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The fire flickered just beyond the man who crouched before it, adding a few more pieces of wood. Tora reached up and touched her injured shoulder. It still hadn’t healed completely and that bothered her. She typically healed extremely fast, but his mark of possession was proving to go against the normal.
“Are we going to talk about this or pretend it didn’t happen?”
His voice snatched her thoughts from the road they’d been on.
“What’s to talk about? It can’t be undone, I’m sitting here with a swollen shoulder because you bit me.”
He turned his head and pinned her with those green eyes that glinted leopard in the firelight.
“I’m talking about more than that, and you know it.”
“How’s the cub?”
He shook his head and pushed up before heading to sit on the ground between her legs. She widened them to accommodate his larger frame. He had his back to her and she was a mixture of frustrated with that but equally grateful.
“I’ve never known you to shirk a conversation, Tora. What’s going on?”
The fact he was calling her by her first name let her in on how serious it was for him. She pushed her hair away from her eyes and sighed.
“I’m not shirking anything. I don’t know what you want me to say. I marked you, you’ve marked me. There’s nothing more to discuss.”
He drew up his legs and draped powerful forearms over his knees. “I wish I thought you were kidding about this, but I have a feeling you aren’t. Living arrangements for one. And, I don’t know, perhaps we could discuss what happened when you came for me and subsequently with our Alphas.”
Wounds she definitely didn’t wish to pry deeper into. “Had no idea you were such a touchy feeling warrior.”
He angled his head to glare at her briefly before facing the front once more. Keane did take one of her hands and interlace their fingers against his shoulder.
“I’ve never had a mate before, canine. I don’t like discussing them, but we obviously have some things to get through and I’ll talk anything, I don’t give a fucking damn how uncomfortable it makes me. What we have, us, is what’s important. So, if I have to bear my soul to you I will do so without hesitation.”
Wanting more of this touching with the man who managed to help keep her nightmares at bay, she inched forward and rested her chin on top of his head.
“I don’t share well, leopard. I don’t know what it’s like to have a mate, either. I’m in new territory and my typical is to find and fight.”
He kissed the back of her hand. “New for both of us. I suggest we take it slow and figure it out. Together.”
She closed her eyes drawing strength from his heat. “Ask your questions.”
“What you told my Alpha, about how you know Komodo shifters, can you tell me more?”
Acid bubbled in her gut, but it didn’t rise. She focused on his touch, his smell, and his warmth.
“I met my first one when I was around eight. Young but they are cagy from the word go and so dangerous.”
His entire body tensed, and she tightened her hand around his even as she slipped her other around him, holding him closer. She needed his beast and him calm or she would lose it with her need to protect him as well.
“At the time,” she continued. “I didn’t know what they were. He was around eighteen or so and high on some kind of drug. He wanted to rape me then torture me to see how much I could handle. His father stepped in and said it wouldn’t be a fair fight and to teach me how to fight back first. Then you could accurately determine how much I could take, if I could hold my own.”
“Fuck,” he growled.
“Long story short, I got some crash courses in martial arts more than what I’d already picked up. I also listened, they weren’t aware how good my hearing was and I overheard them talking on the easy ways to kill their kind and so he had to be aware of my position all the time to ensure I didn’t get within those places.”
Deep within her, her wolf rose determined to protect her once more. This time, it wasn’t just her seeking to calm the animal down, but she also sensed Keane’s leopard there, curving around her wolf much like she was doing to his human form now.
“And you killed him.”
“I did. Most of the scars on my body were from fights I’ve had with komodo’s. I had to let them get close to strike that death blow. At the same time, very dangerous because of all the shit they carry in their mouths and a bite from them can kill as easily as anything else. Even a glancing one.”
“You said eight. Where were your parents? Where are they?”
She wanted to run, shift and allow the wolf to protect, hide from the memories. Squaring her jaw, she refused to give in. Casimir had said she had to trust someone. If she couldn’t trust her mate, what hope was there for her?
“My father killed my siblings and my mother when I was five. Then he set his men after me, to rape and kill me. I outran them and jumped into a raging river.”
“Who the fuck?” His entire body vibrated with anger. In a second, he’d moved her from the stump behind him to being sitting in his lap, his strong arms around her and her cheek against the hard planes of his chest.
“I’m so sorry, baby.” While leopard was in his tone, it wasn’t anger at her, it was because of what she went through.
She kept her eyes on the fire as she spoke. “When I made it out, I stayed in wolf shape as long as I could. Slept and ate that way. I learned to trust the animals around me. They realized I wasn’t a threat to them.”
“How could you be, Christ, you were a pup.”
“After I healed, I learned. I studied. I watched and listened. I remember there being this large facility near that had monks practicing martial arts. I would learn in the shadows.”
“But you kept to yourself.”
“I didn’t know how or who to trust.”
“And Casimir?”
A smile lifted the corners of her lips ever so briefly.
