Ashwood Falls Volume Two (2 page)

One thing he didn’t consider until now was the possible reason why she trained with the soldiers. At first he thought it was to keep her mind busy. After all she had trained to be an enforcer as a teen and up until she became an adult and Keegan made his intensions of mating her clear.

Keegan hoped Cate had been using her walks and “alone time” to hunt down the rogues that took their child from them instead of betraying the Pack like her dream suggested. Both scenarios sent a jolt of panic though him that quickly turned to anger.

He’d told her of the dangers of fighting alone. Hell she
knew
the dangers from her own training and from being the Alpha’s mate.

The front door opened making Keegan whirl around and cast a hard stare at his mate as she entered the living room. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and there was a hint of surprise in her grey eyes as she met his gaze.

“Oh, you’re home.” She smiled and moved to the hallway. “I’m going to shower and change then start dinner.”

He was in front of her before she took her next step, drawing a gasp from her. He inhaled deeply, taking in her scent and the scent of a rogue. But not just any rogue, no it was Felix, the Onyx Alpha. The same man that order the attack on Ashwood and many other Packs in the southeast region of the United States.

The one male Keegan wanted to bring down and make suffer for destroying his Pack about two hundred years ago. The male that was responsible for the suffering of the members of Ashwood and the loss of his and Cate’s little girl.

“What have you been up to, Cate?”

Fear entered her gaze and she swallowed, hard. Shaking her head, she backed away from him. “Nothing. I...”

Wrong answer.

He growled and stepped forward, his leopard rising to the surface. “Don’t lie to me. I can smell Felix on you.”

Tears sprang in her eyes and overflowed her lips to spill down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry,” she said on a hiccup before she launched forward and grabbed his gun from his holster. Shock froze him in place for a brief moment, but it was all the lead she needed.

Cate flung the back doors open and ran toward the forest. Keegan gave chase. A blanket of fog drifted in heavy and thick in the darkening forest, making it hard to track by sight alone. He scented the air and picked up on her sweet, peachy scent.

His fear fueled the possessive rage building inside. She'd been with Felix.

Keegan couldn’t shake the thought that she might have betrayed him. The thoughts he stole from her mind that morning fueled the panic that settled in his chest. His chest tightened and became hard to breathe through his own fear of what his mate might have planned to do with that gun. Shoving aside the sick feeling deep in his gut, he pushed his legs to run faster to catch her before she did something stupid.

“Cate!”

A twig snapped in the distance to his right, followed by a soft cry, and he turned toward it, desperate to reach her. When he broke through the thick brush, he saw her pushing herself up from the ground. Her watery gaze locked with his, and she raised her shaky hand with the gun in it and pointed it right at him.

He skidded to a stop and held his hands up, palms facing her. “Cate, hon, we can talk about this. Whatever you’ve done, we’ll work it out.”

She shook her head, her long brown curls swaying around her shoulders. “I betrayed you and the Pack. I told Felix our secrets. I didn’t mean to. I mean, I don’t know why I did. I hate him. Oh, God, what have I done?” She broke out into sobs and looked away from him.

Keegan took a step forward. Cate snapped her gaze back to him and thrust the gun toward him in warning. “Stop. Don’t, please. I must die. It’s the law! I can’t let you do it. I love you, and I’m so sorry for being a disappointment to you and the boys.”

She moved the gun to her temple and Keegan screamed, “No,” as she fired. He rushed over, catching her limp body, and fell to his knees with his dead mate pressed into his chest. Tears ran down his face and his chest felt like it was being pried open as he cried, hard. He let out a painful roar as he felt her soul rip from his own, severing their mating bond, leaving him empty and alone inside.

P
resent day

Keegan gasped as he sat straight up on the sofa he slept on. His body was covered in a sheen of sweat, and his heart pounded painfully behind his ribs. He scrubbed a hand over his face and peered around the room.

The safe house. He was in the safe house and not back in the woods the day Cate had died.

Fuck. It was just a dream.

No, a nightmare of a memory.

Pulling out his phone, he checked the time, and his eyes lingered on the date. No wonder he dreamed about that awful day. It was the thirty-seventh anniversary of her death.

