The amount of times Katherine had imagined coming home had not included being bound and gagged with a dog collar wound so tightly around her neck that she was sure she would get throat cancer.
For Alexander to pretend like he wasn’t enjoying this immensely was like saying cheese wasn’t dairy. The proud smirk he had on his face as he dragged Kate out of the private jet was enough to want to make her burst into tears and curse him with a good dose of cruciatus.
“You’re an asshole to think I’m going anywhere near the manor!” Kate spat, her nose the same color as the bruise that was blossoming on her cheek. It had taken a long twelve-hour trip to her hometown to realise just how tender the skin on her face was.
Alex laughed as if this were funny to him, though from the tense line of his shoulders, Kate knew that he was still bothered by what he had done. Unfortunately, he didn’t care enough to actually release her.
“It doesn’t matter what you want, my little dove. What matters is that I get you home, get us married, and get what’s mine,” he leered at her over his shoulder. Kate shuddered, ordering a chuckle from him. “Though you are a nice addition, trust me.”
Kate shot him a look that wasn’t the least bit pleasant. Alexander’s emerald eyes flickered over the mass of people, all of them being so busy with their perfect little lives.
In all honesty, he had always been jealous of them. Sure he had gotten the top education, the best women, anything he had ever wanted, but they had something that he did not; something that irritated him to the point of sleepless nights. They had freedom. They and people who genuinely loved them. Sure, he had been allowed to do as he pleased, leave Ireland when he wanted, but he had never done what had not been expected of him. Maybe that was why he loathed and wanted Kate. She was the embodiment of the life he pined for, to raise the middle finger high and just scream ‘fuck you’ over and over again, preferably standing somewhere high up. It was like the time he’d climbed up to the top of the tree that had Kate’s old tree house perched on it and fell off the top, breaking his arm in the process. He had known what would happen, but there was that rush of euphoria as he stared down at the cute blonde girl screaming at him to get off the tree in rapid French. He had known what it was like to fly.
He glanced behind him at Kate who was looking at what she thought to be sneakily at the people around her, looking for an escape. He was jealous of her. She had had a lick of what he had always desired, she had known what it was like to grow up without your mother, or your father, and god knows how many relatives breathing down your back. In all honesty, he had been happy for her when she had tucked tail and run. One of them had to escape this hell hole, though a slight part of him despite the fact that it hadn’t been him heading for the hills. For years since her disappearance, he had spent so much time studying her every move, waiting for Jean Du Monde to snap his fingers so he could collect her. That was something he would never envy Catherine for. She was never truly out of her father’s grasp, every time she turned her back he was following slowly behind her. She was trapped, and sometimes she didn’t even know it.
Kate’s eyes were fast, efficient as she spotted what she knew was her only chance to freedom: the bathrooms. Maybe it was stupid to think, but she knew Alexander to be too much of a puss to run into the ladies restroom. As far back as she could remember, there was always some sort of back door or an open window. Hell, maybe even in honor of Terra, an air vent.
Looking up from under her eyelashes at Alexander, she cleared her throat. “Xander,” she said breathlessly, using the name she had used since childhood, effectively startling the man. Alexander felt the familiar blush heat up his neck, the tips of his ears flushing pink.
“What?” he said warily, coming to a stop. The red fabric leash that was Ruby’s dangled leisurely through his fingers.
“I have to use the bathroom... lady issues,” she added hastily. Kate almost smacked herself in the head. God, what an idiot! Was that all she could think of? Luckily, Alexander had been in an all boys Irish boarding school for far too long to notice.
Alexander smirked. “What, Aunt Flow came to visit?”
Katharine blushed, hating him with almost every fiber of her being. She bit her lip and shyly looked the floor.
“Sorry... never mi-”
Alexander scowled. “Whatever, just hurry up.” His long fingers went to unhook the leash and she made her move. Kate’s teeth clamped onto Alexander’s hand, the curved pearly whites sinking into his supple flesh. Alexander screamed at the sharp knife of pain. He jerked back wildly, his hands automatically swinging back. Kate’s hands snaked themselves quickly around his stretched arm. She didn’t even think twice as she snapped his arm like a twig.
The bone jutted out like a glacier in water, the Titanic sinking under. A muffled scream gurgled out of Alexander’s throat, dropping him to his knees. Katharine grabbed the collar and yanked it off in one quick movement, whipping it out into the ogling crowd. She kneeled over her crippled fiance, cowering before her. Who’s the bigger dog now?
