Roaring Up the Wrong Tree (32 page)

She shoved Terrence aside as if he were merely a flower dancing in the wind. He stumbled and while the Itan was distracted, she pounced on the wolf Alpha.

He wasn’t expecting it, wasn’t anticipating someone like her, someone small and fragile, to attack him head on—this wasn’t a sneaky confrontation with a rock in hand—but she did. She went after him with human nails and blunted teeth and she sobbed. She cried. Hate and grief poured from her heart, transferring into the prone male with every strike and punch.

She didn’t know what she said, didn’t know what she screamed and yelled as she did her best to destroy him. Words flew, soaking the air with her sounds, but the syllables didn’t matter; only Reid Bennett did.

Trista wasn’t sure how long they let her pummel him, how long they allowed her to vent her grief and frustrations on him, but rough hands pulled at her. They tugged and yanked until she was lifted from the Alpha. Still she fought, battling the limbs holding her captive.

“It shouldn’t matter!” She yanked against the fingers encircling her bicep. “She was a
person
! She was a living, breathing
mother
!” She strained, aching to be free. “Decent human beings don’t go around
killing people
!” Warm arms wrapped around her, stealing her pain, washing it away with the single embrace. Keen. Her Keen, her mate. Her bone-deep anguish settled with his touch and she slumped into his arms, uncaring about the tears coursing down her cheeks. “We’re just people.” She slumped into Keen’s arms, letting him support her, and her voice fell to a hoarse whisper. “Hyena or bear, we’re just people. Why can’t you see that?”

Her mate tugged her back, urged her to turn in his arms, and she buried her face against his chest. He stroked her back, soothing her with his touch, but she wasn’t sure she’d settle. Her nerves were alive, buzzing and twitching. Raw and exposed, she didn’t think she’d ever calm again.

The rough scrape of movement, the crunch of gravel, told her Reid climbed to his feet once again, but she couldn’t face him. Not yet, not ever again.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

She was empty, empty of caring and feeling and drained from it all. She pulled her face from Keen’s sanctuary and looked to Reid, glared at his depressed form, at the paleness of his features. “It’s worth nothing. Your words are worth nothing. A man, a
person
, is measured by his actions, the way he affects the world. You could have made it a better place, you command an entire pack. Now,” she shook her head. “Your very existence means absolutely nothing.”

Trista clung to Keen, using him as her support. Her heart was broken, but she knew he’d help glue her back together. “Take me inside. I can’t do this anymore.”

In a split second, she was in her mate’s arms and she clutched his shoulders. The crowd parted for them, leaving an open path to the front door. She didn’t care about what went on, she just wanted to be held by Keen.

“Trista?” Terrence called to her and Keen stopped, slowly turning until they faced the Southeast Itan. “Debra was my sister, and she was your mother. I can’t end his life for allowing her death, not even for his attack on you and Keen, but I can inflict a non-fatal punishment as I deem fit.”

Trista looked at Reid, stared at the man who’d allowed so much to crumble, and realized she was just… done.

She turned her attention to Keen, searching his gaze for a hint of his feelings, but he was quick to give her words. “Whatever you want, Tris. Whatever will help settle things for you.”

She nodded and, not tearing her eyes from her mate, spoke to Terrence. “I want to know where my mother was put to rest and then I want him out of Georgia. He’s an Alpha, I can’t do anything about that, but I can’t look at him. I don’t care where he goes or what he does, but I can’t turn the corner and find him on the street.” Tears, God she’d never cried so much in her
life
, sprang to her eyes. “I just can’t.”

No one moved, it felt as if no one even breathed, until the Southeast Itan spoke once again. “As you wish. Take him.”

She assumed he spoke to the guards, but it didn’t matter because they were moving again, Keen carrying her to the house, up the stairs, and across the porch. Their movement seemed to be permission for the others to move as well.

The scrape of stones and booted feet on the gravel overwhelmed the front yard and the scent of Keen’s family slipped around them. The brothers and their mates, their parents, all followed her and Keen into the house. They made it to the entryway and a handful of steps down the hallway before a few words had them all freezing in place. Shock from both the words and their meaning made them all speechless. Because 1) they came from Mia and 2)… they came from Mia.

