Page 22 of Pack Kasen, Part 3 (Caught #3)

KAT

I haven’t felt right since Aren put the feral in the cage.

He said it was necessary, and I had seen how violent the feral was.

I know he’s a threat to everyone here, but it still feels wrong.

Guilt is a million red ants burning in my belly.

Aren is having a meeting about patrols with his enforcers, and I told him I’d sit in on another shifter lesson in the schoolroom. Mainly to distract myself from the feral in the silver cage that is slowly killing his wolf.

“I have to go,” I tell Gregor, pushing myself up from my tiny, kids ' size seat.

Five pairs of curious eyes watch me from their seats, and as I step back, I smile apologetically.

“That is not a good idea,” Gregor says mildly, giving nothing away to the openly curious, eavesdropping pups.

I should have known he would guess what I was on my way to do.

“I’ll keep my distance. And it won’t be for long. I just want to talk to him.”

“And you’ll come back here?”

“Sure.”

I love these shifter lessons with Gregor.

Most of my memories have returned, though not all of them.

Truth be told, I’m almost relieved about that.

I prefer the way tiny moments I had with my pack mates will pop up now and again.

It’s overwhelming to absorb years of a forgotten life all in one go. A little at a time is better.

I leave the schoolroom, pull the door closed, and head toward the small cabin that stands alone.

There are no guards, but there doesn’t need to be one. Inside that cabin is just a pure silver cage that only Aren has the key to unlock.

No shifter can escape a cage made out of silver. Not when touching it is enough to nearly fry your mind. At least, that’s what it almost did to me the last time I touched it.

The only reason he watched me was because I wasn’t behaving the way he expected of a feral. That’s because I wasn’t one.

The feral is pacing the four corners of the cage when I slip inside.

He stops, eyes locking on me and widening. “You’re like me.”

I push the door behind me. “Yes.”

His dark gaze flickers with a wildness that alarms my wolf. She fills my mind with warning growls to stay away.

I won’t go near him , I assure her.

“This cage is doing something to me.”

“I know.” More guilt twists my belly.

I know exactly what that cage is doing to him because it nearly did the same to me.

Killing him.

“You shouldn’t touch the sides,” I tell him.

“I know.” He peers in the right corner of the cage, and I see the vomit.

“Are you okay?” I move a step closer.

The wildness in his gaze warns me not to take another.

“Let me out,” he pleads. “Please, I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“What were you doing here?”

His mouth twists in a bitter smile. “I see, answer your questions and you’ll let me go?”

This is alarmingly similar to what Aren did to me, and I feel sick.

“No, that’s not it. I don’t have a key and Aren…” It hits me then that I shouldn’t be telling him about Aren or anything at all. I don’t know who he is or what he is doing here. But I know that I have someone out in the world who wants to kill Aren and keep me for himself.

“The guy in charge?”

I hesitate and nod.

“I was just going to work, and a wolf bit me. Then I wake up like this.” He looks at his hands—at his body—and his eyes are full of torment.

Of pain.

“Please let me out,” he begs.

I’m not stupid. There are children in a schoolroom feet away. Finan told me all about the feral who escaped this cage and killed Aren’s parents. It wasn’t that long ago that this guy lunged at us and would have killed us if Aren hadn’t acted as fast as he did.

“What’s your name?” I ask instead. “I can speak to Aren.”

Raised voices from outside pull my gaze from the cage.

Thud .

And I jump, flinging myself back when the feral lunges toward me, howling and growling at the top of his voice.

It doesn’t last long.

The silver cage does what it was designed to do. He collapses, muscles jerking, and I turn and quickly walk away.

I looked away from him for a second.

One second, and he lunged at me.

If that cage hadn’t been there…

I swallow hard as I step outside the cabin, mentally cursing while I pull the door shut and spot Aren stalking toward me.

He doesn’t look pleased to see me.

Finan is standing on the deck, his face twisted in sympathy.

I brace myself for battle as Aren, blank-faced, closes the distance between us.

He is not blank-faced inside. I can practically feel the rage simmering beneath the surface of his calm facade.

“I wasn’t letting him out,” I say. “I was just trying to find out where he came from and if someone brought him here.”

Aren doesn’t say a word.

He grasps my right arm and leads me away from the cabin and into the forest.

The second we’re hidden from view, he stops and stares at me.

