Wolf's Fire

Chapter Twenty Five

| Cameron |

"Sit, please," Nick asks, gesturing to the patio chair. I do so without a word. "You have every right to be angry Cam." He starts. My nostrils flare. I'm not angry... I'm exhausted. It's been a long and tiring day. All I want at the moment is to hold Kat and fall asleep with her in my arms.

I can see her through the window. She's finished sweeping. Her parents are lecturing her, from what it looks like. She angrily blows a stray piece of blonde hair out of her face.

This could wait until tomorrow.

But I'm sick of the secrets.

"I'm not angry." I grumble. Nick blinks.

"Where do I even start?"

"The beginning?" I snap forcing my attention away from my mate. Nick purses his lips. He studies me.

"I'm from Idaho, initially." He says. "In a town very much like this one. My father was the Beta and I was expected to take over for him when the time came for a generation shift... until your sister came to town.

"Her father was training her on navigating the human world. You know the pack pretty much despised humans. It's the reason they chose to live their lives as wolves. Ryan and Maya were as anti-human as they came. So when Maya picked me out of a crowded shop and she realized what I was to her, her reaction wasn't the... best."

"She hated you?" I cut in. Nick snorts.

"It started that way, yes. Her father made her see reason. She saw me as human and so it confused her for a while. They were welcomed to stay at the packhouse and I spent a month swooning her." He smiles.

"Swooning?" I question. Nick rolls his eyes.

"Giving her gifts, doting on her every whim. Eventually, she gave in and I got her to smile." He pauses his story to smile, probably imagining her face when she finally gave into him.

"Back in Montana, we mated, much to the displeasure of Ryan. He was very protective of his twin and didn't like leaving her unaccompanied. I remember," He laughs. "I remember when she went into her last Heat. We were so engrossed in each other that we had no qualms trying to mate in front of him. It was a crude and effective way of telling the boy to back off. But anyway Maya became pregnant that spring."

Nick pauses. His smile disappears.

"Eric started the fire while Ryan and I and a few of the others were out hunting. We came back to a raging inferno and dead pack mates. I ran in to find Maya but the smoke was too thick. It was chaos. But somehow she found you." He closes his eyes and looks up at the fading sun.

"My mom saved me." I say quietly, remembering the wolf in my dreams. Nick shakes his head.

"Maya found you. She was able to tell me where you were right before she..." he trails off. "You know, losing a mate isn't like losing a normal loved one. There's a tether that holds you and Kat together. And when that tether breaks... it's the worst feeling imaginable." He runs a hand through his hair.

"So you knew," I say, rubbing my temples. "You knew that Eric... killed our pack." Nick sighs.

"Eric likes to boast." He answers. "The others, Samson and Bogey, they have no idea."

"They should." I say.

"I agree."

"And You should've told me sooner." I bite out.

"Eric wouldn't let us close to you, Cameron. Until we moved here, when were we ever alone?" The answer is never, but I don't say that. I shrug.

There's a laughing screech and we turn to see two wolf pups chasing each other into the trees. Nick stares after them for a long moment, a dazed look on his face. When's the last time that he'd seen wolf pups?