What he still didn’t understand was why. Why had she believed she had to die? There was always a loophole in the law. All she had to do is trust that they’d work it out.

She had believed death was the only punishment for her. He’d picked up on the thoughts that morning as he watched her sleep. It was the only time he was able to read her thoughts, although he never did it on purpose. He considered it too much of a violation of his mate’s privacy. However, that morning, she’d muttered the word onyx. And after everything the rogue Pack had done to them, he couldn’t stop himself from slipping into her thoughts. He opened his gift to ease the nightmare he believed she was having.

What he found tore his heart out. She talked with the Onyx Alpha as if they were friends, revealing that Keegan and Blaine would be away from the den that afternoon. It was never okay to reveal Pack secrets or any information to another Pack Alpha. To feed information to the one Alpha who wanted to destroy Ashwood and the other Packs in the southeast region of the United States, was an act of treason.

And punishable by death.

Fury mixed with hurt from her betrayal made him withdraw from her thoughts, and he’d pushed the emotions away and refused to believe that his mate would betray him. For all he knew, it could be her own mind creating the thoughts from a dream she had.

Regret washed over him. If only he’d woken her and asked her about it while he wasn’t armed. Maybe he could have stopped her from ending her life...

The rustling of clothes and a soft shuffle of feet against the hardwood floors drew his attention to the opening of the hallway. Addyson Lewis, Pack Scribe, stood wringing her gloved hands in front of her. She’d changed her hair color again right before they’d come to cabin three days ago. The thick straight stands were now blond with purple streaks that made her violet eyes stand out more.

She was beautiful.

He peered into her worried gaze and offered a weak smile. The way she hung back, careful not to come too close to him, and the way she shifted nervously from foot to foot told him she’d sensed his dark mood. She smiled back in that timid way that said her snow leopard was a submissive, but she didn’t move from the spot where she watched him.

Addyson fled to Ashwood just about twenty-five years ago when she’d escaped captivity from Onyx. Generally submissives weren’t scared of others. Cautious, yes, but they didn’t run unless the dominant pushed their cat into total submission. That was rare within a healthy pack because the submissive shifters were the ones to calm and bring peace to the dominants that protected them. They were the backbone of the Pack and a vital asset in keeping the balance within the den.

In Addyson’s case, she’d had a hundred years of hell at the hands of Felix and his rogues. So, yeah, she had a right to be extra cautious.

With a sigh, he held out his hand. “Come here.”

She stepped into the living room and sat in the chair across from him. He felt his lips twitch at her small defiance and dropped his hand. Leaning back on the sofa, he studied her closer. “Did I wake you?”

“No. I’ve been up for about an hour.”

He frowned. It was still early morning, only 7:00. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

She shrugged. “I read until I heard you stir.” Her gaze drifted to his bare chest then back up to his face. A hint of pink colored her cheeks, and her strawberry scent intensified a little. She cleared her throat and asked, “Did you have a bad dream?”

He nodded, not wanting to lie to her. He never liked lies or sugarcoating shit. God knew there’d been enough of that shit while he’d been mated. With Addyson, Keegan knew that she preferred the ugliness along with the beauty that life offered. He was free to speak his mind without worrying about offending her or scaring the shit out her.

“Today is the anniversary of my mate’s death.”

Addyson didn’t gasp like most submissive females would. Instead, her face softened in a caring way. Then again Addyson wasn’t like any female he’d meet. “Thirty-seven years,” she offered softly.

He nodded, not surprised she knew or remembered the date. She was a Scribe, and from what he understood about them, they never forgot anything. Besides the date of Cate’s death was common knowledge within the den, and to most outsiders as well. Only everyone believed rogues had killer her. Shot in the head trying to save her mate.

Yeah, did he say he hated lies?

Well, some lies are meant to protect. This one held up the walls that blocked in the uncontrollable rage that lived inside him. The rage that had taken him three years to contain. The lie also honored her memory to the Pack that had loved her as much as he did, and still did.

“You care to talk about it?”

He snapped his gaze to Addyson’s at the question. She was trying to help, and he so didn’t need her kindness right now. “No.”

