Return to Kadenburg (25 page)

“What?”

“Yeah,” Dimitri whispered, hanging his head as his eyes
closed. “They’re going to kill both of you, Rutley, unless we find a way to
stop it.”

“What the fuck? Can they do that?” Rutley stood from
the table, his hands resting against the back of his head as he paced back and
forth. “I mean, really, can they? That’s murder! They can’t do that.”

“But they can,” Dimitri was suddenly right behind him,
and when Rutley turned around he almost bumped into him. “Those are the laws
of their god, Rut. They have to obey them.”

“Or
what
?” Rutley frowned. “What god gives his
followers the right to kill innocent people over an accidental peepshow?
That’s basically what it adds up to. Lorcan didn’t do anything wrong!
I
didn’t do anything wrong. This is bullshit.”

“I know, I
know
,” Dimitri insisted, resting his
hands against Rutley’s shoulders. “We’ll figure something out. We have to.
I’m not going to let Liam’s parents go through this again. I’m not going to
let Lorcan’s baby come into the world without a dad.”

“Wait, what?” Rutley’s jaw hit the floor. “You mean
Presley’s pregnant? How do I not know these things? Jesus H. Christ….”

“Yes, I’m pregnant.”

Rutley whirled around to see Presley standing in the
hallway. Her arms were hugged tightly around her slender frame as she stared
at them. Her usually sparkling green eyes were dull and bloodshot. Her nose
was red from crying, and there was no denying the epitome of sadness weighing
down on her shoulders.

She sniffled softly, lifting a hand to wipe at her eyes
before clearing her throat.

“Presley, I’m so sorry….” Rutley frowned. “I didn’t
mean to cause any of this, I swear it. I’m an idiot when I’m drunk. I say
shit I don’t mean.”

“It’s okay,” Presley whispered in a broken voice. “I
understand.”

It’s not okay,
He frowned.

“I think I might have a loophole,” She added after a
moment. “But I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”

Dimitri and Rutley exchanged questioning glances before
focusing their attention on the petite blonde again. She eased down into a
chair, her eyes on the tabletop as she chewed her lower lip.

Rutley returned to his seat and Dimitri did the same.
They waited patiently for her to speak again. It seemed like a lifetime had
passed by before Presley finally spoke.

“I know that I’m just now familiarizing myself with the
laws of Urseth,” She started softly.

“Urseth? The fuck is that?”

Dimitri and Presley stared at Rutley in a way that
told him he needed to be quiet. So he muttered a small ‘sorry’ before sinking
into his seat.

“But I’ve been thinking about the laws, especially the
one that Colin says Lorcan broke.”

“Colin was just looking for any damn way to get Lorcan
out of the picture,” Dimitri huffed. “What about what he did to you, Presley?
Isn’t there a law against that, too? Males aren’t allowed to force themselves
upon the female. Mrs. Bamey told me that once.”

“You’re right,” Presley nodded. She wiped at her eyes
again, clasping her fingers together against the tabletop. “Colin is just as
guilty.”

“How is that going to solve anything?” Rutley asked.
“Even if this dude did something wrong, Lorcan is the one that’s going to die.
That’s pretty fucked up to me. And the fact I have to die, too? Who wrote this
shit?”

“Rutley,” Presley stated in a pleading tone. “Just let
me finish. Please?”

“Sorry,” He repeated again, frowning. He honestly had
no idea who this Urseth guy was, or what laws Lorcan followed. All he really
knew at the moment was that they had the capability of turning into big ass
bears and he wasn’t supposed to know that, at all. And he was going to die
because of it.

“I’ve been racking my brain for hours, trying to figure
out how to keep Lorcan alive-to keep both of you alive,” She confessed. Her
lower lip quivered again as she blinked back tears. “I can’t….imagine losing
him. I can’t live my life without Lorcan. And it isn’t fair to you either,
Rutley. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Rutley opted to remain silent, but he nodded his head
in agreement. He felt bad for Presley, to be honest. He wasn’t sure he’d ever
seen anybody so heartbroken before in his life. Was this how Dimitri reacted
to the news of Liam’s death? He had to push the thought away quickly before it
had a chance to manifest. He couldn’t think about Dimitri or Liam right now.
He couldn’t think about any of
that
.

