Cherry Blossoms | ✔️

Kai's House (Trenton)

"Oh you know, a she-wolf never shares her secrets." She repeats her motto with a wink. The amount of times she replies with this every time I ask how she managed to do something is ridiculous. I would not want to get on her bad side...

"You are something else, Roni." I chuckle.

"I know." She starts with a flip of her hair over her shoulder, "Come on, now we have an excuse to drop by his house today!"

"Oh, I see you. I know what you're doing." I say, narrowing my eyes at her.

"Don't act like you aren't excited! Now come on you big oaf!" She exclaims, jumping into the drivers side of her car.

I gently set Kai's bag in the backseat next to mine and climb into the passengers seat. Roni starts the car and soon we're driving out of the parking lot.

The drive over to Kai's is in silence. Not uncomfortable, though. Quite the contrary. It's a comfortable silence that allows me time to think. To think about what has taken place these past few days.

The terror in Kai's eyes when he looked at me that first day I met him is something that haunts my dreams. I can't get the fear on his face at that moment out of my head. Or how hard he trembled in the library just from my presence. I'm supposed to protect him, not scare him to death. I also can't help but blame myself for what happened with Jake. I wasn't there to protect my mate and so he suffered on his own. He probably would have tried to hide it from me if I didn't find him myself yesterday. Goddess, if this boy doesn't kill me with his adorableness first, he's definitely going to cause me a heart attack.

I also can't help but wonder what his family is like. He seemed a bit tense when we dropped him off yesterday at his home. I hope I'm just overthinking things, I'm sure he has great parents.

The sound of Roni cutting the engine of her black Jeep brings me out of my head. I look up to see Kai's average old house with the dead plants rotting away on the porch.

"We're here." Roni says, scrunching up her nose when the scent of alcohol and drugs hits us.

"Ugh, why does it smell so bad! Kai must have an older sibling or something." I tell her, grabbing Kai's school bag from the backseat.

"You don't think it's his parents, do you?" She asks me, looking at the house with an expression of pure concern and worry.

I hesitate before I answer her. I don't know... I don't know barely anything about him, but I hope that's not the case.

"I'm... not sure, Roni. But, I hope you're wrong." I voice my thoughts, speaking barely above a whisper.

We get out of the car and start walking towards Kai's house. The closer we get, the stronger the stench of alcohol and drugs becomes. It's so strong that Kai's scent is barely even noticeable and his scent is supposed to be easy for me to pinpoint, but it's a bit of a challenge at his own house.

Roni and I stand in front of the door, side by side. I can tell she is hesitant to knock, just like me.

"Here goes nothing." I mutter, lifting my hand to knock on the door. I knock three times before the door is swung open to reveal a woman that looks to be in her middle to late thirties. She doesn't look too good and she smells awful. The stench of alcohol is so strong coming from her it's burning my nostrils and making my eyes water. Looking her over I can see that she is definitely drunk, the way she's leaning on the doorframe so she doesn't fall or sway, how her eyes are glazed over and she seems dazed, completely out of it. Her hair is a mousy brown and goes down a little passed her shoulder. She has dark brown, almost black eyes that look like they aren't seeing anything at all. She's shorter than Roni and I but I can tell she is taller than Kai is. She's not ugly, but she clearly doesn't take care of herself, leaving her looking sickly and a tad underweight like she couldn't be bothered to eat. She looks nothing like Kai.