Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Take the cats in their kennels. I'll retrieve them from your castle soon.”
The pain in her arm wasn't getting better. It burned with every little move.
“Good.” Eoin patted her on the shoulder, making it hurt more.
She moaned and stiffened her knees so she wouldn't crumple on the grass.
“It will heal soon.” The smoke stopped drifting from his nostrils. “I'll tell Angie the good news. She feels bad not being able to help you.”
With teeth clenched, she watched Eoin's retreating back. She couldn't return to the crowded table looking like a Freddy Krueger victim. She edged closer to the fundraiser and spotted her mother in the meeting pen behind her table. She was helping her dad by letting potential adopters pet some of the dogs.
Betty scanned the banners for a First-Aid symbol. She needed more than the Band-Aids her mom always carried. The blood seeped between her fingers.
As a half-breed, she healed faster than a human yet slower than a full-blooded shifter. Betty peeked under her hand at the thin scab forming. It looked terrible and ragged but the wound was closing quicker than she had expected.
A golden-haired male with sunglasses strode across the bright green lawn in her direction. His intense focus lasered on her position.
She'd been preparing her speech to Ken all morning but at the sight of the beta, she couldn't recall a single word. Would he yell at her right here in front of all these witnesses?
Ken’s soulmate stood apart from the festival, staring longingly at the Almost Home Rescue’s table. A crowd had formed and people snapped pictures of Eoin carrying away kennels of cats.
He stopped the dragon on his way to the truck. “You know they're not food, right?”
Eoin snarled and snapped his teeth. “Your mate already explained. They are pleasant creatures.” His gaze narrowed. “Unlike your kind.” Then he gave Ken a secretive smile. “Except your mate. I like her. She has spirit.” He pushed past Ken before he could question him further, knocking his sunglasses off.
What did he mean by that?
Ken glared in Betty's direction and their eyes met.
She shrank away, shoulder drooping, and gaze dropping to the ground.
It killed him to see her react to him this way. He didn't have much recall of last night, except finding Betty in a bar and then vomiting. Ken’s stomach rolled at the memory. Shifter guts were made of iron. He finally agreed with Ryota’s policy on full-moon shine. It should be banned if it could harm shifters this much. Imagine if a man ingested it. He stormed across the grass, ignoring the stabbing glare of sunlight in his eyes.
Head pounding, he loomed over his mate. “Betty.” He growled as the scent of her blood hit his nose.
“Look I have—I’m busy and have to find homes for the animals.” Brave words, if she hadn't whispered them. “Then I'll leave the rescue.” She clutched her right biceps, bright red staining her fingers.
“You're hurt!” He gingerly pried her hand loose. The wound appeared as if someone had torn her skin off. Someone's claws. “The bleeding has stopped. Who did this to you?”
“Your eyes, Ken. You’re wolfing out. Put the sunglasses back on.”
He bared his teeth at her injury. “What do you expect when I find you hurt?” Ken scooped her into his arms and carried her to the white First-Aid tent. “Tell me how this happened.”
“He…” She bit her bottom lip.
“Betty.”
“I tripped.”
“You do realize I can smell lies.” She was upset with him about the eviction, but to lie? He didn't understand her motives. He loved her so much. Why couldn't she see this?
The tent was empty. It was usually manned by volunteer nurses from New Port General. He set her on the chair and retrieved disinfectant from the table.
“Shouldn't we wait for a nurse or a medic?”
He snorted. “I'm beta of the pack. I tend wounds all the time.” He glanced up at her. “Not just my own.”
Betty cracked a smile then struggled for somber. It was like a stray ray of sunlight breaking through storm clouds. “You look like something Trixie pulled out of the gutter drain.” She ran her thumb under his eyes. “Don't drink that stuff again. It can’t be good for you.”
“Yes, ma'am.” He shrugged off her touch. It hurt more than his hangover.
She took a shuddering breath as he traced the wound on her arm with gauze. The skin would grow back but not the tattoo. He cleaned the injury of old blood. He could see the claw marks in her flesh.
A shifter had hurt his soulmate and she had lied about it. He watched her face from under his eyelashes.
