She could hardly see more than a dozen yards in front of her. So much for hightailing it away from her pain. This was more like a steady amble along the winding forest road.
She looked down at the dash and cursed as a red light flickered before settling on glaring at her. She was low on gas too. Hopefully, she’d have enough to make it to the small town she had stopped at before. Maybe she would get a room there and cry herself out until the morning before she made her way back to the city. There was no way she would be safe attempting the journey now.
As the road descended, Katherine looked over at her meagre collection of things that she had stuffed into what bags she could find and carry. That was it. That was all she had, all that she was. Study things, cheap clothes that she had chosen carefully so that she might pass as someone with style and money, and her makeup and toiletries. Everything she needed to try and convince herself that she was more than what she really was, which was nobody.
She was tired of trying so hard to better herself and getting nowhere. She was trash, just like her father and her dead, drugged-up mother. The only time she had ever felt like she mattered was with Lucian.
Her heart ached and a sob broke from her.
Why did he lie to her?
She knew he was lying. She had felt how much he cared, she had seen it and heard it and felt it with every moment they had shared together. But he was lying for a reason, he chose to say those hurtful things to her, he chose to twist in the knife by voicing her fears and claiming he was bored of her and that she had been nothing but a fun conquest. Katherine wasn’t sure what hurt more, the harsh rejection or the fact he chose to do it to her.
Her hand blazed, reminding her that there was also the physical pain to consider. Her red and swollen palm stung fiercely still. She cursed her own stupidity again. What had she been thinking, slapping a vampire?
Suddenly a flash of silver caught her attention and she swerved to avoid an oncoming truck. The breaks of the old truck were more responsive than she thought and she screamed as the wheels skidded out of control before sliding to a stop against a tree with a heavy and jarring thump. She gripped the wheel tightly and panted heavily, fear coursing through her veins.
“Are you alright?” A deep and concerned voice called to her from the other vehicle.
Katherine gripped the wheel even tighter and tried to get her breathing under control. She kept her eyes screwed shut as she counted down from ten in her head.
The door was wrenched open and Katherine found herself gathered up and pulled out of the driver's seat. She hit out on instinct, only to scream as fresh heat shot through her hand.
“Hey now, easy. I’m not going to hurt you,” the voice soothed.
Katherine finally looked up and recognised the man from the Darkhills town.
“You’re Rose’s fiancé,” she said dumbly as she gaped at him. Up close he really was a mountain of a man. A very handsome, grumpy-looking, mountain of a man.
“Sure am. The name’s Cayden Greystone. What are you doing driving out so late?” He asked, his eyes looking over her head at the dented truck where it leaned against the tree. “And what are you doing driving my truck?”
“Your truck?”
The man shook his head and grumbled under his breath.
“Had it towed, my ass.”
He carried her over to his gleaming silver truck and placed her gently on the passenger seat, before stomping back to retrieve her things.
“I don’t understand and please, I’m fine. Just shook up, I can drive, I just need a minute,” Katherine argued.
“That baby is busted up good and proper now. I’ll come back for her in the morning. For now, you can sit tight and I’ll get you back to ours. Rose is making up the sofa for you.”
“Wait what? Why is she doing that?”
“Lucian called. Told me you were heading this way, asked me to see to it that you were safe. He didn’t want you driving back to the city tonight,” Cayden explained as he turned the ignition key of the car and headed back the way he had come.
“Why would he do that? He doesn’t care about me,” Katherine spat out bitterly.
Cayden snorted.
“He woke me in the middle of the night, demanding I leave my mate’s bed in order to fetch you. Trust me, he cares, otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked,” he said, turning down some unmarked road. “And by the way his scent is all over you, I’d say he cares a lot.”
“His scent?” Katherine stammered, heat flooding her cheeks.
“Sorry, that was rude of me,” Cayden cursed and ran a hand over his tired face, “it’s a wolf thing; can’t help but smell him on you.”
Katherine sniffed at herself sheepishly before she registered what the man had said.
“Wolf thing?”
