by Lia Davis
If she refused, which she did often, Felix found creative ways to punish her.
She shuddered and let out a soft whimper. Her cat curled up in a ball and shook inside her. Keegan’s arms tightened around her, bringing her back to the present.
As much as she wanted to wrap her arms around this male and relish the peace he seemed to give her, she wasn’t naïve enough to believe he was offering anything more than an Alpha would for any one of his submissives when they needed him. She pulled back, only to have him draw her closer into his body.
Her leopard whined.
Keegan dipped his fingers into her hair and massaged her scalp. She groaned at the intimate caress and gave into the need to be cared for by this male, even if it meant she was sending her heart false hope.
After a few more moments of silence, Addyson took a shaky breath and wiped her tear-soaked cheeks. “Where is everyone?”
Keegan wiped hair from her forehead. “Outside.”
She sagged in relief. It was bad enough for Keegan to see her this way. She didn’t need, nor want, an audience. She also didn’t want to move from her very comfortable spot where her head rested on Keegan’s chest. The thump, thump of his steady heartbeat soothed her.
Too bad he had his shirt on…
Squashing that thought, she focused back on the vision and drummed up the courage to tell Keegan what she’d seen.
“I saw your mate,” she rushed out and didn’t move while she waited for his reaction.
He tensed under her, and she felt a tinge of pain spark from him. She wasn’t empathic, not really. She felt others emotions through touch and she could sense others’ feelings by just being around them. However, she couldn’t influence emotions like a true empath. Yet she could see through the wall Keegan hid behind. She could see his pain. She could also see that he was on the path to healing that wound.
Addyson so wanted to help him move forward. She didn’t care how long it took, she’d help him and wait for him. He was her mate after all.
“What do you mean?”
She swallowed hard. “I saw how she died.”
****
Fuck, fuck, and fuck!
Keegan gently eased Addyson off his lap and stood to pace the living room. His heart pounded inside his chest as the buried pain surfaced, putting his leopard on alert. A whirlwind of thoughts and questions invaded his mind, the number one being how Blaine would have known about his mother’s suicide.
Sparing a glance at Addyson over his shoulder, he cursed again. Her red-rimmed eyes and tear-streaked cheeks didn’t hide her compassion and concern.
Damn it, she’d felt his pain. Or was it Blaine’s?
Hell, whichever the case, she now knew the truth. Apparently Blaine did, too, but Keegan would deal with his son later. Right now he had to face the past with the woman of his future.
Talk about ripping off the bandage off.
“What did you see?”
Addyson wiped her eyes and sat straighter on the sofa then smoothed out the hem of her lavender top against her jeans. Keegan forced himself to be patient with her. She was a submissive after all. If he pushed, her cat would make her bare her neck and submit totally to him.
He didn’t want that. He wanted the woman who possessed a fire within her that he guessed no one had seen but him.
So he waited. When she did speak, she lifted her gaze to his. “I saw the two of you through Blaine’s eyes. You and Cate were arguing. No, not arguing.” She swallowed again and averted his gaze as she whispered the next sentence. “You were pleading with her to come home.”
He closed his eyes. It was the nightmare he’d had since that night. “She’d been feeding information to Felix for years. One of my soldiers told me they smelt a rogue on her. I didn’t want to believe it, but something gnawed at me to find out. So I waited for her to return from her evening walk.”
Addyson lifted her gaze back up to his, waiting for him to finish. Keegan ran a hand through his hair. “She was upset, as if she’d just had an argument with someone. Felix’s scent was all over her.”
Addyson gasped and quietly asked, “What did you do?”
He sighed and sat down in the chair across from her. “I was so angry, and the thought of another male’s scent on her, my enemy at that, made me lose control over my leopard. It’s all a blur really. I confronted her about his scent and what the soldier said. I’d just come off patrol and still had my gun in my chest holster. In my rage, I didn’t expect Cate to reach out and take it. She ran into the forest, away from the den.”
Addyson nodded as if piecing the rest of it together. “Blaine must had heard or felt the distress and followed. He found you begging her to return home, but she said she’d betrayed the Pack and…”
She cut off her own statement with a sob. “Oh, Keegan. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know…”
He crossed the small space between them and cupped her face in his hands. “You did nothing wrong. I was the one who pushed you when I knew that you’d run from me. I knew Blaine was at the door but didn’t think I’d frightened you enough to run outside.”
She stilled and stared into his eyes. The male in front of her made her feel things she hadn’t in a very long time. Things she’d didn’t remember feeling, ever. “You don’t scare me. You’re dominance does. I’m not sure how to react around you, to your leopard. If I’m to touch you, to comfort you. Especially since you’re my mate.”
His chest tightened as he peered into her violet eyes and let her words settle in his mind. She was his mate. He’d known that from the moment he found her in the forest. Yet to hear the words on her tongue made something inside him tighten and his leopard purr. Not wanting to think about anything else, he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers.
She gasped as their lips touched, but didn’t draw away. He took that as an invitation and hardened the kiss, sliding his tongue inside her mouth. Her tongue tangled with his, intensifying the need rushing through him.
