Page 26 of Pack Kasen: Part 3
I’ve barely been sleeping, taking more of an active role in patrolling when I usually leave it to my enforcers, as it’s their duty.
After my patrols, I catch a handful of hours of sleep in the bunkhouse infirmary, where it’s quiet, or beside the creek in my wolf form, when Gregor snaps at me for messing up a bed for one of his patients.
My eyes return to Kat, and the reason for this meeting. She was barely conscious when we found her in an old minewith a thick silver chain wrapped around her ankle. She’d been bleeding badly from a gaping wound in her belly, and I’d nearly lost it thinking I’d found her just in time to watch her die.
Shifters don’t have many weaknesses. Pure silver doesn’t just stop our ability to heal; it stops our ability to shift, and too much contact with it will eventually kill us.
Finding her lying in a pool of her own blood is a sight I will never get out of my mind.
She might have spoken with Cristofer and knows what he wants. Important information we might need. “Did he say anything to you?”
She avoids my gaze, which isn’t like Kat. She’s dominant. Too dominant to avoid meeting anyone’s gaze—even mine.
“Kitty cat?” Knowing it’ll provoke a response, I tug her braid.
She narrows her eyes at me, reaches around, and pulls her hair free, tossing it over her shoulder with another glare at me for good measure.
I hide my smile. Angry Kat is preferable to quiet, hurting, or hesitant Kat.
“You have a death wish,” she warns me.
“Probably,” I agree. “What are you avoiding telling me?”
My enforcers are watching and listening, but I tune them out to focus on my mate.
“I have a feeling telling you might provoke howling,” she says dryly.
“I promise not to howl.”
Her brow arches, and Joy snorts.
“Cristofer was masking his scent on campus, which is why none of us realized it was him. He was always sniffing and sneezing, saying he had terrible allergies and he’d use these nasty smelling natural remedies like rosemary and black pepper.”
I wrinkle my nose, and I’m not the only one. “Rosemary and black pepper? That would give him allergy symptomsandmake it impossible for us to be around him for long.” I tug her braid. “And you’re avoiding answering the question. What did he say?”
Again, she avoids my gaze.
“Kitty cat?” I start to get a really bad feeling about this. “What did he do?”
Kat would not be this reluctant to say what it was if it were something Cristofer said.
“He tried to bite me.”
Cold fury chokes me.
The promise not to howl was unnecessary. I’m shaking with rage, too furious to make a sound.
My enforcers edge away from the table as wood creaks ominously.
“Aren…” Finan warns.
My gaze drops to the table, the solid wood I’m gripping so tightly that a crack has already appeared on the surface.
I release the table and grapple for a sense of calm. “You’re mine.”
Her back stiffens. “If this is going to be a caveman beating his chest speech, I don’t…”
“No.” I shake my head, surprised by the amusement her words cause. I’m not someone who smiles or laughs often, but with her, it keeps happening. “You’re my mate. I haven’t bitten you, but you would smell like me. He’s a shifter. He would know that."
