Everything That You Are (12 page)

“I am. Did
Kaden
ever tell you about the work I helped him with on his latest project with Mockingbird? I did all of the calculations for the area space and designed the layout. I would have done more but this ogre,” she nudged a hip into
Kaden’s
side, “said I had to focus on my studies more. As if! My grades are…”

“Okay, Missy.”
Kaden
stopped her before her tirade could reach full-blown proportions. Sam and Katherine let out soft chuckles as he said, “Manners, remember? Did you bring your laptop with you so that you could keep up with your homework?”

She rolled her eyes and retorted, “Of course. Like I thought you would give me a break while we’re out here. I’m not that delusional. Oh, and don’t forget you promised to buy me that encyclopaedia of plants online.” She faced the group of onlookers and said, “That’s my power. I love nature, and I can help plants grow, and…”

“Missy!”
Kaden
couldn’t believe she’d blurted out that information in front of virtual strangers.

“What?” She cast him an innocent look. “They’re
weres
, right? I can smell them.” Missy quickly turned to Michael and Nick and said, “Not that that’s a bad thing. You both smell really good.
Kaden
smells like sunshine, and I always tell him that he should stop working so much so he can provide the light for my flowers at home, but he just rolls his eyes and buys me another plant or makes me do my homework. Sometimes he can be a real pain in my…”

“Missy!”

She beamed him her most dazzling smile and gave him large, puppy-dog eyes while swinging her body from side to side. “But I still love him anyway. And you got hurt again. Yesterday it was just the bruise, but now your lip is busted. Was it that same asshole? Henry said he fired him, but I’ll bust his…”

Kaden
clamped his hand over her mouth and sent a weak smile at Michael, whose face had taken on a stoical expression.
Great.
He was going to have to invest in duct tape and Superglue for Missy for the remainder of their stay here. He ignored his sister’s peeved glare and turned her in the direction of Michael’s mom.

“See Katherine over there? I happen to know she’s a much better cook than Cheryl
Connel
and she’s got a whole box full of recipes she can share with you. If you promise to go back to your studies tomorrow, I’ll let you take today off and experiment with her.
Deal?”

Kaden
didn’t release her mouth until she was nodding her head in earnest, crossing her heart and bouncing as if her excitement would climb right out of her chest. As soon as he lifted his hand, she was back on track with her incessant chatter. “Can I help you?
Really?
Do you have
a
herb garden? I know all of them by smell.”

Katherine burst out laughing and herded Missy into the house, showing the same wealth of patience with his sister that she had shown him. Sam gave him a nod before slapping Michael on the back and heading in after the women.
Kaden
was about to thank Nick for bringing Missy to him safely but hesitated when he noticed the man shuffling his feet nervously and hanging his head. He didn’t need to touch him to know something was wrong.

Michael must have noticed it too, because he asked, “Nick? Was there a problem when you went to pick her up?”

Nick met their stares with raised eyebrows and shook his head while waving his hands in front of him. “No, no. It went fine. Kid’s almost as sneaky as I was at her age. I don’t think a single person there saw her leaving. I just…” Nick turned his full gaze on
Kaden
and spoke in a low voice. “I’m sorry. I misjudged you. Your sister’s quite a talker…well, you probably know that more than anyone…but she told me how you’ve been taking care of her. She talked about nothing but you for an
hour
on the way over here.”

Kaden
felt a flush colour his cheeks and lowered his eyes to the ground.

“But she never lied, and she never had a bad thing to say. My Alpha is blessed to have a mate that loves and cares for his family that much. I apologise for not giving you the benefit of the doubt, either time we met.” Nick extended a hand and held it a foot away from
Kaden
. “I’m hoping that you’ll give me a second chance along with this undeserving dog as well.” He jerked his head in Michael’s direction, who actually managed to look offended.

Kaden
glanced from one smirking yet sincere face to the other indignant yet proud one. He didn’t quite understand what had just happened, but judging by the humour dancing in the eyes of each man in front of him, he figured it was a good thing.

A small smile tugged at his lips before he took Nick’s extended hand and shook it. He felt all the emotions evident in the man’s eyes, with no hint of deception, and decided to let go of the resentment he’d been harbouring for him.

* * * *

Their next three days together were spent in relative amiability among the company of his parents and his mate’s sister. The girl had a mind as quick as her mouth, and an eagerness to use her gift of assisting anything that sprouted from the soil of Mother Earth that was nothing short of admirable. She contained a quality of exuberance that he could easily imagine had once thrived in
Kaden
.

Though the young man seemed to soak up the happiness of those around him, Michael was beginning to be able to detect the difference between his mate’s genuine emotions and those of the people touching him, and he was saddened to find that it usually took another’s happiness to ignite his own.

He had tried several times to speak with
Kaden
privately and, after the third thwarted attempt, had become noticeably frustrated. Fortunately, his father had intervened and it had only taken one look to remind Michael that his mate shouldn’t be rushed.

His true test of endurance had come that first night when his man—
his mate—
had chosen to sleep with his sister in the other guest bedroom she had been given instead of with him. It had hurt. More than he would admit. Then
Kaden
had given him a soft, impulsive kiss goodnight without any influence from his end, and Michael had held on to the whisper of joy he’d felt leap from his mate to him for the rest of the night.
 

It occurred to him over the next few days that
Kaden’s
reluctance to be alone with him was a test as well. He’d initially taken offence at the many guarded looks the man would send his way when he thought he wasn’t looking, as though he was expecting Michael to pounce on him at any moment. Yet the more Michael kept his respectful distance, the more the smaller man seemed to initiate contact with him.

