NightStar Summit

15. Bandaged

It was never ending. The screams from people outside. There was a huge fight going on and I just couldn't bring myself to look at it anymore so I had moved to the bed and tried to fall asleep.

Needless to say, that wasn't happening.

Sadie had cried herself into a deep sleep a long time ago so I now had nobody to tell me that I shouldn't leave this room. I quietly sat up and put the slipper booties I had been given on. It was cold so I grabbed one of the scratchy wool blankets and wrapped it around my shoulders before going to the bedroom door and quietly exiting the room.

I started to descend the old, slightly beat up staircase, the creaks echoing through the farm style house. I rounded the corner quietly, scoping out the sitting room before I decided whether or not I wanted to cross through.

Mrs. Marz sat in the rocking chair by the roaring fireplace, cozied up in a plaid robe with a thick book in her lap. She seemed oddly at peace given what was happening outside.

I decided to step into full view, catching her off guard. She closed her book and reached up to her ears, pulling out a pair of orange foam ear plugs.

That was probably why she seemed so unbothered. She couldn't hear anything. I should ask for some.

"Hi, honey. Is everything alright?" She seemed genuinely concerned as I moved to sit on the wicker sofa across from her. "Are they keeping you awake?" She motioned towards the window behind me knowingly.

I nodded.

She rolled her eyes and set her book down on the table next to her before pulling herself to her feet, "Boys will be boys, Kat. You're going to learn that real fast. You're also going to learn that I have a zero tolerance policy for those boys to act up all night and disturb our guest. I'll talk to Cameron."

"What are they doing? I saw Colt beating on Forrest."

Her face drooped as she slipped back into her rocking chair. A story was on its way, I could tell, "Oh honey, you picked the worst night to wander onto our land. Our Alpha, Colton's father, was murdered by another Pack of wolves. We were leaderless for all of five minutes before Colt jumped in. They're having a ceremony outside and that usually entails the soon-to-be Alpha fighting his challengers. I think it's a little more than that now though."

"So he's the Alpha now?"

She nodded, "It sure sounds that way."

I heard a group of footsteps stomping up the porch steps before the front door swung open, Mrs. Marz sighing at the sight, "Oh lord, here we go."

Cameron came into the sitting room first, followed by Noah and a few other stragglers. I saw Colt for the briefest of moments before, instead of turning right to come into the room, he made a left and headed for the kitchen. "And?" Mrs. Marz questioned the group of rowdy men, her eyes shooting daggers at Cameron.

"He had a couple of challengers," Cameron spoke up, side eyeing me as he did so. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully, cautious as to not alarm me. "Nothing too extreme. I need you to go patch him up though before he hurts himself more."

She wasted no time in getting back up and patted my leg before walking past, "Come with me, sweetie."

I hopped to my feet and stuck close to her as we passed the group of men, all of whom were eyeing me now. We crossed the hallway and entered the kitchen where Colton was holding his hands under the running faucet, his back to us.

Mrs. Marz placed her hand on his back and he quickly turned around in response, leaving the water running. I slid onto a barstool as she grabbed his bloodied hands and examined them. Our eyes met as he stood emotionless while Mrs. Marz doused hydrogen peroxide onto his wounds. He was completely dead, impossible to read in that moment and for once I saw the monster that Sadie always painted him out to be.

"Who all did you fight?" She asked while moving around him to find bandages. "Other than your brother?"

"Four others."

"He didn't want to show anyone any mercy," Noah came striding into the room, crashing down into the barstool next to me, "Hey, Kat. Glad you're here." I smiled at him but didn't say anything as he reached across me to grab a pear from the fruit bowl.

I watched closely as Mrs. Marz wrapped the bandages around Colt's wounds expertly, as if this wasn't nearly the first time she had ever had to do this.

"Why are you still awake?" Noah asked me quietly between mouthfuls of his fruit. "I'd be zonked if I were you right now. Where's Sadie?"

"She's sleeping," I answered the question, noting how Colt was now looking at me at the mention of her name, "It was too loud for me if I'm being completely honest."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it soon enough."

I didn't like that. I didn't want to get used to it. I knew nothing about this life and after tonight, I wasn't so sure I wanted to anyway. These people were feral and if they were capable of turning on their own family, why wouldn't they turn on me?

Sadie's situation suddenly seemed a lot more dangerous and I'll be damned if I'm the reason something happened to her.

