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The word slipped out of his mouth without thought. He didn’t know how he could think about Quinten’s apartment as home when he’d barely been conscious when he was there. He stilled as he took a step forward, his bare feet digging into the plush carpeting.
It wasn’t the apartment.
It was Quinten.
The realization loosened something in his chest, but he shook off the sensation. He’d think about that later. At the moment, he needed to make sure Rick wasn’t bullying his human into making him stay.
He padded carefully out of the bedroom, ignoring the wolf as he followed behind him at a respectful distance, using his nose to follow the scent of orange blossoms. As he neared the room where the two of them were, he could hear them talking through the closed door.
“You’re just being stubborn,” Rick snarled. “That, or you really aren’t as smart as they say you are.”
Caden’s hackles rose at the insult.
“Neither, but I’m not leaving here without everything I brought,” Quinten said firmly.
Warmth pooled in the bottom of Caden’s belly, his hands moving to cover the bare skin over the spot. He was one of the things that Quinten had brought and wouldn’t leave without.
He was right though. Rick was trying to convince him to leave him behind.
He hovered outside the door, knowing that Rick probably knew he was there, and Dare was watching him with an almost amused look on his scarred face as Caden eavesdropped blatantly.
“He needs to heal and recover,” Rick said, his voice strengthening and waning in a way that made Caden think he was pacing. “He needs a pack to do that, not whatever it is you have.”
Quinten’s anger billowed out from around the door, hitting Caden straight in the face, sinking into his bones, firing up his weakened jaguar.
“Whatever I have,” Quinten said slowly, “has been perfectly fine for all the shifters in my territory for years.”
“This is different,” Rick said, scoffing. “The kind of magic that was used on him, it drained him, nearly severed his connection to his jaguar. He needs a strong bond to a strong alpha to fully recover that.”
Caden felt weak-kneed for a moment. Was that what had happened? Had he almost lost half of himself? Why? Why would anyone do something like that to him?
He expected to hear Quinten continuing to argue, but instead, there was a very soft sigh.
“You’re saying if he goes with me, he might not fully recover,” Quinten said, just the barest hint of a question in his voice.
Caden heard leather creak as someone sat down, and Rick said earnestly, “That’s exactly what I’m saying. If you want to give him the best chance to get back to one hundred percent, then you need to do this. You need to let him go, Quinten.”
Something tore at the inside of Caden’s chest when Quinten didn’t say anything, didn’t argue, didn’t fight. Unable to hold himself back, he gripped the door handle and ripped the door open.
Rick didn’t look surprised at all, but Quinten’s scent spiked.
Caden didn’t care. He didn’t care that this man was a human, that he could never be as strong, or fast, or have the kind of senses that shifters did. He truly did not care.
All he cared about was the fact that he had never felt more vulnerable in his entire life, and the idea of being left behind in a pack full of people he didn’t know terrified him. He didn’t know what would happen in the future. He didn’t know if he would heal all the way or if his jaguar would always be weak. But he would rather risk that than be separated from Quinten.
Stumbling into the room, he went straight for his human and dropped to his knees next to him, resting his forehead on his warm thigh. The scent of shock filled the room from both men.
“Please,” he begged softly. “Please don’t leave me behind. Take me with you. I want to go home.”
No one moved or said anything for a long moment. Quinten’s whole body seemed to be frozen, but then gentle fingers stroked through his hair, and Caden almost started purring.
“Well,” Quinten said thickly. “That’s decided, then.”
Chapter Seven
He wanted them to leave right away.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t grateful for the Kincaid Pack for saving his life. He just didn’t feel comfortable there. He was exhausted and weak in a way he’d never been before. He wanted to curl up in a safe place and allow himself to heal, but that wasn’t going to be in a bedroom in Rick Kincaid’s house.
