Page 119 of Callen's Captive
Damien opened the plastic bag with photos. Briggs had torn or crumpled most of them, but she’d taken the time to flatten them out, restore them the best she could without tape. After leafing through the pile, Damien withdrew a piece of paper and unfolded it. A flash of anger crossed his face as he laid the paper flat on the bag and held it down with a single finger.
“Explain why she has a picture of Hayden.”
Callen picked up the hand-drawn picture. “I can’t.”
KATE
Kate turned over on the bed, placing her back to the two guards that never left her. No one spoke to her. Callen hadn’t come for her. He’d promised never to leave her, but he hadn’t come for her. That was just as bad. She’d done something to anger him, though she wasn’t sure what.
Damien had come earlier, asking her a lot of questions that didn’t make any sense. Why did she try to kill Hayden? Where did she get the gun? Who trained her to shoot?
That last question was easy. No one had taught her to shoot. She had found a gun once when she was fifteen, and she had used it, when that guy had attacked her in the abandoned apartment building where she had been living. She had hit him on the third shot, and he’d run off. After that, she had gone to the edge of the woods to practice, until she had run out of bullets. Then she stole a case of bullets. Eventually, she used WSSO money to pay for bullets.
Her answer didn’t satisfy Damien, though. He asked about Drake next. If Drake had bought the gun for her and trained her how to shoot. It had become clear that the alpha didn’t believe anything she told him. Two weeks living here had not been enough to earn the respect of the shifters here. They saw her as human and always would. Problem was, she was human. Is that why Callen hadn’t come?
The scrape of the door along the wood floor made her entire body stiffen. She could swear she smelled that delicious scent of Callen. Back in town, he had always smelled like the woods and fresh air to her, but here, his smell stood out as something sharp and warm at the same time.
“Kate?”
Callen! She turned over. Her excitement bled away when she saw he was standing beside Damien and made no move to approach her.
“I want to go home, Callen. Back to Riverview.”
She heard the sharp intake of his breath. He never liked Riverview, and she could understand why. There wasn’t much to like about the town. Even so, she belonged there, not here where she was a human among a bunch of shifters who didn’t want her. Even Callen no longer wanted her. If he did, he wouldn’t have left her in here.
“I came to ask you a question,” he said.
Another question. Where was the shifter who gave her bear hugs and told her everything would be okay? Kate turned back to face the wall and pushed back against that tingle she’d been feeling in her soul, the one she had begun to associate with Callen.
Voice rose behind her. Damien and Callen were exchanging some harsh words. Something about isolation and trauma and protecting the pack. She let the words fly past her. Maybe if she stayed quiet, they’d leave.
“Kate.” Callen again.
She was hurting, and all she needed was a hug, but he stayed over there by the door. That was fine. She’d survive without a hug, without Callen if necessary, but something deep down inside of her couldn’t ignore him.
“I’m here,” she said, having trouble getting the words out.
“We found a drawing in with the photos in your backpack. It’s of a shifter. Where did you get it?”
“Drake gave it to me.”
“Why?”
“So, I could kill him.”
Gasps, curses, shuffling of feet, another argument and a loud thud as a body slammed against a wall. She clamped her eyes shut, wishing she could do the same with her ears. They weren’t going to let her sleep. Last night she hadn’t slept well. She missed having Callen’s body wrapped around her. He kept the nightmares from becoming too bad.
“Enough!” Callen shouted. That caused her to jump up in bed in time to see the two guards restraining Callen. He hadn’t been shouting at her, but at Damien.
“You’re hurting him!” she said as she jumped off the bed and charged the tall guard with sandy-brown hair.
With one arm, the shifter shoved her back, and she went flying against the wall. She gasped for air, unable to breathe as the wind was knocked out of her. Then Callen was there, lifting her into his arms. His touch sent such a warmth and calm through her she released the whimper that had been trapped inside her body.
As Callen wrapped his arms around her, she buried her head against his body. It was just them again, like in the treehouse, the gas station, even that horrid storage unit that was cold and smelled from everything the WSSO had burned.
“Her skin’s clammy and she’s not herself, Damien. She’s in shock.”
“I’m beginning to think you’re right. Something more is going on here. I’ll send Pryce by to take a look at her.”
