by Lynn Veevers
“No. Cole is one who prefers to be left alone in his grief until it runs its course,” Kenneth said, inside her head once again.
They were standing in the middle of the kitchen when he pulled her to him and sought her lips with his. All the emotion he had been holding in exploded in a wave of urgency. It was raw, unrefined, and felt completely natural. She kissed him back with burning fervor. Kaya wanted nothing more than to escape this dark cloud of death that hung over them. Kenneth took her hand and led her out onto the patio.
“I want to take you away from this, even if just for a short while,” he said.
Kaya nodded her head in agreement and he took on Pure Form. He lay down on his belly and whimpered at her. She knew exactly what he wanted her to do, and for once, she didn’t chastise, complain, or deny him. Instead, she crawled onto his back and he stood.
“Hold on tight.”
That was all the telepathic warning he gave her before crossing the patio and jumping over the edge. Leaping from the patio herself was one thing, but doing it on Kenneth’s back brought a rush of excitement. Her stomach dropped in the way it would if she’d been on a roller coaster.
They hit the ground running. Riding a horse made her happy, but riding Kenneth across the fields of this land he called home was like nothing else she’d ever experienced. The prairie grass blurred by as they sped across the pastures. Even though she couldn’t see the grass’s individual blades, she could smell its distinct, earthy scent as the open air rushed by her face.
She was lying on him with her head resting against his soft black fur and could feel every movement he made. Every beat of his accelerated heart rate, she felt as he clipped across the ground. This was a closeness she never wanted him to share with anyone but her. It was a closeness that could only be outdone when they came together to make love. If their time together like this lasted forever, she’d have no objections.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, she noticed that the individual blades of grass were no longer a blurred streak. She sighed in disappointment, knowing all great things must come to an end.
He slowed, then finally stopped at a spot with cedar trees and a small little creek nearby. He fell to his stomach and rolled her off of him. Kenneth returned to his Human Form and pulled her to the ground with him. She flicked his nose playfully and then got to her feet and took off running. Glancing over her shoulder she saw he’d taken on Pure Form and sprung into motion.
“Hey! No Pure Form, Kenneth! You have to stay in Human Form!”
But it was too late, he had passed her and come about in front of her. He raised one massive paw which she ran right into because it happened too fast for her to slow down. The impact knocked the wind right out of her.
In the blink of an eye, he changed to Human Form and caught her before she could hit the ground. Kaya laughed breathlessly at Kenneth's lunging stance, one arm pointed toward the sky and the other securely around her waist. She was sure it looked like he was dipping her in the same fashion men did with their ladies in the movies.
He pulled her back to her feet and embraced her. She returned the gesture and then smiled up at him. Bending his head, he kissed her lightly, and as he ended the kiss, he whispered in her ear.
“One of my intimate fantasies involves you, me, the sky above us, and the grass below us. In this fantasy, we are wearing nothing but each other,” he said as he lowered them to the ground. He proceeded to do just what his fantasy suggested, and as they lay there afterward, she cuddled up against him exhausted, took a deep breath, and it was lights out for Kaya Hunt.
She woke up to a massive tongue licking her face. Huge yellow eyes set in the cutest black, fur-covered face regarded her intently. She could tell he was grinning, even in his Pure Form. He made it clear he was happy. The ground was vibrating with the rhythmic thumping of his tail.
Kaya realized when she went to sit up that she didn’t have a stitch of clothing on. She searched the area and found her clothes hanging on a tree limb nearby. Rising from the grass she walked to the bank’s edge. Kenneth’s panting breaths tickled her skin, and then she felt his cold, wet nose nudge her in the back. It sent her tumbling into the creek. She was in complete shock and absolutely petrified because she didn’t know how to swim, at least not in Human Form. Panic squeezed at her lungs and she had to mentally steel herself long enough to obtain a proper form for the new environment she’d literally just been pushed into.