Keegan slid one hand down her back then slipped it under her shirt. When his fingers touched her bare skin, he heard her sharp intake of breath. He also sensed the colliding emotions of fear, desire, and confusion building inside her.
Breaking the kiss, he drew back and peered into her gaze. “Are you okay?”
She looked down at her hands pressed against his chest and shook her head. “It’s too much. The touching. It’s too much right now.”
He nipped at her nose, drawing a smile from her. “Then I’ll have to make sure to desensitize you.”
She looked back up, her eyes grew round, and he heard her pulse kick up a couple of beats per second. “How?”
It came out barely a whisper, but he heard it. “By touching you and playing with you more.”
“Oh.” She looked around, as if searching the room for something, or someone.
With his finger under her chin, he gently urged her to meet his stare. “You’re right. We are mates, and you’re mine to keep and play with.”
He stood and took her hand. “I’ll draw you a bath so you can relax while I talk to my son.”
Chapter Seven
Addyson eased down into the bath and sighed as the warm water flowed over her too-sensitive skin. She sank down under the water until it touched her chin, and she closed her eyes.
…and you’re mine to keep and play with.
Keegan’s words drifted through her mind. There was a promise and a demand in those words. She was old enough to know that once an Alpha saw something he wanted, he got it.
Well, hell, Addy, you had to go and challenge him.
That’s exactly what she’d done when she confessed she knew they were mates. And he answered. That was something she hadn’t expected, especially with the subject of his dead mate hanging between them.
&n
bsp; Then there was that kiss. Never in her life had she been so turned on. Her skin felt as though it were on fire where his fingers touched. It was all too much, sending her senses into overdrive. She’d lost the ability to breathe for a moment, and it scared the hell out her.
Flashes of the Onyx soldiers touching her overwhelmed her and stole the pleasure she’d felt with Keegan.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed the ugly, evil thoughts out of her mind. She’d lived too long with the ugliness, and she refused to let it cloud her now.
It appeared that Keegan was her future, and she wasn’t going to let Onyx win at destroying what little happiness she could have. Her happiness lay in Ashwood with Keegan.
As long as she could figure out away to help him heal.
With a purpose, she bathed, dried off, dressed, and headed to the living room, where the males were in a heated discussion. Most likely about her vision.
Addyson entered the living room on silent bare feet, but Keegan knew the moment she entered the room. He stopped speaking and turned to her. Addyson fought off a gasp at the intensity in his gaze. His brown eyes held swirls of gold, indicating his leopard wasn’t far from the surface.
She took an involuntary step back, making him turn his body to face her. When he started to walk toward her, she froze. Her leopard whimpered in her head, but the woman held his gaze. Normally, submissives didn’t look their dominants in the eyes as they were being stalked. It was a sign of aggression and the dominant would see it as a challenge.
However, Addyson knew deep down that Keegan could never hurt her. As his mate, she needed to be strong and show him she wouldn’t back down from him.
And she wouldn’t run. Not from him. Not ever again.
He stopped inches from her. His lips twitched as he slowly brought his hand up to stroke her cheek. All the tension fled her body, and she leaned into his touch.
“How was your bath?” he whispered.
She smiled. “It was nice.” She rose up on her toes and kissed his cheek then walked around him to greet Blaine. “How are your mates and the kids?”
The stern glare he had when she’d first come into the room softened. “They’re wonderful.”
She stepped closer and concentrated on blocking his psychic energy. Like with Tanner, she used Blaine’s aura to create a mental shield surrounding her mind. She offered Blaine her hand. She heard Keegan step up behind her, but he didn’t touch her, just growled out, “What are you doing?”
“I need to practice building my shields,” she replied in a firm tone that made her want to apologize, but Blaine shook his head as if telling her to stay strong.
Blaine sat up on the sofa and hovered his hand over hers then looked her in the eyes. She could only hold his stare for a second before peering down at their hands. “Are you sure about this, Addyson?”
She nodded. “I won’t see the same vision twice. I’ve been working on rebuilding my shields.”
Hesitantly, he placed his hand on hers. His Alpha power washed over her in a soothing caress. It felt familiar and like home.
She didn’t get hit with a vision from the connection. She relaxed and almost became giddy at how easy it was getting to block others the more she did it.
Then a blurred image of two males, bodies entwined together in a bed, came into her mind’s eye. She gasped and jerked her hand back, her cheeks heating.
“Addyson?” Blaine and Keegan asked at the same time.
She waved them off and shook her head. “I’m fine. It was a…happy vision and fuzzy.”
Keegan wrapped his fingers around the back of her neck and massaged her tense muscles. “That’s good, right?”
She leaned her back into him. “Yes. It seems when I try to shield I pull the most recent happy event.”
Blaine cleared his throat and met her gaze. Addyson held in a smile but quickly averted her eyes, her submissive nature not allowing her to hold his stare for more than a few moments.
