“Yeah, I know that feeling.”
Silence fell, and I did my best to shove all the ghosts from my pasts into the back of my mind. What mattered was this moment. With Kai. And the next moment. And the next.
“This means a lot, Kai. Thank you for sharing it.”
He blew out a breath. “It’s a little weird, I know.”
“It’s yours,” I said with a shrug.
He reached for my hand and pulled me to my feet. With the way he’d slouched down, we were eye to eye now. My breath caught, and I stilled, drawn into the sudden intensity of his gaze.
“I used to belong here, Ash. To this town. To Crater’s. Oscar’s. Not anymore, though.”
Tears burned my eyes. I felt those words all the way to my soul.
“Where do you belong now?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
“With you,” he said simply, and the walls around my heart cracked wide open. “I know I was an ass about it, but I can’t afford to risk you. To risk this. And the pack…they’d use you against me.”
His stare was intent now as if searching for some answer he needed. Some sign.
“If that happened,” he went on. “I’d burn it all to the damned ground. I needed you to see this place. To understand how much it means to me. Because I’d give it up in a second for you. And that scared the shit out of me before. But not anymore. There’s only one thing that scares me now, and that’s losing you.”
“You’re not losing me,” I said.
But there was real fear in his eyes. A fear I knew too well. Especially since losing my dad.
“I’m not asking you to choose, Kai. You don’t have to give anything up for me.”
He shook his head like he was suddenly frustrated. “Maybe you should. Ask me, I mean. Because the answer is you. I choose you, Ash.”
“I choose you too,” I admitted.
He gave me a rueful smile. “Even after everything?”
“You’re making it easier and easier,” I said.
He laughed but turned quickly serious again. “I’m just… I’m tired of losing the people I love. I can’t let that happen again.”
“We’ve both lost people,” I said. “And we’ve both been alone because of it.”
“Not anymore,” he insisted. “You don’t have to do this alone. I’m here for you. I want you to know you can count on me. We’re going to find a way to end the curse. And summon your wolf. And we’ll either become part of the pack or we’ll start our own. No matter what, we do it together from here on out. Okay?”
His words slid into the cracks around my heart, shattering the resistance until every single wall I’d left around it came crashing down.
“Okay.” I nodded, a tear sliding down my cheek.
He reached up and pressed his thumb to the moisture, wiping it away. “You’re my home now, Ash Lawson. You’re my heart.”
“My heart’s already yours,” I whispered. “Just don’t break it.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Somewhere between my walking tour through Kai’s childhood hideout and him telling me he’d choose me, I’d forgiven him. I hadn’t meant to. In fact, there’d been a solid plan somewhere in my head to make him beg or grovel or maybe run naked through Ridley Falls to prove himself or something. But all of that had gone out the window the moment that tear had fallen and he’d wiped it away. I was a sucker for a hot guy acting as my Kleenex, apparently.
By the next morning, my heart had landed solidly in #TeamKai territory while my brain had remembered the whole “curse” conundrum and gone back to strategizing just how we were going to make that particular problem go away.
Tonight, the twins and I were all headed to Kai’s to figure out exactly that, which basically just meant the workday dragged by slowly. Kai was in the garage most of the day on a customer job that made it impossible to get a minute alone.
Drake was especially watchful. More than once, I caught him staring at me or Kai with a weird look on his face. Right after lunch, he went home early. Stomach ache, according to Oscar. I made a mental note to ask Kai what that dude’s deal was, exactly, and then went back to my invoicing and scheduling. Anything to get this day over with.
The moment the clock struck five, I flipped the Open sign to Closed and ran upstairs to change.
“Where’s the fire?” Oscar called.
He’d cornered me at lunch in between customers and phones ringing and the other techs coming in and out for their refrigerated leftovers. I’d denied anything strange about the conversation with the twins yesterday, but then I’d walked through the garage to talk to Mick about an invoice code and noticed Oscar and Kai in the corner together with heads bent and voices too low for me to hear over the air compressor.
