Page 42 of Scapegoat

It was a little car and old, the seat runners groaning as I was forced to push the seat back so I could actually fit in the passenger side seat and, even then, my knees ended up pressed against the dash. She noted that with a frown and then shook her head, throwing the car into gear and then taking off down a dirt track.

“So, talk,” she prompted, keeping her eyes on the road, refusing to look sideways at me.

“I will when we get to wherever you’re taking me,” I replied.

My hands rubbed at the denim of my jeans. I wanted to reach inside my jacket, pull out a smoke, do something. I’d been waiting for this moment for two long years and… I had to see it, see her face, see her expressions shift and change as I told her our side of the story. Because if it wasn’t enough, if we weren’t enough, then—

“We’re here,” she said, jerking open her door and walking over to a paddock gate. Her place was a cute little cottage had been built up on a small hill. She swung the gate open and stomped in, shooing sheep away and leaving me to follow, shutting the gate behind us. “So let’s get this done.”

Kai was standing on the porch of the cottage now, staring down at me, imperious as a queen. She looked glorious. I wanted to smooth down the strand of purplish hair that kept lifting in the breeze, step in and smooth my hands over her, reassure myself that she was really here. Just looking at Kai felt like a fever dream, because god knew she’d filled mine often enough. I dreamed of her, over and over, of that night, of the moment I claimed her, only to break my own fucking heart when I woke up to find she wasn’t there.

“I said an hour. Since we left the main house,” She looked at her phone before continuing. “Ten minutes has gone by. You’ve got fifty minutes left. Fifty minutes to say your piece. Fifty minutes to get whatever it is off your chest and then you leave me alone. If you happen upon me again on your travels, you get back in your truck and drive the other way. Or you come in and order your food, just like any other customer, and then move on. You don’t bust into my life…”

When her voice cracked, I moved a step toward her, unable to bear to see the pain on her face even if she smoothed it away a second later.

“You don’t force me to give up a good job, leave a nice place, drag my best friend away from a paying job to come by and get me.” She shook her head. “You don’t get to ruin my life for a second time.”

“I didn’t mean to do that at all, ever, Kai,” I said, stepping forward. “I never meant…” When I drew closer, she didn’t move, but that took some effort for her; I could see that in the tense way she held her body. “I made you a promise.” I did touch that strand of hair now, pushing it out of the way and then running my finger along the scar on her neck, feeling her shiver beneath my touch, her scent sweetening—

Right before it soured again.

I let out a sigh, then pulled out my cigarettes, putting one to my lips before it was plucked away and then tossed onto the porch deck.

“You fucking smoke now?” Kai peered at my face. “What the fuck…?” She let out a long sigh. “Just tell me, Atlas. Tell me.”

I’d remember that, the way she said my name. Like a sigh of breeze, tangling in my hair, trailing through my beard. I scratched at my chin then nodded before taking a seat on the edge of the porch.

“You knew what your mother had planned?”

“Not until the day I transitioned.” She sat down beside me, though with a heavy gap between us. “Greg let her in to the house.”

“So that’s how it fucking happened? My dad…” I shook my head. “I guess that makes sense.” I turned to look at Kai, willing her to see me, to be able to separate me from who the real fucking enemy was. I had her attention, that was sure, but for how long? I let out a sigh, knowing exactly why she’d run from us. She ran from the pain and I felt the urge to do just that. “Anna’s not just your sister,” I told her, catching the way she flinched at the other girl’s name. “She’s my sister too.”

Chapter 25

Atlas

“What?”

She recoiled then, that instinctual feeling of wrongness hitting her, just like it had each one of us when we’d found out the news. I shook my head, my brows creasing, the pain of it coming flooding back. But I stared into her eyes and forced my mouth to move, to let out everything we’d been carrying.

“Your mum and one of my dads? They had a short affair when we were little kids and that’s where Anna came from.”

“Mum…” I saw the moment her brain short circuited and knew exactly what she was feeling, because mine had done the exact same thing that day.

“This will not stand,” Mum shouted, striding forward. We were in the alpha residence now, trying to sort this out. Her eyes narrowed in disgust as she looked Anna up and down, but not for long. Her focus was on the alphas. “Anna is not my sons’ mate.”

“Now Jenny—” Mike said.

“She’s—”

“Not.” I breathed that out, blinking, blinking, to shift the haze that hung over my head, because when I did? Something else bled through that scent of sweet, sweet roses.

Fear stinks. It can be enticing, like the smell of a little bunny running before you when you’re in fur, adrenalin pumping through his veins to get him the fuck away from you. Or it can be sour, make your nose wrinkle and force you to step back, just like what was wafting off Anna now. I saw her then, saw the kid, not the girl who smelled like my mate, caught the way her eyes darted around, trying to get a read on the adults.

Because she was only fourteen.

But more than that, as I was about to find out.

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