Chapter Three

Her scent drifted through the house. It was spicy and warm like cardamom. Cohen followed it through the house, feeling his heart beat pick up speed. That scent once calmed the beast inside him. He didn’t know why or how, but when Ashe climbed into the small fort they’d made out of the shed, he’d always been happy.

He’d told his brothers to go off and do whatever they wanted. He would look after her while she hid. They always argued that it was time to take turns, that he didn’t always have to hide with her, but he never told them he liked it. He didn’t tell them that he eagerly awaited the witch’s arrival if only to quiet the beast inside him.

His father told them stories, about a time before Ashe had been born. Her mother was a witch, one with great power. She bonded with Ashe’s father, what Cohen could only consider a mate bond now. Only, the witch took advantage of it. She tried to bind her mate to her as a pet and not a lover.

It was supposed to be a horror story, one meant to keep his sons away from Ashe. His command kept them from talking to her. None of them could open their mouths to even say a word to her, but the girl that came out of that jaded relationship didn’t seem like the monster Sampson tried to paint.

Now, that girl was a woman. She’d grown into thick and voluptuous curves, her black hair falling past her shoulders in a fine wave. The bear craved her, demanding they hunt her down and pin her against the wall. It demanded they study the taste of the space between her legs until she was boneless and could no longer run. Cohen could barely find a voice to tell the beast to shut up. She’d turned into a vixen with a sharp tongue and Cohen couldn’t help but remember his father’s stories. As much as he was pulled to her, he drew back. He wouldn’t let her take control of his monster and use it against those who’d hurt her.

No, he would ask her to do this one thing for him, a token of their past, and then he would leave Stonefall behind. The place was better off without him. Archer would rise to the position of Alpha, binding the two packs together. It was the only outcome Cohen could see happening once their father died.

She opened the back door, dropping paper bags with a huff. Cohen lingered in the shadowed hall, watching her. The wave of her black hair swayed back and forth like water around her. It made him think of a darker Aphrodite on the scallop shell. He leaned back and watched her bend to pull things out of her shopping bags. He’d seen Wiccans wear flowing dresses and tops, but Ashe’s clothes clung to her skin as if they were the voice she hardly used.

They screamed look at me! Her wrap dress dipped dangerously low in the front, revealing an abundant cleavage. When she turned to place something in the fridge, the wrap slid aside to bare her creamy thigh. Cohen spared a moment to wonder what it would feel like to lose himself in that creamy skin, in the scent of cardamom. What would he have to do to make her sharp mouth scream his name?

He shook his head. He was losing his focus. Finding her was not about any carnal kind of desire. It was about freeing himself of Gage and Kaylee’s rash decision. It would get them killed if he couldn’t make Ashe help him. That meant he couldn’t afford to think about the witch like that.

He crept out of his shadow and sank into a kitchen chair. Ashe froze for a second, like a rabbit. He cocked his head. Was that what lived inside of her? A small rabbit that refused to show itself around the predators of Stonefall?

“You used to find comfort in my presence,” Cohen acknowledged.

His words broke the spell over her and she resumed motion, now slamming things onto the counter. She’d told him off, the first day he’d seen her again. It had taken him by surprise. There was power in her words and an icy rage in her eyes when she told him to leave her alone. He couldn’t help it. When he saw the change the years had made to the small girl he’d once known, his first instinct had been to get closer.

Before he and his brothers had been outcast from their Pack, she’d only been a small teenager with no curves to speak of. If anything, she’d been malnourished and weak. The woman she’d become… well, she was anything but and he found himself entranced.

“What did I tell you, Cohen?”

“Not to follow you around.”

“And, what are you doing?” She slammed a jar of suspicious looking liquid onto the counter.

“Sitting in my father’s kitchen, having a somewhat civil conversation with the witch of Stonefall.”

