning the phone away from her as she rested back into the couch, and then sat up again to face her Alpha. Why had he done that?

“Connor is not my Promise,” she said, trying to control the shake in her voice. “I have no signed Promise contracts right now.”

Derek narrowed his eyes. “And yet you left with your former Promise. Any more questions for me?” he asked, like she was supposed to read his mind on where he wanted to take this conversation. “Like maybe you should ask how your house is. It’s demolished. And your brother? And your sister-in-law? Your family? They are homeless.”

“Where are they living?” she asked, knowing damn well they weren’t on the streets. Derek could twist a story, but she was seeing things more clearly lately.

“Oh, you care now?” he asked. He was avoiding the answer.

“Where are they living?”

Derek’s face morphed into that terrifying expression again before he angled the phone away from himself. The screen went black. Whooo, he hadn’t ever liked her much, but now he really hated her.

It was at this moment that the front door cracked open, startling her. Kade came in, finger on his lips. Be quiet.

He padded silently to the love seat on the other side, and sat down, clenched his fists in front of him and went still. He looked handsome today in a dark grey T-shirt, and blue jeans. He’d gotten a haircut, and it was short on the sides, and mussed on top. He was the hottest man she’d ever been around, and now her heart was pounding a little harder.

“Where are you?” Derek asked, and she snapped her attention back to the screen of her phone. The Alpha was back and looked calm again.

“I’m safe.”

“Answer my fucking question.”

The hair prickled on the back of her neck, and a low snarl emanated from her.

“What the fuck was that?” Derek demanded. His dark eyebrows raised, and his eyes sparked with anger. “Was that growl for me?”

“Y-yes,” she whispered, feeling like there was cement in her windpipe.

“I want you to come back to Sister’s Edge now. That is enough. What you did was unforgiveable, but we have had a meeting with the entire Crew, and your brother and Connor have begged for your place here to be reinstated.”

She shook her head, so confused. “Why would you want me back?”

“Because Connor is going to be important for the future of Sister’s Edge. Now, you understand you and your brother’s importance to our continuation, but make no mistake, when you come back here, you are to stop running from the Promise, and you are to settle down and get into line. You’ve always had a problem with that part.”

“No, I haven’t. I’ve tried—”

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear it.”

Kade stood in a rush and walked to the kitchen, clenching and unclenching his fists. When he turned back to her, his eyes were the color of frost.

She put her hand out. It’s okay. I’m okay. Be calm. Be still.

Jess was used to being talked to in this way.

“What would you like to talk about?” she asked Derek.

“Your brother has given his oath that his offspring will be a part of Sister’s Edge. You’ll do the same.”

“My offspring,” she said quietly.

“You know why,” he gritted out. “Don’t pretend you don’t know why I allowed you into Sister’s Edge. You aren’t pretty, Jess. You aren’t a sight to behold. You don’t have your animal anymore. You are disfigured, but your children wouldn’t be. You are submissive, but with the right breeding, your children wouldn’t be. You’re witch-blooded, Jess. Anyone can feel it. It’s stronger in you than your brother. It’s been three generations since we had witch-blooded members, and I want to change that.”

“You want to change that,” she repeated numbly. “So, you want me to sign a Promise to Connor, and sign my offspring to Sister’s Edge?” She didn’t hide the disgust in her voice.

Kade was in the kitchen, his back to her, one arm locked on the sink as he stared out the window, drinking a glass of water. Every muscle in his back was tense and easily visible through the thin material of his T-shirt. Well, unfortunately now Kade would know what she was, if he didn’t already know.

“Why the fuck else would we want you?” Derek growled. “You can’t take orders, you can’t mind rules, you aren’t pleasant to look at. You’re lucky you’ve been offered two Promise contracts. Kade’s was a mistake. He was planning treachery in this Crew, but Connor is loyal. He can elevate your status, and can provide a home when you get here, since your old house was destroyed by your decisions. We are still willing to take you back.”

Lucky her.

How many times had she been told how ugly she was? How many shots had she taken after the accident? How much had she wished those insults would slow down as she went through her surgeries?

“Did Kade really kill Tanner?” she asked suddenly.

In her peripheral, she could see Kade turn his face, listening.

“What are you talking about. You were there. You know he did.”

“I wasn’t there, though. I was just at the Crew meeting after he was killed, with everyone else, listening to the story of what had happened.”

“You saw the heartbreak. You heard the truth in our voices.”

“Did I? It’s all kind of blurry these days. Did Kade kill Tanner?” she asked, forming the question carefully, so he couldn’t half-lie his way out of it.

“I think you’ve been away from Sister’s Edge for too long, and you’re getting confused,” Derek gritted out.

“Yes, or no. Did Kade kill Tanner?”

“Yes.” But it was there. He was almost good enough to get away with the lie. Almost. Hell, perhaps he’d tried to convince himself that Kade had done it, but she’d heard the false note under the layers of that word as Derek had uttered it. That ‘yes’ was shaky.

She allowed the suspicion on her face as she leaned back and nodded. “Did Samuel kill Tanner?”

