by Rhea Regale
Nicco, on the other hand, continued to nurse his bloody nose. Every glance he made toward Micah, he didn’t forgo the daggers in his gaze. This time, Micah stared at the coward until he finally looked away.
“Kasa, did you hear me? Jordan’s been taken and that mutt you’re caring for is to blame. I should’ve ripped open his throat the other night when I had the—”
Micah didn’t know how he missed it, but Kasa was on her feet and in front of Luke before he could blink. A sharp crack resounded in the small cabin when she slapped Luke across the face.
“Shut your filthy trap, Luke. Micah, the one you refer to as ‘bastard,’ ‘mutt,’ ‘dog,’ and whatever else you feel you’re entitled to call him, happens to be my mate, and I sure as hell don’t appreciate the names.” She pressed up onto her toes, pointing a finger into his face. “You are my brother’s right hand man and I don’t see you taking blame for any of this. Where were you? What were you doing? Or was my mate saving your pathetic ass from being mauled? You had everything under control, ha!” She poked the tip of his nose. “You would’ve been dead had it not been for Micah. Jordan forwent his help to save you. Micah put himself between you and those wolves and this is the thanks you give him while you insult me along the way? He took a bullet for my brother just by being there and you’re telling me Jordan’s abduction was his fault? How?”
Micah couldn’t believe how much the man recoiled beneath her tirade. He smiled at the sight, pride swelling within him. That’s my girl.
Slade stood, shocked and speechless, eyes glued to Kasa. Nicco had shuffled deeper into the living room, putting distance between himself and their white wolf. Luke desperately looked around, seeking escape like a trapped pup.
Micah climbed to his feet for the second time since returning to the cabin. The pain in his side subsided, and he wondered if watching his mate stand up on his behalf had something to do with numbing his body. He came up behind Kasa and gently eased her away from Luke.
“Easy, love. The tension is riding dangerously high, but none of it’s worth a shit if we can’t focus it on finding your brother,” Micah said quietly. The muscles in her shoulders loosened and she adjusted the towel around her chest. She continued to breathe hard, her pulse racing beneath his hands. “I have plenty of choice words I’d love to share, but it’s wasted energy. Us fighting with each other does nothing to help Jordan.”
Damn, if he could only listen to his own advice without his wolf growling in protest. Choice words he had, and a few choice moves to go along with them.
He led Kasa back to his chair and eased her down. Her fingers fisted in her lap, keeping her obscenely short towel from flashing Luke or Nicco. Her toes curled, her eyes glowed a beautiful, intimidating degree of amber-white, and pink spread from her chest up to her hairline.
God, the woman was gorgeous all riled up.
Micah glanced back at Luke, who had gathered some dignity. He straightened his shoulders, puffing out his chest, and had the decency to look ashamed when his gaze turned toward Kasa.
“Don’t think for a moment I’m fool enough not to realize something happened to Jordan, especially when he didn’t come back here with Micah or you,” she said. Her tone had leveled, almost monotone, but her eyes fired the punch with far more effect. Luke jerked. Nicco frowned and lowered his head, blood seeping through his fingers. “How many of you went and how many of you survived?”
“Eight of us went. James was the only loss. The rest are on their way back to the motel to regroup. We’ll be hunting the rebels’ path to try and get a scent trail back to their hideout,” Luke said.
“We’ll be hunting them together, as a pack. All of us.”
Micah spun back to her. “Absolutely not. You’re not—”
“Can it, Micah. The game’s up. The plan was spoiled and my brother taken. Now we’re going to do things my way.” Kasa pinned him with that dangerous glare. “They want me, and they’re going to use my brother as bait. I get it. But what no one here seems to get is that I’m not a coward. I don’t lock myself up in a cabin when danger lurks. Jordan is my brother, my blood, and I will go after him with or without you all.” She blinked the first time since anger set in. “Please, Micah. You understand this better than anyone. I can’t let anything happen to him.”
“And I can’t let anything happen to you. Not because your brother would try and kill me, but because I love you and…”
Micah swallowed. He took a step back. What the hell had he just told her? When the hell did that come about?
