Nocturne 040 – Scions 02 - Patrice Michelle - Insurrection (25 page)

That’s why he took off the chain in the alley, she realized. Water dripped from the sponge into the sink. Its quiet plunks against the porcelain were the only sounds in the room as her mind turned over everything Caine had told her.

She began to scrub the sink furiously. “You mentioned my father’s death as one reason. Why wasn’t Landon already Alpha?”

Caine crossed his arms and leaned against the sink’s cabinet. “Because his sense of smell isn’t as sharp as all the other weres. It never has been.”

She met his gaze with surprise. “A werewolf who can’t smell?”

Caine shook his head. “No. His sense of smell is still far greater than a human’s. It’s just not as sharp as the other weres’.”

The injustice made her chest tight with fury. Straightening, she pointed her sponge hand toward him in a quick jerk. “Are you saying that silly reason is the only thing keeping him from being Alpha?”

He flicked the soapy water off his jaw with a frown and nodded. “The Omega have disqualified him from being able to participate in the annual Alpha run because his scenting skills aren’t one hundred percent on par with the other weres.” Caine straightened, standing to his full height.

“Anyway, I want you to think about forgiving Landon and accepting him as your Lupreda mate.”

She blinked a couple times, then swirled the sponge around the faucet until it shone. “I thought we were talking about forgiveness. I’m not Landon’s Lupreda mate.”

Caine’s fingers brushed across her shoulder in the spot where Landon had bitten her. “This says differently.”

“You’re wrong,” she whispered and glanced at her shoulder. Both shocked and strangely excited by the concept Landon had branded her, she scrubbed harder.

His voice turned to steel. “Lupredas only mark when they find their true mate. It’s a lifetime commitment and not taken lightly among our kind. Think about what I said,” Caine advised, turning to leave. As soon as she heard the front door shut behind him, Kaitlyn lifted her gaze to the mirror. Two red spots graced the area between her neck and her shoulder. A matching pair were on the back side.

Landon’s mark for all to see. A mate’s mark, Caine had called it. It had been a couple days since Landon had bitten her, yet the red marks hadn’t lessened in intensity. She’d been so distracted with everything going on, she hadn’t paid attention to herself as she got dressed the past couple days.

Landon’s mate. Her spirits soared and she instantly felt remorseful for the involuntary elation. But Caine’s story made her think long and hard. She knew in her heart that Landon truly regretted what had happened, and yet even though he didn’t know if she would ever return his feelings, he had committed himself to her.

Is it so wrong for me to care for him? she asked herself. She wished she could talk to Abby about Landon, but his world was unknown to humans. She didn’t want to expose the Lupreda any more than necessary, even to a trusted friend. Knowing Abby, her friend would tell her she was being an idiot, that the past had happened eighteen years ago and Landon had done his best to make amends ever since.

Once she finished up the bathrooms, she took another shower and walked downstairs. The house seemed so very quiet to her now. Even though her mother had been at the hospital for a couple months and she’d been living there on her own, there was something very final about the silence in the house she’d grown up in with her parents. She’d saved cleaning the office for last. Her father’s folder with all his letters to her mother sat on the desk, waiting to be put away. With a sigh, she restacked the letters and put them neatly in the folder. Sliding the cardboard box toward her, she started to set the folder back on the books, but they’d tipped over when she jerked the box. She set down the folder and sat beside the box to straighten the books. When she lifted them, her gaze landed on a thin, gold-leafed book that had a rubber band around it. Curious, she set the other books down and removed the rubber band.

The book fell open to the middle page. It was a journal her father had kept. She flipped back to the beginning and looked at the date of the first entry. It was dated almost twenty-five years ago.

The strangeness started a month after that enormous dog bit me in the park. He was black with a torn left ear and one blue and one brown eye. I’ll never forget his sharp teeth clamping down on me.

Her gaze widened and she continued reading. She discovered her father was never the same after that incident, even though he put up a good front for her mother.

Sharon would never understand this need to run through the woods, the way I crave raw meat every now and then. Something has changed. She flipped forward, skimming more pages.