Kaya took a deep breath and morphed into a beaver. Her anxiety dispersed and Kenneth seemed to be laughing at her. He took a few strides and stood at the water’s edge, looking at her. Hunkering down, he sprang into the air. As he made his decent into the water and took on Human Form, at the last moment before impact he yelped in surprise. There was a huge splash when he hit the water and when he surfaced his displeasure with the situation continued to fill his features as he swam to the bank. Climbing out of the water soaked to the bone and his clothes clinging to his body, he looked particularly upset. Apparently he had forgotten about putting his clothes back on after they had made love and she’d passed out.
Kaya didn’t know exactly how his transformations worked where his clothes were concerned, because you would suspect his clothes would be ruined when he took on Pure or even Hybrid Form. But like her transformations, they never were, and she didn’t understand the mechanics of it. She’d have to inquire as to how exactly it worked, if he himself even knew.
Swimming toward where he stood, scowling, she couldn’t help but laugh as she ascended from the water, morphing back to her Human Form. The scowl fled from his face and his jaw dropped open as Kaya climbed the bank, wringing out her drenched hair…completely naked. He definitely liked what he saw, that much was evident.
She saw the yellow start to creep into his eyes and purposely shifted her walk to a slower, more seductive sway as she walked to stand in front of him, body glistening with droplets of water. Fixing him with a look of humor, she surveyed his wet attire. She leaned in, hair still in hand, and kissed him. He started growling deep in his throat and his eyes were flaming yellow. She took a step back and smiled at him sweetly.
“Kenneth, be a dear and grab my clothes please.”
With that, she took up her favored form, climbed into the air, caught the breeze, and headed back to the house. Kenneth was directly below and running with her clothes in his mouth. He was booking it across the ground and she knew he was racing her because every so often he would look up to gauge where she was. Her competitive spirit would not let her leave the unspoken challenge be.
Catching a western breeze, it boosted her speed, shooting her a considerable distance in front of him. Kaya was amazed to see him behind her closing the gap, and fast! In a matter of seconds, he had passed her and was putting lengthy distance between them. When Kaya made it back to the patio, he was kicked back and lounging in a patio chair with an expression that said, “Finally. What took you so long?”
On the table next to where he sat were her clothes. His clothes were dry again. She assumed it was because of his fast-paced run home and flew into the house then up to Kenneth’s room with him right on her heels. Kaya returned to Human Form, sitting at the foot of his bed. He threw her the clothes and smirked smugly.
“Well, aren’t you just so pleased with yourself?” she said, smiling.
“I don’t know about you, but I am famished,” Kenneth said.
Kaya nodded her head in agreement and finished dressing herself. Kenneth walked toward the door, opened it, and motioned her through.
“Ladies first, my dear.”
She walked out of the room and they made their way downstairs. As they passed the family room door, she stopped and took a couple steps back to peer into the room. There was Owen sitting on the big couch watching TV with a sleeping Dahlia resting in the crook of his arm. She was clearly exhausted to the point of unconsciousness. Owen shrugged helplessly.
“I am scared if I move, she will wake up and start all over
again. My arm is asleep.”
They both started giggling at the bear of a man, who was clearly being dominated by woman’s sleeping form.
“Can I get you something, Owen?” Kaya asked.
“Well, hot dog! It’s about time, gal! I was wondering if you were going to stick to formally addressing me for all your life. But no, darling, you are fine. I’ll be OK,” he said with a genuine smile of satisfaction.
She gave him a little wave, then Kenneth and she headed toward the kitchen. They talked for hours and before she knew it, she had to start heading home.
“Let me drive you home, Kays.”
Kaya told him that would be fine and they went to his truck, hopped in, and headed toward Aunt Di’s house. They talked about Dahlia and the kids and both came to the same conclusion: whether it was intentional or not, they’d all adopted them into the pack.