“The law states that an ursithrope will not endanger
his brethren or children by exposing the existence of our….my kind to
humans
,”
She blinked.

Seconds ticked by and Dimitri tilted his head to the
side.

Rutley quirked a brow, waiting for her to continue.

“Don’t you see?” She asked. “Lorcan can only be
punished if he risked exposing us to humans.”

“Which I am,” Rutley murmured softly. “What’s your
loophole, Presley?”

“That
is
my loophole!” She exclaimed in an
excited whisper. A small sparkle made itself known in her gloomy eyes as she
gazed back and forth between them. “He can only die if he exposed our kind to
a human.”

Rutley was still confused, but Dimitri seemed to know
exactly what she was implying.

“You can’t be serious,” Dimitri said softly with a
frown.

“It’s our only hope,” Presley reached across the table,
gripping the wolf’s hand gently. “Please, Dimitri. This is our only shot at
saving Lorcan and Rutley. We
have
to try.”

“Try what?” Rutley asked as he cocked his head to the
opposite side. “I’m all for saving my own ass here. What do I have to do?”

“She wants me to turn you,” Dimitri replied as he met
his gaze. “I’d have to bite you…..and turn you into a werewolf.”

For the second time in five minutes, Rutley had to pick
his jaw up off the floor. His wide blue eyes moved back and forth from Presley
to Dimitri, over and over again.

Presley looked so hopeful, and he could appreciate
that. She didn’t want to lose Lorcan. Hell, he didn’t want Lorcan to die.
Mr. and Mrs. Bamey had already lost one son-there was no way in hell Rutley
could have that blood on his hands.

And I don’t want to die either,
He reminded
himself as he ran his palm down the length of his face. He let out a low
breath.
If I turn into a werewolf, my dad will try to kill me…..

“Please,” Presley whispered,
another tear sliding down her cheek. “Please, Rutley.”

“We can’t force him to become something he doesn’t want
to be,” Dimitri said in a gentle tone. “Though if he says no, the only thing
he’ll be is dead in a few hours.”

“That’s a good point,” Rutley gulped.

“I promise it won’t be horrible,” Presley continued in
a desperate tone. “You’ll be faster, stronger, and-”

“And alcohol won’t make you do stupid things all the
time,” Dimitri quipped with a small smile. “I’ll teach you everything you need
to know to survive, Rutley. We can make our own pack.”

“A pack?”

Dimitri nodded, “Yes. We won’t be anything like
Breslin. I swear that to you. Greg is going to need a pack anyway, and I’ve
never had a real one myself.”

Rutley chewed his lower lip. Of course there wasn’t
much to think about. Either he accepted the bite or him and Lorcan would die.
There wasn’t really a choice to be made.

Rutley exhaled softly, nodding his head.

“Okay,” He stated firmly, glancing at Presley again.
He watched the smile as it appeared on her face, and for the first time in a
long damn time, he knew he was doing the right thing.

He held his arm out towards Dimitri, bracing himself as
he squeezed his eyes shut.

“Do it quick.”

Thank you
for reading
Return to Kadenburg!

Other books
by T.E. Ridener:

The
Descendants Series

The Fire
King’s Daughter (Book #1)

The Water
King’s Bride (Book #2)

The Ice
King’s Heart (Book #3) Coming soon!

The Blood
Betrayal Series

Blood
Betrayal (Book #1)

Mirela and
Her Vampire (Book #1.5)

Blood
Revelations (Book #2)

Blood
Resurrection (Book #3) Coming soon!

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my fan page
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to send me an email at
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!

Reviews are
sincerely appreciated.