She sneered. “I hope daddy kills you first, because if I ever see you again, I won’t do it as quickly as he would.” Alexander opened his mouth to speak, his good arm trying to hold together his broken one.
“You don’t even know what he wants you for, do you, KittyKat?” he practically purred, perspiration beginning to due on his full lips. Anger raced hot and agonizing through Kate.
“Shut up! Shut up, you don’t know anything about what happened between him and I!” she screamed.
“I know a lot more than you ever will, darling.” His words flopped a bit in his mouth. Kate shuddered in disgust. Somehow, ‘darling’ just didn’t sound the same without a country lilt attached to it.
God, she hated this. She hated him, she hated daddy, and more than anything, she hated stupid France.
Kate took off in the opposite direction of Alexander, his head of shimmering blonde disappearing amongst the rush of people. Kate made her way through, bobbing and weaving expertly through the crowds. Looks like Panterra’s training wasn’t for nothing. She took a hard left, shoving past mothers with their children and fathers with their sons. She squinted her eyes, trying to see past the mass of bodies. God, where were the bathrooms?!
Kate’s run slowed to a stop, her chest heaving at the exertion - the emotion that had been pressing on her since she had been thrown into that damn plane. She glanced behind her to see if Alexander had somehow managed to get off his ass and come after her, but he was nowhere in sight. Smirking slightly, Katherine pushed through the bodies, the red exit sign glaring at her only a few metres away. Only a few more seconds and she was home free. All she would need then was a telephone and a access to a computer, then she’d be gone and could pretend she had never set foot in France.
She hadn’t even been paying attention to what she was doing, all she cared about was the sliding automatic doors that were practically lit up with choirs of angels. Then he had stepped in front of her. Everything inside her faltered at that moment. Her heart, her brain, her step. It was like he had stepped out of the picture from the one Panterra kept so close.
Thick black hair that faded to grey covered his entire head, the scar at his hairline barely noticeable. Kate felt her legs begin to shake at the matching steely grey eyes in the middle of his face. His strong, aristocratic nose looked like it had been broken too many times to count. The look on his face made Kate want to run and scream into the other direction, not caring one bit if she ran back to Alexander so he could strap on that blasted dog collar.
“Someone’s been a bad girl,” the man crooned. Ice flooded down her spine, his breath pooling over her face. Even his breath seemed cold.
“Y-you...” Kate stammered, raising a shaky finger. The man raised an eyebrow, only serving to make him look more menacing.
“Y-you asshole! You hurt my best friend!” The man’s face clouded over, his eyes suddenly the color of used coal. Terra, little Terra, was whining, crying and screaming. He always liked it when people screamed, especially her...
“You know Panterra,” the man smiled, but it somehow didn’t reach his eyes. Pulling Kate to his chest, he gripped her arms roughly. “Oh, I like you.”
Panterra officially hated teenagers, especially ones that enjoyed country music so much they embodied it. For the past five hours, she had been sitting in the front seat of a mustang listening to Troy and Tracey howling the words to some country channel that provided an unnecessary amount of hillbilly-ish songs. Don’t get it wrong, she liked country, but songs with meaning. NOT ones about your wife dying/cheating, your dog dying, your ol’ chevy pick up dying, blah blah blah. She glanced over at Kyler whose hands were clenched so tightly on the wheel the vain on his wrist looked a second away from bursting.
“Whisky’s goneeeee!” Tracey sang.
“But I ain’t leaving!” Troy finished for her, letting his words twang - in Panterra’s opinion - unnecessarily.
“I think we’ve heard enough now,” she mumbled, propping her feet up against the dash. Kyler’s eyes bulged out of their sockets at her dirty, disgusting converse.
“Get your feet off my interior!” Kyler seethed, though he said it so slowly he sounded like he was a going to die of old age before he finished the sentence.
Panterra grinned wickedly, the smugness on her face making Kyler want to choke her... with his dick.
“Make me, pretty boy,” she said, a laughter rumbling in her chest at his expression. Kyler’s lips pressed into a thin line, the veins in his forehead paling against the red of his face. Without even pausing, he swung the wheel sharply to the left. Panterra let out a yell, her hands immediately flying to hang onto the dash. Tracey screamed, clutching to Troy who began to suffocate under her clutches. The mustang groaned as it came to a stop. Kyler sat still, his chest heaving. Troy popped in between the two front seat, shaken.