Keegan kissed the top of her head and nudged her to sit. Automatically she went to take a step toward the sofa then stopped. She turned to Blaine then Alec, lodged in an armchair to their left and Will silently sitting on the sofa next to Blaine. “Would you like tea or coffee?”
They nodded, and she turned to the kitchen where she filled the kettle with water and placed it on the stove. A few moments later, Will entered and came over to stand next to her as she filled the tray with cups and the fixings for tea and coffee.
Will reached out and touched her arm. “Are you okay?”
She stopped and turned to him, brushing his too-long hair out of his eyes. “Yes. The bath Keegan drew for me helped.”
She caught a shy grin before he looked away, most likely trying to hide it from her. “He likes you,” he whispered.
She sighed. “I know.” It was all she could say right now. There were too many uncertainties between them. The pain too sharp, their pasts haunting them both.
She tried to replay the vision over in her mind again. Something about it didn’t sit well with her. A mate just didn’t betray the other, not under their own power anyway. Addyson was almost tempted to go back out there and take Blaine’s hand in an attempt to bring back the vision.
She couldn’t do that. It had nearly broken her all over again the first time. The small shield she’d created wasn’t strong enough. Not yet.
Determination drove her to do whatever it would take to strengthen those shields so she could become the woman she once was. Well, at least as strong as she used to be, if not stronger.
“Do you think she was controlled?” Alec’s voice drifted from the living room. He spoke loud enough that his voice echoed off the stone walls of the cave.
Most likely to be heard over Keegan’s and Blaine’s heated discussion of Cate.
Addyson closed her eyes. She wished they’d stop arguing so she could think. Then Alec’s question settled into her thoughts and she stilled. Controlled? Damn. That was it. She turned to Will and asked him to bring the tea and coffee in when the kettle sounded. He nodded, but she felt his concerned gaze on her as she left the kitchen.
Keegan and Blaine stared at Alec as though they expected him to grow a new limb or something.
“I believe she had been,” she blurted
They turned their gazes to her now. Keegan started to shake his head. “It’s not possible.”
Addyson didn’t take her gaze from him as she disagreed. “It is, and I saw Felix do it more times than I like to remember.”
Keegan turned his body to face her and started stalking toward her. She forced her legs not to shake and her body to stay planted in place. The tension in the air coming from Keegan made it hard not to revert to her submissive nature.
He stopped a few inches from her, the heat of his body caressing her still too-sensitive skin. Yet, she didn’t break eye contact as she reached out and placed her palm on his chest. He closed his eyes for several moments, and when he opened them, she saw a hint of gratitude.
“It wasn’t her fault,” she whispered.
Keegan stroked his fingers down her cheek then stepped back, the pain too raw in his gaze. He was too stubborn, too fixed on burying the pain to see the logic behind what she’d just told him. It frustrated her and made her heart ache for him all at once.
Without another word, Keegan turned to the door and left. She took a step but stopped when Blaine said, “Let him go. He needs to run off the frustration and think.”
She dropped her shoulders but nodded. Blaine was right. Keegan needed time to think and run off the building emotions. She couldn’t imagine what he was feeling after what he’d learned over the last few days.
She’d give him time to think, for now. He needed to talk about it, figure out where to go from here. And she was going to see that he did.
&n
bsp; Chapter Eight
Keegan stepped out into the cooling evening air, unable to draw enough of it into his lungs. His head spun with the possibilities surrounding Cate’s death. Could Felix have controlled her, forced her to betray Keegan and the Pack? He wanted so desperately to believe it because, in his heart, he knew she’d never willingly betray her family. And Pack was family.
Yet, there was a small part of him that doubted the possibility of a mindbender. They were rare. The few times Keegan had come face-to-face with Felix, he’d never sensed the ability in the rogue Alpha. There was only one way Keegan wouldn’t have detected the other male’s power.
It would have to mean that Felix had dual psychic abilities.
Another impossibility.
Or was it?
Keegan took off through the thick trees surrounding the cave. He didn’t shift because his human side needed to run more than the leopard, although he did allow the cat to come to the surface and enjoy the run just as much.
He came to a stop at a small stream and scented the air. A low growl rumbled up his chest to his throat. The unmistakable stench of the mutants Onyx used as their assassins drifted in the wind. The hairs on the back of Keegan’s neck stood on end, and his whole body went taut with tension.
Damn bastards will not take another mate from me.
Keegan’s leopard roared in agreement and paced beneath his skin.
The shuffling of footsteps had him whirling around to come face-to-face with a large wolf mutant. The half-man, half-wolf stood over seven feet tall with fangs that jetted out of his top jaw to stretch over his bottom lip.
When Keegan shifted one hand into a claw and allowed his own fangs to release from his gums, he sensed another presence come up on his right.
“I wouldn’t challenge that one, Alpha. Or should I say Elder?”
Keegan turned to the unfamiliar voice while keeping the mutant in his line of sight. Narrowing his eyes, Keegan sent out his senses to the male and hit a mental wall. The bastard was either naturally resistant to Keegan’s telepathy or he’d development the ability to block it. “Who are you?