Chapter 1: Leaving
Note: This series is a darker werewolf series not following the usual "plot" of fated mates.
Be aware of described violence, depression, and death.
-Octavia-
I couldn’t sleep, so I walked down the hallways just trying to shake this feeling of restlessness. The cat was following me around though. She had done that a lot more lately, always watching me, always staying at my side. It was like I had become her new best friend. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but I guessed it was better than being completely alone with my guilt that was eating me up from the inside. Even though only a week had passed since we had lost Chris, a dark cloud had appeared over the house, making it feel so quiet and … depressed. We were all mourning a dear friend, and we had no idea how to deal with it other than making Connor pay. It was the best way, and it was all that people could focus on right now.
I, on the other hand, was having a hard time focusing on it. Chris had been right. It cost you a lot going after Connor, and it was now my fault we had lost a friend. I hated myself for it, and I didn’t know how to make it better. I noticed though, that I was on my way to his room. I did not plan on going inside, but I … I just needed to walk by it, yet just as I reached it, I saw the door was a little open and I heard a strange sound coming from inside the room.
I stopped and walked over to the door, pushing it open more, and noticed Kate standing by the bed with Koda at her side, a bag in front of her, and her back to me. I hadn’t spoken to her since we burned Chris’s body. I had been too scared. Too ashamed.
“Kate?”
Kate froze for a second before I heard her zip the bag in front of her, and then she turned around, swinging the bag over her shoulder. She looked so tired. So damn broken, and it was all because of me.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m leaving,” she said.
“Sorry?”
Kate just walked past me, Koda following her, and I quickly did too, as I saw her walk down the hallway.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“I’m going to bring him back.”
“What?!”
We walked down the stairs, and I tried my best to keep up with her.
“I’m going to bring Chris back,” she said.
“You can’t be serious?!”
“Why not?!” she asked and stopped, looking behind her and up at me. I was standing two steps higher than her.
“Because you can’t! It’s not possible.”
“You were brought back. Hunter was cured. So was Lily,” she said. “Why should I not be able to bring Chris back?”
“Because it is not the same!”
“Because I am not marking him?” she asked.
I nodded, and she began to walk down the stairs again to the first floor before she went to the bigger staircase leading to the entrance of the house.
“Yeah, well, I’m going to try.”
“Kate!” I said as we reached the bottom of the next staircase.
She stopped and turned around, looking at me with dead eyes.
“You can’t,” I whispered.
She sighed, looking at the ground.
“I have to try. I can’t stay,” she said.
“Of course, you can! I mean you have Ethan!” I said.
“You promised Chris to take care of him?” she said, reminding me of what I had told her. “So, take care of him.”
“I promised to take care of both of you!” I said.
Kate smiled a little, even though it was a sad smile.
“I’m a big girl, Octavia, I can take care of myself, but my son needs you,” she told me.
“He needs his mother!”
“And his mother needs his father!” she said.
I looked at her shocked, as we stood there in the big entrance hall. I couldn’t believe she really wanted to leave. After everything that had happened, she was really willing to go out there and leave us all behind to chase a ghost.
“I can’t stay here.”
“You won’t get him back,” I said.
“Why not? Weirder things have happened.”
“You can’t …”
“I need to try,” she said and continued to walk towards the door.
I took a few steps forward, calling out to her again.
“Kate!”
She stopped just as she had opened the door and had taken one step outside. She looked over her shoulder, again staring at me with empty eyes.
“And what if you don’t get him back?” I asked.
“Then I am not coming back,” she said.
Then she walked out of the door, closing it behind her and leaving me there. She had taken Koda with her, and the house already felt even quieter without both of them here. I wasn’t sure how long I stood there, not able to move before I felt something brush against my leg. I looked down, seeing the cat look up at me.
“Meow!”
“She … left,” I whispered.
“Meow!”
The cat walked away from me and over to the staircase. She looked behind her after placing her front paws on the first step.
“Meow!”
“Oh f*ck. Ethan!”
I stormed back towards Kate’s and Chris’s room, the cat following me the whole way. I stormed into their room and then over to where Ethan’s room was. I opened the door quietly, seeing the little boy still sleeping in his crib, and I slowly walked over to him. He had already lost so much, and he was just a little child … How could they ask me to take care of him, when I was the reason for him losing everything?
“Meow.”
I looked down, seeing the cat rub herself against my legs again and softly purr.
“Shh.”
I shushed the little cat, but she placed her big butt on the floor and continued to look up at me.
“What the hell do I do now?” I whispered.
“Meow!”
“What does that mean?” I whispered, but her meow woke Ethan, and soon he began to cry. “Oh f*ck!”
I stood there, not sure if I should pick him up or not. I wasn’t very good with children, and now suddenly I had become the guardian of one?! When the f*ck did I become the parent?! I had been quite specific about not wanting to have kids.
“Ah f*ck it!”
I reached down and picked Ethan up, trying my best to make him stop crying.
“There, there,” I said and walked around with him. “Your mother will be back. Don’t worry.”
He continued to cry, and I looked at the cat as if it could guide me.
“A little help here!” I said.
She tilted her head to the side, as if she didn’t understand me.
“Oh, right now you want to act like a real cat,” I said.
She walked over to me and brushed herself against my leg, as I stood there trying to get Ethan to stop crying. That was when I got an idea and reached down, picking the fat cat up with one arm and bringing her to the same height as Ethan.
“Look. Cat,” I said.
I was holding Ethan with my other arm, while Little Diva looked at the little boy, who stopped crying and studied the cat. She did not look very impressed though, but didn’t try to scratch me or anything.
“You like the cat?” I asked, and Ethan stared at the cat mesmerized. “That’s better …”
I slowly put the cat down again, who then started to walk away, looking rather offended with the way she had been used.
“Okay, let us find Valerio,” I said, and started to walk out of the room and back to my own.
We had some sh*t to fix here, and I couldn’t do it alone.
