Page 26

26

KAT

I don’t know why I don’t just leave.

Maybe it’s that stupid mate bond Aren told me about.

Maybe it’s this stupid place that my wolf and I fall a little more in love with each day.

“And maybe you are just stupid, Kat,” I whisper, a gust of wind blowing the words away from me.

I’m debating how stupid I must be not to have gotten into my car, put my foot down, and driven far away from here when the soft tread of approaching footsteps yanks my focus to my right.

A man is hovering.

He doesn’t look familiar until I remember the last time I saw him. “You’re the new prospect from Indiana, right?”

He nods. “Jasper. I was going to check out the creek while everyone was at the party. But?—”

“It’s okay,” I interrupt, standing up. “I was just going.”

“You don’t have to leave on my account,” he says, taking a seat on the grass.

“I wasn’t…” My voice trails off.

I wasn’t going because of him.

My bag is still upstairs in Aren’s room. I was going to pack my bags and return to my apartment in the city.

I want to go to Nebraska, but seeing my family terrifies me so much, and I’m not sure why.

My family is there—my real family—yet the idea of seeing them again feels like someone is simultaneously squeezing my heart and punching me in the throat at the same time.

“He can be a bit much, huh?” Jasper says.

There’s no guessing who he’s talking about. “Aren. Yes.”

He aims a wry smile at me. “We all know the story of the Wolf King, but I hadn’t thought he would be exactly as people warned me.”

I consider leaving, but this feels like an opportunity to learn more about Aren from someone who doesn’t have a reason to lie or tell me only the good parts. Jasper doesn’t belong to his pack. At least, not yet.

I return to the grass. “What kind of stuff did they warn you about?”

“He’s intense, incredibly focused on hunting down ferals, and you never want to get on his bad side.”

“Oh?”

That sounds like Aren.

He glances at me. “And he would do anything for his pack. Not all Alphas are so fiercely protective.”

“Isn’t that what it means to lead a pack?” I wrap my arms around my raised legs.

“Power can go to a person’s head.”

“Is that why you left your pack?” I turn to look at him, yanking hair from my mouth as a gust of wind blows strands into my face.

“That’s a long story.”

“I’m not in a hurry to go back inside.”

“That terrifying, huh?” The corners of his eyes wrinkle with amusement.

I scrunch my nose. “It’s not that. Just…”

“It’s complicated?”

I smile at him. “Yeah.”

“Can’t be easy being mates with someone so…”

“Arrogant? Bigheaded? Cavemanesque” I suggest, which makes him laugh.

“Dominant. I’m surprised he’s not out here growling at me to stay away from you.”

Silas warned me about that.

“He knows exactly what would happen to him if he tried,” I say.

He arches his eyebrow.

“I’d be the one doing the growling. No one decides who I speak to.”

“I heard about you,” he says after a long while. “Kataleya Prairie, the missing Lake Prairie pup.” He darts a rapid glance my way. “I was too young at the time, but my parents and some of my pack looked for you.”

“They did?” I blink.

He nods.

“But they didn’t know me.”

“You’re a shifter pup. That’s all they needed to know. How do you feel about being his mate?”

I shrug, looking away.

Everyone is telling me I’m his mate, and I do feel… something for him. Mostly rage, but there’s something else. “It’s okay, I guess.”

“But you’d prefer if you weren’t?”

I open my mouth to tell him yes. That if I could wave a magical wand and he would disappear from my life, never to return, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

But those words don’t come.

“My whole life changed when I met him,” I tell him quietly. “It keeps on changing just when I think I’ve figured out who I am.”

He nods. “I think I know what you mean.”

We sit in silence for the next several minutes.

Eventually, Jasper heads for the bunkhouse, wishing me goodnight.

After he leaves, I stay where I am. I’m not ready to go inside and start packing or to deal with my wolf, who is already snarling and growling at me because she wants to stay here with Aren.

Wait.

She’d be whining. Maybe growling a little.

Not snarling.

A snarl is a warning.

I surge to my feet.

Too late.

White-hot fire slams into my belly, and I grunt as I double over, hugging myself.

The pain is excruciating.

It engulfs me, but I still hear it. The soft tread of footsteps racing toward me.

I sway, my knees loosening as I fall.