Alpha Ember (ALPHA KANE BOOK 2)

11. Angry Moms Attack Me

Ember

I've been attacked in all sorts of ways: with words courtesy of Kane, Helen, Darius, my mom and the league of werewolf bullies that decided I was easy pickings because I didn't fight back. There were the punches and kicks from fighting in the cage, the knife in the throat from Alpha and worst of all, the punch in the gut I always got lately when I found something I wanted to talk to Aster about but realized I couldn't tell her anything ever again. All of these things painful, and I was expecting Arius to be in for a greater world of pain when Kane bypassed me and went after him because Kane didn't look like he had any intention of stopping at all.

Was he going after Arius without waiting to hear my side of the story?

Wrong.

The wolf's stride slowed to a trot before he halted in front of me, chest heaving from running although he sounded a lot less winded than me.

I held up both hands, breathing through my mouth and trying to speak at the same time. "Let...me...explain."

He pushed against my side gently, snout rubbing against my very vulnerable stomach. I would've thought he was picking a fight with me, giving me a taunting shove in challenge until I heard his voice in my head, roughened by irritation. Lie down.

Lie down?

I gave both him and the sidewalk a skeptical look. "Here? Right now?"

Another shove.

"You're not going to gut me or something, are you?" I asked.

He glowered.

"I was kidding." Partly.

I almost didn't do it, but I guessed complying this time couldn't hurt after all the worry I'd caused. Maybe it was a smoke screen and he was going to follow Arius as soon as I lowered my guard. Maybe he was going to grab my feet and drag me away, a captive caught and off to face judgment in front of the rest of the pack.

Trust. I had to trust him and stop expecting the worst. Trust that he'd be understanding. Trust that he wouldn't hurt me. Trust that he wouldn't humiliate me despite the fact that it appeared like I'd already done precisely that to him. Because Arius was right, if I did nothing but doubt him, how could I call him my mate?

Taking the leap of faith, I sat down and lied back, praying nobody came along and happened to see me in the middle of the street like this. Kane was safe because pack magic would disguise him as a dog but I was on my own. I peered up at him. "Now what?"

Now stay, he replied. And plopped down right on top of me.

What the hell?

***

Thirty minutes of Jett telling him I wasn't going to skip off into the sunset with Arius was what finally got him off me. But Kane still wasn't convinced I wasn't going to leave him eventually, I could feel it. Could see it in the slump of his shoulders, walking behind me with his head lowered. As if he was coming back from a battle he'd lost.

I wanted to blurt everything out then and there but Jett suggested we get the unconscious girl back to Kane's place first. "He's been in wolf form for weeks, I'm not sure he'll be able to understand you anyway," Jett said. "Darius will help him change back, you can fill me in on what happened while he does."

I nodded mutely, feeling like a wayward teenager that had snuck out to party all night but had been found out and was being driven back home. It wasn't fair when I hadn't even set out to Faerie on my own, and even less fair that the two people who had been responsible had been the only ones to escape. Yet I was the one who was subjected to Darius' insultingly smug looks in the car, Jett's quietness as he drove, a quietness I couldn't help but ponder over its quality of usualness, and- the cherry on top- the pity party Kane was suddenly throwing himself.