Page 92 of Callen's Captive
“No,” she said, her voice trailing off. “You don’t mean that.”
Hell, he knew this wasn’t going to go well. She wanted the truth. Fine. He wasn’t going to sugar-coat anything. There was no reason to. He’d already lost her.
“Of course, that’s not what he means,” Blade said.
“Shut up,” Callen said. “I can mess up a relationship on my own without any help from you.”
“Why did you want to kill him?”
That horrified look on her face was pushing him further into a dark place, one where he could wallow for a while, and come up when she was gone, when he no longer felt the pain of losing her.
“I thought that part was obvious. I’m an awful shifter,” Callen said as he shifted and shot off through the trees.
* * *
KATE
Blade sighed. “He wasn’t there to kill me. He was there to stop me from stirring up the bear population. I’d been stealing honey for a few weeks, and they knew it was a wolf shifter, so they’d been sending groups of bear shifters into Damien’s territory to cause as much trouble as possible with a warning to stop the thefts. They didn’t know I was a lone wolf and not associated with Damien’s pack. To them, we’re all part of one large wolf shifter nation, like the humans who are governed by the U.S. government.
Everything that Blade had shared was a lot to take in, but the way Callen had left, the way he’d belittled himself. . . all of that made her feel horrible about how she’d been ignoring him. She left Blade to rest and walked in the direction she’d seen Callen run. She kept playing everything over and over in her mind, analyzing everything she’d said to Callen from the day they’d met until today. He really hadn’t changed at all. She’d seen nothing but goodness in him. Could Blade be right? That being the pack’s enforcer was merely a job?
The silence from Callen during their walk had given her time to think. Callen’s lying to her was only a part of why she was angry with him. He hadn’t trusted her with the truth. He hadn’t thought her strong enough to handle it, to look past it and see who he was inside. That really hurt. She had trusted him with everything, her past, her fears, even her body, but he still thought she only saw who he was on the outside. A shifter. An enforcer.
It was too dark to follow his tracks much further without getting lost, so she turned back. Blade was laying down, his arms folded neatly behind his head as he looked up at the bits of sky visible through the thick cover of trees. Every so often, he winced or gasped. As he’d explained it to her earlier, his wolf was focusing on repairs, not pain management. Yet despite what had to be excruciating pain given his injuries, Blade was remarkably relaxed.
“How do you do that? Ignore what he does? Forget what Callen did to you?” she asked.
“Why would I want to forget that he saved my life?”
“He nearly killed you, twice, from what I understand.”
“Actually, this is the third time.” Blade thought about that for a moment. “Hey Cal,” he yelled over in the direction Callen’s wolf had run off. “This is the third time you’ve tried to kill me. I think that entitles me to more than a belated bachelor party. You should jump out of a cake or something humiliating.”
“Fuck you,” Callen shouted from the distance.
He hadn’t gone far then. He’d distanced himself, but he’d stayed close enough to guard, them, to protect her.
“See, all’s good,” Blade said, with a warm smile.
Kate laughed. It was hard not to, given Blade’s easygoing nature. “I was horrified when I heard Anna was involved with you,” she confessed.
Blade’s smile faded, and he turned his head to her. Oh, Kate could see how guarded he was when it came to Anna. He had that same look Callen used to have for her. Her heart sank at the realization she’d never see that look on Callen’s face again.
“What do you mean? You don’t think I’m good enough for her?”
“I thought you were the pack’s enforcer. That’s what the WSSO’s profile on you says. I was hoping she’d find someone who’d be good to her, make her laugh even. She needs that after what she went through with Kurt.”
Blade’s expression eased up.
“Callen explained the WSSO had the wrong shifter listed as your pack’s enforcer. I was relieved for Anna’s sake. I just never imagined that Callen was that enforcer. He could have told me then. Heshouldhave.”
“Do you know why he didn’t?”
“He’s ashamed of what he does.”
“My guess is you’re ashamed of what he does.”
“Me?”
