Page 108 of Callen's Captive
“Do you think I don’t want to? I know the type of person he is, but I can’t even think straight for more than five minutes here. I feel like I’m ready to jump out of my skin. Everywhere I look there are trees. They’re closing in on me. I can’t breathe, my skin is on fire and. . .” Already her world was spinning, and she felt so warm despite the chilly winter weather. “He knew of my issues with being in the woods, but he didn’t think about any of that. He did what he thought was right for him and his pack.”
“You’re mad—”
“Damn right I’m mad, and the worst part is I have only myself to blame.”
“Excuse me?” Aloe asked. “Now I’m confused.”
Kate let out a deep breath. She might as well let them know. If she was going to be stuck here—and she hadn’t quite resigned herself to that inevitability—she’d need some friends. These women, though opinionated, weren’t the catty type. They were passionate about their pack, each other, and doing what was right. She couldn’t find fault with any of that, even if it meant they’d turn her in.
“He was ready to come back here on his own and then I slept with him. Big mistake on my part.”
“Then he decided to follow you?” Tess said, grinning.
“If I had let him leave, then I wouldn’t be stuck here now.”
“True, but then you wouldn’t have Callen either.”
Did she even have Callen? She had pushed him away as hard as she could—so hard he hadn’t looked at her since that day two weeks ago.
“Let me ask you something,” Tess began, setting the pair of jeans she’d been sewing aside. “Do you think when Callen decided to stay with you instead of returning to his pack, it was an easy decision for him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then let me tell you about the Callen we all see. Aloe’s known him her whole life and I’ve only known him about six months now, and he still scares both of us.”
“You’re scared of him?” That shocked her. Why would anyone be scared of Callen? He was a big old teddy bear most of the time. “Why?”
“Because he doesn’t let us in. We see the guy who rarely smiles, who says little but watches everything and everyone. The enforcer.”
“And I was married to an enforcer,” Aloe spoke up for the first in a long time. “So, I know how driven they can be.”
Tess gave Aloe a soulful look before continuing. “Callen’s scary, hard to approach, especially after you see him tear into someone in defense of the pack. There can’t possibly be a nice guy under all that doom and gloom and muscle, right?” Kate was about to object when Tess held up her hand to let her finish. “But then every so often we catch a glimpse of the guy inside, the one that’s reprimanding Blade for whatever stupid thing he’s done lately while grinning behind his back, appreciating Blade for all of his light-heartedness.
“Or we see Callen fix one of the kids’ tree swings late at night, when he thinks no one’s watching. There’s nothing he won’t do to protect them. This pack is everything to him. For Callen to even think about walking away is just not something anyone would ever envision. If anyone had told me Callen would walk away from his pack, I would have told them I’d believe that the day the sun turned blue.”
Aloe moved over to sit beside Kate. She placed her hand gently on her arm. “Callen hides himself from us. But we all watched him at the blood-bonding and how he looked and cared for you. There were expressions on his face I’d never seen, and I’ve known him since we were children. You give him something he can’t get from the pack, something his soul needs.’”
Kate understood everything they were saying. Callen didn’t open up to people easily, but he cared deeply. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body, despite his role as an enforcer. She rubbed the scars on her chest that hadn’t quite healed. Traitor. Sometimes that’s exactly how she felt. The scars itched and every time she undressed and saw them she remembered everything Briggs had done to her and how she’d once compared Callen to Briggs.
She’d been so foolish, then and now. Living here would probably kill her, but the alternative—the very idea of not being with Callen—made her chest ache. It still stung knowing that he’d decided to trap her here, perhaps for the rest of her life, but she’d have to learn to deal with her new reality, or she’d lose Callen.
* * *
CALLEN
Callen had been watching Kate from a distance for the past few weeks. His eyesight, hearing, speed, and sense of smell had not diminished with the blood-bond, nor his ability to shift quickly. The only thing left to test was his ability to heal. Given how quickly Kate had healed, he suspected most or all of his ability to heal transferred to her. That was fine. It was his duty to protect her, and living out here, especially through the winter, would prove challenging for her. They already had ten inches of snow, and it was only the beginning of December.
The pack had built a series of log cabins in record time, though sharing was necessary. Couples wanting privacy needed to take a tent and put up with the cold or learn to endure with less privacy or less sex. Given the sounds in his own cabin, less privacy seemed to be the choice for most of the single shifters. He shared a cabin with Frank, Pryce, and Alex. Kate had been staying with Aloe, Kai, Jenny and Trenton, the teacher. Callen didn’t like there being a guy in there with his Kate, but he had no say in the matter. Being blood-bonded didn’t give him the right to control her, and she’d made it quite clear she didn’t want him near her.
Getting her alone to talk was damn near impossible, especially since she spent a lot of time in her cabin. The only time she ventured away was to go fishing along the river. Trenton had shown her how to cast a net. Callen had watched that day, making sure the school teacher wasn’t a threat. The shifter conducted himself appropriately, but Callen was starting to see what Damien had never liked about the guy. The teacher was too charming and made the ladies laugh. Kate should be laughing with Callen, not the damn school teacher.
Callen watched Kate from the trees as she spun the net forward with a slinging motion that released it. The smile on her face, the sense that she’d finally released the net properly, warmed him. She was learning, which was good. Kate wasn’t one to sit around and not contribute. He was confident she would find her niche here, but it would take time and patience.
When she reeled the net in and found it empty, the disappointment on her face was clear. She reset the net and cast it again. His Kate wasn’t one to give up either. Pryce said she was fully healed, thanks to the blood-bonding. Callen had made the right choice, blood-bonding her to save her life. Yet he couldn’t help but want everything other blood-bonded pairs had. To have Kate in his arms, in his life, to be with her day in and day out.
As she cast the net for a fourth time, her body moved with grace, as if she were born to this life. Even her skin seemed to glow out here in the fresh air. Her lips were full and moist, quite kissable, but then again, she’d always been kissable, even when covered in bruises.
Callen missed his Kate. He’d condemned her to a life she never wanted, a life that terrified her all too often. Except by the river. Fishing relaxed her, perhaps because there were fewer trees by the shore where she fished.
