Page 131 of Callen's Captive
“Are we going to talk about this? Did you know you’re a shifter and never told me because you were afraid?”
She pulled up her pants. He still questioned her ability to trust him and that left her feeling numb. She slammed the window shut, and Callen winced.
His thumb caressed her cheek. “You need to stop hiding from me.”
“I’m not hiding.”
“Then tell me everything.”
“One of the mercenaries grabbed me, punched me in the face, and I got mad. You know, really mad. I’d had enough of them hunting me, hurting me, hurting others. Then the next thing I knew, I was leaping at him and tearing his throat out with my teeth, except they weren’t my teeth, not really. They were wolf teeth. I didn’t understand what was happening.”
“I wasn’t talking about your shifting, and you know it. I’m your mate. We’re bonded. There’s something going on with you. Why won’t you talk to me?”
“I do.”
“No, you close yourself off like I’m the enemy.”
“I don’t screw my enemies,” she said, pushing past him. He grabbed her arm, and she yelped.
He immediately let go. “Fuck!” he said as he walked off, hands on hips, then stopped, a good five feet from her, his back to her. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but it didn’t change the fact that he was pushing her for answers she couldn’t give. “I’m sorry. What I said was uncalled for.”
She swallowed hard, struggling to keep her own emotions in check. He had sensed something was bothering her, beyond the death of two innocent shifters. She couldn’t tell him, not yet. He needed a few days to mourn, to accept, and to learn how to move on before she hit him with the news.
“I can’t talk about it right now.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.” She bit into the pendant.
He stepped forward, less angry, but still tense. Gently, he eased the pendant from her mouth and pulled her in tight, giving her one of those bear hugs that made her feel wanted, loved, and oh-so-protected. If only she could do the same for him.
When they returned to their tent, they undressed and crawled into the sleeping bag. She felt cool, but not cold, and the heat that had plagued her for the past few weeks was gone. Even her anxiety had lessened. She’d been going through some transformation, and she hadn’t even known it. No one had. What the hell was she?
“Callen,” she said, as she laid her arm across his chest, enjoying the feel of his warm skin against hers. “I didn’t tell you I’m a shifter because I didn’t know. I don’t understand how. I mean, wouldn’t I have known before?”
He fell quiet, thinking, while two fingers zig-zagged along her arm with the lightest touch. “You would know. Shifters shift during puberty. Without exception. It’s not something we can control at first. One day, it just happens, when we least expect it.”
“Maybe the blood-bond made me a shifter?”
“No. Humans can’t turn into shifters, unless they’re exposed to the original virus. But that was destroyed over a hundred years ago.”
She pressed her body into his, feeling a shiver go down her spine. His fingers caressed her hip and stomach. It was as if he needed to touch her now, not break contact. Or maybe that was simply what she needed, truth be told.
“I’m scared.”
“Of the WSSO?”
They’d find her again. That was an inevitability. Next time there wouldn’t be any teens or dads dying in the process, however. She’d see to that. It had taken years, but Kate finally understood the WSSO and their sickness.
“I’ve been human my whole life.” He rolled over onto her and wiped the tear rolling down her cheek. “What am I now?”
“That’s easy,” he said as he slid into her. Long, slow strokes flamed the fire that never seemed to go out when he was near. “You’re Kate.”
He made it sound so simple. As she opened the bond to him, a steady wave of love flooded her, encircling her soul, warming her, bathing her in all the goodness that was Callen.
* * *
CALLEN