A snarl ripped out of her Alpha, and he stood with the phone. “Kade is so deep in your head, isn’t he? He’s so deep and now you can’t see the truth. That’s your brother you’re talking about. You know him. He would never kill a member of Sister’s Edge.”

“Lie!” she yelled, standing. “Every word you are saying is a lie and you know it. Can you hear yourself? I can. Lies, lies, lies—”

“Shut up!” he roared. “You will come home. Now! You will find a ride and get back here right now. That’s an order. I know you can hear an order still, Jess. I can feel that bond I still have to you. It’s thinner because of your horrible choices, but it’s there. Come. Home.”

“Or what?”

“Or I will come get you.” And there it was. There was truth in his voice with that threat.

“For my offspring I haven’t even had,” she gritted out, realizing so, so many things in this moment. So many messed up things. So many unacceptable things.

Her only value to Sister’s Edge was her witch-blooded lineage that had been nothing but a curse to her.

“I don’t practice witchcraft,” she told him. “My mother didn’t practice. My grandmother didn’t practice. I have no spells. I’ve never had training. Samuel has no power as a male, so I don’t even know why the hell you would protect him from consequences of his own actions. He can’t give you want you want. I won’t give you what you want. I will never practice, and I will never teach my offspring .” God, she hated that word. “I’ll also never sign away my kids for anything. I might be unsightly, and submissive, and hard to keep in line, but I know wrong from right, and you, Derek…you’re wrong.”

“Mmm,” he said, eyes glowing. He nodded slowly. “You’re going to figure out what Sister’s Edge is sooner or later, Jess. I just hope it’s not too late when you do.”

“Oh yeah? What is it?” she asked.

“It’s the only place that can keep that little curse off the people you love, and you know it. Keep that locket safe, will you? You have a day to get back home. I don’t care if you fuckin’ hitchhike here. Come home. Make sure to bring the locket back with you.” An empty smile stretched his face right before he ended the call.

Chills rippled up her arms, and her blood ran cold.

How did he know about the locket? How?

Samuel didn’t even know about it. The only person she’d ever told about it was…

Her cheeks heated with anger as she opened her text thread to Misty. I’ll never forgive you. Send.

I guess we’re even then. The text came back almost immediately, and she didn’t even hate Misty as much as she hated herself for being so weak as to lean on anyone. She’d known all those years ago that telling Misty about her family’s curse would come back to bite her in the ass. She’d known it, but she’d been so lonely with it, and Misty seemed to be a friend at the time, and Jess had made a mistake. It was the one rule her mother had preached since she could understand words—never expose the locket or the secrets sealed inside of it.

Her eyes burned and she chucked her phone against the couch pillow and buried her face in her hands to contain her emotions.

What should she do?

“Breathe.” Kade’s voice was soft over the harsh roaring in her ears.

What should she do!

“Just breathe.” Kade’s voice was near her now, right beside her.

“I don’t want anyone to touch me.” She dragged the words out through tightening vocal cords.

“Woman, do you hear your animal? I wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole right now. I don’t want none of that smoke.”

With a frown, she took stock of her body. Tension hummed through her, and her skin tingled, and when the roaring in her ears died slightly, she could hear it—the snarl that rattled her chest.

Stunned, she jerked her attention to Kade. “She’s…”

“Here? No shit.” He twitched his chin at the room. “You’ve made this whole place feel heavy.”

“I’m…I’m sorry,” she whispered as the growl faded in her throat.

“Don’t be,” he said, standing. “It’s hot.” He stood with his hands on his hips, looking down at her with one eyebrow arched up. “Want me to kill him?”

“What?”

“Want me to kill Derek for talking to you like that?”

“Ummm…” Her frown deepened. “No?”

“Suit yourself.” He made his way to the kitchen and pulled the pizza box out of the fridge, grabbed a slice, and began chewing it thoughtfully.

“Do you want me to heat that up?” she asked numbly.

“No.”

“Oh. Okay.”

He canted his head and pointed the half-eaten pizza at her. “That velvet bag on your bedside table. Is that the locket Derek is talking about?”

She pursed her lips and refused an answer.

Kade nodded thoughtfully and took another bite. “You’re witch-blooded?” he asked around it.

Jess crossed her arms over her chest and relaxed back into the couch. “I think you should leave.”

“Mmm,” he rumbled, chewing. “You’re cursed?”

Jess glared, tears of anger rimming her eyes.

Kade took another huge bite, and leaned back against the kitchen counter, just watching her. “Do you want to talk about the locket?”

“No.”

“Sweet, what’s the good news?”

Jess frowned. “What?”

“You said on the phone, you had good news and were celebrating something with Raynah.”

She just sat there with her mouth open in confusion.

He swallowed and grabbed another piece of pizza. “This is me giving you a subject-change, Cactus. Take the bait.”

“You’re…you’re not going to push me for information?”

“I’m curious, for sure. I’m super interested. I think you just upped your interesting points by like…a zillion. I’m not a thief though. If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to talk about it.”

This was a trick, right? He had an angle.