“Bro, are you oka--”
“Shut. The Fuck. Up. Five minutes of silence, everyone,” Kyler growled, his sapphire eyes blazing. Terra took a breath, relishing in his action.
“Thank you jes-”
“Did you not just hear me?” Kyler asked incredulously, his eyes flashing a dark shade of navy as he turned his eyes on her, just daring her to say another thing.
Terra’s mouth fell flat, her words dying in her throat. Moments passed, before Tracey began to whine.
“I have to peeeee!”
“Damnit Tracey, I told you to go before we left-”
“I don’t take orders from you, Blondie!” she snapped savagely, her arms crossed over her chest, looking extremely alike her brother. Something about the stupid panther-woman rubbed Tracey the wrong way, and she did not like it one bit. She was a selfish, know-it-all who took pleasure in making others miserable. Not to mention she was undeniably gorgeous, which did not help with Tracey’s ego.
Panterra whirled around in her seat, her long fingers like claws. She narrowed her eyes and, somehow, with that one look, Tracey felt herself become embarrassed.
“Call me Blondie one more time and I will snap your prepubescent little neck.”
Silence layered itself thick in the mustang that sat on the side of the road in the middle of the desert. Terra and Tracey stared each other down.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t make death threats, Panterra,” Troy said slowly, giving Panterra a pointed look, interrupting their dominance showdown. “Especially to my own flesh and blood while I am in the car.”
The blonde woman rolled her eyes and Troy began to wonder if Kate really was the childish one out of the two.
“Listen, let me drive, we’ll get to Nevada faster,” Terra said, turning her attention to Kyler. The raven-haired man laughed, his arms falling from the wheel into an X across his chest. He rolled his eyes to her face, his blue eyes sparkling with bemusement and malice.
“You, my dear, are out of your pretty little mind-”
“People throw rocks at things that shine!” Troy, Kyler, Terra all stopped talking and looked to Tracey, who smiled sheepishly.
“Just wanted to lighten the atmosphere,” she mumbled, shrinking back from the looks of annoyance they were giving her. Talk about a tough crowd. Turning away from them, Tracey proceeded to hum the words to Taylor Swift’s song underneath her breath. Let the adults be stupid poop-faces without her. Terra frowned and continued.
“I know this road better than you do,” she said defiantly, tilting her chin up in the air.
Kyler raised an eyebrow and smirked. Terra felt her skin become hot staring at him, the orange sunlight making his skin glow. Jesus, that boy was just too good looking.
“Yeah? How?” he demanded, giving her a very smug look.
“I grew up in Nevada and I drove there,” she said, grinning, “Unlike you two, I bet.”
“We did drive! Hell, we had cops chasing us, too!” Troy snapped. What was it with women demeaning men’s manliness? Kyler raised an eyebrow at Troy’s reaction, who cast him an exasperated look. Looks like the drive was getting to him too.
Troy let out a huff of indignation after his little speech, crossing his arms like Kyler and sinking into the back seat, turning to stare out the window in his own thoughts. There was no doubt in his mind that he was not going to be the one driving. Not that he really wanted to anymore, not with those two, big headed my-horse-is-bigger-than-yours idiots. No, he’d be spending most of his time trying to separate the two and that was not what he had come to Nevada to do. He had come to this blasted desert to begin the trek that led to saving his damsel in distress, which he very much expected a profitable reward for. Preferably one without any of the other people in the car with him present.
“Look, you stressful bitch, I am driving. This is my car! No - this is my woman! You will not touch her with your dry, ugly hands. Capiche?”
Offended, Panterra reached over and slapped Kyler in the face, which was very satisfying. She did not have ugly hands. In fact, she liked to refer to her hands as very well cared for. She glanced down at them and winced. Okay, maybe they weren’t that pretty. The nail beds were terrible and they were flecked with tiny white scars. They looked like warrior hands, but they were not that bad...
Kyler, who had been on the receiving end of the slap, brought his hand up to his cheek in surprise. He hadn’t exactly expected that. Anger gripped at the groves of his fingers and he itched to hit her back, or at least put her over his knee and spank her delectable perky ass. No one hit Kyler James, he had been hit by his father and he would most certainly not allow anyone, especially this skinny bitch, to hit him.