After that, he’d looked equal parts stressed and resolved. Maybe even hopeful. And he’d made it clear he knew we were up to something tonight.
“I want to get to Kai’s house before the rain hits,” I said.
A storm had been rolling in all day. I’d never ridden a motorcycle in the rain, but I had a feeling it wasn’t pleasant. Kai had already told me to hurry and gone to pull his bike around front.
Upstairs, I shed my work shirt, which was really just an old collared Polo that Oscar had outgrown that had the Twisted Throttle logo on the lapel. In its place, I threw on a tank top with my thrift store jeans and shoved my feet into my boots then hurried back downstairs again.
“Hey, kid,” Oscar called as I headed for the front.
“Yeah?”
“You don’t owe this pack anything,” he said.
I stopped short, trying to figure out where this was coming from. “I know that.”
“I’m just saying. If it’s a choice between your safety and this damned curse, choose yourself. You got me?”
“I’m guessing Kai told you the plan?”
He shook his head. “He told me enough. I don’t want details because then I’m culpable. You just make sure you come home in one piece because I’d hate to have to triple-murder all your new friends for failing to protect my niece.”
I smiled and leaned over to plant a kiss on his forehead. “Don’t go soft on me, old man.”
“I’m tough as nails,” he grunted, and I shook my head.
“See you later,” I called as I left.
Kai stood at the curb, bike already idling.
“Not going undercover today?” I asked.
“The weather has everyone headed home early anyway,” he said. “I think we’ll be okay.”
I stepped up to where he waited and let him slide the helmet onto my head then buckle it underneath my chin.
“One of these days, I’ll have to learn how to do this myself,” I said.
“Nah. That’s not as much fun for me.” He winked then patted the top of the helmet. “Ready?”
“Yep.” I glanced up at the gathering clouds. “Think we’ll make it?”
“Babe. I’m faster than you give me credit for.” He threw his leg over and motioned for me to climb on behind him. “But you might want to hang on extra tight. We’re going to take a back way so no one sees us.”
I grinned, more than happy to do exactly as he asked.
The ride to Kai’s house was a thrill of wind and gravity and the hum of my own body being pressed to his. By the time we arrived, I could smell the rain on the air, and not a single inch of sky could be seen through the gathering clouds.
“Impressed?” Kai asked as he parked and cut the engine.
I slid off the back, rolling my eyes at his smug smirk. “At your driving skills or your incredibly huge ego?” I shot back.
He grinned. “Is that what Isaac was asking you about when I came in yesterday morning?” His brows lifted. “My huge… ego?”
“Oh my god.” I turned away, fumbling with the helmet’s chin strap as the twins pulled up beside us in the Mustang.
They got out, and Idrissa hit the button to put the top back up.
“Isaac, just in time,” Kai said.
I gave Kai a warning glare. “Nothing,” I said pointedly.
Kai laughed, and both twins stopped in their tracks.
“What?” I asked, noting their stricken faces. I looked around, worried they’d seen or sensed someone else approaching.
“The song of the angels,” Isaac said, a hand over his heart. “It’s a miracle.”
“Shut up,” Kai muttered and started for the house.
Isaac looked at me. “Kai doesn’t laugh,” he explained.
“Okay,” I said, drawing out the word. “I mean, I know he’s kind of serious most of the time but—”
“No, not most of the time,” Isaac corrected. “All the damn time.”
“He’s right,” Idrissa said, falling into step with us as we followed Kai to the porch. “I think last time Kai laughed was senior year homecoming when Presley mooned the principal and the entire marching band all in one show.”
“He. Doesn’t. Laugh,” Isaac repeated.
I let them pass me and file inside then stopped in front of Kai, who was holding the door open. Before he could say a word, I leaned in and kissed him on the mouth.
“I like your face,” I said. “Laughing or grumpy, doesn’t matter to me.”
