Giving a shrug at the woman's rudeness, Faith turned and her lips met Kane's. She nipped his top lip as her tongue traced his bottom lip. He moaned, forgetting where he was and who was around. Kane held her tight, not wanting to let go.
Faith ended the kiss, whispering, "I love you."
She then went over to talk to Major Black and his companions. Kane bit his cheek to stop himself from laughing at the horrified expression on Dr. Balanco's face as Faith made a dramatic head gesture her way. Dr. Balanco didn't even say bye when she left.
Kane walked to his office with a huge smile on his face.
* * * *
Faith walked out of the hospital with Major Black beside her.
"I called Jack to let him know Kane is going to take us home. I think it's probably good for you to get to know Kane better since he'll be the head alpha when Jack retires." She sat down on the seat in front of the hospital. She leaned her head against the back with more force that she'd intended and she winced, then sighed as all the adrenaline went out of her. She looked up at the major's concerned face. "I never wanted this." She whispered, but he caught it.
"I'm assuming he wasn't supposed to be there."
Faith shook her head. "Fuck." She banged her head back. "Would you believe me if I told you I wanted to be normal?"
He smiled at her. "I thought you were their sister as you fight like a werewolf. I didn't know you were human and related by marriage."
She closed her eyes, fighting the exhaustion. "I'm human, well, psychic, supernatural. I grew up with them, that's how I learned to fight." She opened her eyes and stood up, looking across the grass area. "I've just returned from two years overseas away from all this. I needed to find myself. I wanted to be normal, I had to get away." She wrapped her arms around herself. "I came back from overseas and straightaway I'm thrown back into all this, and mated to Kane, who I love with all my heart. I would gladly go through anything just to be with him. I loved him from the first moment I laid eyes on him, but being thrown back into it all..." She sighed. "My visions before I left were never this strong, long, or thorough. I'm really just trying to figure out my place in all this."
She looked up at him before turning away because she didn't want to see his reaction to her selfishness. "I'll tell you a secret, when I was overseas I stayed away from everything paranormal. I even held off my visions until I had them so rarely I actually felt normal for a while. I didn't want all off this." She pointed to the hospital then herself in her leather getup. "I wasn't going to be special, psychic, odd, weird, or strange. I was going to be a normal-with-no-paranormal-in-my-life woman. At least I got to try it. I knew they had weres check on me, but for a little time I got to live like a normal nineteen to twenty year old single woman."
Faith laughed a hollow sound. "Do you know I'll be twenty-one in a couple of months? I sure do feel a lot older." She shook her head as tears slid down her cheeks and she wiped them away. "Don't get me wrong, I love all my werewolves, but they always kind of smothered me. I could never tell them what I've just told you, they would freak out."
She finished her ranting and was turning around to thank the major for listening when she felt him, and then she saw Kane, Arden, and Griffen. She wondered how long they had been there. From their faces she would say a decent amount of time.
Shit! She forced a smile on her face. "So, are we ready to go?"
She took two steps closer, looked up into Kane's face, and what she saw broke her heart. His eyes were cold as ice, his face set in stone, his body tense and rigid. He clenched his fists, and she instantly took three steps back, terrified of him for the first time in her life.
Griffen broke the silence. "Ahhhh, we thought we could take the major home so Faith could go with Kane."
She took another step back, bumping into Major Black. He grabbed her arms to steady her. She waited for the growl from Kane but heard none. She knew tears were rolling down her cheeks, and she took a deep breath.
"Look, I don't know how much you all heard, but can we please talk about this at home?"
She felt the major touch her again, then he touched her head. She took a step forward and suddenly felt faint. She took another step toward Kane only to feel herself fall.
Chapter 10
Kane didn't know what to feel, one minute he was on cloud nine, the next he was being stopped out front by Arden and Griffen to see Faith with her back turned to the major, telling him how she didn't want to be a part of his world.
Kane knew when Faith was younger she had struggled with being psychic and being called odd, weird, and so on. But he thought she had sorted all that out and accepted that she would never be what she called normal. Maybe he should have given her more time before he mated her. He should have let her choose.
Kane looked up at Faith, and knew he could do it. He loved her enough to let her go, so she could have her normal life. He thought of the child she carried, but he could still give her a normal life as his family would help if that was what she wanted. He mentally prepared himself, resolved with what he was going to do, but it took all his strength not to growl when the major touched her. Kane tuned Faith out when he noticed the major's hand covered in blood. He knew that wasn't there when he came in.
The major touched Faith's head again, coming away with more blood. Kane quickly looked at Faith as she took a step toward him. Her arms were covered in blood and she was white as a sheet. He rushed, using wolf speed to get to her, but didn't make it before she fell to the ground. He would never forget the sound of her body hitting the concrete. He roared in terror. They all surrounded her, and he kind of blacked out. He remembered yelling for someone to go in and get Dr. Stark. He knelt beside her, not letting anyone touch her until he knew the best doctor was coming. Jerome came out and took in the situation, asking Kane about her medical history and what had happened. It was Arden who remembered to add she was pregnant. Kane made sure Jerome knew that she was first priority over the fetus. He quickly calculated a due date as werewolf pregnancies took only six months instead of nine.
Twenty-five minutes later, he sat with his brothers in the waiting room while a five-year resident student came out to give them their fourth update. This one looked hesitant as he slowly walked over to them. Kane didn't blame the guy, they looked like a pretty intimidating bunch, twenty to twenty-five massive werewolves with more family coming in.
"Ahh, Dr. Wolfen, they're just finishing up in the operating room. Dr. Stark will be out in a moment. They had to take caution as from the scans we could tell it had just missed the brain."
He nodded as the student rushed away. Calmed a bit at knowing it was almost over, he looked to Arden first for answers. "How far away is Dad?"
Arden shrugged. "Five minutes to ten minutes tops."
Kane nodded then turned to Major Black. "What the hell happened?"
The major cleared his throat and told the event the best he could in a public place.
Once he had finished explaining what had happened Kane felt his father's hand on his back. Furious, he turned and slammed him against the wall. Plaster smashed, and everyone froze as alpha-to-alpha he got right up in his face.
In a harsh whisper, he growled, "What the hell were you thinking letting my wife, my pregnant wife, go out with only four werewolves and a fucking human? You would never have let my mother, your mate, do anything that dangerous, pregnant or not. I know you didn't know she was pregnant, but she still shouldn't have gone out. You don't let any of the women in the pack fight, and they're shifters. Why did you let my little human mate fight? Faith almost died, but thanks to me mate marking her it gave her extra strength and healing skills which saved her, but now we have to fucking cover it up." He spoke the last statement loud so all the werewolves could hear. Without even giving his father a chance to respond, he let him fall to the floor and walked away, not caring what excuse he came up with.
A minute later the nurse came and collected him, but before he left he turned so all could hear. "Keep Rane away from me. Father, I stopped myself from killing you by a thread, but that won't be there for him. If Rane had done what he was ordered to do and kept the major with him, instead of Faith having to watch his behind, this wouldn't have happened."