Katherine's Fate

Chapter 2

Alex's p.o.v.

My name is Alexander MacRurii. I am a teaching assistant for the Psychology class at the University of Yale. I am 29 years old and was born in Scotland. I spent most of my youth here in the states with my parents. I am 6’4” tall and am 240lbs of pure muscle. I have midnight dark hair that is down to the middle of my shoulder blades. My eyes are the color of storm clouds. Normally my eyes are smiling but you can see the clouds roll in when I get upset. My mother and father were killed when I was 16. That was the day I became the lord of our estates both in Scotland and here. I didn’t want to be a lord but I didn’t have a choice. In order to deal with that loss I brought my cousin, Kristoff, here to live with me. My family has a secret that has been passed down through the generations, everyone in my family are Druids with mystic powers. 

Normally we can sense each other because our powers have been nurtured and become stronger the longer we have them. However there are some that have been hidden from our Council of elders or were adopted into normal families and don’t even know what they are until they come into contact with another druid. We can tell these people by their aura, the manifestation of a person’s soul. All druids have gold in their aura somewhere. Full blood druids have more gold then others but they also have amber mixed in with the gold. Those that end up being hidden have more of the normal colors then the amber and gold. But they are still present, buried deep inside their aura. I had never met a person that had been hidden until this semester started, I met one in class. Katherine O’Connell was this person. When I saw her, my inner druid said to me, “Mine.” That was when I realized that the legends that every druid has one person out there for them were true. Katherine is my mate and my life has gotten a lot more complicated since I met her. 

When I met her she seemed nice and fun but then she seemed very skittish around me, almost as if she were avoiding me. Two weeks before Halloween I was sitting in the library grading papers when I heard someone cussing at the printer. I looked up from my table to see a pretty girl standing at the printer looking frustrated. What got me was her aura; it was a cobalt blue and royal purple with streaks of amber and gold. The blue and purple was no big thing. It was the amber and gold that caught my eye. I had never met her and yet I could see she was a druid. I got up and went over to her and whispered in her ear, “Having trouble?” She jumped up and put her hand to her chest as she said, “Oh my Goddess, are you trying to give me a heart attack?” I chuckled a little and said, “I’m sorry, I could not resist myself. I heard you cussing at the printer and thought I might offer my assistance.” She smiled and said, “I would really appreciate it. I’m Heather by the way, Heather MacBride” 

She was really pretty when she smiled, not as pretty as Katherine, but still pretty. We shook hands as I said, “I’m Alex MacRurii, pleased to meet you. So what are you trying to print off?” I began to look at the printer to see what was wrong. It was out of toner, I couldn’t fix that without talking to someone else. She said, “Fliers for my friends Halloween Bash. It should be epic this year.” Well now that sounded like fun. I couldn’t wait to try and get an invite. “How does one get an invite to this epicness?” I looked at her out of the corner of my eyes as she said, “Well if you fix this damn machine you might just get an invite. Out of curiosity what’s your major? I don’t think I’ve seen you around, I definitely would have remembered you.” 

“Oh no, I’m not a student, I’m a TA for Professor Lee, he teaches Psychology.” She put her hand to her mouth for a second then said, “Wait a minute did day Professor Lee?” I said, “Yes I did, why do you ask?” She got this gleam in her eye and said, “I think you know my friend.” I was confused as to who on earth her friend could possibly be. I said, “Who is your friend?” She said, “Katherine O’Connell.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. If I helped print off some fliers I could get to see Katherine outside of class? That would be awesome. I said, “Yes I know who she is. Although I must say I would love to know her better than I do now.” She smiled and said, “Would you like to know something interesting about her?” I told her yes, and waited for her to answer. 

She said, “She likes you too. She won’t admit it to herself or anyone else really, but I can tell. There is something that has been off with her lately. Even I can’t tell what’s been wrong. But I do know that it started the same time she started taking Professor Lee’s class.” I know what she is talking about. The question becomes can I tell her what I know? Kris would be deeply pissed off if he found out that I told someone of our existence without talking to him first. Is it worth the risk? I think I could probably tell her a little bit, just not all of it. I looked her in the eyes and said, “I know what’s been going on with her but it is a secret. My cousin would kill me if it got out that I told you. So can you keep a secret?” She looked confused when she said, “What do you mean you know what’s going on with her? You barely know her. That makes no sense. And to answer your question yes I can keep a secret.” I said, “That’s good. Now how about we go somewhere a little more private for this conversation? You never know who might be listening, besides this printer is out of ink.” She nodded and gathered up her things.