“Hey, I’m not grumpy,” he protested as he followed me inside.
“Riiight,” the twins said in unison.
Kai’s house was surprisingly clean. We all hung out in the living room on two oversized couches while Kai ordered pizza, and then we settled in to work through how the hell we were going to figure this all out. Kai pulled me down onto the couch next to him and rested his hand on my thigh. My skin tingled through my jeans, and I focused on breathing like a normal person.
Not that I was normal.
Far from it, apparently.
“So, can we talk about this whole curse-breaking thing?” Isaac asked. “Because I have to say the idea of Ash saving us all is kinda hot.”
“You think everything is hot,” Idrissa shot back.
“Yeah, but Ash is extra hot.” He grinned at me, and Kai’s hand on my leg tightened.
I put my hand over his and squeezed. The twins didn’t know Kai and I were mates. And we really needed to keep it that way for now. One impossible situation at a time.
“First, I have to know we’re all on the same side,” Kai said.
“Of course we are,” I said. “That’s why we’re here.”
He looked at Idrissa. “In the past, we haven’t exactly seen eye to eye.”
“That’s because you chose to align yourself with Drake and Silas and your band of assholes.”
Kai didn’t answer.
“Ash is important to me,” Idrissa said. “I’ll kick ass to protect her.” She smirked. “Actually, I already have.”
“I’ve saved her more than once already,” Kai shot back. “I think I’ve made it clear where I stand.”
“You’ve run away with her,” Idrissa corrected. “Not the same as standing and fighting.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” he snarled.
I tensed.
Were they seriously going to argue over who was more committed to saving my life?
I shot Isaac a pleading look.
“You two used to be friends,” Isaac said before it could escalate. “We all did. Let’s just call it tequila under the bridge and start over.”
“Uh, I think it’s water,” I pointed out, but Isaac just shrugged.
“I can if he can,” Idrissa said. “But that would mean him turning his back on the alphahole club.” She cocked her head. “Can you do that, Stone? Is Ash that important to you?”
“Ash is all that matters to me,” he said quietly, and Idrissa’s expression relaxed.
Isaac looked like he wanted to gush, but I shot him a look, and he buttoned it up.
“Let’s get down to business,” Idrissa said. “What do we know about the curse and how to break it?”
“We don’t really know much more than what was in that journal,” I admitted.
“Your parents never explained anything to you about your tattoo?” Isaac asked.
“No. And it’s not a tattoo. It’s a birthmark.”
“Whoa, you were born with it?” Isaac asked.
“It looked more splotchy when I was younger. Then, when I was twelve, I woke up one day, and it was this.” I gestured to the mark hidden by my clothes.
“You think puberty maybe triggered the formation coming together?” Idrissa said.
“No idea. My mom got really weird when she saw it.” I blinked away the painful memories. “She left soon after that.”
“You haven’t seen her since?” Idrissa asked.
I shook my head.
“And your dad never said anything?” Isaac’s voice was full of sympathy.
“After Mom left, everything changed. My dad got really paranoid. We moved a lot. And he started drinking. By the time I was old enough to really demand answers, he wasn’t sober enough to give them.”
“Damn, Ash. That’s horrible. I’m sorry,” Isaac said.
Kai’s thumb rubbed soothing circles against my leg. The others were quiet. I could feel all their eyes on me, and while I knew they all meant well, I couldn’t stand this pitiful sympathy party they were all having for me.
“I managed,” I said, shrugging it off. “The point is I don’t know any more than you do. I didn’t know there was a curse or that my mark meant I could break it until Kai told me.”
Kai’s hand squeezed my thigh in silent comfort.
“Okay, let’s just talk about that for one second,” Idrissa said. She looked at me then him. “You told her,” she repeated. “That shouldn’t be possible. I mean, technically, neither should this conversation. I’ve said the word curse like fifty times already.”
Isaac’s eyes lit. “Good point. If this were a drinking game, we’d all be sloshed.”