“Can’t I just drive?” Tracey mused out loud, annoyed with what little progress they were having. It was almost creepy how all three pairs of eyes were suddenly on her. Her brother’s surprised brown ones, Panterra’s frosty green ones, and Kyler’s sparkly blue ones. “What?” she snapped, not liking all the sudden attention. Goosebumps pebbled her skin. She hated attention, ever since she had started living with the man she thought could be her father.
“Look, we aren’t getting anything done,” Troy said grumpily. “Can one of you just drive before I shove you both into the trunk to fight it out?”
“It’s not me you should be talking to! It’s her that’s the problem here!” Kyler said indignantly, glaring at his traitor of a best friend.
“At least I don’t need to buy a big car to compensate for a small problem,” Panterra retorted, throwing her legs up on his precious dashboard just to piss him off.
“I do not have issues with my penis!” Kyler roared, his neck flushing red and looking about a second away from lurching across the car to wrap his arms around Panterra’s skinny neck.
That was when Mr. Pudgy farted. No one had even seemed to remember that the sharpay was in the car. Panterra guessed the ugly beast had decided to unleash his deadly gas at that exact moment for that reason alone.
“Holy shit! What the fuck are you feeding that beast?” coughed Troy, waving a hand in front of his nose, water gathering in his dark eyes. Kyler and Tracey gagged, but Terra just sighed and rolled down the window. Four years of this wasn’t news to her.
“I would tell you, but I don’t shop for it,” Terra mumbled. A layer of in depth silence filled the car.
“He’s Kat’s dog.” Kyler glanced at the woman to his right, the chill Colorado breeze floating in through the window. The anger that had been thrashing inside of him slowly dissipated at her quiet face, the strain within her evident. Maybe it was wrong of him to feel slightly bad for a woman who tried to end his life, but he couldn’t stop the feelings of compassion at Terra’s stony countenance. He didn’t want to admit it, but he knew just how hard it was to wait around for someone that might never show.
He sighed, leaning his head back. “Drive it, but if you ruin it, I ruin you. Got it, dollface?” Terra’s eyes flashed towards him and for a moment, a gratitude so powerful shone in her face that Kyler was sure his heart would stop. But as quickly as it happened, the moment passed and Terra extended her hand to the keys. She smiled coyly.
“Yes, sir, Mr. Kyler sir.” Troy rolled his eyes, a grin ghosting his lips at the sarcasm in her voice. But it didn’t stomp out the suspicion growing stronger with each day they had been driving. Out of 6.4 billion people on this earth, Kyler just happens to meet the only woman he’s deliriously attracted to and the one that will drive him to suicide. Life sure had a sense of humor.
Hours passed before Terra spotted a gas station a hundred yards ahead. Her hands gripped the steering wheel just as tightly as she had only ten hours prior, the skin of her knuckles beginning to tear. Kyler drummed his fingers quietly against the arm of his window. Troy and Tracey slept presently in the back seat like two puppies all out of fight. Terra tried her best not to let her envy get the best of her, but it was hard. Her entire life before Kat had been bloodshed, and it didn’t seem fair that when she finally found someone she could call family, they were torn away from her.
“You tired?” Kyler’s voice broke the surprisingly tranquil silence. The driver gave him a sideways glance before shrugging.
“Not particularly.”
“You’ve been driving for ten hours straight.” Terra cocked an eyebrow.
“Concerned, aren’t we?” Kyler grunted, trying to ignore the sudden itching that consumed his ears and neck. He didn’t want to admit it, but finally being - sort of - alone with her was unnerving. Here he had all these witty comebacks and pick-ups to make her ache for him and he couldn’t even think of one. This chick must be made of kryptonite or something, he mused thoughtlessly.
Terra pulled into the gas station, the engine purring to a stop when she halted at a pump.
“You got cash?” she asked, reaching into the backseat floor for her bag. The raven-haired man scowled.
“Not since we had to leave it back in New York.” Kyler sighed wistfully, thinking of his beautiful mistress Money being left behind. Although they couldn’t have carried all of it, Kyler still tasted something bitter in his mouth every time he thought of it.
The lithe blond stepped out of the car, calling over her shoulder, “I’m getting munchies. If you want some, buy them your--”
Kyler felt his blood freeze as flashes of black and silver rushed past the car, the very air next to his ears ripping at the speed. Terra’s muscles coiled, her legs immediately putting her into a fighting position. Before he could comprehend what he was doing, Kyler was out of the car and running towards her, the motorcycles circling like vultures.
