Beauty of the Beast

#17

The waiting room had wide mirrors that looked into both rooms, and comfortable couches and chairs for seating. Sadie spent a lot of time in here as she refused to let Balthazar leave before the drug was fully out of his system, and Blue had been entirely unresponsive and comatose for about a week now.

Her eldest brother, Kyle and his family; two sons, Tom and Daniel, and a loving wife, Joanne; seemed to be sceptical and suspicious of their surroundings. Choosing to stick close together and stare at everything with wide eyes, Sadie couldn't help bit sympathise with them; she'd been exactly the same when she'd first come to the mountains. Her sisters, Sarah and Lilly, were no different, clutching to their husbands, Rover and Greg for support and peering about with fear in their eyes. Her other brother, Alex seemed to be more at ease and relaxed than the rest of them put together.

Sadie couldn't help but feel nervous, but she knew this couldn't be avoided. She wanted all her family to accept and approve of this new step in her life. She didn't miss how her sisters cast an apprehensive eye at the cage around Blue's bed; that would have to be a story for another time.

"The boys are hungry, I'm going to head down to the cafeteria before they cause a ruckus." Joanne excused herself and left the room. She had never been comfortable with confrontations, and Sadie had a feeling this could very well become one.

"Okay so, what's this big news little sister?" Alex threw an arm about her shoulders and squeezed her reassuringly.

"Well," Sadie mustered her courage, "I'm engaged."

The overwhelming silence was something she hadn't even prepared for. She had expected her family to pester her with questions and demand answers immediately, not stare at her in pure bewilderment.

"You could have told us over the phone, Sadie." Kyle eyed her disapprovingly. Sadie always knew he could be unfeeling at times, but she wasn't expecting him to be so straightforward about it. Despite herself, she felt a pang of hurt.

"Kyle," Their mother admonished, "This is an important time in her life. Family is there for one another no matter what." She smiled at Sadie warmly and enclosed her in a hug. "I'm so happy for you darling."

As though a dam had been broken, the sound of her family's excitement and congratulations filled the room. Sadie couldn't help but smile in happiness as she was sandwiched between her siblings and parents in the bone crushing hug.

Finally they all pulled away and bombarded her with questions. How did he propose? Did she love him? How did they meet?

"Sadie, who is he?" Alex asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he realised that she'd never mentioned the name or told anything about him.

"Balthazar."

"Who is that?" Kyle asked, he lived in the human majority cities and kept as little contact with shifters as possible. Even going out of his way to avoid anything to do with them.

"He's the mountain tribe chieftain." Her eldest sister, Sarah, who was a year younger to Kyle, hung her head in her hands. Her husband Rover, comforted her.

"Oh my," Her mother clutched her husband's arm.

"Sadie, you are not being forced into this, are you?" Her father asked, worry shining in his eyes.

"No, father." Sadie pleaded with her eyes. "This is entirely my own decision."

"Well, then I am glad for you, my child." He placed a kiss on her forehead, cupped her face in his hands as he gazed down at her fondly.