Bass’s snarl cut him off, and the four teenagers shrunk back. “What’s bullshit, Max, is that I’m here, dealing with you idiots when I’m supposed to be taking Katalina to see her parents’ graves. She’s waiting for me right now, probably angry as hell and upset that I’m not there. So, you’ll do as I say, and maybe in the future, you’ll be able to prove yourself to me, and I’ll trust you not to be children. But until that time, you’ll be scrubbing dishes. Understood?”
Heads nodded.
“Good.” Bass turned to Tyler and John. “Take me to Zac, Ty. John, make sure these four get to the kitchen.”
It wasn’t hard to find Zackary; he wasn’t exactly quiet. The kid was snarling and whimpering as if he was having an argument with himself. It was a troubling sign.
“Zac?” Bass said gently as he approached. “Come on, kid. I know you’re stronger than this.”
Turning his rage on Bass, Zackary snarled, leaping forward, but it was a warning, not an attack, and Bass took it as a good sign. If the wolf had full control, it would have gone for his throat.
“That’s no way to greet your alpha, kid,” Bass teased, offering him a smile. “Shift back. Let’s talk.”
He cried out, the sound full of fury and pain as he shook his head, rubbing at it with his front paws.
“Zackary, shift,” Bass repeated, allowing his wolf forward. “Cory and Max are wrong. You belong here, Zac. You’re one of mine.”
He shifted on a scream, collapsing on all fours as he cried, “No, I don’t. I don’t belong anywhere.” Zackary’s tear-filled eyes met his. “I’m dangerous.”
Going on his knees before Zackary, Bass reached out and gently placed a hand between his shoulder blades. “You’re no more dangerous than any other dominant here.”
“You don’t understand, Bass,” Zackary said on a sob. “I wanted to hurt Cory. Really hurt him. I wanted him to scream for what he said… and then there’s my sister.” He laughed bitterly through his tears. “She still thinks I’m her little brother. That I’m not dangerous when I am.”
“Zac, listen to me. You didn’t hurt anyone. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“But I wanted to,” he rasped, gripping his hair.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is you took yourself out of the way when you were losing control. You did that, Zac, because in your heart, you didn’t want to hurt anyone. And I honestly don’t believe you’d ever hurt your sister.”
“How can you be so sure?” he asked, sitting up as he dragged in a breath.
“Because you put yourself in a cage to protect your family, Zac, at a time when control would have been at its worst. You went against every instinct and put yourself in a position the wolf would have found impossible, and you did it because you love them.”
“I’m just so afraid of hurting someone.”
Standing upright, Bass held out his hand. “I promise it will get easier.”
“I hope so.” Zackary took Bass’s hand and allowed him to pull him to his feet.
“Do you trust me, Zac?” Bass asked. Zackary nodded. “Then trust I have your back. Besides, Kat brought you back once. She’ll do it again if she has too.”
His eyes widened. “Oh no… Kat. You shouldn’t be here, Bass. You’re supposed to be with her.”
“She’ll understand,” Bass assured.
“She shouldn’t have to. Come on.” Zackary rushed away. “I’m sorry, Bass.”
Bass caught him up. “You did nothing wrong, Zac. It’s Max and Cory who were at fault, and they are being punished for it.”
“Still, I know what it’s like to lose a parent. She should have you there.”
“I’ll be there. I’m going righ—” Bass’s words cut off as his world swayed, pain bursting through his chest as if his heart had exploded.
“Bass? Bass!”
He was struggling for breath, clutching at a wound that wasn’t there. Such sorrow, such fear and fury. Blinding, white-hot fury. It coursed through him, blocking out all sense of self. Zackary was dragging him upright, shaking him, but Bass struggled to focus through the onslaught coming down the mating bond.
“Katalina,” he whispered. “Zac… the alarm.”
Giving up his fight, Bass absorbed all of Katalina’s emotions, his knees giving out as he tipped his head back and howled his agony, just as Katalina’s echoed through the air, the keening sound full of despair.
It ends with me….
He’d failed her. Let her down once again. The enemy was here, but Bass, he was too far away to have any hope of saving her.
Chapter 36
Katalina
“Everything all right?” Jackson asked her.
Looking up from her phone, Katalina hoped her expression didn’t show the multitude of emotions she was currently feeling. There were too many to pick from, and all she really wanted to do was sink to the ground and cry.
“Bass is held up.” She glanced at Noah, who’d stood slightly out of the way while she’d been saying her goodbyes to River Run. “He says to go ahead to the meet-up point.” The plan was to meet up and follow her aunt, uncle, gran, and cousin to the graveyard, before then traveling back to their house for the night and spending Katalina’s birthday together.
Her family had changed the plans at the last minute, insisting Katalina shouldn’t be spending her birthday at a graveyard, but whether she was at her parents’ graves or not, it wouldn’t matter to Katalina. Her birthday would never be a day of celebration again. She just didn’t have it in her.
“Shall I come with you instead?” Jackson offered.
Smiling at her father, Katalina walked toward him and wrapped her arms around his middle. In the time she had known him, they’d grown closer, and Katalina no longer viewed him as a stranger. She loved Jackson as a father, but she also couldn’t mix her two lives together. It was
