Page 81 of Banished Mates
“I know what you did.”
Camden’s brows furrowed. Seeing such an expression on a wolf face was quite a sight.
He made his way toward the door with me cradled in his arms. I angled my head toward Riley and wiggled my fingers at him. The white of his eyes shone and Camden snapped his teeth at me.
“That’s what you meant?” He snorted. “It wasn’t a secret.”
I shot him a side-eyed glance.
“You best hope Rowan didn’t see that. He’s harder to convince to chill out.”
As the door shut, a man spoke up about the home-building permits.
They were in the middle of listening to grievances.
The ground under Camden crunched. His fur was very relaxing. I exhaled, wiggling my toes as I rubbed my cheek into his chest.
A large mound caught my attention. It was covered by dark tarp-like fabric and I wouldn’t have known what it was if it weren’t for the limbs poking out of the side.
Shit. How many people had died?
When an Alpha battled, many others followed in his defense. Torrin had many people loyal to him. My stomach soured. He’d lost both of them... he’dkilledhis father.
It was on me.
Every death weighed on my shoulders. I peeked up at him.
Camden took a sharp turn and the crunch of his steps echoed as he went up an incline. I knew exactly where we were headed. A few more yards of crackling brush under his feet and then we were at our spot.
He perched on the wooden table, and I wiggled to get out of his grip to sit beside him, but he didn’t release me. There was a slight dent between his eyebrows as he looked out into the forest. The swaying trees rustling with the wind.
I tipped my head back, looking at the tree arched over the table. It was the very tree I saved him from when we were kids. If those jerks hadn’t trapped him in that net and if I hadn’t cut him down, would we have been the same?
The corners of my lips tilted up. We would have found our way to each other anyway.
We’d known one another for so long...
I licked my lips, clenching my hands once before trying again.
“I’m sorry about your... parents.”
Camden frowned. “She chose to do something so heinous and Torrin supported that. He protected his mate and I did the same. It’s not your fault, Willow.” I was already shaking my head. “It’s not and I don’t blame you,” he said roughly. “I know you, so I know it will take you a bit to understand, but I will be next to you for as long as you live, honey.”
“What about the pack?”
“Hector will handle everything here.” It was what he hated, but he was taking over?
“Stop your crazy worrying, everything is okay.”
I eyed him in blatant disbelief.
Camden
It’d takenweeksfor me to finish teaching Hector everything about the pack and to get things back in order. And just as I’d told Willow—everything was okay. I browsed the snack section, striding down the isle of the mart and looked over at my girl as she perused.
She was beginning to believe it, because I could see the weight falling off her shoulders as each week passed. She’d spent most of the time hanging out in our room watching television and getting checked over by Meridith. I was starting to think they liked spending time together more than they let on. As long as Meridith didn’t harm my mate, I was fine with her having a friend, not that my being against it would stop Willow.
Any day now, we’d be able to leave everything without worrying someone would turn on Hector. He was a good Alpha and he more than had it in him, but I’d needed to squash some of the ways he was trying to deal with things. It’d been an entire week without me needing to step in and tell him something or other about running the pack or investing the finances he’d inherited from my father since taking over.