Kasa’s lips separated with a soft exhale. The raw anger in her eyes dimmed. He turned his back to her and raked a hand through his hair. Aw fuck, this wasn’t the time, the place, or the way he would have expressed any such feelings, had he known it himself. Then again, he should’ve known from the first night he kissed her in the forest before Jordan’s pack attacked him and Slade. He should’ve known when his heart swelled and raced, when he couldn’t take his eyes off her, when all he wanted was to claim her as his own. He should’ve known when the memory of his sister crept up from the darkest part of his heart, reminding him he would never let harm befall his Kasa.
Yes, he understood Kasa’s hunger for the hunt. How could he deny her what he, himself, desired after the death of his sister? A chance for revenge.
“Luke, Nicco, go back to the motel. We’ll come to you tomorrow morning. Micah’s in no shape to hunt, and we need him more than anything. I’ll be sure to tend his wounds. I don’t want any more time lapsing than necessary,” Kasa instructed. Micah noted the soft hitch in her voice when she began to speak but quickly steadied the tremor. “Do not plan on hunting by yourself. We’ll go together, as a pack. We’ll find their hideout, find my brother, and bring him back safely. In the meantime, make sure everyone rests and that any injuries are tended to properly.”
“Yes, sure. Of course,” Luke said.
Micah watched the man lower his head and leave the cabin, Nicco fast on his heels. Slade closed the door behind them, slid the bolt lock into place, then turned to face him. Micah ignored his inquisitive look and took a seat next to Kasa. She reached over and grabbed his hand between hers, squeezing him tightly.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” Micah murmured.
“Said what?” Slade asked, coming to stand beside him. “I have plenty more I’d love to say to that furry-ass beast on four legs.”
“Slade—”
“Is it true?” Kasa whispered. A small crease formed in her forehead. Wistful hope seeped into her eyes then vanished just as quickly.
“Yes.” Micah lifted her hands to his mouth and pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles. “Yes, it is.”
“What is what?” Slade groaned.
“I have a suture kit, bandages, and medicated cream in the medicine cabinet. Would you grab them for me?” Kasa asked. She looked up at Slade and offered him a smile that warmed the chill in the cabin. “We need to fix your brother up so we can find mine.”
* * * *
I love you.
Those three words repeated themselves over and over in her mind. Kasa tried her damnedest to focus on cleaning out the bullet wound, leaving it to heal faster than it had been. Her stomach fluttered relentlessly, unable to digest the potent news that Micah, cold and deadly wolf mate, actually loved her. Granted, she suspected Slade felt the same way toward her, although he didn’t quite verbalize it in the direct fashion as Micah had.
A little more than twenty-four hours and both her mates loved her. How was that possible?
Her heart danced when she glanced up at Micah to see how he was faring during the painful ordeal of being prodded, sutured, and medicated. His piercing blue gaze never left her, observing her every move with clear awe and admiration. Slade sat quietly, watching her work, but the curiosity that flared in his eyes every few minutes belied his calmness.
Kasa finished taping the last bandage over the wound at Micah’s back and offered him a half-grin. “I think that’
ll do for now. The stitches should help seal the wounds faster, but it’s still going to take a little longer than normal. That bullet, or whatever it was, did a job to rip a hole through you.”
She gathered the bloodied washcloths in one hand, her suture kit in another, and began the task of cleaning up. Micah caught her around her waist, bringing her to an instant pause. Her body reacted to the gentle look in his eyes, one that soothed the worry she resisted over her brother’s condition and made her itch for Micah’s touch. Didn’t help that he had sat naked through the entire mending procedure, and that the wound happened to be about a foot away from his genitals.
“Kasa, we’ll find Jordan. Don’t worry, okay?” Micah assured. She leaned over and kissed the top of his head.
“One thing you need to understand about me is that I don’t worry until afterward. Worrying makes you vulnerable. It clouds your judgment. The last thing I’ll be doing is worrying until Jordan is right here with us again.” She forced a short laugh. “Then you’ll see me blubbering about like a fool. Might even have a tear or two for effect.”
