When the house fell silent, Katalina let out her breath and rolled over. Half-sitting up, she scanned her room for Bass; at first glance, she couldn’t see him, but then when she really looked, using her wolf senses, she could see him in the far corner of her room, hidden in shadows. He would be invisible to the human eye.
“Sometimes I think you become a shadow yourself,” she whispered as he stepped into the moonlight.
A smile lit his face, all charm with just the slightest touch of wickedness. “Now, where were we?”
She pulled the covers back again. “I think I was inviting you into my bed.” She looked up at him through long lashes, feeling suddenly shy.
His eyes softened, the wicked edge of his smile changing to warmth and love. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her flush against his body. “Good night, my beautiful Katalina,” he murmured against her bare shoulder, placing a soft kiss over her tingling skin.
Katalina closed her eyes and relaxed into his hold. Her mind and her soul released its tension as she became surrounded by his smell, his warmth, and his love. In his arms, nothing could touch her and everything was right in the world.
Chapter 15
When Katalina woke, she lay for a few blissful seconds, allowing happiness to trickle through her. She smiled at Bass’s sleeping face so close to hers, at his legs tangled around her, his arms holding her so gently. In those few seconds, her life was perfect, but then the memories returned. She’d buried her parents yesterday. She’d been threatened by Jackson’s enforcers.
Trying to calm the growing tension within her, she sucked in a deep breath, and focused on Bass’s face. He looked so peaceful in sleep; he looked his age. She constantly had to remind herself he was only a year older than her. He always seemed so much older. The way he talked and the view he had on the world was one of an older person. She wondered if it was merely because he was a shifter, or maybe the way he’d been brought up.
He stirred in his sleep, a slight frown marring his perfect forehead. Katalina glanced at the clock; it was only six a.m. Bass had been asleep for only a few hours. She didn’t want to wake him yet. Gently slipping out of his hold, she threw on her robe and crept out of the room.
The house was silent, but as she walked into the living room, she saw she wasn’t the only person awake.
“Hey,” she said to her aunt, as she headed to the kitchen. “Drink?”
“Nope, still full.” She lifted her mug, not taking her eyes off the paperwork scattered around her.
Katalina made her cup of tea and then sat opposite her aunt.
“When are you heading home? Dillon must be missing you.”
Her aunt paused and smiled but still didn’t look at Katalina. “Yes, he does. Today I hope, if I can sort through all of this first.”
Katalina took a sip of her tea and then looked at the papers all over the table; bills, letters, words she didn’t understand.
“What is all this?”
“Nothing for you to worry about, Kat.”
“Aunt Susan?”
Her aunt sighed and put down the papers in her hands. “I’m afraid your parents weren’t very prepared.”
“What do you mean?”
“The life insurance they had doesn’t cover the mortgage. I suppose they didn’t plan on leaving so early. They’ve a small sum of savings that was for your college fund, but that’s it, Kat. Looking at all this, I can’t find any way out of selling the house.”
“What?” Katalina choked on the word. “But this is my home.”
“I know, Kat, but there is no other way. You’ll have to come live with me, or your grandma.”
Tears fill Katalina’s eyes. She gulped back the lump in her throat. “But all my memories are here. I’ve lost Mom and Dad. I can’t lose my memories too.”
“Oh, sweetie,”—her aunt stood and came around to Katalina, taking her into her arms“—“no one can ever take your memories away. Memories are how we live on. Your parents will never truly be gone because they’ll live on in you. In the way you act, the things you do, they’ll have influenced you. Your memories are locked up here, Kat,”—she pointed a finger to her head, “—“forever in your mind. It doesn’t matter where you live.”
Katalina nodded, scared to talk in case opening her mouth would set lose the tidal wave of tears inside of her.
“You two girls are up early,” her grandma said as she walked past them.
Katalina’s aunt pulled away from Katalina and sat back in her seat. “Trying to get the rest of this paperwork sorted for you before I leave this afternoon.”