Chapter 3

• “Calum, please, for the sake of my sanity, sit down.” Jake growled.
• Turning, he looked at Jake, then realized everyone was staring at him. “Sorry.” He glanced to the entrance again. “Walls are closing in on me.” Rubbing the back of his neck he went to start pacing again and stopped himself. “She said morning…”
• Gage heaved a loud sigh, “It’s been dawn for about ten seconds. Sit the fuck down and let me pretend I’m still sleeping.”
• “Won’t someone wonder if a bunch of women leave?” Kelsey asked in a sleepy voice. “I mean how bad is it there, are people free to come and go, do they monitor everyone?”
• Calum had been wondering the same thing for the last hour, and was still kicking himself in the ass for knowing before he left his mate there.
• “Someone better bring coffee, or I’ll go end this tyranny once and for all, single-handed.” Rayne moaned.
• Devin chuckled the nodded. “And she would too. Vicious she-wolf without her caffeine.” Rayne smacked him.
• Jesse came wandering in. “There’s a group coming. Will take them a bit to get here though, they are only halfway down the hill on the other side of the ravine.”
• Calum frowned at him, he’d just checked a few minutes ago and could see no one from this location.
• Smirking, Jesse pointed to Kelsey, “used her tree-view trick.”
• “Later on,” Calum said as he turned toward the entrance, “I want more details on that adventure.”
• Devin stood up and stretched. “Figured you had enough going on right now, you don’t need to go even the score on that front too.”
• Calum paused and looked at him. “They abducted your mates, that is my business and someone will pay for it…” He backed up a step closer to the entrance. “I just have to clear up a few other things first.”
• “Yeah, like deal with his mate!” Gage chuckled.
• Snarling at him, Calum turned back to watch for the women. If Shaelan wasn’t with them, he was sending someone back to get her. It had almost killed him being away from her this last day.
• It felt like hours, as he stood there watching in the direction of the village. He knew it was quite the treacherous path to navigate, having done it in the dark, and if they had Nona or other elders with them it could take a while. He exhaled loudly, again, and jammed his hands into his pockets as he stepped few more feet away from the cave to see if he could spot them.
• He heard the others come up behind him, but didn’t turn to look.
• “Not a word,” Rayne said in warning, most likely to Devin.
• Calum had at least been right about something in all of this. Gage and Devin were never going to let him forget how he’d harassed, lectured, or ribbed them about mates. Ever. He still hadn’t told them how he met his mate, or that he’d marked her. There just weren’t the right words without it sounding bad, especially in front of the women. Mostly, he was going on instinct with all of this. His knowledge of true mates was limited, so he relied on his gut. Which right now was tied in knots.
• When he caught a brief glimpse of pink, he started moving in that direction. There was only one thing that color on this entire mountain.
• As they got closer, he counted a dozen heads moving through the gulley that lead up to the cave. There was only one he was interested in seeing at this point, and when he spotted her it was like the light from the sun was only shining on her.
• He glanced behind him to see everyone had followed. Jake and Jesse were looking all around them, keeping watch for anyone coming from another direction.
• Unable to look away any longer, he turned back to see Shaelan had stopped walking and was looking up to where he stood. His cat rubbed over his skin, his heart jumped up into his throat. Fuck staying out of sight. He moved out of the shelter of the trees and started in her direction while at the same moment, she dropped what she’d been carrying and started running up the hill.
• His feet slipped a few times on the steep incline, and he slid a few feet, but he kept going and didn’t slow down until she was almost in front of him. She threw herself into him with such a force he landed on his butt on the hill, still holding her, he sat up and buried his face in her hair. Cinnamon. Cat and man were back in synch, and a feeling of contentment came over him.
• Leaning back, he grasped her head to see her face. Her jaw was slightly bruised and her lip was still healing, but the swelling was gone. Her eyes moved over his face in the same way. “Are you okay?” He searched her eyes, trying to see for himself. She shook head, then dropped her head to hug him tightly again. She snuggled her face into his throat and his cat started prancing inside him, excited by having her this close.
• “So many lies,” she whispered.
• He ran a hand over the hair hanging down her back. “I know. Your aunt filled me in.” He smirked, “then the guys held me back from coming to you.”
• She leaned back. “I wanted to see you too, after I found out.” She bit her lip for a second, “I don’t understand any of this, Calum.”
• When she said his name, he dragged his eyes from her mouth. “I know.” He sighed, “this is not how it’s supposed to be.”
• “I don’t want to be away from you again. That’s the only thing I know for sure, even if I don’t understand why.”
• She closed her eyes briefly and his heart jerked in his chest when she opened them and he saw they were filled with sorrow.
• “It’s horrible, what the women go through… and probably the men.” She took a shaky breath. “My friend Billie was with one of your clansmen. Dale. Another woman was with Marc…” She looked behind her. “Shoot, my bag.” She turned back to him, looking panicked. “I have the book of all the men, women and babies since it started.”
• “We’ll get it and we’ll deal with all of it…” He looked at her mouth again and lightly grasped her chin. As he lowered his face to kiss her, a shadow moved over them. Pulling her closer to him to shelter her, he looked up to see a woman with black hair grinning down at him.
• “Hi. I’m Billie.”
• Shaelan sighed and turned while still sitting on him to look at her. “My bag…” Billie held up a cloth bag. “Thanks.”
• She moved to get off him, and whether he agreed with it or not, he realized they weren’t going to get any more alone time right now. Standing, he set her on her feet and grasped her hand. Leaning down, he whispered, “tell me someone brought coffee.”
• She grinned. “We’re not that uncivilized up here.”
• He hugged her against his side, tucking her under his arm. “Then your clansmen are safe from the Rayne.”
• Billie looked up at the sky. “Not a cloud in the sky.”
• Calum chuckled. “This is going to be a long meeting.”