Page 25 of Sold Wolf Slave

Kendra was now sitting up, her mouth slightly parted as she listened intently, leaning forward slightly as I continued the story.

“Anyway, before he was able to get to me, a couple of the Redwoods tackled him and took him down. I realized later that they had found a bunch of explosives on him. There’s no telling what he would have done if they hadn’t grabbed him. That’s when I decided I wanted to do that—help as many people as possible and save the world.” I gave a half-grin. “Bit ambitious, and I know it doesn’t work that way. But I was an impressionable teen.”

I paused for a moment, deep in my memories. “When I told my parents, they weren’t super happy.” I still remember the look of anger on my dad’s face. “They were the type of people who thought that an organized military or a council that oversaw all the packs shouldn’t be a thing in the first place. They were the type that thought each pack should take care of themselves and not have to deal with meddling. So when I told them, they flat-out forbade me to do it.”

Kendra listened in silence, her gray eyes locked on mine as I spoke. As the story continued, the more her features seemed to soften, as if allowing herself to relax a little.

“So I ran away. Snuck out in the middle of the night with a bag, and that was it. Joined the military. After a couple of years, they figured I would be a good candidate for spec ops, and so I got tapped to join the Gold Wolves.”

“Did you ever see your parents again?”

The question was almost as startling as the fact that she had spoken at all. I’d resigned myself to a one-person conversation.

“A couple of times,” I said. “They still aren’t happy with my decisions, but I’ve stopped by to let them know I’m alive, and the conversations are cordial enough.”

She nodded slowly, her eyes going far away for a moment before returning to me. “Do you regret it?” she asked. “Running away?”

I blinked, taken aback by the question. Why on earth would I ever regret that choice? The military was the only thing I had cared about. Running away had been the only way for me to do it. And yet, I couldn’t deny that it had put a strain on my relationship with my parents, and the couple of times I had spoken to them, they had been cold, almost distant. As much as I loved my job, I still remembered how warm and welcoming they had been when I was a kid, and how that had changed once I returned home. Part of me missed that old life.

“No,” I finally answered her question, shaking my head, but more to clear my thoughts than to emphasize the statement. “It was the right choice. I’ve been able to help hundreds. I’ve always liked having a mission I can dedicate myself to and throw myself headfirst into, knowing that, at the end, I would have done something to help people and make the world a better place. It sucks that my parents aren’t thrilled about my career, but I wouldn’t change it.”

“You should be happy you can still have a relationship with them at all,” Kendra muttered, startling me out of my own thoughts. I turned to see her talking to the far wall, determined not to look at me. “I’d kill to see my parents one more time.”

“They’re dead?” I asked.

She nodded. “Which was really when everything went to shit. I was a mess. So was…” She coughed, eyes flashing with something I couldn’t read for the briefest of moments. “I was a mess,” she repeated.

She was covering for something else she had been about to say, but I had no idea what it might have been. And I didn’t want to interrupt her, not when she was finally opening up to me.

“A few weeks after Mom and Dad died, while I was still trying to get my head on straight, a guy who had been in town a few days came over to check on how we were doing,” she said, her voice small, sounding almost distant. Her eyes had turned glassy, making her look as if she were miles away from here. “He’d seemed nice whenever I’d run into him in town, so I let him in the house without thinking about it. The instant he knew I was home alone, he let his friends in while I was distracted, and they grabbed me.” She made a bitter sound. “I was the perfect target—no parents to miss me, easy enough to say I had decided to leave town after their death. No one would have given it much thought.”

I let out a low growl, almost without realizing it. Kendra looked at me, blinking as if surprised by the outrage.

“How long ago was that?” I asked.

Shrugging, she muttered, “A couple of years ago? I’m not sure. We got passed around from slaver to slaver, had a couple of owners in the interim, until we wound up with Cain. That was maybe a few weeks ago? I’ve lost track of time.”

I frowned, turning to look at her. “‘We?’”

Her entire demeanor changed. Her body tensed, and her eyes grew wide as her face paled. She coughed, covering her face.

“I meant the group of us,” she said. “We were sold to Cain as a whole group. It wasn’t just me.”

I looked at her for a long moment, studying the way her lips twitched and her eyes darted away from me. She was keeping something from me, but I couldn’t tell what. I also knew that she didn’t trust me enough to tell me anything.

“Right,” I said. “Regardless, Chris and Nolan are good guys. We’re all here to help. I promise.”

She nodded, her tongue poking into her cheek as she studied me. I got the sense she was debating whether to tell me something more. She seemed to think better of it at the last moment.

“We’ll see,” was all she muttered.

Chapter 9 - Kendra

I stared out the window of my room, letting my mind wander as I did. The only problem was that as much as I tried to avoid it, my thoughts kept coming back to Will.

I wanted to hate him. He was the enemy. He had won me and kept me here. But after talking to him, learning more about him, it was hard not to see a glimpse of humanity in him. More so than any of the assholes I’d come across since being kidnapped.

I closed my eyes. I didn’t know what was worse: thinking about Will or thinking about Morgan. I had no idea if she was okay, what Cain had done to her, what she was doing. It ate at me.

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