*REMY*
I stare at my watch, taking a deep breath to calm down my stitched sides. I ran so fast I felt like I could collapse any moment. But I only had a very small window that allowed me to escape my bodyguard without him noticing it too soon and arriving here, again, without him noticing I would be missing. I can’t risk that he alerts my brothers and has them send out the warriors to search for me.
I make it just in time. The train is going to leave in five minutes. Fortunately, I can buy a ticket via the app once I am inside. Grabbing my backpack, I hurry to get onto the train. The warning sound rings, indicating that the doors are closing. I step aside a little, away from the door, when another figure squeezes through it at the last minute.
I drop my bag in shock, not able to fathom who I am seeing in front of me. “Kata…” I hammer against the door. “You need to get out of here, Kata. Goddess. I didn’t want to drag you into this!”
“Like fuck will I be leaving now!” she says firmly. She is panting, but not as much as I was.
“How?” I exclaim. “How did you know?”
“I had a feeling,” she says, gazing at me with a hint of hurt clearly in her eyes. “I am trying not to be upset that you would have just left.”
I take her hands into mine. “Katalina,” I say. “I would have returned. I am not leaving you. Goddess, Kata, I would never leave you behind! I just wanted to cross an important point off my bucket list, something I need to do to be able to move on. But I would have never left. We have plans.”
“We do,” she says, eyeing me thoughtfully. “When you didn’t come to the lecture today, I was wondering what you would do. I felt like running away isn’t like you, but that maybe you had something specific in mind.”
“I want to do something important,” I explain. “Something that will hopefully give me closure.”
“And you couldn’t share it with anyone?”
“I need to do it alone,” I say quietly. “I know it doesn’t make sense, but it’s something my wolf and I need to do with each other. If I told Sean or Gabriel… they would have supported me, but it’s not the same. She was my mom, and none of them knows what truly happened.” I pause. “What he did to us,” I add quietly. “I need to come to terms with it to be able to tell them the truth one day.”
“And me?” she asks. “I am not your brothers. Why not share it with me?”
“I have relied so much on you already,” I answer honestly.
“Bullshit,” she exclaims. “Maybe I am carrying something inside me, too, something I want to get off my chest. Something I want to make peace with.”
I stare at her. “The story about your parents… You said it wasn’t the full story when we talked.”
“Exactly,” she says. “And even if there wasn’t something dark I was carrying around, it doesn’t matter. I am still your mate. It is not a bother to have you rely on me.”
We arrive at the next station, the last one close to the city. The next one will be a lot further away. “If you want me to get out, I will do it,” she says. “But I am asking you not to. I love you, you know.”
“I said it first,” I mutter. “When you hung up yesterday. I am doing this because I love you.”
“I know,” she says. “That’s why I had this feeling today. I justknewyou wouldn’t simply ditch a class just like that. I knew you wouldn’t run. You looked so determined during the last couple of days. I just had the feeling you would have a plan.” She pauses. “And then Kiki found out the exact time you left the pack today. The only place that made sense to me was for you to be at the station.” She pauses. “Do you want me to get out, or are you taking me with you?”
I take her hand, holding her as the doors close again. Her eyes close in relief. Leaning forward, she rests her forehead against my chest.
“I am sorry,” I say quietly. “That was wrong of me. I should have planned this with you all along.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she says. “What matters is that you trust me enough now.”
“Are you truly okay with it?” I ask. “With seeing the darkest part of me?”
“I don’t mind,” she says. “Take me with you,Remus.”
Chapter thirty-eight
The Search
*SEAN*
“Alpha Sean!” The voice belongs to one of my elite warriors, or rather, one of the men who usually accompany Remy. One glimpse tells me that something is seriously off.
“What happened?”