A Little Favor

Under Liam's light massage, Micheal calmed. He reached up and tapped Liam's hand, indicating he felt better. Liam released him, and Micheal went back to drinking his beer. Micheal had insisted on buying his own beer and going to the bar now that he'd reached the lofty human age of twenty-one.

Kaden suddenly stood up then, saying that it was time for him to retire for the night. He flicked the top of Micheal's head, touched Liam's shoulder as he went past, and told them both good night.

He went up to his room, the smallest in the house, but Kaden didn't need much. A bed, a desk for his computer, a place to stash his clothes, and life was good. After all, the reason why he had chosen this room was because of Storm.

The wooden case that held the collar—polished, inlaid, velvet-lined—rested on his dresser, the elegance of the case incongruous with the functional collar inside it. He was surprised that Liam hadn't noticed it today.

He was still contemplating on when to tell the others that Jiraq and his crew had managed to get rid of his collar. It had been a happy event until he had tried to communicate with his wolf but to no avail.

It seemed that whatever chemicals had been used together with the silver to make the collar, not only subdued his wolf, but might have killed it off. The knowledge of that had put him and the crew in depression. He had asked them to put off the experiments for now, not sure that they were even in the right frame to work again.

He had told them to keep the event up in the wraps, not wanting to upset the other clan members with the news. He hadn't even told his Beta.

If the collar had managed to wreck this amount of havoc on his wolf which was actually a lycan, then what about the others? He shook his head, refusing to dwell on the sad news tonight.

He needed to sleep. Tomorrow would be a much better day to meet up with Casper, and discuss it. His Beta had every right to know of the recent developments. Perhaps , from there on, they would brainstorm and find out more about the components of the collar and how they could go about reviving their wolves. They just couldn't leave like ordinary men when they were not.

Kaden turned off his light and sat on the end of the bed. From this position he could look across the yard that separated the two houses to Storm's bedroom window. She'd pulled the curtains closed, but light glowed against them, and he could see her silhouette moving about the room.

He watched Storm's shadow pull off her top and slide down her jeans, and his mind filled him in on what he couldn't see. The curve of her waist, the movements of removal that would be her bra and panties, and then the soft round of br**sts that had teased him from behind her tight crop top all evening.

He adjusted himself on the bed, his skin hot, his arousal hard and painful. She was a delectable woman, and this edge of mating frenzy was driving him crazy.

He'd told Storm after they had left the bar that he would be sticking around her even if she didn't want him to. And he had told himself that he would give her as much as she needed to get used to him and accept him, never forcing the issue of mating.

But he was beginning to think that he might burn up and die before she made that decision.

The light went out in Storm's bedroom, and the night flowed into silence. Storm had closed her window against the cold, but Kaden knew when her nightmares began.

Storm cried out in her sleep, tossing and turning an hour later. The frightened noises she made doing so was so heartbreaking that Kaden stalked to his window and opened it before he could stop himself.

Quickly but quietly, he jumped down from his window, gritting his teeth when he landed on a hard stone. Only if his wolf was still present. He thought, scaling the fence that separates the two houses.

He exhaled deeply when he got to the other side of the fence. Looking around the surroundings, he spotted a small ladder by the edge of the fence and put it against the wall, leading up to Storm's window. The ladder didn't reach the spot, but he wasn't really perturbed, only grateful that it had at least gotten past half the height.

Hearing creaking sounds whilst he climbed the ladder, he prayed to the goddess that the small tool wouldn't give way because of his weight.

A sign of relief escaped his lips when he got to the ladder's end, and scaled the rest of the journey with his hands and legs resting on ledges.

Humping outside her window, his heart rate having increased from such an exercise, he opened the window quietly, and stepped into the room gently, not wanting her to wake up and see him there. He wasn't sure of her reaction, and wasn't intent on finding out.

His face squinched in worry as he watched her trash on the bed, writhing and making daunting noises. He strolled to the bed immediately and sat down close to her.

"Hush now," He whispered. "Hush, love."

He smoothened her raven black hair with his hands, a small smile slithering across his lips, softening his features, as he took note that Storm had quieted and settled into even breathing.

He dropped a kiss on her forehead, before pulling the covers properly around her body, and getting up from the bed, keeping at bay the thought to sink into the bed with her and wrap his arms around her.

A last look on the peaceful looking sleeping beauty, he climbed out of her room from the window, pulled the screens down, and then he jumped down, happy at the little favor he had granted his mate.