Page 124 of Callen's Captive
KATE
Unable to sleep, Kate left the tent early, careful not to wake Callen. He’d had a late-night patrol and had returned exhausted only an hour ago. Callen had been bringing their meals to the tent over the past few days, and she hadn’t seen anyone else. She was getting tired of her seclusion.
Anna had dropped by yesterday, telling them their blood samples came back negative for the virus and that they were cleared to leave. Kate had spoken with her briefly, and it seemed the mood among the pack hadn’t changed. It could be a long time before the pack welcomed her back, if ever. Shifters had long memories against their enemies. That had been Anna’s word.Enemies.
Kate truly hoped they didn’t blame Callen for what she’d done. She asked him how his pack had been treating him, but he brushed off the question. That window, that bond he spoke about that supposedly existed between them, she was sure she had felt it at that precise moment in the form of a steady wave of sadness emanating from Callen. It wasn’t her calling him ‘bear’ in front of the others that had cost him their respect. It was her—what she was, what she had done.
There had to be a way to make things right, for Callen, if not for her. Hiding in the tent wasn’t going to accomplish anything, which is why she decided to venture out and face the consequences of her actions.
As Kate entered camp, the shifters there didn’t simply stare; they glared at her. The name-calling started soon after.Assassin. Human trash. Slut.That last one hurt the most. She was mated to Callen, but apparently, they no longer recognized that bond that was supposed to be very sacred to them. Her shooting Hayden had been a betrayal of them, of Callen.
The part of her raised by Brad and Paula wanted to shrink into nothing, to run away, but something inside her told her to hold her head high and keep walking, no matter what. She wondered if it was the bond, but it didn’t seem to be coming from Callen. Thinking of him made every step that much easier, however, as if he were beside her, encouraging her to keep pushing. She needed to do this for both of them.
“Come to finish me off?” a smooth voice said at the breakfast table.
Heat rose to her cheeks when she realized she’d walked straight up to Hayden.
“I. . . no.”
“No more guns in that backpack of yours?” he asked, except he was scrutinizing her, not the bag on her shoulder.
One of the guards had taken her gun, and right now she was glad. She needed to rely on herself, not Callen or a gun, for protection. As long as she didn’t show the shifters in this pack how nervous she was, she’d make it through.
“No guns,” she said. “Or knives,” she added hastily. “But I suppose I could whack you over the head with my laptop.”
Hayden raised a brow.
“Geez. I don’t know why I said that.”
“Because everyone expects you to try to kill me again.”
Her entire body felt overly warm. She had to be having hot flashes or something.
“Breathe, Kate. I was joking about you returning to finish me off.”
Breathe.She could do that. Maybe.
He rubbed her back slightly, trying to help her calm down. The contact surprised her. It didn’t feel like an affront, like when her guard had touched her, to get her moving, and it didn’t feel like Callen’s touch either, so natural and loving she wanted to lose herself in it. Hayden’s hand on her back was nice, comforting. Shouldn’t she be comforting him or something, considering he was the one who’d been shot?
A growl made her jump. “Take your hands off my mate.”
Hayden snickered softly and pulled his arm away. “Never piss off an enforcer,” he whispered in her ear. Something about that made her laugh. Hayden was surprisingly easy-going. Right now, it was Callen who was making her tense.
Hayden flashed a smile at her before turning to Callen. “Are you still taking orders from Damien these days or have you gone rogue and are simply here to retrieve your mate?”
“I’m not rogue.”
“Then if you’re not rogue, and you take orders from Damien, you also take orders from me. Correct, Enforcer?”
Kate sucked in a breath at the look of pure anger that crossed Callen’s face. His fists clenched at his side. Hayden had height on Callen, but Callen had more muscle mass and he was tightly wound right now.
“Not where my mate is concerned.”
Hayden elbowed her as he turned his back on Callen and finished getting a plate of smoked fish. “And this is why he has so few friends around here. He’s grouchy and likes to intimidate.”
“I see that,” she said, stifling the laugh that was bubbling to the top. There was just something about Hayden that put her at ease, but she wasn’t sure where he was going with any of this, or why he seemed to be intentionally aggravating Callen. Callen looked ready to tear him apart.
“And yet you agreed to blood-bond him. Why?”
