After paying for the fruit, Katherine quickly stopped to pick up a sack of potatoes before assisting Caleb in filling three more bags with essentials like flour, sugar, and butter. Before she knew it, the noon sun was beating down on them, and they decided they would purchase the perishable food, like milk and cheese, after breaking for lunch at The Bistro.
It was a mistake.
Or, at least, ordering the Swedish meatballs had been.
Caleb poked one of the huge, meaty masses on his plate with a fork. "They're not so bad. The gravy has some nice flavor."
Katherine fought back a laugh. It was like he was trying to talk himself into eating the brown lumps of what at one point might have been actual meat.
She’d given up on consuming her own plate of meatballs after the first one she'd bitten into had contained something that had crunched inside of her mouth. "They're disgusting," Katherine pointed out matter-of-factly.
Caleb looked positively scandalized. "Katherine," he protested, dropping his fork and looking over his shoulder as if the head chef of the small restaurant could have somehow heard the blatant insult.
"What? It's true," Katherine insisted. She let a small grin pull at her lips. "Nothing is as good as the food you make anyway.”
"I’m hardly an expert in the kitchen," Caleb immediately argued, the tiniest tinge of pink coloring his face.
"Sure you are," she persisted, pressing on before the humble blond could deny it. "The food here is usually okay, but your stuff is eons out of its league. It's better than anything I've ever tasted."
"And that's the problem with you Princes, isn't it?"
Katherine nearly jumped out of her skin when two large hands landed with a thump on the edge of their table. "You think you're so much better than everyone else."
Rogue.
Katherine recovered sooner than her companion, who looked like he wanted nothing more than to grab her and bolt from the restaurant.
So not happening.
"What do you want?" she demanded of the man suddenly looming over their table, inserting as much distaste into her tone as possible.
Rogue grinned, white teeth peeking out between red lips. "I'm so glad you asked. Because, you see, lately I’ve been wanting all kinds of things.” He leaned in closer to her, his eyes gleaming with a twisted sort of amusement as she backed away from him as much as the booth she was sitting in allowed. “Nothing, though, would make me gladder than seeing your Bastian give up his place as head alpha. Be a dear and make it happen, will you? Go get yourself entangled in another mess. Something that will upset him enough that he's forced to step down. Maybe… pick a fight with a bear? Or… try to drown yourself in the falls? Either of those should do the trick.”
Katherine's face was flushed a furious scarlet in response to the man’s heinous suggestions, her hands shaking with suppressed rage in her lap.
Caleb, too, looked the maddest she'd ever seen the usually calm man. "Go away, Rogue," he hissed, locking an ankle around one of Katherine's in what she assumed was a show of support and an attempt at comfort.
The man seemed more amused by the demand than anything. "Or what? Are you going to make me?"
Caleb bristled. "Bastian will-"
Rogue had the nerve to laugh in Caleb's face. "Bastian will what? Hmm?" His dark eyes swung from Caleb's to hers. "You going to hide behind your alpha like a scared little bitch too, Katherine?"
And just like that, her temper exploded. She wasn't even truly aware of what she was going to do until she'd gone and done it. In a flash, her hand was wrapped around the salt shaker in the middle of their table and with a quick flick of the wrist, she'd pulled off the thing's lid and unhesitatingly threw the pile of salt that was inside straight into Rogue's eyes.
His responding howl of agony echoed throughout the restaurant. "You bitch!" the man hollered, groping blindly for her with one hand as the other desperately tried to rub the salt out of his surely burning eyes.
Caleb shoved the half-blind man away before he could lay a finger on her. Luckily, Rogue's shouts had caught the attention of The Bistro's servers, and two hustled over to restrain him. Before either could ask them any questions, however, Caleb quickly threw down some money, hoisted up their bags, and grabbing her hand, dashed out the door. He pulled her along for an entire block before finally releasing her behind the corner of a wooden building.
"What were you thinking?" the blond demanded between huffs as he attempted to catch his breath. "Bastian would have killed me if that brute had hurt you."
