Page 41 of Pack Kasen: Part 2

She blinks her eyes open. They’re striking, that pale blue, almost icy, with chips of hazel. Every time she looks at me, it’s like being caught in a spell.

Right now, those eyes are clouded with confusion. “What happened? I had this dream about…” Her voice trails off as she searches my face. “It wasn’t a dream, was it?”

I shake my head. “Not a dream.”

“What happened?” Her voice is softer than usual.

“You fainted.”

“I don’t faint.” A line forms between her eyebrows.

“First time for everything.”

She looks around. “Where is everyone?”

“Outside.” Suddenly, I’m vibrating with rage. At Tagge for setting this in motion. At myself for not being with Kat when Tagge blindsided her like that. “Do you need water? I can?—”

“I think I saw my dad,” she says quietly. “I always thought…”

This vulnerable side is new, and I don’t know what to do, but it’s making me hesitant, afraid I’ll say something or do something that will hurt her. I’ve hurt her too fucking much already. I can’t do it again.

“Patric, the Wolf Lord of Lake Prairie.” It’s a battle to keep a tight rein on my anger. This is something I should have known or at least seen coming. Not Tagge. Kat is my mate, and in this, I have failed her. “You thought you had a different dad?”

She nods once, a tiny motion. “My name wasn’t Kat before. You said there was no record of me before college, and it’s because I had a different name. Rylie Cooper.” She eyes me for a beat, then adds, “This doesn’t mean I forgive you.”

I flash her a quick grin. “I know. How about we call a truce? You can go back to hating me tomorrow.”

“That sounds fair.”

I can’t help but smile as I card my fingers through her dark strands, wanting to comfort her. Her hair was in a braid before, but it must have fallen out and I like that it has. Kat, with her hair down, makes me think of rumpled sheets and morning sex.

She makes a soft hum of pleasure in the back of her throat as she leans into my touch. The sound makes my cock stir and my wolf craves the touch of her skin.

All shifters crave touch, and Kat is no different.

Caring for my mate is an entirely different experience than caring for my pack. It’s more intimate. I’d suspected it would be. But I hadn’t expected to enjoy it so much. And I do.

I want to strip the clothes from my body—from hers—and climb into this bed with her. Stay in this bed with her today, tomorrow, maybe even forever.

But that isn’t what she needs right now.

She needs answers.

I give them to her.

“He is a Wolf Lord, one of the strongest alphas. That’s what it means.” I explain something I should have told her before. There is so much I haven’t told her. I need to be better at that. “And a long time ago, his child died.”

Her fingers clench around the waistband of my sweatpants. Tight.

“But that child was me. That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? That’s why when I saw him, I knew him.”

“What happened to you?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” she whispers. “There is so much I don’t know.”

“You’re from Nebraska. Patric’s pack takes their name from their surroundings, like most packs. They have a prairie with a lake and a field filled with?—”

“Sunflowers as tall as I am,” she whispers.

---