by SJ Himes
Kane’s expression softened, and a big hand lifted to gently brush across his cheek. “Josiah and Marla brought you and your littermates here often when you were little. Marla lived here before she mated Josiah.”
Ghost shook, and blinked hard. Gabe tightened his grip on his hand, his friend’s concern a balm to his nerves. The foyer was rapidly emptying, Burke and Michael were gone, and the balconies above them were empty as well. “Where did everyone go?”
“I sent them off when your scent changed,” Kane explained, eyes darting to Gabe quickly before returning to Ghost. “You wouldn’t let go of Gabe.”
Ghost released Gabe, stretching his stiff hand and giving Gabe an apologetic glance. “Sorry, I lost myself for a bit.”
“I know how that feels,” Gabe murmured, ducking his head. “I understand. It’s okay.”
“Let me show you where the bedrooms are,” Kane gestured, pulling Ghost under his arm and nodding Gabe towards the staircase.
The stairs were carpeted, their footsteps muffled as they ascended. The stained glass window rose high over their heads when they reached the first landing, and Ghost could see the dark green of pine boughs and the dark forms of wolves running before he had to look away to take the staircase on the left.
“How big is this place?” Gabe asked, nerves making his voice a bit thin.
“I’m not sure,” Kane answered, taking them to the second floor. The landing opened on the right while the stairs continued upwards to the left. They came out to a hallway that branched out in three directions; straight ahead, to the left and the right. “There’s just over thirty wolfkin here in the mansion. All single wolves or cub-less mated pairs. When they have cubs, Caius has property with land and sufficient housing for them to go. He doesn’t do this for all the Black Pine wolves, as there are a few thousand of us, but anyone he invites to live in the clan house with him eventually takes him up on the offer for their own place if they mate. Caius owns over two dozen properties in Augusta and surrounding suburbs. For Black Pine wolves who don’t live here, he has housing assistance programs if they need it. Most of the younger wolves take him up on the help.”
“Is this where Claire and Roman lived?” Gabe interrupted. His face was pale, jaw tense.
Kane paused, and turned to Gabe. “They used to, yes. But I called ahead, and had the rooms stripped and all their belongings trashed once they were searched for evidence. Anything of note was taken to Caius’ study and the rest was burned. There is no trace of them left in this house.”
Gabe grumbled, angry, but he nodded that he heard Kane, and after a tense moment, Kane lead them deeper into the mansion. They took the hallway that went straight, their footsteps now loud on the dark wooden floors. The walls were stone and dark, nearly black, and the floors were just as dark, polished to a high sheen so that their reflections were blurry as they walked.
Ghost was curious, the doors they passed were all shut, and there were no windows. The hallway appeared to run down the center of this side of the building. Eventually they came to the end, the hallway opening to a sitting area beneath tall windows, and a smaller, less grand staircase that went up and down. He couldn’t smell that many other wolfkin, though he caught traces of Burke and Kane, their scents faded, and a hint of Sophia.
Kane pointed to the left, and there was a door set in the recessed wall of the sitting area. A gold plaque was engraved with Burke’s name. “That’s Burke’s suite, obviously. Mine is here,” and Kane pointed directly across the space to another door, the plaque this time engraved with a symbol of a tall pine tree, the metal blackened for the branches. “That is my suite. These stairs lead to the lower ranked rooms upstairs, and the side exit for this wing of the mansion. Directly up those stairs is an empty suite that used to be Sophia’s. Gabe, that’ll be your space. Michael will be housed directly across the hall from you. Your suite is right above mine on this side of the hall.”
Burke’s door opened, and the Speaker stepped out. He was wearing different clothes, and smelled like he just took a shower. “I’ll show Gabe his room. I already got Michael sorted out. The betas readied the rooms before we arrived.” Burke nudged Gabe toward the stairs, and the two alphas went up, Gabe sending Ghost a small smile and a tiny wave before he went around the bend in the landing.
Kane opened the door to his suite, holding the door for Ghost to go in before him. Ghost ran his fingers over the engraved plaque on the door before stepping past his mate and into a wide room with tall windows that overlooked a snowy field of trees and hedges. The room had its own fireplace, several places to sit, and a small kitchenette in the corner. Two doors off to his right were cracked open enough for him to see a large bathroom and the corner of a canopied bed.
