Tiger's Mate

Chapter 43

Sage put a hand on her hip. "See Drayre, that's what a proper welcoming looks like."

"If you'd like I could show you what a proper kick to the curb looks like too," I retorted.

"Now, now mongrels, at least wait until we're loaded on sugar before you start scraping," Maia complained. "Anyway, Kat, got any movies?"

"No."

"Tv?"

"...Also no."

Sage gasped loudly and smacked me in the face with one of the grocery bags as her whole body recoiled. "How have you survived here?!"

"iPhone. I just download stuff from the school wifi and watch here. Plus, books and sketching keep me busy."

"Oh. Yeah. No. Could not and would not be me."

"Good thing nobody gives a fuck," I told her. Then she hit me in the face with the grocery bag again — on purpose this time.

"Pups...those two are pups..." Maia muttered under her breath — she knows damn right I can hear her! She does some brief looking around after asking, which Katski doesn't seem to mind. There was an old DVD player in one of the cabinets that was definitely toast. Some random wires that do not seem to belong to anything. What looks like an old teacher's projector — the kind they used ages ago. A couple of scrap CDs. Basically a whole lot of junk. Junk that Maia smirks at, holding the projector. "I think I've got an idea..."

And that was how, twenty minutes later, we were all sitting around, stuffing our faces with chips, candy, and drinks, while watching a movie from Maia's phone (using data) cast on the wall using the modified projector. It was surprisingly...nice. Easing, to be exact., though it would be a lie to say the strain of anxiety had left my bones. There was so much running through my head, so many thoughts; wondering what in the hell I was supposed to do now. Now that Kallen knew...

Going home was no longer an option for me. Neither was living this double life where I had a foot in each world. Reality had finally reared its ugly-ass head. And I had to figure out...what that meant for me now.

Kallen was right about one thing. I was a traitor, because there was no way in hell I was leaving Katski now. Which meant I had gone against the pack — and my father. To them, it would seem like I had harboured and protected a rogue, a threat, a danger. It didn't matter if Katski was none of those things — once they found him, he would either be chased out, killed, or worse.

I could try to explain? Maybe...maybe, there might be a slim chance...If I could explain to my mother and father the truth about Katski, his story, the truth about us. But that wouldn't even matter, would it. Because my father always kept his word. He had made the werecat clan leader a promise to return their rogue if found. He would not break a pact between leaders, even for me. In the end, Katski would still be taken away from me. And I didn't know what would happen to him then. And that was all if my brother didn't kill us both first.

And Maia and Sage...I shouldn't even be letting them help us like this. If they were found out, they could be branded traitors too. Fuck, I couldn't let that happen.

It was all such a swarm in my head. A mess.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!