“A roast, I think.” Kate once again took Kellen by the arm. “But that’s not for another few hours. Go get something to eat and meet us out by the main trail. I’m going to show Kellen around.”
Logan frowned. “I can do that. I thought you had work to do.”
“I’m on a break. My client’s so annoying lately.” She made a face and explained to Kellen, “I work as a consultant for a software company in town. A human-based business, but they don’t care who you are as long as you know tech.”
He frowned. “You work for humans?
“Yeah, and she makes a lot of money doing it,” Jesse said. “So keep your bullshit bias to yourself.”
“Jesse.” Kate scowled at him.
Kellen shot him a nasty look but turned a bland expression toward Kate. “I was just going to say I’m surprised the humans are open to working with a Voider. Pretty forward thinking, isn’t it?”
“Not really. Since I’ve lived here, I’ve seen a lot of progressive humans working alongside Voiders. Most of the people I’ve worked with only want to get the job done. And frankly, a lot of those humans are outliers among their own kind.”
Jesse watched them, nodded to Logan, then left in the direction of the main house.
Kate led Kellen past more curious Ravagers racing around in theirguer, with Logan trailing them at a distance, stopping now and then to talk to those who came up to him with questions.
Kate’s hand tightened on his arm. “I bet it was hard to come back and find everything you knew had changed.”
He wanted to howl with delight. He didn’t know if she realized how touch-starved he’d been for so long, but even limited contact with her made him feel welcomed and accepted.
“It wasn’t easy. But I never really liked being in the Lawless clan.”
“They had a lot of problems,” she said, her tone dark. “Will Lawless came after me. Brought Watchers to our territory.”
He stopped and stared down at her. “He did?” That fuckhead.
“Yeah. Luckily, my mates and I defended ourselves. But if the Watchers had come with the intent to kill, we’d probably be dead.”
“Watchers werehere?”
She walked with him to a nearby bench in the wood line facing a trail where Ravagers seemed to come and go, all watching him as they passed. He and Kate sat, and he wondered if she was aware of their closeness, because he couldn’t take a breath without inhaling her scent, which made it that much tougher to keep an emotional distance.
He didn’t even know Kate Savage, but everything about her called to him. No wonder Will had been crazy to have her. He’d always been an unhinged prick, but he had good taste.
“Three months ago, I had just formed my pack with Logan and Jesse. Will tried to frame Logan for a murder he committed in an attempt to kidnap me. When that didn’t work, he came here with a few Lawless members who didn’t belong. They tried to take me back with them, but Watchers appeared out of nowhere.”
“In Savage territory.”
“Yes, here. Where it’s supposed to be safe. Will brought angry humans to our land, and we weren’t prepared. But the humans only wanted Will, who’d apparently killed people they cared about. They left us alone, but they could have killed us if they’d wanted.”
He didn’t understand why their prime—his prime now too, he supposed—hadn’t killed him when they’d found him in Lawless territory. Why give Kellen a chance to betray them?
“I just wanted you to understand what you were missing. I heard you’ve been gone from Cross Step for a few years.”
“Five.” He sighed, staring out at the woods, remembering how confusing everything had been. “I was pushed through the Voids during Hunting season at home, on an out-moon away from the home planet. The Dekken had sent an advance scouting party, and we’d been doing a pretty decent job containing them. Until they started killing off our females and young.”
She put a hand over his and squeezed. “I’m so sorry. Did you lose a mate? Children?”
He looked down at her hand over his and let the warmth seep in. “No. I was never fortunate enough to find my own pack. But when our future started to disappear, our leaders made a decision. They declared war on the Dekken.” Which they knew they’d never win. “It was brutal, and only a few of us survived. I’d planned to die with the others, but when a portal appeared on our world, my war leader shoved me and a few others through.” He paused in thought. “I was the only one who made it to this world that I know of.”
They still had no idea how the Voids worked, but he’d been glad to find a new home. At first.
“So the Lawless clan brought you in?”
He nodded. “They happened to pass by late at night when I appeared and took me away from the Salinas guarding the Voids. I didn’t know where I was, hell, who I was. They took me back to their territory, accepted me. I had no idea all the Ravagers on this planet weren’t as wild as Nev Lawless. Or as cruel. Not at first.”