We walked together across the campus to my office just off the psychology rooms. She sat down on the couch once we got inside and said, “And the big secret that you know about Kate is?” I laughed and said, “Hold on a second. I have to have your word that you won’t say anything to anyone about what I’m about to tell you.” She looked and me and said, “I swear by the great goddess that I will not say a single thing that is told to me or that is talked about in this room. May I be condemned to a thousand years of pain and torment should this vow ever be broken.”  That surprised the hell out of me, only druids knew that oath. When did she learn it? 

As stunned as I was by her saying the druid oath I was even more surprised to feel the oath snap into place between us. I said to her, “The truth is she is very special, just as my cousin and I are. This may seem hard to believe but we are druids descended from a long line of ancient sorcerers. We all have magic within us. My cousin and I know spells to help people but to be honest I don’t think Katherine even knows she is one of us let alone knows about her powers.” She stared at me for a moment then laughed to herself and said, “Well that is very hard to believe, but for some reason I completely believe you.” 

Just another shock to my system, it seemed like this girl will believe almost anything. Now for the hard part, I get to tell her that her best friend was born to be with me forever. Well here goes nothing, “Your friend Katherine is even more special than any other person on this earth.” She waited for me to continue and when I didn’t she prompted me by saying, “How’s that now?” 

“She is the only person on this earth that can make my soul complete and I am the only one that can complete her. We were born to love and be with each other alone. We can never be truly happy with anyone else.” She contemplated this for a few minutes. She finally said, “That makes some weird sort of sense. She has never seemed all that happy in her past relationships. She usually just stays single. I’m surprised she’s been with Ian as long as she has. Especially considering what he has put her through.” What on earth is she talking about? What kind of things has he put her through? What has she been dealing with on her own? Why haven’t I tried to get close to her to find out? Heather stared at me while I kept thinking, she broke me out of my thoughts as she said, “You want to know what I mean, don’t you? I can see it on your face. She would kill me if she found out that I told you anything.”

“She won’t hear a thing from me. All I want is to help and protect her, I promise.” Her face was thoughtful at this. Then she said, “I believe you, and I will tell you what it is that is going on, but you have to swear something to me first, ok?” I looked at her and said, “Anything, just name it.” She said, “You must help me get her out of this situation. She deserves so much better than that stupid asshole.” This Ian guy must be some piece of work for her to ask this of me, especially since she doesn’t really know me. I said, “I swear by the great goddess that I will do everything in my power to save her and make her life better.” 

We looked at each other and smiled. Then she said, “Kate has been in an abusive relationship for the past 3 years. I know she is strong and that she can handle anything he does to her, but I’m worried that he is going to take it too far one day. And after all the trouble she had to deal with growing up, it’s hard for me to see her go through so much suffering without anything good in her life. I can see her die a little more inside every day. She needs some actual love in her life. Can you give her that?” I gave her my best smile and said, “I promise to do everything in my power to give that to her.” 

She smiled and said, “In that case you are officially invited to our Halloween Bash. If you can get these fliers printed then you will be a guest of honor.” I laughed and said, “I’ll get them printed, I’ll just use my printer in here. I know this one works for sure. But I was wondering if I could bring my cousin Kris. He loves parties and I really don’t go anywhere without him.” I realized that it sounded like I was a friendless loser that had no one but my cousin. But I guess that was kind of true because I spent all my time at the campus or training with Kris. She smiled at me and said, “Yea you can bring him, who knows he might be the life of the party. The theme is ninjas, I’m going as the geisha princess and Kate is going to be the ninja princess, my escort. Although we could always use a body guard or two, especially if your cousin is anything like you.”

She gave me a sly smile as I said, “And just what do you mean if he’s anything like me?” She chuckled and said, “Well to be perfectly honest you are handsome, sweet, and have a very nice body to complete the perfect package.” We both laughed and I said, “He is actually better looking than I am. What are you guys doing tomorrow?” She said, “We are going to the Amati House in Chinatown to get our costumes, although Kate doesn’t know that we are going.” Before I could reply to that her phone howled like a wolf. I said, “What was that?” She said, “It’s a text from Kate. Let me see what she said.” She looked at her phone, got a worried look, sent a reply then said, “I have to go, Kate’s hurt and needs me right away. I just have to stop by the medical building and grab a few things.” Katherine is hurt? What? I have to do something but what? Before she walked out I said, “She’s hurt, what can I do to help?” She said, “I’m not sure you can do anything to be honest. Unless you have some magical healing ability, you don’t do you?” I laughed and said, “No I don’t have some magic spell that can heal her. But I can give some support and help protect her from Ian. Not to mention that with me being her mate she will heal quicker if I’m around her.” She thought about it for a minute then said, “I guess that is true. Let’s go handsome, we have to move quickly.”