“You’re no fool, doll,” Slade said. Kasa dismissed the sharp edge to his words and shrugged. He pressed to his feet and relieved her of the soiled cloths then messed up his brother’s hair. Micah swiped at his hand, knocking it away with a growl. “This big, bad wolf here is the fool to think I don’t know what the silent conversation between you two has been about.”
Kasa’s cheeks flushed, and she turned her head down. Slade quickly caught her chin, lifting her gaze back to his.
“And that the feelings are mutual on my behalf as well,” he added softly before placing a kiss to her lips. “Now, I think we should get the injured one in bed before he gets crabby. We can start devising a plan of attack while lying down together.”
“I’d much rather remain sitting up,” Micah muttered. “Grab a towel or blanket, and I’ll move to the sofa. I don’t want to leak through the bandages and ruin the upholstery.”
Slade clapped his brother’s shoulder and teased, “How thoughtful of you.”
Kasa laughed and grabbed the gauze and cream from the table. She quickly put everything away, grabbed a towel from the linen closet, a long T-shirt from her drawer, and returned to the living room to find Micah sitting on the edge of the sofa. Slade took a seat on the coffee table. She draped the towel over the back of the sofa and Micah reclined, a small grimace twisting his face until he settled. Stepping around the sofa to come into full view of her mates, she untucked the towel around her chest and laid it over Micah’s waist.
“Christ, Kasa. Why’d you have to do that?” Micah asked.
“You’re a distraction while naked.” She glanced at Slade, whose gaze burned over her bare flesh. “Both of you are.”
“And what are you, standing all naked and gorgeous before us?” Slade inquired. Kasa made quick work to pull the T-shirt over her head and smooth it down to her thighs. She winked.
“I’m now clothed and ready to go to work.”
Kasa listened carefully to Micah’s encounter with the Dark Moon sister who shot him and Jordan. The rebels didn’t do much to cover their tracks back to the hideaway, to Jordan. Nothing came easily, though, and the trap could be around every tree, every boulder, every bend. Micah had followed the path a few hundred feet before the pain of his wound became unbearable and he turned back to the cabin. Luke had already fled where he’d nearly died, and Micah hadn’t been able to locate any other pack members on his slow and agonizing trip back to Kasa. The storm had grown so fierce that blood trails had been completely covered and tracks filled.
“I don’t know how reliable the one rebel’s information is. When my wound heals, I’ll scout out his directions to see how accurate they are. At this point, his word is our best lead, but it might be a well-planned trap,” Micah said. Kasa watched him fidget against the sofa then finally settle into a comfortable position again. His wound made it hard for him to sit in one position long. By the looks of the tent in the towel over his lap, so did his raging erection. He cleared his throat. She refocused her attention on his face. “Kasa, this wound might take longer than a night to heal.”
“We won’t go without you,” Slade said. “In the meantime, I think it’s in our best interest to gather as many other packs as possible. By the sound of it, I’m sure we’re gonna be up against more than a few dozen rebels.”
“Wait. You want to bring other packs in on this?” Kasa asked. She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s smart. We’re going to start a full-wage war by doing that. All I want is my brother back, and to get the sisters. That’s all. If we take down the leader, or leaders, the entire pack of rebels will deteriorate. There’s no need for mass bloodshed.”
Slade punched in a number on his cell phone. He raised it to his ear then grabbed her hand and gave it a light squeeze. “If we don’t bring in reinforcement, there’s a chance Jordan’s pack, and Jordan himself, might be killed. The sisters have one goal—kill you. They’ll do whatever they must to achieve that. Any—Hey there, hi.”
Slade straightened up and moved to the kitchen. Kasa frowned, looking at Micah. “I don’t like bringing in others, especially those I don’t know. I don’t want that guilt on my shoulders.”
“You must understand something, little love. These packs, these weres, who come to fight at our sides do so on their own accord. Their loyalty lies with the whites, and you’re a white,” Micah said quietly. He glanced back at his brother and winced, muscles taut. A light blush touched his cheeks. “Damn it.”
“Don’t go ripping stitches out of your side.” Kasa moved next to him and peeled back the corner of the bandage. She inspected the stitches before pressing the tape back in place. “I don’t want to pull out the needle and thread again. I’m not much of a seamstress.”