Keep reading
for an exclusive sneak peek at a sweet romance by T.E. Ridener entitled
“Chartreuse”
.

Sneak
Peek

Chartreuse

One

Acceptance;
it’s something that everyone should do for each other. No matter what color
someone’s skin is, or how old they are, or even who they love. The world would
be a much better place if everyone could just accept one another. But most
importantly, a lesson all people have to learn during their time on this earth
is to accept themselves.

That was something Kasen Reed had finally learned after
he moved out on his own. Or perhaps it was something that he’d discovered
before he left his mother’s. That may have been the reason he left his mom
behind to start over. But could it really be considered starting over? Yes.
It could. It wasn’t that his mother was a horrible person; she could be quite
nice when she wanted to be. Or when her mood actually allowed that to be
possible; which was rarely.

Kasen had grown immune to his mother’s mood swings. As
a younger child, he had constantly worried that it was his fault when she was
crying or when she was yelling and throwing things against the wall. Kasen
could remember when he would approach her as a boy, hugging his arms around her
waist and repeatedly saying sorry. Even today, he would shake his head at the
thought. He’d never had anything to be sorry for. She had run his father
off. She had made life so hard for the two of them.

But there was no use in living in the past. As a
matter of fact, Kasen refused to do that. He had to move forward. So that’s
what he was doing. The last eight months had been the best of his life. He’d
gotten his own apartment down town; he had his dream job of being a radio
personality. He loved music. He related to it in so many ways.

Music was good for the soul, or so he had heard. He
wouldn’t argue that fact. He’d been listening to everything he could get his
hands on for years. Technology had made it easier to obtain music though,
seeing as music became highly accessible through the internet. He hadn’t even
gotten his first computer until he was fifteen, and once he had that bad boy in
his room, the rest was history. If it hadn’t been for his grandmother, he
probably wouldn’t have even gotten that.

His grandmother was the sensible one in the family. He
had no aunts or uncles, just his mother and grandmother. He couldn’t really
recall ever having a male figure in his life. His father had only stayed
around until he was three or so, and by then, his mother had done a sufficient
job of driving the man insane. Enough was enough, he supposed. But why didn’t
his dad take him with him?

These were thoughts that were always going through
Kasen’s mind. Thoughts always ate at him, making him miserable on the inside
even though he tried to keep himself relatively put together on the outside.
Maybe his problem was that he never really talked about his issues with
anyone. He didn’t feel comfortable on letting anyone in; and that was probably
his biggest downfall.

He had once tried to open up to his mother about
things. It had been a silly topic, really. But he’d been having a lot of
issues with his school work during the tenth grade, and he decided he needed
some extra tutoring.

“Don’t come at me with your problems,” She’d said. “I
have enough to deal with without adding your crap onto mine.”

And that had taught him never to try to talk to her
again. Or anyone, for that matter. If a guy couldn’t talk to the person who’d
given him life, then who the hell was he supposed to talk to? And the craziest
part about the ordeal was the fact she was always trying to boss him around.
Always
, always
.

It seemed like he couldn’t do anything right. It was
one of the many reasons that he moved out. Even now, with him living several
blocks away from her, she still called every other hour. Sometimes he
answered, but most times he took advantage of that beautiful ignore button.

No one could really blame him, could they? She was a
nightmare. Kasen was glad to be out of that mess. Living on his own was
definitely better. In the short amount of time he’d been living in his
apartment, he’d felt an incredible weight lifted off his shoulders. Everything
was finally going the way he’d always wanted it to, but of course, something
was missing.

Living in the tiny town of Chartreuse, Alabama, it was difficult
for Kasen to even hope that he’d ever find love. The final reason he’d
ultimately decided to move out from under his mother’s roof, was because of her
reaction to his admittance of being gay. It hadn’t settled well with her, and
despite the fact she hadn’t said much on the subject, Kasen could see the
disappointment in her eyes every time she looked at him.

