Aftermath
Ba-beep. Ba-beep. Ba-beep.
I really wish someone would stop that bothersome beeping. While they're at it the lights could stand to be dimmed. The inside of my eyelids are lit up by white. I groaned and decided to just go get them myself. I opened my eyes and waited impatiently for them to adjust to the onslaught of brightness. I moved to get up but to hands reach down from the light and held me in place.
"Get off," I mumbled, "I gotta turn that damn light off."
The light moved out of my line of sight and revealed my little sister. "Better?" Trina asked gently.
"Where am I?" I asked confused. I turned my head to see more of the room I was in. "Am I in a hospital?" Trina nodded. "Why am I in a hospital?"
"What's the last thing you remember?" she asked.
I closed my eyes and thought back through the fog in my mind to dreg up her request. Something important. I have to tell them something. I have to tell them about... the traitor! My eyes shot open and I lurch up against Trina's hands. "Let me go!" I said frantically clawing at her hands. "I have to warn him! I have to tell Grant-"
"There's a traitor," she cut me off. I halted my actions in surprise. "You were mumbling something incoherently when you showed up out of nowhere. We caught enough to know that there was a traitor and Jason, Lily and I already suspected as such. You scared us half to death when you just collapsed. I think Tristan just about lost his mind." She gave me a tight smile.
"What is it, Tree?" I asked gently. "Something's bothering you."
She looked away. "The people working on you..."
I let out a deep breath. "I take it they told you about my injuries, along with theories on how I obtained them."
"The knife wounds are self-explanatory," she mumbled. "The burns on your wrists. They're electrical burns, along with a touch of hypothermia it wasn't too hard to figure out. They missed the shackle bruises." She looked pointedly at my hands and wrists. "Dislocated your thumbs to pull your hands out?" I nodded. "Water and metal shackles to conduct electricity."
"Did you tell the others?"
She shook her head. "What good would it do them? The past week has been hard enough."
"Week?" I asked. "Have I been gone that long?"
Her face turned stricken for a split second before she composed herself. "You were gone for four days before you showed up. But well, you've been asleep for nearly three days."
My head hurt to think about all of that lost time. "What have I missed?"
She opened her mouth to speak just as the door opened and Justin came through. He entered using his back to open the door because his hands a tray of food. "Hey Tree, I brought you some din-" he turned around and when he saw me awake he dropped the tray. It crashed to the floor with a loud bang and splatter Justin and the floor with what looked like some type of pasta dish. "Kate?"
I held my hand up to give him a slight wave. "Hi Justin. Why did you come? We were having so much fun without you."
He grinned and laughed. "Hold on, I'll get the others."
"Clean up your mess!" I called after him and his laugh echoed back. I turned to Trina. "When did he come?"
"He dropped everything and raced here when you went missing," she answered. "Jason had him on double-shifts for shirking hi responsibilities for a while."
A faint smile touch my lips. Lily always joked that Justin, Tree and I were the three musketeers, thick as thieves, peas in a pod. "I have a feeling my big brother didn't enforce that too hard despite your words."
She smiled, though it was a little forced. "He didn't have the heart. For all his bark Jason really is a big softie."
I laughed. It hurt and I winced. Pain flashed across Trina's eyes in response. "Tree," I cooed softly with no other means of comforting her.
"How did you escape?" she asked changing the subject.
"Like you guess," I answered. "Used a couple chicken bones to pick the cage lock. And I ran."
"What-"
"Kate!" Jason said cutting Trina off as he ran in followed by Lily, Justin, Tristan, and lastly Grant.
"Tristan," I said with a breath of relief as a weight I didn't know was there lifting in my chest. For a moment no one else mattered, just him. He pushed past the others to take Trina's place by my side. It was then that I saw the bruises on his hands, much like mine would have been if not for the burns. "Your wrists," I said in anger-tinted horror. "How?"
He gave me a shameless smile. "Jason had to toss me in the cells below for the past couple days."
I gasped ignoring the pain it wrought. "The cells? Jason!" I tried to sit up to unleash my anger on my elder brother but Tristan gently pushed me down.
"Don't be mad at him," Tristan said. "I kind of forced him into it. We were trying to find Silver Moon's traitor and I let my emotions get the better of me and got... pushy." Translation: he got violent.
I force my hand up though it was far heavier than normal and placed it on his cheek. "Forever my night is shining armor, aren't you?"
He covered my hand with his own and smiled. "Forever a terrible damsel in distress, aren't you?" We had a running joke that Tristan always had to go off to save me and I'd always show up right before having saved myself. "I'd tell you never to do that again but I know you'd take it as a challenge."
I smiled, "Of course."