She spun around. Her eyes blazed with cold fury. He watched the muscle in her jaw work and felt a small pang of remorse. His choice of words had been awful. Could he blame his tactlessness on his time away from society? Or, was he just an awful human, too?

Before he could find an apology, she turned back to what she was doing. The things she pulled from her bags didn’t look like anything one could find at Paul’s Mart. Instead, they looked like canned goods Ashe had made at home, but instead of vegetables and fruits, they were odd liquid concoctions speckled with herbs and oils.

“What is all this for?”

Her fingers tapped on the lid of one of her jars. “This one is for his cough.” Her fingers moved to another jar. “This one is for his pain.”

“You’re taking care of my father? After what he let happen to you?” Cohen stood and moved closer, unsure of what distance would make her bolt.

“I can’t heal him. I can’t make the cancer go away, but I can make the days he has left a bit easier.”

“That explains why he thought he was well enough to come downstairs,” Cohen added as he moved to stand beside her.

Ashe sighed, a heavy sound that he watched settle onto her shoulders. His hand was halfway to her back before he caught himself and forced it back down. She continued to stare at the jars, seemingly oblivious to what he’d nearly done. The urge to touch her, to pull her into the shelter of his body still coursed through him. It was similar to the need he felt to protect his brother and Kaylee, but stronger. It was nigh overwhelming, and he took a step back just to keep from touching her.

“I have a favor to ask,” Cohen started.

“And what makes you think I owe you anything?” She still refused to look at him. He wanted her to see the pain in his face, see the monster that he carried and understand.

“We’ll say it’s payment for the years we hid you from your father.”

Ashe grew still.

Once more, he’d said the wrong thing. He wished he could stop bringing up her pain. Her father had done awful things to pull the shifter out of her, to make her more like him and less like her mother. Not everyone lived in their pain, like him. He seemed to forget too often.

“Fine,” she said, finally. “What do you want me to do? I won’t kill your father if that’s what you want me to do.”

“Do you really think so little of me?”

“No.” Her voice was small, barely audible. But he heard it and he heard the tenderness that it held.

It swept him away, the fact that anyone could address him with such softness. Her eyes lifted to meet his and he found that the ice had melted. He fell head first into the soft, gray cloud of her gaze.

“What did you want, then?”

Cohen slammed back into his body. He had to physically shake his head to clear it. What was happening to him? Perhaps he needed more time alone with himself. There were desires and urges he could take care of on his own. It was best that way. No one would get hurt that way.

“I want you to separate me from Gage and Kaylee.”

Her brows knit together, mouth pressing into a small O while her mind worked it out. “You want me to undo the bond of an Alpha to his pack?”

“You can do that, right?”

She continued to stare at him with a mixture of confusion and repulsion. It was a knife through his heart, but he would take it. He needed to get away from Stonefall as soon as possible. He couldn’t handle being surrounded by so many people all the time. He would slip, and he would hurt someone. It was only a matter or time before he did.

When that happened, it would not be a matter of outcasting. The Pack would have the right to kill him. It would prevent him from losing control and hurting anyone again. Cohen wasn’t sure he was ready for that. For all the pain and torment that clung to him, the roaring of the mad bear inside him, he wasn’t ready to let go of life.

“No,” Ashe said with conviction. She turned back to sorting through her magical concoctions.

Cohen grabbed her arm and spun her around. Her eyes flashed wide, ice spreading over the momentary surprise. There was no rabbit inside her. Whatever animal lived beneath her skin, it was just as much a predator as the rest of them.

For a moment, Cohen was caught in the thought. Then, Ashe yanked her arms free of his grip and he remembered what he’d asked for.

“You don’t understand,” he growled.

“I will not be bullied by you,” Ashe said, her voice low and controlled. “I will not be pushed around by anyone. Not even someone who fancies themselves a damned monster. I’ve seen monsters and I’m not afraid of you.”

