Protecting Kai (True Mates Book 3), page 6
Kai opened his eyes, dropping his hands to the floor beside him. A few more days, and he could leave. He wouldn’t need to stay for long. Another mournful howl issued from Kai’s other half. “Stop it,” Kai demanded. “Just stop! We can’t stay here.”
A shrill cry caused Kai to wince. He’d never fought against his other half as much as he had in the last couple of days. He’d always trusted the instincts of his animal self and relied on them to save his life on more than one occasion, but on this they would never agree. They needed to leave. No one could be trusted. Cole had a hidden agenda. Kai just hadn’t figured it out yet. Cole’s claims of Kai being his mate were outrageous and ridiculous. Besides, they were nothing alike. Cole was a werewolf for cripes’ sake!
It took some time for Kai to gather up enough energy to move from his seat by the door. He headed to the bed and curled up on top of the comforter, his head pillowed on his arms, eyes closing immediately. He just needed a few more days.
THE NEXT day, Kai jerked awake, eyes opening wide. It took him several breaths to remember where he was. Some of his tension eased, but he waited for any sounds outside his room. He didn’t hear any movement in the house. Cole must have already gone to the greenhouses. Kai unfurled from the bed and stepped off of it, his bare feet padding softly on the carpet. His ribs still protested, but he could already feel a difference. It wouldn’t be long before the pain dissipated completely and he could carry through with his plan to leave.
He cracked open the door and stopped to listen again, to ensure Cole had already left the house. No noises met his attentive eardrums, and he let out the last of his tension on a deep exhale while making his way to the bathroom to relieve himself. With his bladder empty, Kai’s stomach growled, loudly. He hadn’t eaten much of the pasta from the night before, and he had run out of funds for food a few days prior to Cole finding him. He wondered if there were any leftovers from the night before and if Cole would mind if he had some of it. Cole’s words from the previous day echoed in his head, and Kai let go of his reticence to take food from the fridge without permission. Cole had said he wanted Kai to eat, so why shouldn’t he?
Kai wandered down the hallway to the kitchen and found the bowls of pasta and sauce Cole had placed in the refrigerator. Once he’d put some spaghetti and sauce in a bowl, covered it with a paper towel, and placed it in the microwave to heat, Kai turned and noticed a sheet of paper on the countertop. Curious, he moved closer and found a note addressed to him in strong, scrolling writing.
Kai,
Please accept my apologies. Once again. I promised you you’d be safe here, and I haven’t been keeping my word by pushing you to relive something you don’t want to. I will not ask you again. If you ever want to talk, I’m here to listen. Last night’s dinner is in the fridge. Please make sure you eat something.
Cole
Kai traced over the elegant curve of the letter C in Cole’s name with the tip of his index finger. His mind wandered to the remembered sensation of Cole’s touch on his arm. The only people to touch him without anger and hatred had been his parents and now Cole. Even the occasional women his uncle brought home were nasty, vile human beings. They either ignored him or laughed when his uncle beat him. Kai remembered one of the women suggesting his uncle “pimp him out” to other men when he turned sixteen, suggesting they would pay top dollar for a chance at such a slender young boy. He’d been horrified at the time, believing his uncle would say yes, but his uncle’s immediate scoffing and use of the word “fags” alleviated any fear of being raped for money. Kai hated the woman afterward and couldn’t have been more relieved when his uncle dropped her a few weeks later.
The ding of the microwave echoed across the kitchen, disturbing Kai from his thoughts, and he dropped the paper as if scalded. He shook his head and moved to take his food out. Steam rose from the plate, and the smell caused his stomach to growl once more as he set the dish on the table. He grabbed a fork from the drawer he’d found while exploring Cole’s home the day before and plunked down in a chair. The hunger pains urged him to eat the first several forkfuls in heaping quantities before he slowed to a more reasonable amount and speed. His belly clenched at the sudden nourishment, and Kai forced himself to go even slower.
