"Trust me, I hate Jordan more than anyone, but I think, deep down, there might be a tiny sliver of goodness in him. I think he might care for me in his own, twisted way. I'm pretty sure he let us escape that night. Maybe if we—"
"He locked you up, punched you in the face, tried to rape you, and you're defending him?" Kaden roared, making me jump. "That is not how people show they care. Maybe you don't realize this, since your own father was an abusive piece of shit, but we don't hurt people in our family. Or our mates."
His words shook me to my core. God, was I that fucked up? Was I defending Jordan out of some messed-up daddy issues? I didn't think so, but I couldn't be sure either. I pulled over into the next turnout, my hands trembling, and took a shaky breath. Finally, I was able to whisper, "I know that."
Kaden got out of the car and slammed the door, then began to pace in the dirt on the side of the road, moving in and out of the beam of the headlights. I stared at my white-knuckled fingers on the steering wheel for a moment before getting out, though I wasn't sure what to say. I'd never seen Kaden like this before.
Kaden turned toward me, his body full of energy and his face twisting with fury. "No one will ever treat you that way again, not as long as you're in my pack, do you understand? Not the Cancers. Not the Leos. If anyone tries, I will rip them to shreds with my bare hands. I swear it."
I realized then that his anger wasn't for me, but for all the things that had been done to me, not just in the last month, but over my entire life. "You're right," I managed to say, though my throat felt scratchy. "Everyone in my family either treated me like shit or abandoned me. My mother left me when I was a baby. My dad and stepmother hurt me. Even Wesley is gone. So yeah, maybe I never expected to be treated any better. Not by Jordan or by anyone else. Until I met you. You made me think maybe I deserved something better."
"Ayla…" He slid his thumb across my cheek, wiping away the lone tear that had escaped my eye. Then he wrapped me in his arms, pressing me against his chest. All the breath went out of me as I was surrounded by his warmth and his strength. My eyes filled with tears as I leaned against him, relaxing for the first time since I'd left the Ophiuchus pack lands with Jordan. I was safe. I was home.
He held me like that for some time, and it was exactly what I needed. Then he pulled back and stepped away, turning his face so I couldn't get a good look at him. "I'll drive," he said in a low voice.
Once we were back on the road, Kaden behind the wheel this time, we fell into silence again, but some of the tension between us had vanished. At the very least, I no longer doubted my place in the pack anymore.
We continued through the mountains, the road empty other than a lone truck or car now and then, with the forest on either side of the winding road. Only the moon and our headlights illuminated our path, and I wondered if Kaden planned to drive through the night, or if we would stop and camp somewhere.
"Tell me about your parents," I said. Kaden rarely ever talked about them, but the past was looming over us tonight, and I thought I might get a rare chance to get him to open up more.
Kaden didn't respond at first, and just as I opened my mouth to tell him to forget it, he said, "They were great alphas, and even better parents. Honest, fair, and kind, though they had a firm hand when it was needed. I never had to worry about taking any issues or concerns to them, and none of the pack did either.”
He sighed and pushed a hand through his dark hair, the other one on the steering wheel. My eyes tracked the movement until I realized that I was staring at him instead of the road. I snapped my gaze back forward. If only I had the excuse of being at the wheel to make sure I wouldn’t do it again.
Luckily he didn't seem to notice, and to my surprise, he kept talking. “My mom was an artist. She was always painting, drawing, or crafting something. Our house was always full of things she had made, usually with me or Stella."
"She sounds wonderful. Do you still have any of her work?" I didn't remember seeing it in his house.
"Somewhere, yeah. I put it all away after she died. It was too hard to look at it."
"And your dad?"
"He was really good at fixing things. Cars, computers, plumbing, you name it and he could figure out the problem and get it working again. He did the same with people's problems too. He told me that was the real secret to being a good alpha—figuring out what the problem was and trying to find a way to fix it." His face turned grim. "That's what he was trying to do with our pack. He knew our pack would die out if we didn’t rejoin the rest of the Zodiac Wolves. The intermingling of all the packs makes it possible for the bloodlines to remain strong, and for each pack to thrive in numbers without inbreeding, but being exiled cut us off from that. We’ve scraped by with deserters and outcasts, but we could be so much more if we were allowed to return. My parents realized that, and they tried to do what was best for the pack.” His hands clenched around the steering wheel. “But the Leos made sure that never happened."