“Whatever this game is, I’m not playing.”

“Cool, me either. I hate games. I like honesty and knowing where I stand, and I like saying exactly where someone stands with me. You’ve got a story. I’ve got a story. Everyone in my Crew has a story. Everyone in yours has a story.”

“That’s not my Crew,” she uttered, and then gasped and dropped her gaze to the coffee table. That’s not my Crew? She’d just said those words out loud, and easily.

When she dared a glance back up, a slight smile tugged at the corners of Kade’s masculine mouth. “Truth,” he said softly.

Jess swallowed hard and shook her head. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

“Want a theory?”

She couldn’t lift her face up to save her life, but she could lift her gaze to him. Her gaze and that was it. “Sure.”

“I told you, the longer you’re away from Sister’s Edge, the clearer things will become.” He gestured to her phone. “Have you ever talked to Derek like that?”

She thought about it. “Once.”

“What did you say?”

“I said you didn’t murder Tanner. Back when the big Crew meeting happened about it. I got banished to my room for a week. Samuel called in sick for me to work and everything. I was supposed to fast and think about the way I’d talked to my Alpha.”

“You fasted for a week? No food?”

She nodded once, not wanting to think about it.

“And what did you come up with at the end of that fasted week?”

Her bottom lip trembled, and she drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. “That I had to pretend to believe whatever they believed if I wanted to stay there.”

Kade shrugged. “You don’t have to do that shit anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

He shrugged again and looked around. “Who’s here to tell you what to believe?” he asked. “You don’t have to pretend anymore. Believe whatever you want.”

And she sat there in that moment, with the impact of his words lifting a weight off her shoulders she hadn’t realized she’d been carrying.

Kade made a gesture like scissors cutting through the air. “Cut that bond to Derek and see how fast you figure things out.”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“Sure you do.”

She just stared at him, shaking her head.

“You’re already doing it,” he pointed out. “Listen to that gorgeous growl in your throat. Listen to the grit in your voice as you asked Derek over and over to answer to a lie. Look at your eyes.” He arched both of his eyebrows high, and took another bite of pizza, like he was done proving his point, and fair enough.

He’d left her with a dozen things to think about when she was alone and wanting to process what was happening.

“What’s in this for you?” she asked. “Are you wanting to destroy my bond to Derek and put it on you?”

“Oh fuck no. I have a bond to Wreck, and to the Cold Foot Crew. I’m not trying to be an Alpha or build a Crew. I’m good. I think you’re at the beginning of figuring out you’re good too. You’re just wary of it, and I get it. I was wary for a long time too.” He approached slowly and then squatted down on the other side of the coffee table and leveled her a look with those bright blue eyes of his. “I wasn’t supposed to be okay in Cold Foot Prison, but I was.” He gestured to the room. “You aren’t supposed to be good way out here, far away from Sister’s Edge. You’re supposed to be falling apart, but you sent me a selfie with Raynah today, and do you know what I saw?”

“What?” she whispered as a tear loosed from her eye and streamed down her cheek.

He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and pulled up the picture, then zoomed in on her face. He pointed to her eyes. “Your animal.” He pointed to her smile. “Happiness.”

“What is in it for you?” she asked again, as a tear streaked down her other cheek.

“Watching you free yourself is pretty damn satisfying.”

Jess squeezed her legs closer to her chest. Her heart was pounding away. “I think I got a job.”

Kade twitched his head, and a look of utter surprise washed through his bright eyes. “Are you serious?” he asked, standing, and God, that smile on his face was so genuine. It was everything in this moment. He was happy for her. Not threatened, like the males of Sister’s Edge would’ve been. “Are you mother-friggin’ serious?” he asked louder.

And she didn’t know why, but the tears just…streamed. She couldn’t keep them in anymore. It had been such a roller-coaster, emotionally charged few hours, and now she had no idea how to feel, and now her animal was making her skin tingle again.

He approached, but then backed off and paced to the kitchen, hands gripping the back of his hair, and then back. His grin had somehow gotten bigger. “I want to hug you because hell yes to all of this, but I get it. You don’t need anyone touching you right now.”

“No, I could maybe…” She cleared her throat and heat blasted up her neck and landed in her cheeks. “I could…you know.”

“Can I hug you?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

She had not realized how fast Kade really was. That man blurred to her and lifted her off the couch shockingly fast. Her feet were off the floor in a split second, and she was crushed to him, and now she was laughing. Crying and laughing, and whoo, she did not make any sense right now.

He spun her in a fast circle and then gripped her hair in the back and hugged her closer. Just…held her so close, like they were one person.

She melted into it because God it felt so good to celebrate like this.

“I’m so fucking proud of you,” he murmured right next to her ear, and she could hear the truth of it.

This feeling. Oh, this feeling.

Kade swayed her gently, her feet off the ground still as she hugged him around his neck so tight. Her pounding heart was racing his, and his grip tightened slightly at the back of her neck. Her body was tingling from her toes to her hair, and her skin sparked with electricity where she touched his.