Once he’d cleaned the plate, he stood and placed the dish and silverware in the sink and then wandered down the hallway. Drawn to the door leading outside, he stared through the windowpanes, studying the huge greenhouses behind the house. They were encased entirely in glass from what he could tell. His inner self barked, and before he realized it, his hand was on the doorknob, ready to open it and head toward the large enclosures. Movement by the one closest to the house caused Kai to jerk away and hide behind the jamb for a moment. He knew his actions were childish and chastised himself, but he couldn’t help it. Peering around the edge, he saw Cole standing by a woman and talking to her. She smiled up at Cole, and Kai’s other half growled in irritation. He didn’t understand the emotion knotting his stomach or the sudden urge to shred her perfect face, and it only grew when Cole hugged the petite woman.
Cole stepped away from the woman and entered the greenhouse while she headed to a silver truck parked nearby. Kai watched her the entire time, studying her face as she drove by the main house. A trill of annoyance echoed in his head. “Why?” Kai demanded.
The trill came again, only this time louder, and Kai winced. He curled his fingers around the doorjamb, ignoring the desperation behind the sound. “Stop it,” he snarled, angry at himself for wanting nothing more than to be by Cole’s side.
The snap of the jamb beginning to splinter returned Kai to his senses, and he yanked his hands from the frame, staring at the deep holes in the white wood. He looked down at his hands to find his nails elongated and dark red fur beginning to sprout along his arms. He stumbled into the wall behind him, shaking his head furiously. It had been years since he’d lost control of the change. “No,” he murmured. “Not now.”
But his inner self ignored him, and the change took hold. Kai cried out a split second before his human self disappeared in a blinding flash of light and his animal side stood there instead. He tried to return to his human form, only to find he couldn’t. Shit. What the hell was going on? He’d been fourteen the last time he’d shifted without knowing exactly when it would happen. A loud bark rang out through the house, horrifying Kai. Could anyone hear him?
Kai managed to gain command of his limbs and darted toward his room, the door still cracked from earlier. He managed to squeeze through and kicked it shut with his hind legs. He couldn’t lock it, though. If Cole or anyone else came into the house right then, he’d be screwed. What if they found out he wasn’t human? What if they wanted to use him the same way his uncle had? Panic oozed along his nerves, and Kai begged his animal half to let him shift.
The slight fear turned into full-blown terror when the back door slammed shut. Shit, shit, shit. Kai’s horror grew when he heard Cole call his name. “Kai? Are you awake?”
Kai couldn’t respond, and he could barely stop a stray answering bark from coming out. He sensed his tail wagging in eagerness, and Kai snapped at himself.
“Kai” came the muffled voice from behind the door. “Are you all right?”
A whimper stuck in his throat. Kai looked around wildly, desperate to find a hiding place. The closet door was closed, and he couldn’t open it in his current form. His gaze zeroed in on the bed, and he scurried toward it just as he heard the snick of the doorknob turning. He darted under it and pressed as close to the wall as he could, trying to make himself as small as possible. “Kai?” Cole’s voice came softly.
He saw black work boots as Cole moved farther into the room and stopped near the bed. Kai’s heart beat hard at his ribs, threatening to break out of his chest. His muscles trembled and his nose quivered as his animal self caught Cole’s scent. Wolves hunted his kind, didn’t they? Kai worked to remember the things he’d learned from the books he’d stolen from the houses his uncle sent him into.
Movement shook him from his thoughts, and he saw Cole lowering himself to his knees. Horror spread through him, and he curled into himself tighter, pulling his bushy tail over his head. He peered through the thick white fur and waited for Cole to see him. Cole’s deep green eyes met his and widened in surprise, but they held no menace, no sudden feral hunger, or at least that’s what Kai hoped.
“Kai?” Cole whispered.
Kai cowered even deeper into the darkness beneath the bed, his small body shaking, but Cole’s next words stilled the furious trembling. “So beautiful.”
Surprise caused Kai to lift his tail away from his face a bit to peer at Cole. Unable to stop, he issued a small chirp. He fought his fox’s initial urge to revel in the praise.
“I knew there was something about you, something different,” Cole murmured reverently. “I could smell it all over your skin, but this… this is something I never expected.”