“Oh fuck, my water broke.”

Keen held Trista in his lap, one arm curled around her back, hand resting on her hip while the other hand twined with hers. Her head was pressed to his shoulder and he’d never known such comfort. The house was a whirlwind of activity, people racing through the space, but they had their own sanctuary here. Tucked in a corner of the living room, hidden from those who rushed by.

The moment Mia’s amniotic fluid hit the ground, Isaac took over. His brother was no longer merely there as emotional support for him and Trista, he was now a general in command. Orders were barked and immediately followed, shifters racing to execute the Healer’s directions.

Terrence kept his guards out of the way and occupied them with preparing the prisoners for transport. Keen wasn’t sure why Reid was being hauled in with Quinn instead of escorted out of state, but he didn’t care.

Trista was quiet, simply breathing him in as they waited for things to settle and then the real waiting would begin. At least, that’s what his father said. That was just before the man escaped and he heard the back door thump shut.

The heavy tread of an approaching male had him raising his head and searching out the source of the sound. Terrence neared them, four guards in his wake who took up position by the entry to the living room and the massive window that revealed the front yard.

The Southeast Itan looked tired, exhausted really. Bags hung beneath his eyes, making him look even older than his sixty years. He settled on the coffee table before them and rested his elbows on his knees.

No one said a word for a while, quiet invading the area while the chatter of the others in the house drifted to them from the kitchen.

Keen glanced at Trista and found her eyes closed, but he knew she wasn’t asleep. Tension still had her muscles hard beneath his hands.

Terrence sighed. “This… did not go as anticipated.”

Trista snorted, betraying herself, and Keen pressed a kiss to the top of her head. When it came to his mate, he couldn’t keep his lips to himself.

“You think?” Her voice wobbled, but he didn’t notice another round of tears. It tore his heart out to see those droplets of moisture in her eyes. She raised her head and turned toward her uncle. “What did you expect?”

The Southeast Itan wove his fingers together. “I expected to find my Keeper causing problems with the assistance of my Second. At worst, I was going to give them shit and shove them in a cell for a while. I also expected to warn off a wolf who was getting too big for his britches.” His eyes softened, affection sliding over the hardened gaze. “I wasn’t expecting to find my niece. They sent me a picture of you but,” he shook his head. “I buried your mother over thirty years ago.”

A shudder traveled through his mate, but she remained strong. Man, he loved her. Loved her strength. She’d lost her mind a few times today, but she’d beat that part of herself into submission as well. He wasn’t sure how she managed to keep a hyena and bear at bay inside her small body, but she did.

Just… amazing.

“Did he tell you what I wanted to know?”

Terrence nodded. “Yes. He at least knew that.”

Another tremor, but she held it together. “I want to go there. I want to see.”

“Whenever you’re ready.”

No one said anything else and Keen sank into the silence. It wasn’t strained or charged with tension. They’d all expended whatever energy they had in the last few hours. Now it was simple exhaustion that overtook them.

At least, for a moment. Because then the Itan spoke again, his words hesitant, but they came forward anyway. “I have something I’d like to discuss with you two.”

Keen focused on the male, eyes taking in the lines of his posture and the expression on his face with renewed interest. That type of statement was never followed with good news and he was poised to defend Trista if needed. He’d shield her physically,
and
emotionally, for the rest of his life. Even if that meant keeping this powerful man away from her.

“I came here to settle the issue with you two, but I also needed to see Mia’s father. He made a decision recently, as did Isaac, that affects the family and Cutler.” Terrence paused as if searching for the right words. “They’re returning to Grayslake. Permanently. Which means Cutler is without a Guardian, a temporary leader, until Parker turns twenty-five.”

Keen did not like where this was headed and neither did his bear. With Trista’s further stiffening, it seemed she’d jumped to the same conclusion.

She spoke before he could. “No, we’re not going anywhere.”

“Hear me out before you say no.”

