by Victoria Sue
That morning, Taegan had been completely unable to resist the soft kiss he grazed Caleb’s lips with as he left. He had tucked the blankets around him and gone to wash up quickly and see to the horses. He finished the chores in the barn and looked up just as Jenner walked in.
“We just got a bird from Rathshen.”
Taegan looked up at the change in Jenner’s voice. “What is it?”
“Aldred’s gammas are systematically searching every village, and the humans don’t know why. There were two orphans taken from one of them with no explanation, but they have left the young strong boys alone so we doubt it’s for Cain’s silk gangs, and we’ve never known Alpha Darius to travel this high up. The searches started around the time Rayne and Neal went missing.”
“We knew a hunting party had been sighted, but as it was near the Dorn we thought it was for prey.” Taegan said.
“And not the human kind,” Jenner confirmed.
“If that’s the case, then the wolves came very close to the north end of the vineyards.” That was worrying, but it also explained how Rayne and Neal had been seen.
Taegan followed Jenner back to the hillside. When he thought about it afterwards, he could only explain his assumption as a result of his head being full of wolves hurting children. But just as they reached the entrance, they both heard a child’s cry from the caves and Taegan leapt towards the cooking area where it had come from. Caleb was holding Missy. A three-year-old, and one of the children his mom and the other women took care of because her parents were dead. She was crying uncontrollably, and two of his guards were stood pointing knives at them. Renee ran in behind him. “What on earth is going on?” she asked, clearly irritated.
Taegan put an arm out to stop her moving. “Let her go, Caleb,” he said slowly, sick betrayal churning in his gut. All those nights he had lain awake and listened to Caleb toss restlessly and how guilty he had felt not just giving in. Thank the goddess it had never come to that. Rego had been right. Caleb was finally showing he was the savage he had always believed him to be.
“Let her go?” Caleb repeated slowly, disbelief coloring his words as if he didn’t understand the instruction.
“Taegan,” Renee started.
“No.” Taegan held his hand up. “She’s a baby. No matter what your problems with us are I never thought you would hurt a child.”
Caleb shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Renee scoffed, batted Taegan’s arm away, and walked right up to Caleb. “Now Missy, how about some milk?”
Missy sniffed and threw her arms around Caleb’s neck. “No. Caleb promised me a story.”
Jenner gaped. Renee turned on both guards. “Put those knives away, you’re frightening her.”
“W-what?” Taegan stuttered.
“Taegan?” Ralph and Adams both queried at the same time, but sheathed their blades.
Caleb brushed a kiss on top of Missy’s head. “How about you go get some milk and then we’ll have the story?” She sniffed but nodded and let Renee take her out of Caleb’s arms. Caleb didn’t look at Taegan, but brushed past him and headed out of the cave.
“Caleb. Sweetheart? You haven’t had any food,” Renee called out. But Caleb had already gone.
“What happened?” Taegan rounded on his mom.
“You mean apart from you jumping to conclusions?” She arched an eyebrow. He tried not to squirm. “Missy fell racing after Thomas. She wouldn’t stop crying until Caleb came in asking what the noise was. She was completely charmed in about five seconds flat and sat cuddling with him while I bathed her knee. He promised her a story and I went to fetch a book for him. I have some old ones I keep for the little ones.” Books were rare and expensive. Only the wolves had them now.
Taegan looked at Ralph and Adams. Adams spoke up. “We were just coming in for tea and the wolf was holding Missy.”
“And she was crying?”
Ralph shook his head at Taegan, looking embarrassed. “No, that was our fault. We just saw him holding her and pulled the knives. She cried because we scared her.”
Taegan sighed. “Get your drinks.”
The two men helped themselves and then left.
“Caleb hasn’t eaten,” Renee said, the accusation clear in her voice.
“I’ll take it to him.” Taegan turned to the table where some bread had been cut and buttered.
“And an apology,” Renee added drily.
Taegan poured two mugs of tea and picked up a few slices, wrapping them in a cloth. “Yes, mom,” he said and walked out after Caleb, feeling a complete shit.