Unfazed by the clipped word, she stood just as Will, the fifteen-year-old that had lead a group of rogue assassins into the den two months prior, walked in the living room. Will wasn’t very tall, maybe five two at the most, and he was much too thin for a shifter his age. At first glance the teen looked to be around twelve. Although he had started to fill out in the months he’d been with Addyson.

The kid immediately went over to Addyson and hugged her. She froze for a moment then relaxed and wrapped her arms around him. Her expression softened almost as if relieved to have the touch of another shifter without pain. The two of them had explained that Scribes couldn’t pick up on each other’s psychic signatures.

It was one reason why Scribes didn’t mate with other shifters and lived in pairs or groups within the den they were connected to.

Addyson and Will had both been ripped from their families and made to serve the rogues. They were forced to use their psychometric powers to pull secrets and histories from objects. Without the protection of another Scribe to buffer the ill effects caused by the emotional backlash from the visions they’d go insane. Keegan was amazed that Addyson hadn’t lost her mind. Instead she lost the ability to shield the emotions and the pain that came with them.

Pulling back from the hug, Addyson ruffled the boy’s blond hair and smiled. Will rolled his eyes playfully. Keegan felt his own lips lift at the exchange between the two. “What do you want for breakfast?”

Will stole a quick glance to Keegan before answering. “Can I have an omelet?”

Addyson smiled and nodded. “Sure, hun.”

Keegan watched her and Will walk toward the kitchen, which was a few feet away. When they were out of eyesight, he dropped his head into his hands. What the fuck was he doing?

He was hiding out in a two-bedroom cabin in the mountains.

This was crazy. He was the Alpha, damn it. Well at least until he transferred the power to his eldest son in a few hours.

He’d brought Addyson and Will to the safe house to protect them. He was sure Onyx would look for Will or at least discovered that Addyson was alive.

He stood and made his way to the kitchen, leaned on the doorframe, and watched Addyson carefully flip the omelet. Her blond and purple hair was now tied back with a black ribbon. She was smiling, making her look angelic and otherworldly, almost elfin. As if sensing him, she lifted her gaze and met his stare. Her smile faded, and disappointment washed over him.

He stepped closer and studied her as she turned back to the omelet. Keegan ground his molars, took a deep breath, and calmly asked, “Do you like it here?”

She peered back at him, her eyebrows bunched together before she smoothed out her features in that practiced control she used around others. “It’s not home, but it’s nice. I don’t need much, Keegan.”

He took another step toward her. She turned the stove off and handed Will his plate. The boy stood, watching Keegan as if he would harm Addyson. It made Keegan proud of the kid that he’d want to protect her.

Without looking at the teen, Keegan said, “Will, take your breakfast in the living room and eat before it gets cold.”

From the corner of his eye, Keegan saw Will peer at Addyson. When she gave him a nod, he left them alone. Keegan took another step forward, stopping inches from her. He heard her heart beat speed up and smelled her strawberry scent intensify, but not in fear. She was turned on by his presence.

He inhaled deeply, taking in her scent. His leopard rubbed up against his chest, trying to feel Addyson. He’d never imagine in the past thirty-seven years that he’d find another mate. Then Addyson stumbled into his life about twelve years after losing Cate. He wasn’t ready then, the pain still too raw to acknowledge what the leopard tried to make him see.

He’d finally started to accept it, accept the fact that Addyson had a place in his heart and in his bed.

That was exactly where he wanted her every night.

“I have to leave,” he said in a low whisper.

Her shoulders dropped, and she let out a sigh. “I know.”

“There will be two sentries, Tanner and Kirk, coming to watch over the cabin. I have to go to the den and transfer the Alpha power to Blaine.” He watched her eyes shift from deep purple to almost a lavender as she studied him for several moments. God, he wished he could read her thoughts, but her mind was one of the few he couldn’t enter. Not even in sleep. He’d tried once, about a year after she’d arrived at Ashwood, but it wasn’t for selfish reasons. He’d wanted to help her mind heal from the trauma she endured at the hands of Felix and his rogue den.