Her brows were drawn down and her lips thin. She didn't shy from his touch though. “I wanted to—” Her eyes went wide. “Ryota.” Fear tinged her voice.
Ken spun on his knee. The alpha should strike fear in his pack’s heart but only if punishment was merited. Respect, trust, and love should be there as well to be a good leader. These were things Ryota had taught him, so why was she so fearful?
She rose slowly and pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket, even though the movement obviously hurt her. “I'm not leaving New Port.”
Ryota raised his eyebrows. “No matter the consequences?”
Ken jumped to his feet, snatching the slip from her fingers. “What is this?” A check. He whistled at the figure. “Is this all I'm worth?” He crumpled the paper and whipped it at his father.
The ball of paper bounced off Ryota's head. “You don't understand.”
The pounding in his head grew worse but the nausea vanished. Ken clenched his fist as his gaze landed on Betty's wound. “You did this.” He pointed at her arm, closing the distance to his so-called father who always said he prized him above all others. His little alpha in the making. Ken had him by the throat before either of them blinked. Claws digging into Ryota’s skin, Ken shook him. “How dare you touch her?”
Betty gasped. She pulled at his hands, trying to make him release Ryota. Would Ken ever understand his mate? He was protecting her. She said things, but the blood rushing past his ears made him deaf.
“Why would you send my soulmate away?” If he didn't shift, he'd explode in a mass of flesh and teeth. The change took hold, tearing his clothes as he grew in size.
Ryota clutched at his hands but remained in human form. “Save…her,” he managed to say past Ken’s strangling hold.
“Save me?” asked Betty, dropping her hold on Ken’s hands.
“Save her?” Ken repeated at the same time. He set his father on his feet but kept a hold on his neck. “Explain.”
Ryota took a deep, exaggerated breath. “Gave her a choice.”
She set her hands on her hips. “And the consequences if I stayed?”
Ryota laughed. It was so startling Ken dropped his hands as if stung. He couldn't recall his father making that sound often. Ryota bent forward leaning on his knees, laughing even harder. Then he pointed at Ken.
“He's your consequence.” He wiped his eyes. “That felt good. You gave up a fortune and remained in the city.” He gave Betty a sad look. “You can't possibly think you can break up with your soulmate?” Ryota patted his shoulder and Ken clicked his muzzle shut. “Go getter, son.” Then the alpha straightened his polo shirt, the wounds on his neck already healed and strode out of the tent. “Keep it PG. There are kids out here,” he said over his shoulders as the tent flap shut.
Betty picked up the paper ball and un-crumpled the check. “We should cash this and donate it to the orphanage.”
Ken loved the way she thought.
Ken snorted and hugged her tight against his chest. “I'll never forgive him for hurting you.”
She cleared her throat. “Um… About that. Eoin tore the tattoo off my arm. Not Ryota.”
The world froze. “I'm going to kill him.”
“That's suicide.” Betty blocked Ken’s exit from the First Aid tent and explained Eoin's crazy reasoning for maiming her. She caressed Ken's wolf-like face and drew it closer to hers. “I'm sorry.”
He blinked. “For what? I was the jerk. I'm the one who is sorry.”
“I shouldn't have blown—”
“I should've told you—”
They interrupted each other, then silence filled the tent.
Ken was willing to fight his alpha for her. No amount of money, freedom, or promises would make her leave his side. She ran her fingers through his fur and recalled the day they met. How his eyes had gone from feral fury to wide wonder when he'd first seen her. Something had clicked inside her. She hadn't been ready to admit it then, but boy, was she ever ready now.
Betty jerked from his hold as a sharp pain ran along her spine, cracking all her joints. Gasping, she clutched his shoulders. She held her hand in front of her face. Claws grew from under her nail beds! “Ken.” Panic laced her voice.
“Your eyes…” He supported her by the elbows, eyes growing big. “You're changing shape.”
She couldn't breathe, the pain was so blinding.
Ken laid her on the ground. “The dragon was actually right?” He stroked her fur.
She raised her head, staring at the black silken fur coating her body. Joints popped, limbs and face elongated. On unsteady legs, she climbed to her feet and compared herself to Ken. “I'm still short.”
He threw back his head and howled.