Katherine sucked in a lungful of air. "I was thinking that that jerkface needed to be taught a lesson. Namely that we aren't going to just sit there and take his abuse anymore. Bastian isn't the only force to be reckoned with in our pack. He deserved what he got, and I don't regret doing it at all. Not even one little bit."
Caleb stared at her for a long moment, seemingly at a loss for words before a disbelieving smile finally broke out across his face. "You, Katherine, are something else."
Katherine couldn't have stopped the blush from blossoming across her cheeks if she'd tried. "Thanks Caleb. You are too."
Noticing that their shadows had grown quite a bit taller since they’d entered the The Bistro around noon, Katherine glanced up at the bright, cloudless sky. "What time is it? I think we should get the rest of the groceries and head home."
Caleb examined his watch. "It's a little past two. That's perfect! We should be able to get back to the house right around three o'clock." He started dragging her towards the market.
Katherine frowned. "What's at three?"
Caleb stumbled over thin air at her inquiry. His eyes flickered to her face before quickly shifting away. "Oh," he stuttered, "well, nothing I suppose. Just seems like a good time to get back is all."
Oo-kay. There Caleb was acting all weird again.
As he begin to fill the suddenly awkward silence between them with nervous chatter, however, Katherine didn't quite have the heart to call him out on it.
They quickly finished the rest of their shopping and arms laden with groceries, began heading home.
Caleb’s smile was practically radiant as they approached the house. It must have been three o’clock on the dot if his sunny demeanor was anything to do by. Cracking open the door, he hurriedly ushered her inside.
"Surprise!"
"Happy birthday, Katherine!"
"Seventeen years old! Can you believe it?"
"Welcome to adulthood, princess!"
Katherine stood stock-still in the doorway, taken completely off guard by what appeared to be a surprise birthday party. For her.
How had they known? Was she even shocked that they did?
Unsurprisingly, the answer was a resounding no.
But she could hardly appreciate their thoughtfulness when she'd been doing her best to completely forget that today was her birthday at all. Now she had no choice but to acknowledge it.
There was no burnt on the outside, yet gooey on the inside chocolate cake on the dining room table, but rather a decadent, three-layer vanilla masterpiece covered in fancy, frosting roses, which had undoubtedly been prepared by Caleb. Instead of a stack of pristinely wrapped gifts, a small pile of presents haphazardly packed in paper bags and newspaper sat beside the cake.
And most noticeably of all, there was no mom and no dad. They would never be with her for another birthday again.
"Katherine?" Bastian. She knew that he and the others were waiting for her reaction to what was supposed to be a thoughtful surprise.
Panic overtook her, though, when she felt a lump of pure emotion wedge itself in her throat, and heart beating madly in her chest, Katherine did what she did best. Tears blurring her vision, she dropped the bags of groceries she was holding in her arms to the ground – through her daze, she heard the gallon of milk one of the bags had contained break open on the floor with a loud splat – and bolted from the room.
She didn't think about where she was going – didn't h
ave any destination in mind really – she just allowed her feet to take her where they wanted to go. Which was apparently as far away from the Prince house as possible. She sprinted into the forest surrounding the brick building, paying no heed to Bastian as he shouted after her.
She pushed low hanging branches out of her way as she ran, ignoring the way some of the sharper ones cut up the soft palms of her hands. She pushed forward, continuing to run until one of her shoes caught on an upturned root hidden in the forest’s long grass, and she fell to the ground in an ungraceful heap, barely reaching her hands out in time to catch herself before she face planted.
Once she was down, she didn’t bother to get back up.
The tears came unbidden, leaking from her eyes as she was finally able to push past the lump in her throat and let out a strangled cry. Pressing her hands to her face and curling up her knees to her chest, she allowed herself to become undone.
Once she started the ugly wailing, she couldn't stop. Gagging on the tears welling up her in throat, she nearly vomited.
Bastian was upon her in seconds, but she was hardly aware of him even as his strong arms came around her and cradled her to his chest. "Shh, you're okay," he whispered in her ear. "I've got you, you're okay. Just breathe."
