Page 34 of Shattered

Mackenzie shook his head. “From what I was told, it was you.”

“Whoever told you such nonsense, is a damn liar,” Kalkin growled.

Mackenzie chuckled. “I’ll make sure the next time I see your mate; I’ll tell her you called her that.”

“Fucker,” Kalkin mumbled. “You do, and she’ll have my ass sleeping on the couch.”

“Whatever. I doubt Keeley would ever put your ass out of her bed,” Mackenzie stated.

Kalkin flashed him a wicked grin, and his gaze filled with amusement. “Ain’t that the truth? My little mate can’t go a night without me—”

Mackenzie held up his hand. “I’m gonna stop you right there. I don’t want or need to know about your sex life. Bad enough come the full moon everyone is outside, chasing and fucking their mates.”

Kalkin leaned forward. “Jealous?”

Mackenzie snorted, ready to lie to his sibling. Deep down, he did want what his mated brothers had with their significant others, however his time had passed and now with losing time, he’d never be fit enough to have a mate. “Not in this lifetime, or the next.”

“Liar. You realize the only one stopping you, Mac, is you,” Kalkin remarked. “You can have a life after Holly.”

“I asked you here for a reason,” he stated, hoping to change the subject. He had no desire to open upthatPandora’s box with Kalkin. So far, the family, aka Kalkin, had yet to inquire about why he’d done what he did with Holly.

“Figured as much, Mac.” Kalkin’s smirk dissipated, and the teasing glint in his eyes disappeared. The man who sat before him was all business. The Alpha. “Wanna clue me in why considering in all the time you’ve been back home; you’ve never invited me over until now?”

Just because he’d never invited them, didn’t mean they hadn’t been to his home before. Mackenzie made sure to limit the visits. Of course, all the Rafertys naturally assumed it had been Holly’s decree as to why none of them had ever been invited to their home. Pussy move or not, Mackenzie allowed her to take the blame, knowing the lies they wove could be blown apart with a single misstep.

To Kalkin’s credit, he didn’t push. Rather, his brother sat quietly while Mackenzie fiddled with his coffee cup and gathered his thoughts. How did one tell his brother, the Sheriff and his Alpha, his fears?

Mackenzie took a deep breath, raised his gaze to his sibling, and said. “I think I might be going feral.”

Kalkin snorted. “Bullshit.”

Mackenzie bowed his head in frustration and shame at his own lack of control over the last couple of weeks. He dug his blunt fingernails into his scalp as he bit back a growl of outrage before addressing the other man. “You don’t understand, Kal. I’m missing huge chunks of time at night. I try to remember, and I just can’t.” Mackenzie shook his head. “What if I hurt… Hell, Kal, what if I kill someone?”

“You’re not,” Kalkin’s assured him, his tone a mix of knowledge and promise. It made Mackenzie wonder if the other man was already aware of whatever his nocturnal activities were.

“You don’t know for sure,” Mackenzie growled. “Something isn’t right. I can feel it and, what’s worse, my senses are out of whack.”

Kalkin gave a weary sigh. “So, let’s say you’re becoming feral. What the fuck do you want me to do about it?”

“Put me down, when the time comes,” Mackenzie said without compunction.

Kalkin stood abruptly, pushing the chair back with such force it slammed into the back wall and left a mark. It would be another thing for Mackenzie to add to his growing to-do list.

“What thefuck, Mac?” Kalkin spat in disgust.

Mackenzie swore he could see waves of fury rolling off of his brother. It mixed with the Alpha pheromones, making the air heavy with the distinct scent. Mackenzie struggled to keep calm, and for the first time in a long-ass time, he felt the wolf inside of him rise quickly to the surface, yearning to challenge the man in front of him.

“I can’t ask Royce to do it,” he said, ignoring Kalkin’s outrage. “He’s already got issues when it comes to me. Having to put me down, it’ll fuck him up more.”

“No doubt, but you think it’s all right to fuckin’ ask me?” Kalkin snarled.

“You’re my brother…my Alpha, Kal,” he said, trying to calm himself down before things got way too out of hand. “We both know you’re the only one strong enough to do it when the time comes.”

Feral wolves were a tricky thing. It could be a sudden change or a slowly occurring one. It was like a disease, eating away at the human psyche until all that was left was a rabid wolf. Mackenzie worried he was suffering the latter half of it since he had hours of clarity during the day. It was the nights he couldn’t recall where he’d been or what he’d been doing. It was wearing on him.

“You done?” Kalkin bit out. The vein in his forehead pulsed, a sure sign his brother was pissed.

Mackenzie nodded.

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