He poked his head into his empty room, sighed and headed for the exit knowing Caleb must have gone that way. The cave opening itself wasn’t that large. Room for three men to walk in side by side, but that was it. The opening was halfway up the hillside and completely hidden by the dense woodland. In fact, that was why they could safely light the fires in the caves big enough. The smell of Sulphur masked the smoke, and the trees were so tall and so thick higher up that even in the height of summer it was still cool and the smoke was hidden amongst the fumes coming off the rivers. Taegan paused and backtracked to his room and picked up a poncho lying over the bag of a chair. He didn’t need it, but he was willing to guess Caleb would.
Caleb sat hunched over on a fallen log just by the track that led down to the barn they kept the horses in. Taegan could practically feel the misery in the hunched shoulders, the bowed head, the way he favored his left arm even though he didn’t have it in the sling anymore. His arms were bare. “Caleb?” he called out quietly, not wanting to startle him, but Caleb never moved even though Taegan knew he would have heard him.
He crossed in front of the log and sat down, putting both mugs on the ground and passing him the poncho. “It’s cold out here.” For a second, he didn’t think Caleb was going to take it, but lifting his head he reached out cautiously. Instead of passing it to him, Taegan bunched it up and carefully went to ease it down over Caleb’s head. Caleb recoiled sharply, and Taegan stilled his hands. “Let me help,” he said. “You’ll get cold.”
Caleb lifted his head, the brown eyes suddenly so dark. “And you care, why?”
“I don’t know,” he said wretchedly, then shook his head, the gesture a denial, as Caleb widened his eyes in response. He hadn’t meant to admit that.
“I think it better if I sleep in a different cave until you decide what to do with me,” Caleb muttered.
“No—” he bit off. Caleb was hunched inwards. He was incredible. Giving. He soothed so many bitter corners in Taegan’s soul. He wanted to keep him, but it was impossible. Silas had once told him that many years ago, wolves fell in love at first sight. But Taegan was a human and he didn’t understand this odd compulsion to be with someone he had known barely two weeks. Maybe it was just a good healthy dose of lust.
“I’m not going to apologize for Ralph and Adams. The guards,” Taegan added, then felt ridiculous because of course Caleb would know who he meant. “They were doing their job.”
Caleb didn’t reply. Didn’t move.
“But I was wrong.”
Caleb’s head came up quickly. The surprise written all over his face.
“You didn’t deserve that assumption from me, and I apologize.”
Caleb ducked his head.
Taegan passed him one of the mugs of tea and unwrapped the bread. “My mom says you haven’t eaten.”
“I’m not hungry,” came the whisper.
Taegan put his untouched tea back on the ground. He reached out slowly, hooking his finger under Caleb’s chin and lifting it, immediately drowning in the stormy brown eyes, dark and brittle with misery. He had done that, him. He leaned forward and Caleb leaned back, twisting his head away. The rejection stung in his gut.
“Please eat,” Taegan said, dropping his hand. Caleb had been doing so well and the last thing he needed was Taegan upsetting that.
But Caleb didn’t move, didn’t look up. “What are you going to do with m
e?”
He had treated Caleb abominably. Taegan paused and for the first time in two years did something that wouldn’t help their cause, but was the right thing to do. “You are free to go. Now. If you want to walk down that hillside, I won’t stop you.”
Caleb’s head shot up. “You’d let me go?”
Taegan swallowed the husky denial. “I wish with everything I am that you are not the Alpha heir and I am not the rebel leader.” He let that sink in. Caleb’s eyes still fixed on his. “Especially after last week.”
Caleb’s eyes dipped, and Taegan reached out and touched his arm. “It should still be wrapped. It’s very likely broken.”
“I-it doesn’t hurt.” Caleb’s gaze lifted and Taegan stared. He was drowning in the golden depths. He’d thought Caleb’s eyes were brown, but the center simmered with chocolate and grew lighter outward until the flecks of amber almost turned them copper. Long golden brown lashes framed them, and Taegan took small comfort that the dark shadows under them had gone.
