Chapter 16

Kade knew he was in trouble the moment bright, unfiltered sunlight suddenly poured into his room and landed squarely on his closed eyes.

His eyes snapped open before quickly squeezing shut as the early morning light assaulted his retinas and sent searing pain like an icepick to the raw nerves in his brain. For a few very brief moments Kade found himself trying to work out what had happened to leave him with a pounding headache and a mouth like it had been filled with dirt before he was assaulted by watery memories of the previous day. He released a groan that was a mixture of pain and regret, a hand coming up to scrub his ashened face. The sudden sharp pain in his lip from the contact made him wince and he cursed under his breath praying for sleep to take him once more.

“Rise and shine, sweetcheeks.” A familiar voice broke through the heavy silence making Kade open his eyes to stare up at the dark haired intruder.

Alpha Daniel Wolfe was leaning his shoulder against the doorframe, a mug in his tattooed hands and dark shadows under his eyes.

Kade was definitely in trouble.

Kade groaned again, forcing himself to sit up and swing his legs over the edge of his bed to plant his feet on the carpet below. It was only now that he realised he wasn’t in his clothes from the day before. Gone were the ripped jeans, blood stained t-shirt and biker jacket. Now he sat in grey sweatpants and a white vest like some patient on the psychiatric ward. He was just missing the annoying plastic cuff around his wrist. He didn’t recall changing but he did vaguely remember his best friend dragging him into the bathroom where Kade released the contents of his stomach into the toilet unceremoniously before collapsing in the bathtub. He raised his eyes sheepishly to regard Daniel, rubbing the back of his neck in awkward silence.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t look.” Daniel mocked before pushing himself away from the doorway and striding slowly into the wrecked bedroom.

His blue eyes moved over every inch of the space slowly, taking in the broken furniture and destroyed posters. How many times had Kade replaced his nightstand and the lamp that now lay on it’s side, the thin metal frame bent awkwardly like a broken neck?

Kade remained silent as his friend and pack leader finally came to sit beside him, handing over the mug in his hands which held tea strong enough to hold up a bank. Just how Kade liked it. He took it, waiting for his stomach to tell him if it would revolt if he tried to put any of the hot, bitter beverage into his stomach.

“You look like shit.” Kade muttered, breaking the silence finally.

“Look who’s talking.” Daniel came back quickly. “I’ve asked the omegas to clean this shithole up.”

“There’s no need.”

Daniel snorted at this and shook his head. “The omegas are coming to clean up. You should think about doing the same for yourself.”

Kade refrained from rolling his eyes. “I’m fine.”

“You're not. What happened?"

Kade didn't answer. He took a gulp of his tea, letting it scorch his tonsils and throat.

"You were drinking." Daniel pointed out. "Which means something happened. You're also covered in cuts and bruises which suggests you've been in a fight."

"Believe it or not, they started it." Kade muttered, peering into his mug. "I was just minding my own business."

"Did you start seeing the boy?"

Kade gave a soft nod. Outside he seemed passive but his insides were twisting like eels. "Same knock off Chelsea shirt and everything."

"Well it's the morning after the night before so let's leave it there." Daniel replied and pushed himself to his feet. “Oh and you’re on the graveyard shift for patrol for a week.”

“What the fuck?” Kade barked incredulously. “What for?”

“Because you were such a drunken ass last night and now Eva isn’t talking to me.” Daniel explained with a shrug and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans.

“Oh goddess, please tell me I didn't insult her.” Kade groaned. “I like her as well!”

“You didn’t insult her.” Daniel shook his head. “You made me use my Alpha tone on her so she locked me out of the bedroom and now won’t talk to me. Also you cock blocked me so I’m also putting you in charge of training the new trainees for the rest of the week.”

“You’re a cruel man, Daniel Wolfe.”

“And you’re a pain in the ass but what can you do?” Daniel smirked before disappearing out the door.

---

Two weeks.

For two long weeks Kade had kept his down. He had gone on patrol. He had trained the new recruits and at the end of each day (or night in some cases) he ate and went to bed. He stayed away from the booze but he also stayed away from everyone else if he didn’t have to talk to them. He caught up with Daniel regularly and buried himself in his beta duties looking to try and exhaust himself and yet when he finally crawled into bed, sleep evaded him.

He tried to make himself scarce today. The singles event Eva was putting on was in the evening and she and the omegas were busy turning the pack house garden into a singles' wonderland. There was more black, gold and cream under the large gazebo than Kade thought existed and everyone seemed to be excited for the night to come. He had seen the Silver Moon pack members arrive that morning along with Eva's best friend, Maria and her mate.

