Lucian,
Thank you, I’ll see you soon.
Katherine, x
She had written this before she left to give her presentation. He had earned one of her kisses. He remembered how jealous he had felt of Mr. Jones receiving one of those small crosses, and he had longed for his own. There it now was, innocently penned by her in a simple thanks. He folded the note and tucked it into his inner jacket pocket. It would be the one thing he would keep of her. One kiss from a time when he had made her happy, to last him for the rest of his long and lonely existence.
His phone vibrated in his pocket. It was Cayden. Fear gripped him immediately.
“What is wrong? Where is Katherine?” He answered harshly.
“She’s here with me, well she’s in the kitchen with Rose and Judy.”
“Good,” Lucian felt his entire body relax at the news, “what is the problem then?”
“I thought you might want to tell me,” Cayden replied.
Lucian remained silent and considered hanging up on him.
A sigh sounded down the line.
“Look, I know there is a reason why you want her protected. I’d like to think you knew you could trust me with that information, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it has something to do with you having feelings for her.”
“That is not your concern,” Lucian snapped.
“Well, it kinda is, considering I have a heartbroken human who smells like you took her to pound town a time or two, sitting in my kitchen drinking vodka with my grandmother-in-law.”
“Do not speak with such vulgarity Mr. Greystone, especially when it concerns Katherine,” Lucian hissed, “and for the love of God, get rid of the vodka. I don’t want her getting drunk and making herself ill.”
“I’ll apologise for being disrespectful but I won’t take away the woman’s drink,” Cayden replied, “You sent her away Lucian, I can give her the protection of the pack as promised, but I can’t control her choices. Nor can you.”
Lucian hissed his frustration. Cayden was right, he knew it but it didn’t mean he was happy about it.
“Look, Lucian, it’s obvious you care for her but for whatever reason things went sour,” Cayden sighed heavily, “I won’t push on it anymore but what I will say is that a wise man once told me that love was worth fighting for. He was right, and while it might not always be easy, the reward is always worth the struggle.”
Lucian grit his teeth together. The wolf was smart to quote the words he had once spoken back to himself.
Cayden sighed again, “just think about it.”
“Take care of her, Cayden,” Lucian choked out, his voice sounding hoarse.
“I will.”
The call ended and Lucian stared blankly into the room. The heavy shadows of his lonely existence clawed at him from every dark corner, threatening to snatch at him and pull him down into the endless web of nothingness that he had feared for so long. Giving in to his love and fighting for a life with Katherine might have been the only way to save him from the void, but Lucian just couldn’t believe that she would choose him over the life she was so determined to pursue.
He continued to stare out of the windows down into the rose garden below until he heard the resident crows begin to call to the coming dawn. As he drew the heavy drapes closed, Lucian knew he wanted to win her back. Cayden was right. He himself had been right: Love was worth the fight. He might not succeed, he had treated her so cruelly, but he owed it to them both to make things right if nothing else.
He sent a message to Cayden asking he keep Katherine within the Darkhills another day, and then retired to his dark chambers to seek whatever fretful rest he could. Once the sun set, he would fight for her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Katherine
The smell of smoky, salty bacon greeted her nose as she screwed her eyes tightly shut. Katherine’s head was pounding and the soft singing coming from the kitchen sounded like a foghorn going off between her ears. Rose was a cheerful, proactive morning person apparently. Normally, Katherine would’ve been fine with that, but not today. Not while she was nursing a killer hangover and a bruised heart.
“Rise and shine Katherine,” Rose singsonged, “time to fix that sore head of yours.”
“Do you know the magical cure?” Katherine grumbled from under the thick blanket she had tucked herself up under on the sofa last night, "wait a second, is there a magic cure? Like made by fairies or something?”
Rose chuckled and placed a heavy mug of something bitter and dark smelling. Katherine’s mouth became drier upon smelling it. Dammit, the wolf had presented her with her only addiction.
“I’m afraid there is no magic potion to undo the damage of too much booze, but I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve that might help.”
Katherine sat up and rubbed her groggy eyes, not bothering to stifle her hippo-like yawn. She eyed the coffee with need and reached for it only to have her hand tapped away.
“Hey!”
“Soon,” Rose tutted, “first, you need to down this OJ and take some pain meds.” She handed her a tall, bright, and angelic-looking glass of juice and a couple of small pills.
“Fine. But I prefer coffee to fix the dreaded curse.”
“I know, trust me there isn’t much I won’t do for a good strong cup, but your body needs to rehydrate and could do with the vitamins. Then it’s going to need a healthy portion of greasy calories,” she bounced
