The gun was black and shiny and steady as a rock, so small yet so dangerous. Kaia reeled back, her heart suddenly slamming against her rib cage. It was hard to breathe like someone had snuck up behind her and fastened an agonizingly tight corset around her middle. "What in the fu-"
"Quiet, Kaia," her dad said, shushing her. Oh, hell no. Kaia was not about to just stand by while her dad held a gun to Kaleb. This was the real world, and in the real world, girls could do more than freeze up while the men fight like in the movies. But...what? Her dad glared at Kaleb, who hadn't said a word. Kaleb just stood there, tensed as if he was fast enough to just dodge the bullet that could come from that gun any second.
God, the situation was so surreal. In what universe would the mild-mannered dad that she knew, the man who hadn't really been the same after her mother's death, whip out a gun and threaten the first guy Kaia brought home? Granted, this was an unusual situation, but really? Was this even happening? When did her dad buy a gun in the first place? "You won't be taking my daughter anywhere, you hear me?"
Kaleb glanced from the gun to Kaia's dad, slowly raising his hands. Despite the gesture of surrender, Kaleb's eyes told Kaia that he had no intention of surrendering any time soon. They were intense and hostile, not the expression that would work wonders in convincing her dad to put the gun down. "I don't want to hurt you, but Kaia has got to come with me," Kaleb said, his voice low. "For her own safety."
"Kaia's safe with me," her dad said, then after a moment, "What Pack are you even from?"
Click. That's what it was like, the realization that the man she'd grown up knew. It was a click, like pieces snapping together after you've been struggling to get them to fit your whole life.
Click. He knew about werewolves, probably for Kaia's entire life. This was his secret, possibly related to why he disappeared all the time. Click. He knew that they could smell her. That's why he was so overprotective. Click. Cole knew, too. He'd lied to her.
Kaia didn't think, she just stepped forward. She positioned her body between the barrel of her dad's little gun and her mate. "You knew?" Kaia demanded.
Her dad's eyes softened for a moment but hardened again half a second later. "Now's not the time, Kaia."
"Now is the time, father," Kaia growled, "You knew about the lycanthrope. Did mom know? And Cole does? Why didn't you tell me?"
"It wasn't safe, Kaia," her dad said. The gun lowered an inch when he met her eyes. They were crazed, far away, "I had to keep you safe. My little girl. After your mom...after they got her...I had to-"
"My mom?" Kaia asked. Her mind was whirling now, spinning in dizzying circles like it was on a carnival ride. Nausea dulled her senses as questions popped up like invasive weeds.
"They killed her," he said, furious. The gun was shaking now where before it was still. "The wolves, Kaia. You don't know how dangerous they are. How dangerous he is!" The gun went up again, this time more terrifying. Before, Kaia hadn't believed that her dad would shoot Kaleb. But now, seeing him like this...he was slipping.
And, honestly, Kaia was, too. So much had clicked. Lycanthrope were responsible for killing her mother. Kaia didn't know how to process that, but she tried not to be aware of the microscopic speck of black fear the bloomed in her heart. Fear of lycanthrope, of the Prowlers. Of Kaleb. She hated that fear, wished she could snuff it out. But so much had happened. Seeing her dad like that...she was afraid.
"Dad, stop," Kaia begged, "You're scaring me."
"Kaia, move," Kaleb said quickly, "You could get hurt."
"He won't shoot me," Kaia said with new courage. She was right. Her dad wouldn't shoot her. He would never hurt her, no matter the circumstances. She moved in front of Kaleb, stepping back far enough that she could feel Kaleb's heat behind her. And like that, she forgot the fear. It was gone, like Kaleb's warmth had melted it away. Kaleb was safe. He was good. He wasn't the one that hurt her mother. He wasn't. He was Kaleb. "Dad, stop. Right now. Kaleb didn't do anything," Kaia said, the calm in her voice surprising even her.
