Katherine shrugged. She didn’t feel like delving into it in a kitchen full of near strangers. Even if those strangers already knew just how close she and Lucian had been.
Rose leaned up and whispered something in Cayden’s ear, he gave her a small nod, and with a swift kiss, he stalked out of the kitchen.
“Phew! I thought he’d never leave!” Exclaimed the old woman. “Now, let's just get straight to it; was it the sex?”
“Oh my god, Gran! I’m sorry about her,” Rose threw her hand up in the air.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Katherine answered quietly, doing her best to keep her poker face neutral.
“Bullshit! Was it bad? Is that why you had to leave?” The grandma continued.
Rose sighed and leaned in across the kitchen counter, “We know it happened, and very recently, is there anything that you can think of that might’ve happened during or soon after that started an argument? There was an argument, wasn’t there?”
“The sex was fine,” Katherine shook her head at that, “It was incredible, but afterwards he just changed. It was like he shut me out and became a different person.”
“Maybe it was just a booty call?” The grandma suggested, the phrase sounding odd on the old lady’s tongue.
“Maybe,” Katherine shook her head, “I’m just being an idiot, I shouldn’t have fallen for his charming act and I shouldn't have convinced myself that he cared.”
“I don’t think that’s what’s going on here,” Rose pitched in thoughtfully. “If it was just an act and he was only interested in sex then he wouldn’t be demanding protection for you and...” she began, before hustling out into the hallway and then back again, brandishing a wax-sealed envelope that looked all too familiar, “he wouldn’t have RSVP’d to our mating ceremony to say he was bringing a date.”
Katherine gaped at the neatly written letter of acceptance. It was Lucian’s perfect hand and her fingers flexed to trace the words.
“Why would he do that?”
“Because he does care! In fact, I’d say he loves you.”
Katherine shook her head in disbelief. “Then why did he push me away, and say those horrible things?”
“Because he’s a man who has had more than a few lifetimes to really hone his stubbornness,” Grandma pitched in.
Katherine snorted at that. Stubbornness. It was something they both had in common, yet he had beaten hers down and she had walked away instead of standing her ground and fighting with him. Or fighting for him. Instead, she had accepted defeat because the alternative would’ve meant she put her heart on the line even more so than she already had. The rejection hurt enough as it was. She didn’t want to expose her fragile heart to any deeper humiliation.
She swiped at the rogue few tears that spilt past her defences.
“Shit, I’m sorry,” she apologised and ran her hands through her hair.
“Don’t apologise,” Rose hushed and threw her arms around her, pulling her into a warm hug. The strength that flowed from her was like a balm of comfort.
The grandmother turned and rummaged through the kitchen cabinets noisily.
“Maybe a good night’s sleep will help you figure out your feelings a little more. For both of you. You don’t know what the morning will bring,” Rose continued, giving Katherine a soft squeeze.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt such comfort. The open acceptance, the generosity of hospitality, and friendship was all so new to her, and it was exactly what she never knew she needed.
A bottle of vodka slammed down on the kitchen top in front of her.
Katherine looked up into the no-nonsense glint in the old woman’s eyes and barked out a laugh.
“But before you go to sleep, we need to finish this bottle.”
“Gran,” Rose warned.
“Not you, I ain’t risking that sweet little great grandbaby of mine that you’re growing. But you can watch as me and Katherine here work out a few truths,” The shot glasses were lined up alongside the bottle and the woman raised a challenging brow.
“Fill her up, Mrs. Woods.”
“Darlin’, if you just so happen to share what it’s like to be bitten by a vampire while you’re at it, you can go ahead and call me Judy,” she smiled and poured out the vodka with a wicked glint in her eye.
“Eww!” Rose exclaimed, “Do vampires really bite and feed during sex? I mean I know us wolves bite but that's for mating marks, we don’t do it to feed. It’d be like chowing down on a turkey leg while you were doing the deed.”
“Did he bite you? Can’t see any marks, but that don’t mean he didn’t,” The Grandma continued, waggling her eyebrows.
Katherine downed her shot of vodka fast and nodded for another, she felt like she was going to need it to both numb the pain in her heart and get through the looming interrogation which was admittedly a welcome distraction.
“It’s not like eating, it’s more like an addition to the moment. It heightens what your feeling.”
“Darlin’, this old woman needs to get her kicks where she can; you’re going to have to get more descriptive than that.”
Katherine laughed and knocked back another shot.
“Well then, Judy, you better sit down.”
The women's’ raucous squeals of laughter and disbelief echoed long into the morning.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lucian
Lucian leaned his head against the glass as he watched Katherine leave, the tail lights of the truck disappearing across the bridge and away into the forest. His mood was so dark he felt the clouds descending around the castle. He couldn’t bring himself to command them to retreat. His influence over the mists and clouds was a trick passed down to him by his maker, not all vampires had the gift and Lucian no longer used it for its intended purpose; to help conceal him from his prey. It also helped to afford him an extra layer of security, putting off any