He opens his mouth.

No sound emerges.

He closes his mouth, walks away, and I flinch as he drives his fist into a tree, literally decimating the bark.

I stiffen my spine, refusing to let him intimidate me.

“If that was supposed to scare me or…” I back up as he stalks toward me. “What are you doing?”

He doesn’t respond.

“Aren, what are you?—”

He hauls me against him, wrapping his arms around me, and kisses me hard. This close, I feel something that I somehow missed before. He’s shaking.

He quickly releases me as suddenly as he grabbed me.

“I am trying to howl less,” he growls at me.

“By punching an innocent tree instead?” I growl back. “And why are you trying to howl less?”

“Because of you .” He leans into my face. “I am trying to be less of a hotheaded Alpha who howls at the sky whenever something pisses me off.”

“Oh.” It never crossed my mind he’d actively be trying to change because of me.

He cups my face with both hands. “Did you think I didn’t mean it when I promised to change?”

“I wanted to. But I didn’t think it would happen so soon.”

He raises an eyebrow.

“You refused to believe I wasn’t a feral for the longest time. I thought your change would come slowly or never, like a dinosaur.”

Laughing, he kisses me, but his amusement quickly fades.

“Gregor called and said you were going to see the feral. I know what you think about the cage.” His voice is very quiet, his gaze intense. “I thought I was going to be too late.”

Again .

The word he doesn’t say hovers between us, so tangible I can almost touch it. And his fear. He thought he was going to lose me the same way he lost his parents: to a feral.

I kiss him. “I’m okay.”

He nods once. “Good.”

“I wasn’t going to open his cage,” I say.

“Then what were you doing?” There’s a growl in his voice.

I nudge him back. He doesn’t move. I glare at him, but it has no effect.

“Finding answers. You guys live in the middle of nowhere, which means he didn’t come here on his own.

He said someone bit him. Maybe the same someone unleashed him on us or you because I can only think of one person who would want you dead. ”

He stares down at me for a beat, a tiny line forming between his dark blond brows. “You think Cristofer?”

I nod. “I think Cristofer.”

He shakes his head slightly. “Not all humans become ferals. Cristofer couldn’t have known this one would.”

“Unless this wasn’t the first human he bit.”

He freezes at my whispered theory.

It seemed crazy when I first thought of it in the schoolroom, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense. Cristofer has shown that he will cross whatever lines there are to get me.

Maybe he realized he couldn’t kill Aren and decided a feral could do the job for him.

“We can’t leave him in there, Aren,” I say.

“It’s too dangerous to let him out.”

“We won’t agree on this, Aren. You can’t convince me that sticking someone in a cage that slowly kills their wolf is a good thing. I would have rather you killed me than left me in one.”

He stares down at me for several seconds. “Don’t go back in there, Kat.”

I don’t respond.

He frames my face with both hands, shaking me slightly. “Promise me.”

I’ve been alone for a long time. I’m not used to checking in with someone or getting permission before I act. When I want to investigate something, I investigate it.

“ Kat .”

I nod once, a jerky motion. “Fine. I promise.”

He gazes at me for the longest moment, and when he kisses me, it's soft and sweet. “I am trying to protect you, Kitty cat. I can’t lose you.”

“Because you’ll howl at the sky,” I quip.

He doesn’t crack a smile. “Because it would destroy me.”

Every time he looks at me, I see something more in his gaze. Something soft and warm, and that terrifies me.

Love doesn’t scare me.

It’s the dependence. Soon, if I’m not already at that point, I will need him.

He will become necessary to my happiness, and I never want anyone to have that power over me. Before my family left, I talked to my mom about Aren.

I said, "I don't know what to do. I think I love him, but it would gut me if he hurts me again."

"What does your heart say?" she asked me.

I smiled when I wasn’t in a smiling mood. "I want love without the pain. The good without the fear that it will all go away again. The attachment without the strings."

She hugged me and said, “The fear is part of it, sweetie. It’s why we hold on so tight to the people we love and why we fight so hard to protect them. You can’t have love without fear. Trust takes time. If you want a future with him, it’s going to take time to build.”

She’s right.

“I won’t go near the feral,” I promise Aren.

He kisses my forehead. “I have to get back to the office to work. Why don’t you hang out with Leo in the schoolroom? We’ll talk later, okay?”

“Sure.”