Love was indeed in the air but Kade couldn’t feel it and he didn’t care. He knew Daniel wanted him to attend in hopes Kade would find his mate and maybe calm down. Kade had done what he did best; made non-committal noises that were enough to get Daniel off his case while knowing he was never going to attend. The Goddess would not be so cruel as to burden some poor she-wolf with a monster like himself.

So as the sun set and the party kicked off, Kade slinked off to work on his motorcycle figuring he might as well use his time wisely and make sure his main source of transportation was well maintained. Even from the garage he could hear the music and laughter from the party but none of it called to him. If his mate was amongst those people, she was better off leaving tonight mildly disappointed and finding herself a sweet but chosen mate that wouldn’t ruin her life.

Just as he was finishing up for the night, Daniel’s voice came through the mindlink.

*Kade, I need you here…*

Kade saw flashes of where exactly the Alpha was and it certainly wasn’t at the party anymore. It was far from it in fact, hidden within the thick copse of trees that hugged a vast section of the southern border. He couldn’t understand why Daniel would be all the way out there but based on the tone in Daniel’s voice, the reason for him being all the way out there wasn’t good.

As he had suspected, the scene that greeted him when he finally met up with Daniel was grizzly. The scent of blood hung in the air like a deathly haze and the soft, damp earth under foot was saturated in it. The pale light from the vehicles close by illuminated some of the site and the victims currently all around them receiving medical attention. Kade had seen scenes just like this one or worse back when he was in the military and had hoped to have left them far behind but now they plagued his thoughts as he waited for Daniel to give him his orders.

“See if you can find any clues about how they got here and where they came from.” Daniel spoke lowly. “And see if you can find any clues about who did this. From what we can tell, they were here for the event so hopefully they left a car somewhere or were staying somewhere closeby.”

That was all the instruction Kade needed. He left that night to start the search, using his keen tracking skills to seek out anything that could help them put this mystery to bed. Which is why he found himself traversing over some pretty rough terrain. He wasn’t expecting to find anything but for some reason, his gut was telling him he needed to go this way. Even his wolf was urging him to go, his restlessness setting Kade on edge as he pushed on, his eyes looking for anything that could tell him why he was here or maybe lead to a clue.

A scent caught his attention when the wind picked up and blew into him head on. Orange blossom, honey and cream danced around him lightly, calling for him to follow its trail to the origin. However, what was more alarming was the undertone of metallic that could only be blood. Dread filled Kade like icy water in his veins and he picked up his pace, not caring that he was being less cautious and could potentially be walking right into the middle of something he didn’t want to be involved in. Every fiber of his being and that of his wolf was telling him need to find the source of that captivating scent.

His search took him to the foot of some cliffs, the wind howling as it rushed through the valley. The scent of rain had joined in but the smell of blood was stronger to the point it was making Kade’s stomach turn. Maybe it was an injured deer or sheep and his mind had been playing tricks on him about the other scents.

He thought of turning back and disregarding it but as he went to turn, something caught his eye. It was just a flutter of something like long grass but it couldn’t have been that because it had been dark like ink, floating like a scarf in the wind.

Legion was pushing to take over, the wiley wolf whimpering and growling like he was anxious. The wolf’s own anxiety was bleeding into Kade, a sense of urgency running through him in a torrent of electricity. He knew the wolf wouldn’t relent until Kade investigated, so with a soft curse, he moved carefully towards the base of the cliffs while listening out for any danger.

The wind picked up again, lifting the strange grass once more. Only now Kade could tell it wasn’t grass but hair, dark strands floated on the air, dark like ganache against the rugged backdrop of the landscape. The further he walked, the more of the scene was revealed to his silver eyes. At first he couldn’t discern anything except white and grey material, blood and hair. Then he saw the curve of a hip, a limp hand and a face under the mess of blood-matted hair.

“Goddess…” He muttered, approaching slowly, the scent of orange blossom and honey swimming around him like he was drowning in it.

The poor person had to be dead. Maybe it was a hiker who lost their footing or worse…

He had been so busy surveying the scene it took him a few minutes to realise that he could hear the weak but rhythmic pattering of not one but three heartbeats. The moment the realisation hit him like ice cold water, Kade was scrambling down the last of the rocks, his eyes wide while Legion was yowling like a banshee, practically screaming blue murder. The wolf had already recognised what Kade hadn’t but Kade only had to carefully turn the body and brush away the soft locks of hair from the feminine features to catch up.

Kade had just found his mate.