Hank lets me borrow his cabin when it gets too rough for me in the city. He understands my need to be with nature. He doesn’t know it’s because I’ve changed.

The pages flew by.

I paused when I passed by a stranger in the street today. Something about him seemed familiar, yet I’d never met him before. I followed him, staying way back. I watched him go into the woods in Morningside Park. He was gone for hours and when he came back, he looked rejuvenated…like I always feel when I walk around in the woods for hours on end.

Was her father talking about Landon? She skimmed even further. Wolves! ! I just can’t stop thinking about them. Bought more books about them and even a werewolf lore book. It has become an obsession I can’t seem to shake.

“Oh, Dad, I had no idea,” she whispered as she continued to turn pages, her pace frantic in her need to understand his obsession. I saw a wolf in the woods today! He was a majestic beast. Bigger than I thought wolves normally grew to be.

Later in the journal, her dad’s entries seemed more disjointed, as if he was going through some kind of breakdown or deep depression. I think I’m going crazy. I have these primal urges when the moon is full. I come to the cabin then. To get away. I walk through the woods, enjoying all the earthy smells around me. Sometimes I run as fast as my legs will carry me…and then I wake up on the forest floor naked. I don’t remember how I got there.

I feel so alone sometimes. Like no one understands me. Thank God Sharon still loves me, though she doesn’t know how I feel. I’m going to Morningside Park tonight. Maybe I’ll see that man again and can talk to him about his long walks in the woods.

He had to be talking about Landon. The picture of Landon in the box made more sense now. She flipped to the last page of his book. It was dated a couple of days before her father’s death.

I waited for him three different times now. Maybe he doesn’t go to that park anymore. I feel so alone. I’ve made special bullets. Even etched my initials in them. One should do it, but it might take more than one. I’m going back to where it all started. I’ll miss my family deeply, but they’re better off without me. I’m not the same person I was seven years ago. I always feel so…out of control. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again. Kaitlyn let the journal slip from her fingers onto the floor. Her father had known something about Landon was different. He’d sensed it, but he hadn’t known why he was drawn to him. Landon was a natural Alpha. He exuded a confident bearing that demanded respect. Her chest squeezed as she considered the fear her father must’ve experienced and the knowledge he’d gone to the park to end his own life. Had he been bitten by a werewolf in his wolf form? There was one way to find out. Picking up the telephone from the desk, she dialed Caine’s number. Two rings later, Caine answered. “Hello?”

“Caine, it’s Kaitlyn.”

“I knew you’d come around—”

“Hush and just listen. Do you have a black wolf in your pack with a torn left ear and one blue and one brown eye?”

Caine didn’t answer for a second. “Yes, we did. His name was Andre. He committed suicide twenty-four years ago.”

Her stomach tensed. “Why did he commit suicide?”

“Because he didn’t shift back to human form when daylight arrived. Time passed, and he remained a wolf. There were rumors he must’ve bitten a huma—Why are you asking me about Andre? And how do you know about him?”

Kaitlyn released a heavy sigh. “Because he bit my father almost twentyfive years ago. I just found my father’s journal. I—I think the wolf’s bite changed my dad. He became obsessed with wolves and started spending a lot of time in the woods, feeling a stronger pull to nature when the moon was full. He’d seen Landon on the street and was drawn to follow him. Then he saw Landon enter the woods in Morningside Park and not return for hours. Caine, the reason he was at the park that night…he was planning to kill himself. He’d never felt the same since he’d been bitten.”

“And then he saw us in our Musk form,” Caine replied with a sad tone.

“I’m so sorry, Kaitlyn. I didn’t think this was possible, but it sounds like your father was going through a wolf-like change, and Andre’s bite had made him one of us in thoughts and urges. That’s why he would’ve been drawn to Landon. The instinct is strong to be with the pack—Holy shit!

Now it all makes sense.”

Her heart thumped and she pressed the phone closer to her ear. “What are you talking about?”