He laughed once before frowning sadly. "Please don't do that to me again, Kate. I've lost one who I cared deeply for, I'd like not to do it again."
My little brother chose this moment to clear his throat loudly and deliberately. The moment severed and I turn to look at him my hand falling back down to my side. He flickered his eyes pointedly to Grant. Grant who looked pained, like someone had stabbed him in the chest and twisted the knife.
Which is probably pretty close to what I just did, I realized with a sinking stomach. It can't be fun to watch you mate with a man that she cares so deeply for. I wanted to apologize and alleviate some of his pain but I wouldn't lie to him.
"As happy as I am to see you awake," Jason said glancing at Grant as he walked by to join Trist at my side. "We have work to do."
He needed to debrief me. I nodded. "What do you need?"
"The traitor," Jason started, "are you sure there is one?"
I nodded. "I didn't see her face but I caught her scent. She was definitely Silver Moon."
"She?" Lily said softly. "It's a female."
I nodded again. "Younger, I couldn't really hear anything she was saying but her voice was younger. If I had to guess an age I wouldn't place her more than a couple years older than Trina."
Jason's eyes glazed over as he connected to other people in the pack. He was probably updating whomever was on the traitor hunt. I tried to tune in but I couldn't. My mind was walled in, all connections shut off. It reminded me a little of my escapades as Rogue. But that wasn't quite the same. Being in a pack is like a bunch of ties in your mind, bridges that connect you to your pack mates. When you go Rogue all of those bridges fall around, the string untie themselves and your mind can no longer travel like it once had been about to, you were no longer connected to anyone. I remember the first time it had happened when I left Silver Moon and anyone I'd ever know behind. I remember how alone I felt.
It was the first time I could understand human's behavior, the first time I could understand how savage Rogues can be. That kindly of loneliness... it makes you want to do anything to get rid of the feeling, to ignore it or just feel close to someone else. That kind of loneliness could drive a person insane.
"My link," I whispered. "It's not working."
Everyone went silent, even the room seemed to hold its breath. Trina was the only one to answer my confusion. "It's the Wolf's Bane," she said breaking the silence. "It there'd been any more in your system..." she trailed off unable to say the rest of her system. If there'd been anymore in my system I would be dead. "There's still a sizeable amount in you. It isn't easy for our bodies to expel Wolf's Bane and you'd lost so much blood and the doctors couldn't risk a bloodletting to get the poison out quicker."
I swallowed a hard lump. "How long?" I asked. "How long until I'm back up to at least seventy percent?"
"A few days," Justin answered. "You should be off bedrest by then and most of the Wolf's Bane should be out of your system. But it'll be longer before you're able to fight, let alone train." I opened my mouth in protest but he didn't give me the chance. "You heal amazingly fast, Kate, even from Wolf's Bane. But even you need to take it slow sometimes."
I sighed and nodded my agreement while already making my own recovery time table. What they don't know won't hurt them in this case.
"May I have a moment alone with Katrina," Grant said after another silence. Everyone looked to me in question. I nodded and they left one by one, Tristan last of them all. He gave Grant a warning look on his way out. Grant shut the door behind them. "We should talk."
I resisted cringing. Rarely do those words lead to good things. "What about?"
He looked ragged, like he hadn't slept in days. "I have something to say to you." He took a series of long, deep breaths. "You win."
I didn't comprehend his words at first. I win? What on Earth did I win? I certainly did not feel like a winner. "What have I won?" I asked.
"The bet," he answered which only further my confusion. A week ago he was so sure that he'd win the bet, he was positive that he would not give in. "You win. You're right I can't do this with you."
His words stung despite me expecting them. I'm damaged in ways he can't even comprehend and not many men want damaged goods. "I thought you'd last longer," I said. "I thought I'd have to spend weeks convincing you that you didn't want me."
He growled. "That is not it." My eyes widened in shock. "I'd not giving in because I don't want to be with you, Katrina. I'm giving in because no matter how much time I have you won't love me. And even if I could make you love me I shouldn't. Not when you love him." He jerked his head towards the door. "That trainer in your pack. He loves you too." I could hear the resentment in his tone.
"His name is Tristan," I whispered softly. "He is a good man, Grant. Jason was the one who gave me a pack and a roof over my head but Tristan was the one who made gave me a home and a family." Grant grimaced and tried to hide the pain my words cause. "I know that's not what you want to hear," I said. "I just... I don't want you to hate him."
"I can't," he said. "It's my fault this happened. If I weren't such a stupid, stuck-up kid back then I wouldn't have rejected you and things could have been different. I can't hate him for loving you just like I can't hate you for feeling the same way about him. You've already chosen him over me."
