Chapter Eight

Iris

 

A strange sound woke me, and I slowly opened my eyes. Dust motes swirled across the ceiling, caught in the few loose light beams from the early dawn. Adjusting, my neck uncomfortable, I turned over only to meet resistance.

Craning my head, I pulled in a startled breath.

Kal had shifted back in his sleep.

Lying on his back, he was curled towards me, and my head was on his stomach. In a rush of alertness, I realized there was a warm pressure wrapped around me, and it was Kal's arm. He was so damn tall and long-limbed, he could curl his entire forearm around my stomach and hold onto my side with ease. I could feel his fingers digging into my stomach. I tried not to shiver, not wanting to wake him and to ruin this moment.

Kal made a noise and pulled me closer, a sigh exuding from his chest. Closing my eyes quickly, feigning sleep, I wondered if I should creep away and pretend this never happened.

But now that I’d pillowed my head on him, I was too comfortable. Exhaustion pulled me back down into warm and comfortable depths. Tucking a hand under my cheek, I let the heat of his body seep into mine and promptly fell right back asleep.

 

The next time I woke up, it was brighter, and Kal was up. Patting the ground next to me, I saw that he’d rolled up his cloak and tucked it under my head. How had he managed to sneak away without waking me? My heart sank. I wondered if I’d dreamed the whole thing about his shifting back and holding onto me.

There was nothing to read on Kal’s face. If we’d been spooning, I thought he’d be acting at least a little flustered. He seemed back to his distant self. My heart pinched a little.

“Good, I was about to wake you up. Here.” He gave me a squashed granola bar, and I smiled, about to say thanks, but he’d already stridden away. “I’ll be back. Get dressed. Leaving in ten.”

And he was gone.

With a bigger pinch to the heart, I got up and dressed while eating the bar. Everything in my bag was starting to have a damp, smelly quality to it, and I wished I had something nicer to wear. We’d reach Winfyre today, and I didn’t want to give a bad first impression.

“Ready?”

“Yes,” I said, turning around and holding out his jacket. “Here.”

Kal shook his head. “Last night’s storm brought in a cold front. Keep it.”

“Wow, thanks,” I said and tugged it on, enjoying the worn softness of the sleeves, even if it did dwarf me. “It smells great.”

The last sentence had escaped me before I could stop myself. Kal raised an eyebrow. “How?”

“It smells like you, you know, and you have a nice scent.” He kept looking at me, nonplussed. “What? You smell like wintertime and some spice. Maybe cologne.”

“Huh. Must be soap,” he said. “I’m not a cologne guy.”

“Oh,” I said and wished I hadn’t shoved us into this awkward conversation first thing in the morning. Or at all. Why couldn’t I ever shut up? “Yeah, maybe.”

Gesturing with his head, Kal led the way outside, and I gasped at the cold plunge of air that nipped at my nose. Our breath fogged the air, and I shuddered as the wind raked across my bare cheeks. The sky was a faraway, cold blue, and I tugged the jacket up higher.

Glancing over at Kal, I saw he was inhaling the air with a small smile and had his face tipped back. Relaxed and happy on this freezing morning. I raised an eyebrow as he glanced at me, and a rumbling chuckle escaped him.

"I trust the cold more than the heat," he said.

It struck me as a very Kal thing to say, and I smiled at him. “Sure.”

“Knock it off,” he said in a gruff voice, hiding a smile and starting off. “Let’s hustle. Don’t wanna camp out tonight.”

 

Hours later, when the air had warmed incrementally enough so that I wasn't shivering with every step, we paused atop a barren hill. Before us was all woods and mountains, with a small break to the west that revealed the ocean. I sucked in a happy breath and let my gaze drift across the woods, catching sight of smoke spiraling in the distance.

“Almost worth breaking our necks for this, eh?” Kal asked, and I nodded. “All right, one last slog. Be there in time for dinner, a nice, hot meal at the gate.”

“That sounds amazing,” I breathed as I followed him down the steep hill.

It was precarious walking and made me more nervous than the climb yesterday had. Going more slowly, lowering myself down until my butt was only inches from the ground, I let the rocks guide me until I hit an open slice of ground that was all sheer and smooth rock.

