Page 57 of Soul Fated

“It’s the dagger,” Callista hissed. “This isn’t Lana talking.”

My fists clenched, and I had to force myself to stay still.

"Get in the truck." Lana nodded at Callista.

I scoffed. “Hell, no.” Lana’s eyes flashed, but I didn’t give her the chance to get in another dig. “Callista’s driving with us. If you want to help your friend, you’ll have to get this hunk of metal out of the mud and follow.”

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

Callista

Igripped the truck seat, not sure if I was trying to ground myself or keep from jumping out of the moving vehicle. Beside me, Bill leaned against the door, his grizzled beard brushing his chest. Kael sat on the other side of the bench seat.

The sides of our thighs touched, and as much as I tried to tell myself it meant nothing, my heart still beat faster. I can’t take a mate. He’d made himself extremely clear. But he still came for me. He still took care of me. He hadn’t gone to Lana first.

Lana. I couldn't stop thinking about her. She'd been there with me through everything, and now she was in her truck by herself. Alone and dealing with . . . well, whatever this was.

Kael had been smart to force her hand. Lana wasn’t in her right mind, and I couldn’t predict what she would’ve done. Taken me back to Bill’s? Back to Black Lake?

The truck hit a pothole, and I bounced in my seat, my hip pressing against Kael's. I sucked in a breath and pulled away, but my wolf didn’t. She whined, wanting to press closer. She was confused. Frustrated. It had only taken a few minutes in the truck with Kael for her to start running circles in my head.

I couldn’t pretend this was just heat or lust or dark magic from the dagger anymore. Yes, Kael was dangerously hot, and it was normal to have a physical reaction to someone like him. I’d heard enough stories about mating bonds to understand how they could skew your perspective, but what I felt around Kael wasn’t that either.

It was his heart. His energy. There was no other way to describe it. It was like being on the beach, closing my eyes, and feeling the power of the waves as they crashed against the shore. I couldn't see the force of them, but I could feel it. Like a pulse, a heartbeat.

I was attuned to his scent, even when he masked it, I noticed. I was tuned to his frequency. And he couldn’t take a mate.

It was good, wasn’t it? I didn’t trust myself to make the right choice where he was concerned. Everything he’d whispered to me on the river bank was true. He didn’t have a pack or any stability. Wasn’t that what I wanted? A safe place to live? A place to raise pups?

That thought only made me think about Kael delivering Marissa’s baby, which wasn’t helping. I shifted in my seat and tried to focus on something else. Anything.

But the movement of the truck kept jostling me, forcing me to touch him. Every accidental brush sent my wolf into a low-grade frenzy. She craved him. With every bump, it was like she was trying to climb out of my skin and into his.

It’s not going to happen, I soothed, trying to help her settle. When she insisted that Kael was our home, I sent a picture of our house, my bedroom. When she said that Kael was safety, I brought to mind my alpha, my brother, and Jasper. She growled, stamping her paws.

What was she trying to tell me? Kael was a rogue wolf. Why was she?—?

I jolted as if someone had thrown a bucket of ice water over my head.

“You’re an alpha,” I blurted.

Kael's eyes snapped to mine. "What?"

I sucked in a breath, then exhaled with a laugh. "You’re a damn alpha, that—” I pressed my hands on the dash. That made so much sense. No wonder my wolf was so drawn to him. It was his energy, just not in the way I thought.

"Hot damn. She figured it out before you did." Bill’s eyes glinted with amusement.

I turned to him. “Did you know?”

Kael sat back in his seat, shifting his eyes out the window. "There’s nothing to figure out. It doesn't matter."

Bill scoffed. "It matters. You just don't want it to."

Kael's jaw tensed. "I don't have a pack. I don't want a pack."

"That's not what I asked." I leaned forward.

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