Kai stared at Cole, still holding himself tense as he tried to anticipate the man’s next move. His whiskers flickered and his animal self urged him to move closer to Cole, a longing that Kai denied. He couldn’t put himself within Cole’s reach. He couldn’t allow himself to be vulnerable. Who knew what Cole would do to him now he knew the truth. Would he want to use him as his uncle had, or would Cole kick him out, disgusted at his ability to shift into a fox? The idea of not being around Cole, a thought which should have made him happy, sucker punched him hard with dismay. It panicked him even further. He glanced past Cole at the open door. He could probably get by Cole, but the probability of getting out of the house wasn’t the highest.
“Don’t run, Kai,” Cole implored. “Please.”
Indecision kept Kai rooted. The note of fear in Cole’s voice stilled him. He tipped his head to the side, uncertain of what to make of the emotion coming from the big werewolf. He remained out of Cole’s reach and waited to see what Cole would do.
Chapter Five
THE MOMENT Cole stepped into the house, the strange scent that clung to Kai’s skin engulfed him. Cole stopped for a moment, lifting his head to sniff at the air. His wolf lurched to attention, and Cole’s body responded powerfully—his cock hardened and his skin tingled with the desire to shift. His wolf wanted out to claim his mate and bind Kai to him forever. But he needed to approach what happened next with calculated caution.
He closed the door to prevent any possibility of Kai getting out of the house and walked toward Kai’s room, the scent getting stronger, along with the smell of fear. Cole swallowed hard. This could make or break whatever progress he hoped to make with Kai. “Kai?”
His call did not receive an answer, although he didn’t really expect one under the circumstances. He tried again, and when silence met his question once more, he carefully opened the door. The room appeared empty, but he could hear the sound of Kai’s heart beating fierce and fast against the young man’s rib cage. Cole swallowed and walked farther into the room. The sound came from beneath the bed, and he lowered himself to the floor, not certain what he expected to find. What he found stole his breath.
Copper-red and golden-blond fur, thick enough to make any wolf envious, shimmered in the dim light beneath the bed. A tail white as snow covered Kai’s slender, feline-like face, while black paws were pulled close to the slight form. His mate was a fox! Cole’s heart expanded, and he curled his fingers into his palm. Kai took his breath away. Cole had imagined many things since realizing Kai wasn’t entirely human. Of course, he’d thought some form of wolf, not a fox! Cole had never heard of any shifters except wolves before. Did his father, or anyone in his pack for that matter, even know there were fox shifters? It also made him frown mentally at Kai’s reaction to Cole shifting. If Kai could change into a fox, why had he acted so shocked and surprised on the plane?
Cole realized Kai had his gaze trained on the bedroom door and knew if he didn’t try to stop him, Kai would attempt to flee. “Don’t run, Kai. Please.”
When Kai stilled and his attention returned to Cole, Cole hid a sigh of relief. He eased his body closer to the ground, until his belly rested on the carpeted floor. He wouldn’t push for anything Kai didn’t seem ready to give, but he couldn’t imagine walking away anytime soon. Smiling, Cole laid his chin on his forearm. “I always thought wolf shifters were it, you know? That we were the only ones out there who could change into another form. I can’t believe we never knew about others. How long have you been able to shift? Since puberty, I’m guessing. When I turned thirteen, my whole world changed, but in a good way.”
Kai sort of snorted in answer, and Cole paused. “You didn’t see it as a good thing, did you?”
Of course, waiting for Kai to answer seemed pointless. “Are you able to shift at will?”
Kai tipped his head in a slight nod.
“Will you change back and talk with me, Kai?” Cole asked. “Please? I’d like to know more about your kind.”
