13 Kashmir
Everyone was getting antsy as Kit called for another fancy dinner for everyone to be in the same place.
Ryatt caught us up on what happened the other night when they went to the bar, and it only made me curious as to how she had an in with Castiel.
Everyone wanted him on their side, but he was only on his own.
By how Ryatt made it sound, the man favored our old Omega in a way that bothered him to his core.
Pouring myself a glass of water from the pitcher, Turner placed his next to my cup to dispense for him because of his arm. I could tell he had his own thoughts eating at him like the rest of us when it came to Kit, but he was wise enough to keep it to himself.
When the doors parted dramatically, I knew Kit would be the one strutting through them.
This new version of her liked to make the grand entrances for everyone to take notice of her.
It was a complete contradiction to the mousey girl we once knew, but I’d been learning this was how she survived.
No one could be soft in this world unless they had the proper protection like Jericho.
She had it until we left her for training.
I was finally beginning to see we were partially at fault for why Kit had to harden herself and change who she was to survive.
It made me feel like the monster in her story, and I hated it.
She used to make me feel like my wrongs somehow made me right.
Now, I was seeing my wrongs only made her do wrong as well.
“Welcome, once again! I come bearing great news. I was successful in my own mission two nights ago, and we were able to follow up last night to ensure the address I was given, led to somewhere useful. Now that we know this person is hiding out at a cabin in the woods, I’m setting up another task force to go that direction, and I’ll be leading it. ”
“You can’t possibly be serious,” Reginald scoffed from across the room. “You can’t go.”
“And why is that exactly?” A lot of us read the room with her new menacing glare, but Reginald did back down. It wasn’t wise of him to do something like that in her presence, and I could see when her happy gaze turned deadly.
“I’m not putting one of my trusted men on the line to follow an Omega. You’ll surely lead them to their deaths, without having the proper power to control.”
She looked to the floor before meeting his face again with a questioning nod. “So what you’re saying is, following me will get your men killed?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. You at least need to have a Beta commanding a task force.” A few other Alphas began to voice their agreement as though Reginald made sense.
In the blink of an eye, Kit reached over to Anika’s side for the weapon belt on her. Without warning, she had a handgun and pointed it at one of the Betas at his table. Shooting him square between the eyes, we watched it downright kill him as his body slumped on his chair.
“What the fuck!” Reginald stood from the table, absolutely raging at what Kit had just done.
“You’re following me right now,” she told him. “So, if I’m going to get them killed on my task force, I might as well kill them now.”
“You had no right to do that!” Reginald was pissed.
“I believe I told everyone in this room to never question my title again, and that’s exactly what you did when you said I couldn’t lead the task force. This is my last reminder to you that I can before I put a bullet in every single one of your pack members’ heads.”
There were no words when seeing firsthand who she had to become.
She never once flinched when pulling that trigger.
The whole movement was skilled and smooth, and I remembered teaching her my tricks to do it.
Back then, she hated even holding a gun.
She didn’t even think twice when she had the idea to shoot his Beta.
It made my stomach churn, watching her being capable of such malice.
When Reginald began to growl, he headed her way to defy her with the rest of his pack.
Kit didn’t hesitate to start blowing the heads off each person at the table.
We watched her execute his whole pack because he was still trying to defy her.
She saved him for last, but she also put a bullet between his eyes as his body fell.
She went to hand the gun back to Anika, but she paused and pointed to the rest of us.
“Anyone else want to defy me in my home?”
Silence greeted her, so she gave Anika the weapon. Anika didn’t show an ounce of surprise, knowing Kit was capable of this kind of brutality in their new life. My mind lingered more on it, knowing I needed to figure out why she turned her heart to become darker than my own.
“Have the cleaning crew come in while everyone dines for the fresh reminder. Maybe that’ll make it stick that I am second in command here.
” Kit didn’t say anything else after ruining our appetites.
I could only observe the slight stiffness in her shoulders as she left.
Maybe there was still something resembling human in her after all.
***
Jericho
Finding Kit the next night was easy because I learned her routes when she wanted to be alone.
She ventured to a couple different spots when she couldn’t sleep, and she did it in a pattern that made it easy for me to memorize only after a few nights of seeing each place.
It helped to know where Raphael was positioned because he usually controlled her guard if she left the compound.
Finding her near the window I did the first night, I saw how she hugged herself.
After learning what I had from Ryatt, I knew there was a lot I needed to understand about this woman.
Kit was gorgeous, making it easier to see why the men loved her so much.
I found myself attracted to her, but I knew not to rush anything like that because she feared our presence already.
Stopping at the top of the stairs, I studied how focused she was on whatever captured her attention outside.
A faint wind blew in, creating a howl outside that sounded like someone crying.
It echoed into the chamber we were in because there were some holes in the ceiling.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted, disturbing her peace.
She hurried to turn around, taking me in with my hand placed on the banister’s edge.
To the average eye, it was just a nailed down post, but we now learned some of the secrets their fortress held.
Topside, everything appeared old and dingy, rusting away to not have any value.
Underneath the guise, we were able to see what lavishness they built below.
“Pardon me?” She wasn’t sure why I said that.
“I’m apologizing for my rudeness the other night when I first found you. I didn’t know who you were to them, so I feel awful now that I do.” Making small steps, I moved carefully to where she stood.
“Jericho, there’s no need to apologize to me.
Just as you said, you had no idea who I was.
” Tonight, she adorned herself in a silk robe that didn’t have the fluffy edges like her others had.
She looked a little simpler, but I found that to be another layer of beauty.
Even her hair was in a braid over her shoulder, loosely sitting to show she didn’t put much thought into it.
Whether she admitted it or not, I knew the presence of my pack bothered her.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” I replied. Now standing next to her, I let my eyes swing out the same window hers were. “I can’t apologize for them, but I can apologize for myself. I might not have known, but my words still upset you. The knowledge of who I am upsets you, so I can apologize for that.”
She studied me for a minute, letting her glance take me in up and down as I stared out the window, trying to hold still as she did. “I can tell why they like you. Your kindness fits their cruelty. They need someone like you to hold them together.”
“They need someone like you too,” I told her even though it wasn’t my place.
“They’ve been devastated since we arrived, and it’s not because our house burned down.
It has everything to do with that mark on your neck.
I’ll never fault you for the decisions you had to make, but I do see what it’s done to my guys. ”
“Even if I was unclaimed, I’m not the woman they left behind.
” She steeled her gaze, remembering the changes she went through.
“That girl was young and in her early twenties, but I’m almost thirty and lived a whole different life.
I’m no longer who they fell in love with.
I used to be you, the soft glue, but I’ve hardened into a piece that no longer fits.
” She had been hardened by the years, and it was hard for me to see the innocent version of her that remained locked inside.
“I don’t know who you were before all of this, but I do know you’re still worth something now.” Kit was a woman not many would understand, but I did from viewing the world through the eyes of an Omega. “I envy your strength.”
“Not many are made to find out how hot the fire is that’ll burn them to make them strong. And just because I carry it well doesn’t mean it’s not heavy. You should feel honored that your pack keeps you safe.”
For the first time, I had to speak my own fears. I would be telling someone what it was that made me terrified. “But what if the day comes they can’t protect me? What if the day comes that it’s on my shoulders to save them?”
Kit turned her body towards me because she started understanding what I came to ask her. Studying me up and down, she let her eyes take my request in. “Ryatt won’t be too pleased.”