He eased back his face by inches, and searched her eyes, and she could see his animal sitting right there at the surface. His gaze dipped to her lips, and then back to her eyes, and he wanted to kiss her…right? She was drunk on him in an instant. With the dominant weight of his animal, and the enticing scent of whatever cologne he was wearing. The warmth of his body enveloped her, and this was it.

She looked down at his lips, then closed her eyes and leaned in slightly. She waited, but Kade didn’t kiss her. Instead, he set her on her feet and backed off.

Mortified by the awkward moment, she rushed out, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to…It’s just I thought…I’m…”

“You did nothing wrong,” he assured her, but the bright color of his eyes had cooled. Kade ran his hand through his hair and blew out a slow, steadying breath. “Tell me about the job.”

“Uuuh…” Her mind was swirling with the rejection he’d just given her. “It’s been a long time since I…you know…”

“I don’t know what you’re saying.”

“It’s been a long time since I kissed someone. I just got caught up in the excitement of the moment. I didn’t mean to.”

“Don’t mention it. Really, you aren’t doing anything wrong. We were Promised once.”

Her embarrassment was eternal, and she accidentally looked down at the scar across her palm, then in a rush, she clasped her hands together to hide it. His hand had the same scar. She knew because she’d cut it into him with a ceremonial knife on their Promise Day.

“That’s probably it,” she blurted out. “We were Promised once, and I just got confused. If you want to leave, you should do that. If you want.”

A smile confiscated his face, and he ducked his gaze, but she’d seen the smile before he’d hidden it from her. “I’m not good at this,” he said softly.

She didn’t know how to respond, because she didn’t understand what he was trying to say, so she just stood there like an idiot nodding.

Kade gestured to a worn paperback book on the kitchen table. “Did you find the library?”

“Oh, sort of. Actually, do you want to get out of here? I can show you where I got it. We can just walk.”

“You want me to take a walk with you?”

“Yes. So that we aren’t trapped in here with me accosting you anymore.”

“I hugged you first,” he pointed out as he made his way into the kitchen and put the pizza box back in the fridge.

“Right.” And then she’d taken it to a place she was never allowed to take it. What was she doing? Caring for a man this intensely was against the rules of her bloodline. Heichmans didn’t bond. It was the only way to keep everyone safe. She could be friends, and that was it. Friendship would save the people she cared for. Friendship and nothing more.

Kade was right to keep his distance.

She was wrong for encouraging more.

“Um, I’ll meet you outside,” she rushed out, and shoved her phone into her back pocket, and grabbed the keys off the table and then marched straight outside to have a mini-panic attack out of his view.

She pressed her shoulder blades against the garage and scanned the street as she tried to convince her lungs that oxygen was good for them. She needed to steady the panting, so she blew out a long breath, and then another, and another.

The door clicked closed and she pushed off the garage and forced a smile onto her lips. His eyes were soft and worried, and she hated it. Before he could say anything, she snapped, “I’m fine.”

He nodded and then gestured for her to lead the way.

“I have to lock the door,” she said low, and she did so. She wouldn’t admit to more weakness, but she was afraid Derek or Samuel, or even Connor would show up here and take her back.

“You’re scared,” he rumbled.

“I’m not scared of anything.”

Kade pursed his lips and nodded, then shoved his hands into his pockets. “What job did you get?” This was the second time he’d tried to change the subject by talking about her new job, and this time she allowed it.

“Have you seen that auto parts shop up on Rue Street?”

“Cliff’s?” he asked, recognition sparking in his eyes.

“Yeah, Cliff’s.” She set a relaxed walking pace heading up the sidewalk, leading him deeper into the neighborhood. “They had a few old, beat-up cars sitting in the parking lot with fair prices written onto their windshields, so I went in and just talked to the guy up front. Just chatting. Curious, you know.”

“You’re wanting a car?”

Jess shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t even know what tomorrow will bring. I don’t know if I’ll be here long enough that a car would be life changing.”

“You can use my truck while I’m at work, if you want.”

Shocked, she glanced up at him to see if he was serious. He looked serious as hell. She cleared her throat and shook her head. “You can’t drag me through life, Kade. I’m not a puppy you adopted from a junk yard. You don’t need an anchor.”

“You aren’t an anchor, Jess. Take that back.”

“I’ll feel like one if you keep taking care of everything for me.”

Kade was quiet for a minute after that, and they just walked. “They were hiring?” he asked as they turned on Mason Avenue.

“I’d seen the hiring sign on the window when I went in there, but I don’t know anything about cars, so didn’t really register it. But the guy up front asked if I was looking for work, and if I could drive, and if I had a driver’s license. And then Cliff came out and talked to me about how the lady that worked for them driving parts to different shops had just moved to Idaho, and they were desperate for a driver.” It was getting easier to talk to him as they walked. “Well, I told him I don’t know shit about fuck about auto parts, and he said they would literally load the parts I needed, and give me the invoices with the addresses to take them to, and that I would pick it up soon enough and be able to pull orders in a couple months.”

“You’re a parts runner?” he asked, and she could hear it there—the pride in his voice.