The nightly kisses grew heated, but always left him with nothing more than his hand for relief. It wasn’t unlike trying to tame a wild, frightened animal, and he amazed even himself with a reserve of patience he’d never known he possessed.

On the fifth day,
Kaden
had demurely agreed to accompany him on a picnic.

Michael couldn’t stop sending sideways glances over at the figure seated next to him during their drive to the lake. He was still trying to process the fact that he had found his mate after living for so long with the possibility that he had blown his only chance at a true mating.

The jeans and shirt his mom had brought over were from his years as a young teenager, but they were still big on the boy. He’d had to cut a hole in the shortest belt he owned to keep the pants from falling off his slender hips. The overall effect made
Kaden
look like a kid playing dress-up in his father’s clothes, but there was nothing to do about it until they went to Henry’s ranch to pick up his things.

Kaden
had remained silent since their departure from the house and Michael itched to reach out and touch him, to try to pick up on his emotions, but thought it best to give the man his space for now. Michael couldn’t always feel what
Kaden
was feeling when they touched. At some times his emotions were loud and clear and at others it felt as though they were just beyond shadows that he couldn’t penetrate.

He wasn’t sure if
Kaden
was consciously keeping them from him or not, but he still had time to work on it. When the lake finally came into view, Michael breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there were very few people there. It was used for recreation and could get fairly busy during the tourist season, but it started growing quiet again towards fall.

He pulled his truck into one of the parking sites and turned off the engine. They both got out, and he grabbed a backpack full of food, water, towels and shorts they could change into in case they decided to take a swim. He walked up beside his mate and took in his look of wonder as he gazed out over the lake. The sun shone down on
Kaden’s
hair, making it shine so brilliantly it appeared a shimmering white.

“Beautiful.” Michael wasn’t sure if he was talking about the delicate form beside him or the lake.

“Yeah,”
Kaden
breathed. Rays of sunshine danced upon the lake that rippled from the slight breeze in the air and from the small clusters of ducks lazing about in the water. The leaves of the surrounding trees had turned several shades of yellow, red, brown and gold. Those that had fallen to the ground mixed their colours with those of the flowers that grew wildly across the acres of green grass.

Michael had always loved the many different fragrances that permeated the unspoilt land around the lake but, as he breathed in, the added aroma of his mate made it all the more sweet.

“Come on. There’s an area over on the far side that has the best view and is closest to the water.” He nodded his head in the direction of his favourite spot and led the way.

After about twenty minutes, they arrived at a little alcove surrounded by a copse of trees thick enough to hide them from view on three sides. The only other visitors at the lake occupied the more open space on the other side, giving them a little added privacy.

“During the winter, some of us in the pack like to come out here to hunt. There’s plenty of elk and deer, and the scenery’s not half bad either.” The man was still staring out at the lake when he laid the backpack against the trunk of one of the trees. “If you’ve been living on Henry’s farm, where did you go hunting? I can’t imagine at least one member of the clan not spotting you.”

Kaden
gave him a sharp, quizzical look. He reached up to feel the ridges of the teeth marks at the base of his neck and was silent for a few minutes.

“Greg… I mean, I was told that I can’t shift. I guess it’s because of my mage blood.”

Michael frowned at him, noticing the slip, but deciding to file it away for later. “Didn’t your parents ever discuss it with you?”

Kaden
turned so that Michael could only see his profile. From the brief glint of pain he caught on the young man’s face, he knew he was broaching a sensitive subject, but denying one’s true nature, especially when one was
a were
, could have serious repercussions.

“My father was a wolf. My mom had never known a were before she met him, and he managed to tell her some things about what it meant to be born with a second nature before he was…”
Kaden
let out his next words on a gust of breath.
“Before he was killed.”

Well, shit. Way to start off the picnic, Michael.
“I’m sorry. Was it by a clan member?”

There was a short burst of sarcastic laughter. “No.
My mom’s coven.
They didn’t take too kindly to her
lowering
herself to choose
a were
over her own people.”

Despite the seriousness of the story, Michael had to hide a brief grin at the level of bitterness and anger in that one sentence.
Kid’s got a bite!
“So what happened after that?”

“She packed me and Missy up and we ran. She wasn’t sure if her family would turn on us as well, but she didn’t want to take the chance. We had to hide and run a lot. My mom… She never did get over the death of my father. I guess she was depressed. I think that’s what killed her in the end.”
Kaden
suddenly turned back to glare at him, curling his fists. There was defiance shining in his eyes as he said, “I did what I had to do to support my family.

This time, the boy’s anger was decidedly directed at him, and it took him a few confusing moments before understanding came to him.

“The club.
You were working there to make money for your family.”

Kaden
didn’t answer Michael. He didn’t need to.

Damn, Michael’s mother had been right all along about his mate doing what he had to in order to survive. Not that he had doubted her, but the woman could be eerily intuitive at times.

“
Kaden
, I couldn’t have wronged you more. I know you’re a better man than I am. The fact that you’re willing to give me a second chance proves that. I don’t know exactly what happened after our first encounter, but I do want to make sure it never happens again.”

He stood facing his mate’s scrutiny for several agonising seconds. No apology could suffice for his embarrassing behaviour concerning the boy, but he had to try. After what seemed an eternity,
Kaden’s
muscles relaxed and he unclenched his fists, giving a slight nod of concession.