“Yes, it is freezing, so how about we get our guest inside,” she opened the passenger door and pulled Katherine down into a tight bear hug,“hello again hon, let’s get you warmed up.”
“You really don’t need to do this,” Katherine protested wincing as Rose clasped her bad hand in hers.
“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry,” Rose’s brow creased in concern, “let me take a look at that.”
Katherine found herself frogmarched up the porch steps and into the warm wood cladded cabin. Rose quickly drew her hand up under the light and frowned some more.
“Baby, you might wanna call Samantha, her hand looks awfully bruised,” Rose called out of the house towards Cayden where he was hauling Katherine’s bags up the steps.
“It’s fine honestly. It’s my fault, I just hit it hard is all.”
“You hit it against me, so technically it’s my fault,” Cayden grumbled. “How bad is it?” He asked Rose over her head.
“It’s fine,” Katherine argued again. “And technically it’s Lucian’s fault seeing as I hurt it on his face,” she stepped away from the two of them, she wasn’t ready to be fussed over. It would only bring on fresh tears.
Cayden’s eyebrows shot up.
“You hit Lucian? He didn’t raise a hand to you I hope,” he suddenly growled low in his throat, and she had to admit the unnatural sound was terrifying. She swallowed hard.
“No, Lucian would never hurt me. Not like that. And yeah, I lost my temper and hit him, not my finest moment, although he was being an asshole.”
“That sounds like Lucian,” the man’s face cracked into an amused grin, “do you know he still had my truck?” Cayden turned to his fiancé incredulously.
“Really? We’re going to talk about your crumby old truck right now?” Rose levelled him with a look. “We have an unexpected house guest who has hurt her hand after fighting with a friend of yours, and you wanna talk about your truck?”
Cayden turned and stomped off in the direction of the kitchen.
“Sorry about him hon, men and their machines? Am I right?” Rose led Katherine back to the couch and sat her down.
She couldn’t help but agree, Lucian was just as in love with his many cars as Cayden seemed to be about the rust bucket she had driven out of Tumbricane in.
“Seriously, let me at least get you an ice pack for your hand,” Rose said softly just as Cayden returned and placed a bag of frozen peas on the coffee table.
“You want some tea? Coffee? Something to eat? We got leftover berry cobbler,” Cayden asked as he bent and placed a kiss on top of Rose’s head.
“Erm, tea would be nice,” Katherine answered as her heart squeezed painfully at the sight of the happy couple.
“She’ll be having some cobbler too,” came a third voice as an elderly woman shuffled into the room.
“Sorry Gran, we didn’t mean to wake you, go on back to bed. We’re just getting Katherine here set up with a place to stay for tonight.”
“Mmm-hmm,” came a wry nod from the elderly woman, “she’ll be needing a shower too,” she pulled Katherine to her feet with surprising strength.
"Katherine, this is Mrs. Judy Woods, Rose's grandmother," Cayden swept his hand towards the old lady, making introductions.
“I’ll get you some of that cobbler, hon, while you go clean up. You’ll feel better when you don’t smell so much of sex.”
Cayden coughed awkwardly at the same time that Rose hushed her grandmother.
Katherine blushed furiously again, wishing the ground would swallow her up. She thought she smelt OK, but then again she was human and her hosts were all gifted with super sniffers.
“Go on now, darlin',” the woman continued, swatting her behind sharply making Katherine skip forward along the hallway, “you go wash that vampire right on out of your hair.”
“Vampire?” Katherine heard Rose exclaim from behind her as she clicked the bathroom door shut.
◆◆◆
So much for getting some rest so she could face the long journey back to the city in the morning, Katherine mused as she sat at the crowded kitchen counter eating berry cobbler.
It was delicious. Loaded with calories even without the ice cream but she couldn’t bring herself to give that any thought. It was comfort food at its finest and she needed all the comfort she could get.
“What I don’t understand is why that snooty, old antique would send you packing, but request that Cayden puts on protection for you?” The voice of the grandma cut in across their quiet enjoyment of the desert.
“Protection? Why would I need protection?” Katherine pierced Cayden with a confused look.
Cayden dropped his spoon into the dish with a clang and carried it to the sink.
“Beats me. But I don’t think it was something intended to be shared,” he cast an annoyed look at the elderly lady, who merely shrugged.
“So you didn’t bother to ask him?” Rose pitched in.
“Lucian is a friend. When he asks me to do something for him, I do it, I don’t need to ask questions,” Cayden replied grumpily.
“Well, perhaps you should have,” Rose replied sharply.
“Don’t worry about it,” Katherine intervened, it appeared she didn’t understand Lucian as well as she thought, but it wasn’t for her to care anymore. He had dismissed her. Become bored of her. It was best she just move on. “I got by just fine before I met Lucian, I don’t see what will have changed. I’ll be fine, you can stand down,” Katherine dismissed Cayden with a sad wave of her hand and focused back in on the cobbler.
Cayden opened his mouth to protest but was cut short by the grandma.
“Requesting the protection of a wolf pack is a serious matter darlin’, if he asked for it, there is a good reason.”
“Yeah well, if he cared so much he would’ve protected me himself. He’s more than capable,” Katherine grumbled, her mind flashing back to how fiercely he had defended her against the dragon.
“He can’t protect you during the day,” Cayden voiced.
“She makes a good point,” Rose mused, “If he