“You don’t eat enough.” He said almost brusquely to cover what he wanted to say. What he wanted to do. “Please eat something.” The words were quiet but no less pleading.
Caleb stared at the offered bread. He took a breath. “I think I forgot how. If I wasn’t hungry it was one less pain.”
“For me.” Taegan knew he had no right to use those words. Caleb owed him nothing.
Caleb took the thickly buttered bread and inhaled. “It smells wonderful.”
Taegan nudged him gently. “It tastes even better.” Caleb took a bite and Taegan beamed. Such a small victory.
“When will you plan to get the kids?” Caleb asked after swallowing. He sipped his tea and took another bite.
“I have two team leaders that get back from Solonara tomorrow. I haven’t the numbers without them.” Caleb chewed and seemed to consider what Taegan said. “It would help if we had any idea what time of day this is planned for.”
“Noon,” Caleb said immediately.
“Of course,” Taegan agreed instantly. It was the time Aylin started to cover Sorin. He should have known. How was it possible they were talking when everything in him wanted Caleb’s lips for another purpose?
Caleb finished the bread. He watched Taegan intently as if waiting for something.
“I owe you another apology also.” He would have been blind to miss the flash of pain that darkened the brown pupils nearly to black or the hiss as his words connected. Caleb misunderstood. He didn’t regret one second of it and wasn’t apologizing for it. “I loved every second of the time I spent with you. How I found the strength to leave my bed that morning is beyond me.”
Caleb’s slow, heart-stopping smile was worth every word of his confession. “So why did you leave me?”
“Because I am taking advantage.”
“Because I can’t stay,” Caleb supplied flatly, answering his own question.
“So, will you leave?” Taegan didn’t want the answer. Should he mention Silas’s crazy bonding theory? He couldn’t let Caleb go if it would hurt him, but he couldn’t take back his offer either.
“I know I can’t stay forever, but I won’t leave until Neal and Rayne are safe. I still think I should be the diversion you need.”
Taegan let out a long breath.
“Can I ask something?”
Taegan nodded.
“You said you came from Re-Pal? How did you get to be the rebel leader?”
Taegan told Caleb about his uncle. Caleb just listened and asked an occasional question, and before Taegan thought about it he had told Caleb nearly everything. He mentioned Paerita but wasn’t about to admit the guilt over her death.
“There was a raid,” Taegan said at last. “The rebel leader was called Farran and I hadn’t got involved since we moved here. I wanted to give my mom a better life.” He hadn’t been able to stomach anything to do with the rebellion after Paerita’s death. “Farran was a mean bastard and we’d just been avoiding them. Mom and I were living in Alpha Darrick’s pack lands; she was a maid for his mate and I tended the horses. It was first-blood for his son and there was a big feast. Darrick wasn’t bad. I mean, yeah he kept slaves and expected a lot of hard work, but he fed everyone. Anyway, Farran decided to attack the compound, expecting them all to be distracted, and he was right, they were. Farran set explosives to destroy the pack house.”
Caleb made a small distressed noise and shuffled closer.
“The trouble was he didn’t care who he killed, and because the Alphas were all outside celebrating, the only wolves in the pack house were the sleeping children and the mates or servants that were caring for them.
“I saw the fires, but by that time it was too late. Darrick lost his youngest son and his niece, and three human servants. Farran counted it as a huge victory, but the father of one of the humans that lost her life told Darrick the next day where the rebel camp was.”
“What?” Caleb’s voice rose.
“It was in the Dorn Forest at that time,” Taegan reassured him quickly. “It was Silas that suggested the caves. I didn’t know they existed. Even the workers in the vineyards don’t know because they are so remote and hidden by the trees.
“Anyway, the wolves raided the camp. They strung up all fifteen rebels that they hadn’t immediately killed and left them to die slowly. It was wrong, very wrong; but Farran…” Taegan shook his head. No one deserved to die like that, but he couldn’t imagine murdering children and not seeming to care. “He never showed remorse. Apparently, Darrick asked him when he was caught if he had known it was only children in the house. He said they weren’t children; they were animals, and this way they wouldn’t grow up to be murdering savages. Darrick cut out his tongue then.” It had been the last thing he had seen before Taegan had run.