***

Ashe hoped he couldn’t hear the pace of her heart or hear the shallow depth of her breaths. She pulled herself upright, pretending not to be afraid when she looked into the shadows writhing around his eyes and found herself to be petrified.

She couldn’t believe what he’d asked her for. To break the bond between an Alpha and his Packmates. It was ludicrous and spat upon the very foundation of an Alpha. Her surprise morphed into anger. There were so few good people in the world and, as much as she believed when she was younger, Cohen Vancourt was not one of them.

“No,” She said again. “I will not take part in this. If you want the pact broken, you can go to your packmates and tell them yourself. Maybe then you’ll understand what a piece of shit you’re being.”

His eyes flashed wide. She expected anger. She expected pain to follow. When would she learn to shut her mouth around him? When would she smarten up?

“I didn’t ask for this.” His voice broke. His shoulders slumped in defeat and she almost felt something like pity for him.

“Neither did I,” she hissed, stepping closer. “Yet, I know my duty to my Pack. I’m here to help them even if they fear me. Even if they hate me and hurt me.”

Ashe shoved past him. She wished she could find someplace to hide, someplace Cohen wouldn’t follow. He sparked things inside her she didn’t know existed. A wild and unbridled fury. A stubborn and immovable resistance. And the slow burn of desire.

She let out a growl of frustration, stomping her way up the stairs. He was insufferable. She would have preferred they go back to the times when Sampson forbade them all from talking to her. It would have made her life infinitely easier. She never dreamed this would happen when she summoned them home. She never thought they would become her problem.

Upstairs, she breezed into Sampson’s room. She was surprised to find him sitting upright. He watched her with bright and clear eyes and a sad smile on his lips. She ducked her head as if she could disappear.

“I’m not sure what you poisoned me with, but I feel like a new man,” he croaked.

“I didn’t poison you. I promise.”

“You could kill me, and no one would care at this point. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to be rid of me. I was complicit in your childhood and a burden in the here and now.”

“Stop talking like that,” Ashe told him, her voice soft.

She might not like Sampson, but she wasn’t completely heartless either. He was a living being, no matter how foolhardy and cruel. She wouldn’t let him suffer if she could help it. She certainly wouldn’t kill him, either. Not that anyone believed that of her.

She was the Witch of Stonefall, only because the previous Witch of Stonefall had brought about her own demise. Her mother had been an awful person. She’d abused the bond she shared with Ashe’s father, treating him as if he was less than human. The Pack rose to protect him, but Ashe had already been born. No one knew what to do with her, and killing a child wasn’t exactly on anyone’s bucket list.

“I’m sorry if…” Sampson trailed off. Ashe expected a cough, but when she turned to Sampson, he was wringing his hands in his lap. What had been thick, strong hands were now bony and fragile. “I’m sorry for the things I did. For not helping you.”

Ashe shrugged. She wished everyone would stop bringing up the past. It was done and gone. There was no fixing it, no erasing what happened. She was done hearing about it.

“I could have done a lot more to protect you. I should have, but I was an angry old fool.” He coughed, but it didn’t seem to shake through him like it once had. She noted the improvement. “But, could you promise this angry old fool one thing?”

Ashe wanted to tell him no. She was done with his family asking her for things. She’d brought them back together for the benefit of her Pack and her friend, Joanna. But, it seemed to open doors to the Vancourt men. They thought they could keep requesting more and more from her.

When she didn’t answer, Sampson went on. “Could you help my son the way he helped you? Cohen has… a wilder spirit than most. He hasn’t dealt with it the best way and I’m sad to say that I didn’t help, either.”

“No, you kicked your kids out onto the street.”

“Angry old fool, remember?”

“Sure,” she said, eyes on the floor.

He paused, the moment dragging on like he wanted to say more. When she glanced up, she could see the weight of a confession on his shoulders. It pressed him into the bed and stole the little remaining light in his eyes. “Just… Look out for my eldest son.”

She didn’t know why it was her job, but she nodded.

“Thank you.”