“You did a good job sewing up flesh.”
“I’ve had to do it more times than I can count. Give me a shirt and a button and somehow, I manage to botch the project.” She offered him a smile, one that came easier than she would’ve expected under the current bleak circumstances. She nodded toward Slade. “Who’s he on the phone with?”
“Most likely Coal or Nox. Those two can round up a few of their local packs and get over here fast. I’d say by noon tomorrow.”
“Mass influx of weres is going to raise suspicion.”
“Don’t underestimate them. Coal and Jacy are a team to envy. Nox has Riley, who got mixed up with Eliza’s pack. He can bring some insider information that might prove helpful in devising our strategy of attack. Both of their packs had decades to prepare for the time they would be responsible for a white.”
“What about your pack?”
It was a topic they hadn’t spoken of until now. Micah held her gaze for a long moment. A mist of emotion ran through his eyes, something that triggered a twist in her heart. Surely, he and Slade had a pack. They had one when their sister was alive.
He rested his head back on the sofa and closed his eyes with a sigh. Kasa couldn’t resist touching him, lending a small sense of comfort to his troubled thoughts. She brushed the dark hair from his brow and kissed his temple. Her wolf stirred, sidling up beside his. The spiritual connection matched the intensity of her physical attraction and emotions, but those emotions frightened her into keeping them silent. Now wasn’t the time to lose herself in a fairytale romance with two men her wolf desired more than the fur on her body and that the human woman in her feared she couldn’t live without.
“Whether or not we still have a pack remains to be seen. Slade and I have been on our own for months. We left our pack back home in search of the rebels who killed Reiny, and we haven’t been in touch with them since. At this point, they’ve either assigned a new alpha leader, or they’ve broken apart and joined other packs,” Micah said softly.
The hint of sorrow, of shame and regret, that twined around his words touched her on a deep level. He sounded so hopelessly resigned to being an outcast wolf that it pained her to thin
k the Castrove’s pack would abandon them under any circumstance.
“Do they know about me? I mean, being your mate?”
“Yes.”
Kasa trailed her finger over his stubborn jaw and turned his head toward her. His eyes opened to slits, but the clear powder blue color glowed as if they were open completely.
“Perhaps they haven’t left. Perhaps they’re waiting for you and Slade to return.”
“You’re chock full of hope, darling. Something I’ve lacked for a long time. You see the darker side of life and wonder how it’s possible for man or were to face each day with a smile, knowing the odds are stacked against every move you make.”
“Without hope, there is nothing to fight for. And you fight with your heart and spirit, which means you still have hope.” Kasa rested her finger over his lips as he went to speak. “Shh. Enough said. You need to rest and get up your strength. I’ll get Slade to help you to the bedroom.”
“I prefer the sofa. I’ll suffer this indignity sitting up.” Micah brushed his hand over the bandage, which remained white, not stained with seeping blood. A good sign that the wound was on a faster track to healing. “A blanket will be all I need.”
Kasa gladly fetched the necessities that would make him more comfortable, including a beer, and helped settle him down. She propped up pillows around him so he could lounge with more ease and not strain muscles or stretch the stitches. She draped an extra blanket over him, from the waist down, choosing not to tempt herself by removing the towel prior. The sinful artistry of his naked chest and stomach was challenging her sexual hunger enough. No need to torture herself further. Her mate needed rest, needed time to heal, and that struck out the possibility of a quick romp instantly, no matter how enticing the idea might resonate in her spirit.
“We can count on an arrival sometime shortly after dawn. Coal and Jacy are settling Shyla in with Len and they’re heading out. Apparently, she’s got a pup or two in the oven. Nox and Riley are already gathering forces,” Slade updated. Micah didn’t bother to look at him. He kept his eyes at half-mast, his jaw tight. Kasa finished tucking the blanket around his waist before rounding the sofa and coming up beside Slade. He slipped his arm around her and drew her into his hard body. “Ayasha refuses to stay behind, which means you’ll be meeting one of your cousins. You girls better not get into any trouble. Anyhow, they’re driving straight through. Hopefully, the storm will start subsiding so they’re not delayed.”