He didn't ask her what was wrong, but she knew how inexplicably strange her behavior appeared, and through her harsh sobs, she tried to explain. "They," hiccup, "They'll never," sob, "They'll never be here for,” hiccup, "another birthday again."
He didn't have to ask her who “they” were. He clutched her even more tightly to his chest. "I'm sorry, Katherine, I'm sorry."
She'd long ago accepted that the death of her parents wasn’t Bastian’s fault. And it wasn’t her fault either. But that didn't make acknowledging that they were gone any easier. She cried for a long time. Bastian sat with her, whispering words of support and crooning softly in her ear.
"Neither will have another birthday again." Her voice was so hoarse by the time she was able to speak that she almost didn't recognize it. The words scratched her sore throat as she forced them out, the physical pain of saying them somehow making it easier to speak them out loud.
It was an awful truth, but admitting it grounded her and soon thereafter, the seemingly endless river of tears trickled to a stop, leaving behind in their wake red, swollen eyes. Sniffling, Katherine uncouthly wiped the snot leaking from her nose with the back of her hand. Bastian didn't comment, merely tucking a strand of hair that had loosened from her bun behind her ear.
"Okay," Katherine whispered, pushing herself away from her alpha and standing on shaky legs. "Let's go back."
Bastian frowned, his blue eyes troubled, but he stood with her. "Are you sure?"
Swallowing around the lump still present in her throat, Katherine nodded. "Yeah."
She stopped him when he stepped forward and made a move to lift her up into his arms. "I can walk," she protested, forcing her tone to be firm.
Bastian looked like he wanted to argue, but smartly kept his mouth shut. Still, he assessed her carefully as he led the way back to the house. Katherine ignored his watchful gaze, focusing instead on trying to smooth out the wrinkles from her blouse.
It was a lost cause, but she didn't much care. It would match her bedraggled appearance anyway.
When they reached the house and stepped onto the porch, Bastian pivoted in front of her, gently resting his hands on her shoulders. "Wait here. I'll make sure everything is put away."
"No," Katherine immediately protested, voice hitching as she latched onto one of Bastian's thick wrists. "No," she said again more calmly, releasing him. "It was really nice of you guys to go through all this trouble for me. Pretending that today isn't my birthday – that the day doesn't exist – is stupid. My p-parents," she stumbled over the word, “would want me to be happy." She took a deep breath. "So let's celebrate."
Bastian looked torn between giving her what she said she wanted and refusing her request in an effort to protect her. After a moment of searching her eyes, though, he seemed to set his reservations aside. "Okay," he agreed, "but if it starts to become overwhelming, you’ll let me know right away."
"Alright," Katherine agreed, knowing he wouldn't have budged otherwise.
She steeled herself as he opened the door.
Four pairs of eyes immediately zeroed in on them as they entered the kitchen. Hushed chatter quickly turned into a tense, oppressive silence. She could see the questions in their eyes as they took in her slovenly appearance.
"What's the matter, birthday girl? Have your heart set on chocolate cake?"
Markus broke the quiet in his usual bad mannered way, and while Katherine could have hugged him for it, Bastian looked about two seconds away from smashing in his face with his fists.
She quickly cleared her throat. "Uh, no. Vanilla is fine. I mean, the cake looks wonderful." She eyed the sloppily wrapped presents beside the confection. "It all looks wonderful, actually. Thank you guys, so much. I – I just didn't realize you knew it was my birthday."
It was a flimsy excuse for her break down at best – a blatant lie at worst – but Caleb, bless him, graciously went along with it. "We wanted it to be a surprise. We're sorry for startling you."
"No, don't be." She rubbed her chest uncomfortably, the heart inside of it still aching. "It was very kind of you to think of me. But how did you guys know it was my birthday?"
Zane snorted. "I know we live in the middle of a forest, but we're not complete Neanderthals. We know how to use the Internet when the occasion calls for it. We looked you up well before we snatched you last fall.”