“Dammit,” I muttered and began to backtrack.

“Hey,” Kal barked, and I jumped. He was scowling at me and clambered over to me in an instant. “If you needed a hand, you should have asked.”

“I-I didn’t want to bother you,” I said, and Kal scowled more.

“Scoot your ass forward, and give me your hand,” he said, stepping up and bracing his leg against the rock. “I’ll swing you down. Yeah, that’s it. Put your other hand on my shoulder.” I tried to and slipped. Kal’s hands caught my waist. “Hold my shoulders, Iris.”

I slipped forward, my hands gripping him and my waist almost at his eye level. A slow burn of nerves and embarrassment crawled up my chest into my face. Distracted, I lost my footing and would have fallen down the path if Kal hadn’t grabbed me and skidded back a few inches.

“What are you doing?” he asked. “Why are your goddamn eyes closed?”

Opening my eyes, I saw he was inches away, and I gulped. “Sorry, I got nervous.”

“Next time, ask,” Kal growled and set me down. His thumbs pressed into my lower ribs, and the back fingers drummed against my back. “C’mon, I told you I wouldn’t let you fall.”

My hands were on his arms, fingers curling into his biceps because I didn’t know where to put them. Or maybe I wanted to feel the hard bulges of his arms. At his words, though, I didn’t want to move. I also didn’t want to admit how much I liked this feeling, as unfamiliar and nerve-wracking as it was. Part of me was screaming that I was losing my grip, that I was dangling over the edge…

Another part of me opened my mouth and teased, “I think I’m starting to believe that.”

“Starting?” Those big fingers on my sides tightened and pulled me closer. “You know, you didn’t look this fresh when I first saw you. Trouble, yes.”

“I’m not trouble,” I protested.

“Trouble,” Kal retorted. “And fresh.”

“Well, you’d know, wouldn’t you, Kallen Deacon?”

At that, Kal’s face crinkled up, and a grin split his face. “Dammit, how do you do that?”

“What?” I asked and repressed a sigh as his hands left me to push back his hair.

“Make me laugh,” he grumbled.

“Why are you making that sound like a bad thing?” I asked, a little indignant.

“Because, I’m an Alpha, a Northbane Alpha, and…” Kal sighed, and he glanced to the west. “And I need to get you off this mountain. Stop distracting me.”

“I didn’t realize I was,” I said as Kal began to pick his way down and then extended a hand back. “You sure?” I challenged, and he glanced at me. “Won’t be a distraction?”

Kal grabbed my hand before I could blink and didn’t answer. As we climbed down, my hand in his, my heart was bumping oddly in my chest. Who was this wild man who’d possessed my body? Was I flirting? Was I losing my mind? He was an Ice Bear Alpha, someone you didn’t flirt with.

Maybe this is a dream.

As we neared the bottom, there was another steep drop off. Kal let me go and hopped down, and then, because he was so goddamn tall, reached back and gripped my waist. Like I was a ballerina, he lifted me and swung me down.

“There,” he grunted, and his hands lingered on my waist. “You made it.”

“Thanks to you,” I said, and a small, satisfied smile played around his mouth.

“Yeah, well—” he started to say, but a drawling voice interrupted.

“Now, there’s something you don’t see every day.”

I watched as all the emotion washed out of Kal’s face except his eyes, which filled with a look I couldn’t place as he whipped his head around. His hands left mine to knot up against his sides, and his eyebrows furrowed into a heavy glare.

“What the hell is this?” Kal asked coolly. “Welcoming committee for my own territory?”

I turned and saw a tawny, tall man with all-gold angles and a careless grace leaning against a tree. A wide, delighted smile was on his face, and his amber eyes glinted with amusement. When he saw me looking, he winked, and Kal made a noise in his throat.

“We came to check on you,” said another voice. Deep and melodic, with a stern note that reminded me of Kal. My eyes left the grinning shifter and moved to a dark, storm-blue-eyed man who was standing next to him. Power hummed through the air, and he gave me a small smile.

Oh my God, I thought as the realization hit me. Tristan Llary and Xander Bane.

“Don’t look so starstruck, sweetheart,” the tawny-haired one said, and grinned. “You’ve already met Kal, so there’s really no reason to be nervous if you’ve tamed the big ice bear.”

