Kas finished cleaning the floor and made his way over to sit at the table with her.
“I mean it, Miss Molly. You’re like a mother to me. Most of the good things I’ve learned have come from you. I don’t want you up here suffering alone. You’re coming back with us. No arguments.”
“Thank you, Kas.”
Molly allowed Kas to embrace her. She’d been by herself for far too long. She looked into her heart, to search for the feelings she’d always had for Hayden. Something told her he was no longer alone. Not in the same way he’d been previously. She couldn’t place it, but somehow he felt closer to her now than before.
There was a new link. A new bond.
It seemed like they had a mutual friend?
It all felt really strange.
“Miss Molly.” Selene appeared at the door of Molly’s bedroom, holding a picture of Hayden in her hand.
There were no pictures of Molly and Hayden together—their time as a couple had been all too brief. However, when Molly returned home from Vietnam, she’d been able to get a picture of Hayden in his uniform from his friend who’d lost the leg. She’d kept it beside her bed ever since.
Selene handed the photo to her. “I assume you want to take this.”
Molly looked at Hayden’s young face staring back at her from the picture. She stroked down it with her finger.
“Yes please.”
Kas helped Molly to her feet. She took one last look around her cave. Instinct told her things would be very different the next time she returned here.
Hayden was on his way back to her. Why now?
The purpose of their split dawned on her…the war between shifters and humans was approaching. She gulped as they dematerialized into thin air.
Please let him be on the side of the shifters.
Chapter Ten
After helping Miss Molly settle into the mansion, Kas had asked Selene to take him to his favorite hunting ground in the unoccupied territories at the tip of Northern Canada. She’d offered to stay with him until he was ready to go home, but he needed time to himself. His brain was full of everything that had been happening lately, and he was exhausted trying to work out how he’d be able to stop it.
He felt as though he was barely holding his pack together let alone himself, and with Jane constantly around him, he was beginning to lose his focus. Visions of them kissing often popped into his head from nowhere. His body was coiled tighter than a spring.
Kas slipped out of his clothes and placed them in a neat pile on the ground. They would be wet when he returned to them, but he didn’t mind because he’d go straight home and change. Everywhere around him was ice, except for where the cold water broke through thinner patches of ice. He shifted into his polar bear form and dove into the ocean. The cold didn’t affect his thick skin and fur—it just gave him the freedom he desired. He surfaced before diving under the water again.
As a polar bear, he loved to swim and could go miles and miles without exhausting himself. Fish swam past him, and he nipped at their tails—it was more for sport than anything else. He wasn’t hungry, so he wasn’t about to try and catch them. When he surfaced again, a different scent in the air caught his nostrils instantly. He spun around to look at the spot where he’d entered the water. Another polar bear stood there. He sniffed again, the scent was familiar. It was similar to his own—it had been with him since a few minutes after he was born. His brother, Nuka.
Kas swam toward the solid ground. He pulled himself from the water and growled a warning.
“What do you want?” Kas used his telepathic abilities to speak to Nuka.
“Is that any way to greet your brother?” Nuka lowered himself until he was sitting on the ground.
Kas remained standing in preparation for any attack his brother might be about to perpetrate.
“If I had a brother who wasn’t a thorn in my side, then I would greet him with affection. You, however, cause me nothing but trouble. I ask again, what do you want?”
“How’s the witch?” Nuka questioned.
Kas twitched his head, “If you’re talking about Jessica, she’s fine. Happy with Ethern in his new form. How’s your druid?”
“Pretty useless to me at the moment. He’s got the ability to do a few spells, but not much else. That was certainly a blow to my plans, destroying Ciaran’s powers.” Nuka reached out a paw and scratched it along the snowy covered ice.
“It really couldn’t have happened to a better man. Why attack the royal family of England?” Kas questioned.