Her head shot up, words on her lips. He’d taken her response to his last question as an agreement to his request and she didn’t know how to correct her Alpha. Her chest tightened, and her words lodged in her throat. All she could do was return to what she’d been doing before. She made quick work of the preparations and left small notes on each bottle, describing what each did and when to take them because all Ashe wanted to do was run back to her apartment and hide.

Finished, Ashe ducked out of the room. She did her best to quietly descend the stairs and slip out the front door. Her sedan was parked in the gravel driveway. The yard held only one other truck, parked over the mess Archer had made when he first arrived.

Locked in her car, she could breathe easier. She dug out her phone and browsed through her missed messages. There was a voicemail from her father, complaining again about something Gage had done. Ashe deleted the message with a small smile on her lips. She would later pretend she’d never gotten it. The first day after Gage returned, he’d taken all the tires off her father’s truck and placed them high in the trees around the house. Not long after, he and his mate had decorated the man’s front lawn with the contents of his shed.

It made her smile. It was a small justice that she took pleasure in, the world righting itself. She looked up from her phone, regarding the house once more. Even though the boys hated the place, it was where her best memories had taken place. Perhaps not in the house itself, but in the shed behind it.

When everything hurt, and she thought she was only steps away from breaking, she would climb in through the shed window. She wasn’t sure how they knew, but they always did. Cohen would slink out to the shed with a book. He’d pass it to her, some new fantastical tale about far away places, and fall into a chair. Every time, he’d close his eyes and snore, but she was convinced he faked it.

He’d made her feel safe in a time when her life was very much not safe. She leaned forward and let her head rest on the steering wheel. If she agreed to a dying man’s request, she would do it for the sake of the man Cohen had once been. She would repay him for what he’d done and then be rid of him. If he wanted to run away and seclude himself from the world again, who was she to argue?

A small part of her knew it was wrong. The seclusion had changed him. She was sure of it. Letting him retreat to it would only make it worse. Could she let him do that? Could she let him hurt himself for the sake of the safety of others?

There was a knock on her window. Her head shot up, heart racing. Archer stood outside her car door with a disgruntled look on his face and a paper coffee cup in his hand. He motioned for her to roll down her window.

“Gage did it again,” Archer grumbled.

She was about to ask what when he thrust the coffee cup at her. She took it with confusion, feeling the warmth of its contents seep into her fingertips.

“The little shit keeps asking for complicated drinks and then telling me he doesn’t like them.”

“One would think you’d have learned by now,” Ashe commented.

“I’m not built to learn. Apparently, I’m built to take commands.”

Ashe scowled. If Archer was going to lead the Packs, he would have to change who he was. She wasn’t sure that was going to happen. Her gaze drifted to the house and found Cohen leaning in the door way, hands shoved in his pockets as if he could be casual. She knew his entire body was on alert.

Tightening her grip on the coffee, she made a decision. Ashe was not going to let Cohen slip away from the Pack. He was the strength they were going to need. He just didn’t believe in himself yet.

“Tell Gage thanks for the coffee.”

“I’ll tell him to fuck off,” Archer grumbled, saluting her as she put the car into reverse and backed out of the driveway.

Cars were beginning to line the side of the road, the bigger trucks choosing to park in the field just off the road. It seemed the Packs were throwing another shindig. It helped them feel more like a family and more inclined to help one another after all they’d gone through. While Ashe approved of what Joanna was trying to do, she knew there was no place for her at these gatherings.

Pack meant something different for Ashe.

She could feel Cohen’s gaze on her as she drove away. It wasn’t until she was nearly downtown that it fell away. She wanted nothing to do with whatever lay between them. If she was lucky, it was only Sampson’s request. That was what the cards had foreseen. That was all.

She climbed the stairs to her apartment, coffee in hand. Unable to wrap her mind around anything useful she grabbed a paperback fantasy novel and crashed into a comfy chair to lose herself.