“I have a theory about that,” I said, and they all turned to me. “I think once you see my mark, it breaks whatever magic keeps you from talking about it.” I looked at Idrissa and Isaac. “That day in the garden, you hadn’t seen my mark yet so you couldn’t say anything. But Kai saw it when we were—I mean, when he got me out of there.”
Isaac smirked. I could feel Kai’s emotions shifting at the memory of our make-out session against that tree.
“And then, I showed it to Oscar, and he was able to talk about it too,” I finished.
“Girl’s got a point,” Idrissa said. “It makes sense. I mean, she’s the curse breaker.”
“Okay, so, one mystery solved,” Isaac said. “Now we just need to, you know, actually break the curse.”
“That journal entry wasn’t much help,” I said.
“The problem is there are too many stories and not enough verifiable facts,” Kai said. “My old man used to tell me the key to breaking the curse was killing all the hexerei.”
I winced at that. No way could I massacre an entire people. Not even for Kai and the twins.
“And our dad thinks the curse will be broken when the original caster returns to remove it,” Idrissa said. She looked at me. “What does Oscar say?”
“He has no idea either,” I told her.
“None of the elders or originals actually know anything,” Isaac said.
Idrissa sighed. “Which begs the question: Can we even trust the stuff in Gran’s journal?”
Isaac frowned.
Kai didn’t answer.
“I think she had one thing right,” I said.
Everyone looked at me. Kai hadn’t said a word about it since we’d all sat down, but I couldn’t think of a better idea than the one he’d already proposed.
“Which is?” Isaac prompted.
“The hexerei,” I said. “Your grandma went to the source, which is exactly what we should do.”
“You want to talk to a hexerei,” Idrissa said, her tone making it perfectly clear she thought I was insane.
�
��It’s the only way to know for sure,” I said.
“And you want to what?” Isaac asked. “Just drive over to their land and knock on some doors? Have tea? Baby girl, I don’t think that will go well for us.”
“Actually,” I said, “I was thinking we talk to the one staying right here in the Falls.”
“Whoa, you want to make a social call to Silas’ prisoner?” Idrissa said.
“He’s already here. I mean, why not?”
Kai’s emotions shifted suddenly, and he looked at me sharply. “That’s why you were protecting him. Before. You’d already thought of this.”
“No, I was protecting him because he doesn’t deserve what the pack was doing to him,” I said firmly. “But I have wondered if he knows anything about the curse.”
“Why do you look guilty?” Isaac demanded, and I blinked, surprised he was able to read my thoughts.
“Kai suggested the idea last night, but to be honest, I had already thought of it before. I would have gone to see him already, but I don’t know where he’s being kept.”
“It’s a damn good thing too,” Idrissa said. “You would have been caught and hauled in your damn self.” She leaned forward. “You do know he has a twenty-four-hour guard, right? And the cabin they have him locked up inside is on Silas’ family property.”
“I could have figured it out,” I said defensively. She looked ready to argue, so I added, “My point is, we could go together now.”
I waited to see if she’d argue or tell me I was insane for even bringing it up, but Idrissa’s eyes gleamed with the idea.
Isaac whistled. “Damn, that might just be crazier than paying the hexerei tribe a visit. If Silas finds out—”
“He won’t,” I said.
“If Silas finds out, I’ll deal with him,” Kai declared.
Idrissa nodded approvingly. “Fair enough, but Ash is right. We need to make sure Silas doesn’t find out.”
“I can handle him,” Kai said.
“I’m not doubting it,” she replied dryly. “But we can’t afford for any of them to figure out what we’re after.” She nodded at me. “Or about Ash’s mark. It’s best if we go about this covertly.”
Kai nodded and glanced out the window. The clouds were sagging low, and the wind had picked up. Rain was inevitable. Not just rain. An epic storm.
Wolf Cursed (Lone Wolf Series Book 1) Page 21