The storm had made its way across the sky while she sat outside. Snow fell around her, thick and fast. It tangled into her hair and landed on her face, melting from the warmth of her skin. She stood, looking at the wonder around her. Her feet moved before she realized and her arms spread wide as she spun around. Her head tipped back to the sky and her coat flew out behind her as she laughed at her silliness. Katalina opened her eyes as she spun and noticed Bass stood watching. His hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans, he wore a breathtaking smile.
She stopped, his beauty causing her to fixate intently on him. How could someone so perfect, so loyal, belong to her?
Find what makes you happy.
Sebastian Evernight made her happy. She just wasn’t sure she belonged in his world.
Chapter 17
The storm outside passed but the storm inside Katalina only grew. The nervousness waiting for Jackson to send more men, made her not able to ever fully relax. Bass. She spent her days inside the house with Bass and her grandmother, avoiding the questions she wasn’t ready to hear the answers for yet.
Her grandmother tried to stay out of their way, knowing Katalina hadn’t come to terms with everything. Her grandmother had been packing things into boxes for the last few days, and it was something that Katalina tried not to focus on. She’d wanted nothing more than to escape Jackson’s and go home, yet now, she was beginning to see that it was the people who made a home, not the place, and her home was dead.
Most days rushed by in a blur. She felt adrift, struggling against an unforgiving current. Most days, she only just kept her head above the water, but then there was Bass, a constant presence keeping her breathing, holding back the inevitable fall.
She wanted to be with him, more than anything, but she knew deep down he didn’t belong in this world she was clinging to. He was a wolf at heart, his spirit free; he belonged in the wilderness, as wild and dangerous as him. He never said a word. He simply stayed by her side as if he planned to live forever in Katalina’s parents’ house while sneaking out at night to let his wolf roam. Katalina had no answers. She wasn’t sure if she could ever fully accept her wolf-half, and she wasn’t sure if she could live in the world Bass belonged to. Instead, she pushed the questions away, hiding and hoping that she’d never reach the point where she’d have a choice to make.
“Kat?” her grandmother said one morning.
“Hmm?” Katalina replied as she stuffed cereal into her mouth.
“I’m going to be gone for a night, two at most.”
Katalina put down her spoon, turning to look at her grandmother. “Where are you going?”
“Well, I’ve got some items to take to Susan and I want to store your parents’ belongings at my house. I know I’m only an hour away but I’d rather stop overnight and rest.”
“Why are you taking their things?” Her heart raced, her skin turning clammy.
“Darling, I know you’ve been trying to ignore the fact I’m packing up the house, but I just can’t afford to keep this house any longer than I have to. I need to have everything cleared and ready to put it on the market.”
“You are selling straight away?” she asked in a small voice, feeling on the edge of a breakdown.
“I’m sorry. There is no other way. Kat, I’m worried about leaving you behind.”
“I’ll be fine!” she snapped, her fear of letting the past go clouding her judgment.
“Kat! I know none of this is fair, and I know you’re not a child, but I still feel responsible for you, and I’m not sure your parents would have approved of you staying here alone with a boy.”
It was all too much for Katalina. Her grandmother wanted to send Bass away. Bass, the one person keeping her from tumbling over the edge. “So this has nothing to do with me being upset my parents are dead!” she yelled, getting to her feet, trembling with anger. She wasn’t even sure what she was angry at anymore; everything had just come to a point where she couldn’t cope.
“Katalina, you know that’s not what I meant.”
She stood up, feeling overcome with rage. “I don’t care what you think. This is my house until you sell it and I’m not leaving, and neither is Bass. I need him here.” Katalina stormed out of the house, not bothering with a coat. She’d given up trying to pretend she was still an ordinary human. Everything was happening too fast. She needed to come to terms with their deaths. She needed the house to stay the same. She just needed one thing to stay the same, one thing to keep her in her old life.
Pain rippled through her body. She panted through it, her head pounding with each ragged beat of her heart. Sweat broke out over her skin as pain rippled through her again. She dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her face.