“Yup. Sorry, Lucian said you knew about him, I assumed you knew about the rest of us.”
“You mean like the dragon that lives in the mountains?” She asked.
Cayden barked out a laugh and appraised her.
“A dragon? Good one. Look we’re here, before we head inside I’d like to apologise for anything that might come out of my grandmother-in-law’s mouth. She has no filter but is harmless and means well… for the most part.”
“Erm, OK,” Katherine stammered as they pulled up to a large and welcoming-looking cabin, the porch lights were on and Katherine saw the petite figure of a woman come bounding down the steps to greet them.
“Dammit Rose, it’s freezing out here, get back inside,” Cayden ground out as he climbed out of the truck and tried to gather her up into his arms.
The quick-footed woman easily scooted out of his reach and raised her hands in the air in exasperation.
“Yes, it is freezing, so how about we get our guest inside,” she opened the passenger door and pulled Katherine down into a tight bear hug,“hello again hon, let’s get you warmed up.”
“You really don’t need to do this,” Katherine protested wincing as Rose clasped her bad hand in hers.
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry,” Rose’s brow creased in concern, “let me take a look at that.”
Katherine found herself frogmarched up the porch steps and into the warm wood cladded cabin. Rose quickly drew her hand up under the light and frowned some more.
“Baby, you might wanna call Samantha, her hand looks awfully bruised,” Rose called out of the house towards Cayden where he was hauling Katherine’s bags up the steps.
“It’s fine honestly. It’s my fault, I just hit it hard is all.”
“You hit it against me, so technically it’s my fault,” Cayden grumbled. “How bad is it?” He asked Rose over her head.
“It’s fine,” Katherine argued again. “And technically it’s Lucian’s fault seeing as I hurt it on his face,” she stepped away from the two of them, she wasn’t ready to be fussed over. It would only bring on fresh tears.
Cayden’s eyebrows shot up.
“You hit Lucian? He didn’t raise a hand to you I hope,” he suddenly growled low in his throat, and she had to admit the unnatural sound was terrifying. She swallowed hard.
“No, Lucian would never hurt me. Not like that. And yeah, I lost my temper and hit him, not my finest moment, although he was being an asshole.”
“That sounds like Lucian,” the man’s face cracked into an amused grin, “do you know he still had my truck?” Cayden turned to his fiancé incredulously.
“Really? We’re going to talk about your crumby old truck right now?” Rose levelled him with a look. “We have an unexpected house guest who has hurt her hand after fighting with a friend of yours, and you wanna talk about your truck?”
Cayden turned and stomped off in the direction of the kitchen.
“Sorry about him hon, men and their machines? Am I right?” Rose led Katherine back to the couch and sat her down.
She couldn’t help but agree, Lucian was just as in love with his many cars as Cayden seemed to be about the rust bucket she had driven out of Tumbrican
e in.
“Seriously, let me at least get you an ice pack for your hand,” Rose said softly just as Cayden returned and placed a bag of frozen peas on the coffee table.
“You want some tea? Coffee? Something to eat? We got leftover berry cobbler,” Cayden asked as he bent and placed a kiss on top of Rose’s head.
“Erm, tea would be nice,” Katherine answered as her heart squeezed painfully at the sight of the happy couple.
“She’ll be having some cobbler too,” came a third voice as an elderly woman shuffled into the room.
“Sorry Gran, we didn’t mean to wake you, go on back to bed. We’re just getting Katherine here set up with a place to stay for tonight.”
“Mmm-hmm,” came a wry nod from the elderly woman, “she’ll be needing a shower too,” she pulled Katherine to her feet with surprising strength.
"Katherine, this is Mrs. Judy Woods, Rose's grandmother," Cayden swept his hand towards the old lady, making introductions.
“I’ll get you some of that cobbler, hon, while you go clean up. You’ll feel better when you don’t smell so much of sex.”
Cayden coughed awkwardly at the same time that Rose hushed her grandmother.
