Page 7 of Brutal Mate

He heard the way she sucked in a breath and followed her startled gaze to where his hand laid on her arm. For several seconds, they remained like that, connected by the simplest of touches, and yet Kane felt and uncontrollable urge to pull her closer and stop her quivering.

He felt it beneath his palm, saw the paleness in her face and how her cheeks flushed with something akin to embarrassment.

Oddly, he felt it, too. Embarrassment, or whatever this was, was not something he was used to feeling. He snatched his hand away.

“I'm sorry,” he apologized quickly. “Whatever you have to tell me, tell it. You have my word it won't get back to them.”

Miley's gaze met his, and this time it was he who sucked in a deep breath. The sensation of looking into those deep green eyes again was akin to being slapped hard across the face, even punched in the chest. And Kane liked it. He actually liked it.

Taken by surprise, he stepped back, but found he was unable to look away or even blink.

It was only when Miley dipped her gaze that he was able to do so.

His muscles hardened against the reaction she had caused within him. Her closeness in the alcove left him uneasy. And yet, he felt the urge to step closer again, almost immediately.

It was his need for whatever knowledge she had on the missing persons, it had to be.

And so he did step forward, careful not to touch her again as he dipped his own head and whispered, “Tell me what you know.”

His voice came out far more husky than intended, and their sharp inhales synced as their gazes met again.

“I…I…I don't know much about the girl from the bar. I don’t go in there, but my father does.”

Kane scoffed at that. It didn't take much to guess where Mr. Peters spent most of his time. He tried hard to focus on what she was telling him and not what he was feeling throughout his entire body.

“I do know the two kids, though,” she admitted, her cheeks flushing crimson. “I haven't really spoken to either of them that much, and I couldn't tell you where they are, but I do know where they’ve been. This one guy is the younger brother of a boyfriend of a friend, and he follows Lexi and Callum everywhere they go. They even hang out in the woods where…”

Miley finally lowered her head again. Kane took a second to register what she was telling him before he opened his mouth to question her.

He didn't get the chance before she shook her head and rang her hands together. “I shouldn't be telling you any of this. The guys would murder me for getting them into trouble, and if my parents knew I'd been sneaking out at night, they'd…”

She shivered, and Kane again felt the urge to touch her, to comfort her. His throat tightened. He could imagine all too easily how it felt to need to get away but be terrified to even try for fear of what might happen if caught.

“You sneak out and go drinking in the woods with some friends, and the missing teenagers are younger siblings of those friends?” Kane said, hoping for confirmation. “Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.”

Though an odd sense of protectiveness tightened his chest at the thought of this beautiful young woman alone and sneaking out to the woods in the middle of the night, he suspected she was safer doing that than she would be if she were caught out by her parents.

He remembered all too well the beatings he had received for being caught himself. He wouldn't inflict that on anyone.

Miley looked at him as if surprised before finally nodding slowly. “There isn't much for us to do around here in Nightstar, and you know how parents can be.”

She shrugged as if it were no big deal, and Kane cringed. Maybe if he had been born a wolf, he would have considered having kids of his own, but he certainly wouldn't have treated them the way his parents had treated him, or the way Miley's were clearly treating her now.

“How old are you, Miley?”

At the question, she raised a brow. “Old enough to know it's none of your business,” she snapped back at him. Kane was taken aback by that. She was meek and mild, frightened even, and yet there was venom in her tone.

Her eyes widened and she quickly averted her gaze from his. “I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me.”

Kane bit the inside of his lip, angry with himself for putting her on the spot like that. He knew how it felt to be constantly on edge, constantly battling the urge to fight or flee, always looking over your shoulder with a need to just survive the next couple of hours.

The urge to grab Miley, throw her over his shoulder and carry her away from it all was so strong he had to shove his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

“I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable,” he said carefully, “I only wished to know the gap between you and the missing persons.”

It was a lie, but it was the best he could come up with. He wished to know her more than he cared to admit.

“Nineteen,” Miley said, lifting her gaze with a gentle smile as if she were sorry, too. It was the first smile he had seen on her lips, and though it barely touched her mouth for a second, it made his insides flutter.

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