A smile stretched her face. She couldn’t help it. She hid it by looking at the pavement in front of them. “Yeah. I filled out the paperwork. I start training on Wednesday, and the pay is really fair. Want to hear the best part?”

“It gets better?” he teased.

“I get a company car.”

“Holy shit, are you serious?” The excitement was growing in his voice, and did he understand what he was doing for her? Each time he showed his genuine excitement for the good things that happened for her? He was making her own her value. He was encouraging her growing confidence.

“Want to see a picture?”

“Hell yeah,” he said, stopping them as she pulled her phone from her back pocket and pulled up the picture.

“This guy is Dan. He will be training me starting on Wednesday. He said I could take a picture of the truck, because I said I wanted to show my friend. He seemed happy that I was all excited,” she said with a laugh as she zoomed the picture in so Kade could see the little white ford pickup truck. It was a little old and banged up and had the company logo across the doors and the bed of the truck. She loved it. “I got to test drive it,” she admitted softly. “It was a little driving test so Cliff could make sure I would be a safe driver for the company. I got to drive for an hour.”

Kade was just staring at the truck with an unreadable expression on his face.

She waited a few seconds before she gave a voice to her insecurities. “It’s nothing fancy or anything—”

“It’s fuckin’ awesome, Jess. Don’t downplay how cool this is. Look,” he said, pointing to the tires. “Someone has even put a little lift on it, and tires with good tread for the cold months. Do you get to drive it outside of work?”

“Yes, but only if I keep it within a certain radius and don’t put too many extra miles on it. They have one of those tracker things on it.”

“All fair,” he said, handing her phone back to her. He was grinning and looked like he wanted to say something, but he stayed silent instead and began walking again.

After a couple of quiet minutes, she asked, “What?”

He glanced at her and his eyes were sparking with his animal’s color again. “It’s just happening for you, Jess.”

She didn’t understand. “It’s just temporary,” she said.

“You know when I got busted out of Cold Foot, I didn’t believe anything good happening to me. I waited for that other shoe to drop too. Time is the fix for that.”

“Chhh, you just think life is going to keep going straight up, don’t you? You really have changed from the old Kade I kind of knew.”

“Life doesn’t work like that,” he said. “It’s not a straight up journey ever, but if you’re ready, and wanting to work, you can go in the right general direction. Everything happens for a reason, Jess. You are piling up the meant-to-be’s here. There is no Promise here. No pressure. No one telling you what to do. No bad intentions for you. And now you landed a job that will grant your independence what…2 days in? You just needed to cut the dead weight. Fuck all that Derek said. Fuck the manipulation. Look what you’re doing outside of the reach of Sister’s Edge?”

She shook her head. He didn’t understand the Heichman Curse. She wasn’t on the way up. She never could be. Fate had different plans from the day she’d been born a Heichman. She liked that he had such a positive view on things though, so she wouldn’t correct him.

“There,” she said, pointing to the neighborhood book nook.

Kade frowned at the little contraption that held the books. “It looks like a mailbox on steroids.”

She snickered and picked up the pace, her heart racing with excitement to show him. The little door creaked as she opened it and exposed the double row of books. Instructions were etched onto the edge of the book nook. ‘Take a book, replace a book.’

“This is cool,” he uttered, pulling out a book. It was a shifter romance with a half-naked male model on the cover. Kade pulled a face. “This dude needs to put on a shirt though.”

“Hell no he doesn’t,” she joked, snatching it from his hands. “This is on my list to read next.”

“So, you will read the book at the house, and then come and trade it out for this one,” he said, figuring out the rules.

“Yeah! But I kind of want to contribute, you know? I was thinking of going to the bookstore in town and buying a new one to add to the book nook.”

He was giving her the strangest look.

“What?” she asked, wiping her face in case there was something on it.

“You’re a builder.”

“What do you mean?”

“You improve things.”

Jess shrugged. “Not really,” she said softly.

“I’ve been in Garret’s rental house a half dozen times, and I’ve never seen flowers on the table, or that full length mirror next to the fireplace, or the candles on the mantle.”

She ducked her gaze so he wouldn’t see her pleased blush. “You should’ve seen me hauling that mirror back to the house. Three people pulled over and offered me a ride.”

He chuckled. “There’re some really nice people in this town. You are a fixer. I can tell.”

“I just like the idea of leaving a place better than I found it.”

“Enough talk of leaving, I’m taking this book with us,” he said, holding it up. “For me. It’s not breaking the rules. I’ll buy a book without a shirtless fuckboy on it to put in the book mailbox when I return it too. We can be fixers together.”

Okay, he was fun. “First off,” she said as she closed the little free library door, “Garrison Hartford is not a fuckboy, which you would know if you read the blurb. He is a misunderstood billionaire who can change into a honey badger to protect his love.”

Kade belted out a laugh. “Oh yeah? Can he destroy the house of his arranged pairing, piss off her entire Crew as he kidnaps her, and then catch her sobbing when he tries to bring her pizza—”

“Oh my gosh, we could write you into a book! I’m going to need to take shirtless photos of you. It’s not weird, and I’m not hitting on you. I’m just going to need some eye candy so people will read your story. Taken by the rhino.”