“It was when he was first back from the oil rig. We were on a ship to America now, I had caught a ride on a ship over here and I was to busy looking around to be smart and safe. A group of guys attacked me, and he intervened. He snapped their necks and fed me. Aside from my mother, he was the first person who had been nice to me, ever. In that moment, he had my loyalty.”
“Damn it, now I have to like him.”
“I told you he was nice if you got past the gruff exterior.”
“So Dyana likes to remind me.”
For once it didn’t bother her, he spoke of his friend. If it was because he’d marked her as his mate, she wasn’t sure, but even her wolf stayed silent, curled up with the leopard.
“He and his best friend got into a fight. I didn’t know that was his friend and I went after him.”
“His lieutenant, Kraven?”
“That would be the one.”
“What happened?”
“Casimir pulled me off the body of his bleeding friend and had to tell me to leave him alone.”
“You beat him.”
“He’s never forgiven me for that.”
“I’ve often wondered who would win if we fought and I have to say I’m not sure my leopard could beat your wolf. Even though you’re smaller. You’re wicked fast.”
“Faster than you think. Faster than anyone thinks.”
With two fingers below her chin, he nudged her head up and kissed her lightly. “You are an amazing woman. How many Komodo’s have you killed? You never gave a number to my Alpha.”
“Eight. The one younger boy and seven adults.”
“This is why they know your name.”
“Yes.”
Keane kissed the shell of her ear. “But you haven’t told others how to eliminate them.”
“No. I almost died for my information. Some people may get along with them. It’s not my place to gather and sell that kind of intel.”
“Did Casimir know all of this?”
“No, he knew I had no Pack of my own and so he claimed me for his Pack.”
“Have you, with him?”
“Never. Not with anyone in my Pack. That’s family and therefore off limits.”
“What about your nightmares?”
The fact he let that go so quick, gave her a moment’s pause. She’d expected more questions from him on that.
“They’ve been getting worse. I’ve torn up my bed and sheets at home so many times, it is tempting to sleep as wolf.”
“Christ, canine. When was the last time you got a good night’s sleep?” His arms tightened around her.
“Since before I saw you at the bar with the bears.”
“Do you want to sleep here or would you like to lay in your vehicle?”
She hadn’t been so comfortable in a long time. Tora yawned. “Here is perfect.”
His lips brushed her ear once more. “Then sleep, canine. I’ll keep watch tonight.”
She burrowed closer to him, pushing her hands up beneath his shirt, craving more skin on skin contact. The moment she had it, her heart slowed and she succumbed to the call of the sleep she needed.
αβ
Keane blinked away the anger and pain he had for what she’d gone through. This tiny woman who after hearing her talk, he had no doubt could take him on the battlefield, was so fragile despite her toughness.
Even the calluses on her palms were petite. He thought about everything he’d just learned and swore once more. She stirred, nestling closer. He loved that she trusted him enough to let him hold her while she got some much-needed sleep.
There was no snoring, no noises at all and he wondered how deep she was under. Did she ever allow herself to get the rejuvenating slumber they all required at times? Her hypervigilance made him doubt it.
But everything now made so much more sense. The sharp edges, the distance she kept from everyone, her inability to completely mingle with Pack. Her trust only went so far. Casimir had her full trust and loyalty. The lieutenants he would bet she would fight for and with but there wasn’t the loyalty that she had for her Alpha. She would trust them because her Alpha did, not because she did.
Beyond his feet, the fire began to die but he wasn’t concerned about it, the night was not cold, and his body heat was enough for the two of them. Within him, his own cat had calmed down a bit more. Content to be with its mate.
Where am I with you for trust, Tora? He wanted to believe that he had her full trust because of what she shared with him, but he wasn’t positive. Then again, if he went over some of the things she said, perhaps she did. She had told him she expected him to come after her and when she’d stated it, there hadn’t been any annoyance in her tone, just acceptance.
He had to find a way to help her close out the past. Understanding part of the nightmares is that the bastard who slaughtered her family before her, the man who should have protected her, her father, was still out there.
Digging for his phone, he dialed his own Alpha.
“Everything okay?” Rendón questioned the moment he answered.
“I hope so. I’m with her now but I had some questions for you.”
“Just like your cub.”
“How is he?”
“Trust issues but he is okay. Wears that eyepatch daily and some of the younger females are starting to like him. Hasn’t made any significant friends though.” He cleared his throat. “You didn’t call to talk about him though, what are your questions?”
Her heartbeat hadn’t changed at all and he figured this was a good sign. “What do you know of a monastery that is near a river that ends up in the Baltic?”
“Interesting question. Off the top of my head I can’t think of one, but I do know of one that wasn’t really a monastery, they just tended to look like monks to keep people away. It was a highly secretive location that created warriors, with a unique fighting style unlike any other. A blend of some and new.”
“What’s the name of it?”