"Kaia," Kaleb breathed, "He's a Hunter." Kaia wanted to ask what that meant. She wanted him to give her an answer that defeated her fears, anything other than what Kaia was thinking. A Hunter. There was only one obvious answer. Her dad was a Hunter of lycanthrope, of werewolves, of Kaleb. Please, no. That was ridiculous, right? Her dad wasn't a Hunter. He was a teacher, wasn't he? He'd taught her math and chemistry and...self-defense. Why had her dad known self-defense?
"Get away from her!" her dad shouted. Kaia couldn't help but press her back against Kaleb's chest. She needed something to steady her, and Kaleb was perfect for that. This was insane. She'd expected to walk into this house, her home, and see her dad tired and angry, have him yell at her for disappearing and fret and hug her.
She hadn't expected to come home to...she didn't know. This was still her dad, overprotective and scarred from her mom's death. But it was like an evil sorcerer had come along and cast a spell on him to make him that much crazier and that much more dangerous. And suddenly he was transformed, had a gun, and was on the verge of shooting Kaia's...boyfriend? Mate? Wolf?
"I am the Alpha of Whispers, Hunter," Kaleb said calmly. Kaia watched as her dad's expression changed from fury to tentative surprise. Kaleb put his hands on Kaia's shoulders and slowly eased her aside. Kaia resisted at first, wanting to shield Kaleb. Protecting him this way was what she could do, all her fuzzy brain could come up with. There was no way her dad would shoot if there were any possibility it could hurt Kaia herself, so it seemed a safer bet. But Kaleb met her eyes, and it was like he was a wolf again, unable to speak but able to communicate all the same. Trust me, he said. Let me do this.
So against her better judgment, Kaia let him pass her, watched him turn towards her dad. No, this is wrong, a voice in Kaia screamed, but she allowed him to go anyway because he'd seemed so confident, so sure. Kaia's body felt weak, a side effect of the adrenaline. She felt like she was being held up by strings, strings that had been holding her up her entire life. But they were tired now, and any second they'd snap, and she'd collapse onto the floor, limp. "Under the Accords, you can't hurt me or any of my Pack," Kaleb said. His voice was strong. It was his Alpha voice, Kaia realized.
"You took my daughter," her dad said, switching the gun to his other hand. His eyes were still furious, but they were calmer now. The crazy had disappeared, thank god.
"Kaia was attacked," Kaleb explained, stepping closer still. There were only a couple feet between them now. "I'm trying to figure out whose Pack is was that hurt her, but I swear to you that they'll be punished."
Her dad looked at Kaia, his eyes worried, "You were hurt?" He sounded guilty. There was an apology in his expression like he regretted that he hadn't been there to help her.
Kaia couldn't open her mouth. The gun was so close to Kaleb now. It was like Kaleb was walking across a rope hundreds of feet in the air, on the verge of death. All it would take was a little gust of wind. Kaia couldn't really think well, but she tried her best, "I'm ok." How many times had she said that tonight?
"We took care of her. The Prowlers did. But she's still in danger. I assume you know that...know about her scent," Kaleb said.
"I've always known," her dad said, his voice sharp, "It's why I kept her close. Because the same thing would have happened, the same as her mother."
"I won't let that happen," Kaleb said. His voice was intense, switching from calm, controlling Alpha to the wild, dominating wolf. "Kaia is my mate. I will protect her with my life. She's safer in my home than anywhere else."
Kaia watched the scene unfold before her. There Kaleb was, balancing on that tightrope up in the air, arms splayed and eyes intense in concentration. All it would take was a little gust of wind, just one. Or...just one wrong word. One word.
"Your mate?" Kaia's dad demanded. The crazy had slid back in again like a dull sheen over his eyes. He looked sick, possessed. Kaia wanted more than anything for him to come back to himself, to be the boring, annoying, overprotective dad she knew. He was shaking his head, his hair was damp with sweat. "No, Kaia belongs with me. She's not your mate. You'll just put her in more danger, that's what you wolves do. You rip everything apart, you rip lives apart!" Then he got so quiet Kaia could barely hear him from where she stood, stepping forward already like she could sense the gathering energy.