“Dear God, no.”

“Anal-Banged by the Rhinoceros.”

He scrunched up his face. “How about Seduced by the Tiger Witch.”

She nearly tripped on a crack in the cement. “How do you know what I am? You haven’t ever seen my animal.”

He snorted. “Yes, I have.”

“What? When?”

“Before your accident.”

She stumbled to a stop to stare at him, combing through her memories of that time. They were all so blurry. “I didn’t know you before my accident.”

“I was around though.”

“Around enough to see me Changed?”

“On accident.” He ran his hand down his jaw and continued walking, leaving her to trot to catch up.

“When did you come to Sister’s Edge again?”

“Maybe a year before your accident.”

“A year?” God, why couldn’t she recall him in her memories of that time? The timeline did make sense though on him making a run for Third. “How did you get into Sister’s Edge? And how did you get to be Derek’s Third so fast?”

“I knew Tawk, Seth, and Tanner from when we were kids.”

She scrunched up her face. “Tawk is an asshole. I’m judging you now for the friendships you kept.”

“He’s an asshole to people he doesn’t know or trust. Anything he sees as a threat, he’s going to treat like a threat.”

“So, I guess he saw me as a threat,” she grumbled.

“He didn’t trust you, for sure.”

“How close were you two?”

“We were from the same place. Seth and Tanner too. We were closer when we were kids.”

“Tawk is a freaking dragon. Why isn’t he Second, or Third? Or hell, why isn’t he Alpha? If it was a fight between him and Derek, it’s Tawk burning him alive and eating his ashes all day long.”

“Tawk doesn’t want a Crew under him. He’s not like that.”

None of this made sense with the Tawk she knew.

Kade inhaled deeply and said, “Tawk’s dragon cares about treasure. That’s all. There is something about Sister’s Edge that his dragon covets. Doesn’t mean he wants to listen to the Crew’s problems and fix their shit all the time.”

“But you wanted to, as Third?” she asked.

“I guess I was attracted to power back then. I was arrogant and thought I could do it better than Derek. I wasn’t just after Third. I was going to Challenge for Alpha at some point. I’m guessing that’s why I went to Cold Foot Prison.”

She frowned. “You really didn’t kill Tanner, did you?”

“Nope.”

“Was it Samuel for real?” she asked, looking at him so she could watch his eyes as he answered.

Kade seemed to know what she needed and turned for her as he answered. “Samuel killed Tanner.”

“Why?”

“Misty.”

Jess frowned and softly repeated, “Misty?”

“Misty is having trouble getting pregnant. It caused a break with her and Samuel’s bond. Tanner was fucking her for a year before Samuel found out.”

“What the hell,” she whispered in shock. “Misty. Samuel’s mate, Misty. She was cheating?”

Kade nodded. “She was.”

“But…we were friends back then. I think we were friends. She never said anything.”

“Would she have?”

“Well, we grew apart, but back then, I thought we were close. I told her about the curse on my family. Samuel doesn’t even know.”

“How does Samuel not know if he’s your blood-brother.”

“Because he’s a male. It won’t affect him. It was supposed to be my secret to keep. I messed up. Apparently, Misty was better at secrets than me.”

“Nah. Don’t beat yourself up for trusting someone. She was the one who messed up and betrayed you.”

“Why did they pin it on you?” she asked.

Kade gestured to her rental house. “You want to go inside or keep walking?”

“Keep walking.”

He picked up the pace again and studied the cracks in the sidewalk as he talked. “That part I couldn’t figure out until I had some time and space from Sister’s Edge. I was so confused and hurt. So hurt, Jess. So fuckin’ hurt. It felt like an injury that wouldn’t heal, you know? People I considered friends were sitting there in court testifying that I did all this stuff I didn’t do, and I had to just watch, and be quiet. No one was there on my side, except for a public defender, because Derek didn’t help me get a good lawyer like he’d promised if I took the heat off Samuel. Derek had told me I could save your family if I just took the hit. That you’d been in foster care, and then on the streets when you aged out, and you’d been so happy to find Samuel again. He gave me a speech about being a good mate and setting up your life for happiness so that you could learn to be loyal to me. And when I still wasn’t sure, he promised that it would be four years max in prison, because Tanner is a shifter, and the humans give leniency if it’s shifter on shifter violence. It’s just the way it is. One less shifter on the planet to try and police. So okay, four years, but more likely two with them testifying on my behalf. Two years and I could get back to you, and my place would be held in Sister’s Edge, and you would keep your brother.”

“Yeah, but if all that was true, Samuel would’ve gotten four years, and then he would be back with me.”

Kade huffed a breath and agreed. “Now when we’re talking about it logically, and it’s after the fact, that seems obvious. He should’ve paid the consequences for that mess. Misty’s rank should’ve been completely stripped and she should’ve been shunned for the duration of his sentence. But back then…”

“They manipulate,” she whispered, understanding down to her bones.

