Page 134 of Callen's Captive
Hayden’s mouth thinned. “Actually, Drake was the one who played with Kate. I was the one who taunted her. Sorry, Kate. Not my finest moment. Grandfather kept telling me over and over not to play with you, because you weren’tpure, and I would be alpha one day, after my father. Believe me, I paid for it when my father found out what I’d been calling you. I couldn’t sit for a week after that. I’d been mimicking grandfather, trying to be the shifter he expected me to be. I didn’t understand what was going on at the time within the pack, about the power struggle.”
“It’s done, in the past,” Kate said with a wave of her hand.
Hayden sighed. “But it still hurts, doesn’t it?”
Kate plastered a smile on, one that Callen knew was meant to hide her hurt. “What were my parents’ names? What were they like? I have faint images in my head, but I’m not even sure if they’re real.”
“Your father, Slater, was the oldest and next in line to be alpha. When he blood-bonded Sophia, a human, our grandfather Jacob disowned him. They weren’t exiled though. They lived with the pack on the outskirts. Nathan, my father, was the middle of the three brothers. He was next in line to be alpha at that point. He and Slater had always been close and remained close after your parents blood-bonded. I suspect it was Logan, the youngest of the three brothers, who killed your parents, and later mine as well.”
“But why?” she choked back a cry, and Callen pulled her to sit onto his lap. She was shaking, and his wolf had his hackles up, unable to understand her distress.
“It’s possible our grandfather ordered the hit on Slater because he had defied him and blood-bonded Sophia, but doing so five years after they had had a child made no sense. I remember Jacob as a crusty old bastard, but not cut-throat, not like Logan. Logan was crazy, power-hungry, horrible in every way.”
“Then how did she end up with humans in foster care?” Callen asked.
“I think my dad put her there, to hide her from Logan. My dad had gone missing for two days. When he returned, he said there’d been a terrible fight between Logan and Slater, and that we wouldn’t see Lynn anymore. At the time, I thought he meant they’d left the pack, to live elsewhere, but then he said that he’d taken Lynn somewhere safe. He never explained it further, but things were really tense between him and Logan after that. We never saw Slater and his family ever again. No one talked about it, except our parents, who constantly warned us to stay away from Logan.
“Two years later, when Jacob was ill and ready to name the next alpha, my dad was killed. A few of Logan’s friends carried his body home, said humans had shot him. He was on the funeral pyre before grandfather or my mom could see his body. I think Jacob suspected the truth, but he didn’t want to acknowledge it. He only had one son left at that point. Logan was named the next alpha. My mother warned us that night, to be extra careful around Logan. That he’d murdered both his brothers. She passed a few weeks later. I never knew the cause. After we lit her funeral pyre, Logan took Drake to raise as his own. That’s when I knew he’d been behind my mother’s death, so he could get his hands on Drake. I was raised by distant cousins, didn’t get to see Drake much after that. That was the beginning of the rift between us.”
“You come from one fucked-up family,” Callen said.
“Yeah, well, now you know the ugly truth. And probably how Drake found Kate. He would have remembered her. Who knows how long he’s been looking for her, or why even, but I’m sure he didn’t simply bump into her.”
“Slater and Sophia,” Kate repeated the names aloud.
“You resemble your dad.” He smiled, all reminiscent-like. “You had a great mom. She doted on you, on all of us, and she was fiercely protective of you, Kate, except around Jacob. He scared her. He didn’t like humans, and it showed. But that was one place you didn’t need her. You held your own against him, despite his prejudices. I think that’s why he liked you. Your fierce spirit.”
Callen pulled Kate against his chest and kissed the back of his head. “She is fierce, as human and shifter. But she needs some training.”
“Why didn’t I shift earlier?”
“The blood-bond,” Anna offered. She had joined the story halfway through and was now sitting on Blade’s lap. He had his arm circled around her belly. “It must have completed the code from your bridge, allowing you to shift. And it explains why Callen didn’t lose any of his strength or abilities.”
“I started getting really hot after the blood-bond. I thought it was my anxiety.”
“I guess that means I’m back to being the only human.” Anna patted her stomach. “But it’s nice knowing what to expect for this little one now that we know your background.”
“Make sure you don’t call the kid half-breed, okay?” Kate said.
“I said I was sorry. And considering you shot me, can we call it even and forget that part of our childhoods?”
Kate stood up and studied Hayden, who was at least a head taller than her. “Do you look like him? Like Logan?”
“So, I’ve been told,” Hayden said, his lips thinned. “That’s why you shot me?”
“I think so. I really don’t remember doing it.”
“Well, not the best family reunion I’ve had, but not the worst,” Hayden said, his tone forgiving and playful again.
“Cousins, huh?” Kate asked, one brow raised, as if she was debating something.
“You could do worse,” Callen said.
“Cousin to Drake too,” Damien added.
“Shit. I’m related to Drake now,” Callen said.
Kate laughed, covering her mouth. “I finally have a family!”
“I said ‘Drake’, Princess.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m no longer a throwaway.”
Callen wrapped his arms around Kate from behind. The fact that she considered herself a throwaway all this time worried him. Blood-bonding her simply wasn’t enough for her.Hewasn’t enough for her.
