Kendra!
His mate had finally returned to him!
In that split second that they stood there, staring at each other, a lot of emotions flashed in the Alpha’s eyes;
Elation, at the wonderful miracle of seeing her again,
Guilt, at the compromising position she had seen him in,
And finally, blood searing rage at the sight of other wolves manhandling his mate like that.
“Let go of her, she’s with me,” He growled lowly, angrily as he menacingly closed the distance between them. The guards did as he had asked, finding the Alpha aura emanating from him quite too powerful to bear.
One step,
And then another.
And he and Kendra were standing face to face.
He did not wait for her to think much of it, he just pulled her against him and roughly claimed her mouth, revealing to her all the emotions that were coursing through him that he couldn’t really explain with words. She kissed him back with just as much frenzy, the people standing beside them forgotten, the fact that she was probably smelly and dirty now a distant memory in her head. She pulled away to search deep in his eyes, to relish in the joy and contentment she felt now that she was back in his arms.
Her wolf howled to the moon in joy, and from what she saw in her mate’s eyes, she could tell that he felt the same way too. But she still felt the need to express her hurt— to express her jealousy, and so she said, “You didn’t come for me.”
“I thought that was what you wanted.”
He was right.
That was what she wanted,
That was what she had wanted.
But then as the days had gone by and she hadn’t heard from him, she found that she actually did not mind being rescued, but she did not know how to tell him that— hell, she’d rather die than admit that to him.
“What happened to you?” She heard him ask with a low growl as he took her in, paying close attention to her messy, curly hair, and her dirty clothes. None of it had mattered as he kissed her, but now that he wasn’t feeling the taste of her lips against his, he found that he had a lot of questions— that he did not like the thought of her having faced any form of hardship.
The Alpha damned himself for not ignoring her wishes… for not swooping in to save the day even though she had constantly told him that she could handle her own. She had been right. She could handle her own. But at what expense? Looking at her standing before him right now, he realised just how fast— just how easily things could have gone wrong.
He wasn’t going to repeat this mistake ever again.
His fingers found their way into her messy hair, and he almost groaned at the way she moaned in delight at the action, the sound so innocent, so full of relief that he had no idea why it sounded so erotic— that he had no idea why it sent blood pulsing straight to his cock.
Gods, he wanted to claim her so badly.
But she had been through a lot, and who knew, maybe she still needed space even after finding him.
A loud clearing of throat broke the bubble they had been in all along, and it was then that Killian noticed that the guards had left. But Aiyisha still remained, and from her interested stance, it seemed she wanted an introduction.
“My apologies,” He muttered, pulling Kendra close, “Kendra, this is Aiyisha von Sterling, daughter of the Alpha of the Dnakle Pack… Aiyisha, meet Kendra Sullivan, former Beta of the Silver Crest Pack.” And my mate.
He had oh so desperately wanted to add that to her title, but he didn’t know how she would have taken it, having not still figured out exactly what she wanted.
Unbeknownst to him however, the female Beta was also equally noting how he hadn’t told his sparring partner who she truly was to him. It confused her— unnerved her even, for it had her thinking about all kinds of stuff. What exactly was going on between them?
Honestly speaking, this was the first time she had seen him this close to another woman. Of course there had been Artemis, but he hadn’t exactly opened up to her the way it seemed like he had with this Aiyisha woman. It confused Kendra… scared her a bit if she was being candid, but hell was going to have to freeze over before she’d admit that to anyone.
And so she said, “Nice to meet you, Miss von Sterling.”
“Nonsense,” The blond haired woman brushed her off flippantly with a small chuckle, “Please, call me Aiyisha. Any friend of Killian’s is automatically a friend of mine as well.” She said with a smile that didn’t quite touch her eyes.
This woman was going to be a problem.
For once, Kendra agreed with her subconscious. She hadn’t exactly figured the she-wolf out yet, but one thing was very much obvious.
She was interested in Killian.
To what extent, Kendra wasn’t exactly sure, but she wasn’t going to let things progress any further.
“So Kendra— uhm, pardon my manners, I can call you Kendra right?”
The brown skinned wolf forced a smile, “Uh, sure… you can.”
“Great! So I could get them to fix a room right next to Killian’s, or if you’d like to share his—”
“No!” Killian cut her off, his eyes widening in alarm, “She would like her own room, thanks.” He was barely controlling himself as it was now, he didn’t know what he was going to do if they had to share a room on top of all that, especially when he did not know what her final decision was. Memories of the last time they had shared a room flitted into his mind, and he groaned inwardly as he felt himself harden some more. They were really going to have to have that talk, and soon, for he did not know how long his wolf— and himself could hold out for.
But Kendra misunderstood the whole thing.
For her, the rejection of the idea to share a room only further cemented the suspicions that had been growing within her since she got here.
There was something going on between the two of them.
“Alright Killian, Kendra… I’ll take my leave now, but Killian, don’t forget our meeting at dusk, we really have a lot to talk about.” She said.
Did she also fucking wink?
Killian chuckled heartily and said, “Sure. I won’t forget.”
And then she was gone.
All traces of the pleasant smile on Kendra’s face disappeared now that they were all alone. “‘Sure. I won’t forget.’” She mimicked him, “What was that?” She asked, being careful to mask her feelings and come off as just curious.
To her surprise, the rogue Alpha just chuckled again. “I know, she’s hilarious, isn’t she?” He said with a grin.
“Yes. I can tell,” She said, her tone filled with so much sarcasm, but her mate didn’t pick up on it. It didn’t exactly matter though. She was done with the conversation, done with the entire place in fact. She wanted to go back home,
Back to Silver Crest.
She was pretty sure that such a good news was going to be enough to knock her mate out of whatever spell this place and that woman had placed on him.
“Killian.” She took his hand in hers, smiling gratefully, “I just want to thank you for giving me the time to put my thoughts together and figure out what I want to do. I have finally decided. I would take you as a mate if you would have me, but we can go back home, to Silver Crest. We can restore the pack and have an elaborate ceremony to celebrate our union. What do you say?”
He closed the distance between them and pressed another kiss against her lips. “I say you have just made me the happiest wolf alive, Kendra. But I can’t.”
The she wolf, who was at first smiling and relishing in the taste of her mate’s lips against hers pulled away in shock and confusion.
“What do you mean by you can’t?”
“Exactly that, Ken. I can’t.” He confirmed. “At least not now, Alaric’s troupes are headed in this direction, but then you know that already, since you were with them these past few days. I’ve been helping Dnakle get ready for the upcoming war. You know, I thought about what you told me that other time when you first informed me about the quest. How you told me that the Council was achieving nothing by being diplomatic about this issue, and I realise that you were right. This here is my way of righting a wrong I have been a part of for so long.”
“I completely get you, Kill,” Truly, she did. It must have been such a wakeup call to experience the threat of upcoming danger from the point of view of people who were in no way ready to deal with it. “But what about our pack? What about Silver Crest?”
Our pack.
He liked how she had worded that question. It pleased his wolf greatly.
“Silver Crest can wait, Kendra. Silver Crest is practically no more, and you know the pack you talk of is fully Riverdale now. Silver Crest doesn’t exist anymore. You and I are practically rogues, Ken… rogues with titles attached to our name, nothing more.”
She couldn’t say a single word and so she just stared at him.
He continued, “When you left me, to be completely honest with you, I almost gave up. But the Moon Goddess came to give me hope— t-to give me a purpose. Helping Dnakle win this war is that purpose, Kendra.”