Pride

Chapter 23 updated

Chapter 23

It had taken longer than Katelyn thought to find a ride to town, but once she got there... she snatched up a rental car and bee-lined it out of there.

It would at least be a little bit before they knew she was gone... she hoped. But Katelyn hadn't planned on going back to the house. She knew they would find her there for sure. Instead, she was going to rent a place near school. She had been making plans for a bit, ever since she found out she was pregnant at least.

She knew that the shifter disease wouldn't take her child until it was a young teen. She needed a safe place. A place where she wouldn't be forced into anything!

Katelyn picked up her phone and dialed the number she had been trying to memorize for a while. "Naima, that place we talked about..."

Naima was the woman Katelyn had met a while back at the corner store. They had grown close lately. "Yeah dear, come on over. Your things are where you left them." Naima replied.

"Thanks!" Katelyn chirped as she turned the car in the direction of Naima's home.

It was getting late and Katelyn was getting tired. She swerved as her eyes drifted slightly. "Crap!" she muttered.

She pulled the car over to the side of the road and took a moment to look at her clock. Nearing midnight now and she was beat tired. She still had a good forty-minute drive!

Groaning she decided on a decision. She dialed the phone. "Naima..."

"Oh! Honey it's late! Where are you?"

"I won't make it tonight. I pulled over..."

"Are you alright!? The baby?"

"Oh yeah... I'm just super tired. I'm just going to sleep for a bit and drive the rest of the way when I wake."

"Well you have your key right?" Naima asked.

"Uh..."

"You lost it... didn't you? Oh just forget the key. Just ring me up. Night dear."

Katelyn hung up the phone and curled herself into the passenger's seat of her car.

***

"What do you mean she's gone!?" Zane snapped.

"Uh... she's not here." Sara shrugged. "I'll have Jon go after her."

"NO! This time I'm going. She needs to learn to stay put. What happens when she stumbles upon a stray?!" Zane yelled as he raced out the door.

Jon caught his alpha, and friend, at the door. "I'll go with you."

"Well then let's go!"

The two men slipped into Zane's car and were off.

When they had arrived at Katelyn's home, the lights were off and the house was virtually untouched. Getting out of the car on the other hand, set Zane on edge.

Growling as he opened the door, Zane began to look around for the source of the scent. "What the fuck is that stench?"

"Cat." Jon snarled.

Zane crouched.

"Smells recent."

"I'm going to kill it!" Zane hissed.

"Calm down Zane..." Jon said slowly as he stepped forward. "I think we need to find out why it's here first. Call in the guys?"

"Too far away..." Zane whispered.

Zane nodded his head to the right and Jon took his signal as he went off to the left. Zane came to it first. The upstairs window was wide open and a shadow of a figure moved away from it. Growling he pounced up the house. As his feet hit the bedroom floor, the figure had disappeared out of the room.

It had been in her room! He raced after it.

As he rounded the stairs and came to the back door, Jon stood there. "Where'd it go?!" Zane snapped.

"I didn't see anyone."

"Damn it!" Zane snapped and slammed his fist into the wall. "Where the hell is Katelyn!"

"She has to come back eventually..." Jon shrugged.

"Wait... that was her room..." Zane felt his heart drop as he raced back around and up the stairs. Jon, not knowing exactly what was going on... raced after him.

"What are we doing? Of course she has a room." He called.

"No! She doesn't have much in it..." he slammed into the door and stopped dead in his tracks gawking. Katelyn had emptied most of her things from the room. She was gone.