When Zan’s fingers wrapped over the place where the bone had broken the skin, Kalen panted, sweat trickling down his temples into his hair. Then warmth enveloped the point of the break, and the horrible, stabbing burn gradually lessened. The heat felt good, and soon the pain was gone. Checking out his arm, he saw that his skin was covered in drying blood from the break, but the arm was as good as new.
“Thanks, Z-man,” he said, giving the guy a wan smile.
“No problem. Here.” Pushing to his feet, he offered Kalen a hand up.
He took it and stood awkwardly, not making eye contact with anyone as he waited for Nick to deliver his judgment. It came swiftly.
“I get what happened here,” the commander said in a low, stern tone. “It’s no secret that you two, in addition to your own problems, have had issues with each other from day one. But I’m not a fucking kindergarten teacher and this isn’t a playground for you two to beat the shit out of each other while you work out those issues. Is that clear?”
Kalen winced. “Yes, sir.”
“Yeah,” Aric drawled, earning him a hard stare from Nick. He cleared his throat. “I mean, yes, sir.”
“Find some common ground and do it on your own time. I’ve got a Pack to run. I don’t have time for this bullshit and neither does anyone else. If this happens again, you’re both suspended. Indefinitely.”
“What!” Aric shouted. “It wasn’t my fault! He—”
“And now you know why,” Nick enunciated. He was fast losing his trademark patience. “You know how to read your teammate’s signals better than that, Aric. I know you do. You should have stopped and read his body language, and if you had, you’d have known something was wrong. Then you would have let him go like he asked and diffused the situation with a bit of compassion. You’re a better Pack mate and brother than this.”
Aric glanced to Rowan, found her lips tight with disapproval. His high cheekbones colored and he hung his head in shame. “You’re right, Nicky. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not me you owe the apology.”
He didn’t want to speak to Kalen at all. Anyone could see that. It hurt more than Kalen wanted to admit. But the man closed the distance and nodded.
“I’m sorry, Sorcerer. I fucked up.”
“Kalen.”
“What?” Aric’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“You’re always calling me Goth-boy, kitty, pretty boy, whatever. My name is Kalen,” he said quietly.
“Right.” Aric laughed without real humor. “Sure, Kalen, whatever.”
Nick shook his head. “All right, everyone, show’s over. Let’s call it a day.”
Kalen had never heard a better suggestion. As the group broke up, some of the guys clapped him on the back or gave him an encouraging word or two in a show of support. But none, he noted, actually stopped to really talk to him. To reach out.
Nobody ever had before. Why should now be any different?
Even Mac had left without speaking to him further. No reason she should’ve stayed after the way he’d spoken to her. Aric had been right and Kalen had been too angry to listen.
Now he was alone in the empty corridor, longing for companionship. He’d give almost anything for the joy of the easy friendships these guys shared. Not to mention a beautiful mate like Jax and Aric had found. It seemed those dreams were to remain forever out of his reach.
“Don’t you have anything to say about that?” he asked Malik bitterly.
The bastard didn’t respond, though. At that moment, he would’ve given anything for companionship, even the slimy Unseelie’s, because then he wouldn’t be so alone.
Which was, no doubt, exactly what Malik had planned.
And that was the most frightening thought of all.
Three
Kalen tossed in his bed, twisting in tangled sheets.
The night was too hot, the room stifling. He’d lowered the thermostat in his quarters, but it hadn’t helped. The cotton sheets clung to his overheated skin, sticky and miserable. For hours he’d fought for oblivion, but it remained elusive. He was restless.
So alone.
Can’t sleep?
“You’re quite the detective,” he said sarcastically to the damned Unseelie. “What do you care? And don’t the Fae sleep, either?”
A deep sigh sounded from somewhere outside, in the shadows. I care more than you know, and I rarely require sleep. Come to me, boy. I want to show you something.
A chill slithered across Kalen’s skin, despite the uncomfortable heat. The Unseelie sounded almost . . . friendly. Was this a new approach to try to worm his way into Kalen’s confidence? “No, thanks. There’s not anything you’ve got that I want to see.”
You’ll feel differently once you see it.
“Feeling sure about that, huh?”
What I’m certain of is that you’re alone. That you’re tired, so tired of walking through your existence with no one by your side who understands you.
“And you think you do?” Kalen asked tightly.
Yes. I know you better than you realize.
“What the hell does that mean?”
I’ll show you. Come.
“Go to hell.”
A darkly amused chuckle floated in the air. That’s not exactly an effective threat. While you’re straining your mind for a more original insult, get out of bed and join me. You have nothing to lose. Deep inside, you know I’m right.
The words filled him with despair. It didn’t matter that he recognized the tactic the Unseelie was using—find the point of weakness in the prey and strike. Kalen’s point of weakness also happened to be the truth.
He’d been alone and adrift since his grandmother died, not long after the day she’d given him the pendant. Ever since, he’d struggled to rise above the hatred, indifference, and ridicule thrown at him daily. It was hard to say which one hurt most.
With Kalen’s grandmother no longer an obstacle, his father’s abuse had worsened by leaps and bounds. Especially toward Kalen’s mother. On that last, terrible night, Dave Black had started beating her for some small infraction, and the sight of her cowering under his blows, crying out, made something snap in Kalen’s soul. He’d shifted into his panther form for the very first time and leaped onto his father, fully intending to rip out his throat. Only his mother’s screams for him to stop spared the bastard his fate.