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Every time Church would visit Kat, it took everything in me not to expose my hiding place and go to him. But I remained steadfast, and now I’m going back to the place I ran from with the man I ran from.
When we get closer to the mansion, I can see Kat’s outline in the window she used to always sit in during the day. I’m sure she saw us approaching from miles away, so we’ve lost the element of surprise a little bit.
She’s wearing a long dress and her hair is hanging over one shoulder; her arms are crossed, her eyes not leaving the approaching vehicle and as soon as we breach the estate, she turns around and walks away.
“Do you think she’s pissed?” Church asks, killing the ignition and looking up at the darkened house.
I shrug. “To be honest, I don’t know. Kat’s changed a lot these last few months, so your guess is as good as mine,” I say before getting out of the SUV and grabbing my bag.
Kat’s been different for a lot of reasons since we left this place; more guarded and secretive. The badass Kat from our hunter days is long gone and in her place stood a woman I no longer recognize.
She’s colder, brushes things off but keeps them bottled up, and doesn’t talk as much as she used to, no matter how much I prod and probe.
We walk up the stone steps, and the front door opens with Kat standing there. The small smile on her face seems forced and her eyes… there’s no sign of apprehension or fight left in them.
She looks exhausted, the bags under her eyes giving her a gaunt expression, and all it’s telling me is that she’s so much more than simply tired.
“So you found me,” she says, looking at both Church and me. “I wondered how long it would take.”
“You expected us?” Church asks, blinking.
She sighs. “Not exactly, but I knew you’d come. To be honest, I thought Gabriel would come himself, but I guess I wasn’t that important.” With that brief sentence, she turns on her heel and walks back inside.
Church and I look at one another, a bit shocked and speechless by her indifferent attitude and Church follows her in.
“It’s not that he didn’t think you’re important,” he starts, running after her and standing at the foot of the stairs where she’s stopped walking. “He wanted to give you the time you asked for.”
Kat stands there for a few seconds, then continues her walk up the stairs. Church’s shoulders droop when she walks away, and I have a feeling that he’s never been brushed off by Kat like this. When she gets distant, it’s like an honest-to-God ice pick to the heart.
I walk up to him and pat his shoulder and say, “I’ll speak with her,” before following her path upstairs. I don’t even have to guess which room she’s in - it’s her old one.
It’s weird how things turned out; this place, this room used to feel like a prison cell to her but she gravitated towards it once again.
You would think she’d go to Gabriel’s old room, but instead, she chose this one. Knocking twice and then opening the door, I see that she’s resumed her usual spot by the window.
“Kat,” I say, closing the door behind me and sauntering over to her. She doesn’t move when she hears me approaching, but I can tell she has a lot on her mind.
“I didn’t expect you to come here at all, much less with Church,” she chuckles, then turns her head to me. “What’s up with that?”
I sigh and lean with my back against the window, crossing my arms. “He insisted on tagging along even though Priest only sent me here,” I grumble, shaking my head. “The biggest pain in my ass after what happened.”
Kat grins. “He’s probably just worried about you. Church tends to show his care through violence and overprotectiveness - not the best combination and since you’re his Fated, I’m sure those emotions have doubled.”
Yeah, I was afraid of that.
“He’s intense like that,” she finishes, chuckling.
I don’t really want to make this about me when I haven’t seen her in weeks. She looks the same, but there’s something else that I can’t put my finger on. “How have you been, Kat?”
That slight smile again. “Surviving, for the most part. I’ve had a lot of time to think about things and I realized that I’m partially to blame for how things turned out. As much as I hate that Gabriel lied to me, I should have asked him to be honest with me from the start.”
I shake my head and scoff. “He didn’t just lie, though; he manipulated you into thinking things were okay when shit was brewing back home,” I say, still slightly pissed at Priest for the part he played in all this. Kat sighs and hugs her body while looking down at her feet.
“It’s not fair on me to blame him for lying,” she starts, then moves her hands downwards and caresses her belly. “When I’m lying about something so much bigger.”
I look at Kat with narrowed eyes, my breath hitching in my throat when I see the slight distending on her lower abdomen. My eyes then widen and I walk closer, placing my hand over hers.
“Kat… are you still…” she nods, then smiles sadly. “Why haven’t you said anything? Why keep this a secret?”