“Wolves are by nature pack animals. Landon lives alone as a lone wolf, but that’s not what he really wants. He wants to be with his pack. I didn’t realize what he was doing until now.”

Kaitlyn shook her head. “What are you blathering on about?”

“Remember all the wolf things in Landon’s house? The wolf picture on the wall, the wolf on the end table and the wolf carved from a tree trunk near his kitchen?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“When I was at your house, I noticed all your dad’s wolf stuff. Don’t you see what your father and Landon were doing? Even though they were lone wolves, they still surrounded themselves with wolf images, like they were creating their own surrogate pack.” He sounded so excited. “I’ve always had these frustrating questions in my mind, but now I know for sure, Landon does want his pack.” Caine’s excitement calmed. “Have you come to any conclusions about Landon yet? Did reading your father’s journal help?”

“Don’t push it.”

“You two are made for each other. Landon’s the closest thing to a brother I’ll ever have. He deserves happiness.”

Kaitlyn sighed. “The truth is, I care very much for Landon. I know he’s a good man with a strong sense of leadership. He was responsible for my father’s death, but now that I know the circumstances, I realize his protective instincts would’ve kicked in to defend his pack. I understand the motivation. I’m just so sad it had to happen like it did.”

All this talk about her father being changed made Kaitlyn realize that she was connected to the Lupreda, too. As James’s offspring, she might have some of the wolf traits. That could explain why she was so drawn to Landon’s smell and why she had the “seeing” power that she did. Come to think of it, all her life, no matter the scrape, she’d always healed very quickly, and she’d never been sick a day in her life. The signs were all there, but not enough for her to notice if she didn’t know to look for them.

“I’m sorry, too.” Caine sounded truly regretful. “Well, I guess I’ll let you go then.”

“Wait, Caine! I think I might know of a way for Landon to be allowed to participate in your Alpha run.”

“I’m listening.”

“I need you to take me to your Omega.”

“That’s impossible. You aren’t Lupreda.”

She smiled. “I’m pretty sure I can prove otherwise.”

“That’s not enough, Kaitlyn. I can’t bring a human into the pack. It’ll break all our rules. Our home is hidden for a reason.”

“You’re going to have to trust your gut instead of your sense of smell this time,” she insisted.

He gave a heavy sigh. “I’ve seen you in action. You’re a smart, determined woman. If you say you have a plan you think will work, I have to let you try. Plus, the pack needs to know about your dad.” Caine’s tone was suddenly dead serious. “But I can’t come get you until tomorrow.”

Frustration tensed her shoulders. Her hand tightened on the phone.

“Why not?”

“Because it’ll be dark soon and it’s a full moon. During the full moon, Lupredas naturally shift to wolf form. We don’t have control over that. Once daylight arrives, I’ll be able to shift back to my human form. The only control we do have is shifting to our Musk form.”

“And Landon?” she asked, guilt bunching her spine. “Has he worn that necklace all this time?”

“He doesn’t shift at all. I know he misses it.”

His regretful tone made her stomach knot. “We all wish we could change the past, Caine. All we can do now is set the present on the right path.”

“Right. I’ll call you tomorrow, Kaitlyn.”

When he hung up, she did the same and stared at the wall of wolf books. I’m part Lupreda.

“We’ll walk from here.” Caine pulled his silver truck into the woods off the side road he’d taken deep into the Shawangunk mountains. Shutting off the engine, he then flipped open his cell phone.

“Laird. We’ll be there soon.” He paused and listened. “I don’t care. Use whatever excuse you can to get the Omega together.”

As he shut the phone and slid it in his back pocket, Kaitlyn climbed out of the truck and took in their surroundings. Trees, sporting leaves in various shades of orange, yellows, reds and browns, blew with the crisp wind. They were literally in the middle of nowhere.

Caine got out and came around to her side. He held up a rolled-up handkerchief. “To protect my pack’s location, I’m going to have to blindfold you.”

She frowned. “But I’m Lupreda, too.”

“Not until the Omega deems you to be.”

A determined expression settled on his face, and she realized she wasn’t changing his mind. This is for Landon, she told herself and turned around.