They pulled up to her aunt’s house and Kenneth got out, came around to open Kaya’s door for her, and they both walked up the stairs. Kaya opened the front door and they stepped into the house. Di was there in her chair, worrying over a knitted project she must have just started, seeing how there wasn’t much of it completed yet. Setting the needles and yellow yarn aside she regarded Kenneth and Kaya with uncomfortable scrutiny. It was a long moment before she spoke, but when she did, it was decisively.
“You have changed, Kaya. You are glowing with womanly presence,” Di said knowingly.
Her gaze fell on Kenneth and he shifted his feet uncomfortably. Then suddenly, he stopped and looked Diana square in the face. “I promise I am not going to hurt her. She is my mate. I would never do anything to make her unhappy. She is my whole world, Diana. I thought you would know that by now.”
She hiked an eyebrow at him in that 'oh really' way of her’s.
“I know, Kenneth, but it doesn’t mean I have to be happy about what I know happened between the two of you. She is still young and so are you.”
She sighed deeply and a smile crept onto her face. “Jed, honey, come down here please,” she called to Kaya’s uncle.
He came bursting down the stairs and all but busted into the room.
“What is it? What’s wrong, baby?” he said, out of breath.
Kaya stared at her Uncle Jed all crazy, because that was completely out of character for him with his cool, calm, sensible demeanor. What was even odder was Kenneth sniffing the air, something so subtle that Kaya was probably the only one who noticed. She would have spared him a glance, but Diana’s whole demeanor had Kaya riveted on her because she was acting strange. Kaya shifted her gaze from Di to Jed and then back again, guessing they were gearing up for her impending grounding.
“Come sit with me,” she said to Jed, all smiles and love.
The two of them sat on the love seat, Jed clasped Diana’s hand in his, and Diana fixed her gaze on Kenneth and Kaya.
“I have some news I’d like to share, Kaya,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.
The curiosity was killing Kaya. “Well, what is it?”
She felt Kenneth squeeze her hand and it had her looking up at him. He sniffed the air again and then returned his gaze to Di. There was definitely something passing between him and her. They were both grinning like maniacs.
“I thought I smelled something different when I walked in,” Kenneth said to Diana.
“What is going on?” Kaya asked, feeling left out.
“Kaya, you are going to be a big sister come this spring. I know I am not your mother, but I pretty much fit that role in your life and Jed and I are having a baby. You are going to be a big sister. After all these years, it has finally happened!” Di said, completely overjoyed.
Kaya’s mouth fell open. She walked over, buried her head in Di’s lap, and started crying like crazy. Di wrapped her arms around Kaya’s head and they both stayed that way, crying tears of joy for a miracle long overdue.
12
A Known Secret
Late November - Tangent, Oklahoma
After so much carnage and tragedy, the peaceful passing of a few months was well welcomed. Dahlia and her cubs had become a permanent fixture within the O’Connell pack. They were as good as part of the family. Owen made a point of making it unwaveringly clear that Dahlia and her cubs were going nowhere.
Noah was buried on the land close to where he had died. Owen had a small garden of perennials and white rose bushes planted around the grave site. The floral display sat right next to a fountain that depicted a wolf howling majestically. A fountain stood under a gazebo erected near the grave. It was a serene memorial to Noah. Dahlia and the cubs could visit anytime they wanted to be close to their fallen loved one.
Samantha did not seem to mind that Dahlia was clearly the alpha female because they’d gotten over their differences and become close. She was like a second mother to Dahlia’s cubs.
Samantha’s new dedication to the cubs left her with little time for Paul, and she broke it off with him. She had explained that they wanted different things and that their lives would never be compatible enough to make it a life union. Paul was perfectly content with it and had left the house without so much as shedding a tear, much to Samantha’s relief. Everything had seemingly fallen into place.
