Page 75 of Pack Kasen: Part 2

“Oh God. I love her.” I put my face in my hands. “I locked her in my cage and I treated her like a feral, but I love her.”

Tagge steps from the house, where he must have been eavesdropping all along. The fucking shit.

He snorts. “You are a brilliant warrior. Quick and intuitive in battle. Feared by most and respected by your pack. But in some cases, you are an idiot. Tell. Her. You. Are. Sorry. And pray she forgives you. I’d castrate you myself, but I think she’s more forgiving than I would be.”

I glare at him. “And what do you know about women?”

For once, he’s not smiling. “I know we do not get as many chances as we would like to say the things we need to say. Or evenhavea second chance. Don’t waste yours.” He turns back to the house, calling for his enforcers. “We’re going home now.”

His sister must have left at some point, but I didn’t notice. I guess it was around the time that Tagge realized I wasn’t lying about Kat being my mate.

I watch him curiously as he walks away and climbs into his car. “Why were you trying to mate me with your sister?”

“Because you’re a neighbor and I trust you.”

“Butwhy?”

He smiles. “See you at the council meeting, Aren. And Kataleya too. That’s if you haven’t fucked things up so badly she stabbed you in the night. She would make an interesting Wolf Queen, I think.”

21

KAT

“Finan said a feral killed your mom.”

I swear Aren has stuck a tracker on me because no matter wherever I wander, he’s there minutes later trying to give me food which I don’t want or a blanket which I don’t need.

He’s the ant that crawls under your T-shirt when you’re trying to nap in a park. You scratch and scratch and think it’s gone away, but seconds later, you feel the itch again. And eventually, you accept the little ant is not going anywhere and shut your eyes and nap.

I told Gregor this when I found him counting medical supplies in the bunkhouse—that man is always busy doing something. He laughed for so long and so hard, tears were sliding down his cheeks as he waved me away so I wouldn’t distract him anymore.

I left with a smile, and as the bunkhouse doors slammed shut behind me, there was Aren, stalking toward me before I could go for a walk.

It would have been too much effort to convince him to leave me alone or run away and hope he wouldn’t chase me, so I reluctantly let him come as long as he promised not to try to kiss me or I’d push him in the creek again.

He said he wouldn’t, but there had been a hint of… something in his gaze that warned me not to let my guard down.

He is determined.

I feel him looking at me as we wander into the forest. “That man has a bigger mouth than a Venus flytrap,” he mutters. “What else did he tell you?”

“Nothing,” I deny.

“He said something about me forgetting to put on my pants, didn’t he?”

Forgetting to put on his pants?

How the hell can you forget something like that?

I turn to look at him, frowning. “What?”

Is it awful that I kind of wish I’d seen that? Even if just to laugh?

He scans my face and shakes his head. “Never mind. And the answer is yes. A feral killed my mom. My dad too.”

“So you decided then that you’d kill them all?” I let him lead the way, figuring I had no real direction in mind.

“Not at first.”

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