“Tristan,” the dark man warned as Kal tensed next to me.

Letting out an irritated huff, Kal said, “Iris Lisay, Tristan Llary and Xander Bane." He ground out their names with an irritation that only siblings could invoke. I knew it well. As much as I loved Leon, he'd driven me insane sometimes. "Welcome to Winfyre."

“We’re glad you’re here and all right, Miss Lisay,” Xander said.

“Oh, wow, thank you,” I said and clamped my elbows in my palms. I suddenly felt absurdly petite in their presence even though I was a perfectly average height. Glancing at Kal, too, it struck me again how tall and robust he was, even with two other Alphas. “Nice to meet you.”

“Aren’t you a cinnamon roll?” Tristan said cheerfully and grinned at me. “Sierra and the girls are gonna love you.”

From the way he said the name Sierra, I knew she had to be his mate. I’d loved that story. The Tiselk scout who’d stolen the Tiger’s heart.

However, part of me was nervous to meet her. A scout was someone who did any number of odd jobs in the Tiselk. Usually collecting information on the territories. In a way, my job for the Burnfur and Greyclaw had been to help foil them.

While I knew the Tiselk and the Northbane had a decent relationship, the other Northern Wilds didn’t take so kindly to the wide expanse of packless shifters to the west. I hoped Sierra wouldn’t hold my Greyclaw and Burnfur liaisons against me.

“Did Cassidy rat me out?” Kal rumbled and then seemed to regret his words. “I mean…” he trailed off, and Tristan grinned more widely. “Why are you here?”

“Of course Cass ratted you out. She told Niles and Rogda, then Reagan, who told Luke, who told me, and I told Sierra. I think Reagan told Laia and Rett, then Rett told Xander, if you must know," Tristan said, and Xander chuckled. “And we wanted to make sure you were okay, moron.”

Kal snorted. “I’m not you, Tristan.”

“That was a bad storm that rolled through yesterday,” Xander added, and I saw he was studying his friend. “I’d hoped you’d take the Southern Pass, not the Anklebiter.”

“Anklebiter?” I asked.

“Anklebiter, Neckbreaker, the Crack—that hellish, eighty-five-degree incline full of rocks this ice bear brought you up yesterday,” Tristan said.

“It wasn’t that bad,” I demurred. Kal already felt bad about that. Were these two here to bust his balls? “And we’re here. We’re okay.”

To my surprise, Tristan looked even more amused and delighted, and even Xander’s hard-to-read face flickered with a shit-eating grin. I glanced over at Kal and saw that he was glaring at his pack brothers, his face drawn. He suddenly looked exhausted to me, and when he met my eyes, a guilty light jumped into them.

I went to say something, when Tristan said, “So, how’d a Northbane girl wind up running errands for the Greyclaw and the Burnfur?”

To my surprise, the edges of Kal’s mouth twitched, as though fighting a smile, and he shot an unreadable look at Tristan. Almost gratitude, if I had to guess. I looked over at Tristan as well, and it hit me. He’d meant me.

A Northbane girl.

A burst of joy hit me, and I smiled, even as I said, “But I’m not a shifter.”

“Yeah, whatever—we used to be like that, only shifters could be Northbane, but whatever. We all live in Winfyre Ridge, shifters, stasis, and Riftborn, and we all keep ’er runnin’.”

“Tristan’s right,” Xander said. “And Kal said you were moving here. We’ll find you appropriate lodging as soon as possible.”

“What, when? How?” I asked.

Kal shot me a small, smug smile and tapped the side of his head. “Northbane secret.”

At that moment, I knew I should refuse, I should set things straight and tell him I didn’t think I could move up here. Even if the Tiger said I was Northbane, and Xander Bane had come all this way to greet me. But those two things paled in comparison to Kal’s crooked smile.

I’d thought he’d mentioned that in passing last night, even though nothing about Kal suggested he did things on the spur of the moment like I did. Knowing he had meant it and had somehow passed it along to his friends, friends who’d made it a point to make me feel welcome…

It was another unexpected and unfamiliar, nice feeling.

So much so, that I began to wonder if I should’ve come to Winfyre in the first place.