Kane shut the door. “This has been my suite since I moved here as a teenager. It had remained vacant since Caius built the mansion a few lifetimes ago. I updated it, added in high-speed internet, the kitchenette, and there is a television in the bedroom.”
Ghost inhaled, enjoying the heady scent of his mate that permeated the space. Curious, he headed for the bedroom, opening the door completely. There was a large bed next to a window overlooking the same view as the main room. The bed had posts that ran up from each corner and a canopy above the bed with deep red velvet curtains tied off to each post. It looked like the curtains could be drawn around the bed to block out sunlight. Part of him wanted to jump into bed immediately, but it was the middle of the day and he was starving.
“Do you like it, little wolf? We can stay here as long as you like, or I can begin looking for our own place nearby.” Kane sounded nervous, and Ghost turned back to his mate. Kane stood in the doorway, hands in his pocket, his expression hopeful and guarded at the same time.
“My life has changed a lot in the last weeks, but one thing hasn’t changed. I want to stay with you, and it doesn’t matter where that is, as long as we are together.” Ghost went to his mate, and slipped his arms around Kane’s waist, snuggling in close. Kane hugged him back, one arm around his shoulders, his free hand running through Ghost’s hair. The kiss landed on the top of his head, and Ghost hugged Kane tighter.
Kane shut the door after thanking the beta who brought up his grocery order. He stocked his small fridge in the kitchenette corner of his living room, listening to Ghost putter about in the bedroom. Ghost had no belongings aside from the donated clothing from River while they were at Red Fern. He could hear Ghost rummaging through his closet, then footsteps as his mate went to investigate the bathroom. The bathroom could be reached through either the bedroom or main room. Kane rarely had anyone visit him in his rooms, aside from Sophia and Burke, over the years. Caius never came to his rooms— he always went to the clan leader.
Ghost came out of the bathroom to see what he was doing. “Do you eat in here or is there a room where everyone eats together? This place is a lot bigger than Andromeda’s cabin.”
“I usually eat here or across the hall in Burke’s room with him. A couple of times a week I will be in the dining hall with the rest of the wolfkin who live here in the mansion. Though I don’t think we’re going to have many sit-down dinners until Remus is stopped and the missing wolves are found.”
Ghost opened the fridge, poking about the contents. He closed the door after a moment and sighed, fidgeting. “What’s the matter, little wolf? You hardly held still since we got here.”
“I feel out of place. I can remember some things about this huge den, but it’s small flashes. Nothing more solid than impressions of sound and scents. I can see my mother bringing us here and my father standing over us laughing and talking. But nothing solid. I can’t remember the words or anything he said. I feel like I know this place,” Ghost said, waving a hand to indicate he meant the entire house and not the suite in which they stood. “You have closets full of personal belongings. Memories and items, you hold value for. I have nothing but fragmented memories and borrowed clothin
g.”
“You are not lacking. Your worth, your importance, none of that depends on what you have or don’t have. None of that depends on what you can or cannot remember. You have never cared about material possessions before— don’t start caring about that now. Don’t think you have to change who you are just feel like you belong here.”
“I just feel… Unsettled. Nervous. I know I shouldn’t. I am a shaman. Our Goddess looks out for me, and you look out for me. But a part of me that always felt lost and wanted to come home is now realizing that everything I wanted to come home to is gone. I feel more like Luca now than I ever have, and Ghost is slipping away.”
Kane hugged Ghost to him. Ghost clung, pressing his face into Kane’s chest. “Whether you are Luca or Ghost or you choose a new name, none of that will change how I feel about you. Your family may not be the way it was before you got lost, but I am here. You came back to me. And I am never going to let you go.”
“Promise?” Ghost whispered, fingers digging into Kane’s back.
“I promise, little wolf.”