Katherine blushed furiously again, wishing the ground would swallow her up. She thought she smelt OK, but then again she was human and her hosts were all gifted with super sniffers.
“Go on now, darlin',” the woman continued, swatting her behind sharply making Katherine skip forward along the hallway, “you go wash that vampire right on out of your hair.”
“Vampire?” Katherine heard Rose exclaim from behind her as she clicked the bathroom door shut.
◆◆◆
So much for getting some rest so she could face the long journey back to the city in the morning, Katherine mused as she sat at the crowded kitchen counter eating berry cobbler.
It was delicious. Loaded with calories even without the ice cream but she couldn’t bring herself to give that any thought. It was comfort food at its finest and she needed all the comfort she could get.
“What I don’t understand is why that snooty, old antique would send you packing, but request that Cayden puts on protection for you?” The voice of the grandma cut in across their quiet enjoyment of the desert.
“Protection? Why would I need protection?” Katherine pierced Cayden with a confused look.
Cayden dropped his spoon into the dish with a clang and carried it to the sink.
“Beats me. But I don’t think it was something intended to be shared,” he cast an annoyed look at the elderly lady, who merely shrugged.
“So you didn’t bother to ask him?” Rose pitched in.
“Lucian is a friend. When he asks me to do something for him, I do it, I don’t need to ask questions,” Cayden replied grumpily.
“Well, perhaps you should have,” Rose replied sharply.
“Don’t worry about it,” Katherine intervened, it appeared she didn’t understand Lucian as well as she thought, but it wasn’t for her to care anymore. He had dismissed her. Become bored of her. It was best she just move on. “I got by just fine before I met Lucian, I don’t see what will have changed. I’ll be fine, you can stand down,” Katherine dismissed Cayden with a sad wave of her hand and focused back in on the cobbler.
Cayden opened his mouth to protest but was cut short by the grandma.
“Requesting the protection of a wolf pack is a serious matter darlin’, if he asked for it, there is a good reason.”
“Yeah well, if he cared so much he would’ve protected me himself. He’s more than capable,” Katherine grumbled, her mind flashing back to how fiercely he had defended her against the dragon.
“He can’t protect you during the day,” Cayden voiced.
“She makes a good point,” Rose mused, “If he cares enough to see to her safety, why did he send her away from him? What happened between you two?”
Katherine shrugged. She didn’t feel like delving into it in a kitchen full of near strangers. Even if those strangers already knew just how close she and Lucian had been.
Rose leaned up and whispered something in Cayden’s ear, he gave her a small nod, and with a swift kiss, he stalked out of the kitchen.
“Phew! I thought he’d never leave!” Exclaimed the old woman. “Now, let's just get straight to it; was it the sex?”
“Oh my god, Gran! I’m sorry about her,” Rose threw her hand up in the air.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Katherine answered quietly, doing her best to keep her poker face neutral.
“Bullshit! Was it bad? Is that why you had to leave?” The grandma continued.
Rose sighed and leaned in across the kitchen counter, “We know it happened, and very recently, is there anything that you can think of that might’ve happened during or soon after that started an argument? There was an argument, wasn’t there?”
“The sex was fine,” Katherine shook her head at that, “It was incredible, but afterwards he just changed. It was like he shut me out and became a different person.”
“Maybe it was just a booty call?” The grandma suggested, the phrase sounding odd on the old lady’s tongue.
“Maybe,” Katherine shook her head, “I’m just being an idiot, I shouldn’t have fallen for his charming act and I shouldn't have convinced myself that he cared.”
“I don’t think that’s what’s going on here,” Rose pitched in thoughtfully. “If it was just an act and he was only interested in sex then he wouldn’t be demanding protection for you and...” she began, before hustling out into the hallway and then back again, brandishing a wax-sealed envelope that looked all too familiar, “he wouldn’t have RSVP’d to our mating ceremony to say he was bringing a date.”
Katherine gaped at the neatly written letter of acceptance. It was Lucian’s perfect hand and her fingers flexed to trace the words.
“Why would he do that?”