He nodded. “The sacrifice seemed so necessary because it meant so much to the people I was blindly loyal to. They said I was going to be able to tell you goodbye, and I’d planned on telling you I didn’t do it. You were supposed to come to the trial, and see them back me up, and I was supposed to get some time to say goodbye. It was a bunch of promises and they didn’t follow through with a single one.”

“They had other plans, huh?”

“I learned there are always other plans. You think a promise to Connor is just to give you protection in that Crew?”

She couldn’t even guess what the discussions had been behind the scenes.

“He’s gotten two women pregnant outside of Sister’s Edge. He has nothing to do with either of those kids. He’s a producer, and Derek wants your bloodline in Sister’s Edge. Misty and Samuel aren’t producing, so the focus swings to you. You will carry out that Promise in Sister’s Edge, Connor will breed you, you will raise your cubs alone, and you will serve him when he wants it. There will be very little kindness. Sister’s Edge doesn’t care about that though. They care for results, and they will throw anyone under the bus who messes with the trajectory of those results. They wanted me gone, and they made sure I was going to stay gone. They used my life to buy time for Samuel to continue his bloodline. What is it?” he asked suddenly. “What is it about the witch-blooded that Sister’s Edge wants? What’s so important about it?”

Jess shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t even know. I didn’t even freaking know they knew we were witch-blooded. There is no benefit to it that I can think of. I’m cursed to be loveless, and there is nothing I can do to get myself or my children out of it. The end. My grandma and then my mom spent years trying to free the Heichman witches from the curse, but there’s no work-around.”

“Why were you in foster care?” he asked.

“Ew, too close.”

“Too close to understanding you?”

“Mmm, nope, nope, nope. No one will ever do that. If we keep walking another half a mile, they have those ice cream Drumsticks at the gas station. You know with the chocolate and the peanuts, and you untwirl the packaging as you eat it? Like when we were kids?”

He chuckled. “I’m in.”

Jess should’ve worn something more comfortable than a pair of gas station flip flops, but it would be fine.

“You saw my animal?” she asked, bringing it back up.

“Yeah, back in that big park behind the Safeway in Sister’s.”

“Ooooh, I remember that Change. That was an accident.”

“Were you pissed off?”

“Yep.”

“At?”

“Samuel, as usual,” she said with a dark laugh. “He was being controlling.”

“Shocking. I don’t think I’ve ever seen your brother not being controlling. He has issues.”

“Yeah, but he’s my brother,” she said softly.

He gave her a sideways glance, and the smile faded from his lips. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Do you have siblings?”

“Nope. I was an only child. I was raised around other shifter kids, but I never had a brother or a sister. I can’t say I understand that bond.”

“It’s a strange one for me. Samuel and I were taken away from our mom at the same time, but he was older, you know? I looked up to him. When we were kids, he protected me, and took care of me, and it was us versus the world when things were bad. I built that bond with him when we were kids, but when I found him again as an adult? He was so different than I remembered. Hell, I was probably different than he remembered too. I had been in the gutter for a while by the time I found him. I was tougher, mouthier. I was more confident. Samuel didn’t like me much when I found him. He didn’t understand me anymore, and so I think slowly, over time, he needed me to go back to the scared kid that he could protect.”

“So he was allowed to change, but you weren’t?”

Jess chewed the corner of her lip as she considered it. “I guess if you put it like that, then yes.”

She thought he would take more digs at Samuel, but he didn’t. He just let her sit in her own thoughts, and come up with her own feelings on it all. She was ready to be defensive and protective of her brother if Kade took more shots at him, but he didn’t engage. So…she thought about it. Really thought about it. Yeah, what Kade had said made sense. Perfect sense.

“Maybe he had to be controlling because so much of our life was out of our control when we were little.”

“Your mom?”

“Alcoholic.”

He nodded, but didn’t push her, so she sat there with that word. At the stop sign at the edge of the neighborhood, they checked both ways and bolted across the semi-busy road. She could see the sign for the gas station from here.

“That’s hard,” he said after a couple of minutes of walking.

“You can imagine, or you know personally.”

“I can imagine. It wasn’t a part of my story. I saw friends go through it with an alcoholic parent, but it wasn’t my story personally.”

“I think she was trying to cope with the curse, and what happened to my dad,” she admitted softly, testing.

His glance was soft on her, but he didn’t push her. Not at all. He just waited patiently instead, and for some reason, that made her feel safe to talk.

“My dad died and it was the curse that did it. My mom worked so hard for so long to keep my dad at a distance and never to fall in love with him, but then she broke the rules. She fell in love, and he died for it. I don’t think she could ever get over that. She couldn’t forgive herself so she just…numbed out the noise.”

“I’m sorry,” Kade said softly. And it was enough. It was the perfect response. There was nothing that would make the truth of her life easier. It just felt nice for someone else to be like ‘that’s awful’ in a word, and then they could move on.