I frowned. "That wasn't my choice. I wasn't choosing one of you over the other. Tristan and I... Tristan would never put himself between mates. He would never try to get between me and you if I one day decided I wanted to be with you. Just like if his mate were to return to him I would step aside. What we have isn't the love mates have. It's different."
"Then why don't you want to give me a chance?" he asked confused and hurt.
I looked away. "Because you don't actually love me or care for me."
"Do you think I'm lying to you?" he asked outraged.
I shook my head. "I think you're lying to yourself. You don't love me you love the idea of me, of having a mate. You may not remember it all clearly but I do. We never got along when we were kids. When we found we were mates I ran. We were told to instantly love our mates but I didn't even like you. The truth is if you hadn't rejected me I probably would have rejected you."
He sighed and sat down in the chair by my bed that everyone else had ignored. "So what do we do then?"
"Huh?"
He stood again and grabbed my hands. "Say you're right. Then we never had a chance to try being mates. I can't let you go without ever even trying, Katrina. If I do I will regret it for the rest of my life."
"And if it falls apart?" I asked. "If it all fails? Wouldn't it be easier not to have that pain?"
He had a determination on his face that I'd never seen him show before. "Then it fails, it falls apart. But I'd rather have that pain then live with the pain of losing you without ever evening having you. That's the pain that I simply cannot accept. I'd rather try and fail then not try a just because I'm afraid that it might not work out."
"It won't work out," I told him. There was no might about it.
"Or it will," he replied. "Isn't it worth the risk? Because at least we'll know for certain that we simply aren't supposed to be together. But I know that won't happen because we belong together."
I studied his face for a long moment. "How can you be so sure?"
He release one hand to brush the back of it with his fingers. I felt the sparks leave goosebumps on my skin. "Because of that," he whispered. "God or a moon goddess, it doesn't matter, someone up there," he pointed towards the ceiling, "wants us to be together."
So it faith. I resisted a snort. "There is no one up there. If that is you argument to persuade then try again. I don't believe that there is some higher entity that looks out for us. Maybe there is an entity, a god, a deity but I can assure you if there is they don't give a damn about us."
He jerked back as if my words were a snake that had just lunged to strike at him. "What happened to you?" he asked, though I'm not sure if the question was meant for me or himself.
"I told you," I said, "I grew up. I'm not the person you knew. I don't believe in God or any omnipotent being. The things I've seen... I can't believe in a god who would allow that to happen."
"Perhaps you cannot," he said sadly. "So don't believe in God, believe in me. I know in my heart, in every cell of my body, that we are meant to be together, no matter the length of time. Whether it is a few days, a few years, or the rest of our lives I believe that you and I are meant to be together."
His eyes shone with conviction and for a moment I almost believed him but then reality reared its ugly head. "How can you be so sure of a stranger?"
He actually smiled in response to my question. "No matter how much you've changed you are still my Katrina, you are still the girl I grew up with. You may not see it but I do." I opened my mouth to protest but he bent down to kiss my forehead surprising me into silence. "Get some rest, Katrina. I'm sure when you wake up your older brother will have more questions for you."
He left and Trina and Justin reentered. "I take it you two were eavesdropping?"
Justin opened his mouth, probably to deny my accusation but Trina cut him off. "Yes." Her tone made me giggle slightly, unabashed shamelessness. "I took your advice."
My brows furrowed in confusion. "Advice?"
She dipped her head and brought it back up in a single nod. "About make a deal with Tyler like the one you made with Grant. I figure that you've never given me bad advice before so I should at least give him a chance. It's a lot more than Justin's getting from your friend."
That only further my confusion as Justin glared at Trina. "What?"
"J-" Justin slapped his hand over Trina's mouth cutting off whatever she was going to say.
"What's going on?" I asked sitting up for the first time without someone pushing me back down. "Justin?"
"It's nothing you need to worry about," he said. "Just focus on getting better."
I scowled. I hate having secrets kept from me. I turned to my sister who'd clawed his hand away from her mouth. "Trina?" Hers and Justin's eyes glazed over as they talked through the bond. I was hit by an unexpected wave of longing for that feeling of connection as I watched them communicate.
A minute later they broke the connection. "Justin's right," Trina said begrudgingly. "Gah, that just tasted so wrong coming out of my mouth."
"And that sounded even worse," Justin quipped and she hit him upside the head.
I rolled my eyes at them. For as mature as they can be sometimes those two are really just a couple of children.
Hours passed and evolved into days. Plans were made for Trina so attend school online after the tantrum she threw when Jason said she had to return home. Jason and Lily would return home soon now that Justin had arrived. In my own health I was still on bedrest but I was able to walk to and from the rest room with some assistance.