Di was just starting to show the slightest hint of a baby bump. She was absolutely adorable, even though she loathed being told so. Jed and Di didn’t know the sex yet, just that she was carrying twins. Hormones had her on a constant emotional rollercoaster that made her sweet and loving one moment and then terrifyingly mean the next, but neither of those moods was as bad as her random bouts of crying without reason. Everyone gave her a wide berth because she was wholly unpredictable from one moment to the next. To add to her difficult demeanor, she was putting out signals for all the wildlife in the area to come visit. She insisted she was not doing it on purpose.
The trees were well on their way to losing their leaves, and the leaves that had fallen littered the ground in shades of red, brown, and yellow. There was a chilly bite in the air that made Kaya’s teeth chatter every time she stepped outside. Winter-like weather was definitely starting to creep over the land; morning frost after morning frost was evidence of that.
It was a beautiful time for Cara to come visit Oklahoma and she’d be flying in that night at four p.m. It was the most excited Kaya had been about something in quite some time. Kenneth was going to get to meet the closest thing she’d ever had to a sister; not to mention she knew everything about Kaya. With Cara’s mother dying of cancer six years back, she’d been devastated. When the world had come crashing down, her father, brother, and Kaya had been her pillars of support. It had been May since the last time Kaya had seen her and now it was just four days before Thanksgiving. The past six months were the longest she had ever been away from Cara and she was chomping at the bit for her to be there. It was only eleven a.m., but Kenneth and she would be leaving for Tulsa by one in the afternoon at the latest.
Cara’s father was a successful businessman in Seattle as the CEO of Beryl Industries, which dealt in the aerospace field. He would not be joining Cara on this trip because he had urgent business to tend to back home. However, her older brother, Eugene, was accompanying her; Kaya suspected it was mostly because he wanted to see her. Eugene had just turned twenty last month and had been crazy about Kaya ever since they were young kids.
Over the past six months, Kaya had kept Cara on the up and up with everything that had gone on in her insane life. She was excited to meet Kenneth, although Kaya had not told Cara anything about his secret. Kenneth could breach that himself, and only if he decided to do so.
She had not told Cara about anyone’s special characteristics at all. Kaya felt like she was keeping secrets, but she didn’t have a choice, even if Cara was the most open-minded person Kaya had ever known. Nothing surprised her. Ever. Her superpower was knowledge. Not that she actually had a “superpower” she just had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Cara believed power was in the knowing of things. She constantly h
ad her nose in a book, studying everything from herbal remedies to world history. One day she’d run her father’s empire; he had been conditioning her for it ever since her mother passed.
She was definitely the brains when it came to the two girls because Kaya had always been extraordinarily creative and Cara extremely smart. Together, they’d aced everything school-related. In the past, when Kaya struggled with certain subjects, Cara was there to not only tutor her, but also bring some clarity to the subjects at hand. Kaya missed that, and she missed her.
She had a brilliant mind which is why her father had chosen her as his successor over her older brother. Eugene was more of a free spirit, smart, yes, but also spontaneous. He had gladly accepted that Cara would shoulder the responsibility of their father’s legacy.
Kaya was sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal when the doorbell rang. Uncle Jed was scrambling down the hall upstairs, coming from his bedroom; no doubt where he had more than likely been listening to Di play her violin.
Kaya called out to him, “I got it, Uncle Jed. I am already down here.”
The scrambling came to a stop.
“Thank you, dear. I am going to go back to rubbing your aunt’s back. She is hurting again.”
Kaya rose from the table, rolling her eyes and chuckling; those two were something else. As she opened the door, Kenneth’s dazzling smile greeted her. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him. It had been two days since she saw him last, mostly because Di had been complaining about how it felt like Kaya lived at the O’Connell house and was a visitor in her own home. Kenneth had obviously missed Kaya about as much because she didn’t even get a hello out before he had his mouth on her’s in a searing kiss.
“Well, it is nice to see you too!” Kaya said breathlessly.
He stood there gazing at her intently, like she would disappear if he looked away.
“I’m not going anywhere, Kenneth!”
The bright smile he had greeted her with was still plastered on his face. She returned to her cereal sitting on the table with Kenneth right behind her.