Once again thanks for your patience guys, I've been busy with the holidays. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
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"What the fuck do you have me doing up here?!" Donovan's voice snarled through the earpiece.
"How dare yo-" Eric's response was cut short.
"Don't you even go there. You told me I'd be hunting a were that had the mentality of a wild animal, not a fucking predator with all his human wits about him!" Donovan barely restrained his voice from yelling. Calling Eric before he calmed down from his close encounter with Keenan probably wasn't a very good idea.
"If I give you a task it is your job to complete it without question. Do you find yourself incapable of the job?" Eric's voice went cold as steel as he tried to push as much alpha influence into it as he could. "If so I don't want to see your ass back here again. There is no room for weaklings in this pack."
"I am far from weak. I am not happy that you led me to believe there was less danger about this mission then there really is. And why am I killing a perfectly healthy wolf? He seems fine to me." It took all of Donovan's strength to speak as calmly as he could, his wolf wanting to snap at the challenge. No one should think of them as weak. "Why don't you get your ass up here and do the job if its so important to you?"
Eric paused for a moment in shock. No one spoke to an alpha that way.
"Don't come back," he said in a low voice. "I will find other ways to get to Keenan since you can't seem to do it. If I see you again I'll kill you." Eric disconnected the call.
Eric's mother, Kathy, scrambled away from her son's office door and fled from the house. She had to warn Carla and Tracy. She couldn't sit by and let anyone else get hurt. She just barely heard Eric calling for one of his betas to carry out his order as she slipped out the door.
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Keenan jogged through the woods, his arms full of Donovan's clothing. He picked up another sock and followed the trail of footprints until they came out of the woods to the road, half a mile down the street from his and Mia's cabins. He could see the tire tracks from a vehicle parked on the side of the road, now long gone.
"Shit..." Keenan muttered under his breath. He had hoped his past wouldn't chase him here but apparently it did. Eric must really want him dead to go to these lengths. It wasn't as if he didn't understand why Eric hated him. He would hate anyone that killed his father too.
The thoughts threw Keenan back to that day. He had been on his way home from work one night when his sister Tracy texted him that the alpha, Eric's father Dale, was at their apartment. Keenan had quickened his pace to see what their alpha could possibly want from his family. He could hear the yelling from the second floor as he sprinted up the stairs to the fourth floor. A dish shattered against a wall as he had burst through the door. Tracy was screaming and throwing plates at their alpha. Keenan had rushed to subdue her but froze as he realized the whole situation.
His mother was pinned beneath Dale, thrashing and fighting against him. Her clothes were torn to shreds and claw marks scored her body. Dale was moments away from raping her when Keenan had instantly shifted in rage and flung himself at their alpha. The fight that ensued he would never forget. He had never killed another person before, wolf or not. He had never felt such a fierce rage that he couldn't control.
Keenan didn't stick around to see what happened after that. His mother made him pack his bags immediately and urged him to run away so the pack wouldn't kill him for what he'd done. It didn't matter if it was in self defense or not, he had killed the alpha in an unofficial challenge and the only witnesses were his own family. He had hopped from town to town for a few months after that before finally settling here. He'd only spoken to his mother once since that day, just to make sure they were okay and to learn that Eric had taken his father's place as alpha.
The smoke from Keenan's small fire started to clear and he dragged himself out of his memories. He had burned Donovan's things to destroy the evidence. Shoving snow over the remains of the fire, he turned and made his way back to Mia's cabin.
Approaching his truck in the driveway, he contemplated the situation for a moment before deciding to unload all of his groceries into Mia's kitchen. He wanted to be as close as possible to protect her and he had bought the food to cook for her anyway. Moose lay in the hall connecting the kitchen to the stairs where he could watch Keenan and the food but still be attentive to Mia upstairs if she stirred.
A while later it had grown dark outside but the warm glow of the fire Keenan had started kept the cabin cozy. The first creek in the ceiling had both Moose and Keenan looking up, acknowledging that Mia had awoken. Keenan kicked the heat on the stove up a notch to hurry the food along so he could feed Mia the dinner he prepared when she came downstairs.
He was just pulling the chicken out of the oven when he heard her padding down the hallway and she emerged in the kitchen door. He stared at her while she took in the situation in front of her. She looked more appetizing than the chicken in his hands. Her face had that fresh sleepy look to it, her hair slightly rumpled and she had changed into some loose fitting comfortable clothes. He paused for a minute as it occurred to him what he must look like. His face was probably scruffy at this point and his plaid and jeans definitely didn't go well with Mia's apron that he had tied around his neck. He saw her crack a small smile as she read the saying on the front of it, "The more people I meet, the more I like my dog."
"How are you feeling?" Keenan asked to break the silence.
"Much better, thanks. Why are you still here?" she asked quietly.
"I didn't want you to be alone when you woke up. And I thought I could make you dinner in the mean time...I can leave if you want?" He set the chicken down on the counter and pulled the lemon herb sauce off the stove. He quickly stashed the cooking magazine he picked up into the nearest grocery bag.
"No, no its fine I didn't mean to sound like I didn't want you here, I just am surprised that you'd want to stay."
Keenan looked at her standing in the doorway, lightly hugging herself. He tentatively stepped toward her and slowly slipped his arms around her, pressing her body fully against his and pulled her into the warmth of the kitchen. He felt her relax in his arms and he could barely contain his smile. This felt normal and natural to him and his wolf but he could tell from her body language that this was still strange to her and she wasn't used to such easy and close physical contact with another person.
He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers in a soft and gentle kiss that made his skin tingle. Just before he could deepen it she pulled away and slipped from his arms.