It would not be so be if not for the boredom. While there were several people who came to check on me I was alone for a large portion of the days. I finally convince my overprotective big brother that answering emails and making appointments would not be too large a stress for me. Mostly I told him unless he gave me something to do I would get up and hunt down a task. He figured giving me a laptop was the easier outcome. He made the correct decision.
But even work was boring after a while. Around three my brother came in and I shut the laptop. "Hey Tyler."
He grimaced. "Work?" he nodded at the laptop.
I nodded. "Yeah, just answering a few emails. My inbox was maxed out so I had to go through and see which ones could be handled by my assistants."
His brow furrowed. "You have assistants?"
I nodded again. "Yeah. Two, their actually college interns working towards business degrees. Good kids. Trinity actually got a full scholarship."
"I thought that..." he trailed off knowing that I knew what he was going to say. We both were taught by the same person. Dad was raised into the belief that being a Beta was a lifestyle, you woke up, ate, worked, and went to sleep as a Beta. You didn't have anyone else do your job for you.
"It's not like that for most packs," I said. "We were raised into it but being a Beta isn't a life, it doesn't have to be your life. It's a job, just like any other job. Sure it's not really a nine to five, seven days a week job but it is a job. When I'm off duty no one calls me by my title. To my pack I'm just Kate."
"Actually to the pack she's Kate Greyson, the Alpha's kid sister," my older brother said from the doorway.
I scowled at him. "You are only a couple years older than me, troglodyte."
"Whatever floats your boat, tiny," he said ruffling my hair.
I slapped at his hands and muttered, "Troll," under my breath. "This is why they like me better. I'm the nice one."
He snorted, "Yeah right, they only started to like you better after you quit training."
I stuck my tongue out at him. "They'd like you better if you and Lily would produce a cute, cuddly baby already."
"Trust me, it's not for lack of trying," he retorted waggling his eyebrows.
I scrunched my nose up. "Remember the policy, what happens behind closed doors stays there."
Tyler laughed. "You really haven't changed much, Katie."
"Trina told me about the deal you two made," I said to him.
The corn of his lips twitched up. "She called it a bet. She actually bet twenty dollars on herself."
I suppressed an eye roll and sigh. I rubbed my temple while Jason chuckled. "That most definitely sounds like something Tree would do."
He chuckled alongside Jason. "She reminds me of you a little, when we were younger. You used to bet on everything."
"Hey I relieved more than a few people of all their money," I retorted laughing.
He grinned, "Dad always say was you turned twenty-one he was going to take you gambling so you two could clean out a casino or two."
A wave of nostalgia hit me and the laughter subsided. "It was bad after I left, wasn't it?"
He pressed his lips into a white line and nodded. "I don't think Mom and Dad will ever forgive Alpha Holden, or Grant."
"Or me," I added softly and he looked away. "It's okay. I was the one who chose to leave."
"The pack-"
"Doesn't matter," I cut him off. "It's in the past. Besides I can't bring myself to regret leaving. Still, I do regret the mess I left behind." Jason cleared his throat. "What is it? Come on, spit it out."
He raised an eyebrow. "I'm still your Alpha, Kate."
"Please," I scoffed. "What did you want, big brother?"
"Information," he answered. "About the Rogues. We couldn't track your scent back to where they're set up."
"They probably got rid of the trail when they figured out I escaped," I said. "I've actually been working on that."
"You have?" he commented with surprise.
I rolled my eyes, "Did you really think I'd sit around and do nothing all day?" I opened my laptop and brought up the aerial map I'd marked. "It was a large cabin, I'm fairly sure it was built sometime during the seventies. It's most likely listed as unowned or recently bought because it didn't have any house furnishings, they'd been there a while, at least a couple months. They had a lab set up, they were working with Wolf's Bane. I figure they have to have it grown somewhere, my guess is the basement so the wind won't kick up pollen. No neighbors, at least not any close by and close to the edge of Silver Moon. I didn't hear any water so it was by any rivers, creaks, or streams. Once I put all of that in it wasn't too hard to narrow down possible choices."
Actually there were only three. I showed Jason the map. "I gave you the laptop this morning," he said confused. "How did you do all of this and get caught up on work?"
I puffed out my chest. "I'm just that amazing. Also my interns are doing some over time."
"I need interns," Jason said. "Can I borrow yours?"
I blanched. "No way! I love Trinity and John! They're great! John brings me coffee in the morning. Get your own."
"Sharing is caring," Jason said.
Tyler laugh. "Oh! That's hilarious. You think she's caring!"
"A guy can dream," Jason agreed.
I scowled. "It's mean to gang up on someone who's defenseless."
Jasonmerely raised an eyebrow.