"Can I talk to you?" I said while looking Colton dead in the eyes, giving him no reason to believe I was talking to anyone other than him. "Alone?"

I saw the worried looks Noah and his mom exchanged with each other, "Maybe not tonight, honey. It's been a long day for everyone and I think we should all get some sleep."

I was about to drop it and run back to my room but it didn't seem like Colt was going to let it go that easily, "Come on." He waited for me to get off the barstool and walk in front of him so I didn't keep him waiting long.

I turned right after leaving the kitchen and placed my hand on the front door, pulling it open. Before I got it even a smidge open though, Colt threw his hand on top of it and pushed it closed again, "Not that door," he pointed down the hall before taking the lead and I was left wondering why we weren't going the other way.

We walked out the back door and down the porch steps before traveling down a very dark trail. We were walking for a few minutes before I could see a small, A-framed style home, a single light illuminating on the side.

"Is this where you live?" I asked just to break the silence. Of course he lived here, why else would we be going there?

He nodded while walking up to the door and slowly twisting the knob. I got really nervous all of a sudden and my fight or flight instincts threatened to take over.

He stood to the side and motioned me to walk in and slowly, I did before he did the same, closing the door after him.

The room was dark except for the dying embers of the fireplace. I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw a girl who couldn't have been much older than me, turn around on the tanned suede sofa.

"You're back," she whispered the words while getting up and heading over to us by the door. "Hey, girl," she waved excitedly but never rose her voice above that whisper. "I'll see you guys tomorrow at breakfast," she waved one last time before seeing herself out.

"Who was that?" I asked, a hint of jealously seeping through my voice unintentionally.

"Shh," Colt moved over to the couch so I followed, only to see a sleeping Felicity.

"Oh."

I suddenly understood all the whispering.

Colt carefully placed his arms under his little sister and picked her up into his arms, Felicity seemingly not being bothered by it at all. "I'll be right back," he carried her down the hall and disappeared out of sight.

I sat down on the couch, the cushions engulfing me, forming perfectly around every part of my body. Holy s**t. This was the softest sofa I had ever been on.

I got myself all situated and even had time to get acquainted with my surroundings by the time Colt came back. He sat down next time me, his right arm draping over the back of sofa.

It was the stupid little things like that that made me just melt.

The silence was starting to become loud so I jumped right into it, "You're not going to hurt Sadie, right?"

He squinted his eyes at me, "That's what you wanted to talk about? f*****g Sadie?"

"She's my best friend, Colt and she was just doing what I asked her. She doesn't need to be punished for it. What did she even do to make you hate her so much?"

"Kat, I don't expect you to understand our rules or our way of handling things but I need you to let it go. Sadie and her family used to be apart of this Pack. My dad caught them going between here and Feral Moon, our biggest enemy. They traded some of our secrets to be in Alpha Sam's favor and that resulted in mass casualties. They were thrown out as a result but oh my f*****g God are they still haunting us all."

I wanted to know more about this mass casualty s**t. What could she have possibly done? "What do you mean mass casualty?"

"I mean exactly that. Every year right before winter starts, most of us go on a big hunt to stock up for the season. Only a few men stay behind so the women and children aren't totally defenseless. Sadie's dad knew what day they were all going so he ran and told Alpha Sam. We've never been in good standing with them so we're both always looking for ways to jab at each other," he paused for a second, "I couldn't have been older than ten when they all left and the most aggressive dogs I had ever seen came rolling in. They tortured our women, beat us older kids and killed twelve babies that had just been born. That's why I f*****g hate Sadie and her family."

I wasn't going to say this but if Colton was only ten when this happened then Sadie was around the same age and I'm sure she had no real part in her parents crime. She was as good as innocent in my eyes but I had a feeling I was going to have to pretend to hate her.

"Will you let her go?"

"I don't know."

I scooted closer to him, only a few inches separating us now.

"Do I get to go home?" I couldn't imagine being here for the rest of my life, no matter how strong my crush on Colton. I still had school, a job, a dad and ambitions to go back to. I couldn't have any of those things if I were here. "I still have to graduate and I wanted to go to college. Not to mention my dad is going to freak out when I don't come home tomorrow."

He looked at me as if those were all minors excuses to him, things he could easily step over so that he got what he wanted. "I can't just let you go back when you know about all of this. I could get in so much trouble if you ever told anyone."

He was an Alpha. Who was above him that could get him in trouble?

He saw the look on my face and it seemed to make him sad, "I'll think about it."