An Unwanted Second Chance (JB Tirado) novel Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“You’re such a fool sometimes,” Lily laughed, pushing against Kent.

He grabbed her wrists, smiling at her. “A fool for you.”

“Oh Goddess,” she cried, “and you’re a corny fool too.”

He leaned in to kiss her, expecting to feel her soft, pliant lips but he felt only air as he toppled forward. Suddenly he was in wolf form, Pax running through the trees with urgency. There were people mindlinking him but all he felt was the sense of dread. He knew his mate was hurt and hurt badly. He pushed his wolf to

run faster, willed himself to reach to her.

When he finally arrived in the clearing, Lily was laying there in human form, covered in blood. His wolf howled and he shifted back into human form. As he moved to hold the body of his mate, she changed.

Suddenly it wasn’t Lily, but Riley he held. Her hazel eyes were lifeless, her long brown hair fallen lank and listless away from her face. Pax howled inside his head.

Kent woke with a start, his heart hammering in his chest. Cold sweat covered his forehead. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and willed himself to take a deep breath. He raised a shaking hand to push his hair out of his face. He could almost smell Lily, a sweet gardenia that had always made him think of spring.

He rolled over, sitting up on the edge of the bed to look at the clock. It was just shy of five in the morning. He sighed, rubbing his eyes as he stood up. Something felt off, a weird sensation in his chest. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn’t his, but Riley’s.

He stood up, shaking his head to clear it. It was strange to him that four years ago he had been highly attuned to the feelings of a mate. The mate bond always made it easy to tell what one’s mate was feeling, but it had been even easier with Lily. They had grown up together. She had been Patrick’s tag-along little sister back then, sassy and competitive and annoying as hell. He already knew all her looks and tell tale tics before finding out they were mates, so their relationship had been easy to him.

But his new mate, she was a different story. He knew many wolves met mates that they hadn’t previously known and felt an instant connection, but the circumstances of his meeting with Riley were so different from

what felt normal that he couldn’t even put words to it.

He threw on a pair of sweats, a long sleeve shirt and his shoes, heading down the stairs and out the back doors of the pack house. The air was crisp and cool, the leaves on the trees just starting to change colors. Everything pointed to the signs that fall was on the way. Kent started running the perimeter of the training facilities, trying to take his mind off of Riley. He tried to focus on menial tasks – checking in with the farmers

to make sure that food stores looked good for the winter, reviewing warrior applications for the winter

enrollment in the training program, having the maintenance crews start their yearly inspections on the main

buildings to make sure they were weatherized properly.

He listed tasks in a tedious manner, trying to remember everything that needed done before Christmas. Of course, Patrick already had a list stored somewhere on a computer that he would print off and make Kent go over within the next month. Penny would handle most of the details, informing Kent when each task had been completed. But list making helped calm his mind and provide him with a sense of order, something he had been lacking severely over the last year as the rogue attacks worsened.

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After his run, he headed back towards the back of the pack house. As he approached, he saw a familiar figure moving up the stairs, her arms full of bags.

“Elva,” Kent called, jogging towards her, “let me help.”

Elva turned and smiled, her round face glowing in the rising sun. Her once brown hair was streaked with gray, laugh lines were etched around her brown eyes, but the year did nothing to change her smile.

“Good morning, Kent,” she said as he approached. She was one of the few people outside of the ranked members of the pack who called him by his name instead of Alpha, but that was because she had practically

raised him.

Elva had been the chef in the pack house for as long as he could remember. She used to bake him special birthday cakes when he was a child and always made his favorite things for dinner at least once a week. She had also been the person to clean up his scraped knees and comfort when he was just a boy, after his

mother had died.

And with Elva, came her son, Max, his best friend and his beta. Elva was the closest thing he had to a mother for the last 22 years and Max had felt more like a brother than a friend.

He grabbed the bags from her hands and stooped down to give her a kiss on the cheek.

“You’ve always been such a good boy,” she said with a warm smile. “Why are you out so early today?” She turned heading up the stairs to open the door so Kent could walk through with the bags.

“Couldn’t sleep,” he said as he walked through the door. “Too much on my mind these days.”

Elva sighed. “I’d tell you that you worry too much, but I know how bad the attacks are getting. Sheila’s boy was killed in the last attack. He was only nineteen.”

Kent gritted his teeth as he walked into the kitchen. He was the one who carried the boy, Kelvin, back from the woods after the attack. He could still remember how his blond hair had turned red with his blood. He had

been such a promising warrior.

Kent set the bags on the counter in the kitchen and spotted one of Elva’s assistants, a young woman with jet black hair and olive toned skin standing by the sink, washing out a pot. She jumped when saw Kent.

“Alpha,” she murmured, bowing her head slightly before quickly turning back to the sink.

“Good morning, Junie,” Elva said as she pulled off her jacket. “Is Rudy here yet?”

“No, Elva,” Junie answered without turning. “I haven’t seen him.”

Elva shook her head, glancing at Kent. “That boy is always late. If he wasn’t such a good cook, I would have fired him ages ago.”

Kent smiled. “I need to go shower and get ready for the day.”

“I have plenty of work to keep me busy,” Elva replied, smiling warmly. “Thanks for your help with the bags.”

When Kent stepped out of the elevator on the fifth floor, his nose was immediately struck by the scent of vanilla and cloves that seemed to emanate from all the surfaces. He groaned as he turned towards his room. How on earth was he going to keep this woman out of his head when everything on his floor smelled like her?

After his shower, he dressed quickly, combing his hair back from his face. He walked down the hall, stopping in front of Riley’s door. It was nearly seven, which was the time they had agreed to meet, but he wasn’t sure if

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he should knock or wait for her to come out. Maybe she had changed her mind about going to breakfast with him. Maybe she just wanted him to leave her alone.

He heard the elevator ding and turned, taking a few steps towards the sound of the doors sliding open. Penny stepped out, her auburn flowing down around her. She headed towards his office door but stopped when she saw him approaching.

“Morning, Alpha,” she said chipperly.

“Good morning, Penny,” he replied, coming even with her in the hall. “How’s Evan doing?”

“His fever broke last night, thank the Goddess. He woke up hungry and raring to go. Max went ahead and took both boys down to breakfast, but I thought I better check in with you. Leaving you in Max’s not-so-capable hands for a few days probably hasn’t gone well.”

Kent smiled. Penny was Max’s mate and also Kent’s assistant. She had taken on that role after her older son,

Alex, was born. After Lily’s death, she also had taken on some of the responsibilities of a Luna in order to keep the pack running smoothly. Kent honestly didn’t know where he would be without her.

“He did pretty good, overall,” Kent said.

“What were you doing down there?” Penny nodded towards the end of the hall he had come from.

“Oh…” Kent rubbed the back of his neck. “We have a visitor from the Council, another advisor. Max put her in

the guest room down there. I had offered to walk with her to breakfast this morning but she hasn’t come out

and… well, I wasn’t sure…” He trailed off, glancing back down the hall.

Penny gave him a strange look. “Did you knock on the door?”

“I don’t want to bother her,” Kent admitted.

Penny shook her head, raising an eyebrow. “Ok, then would you like me to go knock on her door?”

Kent felt a rush of relief. “Yes, could you? I’ll wait in the sitting room.”

Penny took a step down the hall and stopped, turning to look at him. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” he answered quickly. “Just go.”