“While helping one of the injured rebels, I had been seen and recognized by one of the gammas even though he was fighting with another two of them. The rebel was DeRose, one of my team leaders, and I got my mom and took him back to our cottage. We knew we hadn’t much time to pack, and DeRose told me his brother was a blender in the vineyards, lived in the closest village there and would hide us. We had been there a few days when what was left of the rebels joined us. Rego said we should strike back straight away. He immediately put himself forward as leader.”
“Why him?” Caleb asked. Taegan smiled at the almost defensive question and he didn’t blame him.
“Farran was Rego’s brother.”
Caleb’s eyes widened.
“I disagreed. I said rushing into something without thinking had already caused the deaths we had seen that night. The rest of the men listened. Rego said if I was so sure of what I was saying then he expected me to become their leader.” Taegan sighed. Rego had been so confident of himself, so cocky. “When he challenged me he thought I would back down. No one was more surprised than I when I didn’t, and that was just over two years ago.”
“You fought him?”
Taegan huffed, a little insulted at how Caleb sounded incredulous. “No. I mean I would have done, but all the others agreed with me and he backed down.”
Caleb was touching. While they had talked he had crept closer, but it wasn’t charged with the same emotion as the last time. This wasn’t sexual but all about warmth, compassion, and comfort. He knew Taegan was having difficulty retelling some of his worst moments, and he wanted to support him. It would be so good to have someone by his side, but Taegan had lost that right a long time ago. Caleb’s eyes softened as he listened. It seemed to come as easy to him as breathing, but Taegan knew it was dangerous. Caleb was dangerous because for the first time Taegan wasn’t thinking about his responsibilities to other people.
He was thinking of himself.
“Taegan?” It was Cy. “We have an injured messenger bird. I think you need to come. We should have got the message yesterday but it has a damaged wing.”
Caleb stood and took Taegan’s empty mug. “I have a story to read.” He smiled and Taegan wat
ched him go.
The wolf that eventually won his heart would be a very lucky man.
Chapter Eleven
Taegan crouched lower behind the tree as the covered cart rumbled past them. It was clever they were using human guards only to transport the silks. Usually the caravans had at least twenty gammas and took every bit of Taegan’s ingenuity to disrupt, but this single cart looked like it was transporting something as mundane as farm implements.
Taegan only knew that was anything but, for two reasons; they had received word about this cart through one of the messenger birds from Christoph Tor, the leader of The Human Alliance that operated out of Niandes. They never really joined forces because each group was very protective of the security of their own men, and a bigger group meant more chances of discovery. However, a few weeks ago Christoph had lost his son when the village of Torren had been attacked by the wolves in retaliation for the rebels. Nearly a hundred men, women, and children had perished. Taegan had reached out, offering help if Christoph was planning vengeance.
Christoph had invited Dargan and Talam to meet with him, and they had sent a bird warning that the cart came from Niandes and would likely contain silks. He admitted that was a guess; he really only knew some humans that worked for the gammas were moving something across Taegan’s area.
The other clue was the fact the cart, while looking unimportant, was securely covered. Whatever was inside needed protecting. They had followed it for a while and scoped the area in case it was a trap, but he didn’t think it was. Ordinarily this cart would have passed by unnoticed. A single cart with two humans would contain nothing of importance, and Taegan wondered if that was the reason behind it. That the wolves thought they would ignore it and let it go.
Taegan whistled low as the cart rolled into a small clearing giving his men the signal to attack, and pulled down the hood to cover his face. Cy and Jenner whooped, the noise a sufficient distraction to the two men for Taegan and the others to swarm the cart from the back. They had the humans lain on the ground and hog tied within two minutes. Jenner was holding the horses while Taegan and Cy leapt into the back of the cart ready to pull the bolts of silk out and set fire to them. As soon as the silks were destroyed the humans would be set free. There was no punishment Taegan could inflict that would be worse than being responsible for losing their cargo. They would probably be on the run from the Alphas for the rest of their lives.