Kai hesitated, and Cole figured moving away would give his mate some level of comfort. He slowly rose to a sitting position and then scooted in reverse until he hit the wall near the door. When Kai didn’t come out immediately, Cole wondered if he would at all, but then he saw a flash of hazel eyes as Kai crawled from beneath the bed. Cole sucked in a breath at being able to see his mate in his entirety, out of amazement, but also out of sheer rage. He could clearly see each and every ridge on Kai’s body, the way his fur clung to his rib cage and hips and how malnourished he was. It broke his heart, and he barely managed to stifle a howl of anguish. The scars around Kai’s throat as a human carried over to his fox but were more evident, awful slashes of white, patchy hair circled the vulnerable flesh. Cole knew it took years and years of continuous damage or major trauma for a shifter to retain any scars. He was pretty certain fox shifters must have the same capabilities as wolves.
He balled his hands into fists, nails digging into his palms. He’d seen the damage on Kai’s human body, of course, but to see it in his second form only cemented how badly he would hurt the person who’d done this to his precious mate. It also brought home the hopelessness of gaining Kai’s trust. He couldn’t blame Kai if the man never trusted another person in his life.
He squared his jaw, hiding his pain and anger, and tried to smile at Kai again. Did Kai change the same way his kind did? He got his answer shortly. A flash of light and then Kai crouched there in human form, shaking his head. Cole swore he would force feed Kai every second of every day if he had to. Tomorrow, he’d ask Julie to watch over the greenhouses for a bit longer. He needed to take care of some things, including spending more time with Kai while he could and making sure his mate took care of himself.
Kai finally looked up at him and sat, leaning against the side of the bed. He seemed to be nearly holding his breath for something.
“When did you first change?” Cole asked.
At the innocuous question, Kai seemed to relax a fraction. “Thirteen.”
“Are there others like you?”
“None I’ve ever met.”
Cole grunted. “What about your parents? Where are they?”
“Dead.”
“I see,” Cole murmured. “How long?”
Kai tensed again and dropped his gaze to the floor. “Ten years.”
Cole sensed they were close to a topic Kai didn’t want to discuss and dropped it. He hungered, craved, to know more about Kai’s past and to know who had put those scars on Kai. “I remember my first shift. I found it disconcerting, and I couldn’t have been more uncoordinated.”
Hazel eyes met his again. “Yeah?”
Cole nodded. “Definitely. I expected it, though, having grown up in a pack and having my parents by my side. I felt this power trickling along my skin. Kind of tickled, actually.”
A small smile flickered across Kai’s lips, and Cole kept talking. He’d give anything to see a full-blown grin on his mate’s face. “The hardest thing to get used to was going from knowing how to walk on two feet to suddenly having to control four, I think. Even expecting the change didn’t make it any easier.”
For the next fifteen minutes, Cole recounted his first shift and the way he’d felt. He studied Kai while he talked, enjoying the emotions chasing one another over Kai’s features. Obvious moments of Kai’s memories of his own first change were evident in the dawning light of recognition and the occasional darkening of Kai’s expression.
“I love to run, to feel the earth beneath my paws,” Cole said. “There’s nothing as freeing or exhilarating.”
Kai picked at a loose string on his jeans. “I… I have never been able to do that.”
“No? Well one day, once you’re healed, we’ll run together, okay, kit?” Cole offered, the pet name rolling off his tongue without thought. He held his breath a bit to see how Kai would respond to his offer and the name.
When Kai nodded without comment, a tiny flicker of hope twitched inside Cole’s chest. Maybe it wasn’t entirely impossible for Kai to learn to trust him. “Did you eat?” Cole asked.
“Yes.”
Cole glanced at his watch to find most of the day had gone. “I want to take you to meet my father. See if he has any idea about your people.”
Kai instantly balked. “No!”
“Why?” Cole frowned. “He may know something about where you come from.”
“I don’t want anyone else to know,” Kai muttered.
Cole crossed his legs and leaned forward a bit. “I know you’re afraid, Kai, but you don’t have to be. No one here is going to hurt you.”
Kai glared at Cole. “You can’t possibly know what others will do.”
Cole restrained his frustration. “I do know.”
“How can you? You don’t read minds, do you?” Horror entered Kai’s gaze, and Cole considered for a split second teasing Kai but figured it would be better to be honest.
“I don’t have to read their minds, Kai. My father is the Alpha of our pack. I’m next in line to lead them, and you are my mate, which means no one will harm you.”