“CPS took us when I was eight, and Samuel was twelve. They split us up immediately, and then it was just confusing, you know? Everything was unfamiliar. People, places, bed, school. I had to be in a special foster home because I was a shifter, and I couldn’t understand why my brother couldn’t be with me. It was just girls in the home, and he was sent out of state, but I didn’t find that part out until later. And then there is the missing the parents, and missing the old life, and the emptiness, and the trying to process really heavy stuff but I was just a kid, you know. I didn’t even have the tools to cope with any of that. No one showed up to adopt me, like it happens on tv. I turned eighteen and aged out of the system and then it was just me in the world, and how do you even cope with that, you know? By that time, my mom had moved out of the trailer park I remembered. I tried to find her and couldn’t. And Samuel was just a ghost, and I was reaching for something familiar, but there was nothing there. All I had was this locket my mom had clapped into my hand when CPS was taking me away, and I knew exactly what it was. She’d been talking to me about it since I could remember. So that’s what I have.”

“The locket.”

“The curse. That’s the only thing that was familiar for all those years.”

“I remember the first time I saw you,” he said softly.

“Yeah? Was I a cool tiger? Were you seduced by the power of my animal? Was I interesting?” she said sarcastically. She no longer had her animal in that way. Everything got messed up.

“You were at the meeting where I was inducted into Sister’s Edge.” Kade stooped and picked up a stick and began breaking the little branches off the side. “I only knew Tawk, Seth, and Tanner, and had been talking to a few of the higher ranks about joining for a few months. I’d been living on the outskirts, waiting for the invitation. There was a dinner.”

Jess frowned as her memory got jogged. “We were having Frito pies.”

He grinned and nodded. “Yep. You were sitting on a countertop in the kitchen with Misty, Cara, and Danielle.”

“Oh gosh, I remember this. I was close to Cara and Danielle before they left Sister’s Edge.”

“Yeah. I could tell. You were all four laughing at some inside joke. I kept looking over at you because you had this huge smile, and I remember wondering if I had ever seen a smile that big in my life. You were pretty.”

“Were,” she muttered.

“You’re prettier now,” he said, and she jerked her gaze up to him, because there had been that damn beautiful truth in his voice. “Your eyes were so bright,” he said, with a faraway tone to his voice like he’d been transported to Derek’s kitchen all those years ago. “They had this intensity whenever one of the males walked past you. A defensiveness. I checked your hand when you talked in gestures, making sure there was no scar on your palm. None of the males hung too close to you, so I thought you might be single. I couldn’t quit looking at you. I wanted everyone to shut the fuck up so I could hear what you were saying to the girls. I wanted to know what was so funny. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to smile at inside jokes. I wanted your bright eyes to land on me, but you were just…happy…right where you were.”

Jess’s lip trembled, and she bit it to stop the traitorous movement there. Those were good times. She had been happy back then. “What were you doing at that park?” she whispered through her tightening vocal cords.

“Making sure you were okay.”

“You saw me leave Samuel’s house?” she guessed.

“I was working on my truck in Tawk’s driveway, and you bolted out of that house and ran down the street, and I knew you were upset. I could feel it. I called out to you.”

“You were the one who asked if I wanted a ride somewhere,” she said on a breath, remembering. She’d been so upset.

“You told me to go fuck myself,” he said with a chuckle.

“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was so hot.”

“What? You are damaged.”

“Yep. Your animal was all worked up, and your eyes were glowing, and when you threw me that dirty look, I knew you could be a monster, and I wanted to see her.”

“My tiger?”

He nodded once. “I had to. I followed you knowing you were going to have to Change. I wanted to make sure you were safe, and no one would mess with you, but I also had to see what you could turn into. And I did.”

“You don’t sound sorry at all.”

“I’m not.” Truth. “So, to answer your question, yes.”

“What question?”

“Did I find you interesting.” He tossed the stick into a nearby bush. “Yes.”

“Why…why didn’t you talk to me?”

“I talked to you when the time was right. When I had something to offer you.”

“Your rank.”

He grinned a wicked expression, and told her, “I talked to you when you wouldn’t tell me to go fuck myself again.”

Her mouth fell open as he pushed open the gas station door and disappeared inside, allowing the door to swing slowly closed behind him. She just stood there like a dummy, watching her shocked reflection in the door glass.

Kade had paid attention to her. He’d watched her. He’d been there all along, and she’d had no idea.

He’d formed their plan long before she’d even known she needed it.

Jess needed a minute with this new information.

She moved out of the way of a man entering the gas station and moved to the corner of the building. There were a couple of rocking chairs here, and she sat in one slowly, her mind racing.

A dozen memories hit her. Kade watching her at the meetings. Kade talking to Samuel in the yard of their house, his eyes tracking her as she worked on the landscaping. Kade in Tawk’s driveway, hanging out with him and Seth. Kade moving his way up the ranks, Challenging other males over and over, fighting monsters and winning. The way his gaze would always find her.

She’d been so deep in her own life, none of these things had meant anything to her back then, but now? They meant everything.

But…the curse.

Her heart sank.

Kade didn’t realize it, but he was maneuvering them into dangerous waters.

Not for her, but for him.