It’s a gut wrenching feeling to know that your mother
is disgusted with you. But he tried not to think about it too much. Lots of
people had issues with their parents, right? And he wasn’t even going to
attempt to open the can of worms with his father. That was a lost cause
entirely, in his mind. Besides, he didn’t even know how to get a hold of the
guy.

So today, he was doing what he’d always done, which
included enjoying a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch while reading the newspaper,
counting down the minutes until it was time to head in to work; even though
work didn’t start until eight forty five at night. He liked the fact he worked
until around two in the morning. He didn’t have to work many hours, but still
he made a decent paycheck. It paid for his apartment and the few other things
in life that he actually got pleasure from.

For instance, the internet. He could browse videos for
hours. He also liked to look up random facts and gain useless information. He
wasn’t entirely hard to please. His day would go as usual; he would finish
eating his cereal and wash the bowl, putting it back into the dish drain just
to be used again tomorrow. Then he’d wander about until he found Houston, his
five month old Weimaraner, who was normally always cuddled up somewhere in the
bedroom.

“Houston. C’mon, Boy,” he said, clapping his hands
together. The puppy lifted his head lazily, glancing towards his master before
putting his head back down and closing his eyes. He was always disinterested
until Kasen pulled out the leash, and then he was ready to go outside.

The morning air was chilly, and Kasen had to hug his
denim jacket a little tighter around himself as they walked down the sidewalk,
nearing the park that the city had previously put in a year before. Too many
dogs were getting hit by cars. Kasen thought it was a great idea, really. He
enjoyed the safety the park provided. He didn’t have to be paranoid about
Houston getting away from him and trying to chase him down in a panic.

As soon as he was inside the park, he shut the gate
behind him and released Houston from his temporary restraint. The puppy happily
bounded off while Kasen smiled, moving to sit down on a bench to take a
breather. And by breather, that meant pulling out a pack of cigarettes to
light one up. As the flame danced from the tip of the plastic blue contraption,
Kasen’s eyes lifted upwards to see a large brown dog that was curiously
sniffing at Houston.

Kasen quickly stood up, but calmly approached the two
pooches who were now very interested in one another. His brows furrowed
slightly. He wasn’t sure if the other dog was very friendly or not.

“Don’t worry,” A deep, smooth voice said. “He’s as
gentle as a teddy bear.”

Kasen turned to see a man standing there, and though he
honestly wished he could say he noticed his height first, it was actually his
eyes. They were almost the color of caramel. They seemed warm. Kind. Kasen
smiled nervously.

“I wasn’t worried,” He replied sheepishly as he shoved
a hand into his pocket, pulling his cigarette from between his lips so he could
actually talk. It was weird how he could talk to anyone while at work, though
they were always on the phone. Being in person with someone was entirely
different. He became shy and stammered; it was an all-around mess.

“Come here, Napoleon,” The man knelt down, snapping his
fingers a few times before his dog came back to him, wagging his tail. Kasen
watched him in silence, chewing at his bottom lip as the man began to pet his
dog, allowing him to lick his cheek as he chuckled.

Kasen was sure he’d never seen him around before. It
was weird, because with such a tiny town, he saw the same people at least twice
a week if not more. And it was just like that, he was certain the man was
reading his mind as he glanced up at him, catching Kasen staring at him.
Kasen’s entire face heated up as he quickly looked down again.

“Well, I guess I should be heading out,” The man said,
straightening up again. Kasen could feel his eyes on him, but he was afraid to
look up. He didn’t like seeing the disappointment on people’s faces.

“See you around then,” The man added after another few
seconds of awkward silence. Kasen just nodded his head a bit, taking another
drag of his cigarette between tightly pursed lips as he watched the man
disappear from his peripheral vision.

Christ. He was an idiot. He couldn’t even achieve
being normal around a seemingly nice person. Not to mention the fact he’d been
all but drooling over him. “Come on, Houston,” He said, patting his thigh.
His days had started out weirder before, hadn’t they?

Coming
soon.