Katherine supposed that she shouldn't have been surprised. "Oh."
Sophie stood up, throwing a friendly arm around Katherine's tense shoulders. "We thought it would be a fun idea to surprise you when you failed to mention that your birthday was coming up. Of course, we never would've if we'd known you'd react so poorly, but I hope you'll still celebrate with us." She lowered her voice, a mischievous smile briefly gracing her face. "After all, it's not every day that you get to celebrate the birthday of a certified badass." The blonde winked. "Rogue will definitely think twice before messing with you again."
Katherine recognized immediately that Sophie was changing the subject in an effort to make her more comfortable, and she very much appreciated it. Even if it meant telling Bastian that she and Rogue had had a confrontation of sorts.
Still, she groaned, burying her face in her hands. "Caleb told you?"
"Oh yeah," Markus confirmed, "and let me just say that I, for one, am impressed."
Peeking between her fingers, Katherine saw Bastian frowning at her, his eyebrows puckering together as worry lines formed on his forehead. "What are they talking about?"
Sophie rolled her eyes. "Calm down, big guy. I'm sure Katherine will tell you the story over some cake." The blonde’s gaze pivoted to the girl still firmly planted under her arm. "What do you say, Katherine? You hungry?"
Eying the layered cake that was almost too pretty to eat, she gave her assertion. "Yeah, let's eat."
Caleb, though, refused to let them cut into his masterpiece until he'd poked in a massive candle at the very top. Lighting its wick, he ordered Katherine to make a wish.
Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, Katherine thought of her parents. Although only seven months had passed since she'd last seen them, she found that time had taken a toll on her memory. The details of their faces were fuzzy. Was her dad's chin as angular as she remembered it? Was her mom's nose as regal as she recalled? She couldn't be sure.
The realization that the memories of her parents were following them to their graves – that even they were leaving her – nearly caused a fresh onslaught of tears.
But Katherine held it together, and as she blew out her birthday candle, she wished with all her might that wherever her parents had gone when they'd passed – she desperately wanted to believe in heaven – that they were happy.
Opening her eyes, Katherine watc
hed as a small bit of smoke from the freshly blown out candle swirled higher and higher into the air until it disappeared entirely. As it dissipated, she made a vow to leave morose thoughts of her family behind her for the rest of the evening, determined to at least try to achieve the same happiness she wished for them.
As Caleb dished up the cake – “Birthday girl, first!" – Bastian demanded to know what had happened between her and Rogue.
Not quite looking at him, Katherine poked at the spongey, white fluff on her plate. It was covered neatly with an even layer of frosting and looked delicious, but she didn't quite have the heart to eat it despite its clear culinary superiority over anything her father had ever made for her.
"It's no big deal," she finally answered. "I'm not hurt, and you'll just overreact."
Understatement of the century.
She had had to employ the strength of both Markus and Zane to physically restrain the man from going after Rip Briggs and breaking his undamaged hand the morning after the Recruiting Rites. All because the idiot had thought it’d be a smart idea to lick her.
She gazed at him under her lashes. "Can you just forget about it for now? It is my birthday."
She wasn't ignorant of the irony in using the fact that it was her birthday – something she'd desperately wanted to forget about just that morning – against the man. Still, she could hardly bring herself to feel guilty. Especially when it worked.
"Okay," Bastian agreed begrudgingly, clearly unwilling to push the issue and risk upsetting her even more than she already had been that day. It brought the first real smile to Katherine's lips since she'd been so unfortunately surprised hours earlier.
Katherine continued to play with her food as the others shoveled cake into their mouths. After everyone who'd wanted some received seconds, she found herself bombarded with presents as Sophie thrust the medium sized package she'd apparently purchased for her into her lap. "Here, open mine first."
Carefully lifting the lid from the plainly wrapped box, Katherine flushed and hastily shoved it back down when she saw what was inside.
Pressing her hands to her burning face, she squawked at the girl she considered a sister. "Sophie!"
Shy (Once Bitten, Twice Shy, #2) Page 5