“Don’t come closer!” Terra’s voice was hoarse, barely audible over the roaring of the motorcycles. The gang slowed its circle around her long enough for Kyler to get a good look. The bikes themselves were nothing compared to the riders. They were demons, monsters with varying weapons of torture; billy clubs, chains, scythes, crowbars, bowie knives, automatic guns... Kyler’s blood ran cold as one by one, the motorcycles stopped circling.
One stepped forward, their face masked entirely. By his stature, Kyler could easily tell it was a man, standing taller and skinnier than he was. His sapphire eyes flickered from the man to Terra, who was too busy staring at the leader.
“You have a lot of nerve showing up here again.” Kyler reeled at the stranger’s words. Again?
“I didn’t have much of a choice. I’m looking for someone,” Terra whispered, her voice soft. The stranger laughed bitterly, but his hand never reached for a weapon. One of the bikers in the circle growled, spitting at Panterra.
“She’s a runaway. We should just leave her for dead,” the biker seethed viciously, teeth bared. Kyler narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out if it was a guy or girl speaking. They were all, except one, wearing half-face masks that stopped at their noses. The leader held up his hand, shaking it.
“Control yourself, Sheena, you’re not the only one upset by our leader’s abandonment.”
“But at least leaving her for dead wouldn’t be different from what she did for us!” Kyler frowned at the she-man’s voice. It was like listening to nails on chalkboard. The blonde stood still, casting wary glances around the group. It wasn’t long before Panterra’s emerald eyes landed on Kyler. The leader’s gaze followed hers.
“Who’s he?”
“None of your business,” she snapped haughtily. Terra felt regret overcome her face as the leader smiled.
“Can we kill him, then?”
“Like you could lay a hand on me,” Kyler retorted smoothly. Show time, he thought smugly before swaggering to the center by Terra. It took all her strength for Panterra not to punch the idiot in his head right then. He has no clue, she thought.
“So, he’s your boyfriend?” Kyler raised a questioning eyebrow at the hint of jealousy in the masked stranger’s voice.
“No. He’s helping me find the person I’m looking for.”
“And who would that be?” Tread lightly, Terra thought, her eyes flickering towards the gang to Kyler and the car. Shit, the car! Troy sat up, eyes bulging at the back seat, his mouth open.
“Jesus Christ, I can’t leave those two alone for five minutes...” he breathed. Glancing down, Tracey stirred lightly in his lap, but still in deep sleep. Thank god. Looking back to the scene before him, it took all Troy’s willpower not to go up and punch Kyler for puffing out his chest like a peacock, trying to look badder than the guys with guns.
“Hot damn,” Troy grumbled. Sliding Tracy's head off of his lap, the cowboy stepping out of the car and grabbing his gun, locking the doors as he did so. As he got into earshot, he could hear remnants of the conversation.
“Wait, Morag is French?” a man from the circle piped incredulously.
“Yes and she’s taken something of mine that I want back.” Something of mine, Troy thought longingly. The leader smiled before reaching for his gun, cocking it.
“Listen, Terra, you either tell me what’s really going on or I’m going to blow out your pretty little head,” he said, stepping towards her. Terra felt a chill when he stepped towards her. As he pressed the cool metal to her forehead, warm brown eyes stared back at her. And if she hadn’t known who it was right at that second, she would’ve missed the pleading regret in his eyes.
“Look, we can argue all night about this, but I can’t tell you anything about it.” Troy stopped short at defensive stare on Terra’s face. Whatever reason it was, Terra was protecting Kate from these people.
“And why not?” the leader scoffed, pressing the barrel so hard into her forehead it would leave an imprint. Terra looked at him for a long time, hoping, wishing to see a sign of the boy she had left here so long ago. Finally, she sighed and looked to Kyler instead, somehow gathering strength from his simple stare.
They would all figure it out sooner or later.
“Because it’s about the Man of Death.” Terra could feel her lips tremble, speaking his nickname; fear she hadn’t felt in a long time resurfaced, making unwanted tears well in her eyes. Kyler watched as she bent her head down, trying to hide the trickling sadness. The leader pushed her face up and stared at her. Something foreign crawled around Kyler’s stomach as the leader brushed one tear from the corner of her eyes about to fall.
“What does he have anything to do with this?”
“Because, Xavier... we’re related.”