Page 6 of Pack Kasen, Part 3 (Caught #3)

KAT

“ C arlie, put down that knife and come speak to your sister,” my dad says.

I yank my eyes from the beautiful, dark-haired girl flipping a dagger between her fingers.

My sister.

We look alike, with chestnut brown hair and a lean build. My eyes are light blue with flecks of brown, while hers are a beautiful, deep green. She smells of lavender and sweet vanilla, familiar, though I’ve never smelled her before or even met her.

The last time Dad was here, before he left to deal with responsibilities as Alpha of Pack Lake Prairie, he told me they learned they were pregnant with Carlie soon after they lost me.

It must have been so hard for them. So bittersweet.

Losing one daughter, and surprised by another when they were least expecting it.

Her eyes flick to me and away again just as quickly. “She doesn’t want me here.”

I have never felt so overwhelmed in my life, and I almost wish Aren would come back because I don’t know how to be a daughter, a sister…

I don’t know how to do any of this.

“Where did you learn to do that?” I ask my seventeen-year-old sister.

She shrugs, head down, back to flipping her dagger despite my dad’s grumble of complaint. “The internet.” She peeks at me through jade-green eyes. “No one would show me, so I had to teach myself.”

I’m five years older than her, but she seems more confident and assured at seventeen than I am at twenty-two.

Dad is sitting in the chair that Aren vacated, dragging it closer to the side of the bed I’m sitting on.

Mom is perched near the foot of the bed beside him, and Carlie has been prowling around the room, examining everything from the dresser, to the view outside the window, and even poking her head in the bathroom.

“Because you were twelve when you asked,” the woman who has stayed mostly silent says. “No twelve-year-old needs to learn how to handle a knife.”

Her voice is husky, strong, and confident.

My mom.

I’m surrounded by a mom, a dad, and a sister, and I know so little about them that they could be strangers in the street.

But they feel familiar.

My wolf has been napping, her presence light in my mind, but she’s relaxed and doesn’t feel threatened. To her, these people feel like kin because that’s what they are, even if I don’t remember them.

“You don’t remember us at all, do you?” the woman asks me.

Mom , I mentally tell myself. You have to start using their names.

She resembles me, or I resemble her. We both have chestnut brown hair, though hers has a subtle red tint, and her eyes are hazel green.

And she’s so beautiful.

Her scent hits me hardest because it feels the most familiar. Fresh earth, wild honey, and a subtle, indescribable something that reminds me of a field of sunflowers. It’s comforting, but it also hurts because I lost so much time with her—practically my entire childhood.

I shake my head and brace myself for her hurt. “I’m sorry.”

Her soft smile surprises me. “You were so young when we lost you. I don’t know if I was more excited or scared to come here when your dad said you were alive.”

I lift my legs and wrap my arms around them. “Why would you be scared?”

After they came in, Aren left. I didn’t have time to put on clothes, so I’m still wrapped in a sheet from the bed while they’re in jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers.

She releases a soft sigh. “I didn’t want to say the wrong thing, and I was scared I wouldn’t know what to say or if you would even want to see me because you blamed me for losing you.”

I look away, guilty, because that was my fault. When I met my dad a few days ago, and he said he would be back and bring Mom with him, I panicked. “I thought the same thing,” I whisper.

“What happened to you?” Carlie asks.

“ Carlie !” Dad growls. “You can’t just?—”

“It’s okay.” I meet my sister’s curious green gaze. “I don’t know.”

She blinks. “You don’t remember any of it?”

Running my hand through my hair, I unbraid the loose braid I don’t remember doing, and I wince when I pull at a knot.

I’m a mess, and I can’t remember the last time I had a shower. I could do with washing my hair, putting on clean clothes just as soon as I find some, and getting some fresh air. But later. All of those much-needed things can come later. “I remember sunflowers.”

“That’s it !” Carlie demands.

I frown as I think. “And… porch stairs. There was a doll, I think. With long brown hair and…”

“Sophia,” Mom says softly, her eyes shimmering with tears. “You never went anywhere without Sophia. When we found her, but not you…”

Dad wraps his arm around her, gently squeezing.

“And you ended up here?” Carlie asks.

I nod.

“And did Dad punch Aren in the face?”

“Uh,” I glance at Dad. “I didn’t see it, but I heard it.”

Tagge, the Wolf Lord of Starling’s Peak, told him the daughter he believed had been dead all this time was alive and the mate of the Wolf King.

I rushed down the stairs soon after it happened, and likely stopped Dad from trying to kill Aren.

From the dark glare that Dad shot Aren as Aren left, I guess he still hates him.

She nods, eyeing Dad with respect. “Cool.”

He shakes his head. “It was not cool to lose control, Carlie. It never is.”

She shrugs. “But he deserved it, right? He kept her in a silver cage.”

When her fingers tighten around the hilt of her dagger, I start wondering how long Aren is going to last before she puts that knife in him.

“He thought I was a feral,” I explain, not knowing how much Dad told her. “That’s why I was in the cage.”

Carlie rolls her eyes. “So, he’s an idiot then. Five minutes with you should have been more than enough time to figure out you weren’t.”

A smile twitches my lips.

I have a little sister, and I think I like her. I think I like her a lot.

“What?” she asks, still studying me.

“I never imagined what it would be like having a sister, but…”

“But?” she prompts, curious.

“You’re cool,” I admit.

She blinks at me, briefly surprised, then smiles. “It’s the knife. I can teach you if you want.”

Dad blows a heavy sigh, and Carlie rolls her eyes. “She’s an adult . So am I. It’s not like I’m about to teach a baby knife tricks, Dad.”

“They’re always like this,” Mom says with a fond smile. “In case you ever wondered, these two are like two cats fighting in a bag. They’re too alike.”

“No, we’re not,” they deny, drowning each other out.

I can’t help but smile when they scowl at each other, their expressions nearly identical.

“When are you coming home?” Carlie asks me.

Dad glances at his watch, then out of the window. “It’s too late to travel tonight, but we can leave tomorrow. Early. It’s a few hours to get back to Nebraska, but we can do it in a day if you’re feeling up to it, Kataleya.”

“I can’t,” I whisper.

“Because the Wolf King forbids it?” A growl creeps into my dad's voice.

“Because I have to hunt the person who abducted me, and I have to kill him.” I look at my family one by one. “He killed a lot of people, and he has to pay for that. I want to stay.”

“And after?” Carlie asks.

“She’ll come home with us. Where she belongs,” Dad says firmly, but I can’t help but notice Mom studying me closely.

“Aren is her mate , Patric,” my mom says quietly. “And mates belong together.”

They’re not fated mates. Dad told me that when they first met, they fell so deeply in love with each other that there was no one else for either of them.

“He almost killed her. Aren Kasen deserves no mate.” Dad’s voice is resolute, and his eyes burn with anger.

I see the wolf in his eyes, and I remember he’s not just my dad. He’s the Wolf Lord of Lake Prairie. There are nine Wolf Lords, all alphas who fought for the right.

Aren, the most powerful alpha in the country, is my mate.

And they hate each other.