That evening Caius summoned Kane to his study. Ghost refused to stay behind and followed his mate as Kane took him towards a new section of the large mansion. They passed a couple wolves on their way there, and Ghost smiled nervously at the strangers as they continued. The wolves they did meet backed out of Kane’s way and gave him a nod of respect as they passed. Black Pine appeared to be far more formal than Red Fern’s relaxed atmosphere. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that Kane was heir here in Black Pine, and was just another wolf when compared to Andromeda. Maybe this was the way that their people functioned everywhere, and he was just too young when he got lost to realize how things worked.
He didn’t know if he liked it or not.
Kane ushered him into a large room. It was long, with a fireplace on either side of the room. Each was big enough that he could probably walk into the fireplaces and not hit his head. Small fires burned in both, giving off enough warmth to keep the room comfortable. Bookshelves covered free wall space and portraits of forest scenes and what looked like Caius and other wolfkin Ghost couldn’t identify, wearing old-fashioned garments. Kane led him down the center of the room to a large desk, behind which Caius sat. Burke was already present, his arms crossed and his usually easy-going demeanor dampened. He stood off to the side, there was an awkwardness about the Speaker that made Ghost curious.
Caius gestured to a few seats on the other side of the desk and Kane sat. Ghost took one look at the seat next to his mate and passed by it in favor of exploring, ignored his grandfather’s unspoken request to sit. He heard Caius sigh in exasperation and his mate chuckle.
“Still a wild thing,” Caius murmured, but Ghost couldn’t hear any censure or reprimand. Ghost shrugged and wandered around the space next to his grandfather’s desk. Shelves held mementos and small knickknacks, everything from a bare human skull with a large crack in the cranium, to what looked like daggers made of stone. There were books and maps and black and white photographs framed in brass. The room smelled heavily of his grandfather, a few stray wolfkin he could not name, and leather and smoke. He took a deep breath, held it for a long minute, and let it out slowly. He knew this place. Aside from memories of the kitchen and dining room, he had the strongest feeling that he knew this room best.
“Did the human doctor give up any more information on the drive down?” Kane asked, leaning back in his chair.
“No,” Caius growled, exasperated with the human. “We have the list still, and I have sent scouts in pairs to those locations here in the city. One of the locations was conveniently destroyed in a reported gas leak a few weeks ago. I think that was where they were last. No sign of where they went after that site was scrubbed.”
“Anything in Roman’s old room?” Kane asked, and this time there was a note of hesitancy. Caius worked his jaw, and Burke looked even more nervous, but Caius leaned forward and opened a drawer.
“Most of his belongings were removed when I had him banished from Black Pine. Everything he didn’t take with him was put in storage until he could have it forwarded to his new address. The betas scoured the boxes and found nothing of importance aside from a few trinkets and some papers.” He pulled out a thin folder and a small box, pushing the items across the desk to Kane.
“Bank accounts?” Burke asked suddenly, while Kane picked through the small box. “Remus must have been paying him something. I don’t see Roman participating all these years without compensation. Even with the promise of more power, I just don’t see it.”
Kane tossed the small box onto the desk, having given up on the contents. “I think tracing the money might lead us directly to Remus, but I don’t see how it’ll lead us to our missing wolves. What about Roman’s car? The GPS in it might have some answers.”
“His car is missing. The GPS in it was disabled. I reported it missing to the authorities. Thankfully it was in my name, otherwise I would have to explain to the humans why I was searching for my son’s missing car and not my son.” Caius stopped, face darkening. Wood creaked, and the armrest under one of his hands groaned in complaint as he tightened his grip.
“I sent for the paperwork from our usual forger. As far as the human world is concerned, Roman died in a car accident, and was cremated,” Kane said quietly, and after a short pause, Caius nodded in acknowledgment.
“The scouts I sent out will begin reporting back as soon as they learn anything. Until then, we wait.” Caius made a short, abrupt gesture, and both Burke and Kane nodded respectfully. Kane stood and Burke went to his side, both alphas radiating low-key tension.
Kane held out his hand to Ghost, who, after a long look at his grandfather, slowly made his way past the big desk. He stopped though, his attention caught on a picture. It was the only one on the desk.
Ghost picked it up, cradling it in his hands. A female wolfkin smiled back at him, dressed in clothing from an era decades’ past.
