Page 142 of Callen's Captive
He should have been there for her. It didn’t matter that she had left him behind, begged him not to follow. Trust. . .The message Frank had delivered said she trusted Callen. What the fuck good was trust if she was dead? He had trusted her not to die. Trust meant nothing now. He had broken his promise to her; he had failed to protect her.
* * *
Once darkness felland the few remaining businesses nearby closed for the evening, Callen slipped in through the back door. The space looked like it had been used by a bakery or perhaps a catering business at one time. Now it was full of cobwebs, mice, the usual. It was the type of place his Kate would have turned into a temporary home.
Callen tugged the silver chain out from under his shirt and held the pendant between his thumb and forefinger. Frank had returned to camp with it and given it to him along with Kate’s message. There had been no additional words between them, then or since. Frank had felt the weight of her death, almost as much as Callen. Callen had worn the necklace ever since. It was all he had left of her. He ran his finger over the bite marks.
Kate, his beautiful Kate. Three weeks ago, only days after she had left the pack, Callen had felt her open their bond. He had felt her love, so complete and full that it had floored him. Then the waves of pain and fear crossed the bond. He knew immediately that the WSSO had caught her. Quickly, the bond withered, only to disappear completely. He knew in that moment that she was gone, lost to him forever.
He found out later that Nate and Enrique, the shifters who had been assigned to watch her back, the ones she had outwitted and lost, heard on the news that the WSSO had suffered a major theft of funds, but that they had found the hacker responsible—a young woman in her mid-twenties, a drifter, a thief, a mentally disturbed person. That last part angered Callen, but he held his emotions in check until Enrique told him every last detail.
The news reported that the man responsible for stopping the hacker, a Jerome Briggs, had been killed by a wolf soon after the woman’s capture. The woman had escaped, but the wolf had been killed in the process. The WSSO hadn’t figured out that the woman and wolf were one and the same, that the carcass they had burned was his beautiful, sweet Kate.
Callen hadn’t wept, not in the middle of the pack. He needed to stay strong for them. Inside, he was broken. He’d lost the love of his life. He hadn’t listened to his wolf or his own instincts that said to go after her, to watch over her. He had trusted his packmates to do what had been his duty to do, to protect her, and she had paid the ultimate price.
Mason stayed glued to the radio after Kate’s death. Several news agencies had been reporting dozens of arrests in the government, people who were diverting government funds to the WSSO and overlooking their illegal activities, including murdering shifters. It was the first time the government had ever used ‘murder’ and ‘shifter’ in the same sentence, implying it was a crime.
Thanks to Kate’s hard work, shifters were getting the type of attention they deserved. As for the rest, Callen could only guess Kate had succeeded. Damien moved the pack to their northern camp temporarily, and there had been no signs of the WSSO entering their territory. Liam had reported the same. The WSSO was far from destroyed, but they had been severely crippled.
Kate had succeeded in her mission, which gave Callen immeasurable pride in her, but the price had been too steep. He wanted to feel the soft tickle of her hair as she laid her head on his chest, to feel the strong, sure touch of her fingers skimming over his muscles, searing everywhere she touched with a love that branded his soul. More than anything he wanted his best friend and lover by his side again, smiling, laughing, and bringing light into his life.
The kids in the pack were back to running and playing at the new camp, as if nothing were wrong. Anna had a tiny baby bump, which Blade constantly showed off with pride. It was hard to watch and yet comforting, knowing that perhaps that baby would grow up in a world where the WSSO didn’t exist and humans no longer hunted shifters. And still, Kate was dead. Her spirit, her playful smile, everything Callen needed to continue to live, was gone.
“Who are you?” The woman with bright green eyes and long, dark hair said as she emerged from the back office.
“My name’s not important.” Callen was getting tired of these cloak and dagger games. He needed to find Dr. Evans, get the shifter back to Damien’s pack, and then Callen could disappear for a while to be alone. Hopefully, before Damien found anotherurgentexcuse to keep him around. Three weeks since Callen had lost his Kate. Already, it felt like a lifetime.
The woman drew a gun from beneath her coat and aimed it at Callen. Inwardly, he laughed. This woman with the striking green eyes was so like his Kate in her courage, except she didn’t have quite the same survival instincts. She had turned her back on the front of the store, where Hayden had already slipped in behind her, unseen, unheard.
Callen eyed the gun as well as its owner. The safety was off, and she was prepared to shoot. Only three feet from Callen. She wouldn’t miss. Callen walked straight to her, until the gun was pressed against his chest, over his heart.
Her hand started shaking, and her eyes filled with fear. Whoever she was, she wasn’t a killer. It was a shame, really, but if she wasn’t prepared to shoot, Callen wouldn’t force it. There were other ways to die and burdening an innocent with the guilt of murdering him just wasn’t right.
Callen eased the gun from her hand, feeling sorry for her as she backed into Hayden. She jumped, surprised that a second shifter stood behind her. She had surrendered her only advantage and now had two men with her, in an abandoned building. The smell of her fear spiked as Hayden locked his hands on her arms from behind.
“Let me go!”
“What the fuck, Callen! She could have killed you!” Hayden scolded as he clamped a hand over her mouth and pulled her away from the store’s glass front that she hadn’t even soaped over to obscure her presence.
“Then you would have continued the mission without me,” Callen replied. If he got shot and died, at least the pain would end. For now, he had a job to finish, and he wouldn’t leave a job half done.
“We’re going to have a long talk after this,” Hayden said, the anger in his voice quite clear as he pushed the woman against the wall, his hand still over her mouth.
Terror filled her face, and Hayden looked guilty as sin, as if he’d done something wrong. He wasn’t cut out for this work. Oh, Hayden was a good fighter and had killed his share of shifters when he had no choice, but he had too much heart sometimes. Like Kate. Maybe it was a family trait. An image of Drake popped into Callen’s head.Nope, not a family trait.
“We won’t hurt you unless you give us reason to,” Hayden softly whispered into the woman’s ear, trying to get her to relax. The last thing they needed was for the woman to start screaming. “Where’s Dr. Evans?” He slowly drew his hand away from her mouth.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Are you going to tell us where he is or not?” Hayden asked.
“Depends who’s asking.”
“Damien sent us,” Callen said.
“You’re his enforcer?”
At least now they knew they had the right place. Callen started moving through the store. There was an odd scent here, blood and something foul, like disease or rot. Maybe the doctor had been here and brought his research with him.