“Because he does care! In fact, I’d say he loves you.”
Katherine shook her head in disbelief. “Then why did he push me away, and say those horrible things?”
“Because he’s a man who has had more than a few lifetimes to really hone his stubbornness,” Grandma pitched in.
Katherine snorted at that. Stubbornness. It was something they both had in common, yet he had beaten hers down and she had walked away instead of standing her ground and fighting with him. Or fighting for him. Instead, she had accepted defeat because the alternative would’ve meant she put her heart on the line even more so than she already had. The rejection hurt enough as it was. She didn’t want to expose her fragile heart to any deeper humiliation.
She swiped at the rogue few tears that spilt past her defences.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” she apologised and ran her hands through her hair.
“Don’t apologise,” Rose hushed and threw her arms around her, pulling her into a warm hug. The strength that flowed from her was like a balm of comfort.
The grandmother turned and rummaged through the kitchen cabinets noisily.
“Maybe a good night’s sleep will help you figure out your feelings a little more. For both of you. You don’t know what the morning will bring,” Rose continued, giving Katherine a soft squeeze.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt such comfort. The open acceptance, the generosity of hospitality, and friendship was all so new to her, and it was exactly what she never knew she needed.
A bottle of vodka slammed down on the kitchen top in front of her.
Katherine looked up into the no-nonsense glint in the old woman’s eyes and barked out a laugh.
“But before you go to sleep, we need to finish this bottle.”
“Gran,” Rose warned.
“Not you, I ain’t risking that sweet little great grandbaby of mine that you’re growing. But you can watch as me and Katherine here work out a few truths,” The shot glasses were lined up alongside the bottle and the woman raised a challenging brow.
“Fill her up, Mrs. Woo
ds.”
“Darlin’, if you just so happen to share what it’s like to be bitten by a vampire while you’re at it, you can go ahead and call me Judy,” she smiled and poured out the vodka with a wicked glint in her eye.
“Eww!” Rose exclaimed, “Do vampires really bite and feed during sex? I mean I know us wolves bite but that's for mating marks, we don’t do it to feed. It’d be like chowing down on a turkey leg while you were doing the deed.”
“Did he bite you? Can’t see any marks, but that don’t mean he didn’t,” The Grandma continued, waggling her eyebrows.
Katherine downed her shot of vodka fast and nodded for another, she felt like she was going to need it to both numb the pain in her heart and get through the looming interrogation which was admittedly a welcome distraction.
“It’s not like eating, it’s more like an addition to the moment. It heightens what your feeling.”
“Darlin’, this old woman needs to get her kicks where she can; you’re going to have to get more descriptive than that.”
Katherine laughed and knocked back another shot.
“Well then, Judy, you better sit down.”
The women's’ raucous squeals of laughter and disbelief echoed long into the morning.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lucian
Lucian leaned his head against the glass as he watched Katherine leave, the tail lights of the truck disappearing across the bridge and away into the forest. His mood was so dark he felt the clouds descending around the castle. He couldn’t bring himself to command them to retreat. His influence over the mists and clouds was a trick passed down to him by his maker, not all vampires had the gift and Lucian no longer used it for its intended purpose; to help conceal him from his prey. It also helped to afford him an extra layer of security, putting off any potential trespassers upon his estate.
Lucian welcomed the mists as they enveloped Tumbricane in a shroud of dark secrecy. This was how it should be. Lucian cursed softly beneath his breath as he pushed away from the window and began to pace the hallways of his vast and empty home. He could sense Mr. Jones as he passed his living quarters. His manservant was asleep, his mind at peace. Lucian knew he would need to find suitable alternative accommodation for the man before he made the journey to Europe. He didn’t know how long he would stay away and the frail human most likely would be nearing the end of his life in another twenty years. It was time to release the thrall he held over him and set him up comfortably elsewhere. He would need ongoing support for his mental health. A well-funded health care plan would take care of that.
Escaping The Beast: A Darkhills Romance (The Darkhills Series Book 2) Page 18