Keen didn’t need to hear a thing. He didn’t want to leave Grayslake even if happy memories were few. He was making his own happiness with Trista in their new house. That’s all there was to it.

Terrence must have taken their continued silence as permission to speak. “I can’t approve their request and leave the town unprotected until I have a replacement. I know Grayslake holds a lot of pain for you two…”

Trista was shaking her head and Keen squeezed her hand. He wanted to give the man an immediate “no” as well, but he
was
the Southeast Itan.

The male kept talking. “And I also know your abilities are underutilized. Ideally”—Terrence focused on Trista—“I would have you as a Keeper in my circle. You have survived by intuition, pure inner strength, and an in-depth knowledge of the laws alone. And Keen…” Now it was his turn to suffer beneath the powerful man’s gaze. “You’re one of the strongest bears in the country.” Keen shook his head and Terrence nodded. “You might not know it, but you are. You endured retraining camp, which was destroyed long ago. You persevered and made something of yourself despite your bear’s reluctance to keep itself under control. If you Challenged me right now, if you Challenged the National Itan, you’d probably win. Not because you’re younger and stronger, but because you’ve never been limited by others’ perception and ideals. You’re a pure bear when you shift and you’ve lived through that hell. You know what it’s like to be a regular member of a clan while also being privy to the inner workings of the power structure. While I would want Trista as my Keeper, I would like her mate as my Second.”

Keen’s gut clenched, tightened, and his heart froze.

I would like her mate as my Second.

The handful of words echoed in his mind. The gravity, the meaning and trust and faith, filled him. “I’m…”

He didn’t know what he was. Over twenty years of being overlooked, ignored, and forgotten, of pretending to be something he wasn’t, and now the Southeast Itan wanted him, them, with him.

Keen tried to speak again. “You can’t…”

“I can do whatever I want. I want a Keeper who knows the laws and has both prospered and suffered beneath them. I want a Second who is unencumbered by everyone else’s ideologies while also able to adhere to them when necessary.” Terrence’s gaze bore into him. “Retraining you was wrong.”

Keen nodded. He thought so at fourteen and even at twenty-four.

“And you could have destroyed the camp, everyone inside it, without much damage to yourself.”

He looked away from the Itan, but there was no escaping the truth. Yes, he’d been that powerful, then and now. “Yes.”

“But you stayed because those above you, those who created the rules, told you that was your punishment. You hated it, could have ended it, but you endured because it was the right thing to do.”

“Yes.” He bit off the word. The bear grumbled and growled inside his mind, not liking that this male, this slightly weaker male, made them think of that time.

“And then you worked within your limitations, not caring about what others thought if it meant keeping them safe.”

“Yes.” Another snap.

Trista slid her hand over his chest and up his neck, stroking his jaw with her thumb. That touch soothed him and calmed the beast, reminding them he wasn’t in the past, he wasn’t fourteen. No, he was grown and mated and… being asked to help the Southeast Itan rule. Rule and someday take over for him.

It was a heady feeling, exciting, and made his bear puff up with pride.

Cocky asshole animal.

“How would that work?” Trista filled the silence. “I’m half-hyena. Would your bears actually listen to someone like me? And if we went to Cutler, how would he be the Guardian and Second in one?”

“You’re still part of my family and you’re your mother’s daughter. You wouldn’t allow them to
not
listen. Neither would your mate.” Keen agreed with the Itan’s words. If anyone even let a hint of disgust for Trista emerge, he’d be there to put an end to it. Permanently if necessary. “And Cutler is only an hour from my home and most of the work we’d do is long-distance. This…” He waved at the house. “This is the exception to the rule. As was the incident with Mia’s family. Normally, I sit in my office and have conference calls with the Itans and inner-circles. As part of
my
inner-circle, that’d be your only job. Ty and Van manage Grayslake
and
their work with the Sheriff’s office. Your primary responsibility, your devotion, would be to the Southeast first and your town second. Those would be your only jobs.”

Trista looked to him, indecision in her eyes. A hint of hope and excitement lurked there as did a small dose of sadness. She was unsure and Keen refused to make a snap decision within the whirlwind of activity.