“There isn’t a name for it. This place is more myth than anything. Why? And it didn’t end up in the Baltic, this one was closer to Laptev Sea.”
He thought about how to tell this, while she’d shared some of her past with them, she hadn’t told all, and it wasn’t his place to share her secrets. “She’d fallen into a river and when she finally made it out, she was by a place she referred to as a monastery and said she watched them practice martial arts. Then she was on a ship with her Alpha and we know he was on the oil rig in the Russian waters.”
“And you think this place I mentioned may be the one that she saw?”
“I don’t know but I think it gives a reference to find out where she came from.”
“I don’t know much about the Packs over there. Have you reached out to Casimir’s grandfather? That wily bastard knew exactly what he was doing when he sent him off, he may have more information about the Packs there.”
“I’ll do that. Thank you.”
“I know you’re pissed at me for going after her like I did and the part of me who had a mate hates it, but the part of me that is the Alpha, had to. You understand, that right?”
“What I know is my mate felt that she had to defend her Alpha and that’s why she listened to you. Otherwise I have no doubt she would have fought to get away, myself included. Just like I know that I will not go against her again, even if it’s toward you. I can’t. She’s my mate.”
“I understand. Will you be going to Pack land then?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to lose Clan but her trust circle is much smaller than mine.”
“And she will be okay with you being around two other women you’ve slept with?”
“She knows she is my mate. I wear her mark and she mine.”
“I will support you and your cub is welcome to stay if he so choses not to go with you.”
“I feel like you’re pushing me out the door. I haven’t made any decisions yet.”
“Yes, you have, you’re just not ready to accept it yet. I’ll do some digging on this end and see what comes up about Packs in that area.” His Alpha ended the call.
The moon rose and cast a soft glow around them. The fire now consisted of a few glowing embers but nothing more. He shifted and kissed her head as she continued to sleep. She truly must have been exhausted.
As he held her, he thought about what his Alpha had said. His decision had already been made. Had it?
He loved living with Clan, loved seeing the cubs, playing with them. The affection. His mate was something completely opposite. She epitomized loner and wouldn’t do well with his Clan. Even within her Pack, her home was off at an even greater distance away from everyone else’s and blended in with the woods as if even there she was trying hard not to be seen. He knew this because he’d been up there a few times and had managed to pass it while out.
His thoughts didn’t slow for the rest of the night. In fact, they still tumbled about in his brain when the sun crept over the horizon. One moment she was out the next, she was alert and looking at him.
“Morning, canine,” he rumbled loving the way her gray eyes shone in the light.
She held his stare even as her fingers stretched along his skin, kicking his passion into high gear. There wasn’t anyway she didn’t feel his thickness against her as she lay on him.
“Are you planning on sleeping?”
“I’ll sleep in the car. Kiss me.”
“How are you sleeping in the car if you are driving your truck?” Even as she asked the question, she pushed up and brushed their mouths together.
“I’m riding with you.”
“You can’t leave your truck here.”
“Shira will come get it.”
“Okay.” She shifted and began to rise.
Keane caught her about the waist and held her to him. “Did you sleep okay?”
“I did.”
She freed herself from his grasp and made her way over to the Jimmy before climbing in the front and rooting around in the passenger side before she came back out with some breakfast bars.
Standing over him, she offered him one and his lip curled as he took it. “How the hell does this tide you over?”
Instead of sitting beside him, his cock jumped once more as she lowered her body over his lap and rubbed against his length. “Because I’m tiny. I don’t require a side of beef every day.”
“Neither do I, canine. But I do require a bit more than a bar made out of nuts, fruits, and grain.”
She opened hers and took a bite. Before he could realize how hot she made chewing, she held a piece up to his lips and he took it.
“There’s some honey in it as well and a few other things.”
It wasn’t hard but soft and damn near fell apart in his mouth. That wasn’t it. He could feel the energy rushing though him, as if he’d had a meal he would usually partake in, large and full of meat.
He swallowed and saw the satisfaction in her expression even as she tore off another part to offer him.
“Where the fuck did you get these?”
“I made them.”
He finished off his next bite and kissed her. The sweet fruit and honey taste danced from her to him and he eagerly took all he could. “You’re fucking incredible, do you know that?”
“I’m a survivor.”
He put both hands in her hair and put them nose to nose. “You’re more than that, canine. Yes, you’re a survivor but you’re so much more.” He gripped her ass. “And you’re mine.”
“We should get going. Or do we have to wait for Shira to come?”
“No, she’ll be here later. Give me ten minutes and I’ll be ready.”
Her gaze smoldered as she inched closer to his mouth. His breathing came faster and shallower.
“Okay,” she whispered before moving away.
Keane rose to his feet and watched his mate. Every move efficient, nothing wasted on her. He gazed down at the bar in his hand and shook his head before ingesting the full thing in three bites.
So many secrets you have, Tora.
He was ready to spend the rest of his life uncovering them all.
