Dark Fates (A Paranormal Anthology)(67)

Cora smiled wider. She could feel his leopard beam with joy at the mention of his mate. Keegan may had stepped down from his Alpha status, but he stayed connected to the Pack as he always had—a fact for which submissives like Cora were grateful.

“You are not weak, Cora.”

“I feel like I am.” Her vision blurred as tears welled up and spilled over her lashes. “When does the pain stop?”

His ability to know what his Pack needed had made Keegan a great Alpha. Whether it was comfort or an ass kicking, he knew. Sometimes even before the other shifter did.

“It doesn’t. You learn to cope and find a new purpose in life.”

“I’m afraid.”

“So am I.”

She glanced up at him, confused. “You? I’m sorry, Alpha…Keegan, but I don’t believe you.”

Taking her hand, he stood and tugged her with him. “Come walk with me.”

Not bothering to fight him, she complied, knowing what he had in mind. They’d done this several times since her parents died. She’d run off when things crashed in around her, and Keegan would bring her home. Only this time, Jason wouldn’t be waiting for her.

“Fear is natural to both our human and animals halves. It drives us to learn and become stronger. Dominants hide it better than submissives. It doesn’t mean you are weak.” He led her through the trees and toward Ashwood instead of MoonRiver, but she said nothing. Home wasn’t home anymore, and she truly didn’t want to be there at the moment.

The two dens sat on the same mountain. The graveyard where her family, along with so many others from both Packs, lay in peace within the eight-mile neutral zone between MoonRiver and Ashwood. One reason Luna approached Keegan about merging their packs more than thirty years before was that the dens were so close together. After suffering huge losses at the hands of Felix and his Onyx Pack, both needed the help and the security. It made escape plans easier because Felix believed MoonRiver was uninhabitable.

Another reason could have been because leopards were known to welcome outsiders. Like her parents, who were cast out of their Packs because they were a mixed couple. Her father was a leopard and her mother a wolf, making her and Jason hybrids. Although Jason’s primary animal had been the leopard and Cora’s the wolf, they still had both animals’ DNA.

In theory, she and Jason could shift into their animal of choice. She’d asked Jason once before she went through her first shift at sixteen if he could change into both animals. He’d told her then he only felt his leopard and the cat was more natural to him. She hadn’t understood what he meant, and he didn’t seem to know how to explain it. He said she’d understand when she got older.

When she shifted into her wolf for the first time, she’d finally understood. Her wolf was there, but, unlike Jason, she never felt her leopard. Sure, she possessed cat-like abilities and even purred, but she never gained the ability to shift into a leopard. At least not before her parents died. She hadn’t tried since.

Keegan linked his fingers with hers and squeezed gently, drawing her from her memories. Blinking, she realized tears had begun to fall again. He tugged her to a stop and faced her. “Your parents didn’t care which animal you or Jason could shift into. They loved you both more than anything.”

A weak smile pulled at her lips. One thing she loved about the walks with Keegan was she didn’t have to explain her scattered thoughts to him, because he listened to her. Most of her packmates found it annoying. She found relief in not having to speak the words aloud. Somehow saying them only hurt more. “I know.”

His brown irises lightened a bit, reminding her of his leopard. Nodding, he led her through the tree line, and she gasped at the sight of the den she’d called home all her life. Debris littered the street. About ninety percent of the buildings and homes stood untouched, but the other ten were either half gone or had burn to the ground. Russell’s Bar, her place of employment since she turned eighteen, was among the few destroyed. Her heart ached, and a lump formed in her throat.

“It looks worse than it is,” Keegan said as he led her toward the office building adjacent to the medical center. Both were among the undamaged structures.

“Any harm to our home is heartbreaking.”

“I agree, but we’ll rebuild and grow stronger because of it.”

She shook her head. Leave it to Keegan to turn everything into a learning experience. “You see? You can’t stop being Alpha.”

He glanced at her over his shoulder, one corner of his mouth lifting. “And you are stronger than you believe.”

“Because I tease?” She shrugged. “You are like family to me; my wolf is comfortable with you.”

“And Pack is not family?”

She stopped in mid-step and stared at him. She’d never turn away from Pack. Yet, somehow she had during her period of grief and again in the past few months after Jason died.

“I didn’t realize….”

He held out his hand. “I know. I was in your spot after my Cate died. I nearly abandoned the whole Pack. Could you imagine what would happen if an Alpha turned away from his Pack? Yeah, it’d be f*cked up. You see, our Pack wouldn’t let it happen. Each member paid his or her respects and not one of them would leave me alone. Especially your parents and brother.”

They were her family. Well, her biological family. She still had a family, didn’t she? The Pack held over a hundred members of extended family—leopards, wolves, and the few other types of shifters who’d found refuge with Ashwood Falls.