“Your mother,” Caius rumbled. “You…favor her strongly.”
Even with the few glimpses of himself in mirrors since regaining his human form, Ghost had to agree with his grandfather. He did indeed look like his mother. He ran a fingertip over the line of her jaw, taking in her sparkling eyes and long, thick hair. He gently put the picture down, angling it so his grandfather could see it better. He gave Caius a small smile, and took Kane’s hand.
They left, walking down the long length of the room, and Burke held the door open so he and Kane could pass. He sent a glance back over his shoulder, to see Caius staring at the picture of Marla McLennan, eyes dark, grief radiating from every line of his body.
The Winter Meadow
Ghost whimpered, arching his back and lifting his ass. Kane growled, nipping at his shoulder as his big mate moved on top of him. Ghost sighed in relief when Kane’s thick cock slid deep inside, stretching him, the warmed lube helping his body adjust. It stung and burned and felt amazing, every slow, deep stroke of his alpha’s cock leaving him breathless.
The curtains were pulled tightly around the bed, blocking out the rising sun and leaving them cocooned in their soft, warm den. He woke in time for Kane to plunder his lips in a demanding kiss, and desire took over.
Kane bit the back of his neck, holding him still, hands around his hips, changing the angle at which he thrust. Ghost sobbed at each plunge into his core, reveling in Kane’s weight and the undulating motion of his hips. He gripped the sheets below him, muffling his needy cries as Kane’s teeth sunk deeper, his thrusts growing more urgent.
Kane released his shoulder and licked at his ear. “You feel so good, little wolf,” Kane whispered, making Ghost cry out in intense pleasure, stroking deep with small half-thrusts, never withdrawing completely before pushing back inside. His body rocked back and forth, his knees spread and hips lifted just enough for the head of his cock to rub over sheets, teasing him, making him want to push down t
o get more but also lift up to take more from his mate.
“Please…more.” Ghost turned his head to the side, accepting Kane’s kiss before another stroke made him cry out again, this time louder. He arched his spine, pushing up as best he could, desperate to get closer to his mate.
Claws sprang from fingertips and cloth shredded, Ghost’s fingers tearing into the bedding. Kane growled, a deep rumble of satisfaction that made Ghost whine loudly in answering need. Pinpricks of pain came from his hips, his mate’s wilder nature rising to the surface to match his own. One stroke after another fell upon an aching, sensitive spot deep inside, and Ghost howled as he came, his release shooting across the bed and over his abdomen.
Kane wrapped his arms under and around Ghost’s torso, teeth clamping down on the back of his neck as he came with a deep, full-body shudder. Hips plastered to his ass, Ghost accepted everything his mate had to give him, enjoying the wet heat that filled him.
Ghost fell limp in his mate’s arms, Kane’s weight pushing him down. He could hear and feel the racing of Kane’s heart, sweat slicking the space between them. His stomach smeared the evidence of his pleasure across the bedding, but Ghost didn’t mind. He enjoyed the scent, and it mixed with that of his mate’s.
Kane rolled to his back, pulling Ghost with him, his head coming to rest on his mate’s shoulder. He snuggled, pressing his nose to sweat-damp skin and breathing in the intoxicating scent. Kane chuckled, sounding less winded, fingers combing through his hair. “I love you.”
Ghost opened his eyes, smiling up at Kane who looked back at him with such affection it made his chest ache. “I love you, too.”
Kane smiled wide, pulling at Ghost until he lay spread out over Kane’s torso. He pushed his head under Kane’s chin and relaxed, all but melting into his embrace.
Lunch took the place of breakfast by the time they managed to stumble from Kane’s rooms. Ghost trailed after his more than patient mate, his curiosity rising now that his nerves were settled. Kane was explaining how to find his way through the mansion, Ghost trying his best to follow along, but he got lost after a few turns and figured he would just use his nose if he needed to find his way back to the suite and he wasn’t with Kane. He doubted he would be far from Kane regardless—after the last few weeks, he flat-out refused to think about being parted from his mate. He had trouble believing sometimes that Kane escaped the Tribunal with barely a scratch. Any wounds he took in the impromptu battle with Heromindes healed within hours of the fight.