She had to get to them, had to stop her dad, had to help Kaleb. Why had she let him do this? This was stupid! But Kaia already knew. It had been that look, the one that told Kaia that Kaleb knew what he was doing. Because Kaleb had. He'd known. Had he...done this on purpose? Made sure that it was him instead of her that was hurt? No, that was stupid. What was he thinking? No one had to get hurt. Kaia could stop it. She could. She could do something.! Anything!
"I can't let you."
The whisper was lost, erased by the deafening sound that followed it, the explosion. The world blurred. It shifted a few feet to the left, tilted just enough for Kaia to lose her bearings. Kaia probably screamed, but she wasn't sure if it had only been in her head or if the sound had actually escaped her.
Nothing can prepare you for it, for the sheer force of it. The gun went off, and Kaia lost grip. She lunged forward as the sound cracked, slamming into her like it had its own mass. There was a grunt and a crunch and maybe a shuffle or two, but the only thing Kaia was sure of was the gunshot. She knew that it had been fired, that a bullet had left that chamber. But...
When the world finally stilled, Kaia slammed back into her body. Her heart was beating, and she was shaking. And she was crying silent, shocked tears.
Her dad was on the floor, not moving. Kaleb was standing in front of her, his back turned to her. He was holding the barrel of the gun like he'd snatched it from her dad's hand. "What did...you do?"
There wasn't an answer from Kaleb, but as Kaia stared for a couple seconds, she realized that her dad was breathing. He was alive. Kaia felt relieved at that, but she also felt a surge of hatred, of dizziness. Her dad had shot at Kaleb. What? How? Was he even her dad? He...wasn't ok.
"You knocked him out," Kaia said numbly, swaying a bit on her feet.
A grunt drew Kaia's attention. "Kaia," Kaleb said, his voice weak, "You need to get me back to the Mansion."
"W-What?" Kaia asked. A new wave of cold fear washed over Kaia, squeezing her throat and chilling her spine.
The gun dropped to the ground with a clatter, but Kaia didn't so much as look at it. Her eyes were following Kaleb. She watched him slowly turn around, his hand to his stomach. When Kaia saw his face, she knew. He was sweating, pale. He was eerily still, steady in his movements despite...
There was a red spot, growing bigger and bigger by the second. Blood ran between Kaleb's fingers where he clutched his wound. Kaia struggled to wrap her head around that. She could see it, sure. But...it wasn't...it couldn't...
"Kale-" But she didn't finish before he collapsed. She lurched forward, trying to stop his fall, but he was too heavy, and she fell with him, slamming her knees into the wood below them. "Oh god."
"Kaia, hurry. It's wolfs-" Kaleb's eyes rolled back, and he went rigid. Kaia clutched him, smoothing his hair from his face. She had to get him to the car, had to get him back. No, Kaia had never bothered to learn how to drive. But screw it, she had to try, because they could help him, right? They could save him!
"Kaleb, oh my god. What do I do? Don't you fucking die!" He started seizing. Something was wrong. Everything was wrong. But it was more, it was something else. All Kaia could do was hold him, cling to him as tightly as she could until it stopped.
Those moments, as Kaleb thrashed beneath her, were the worst of her life. Worse that hearing that she'd lost her mother. Worse than seeing her dad lose it. Worse than having her ribs broken and thinking she was going to die. Because they dragged on, and on and on. His body fought hers, trying its best to hurt itself.
New desperation sunk into Kaia. The forbidden fruit. That stupid Lunar Ceremony. It seemed so far away now. Kaia felt like a runner, about to cross the finish line, feel the glory of the triumph. And then her feet were cruelly cut off, and she smacked clumsily to the asphalt, never to run again and feel the wind in her hair. She was left to bleed to death from her grotesque stubs.
Because that's what it felt like to watch her beautiful, gentle wolf die. It felt like death.
Like a cold, icy death. Like a fiery, hellish death. Like her body turned to lead and her blood to cement.
"Kaleb."
The forbidden fruit had never looked so sweet. It'd never seemed so distant. So impossible.
Hopefully, this chapter gave you the feels. Vote, comment, be excellent! :)