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She stayed by the lake for two days licking her preverbal wounds while trying to decide what to do about her future. The trouble was her wounds still felt raw and she didn’t have any answers.
CHAPTER FIVE
“She hasn’t been home and she’s not returning our calls. Please Ryan, you have to do something.”
Ryan scowled as he listened to Kelly’s parents. “Could she be out with friends?” he glowered again. Kelly was too young and too irresponsible. The way she’d attacked a visiting pack member proved that. His wolf bristled at his harsh thoughts.
“Kelly is a good girl, Ryan. She doesn’t go out drinking and partying. She doesn’t do much of anything except work on trying to solve the breeding problems for you.” Ellen’s tone held a note of displeasure that was clearly directed at him, though Ryan wasn’t certain why. It wasn’t as though he forced Kelly to help them find the answers they needed.
“She should have been home.” Kelly’s mother said as if sensing his disdain.
Ryan bit back the urge to scowl again. It wasn’t her family’s fault that she’d been reckless and had stayed out all night, but it wasn’t just all night. Her parents claimed they hadn’t seen or heard from her for days now.
The thought that she hadn’t been reckless, that something could have happened to her made his stomach roil.
“I’ll go out and look for her.” It went against his better judgment; she was young and probably out having fun. He remembered what it was like to be young and without the responsibilities of leading the pack. He also recalled that when he had been young and without anything weighing him down, he hadn’t told his parents about his every move. It was possible that Kelly had just run off somewhere and wasn’t thinking about the impact her actions would have on her family.
“Thank you.” Ellen lowered her gaze as a sign of respect for his position. It was common but for some reason coming from her, the gesture felt wrong.
Ryan used all his senses to try tracking Kelly across the pack’s territory. He flung open the link he used for general pack communication shocked to realize that he had only the faintest link to her and tracing her down that connection was nearly impossible.
A hot surge of shame swept through him as he realized that he shared a stronger connection with wolves from neighboring packs than he did with a member of his own.
It didn’t stop him from mentally calling out to her using that fragile thread as a lifeline, but he was met with frustrating silence every time he called.
Only a change in the breeze let him know he was going the wrong way. Shifting quickly, he pressed his nose to the ground carefully following the elusive scent that clung to the dirt and trees she’d touched. There wasn’t much of a trail to follow. She’d done her best to avoid contact with her surrounding. When he found her, she was curled by the water asleep and shivering. Her long blond hair covered her back effectively hiding her from his view. He refused to let his gaze travel lower where the curve of her hip was visible.
Ryan allowed his human form to emerge again and then gathered up her clothes. It was odd that she would shift and remain by her clothing, and stranger still that she would phase back and not bother to dress. He let the shirt he was holding flutter over her before he spoke.
“Kelly, wake up!” His tone was harsher than he’d intended, but he’d wasted time tracking her when he had other business to attend to. Her show of aggression had caused a diplomatic rift with the Sourwind pack and if Dawnecia was the daughter of the alpha and not the beta then Ryan would be making a much larger show of restitution to the pack leader. It was lucky that Ryan knew Dawnecia’s father Brett. He was a reasonable man and had been understanding that the incident was just an altercation between two individuals and not meant as an insult. He had still taken the money from Ryan though and when Darius had demanded a larger amount Ryan had paid that as well.
As busy as he was, it had never occurred to him to delegate the task of finding her to one of the pack members. It pissed him off that he’d been so consumed by her that he wasn’t thinking clearly. “Kelly!” He squatted next to her, giving her shoulder a rough shake noticing for the first time that her skin was chilled.
Lycan’s temperatures normally ran high, they were very resistant to the cold, and yet she was shivering. He shook her again this time showing the care he should have when he first touched her. She jerked awake as if he’d slapped her, her gaze wild and frightened darting to her surroundings before landing on his face and he watched what little color was in her complexion drain away.
“What are you doing out here? Your family has been worried sick!” He scolded.
The flush that had fled from her skin returned as she blushed.
“Could you turn around so I can put my clothes on?” The indignation in her tone irritated him and made him impatient. Normally lycans weren’t sensitive about nudity. Shifting meant you were often taking off your clothes to do so or finding yourself without a new set once you changed back to human form.
“I would never look at you inappropriately.”
“Oh, I know.” she said, and Ryan was confused by the bitter anger in her tone.
“Then why ask?” Ryan tried to ignore the bite in her voice.
“Ever heard of modesty? This isn’t like shifting you’ve woken me up from a dead sleep. I’m at a disadvantage here.”
Ryan opened his mouth to protest and then thought better of it. He didn’t want to see more of her than he had to anyway. He began to turn away as she hunched her shoulders trying to shrug into the shirt without revealing herself to him. What she exposed instead of her breasts had him growling. The rumble started deep in his chest and tickled the back of his throat until it burst from him.
“What the hell happened to you?”
HIS HARSH DEMAND made her cringe and Kelly scrambled for an answer that would appease him. Lycan’s were resilient creatures. She shouldn’t bruise like she had unless she’d been in one hell of a fight. Not knowing what to say, and not wanting to lie she ducked her head while pulling on her pants, no longer aware if he was still looking at her or not.
“I asked you a question.” His tone was hard and cold, holding the full weight of his status as alpha behind it. He’d made a demand and it was clear from his voice and body language that he expected her to obey.
“Nothing. It’s just a bruise.” She couldn’t stop the heavy sigh that she exhaled.
