“What the fuck do you want, Aero?” he growled, reaching into the basket Larissa kept in the entryway to toss me a pair of athletic shorts.
“I need to get into Peppa’s old place, but Cason won't give me the key. He said I had to talk to you.”
Kace’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell do you need with that house?”
“I don’t know!” I yelled, scrubbing my hands down my face as I paced back and forth on his front step. “My falcon isn’t rational enough to tell me why. I just know that I need to get in there, but the doors are deadbolted shut and all of the windows are locked. Even the ones upstairs.”
“How in the hell do you know that?”
I glared at him. “Because I checked.”
“You did what?” Kace roared, a vein throbbing in his temple.
He was my alpha and seemed to be just as angry as I was, but my falcon was riding me too hard for me to give a damn. “You heard me.”
“You have no idea what you’ve done.” His arm whipped out, his fingers wrapping around my wrist as he dragged me into his house.
It wasn’t until he shoved me down the stairs that led to his basement that I realized where he was taking me. Three rooms down there had been designed to hold shifters when the need arose. The walls were insulated with silver, there were no windows, and the doors were thicker than the ones used on a bank vault. Even a rabid shifter during the height of the full moon wouldn’t be able to break out of one of those rooms.
Yanking my arm back, I tried to escape his grip. “What the fuck, Kace? All I did was try to get into Peppa’s old house. I didn’t break any pack rules. Why are you taking me to one of the holding rooms? My falcon is pissed the hell off, but I’m far from rabid.”
His only response was to send out a wave of dominant vibes meant to bring me to my knees. My falcon screeched inside my head, demanding that I fight my alpha for freedom, and I started to wonder if I’d spoken too soon. Fighting with Kace would warrant a fuck of a lot worse than being imprisoned in one of those rooms. Especially if I was foolish enough to do it in the home he shared with his fated mate and pup.
Using all of my control to leash my inner beast, I allowed him to lead me downstairs and into the first holding room. Walking inside, I dropped down onto the cot and clenched my hands into fists. “Shit, Kace. I’m sorry. I don’t know what the fuck is going on with my falcon. He’s never been like this before. He won’t listen to me, and he’s not making any sense. He’s just screeching over and over again about getting into Peppa’s old house.”
“If I’m right about what’s wrong with you, I’ll explain. But first, I need to go make sure you didn’t fuck things up beyond the point of me being able to fix this.” He heaved a deep sigh and shook his head. “And trust me when I say…you’re gonna want me to be able to fix this. More than you’ve wanted anything else.”
“Fix what?” I rasped as he turned around and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Leaving me feeling as though I’d lost something vital…only I had no idea what it could possibly be.
4
Ramsey
The sun had started to stream between the blinds when I heard Kace call my name from upstairs. I couldn’t bring myself to move, though. My small reserve of energy was long gone, draining from my body as someone scratched at all the windows and rattled the knobs on both the doors.
Rapping his knuckles against the door that led down to the basement, Kace called, “Ramsey, the house is clear. I know you’re probably freaked out right now, but you need to know that it was just a member of our pack and nobody got inside. Are you okay down there?”
“Yes,” I whispered just loudly enough for him to hear me.
“I need to talk to you about what happened.” He twisted the knob, but the stool didn’t allow it to turn far. “Can you unblock the door?”
“Yes,” I repeated, crawling up the steps to tug the stool just far enough for him to be able to open the door.
“Shit.” His wolf flashed in his eyes as he stared down at me. “I’m so fucking sorry, Ramsey.”
Leaning my shoulder against the wall, I gave him a weak smile. He lifted the stool and turned to place it in the hallway before stomping down the steps to sit next to me. He was careful to make sure he wasn’t touching me—which was a good thing since I wasn’t at the point where I could handle that yet—but I took comfort from his nearness.