Chapter Three #3
She winced and shook her head and focused on the kitchen. From here, she could see two cooks working away through the window.
“You smell like pain,” he said so softly, she nearly missed it.
When she looked back at him, his eyes were the softest she had ever seen. He might’ve had truth in his voice when he had assured her that he was dangerous earlier, but Mars also had good in him. She could tell.
“Who did it to you?” she asked before she could stop herself.
His eyes closed off immediately and he leaned back in his chair as if he needed to create space between them.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “You asked so I thought it was on the table. I’m really sorry.” Oh, she felt bad. He wasn’t looking at her anymore. “I told you I’m not in the culture. I’ve never actually hung around any…you know…”
“Cats?” he asked.
“Yeah. You guys are pretty solitary creatures.”
“You guys,” he murmured.
Shoot. She’d said that wrong. “Your brothers. Do they live close?”
“No,” he murmured. “Dame lives in Salt Lake City, and Stellan is God-knows-where. Dead, maybe. He stopped calling us back months ago.”
“Oh my gosh. Do you need to file a missing person’s report?”
“Nah. I’m sure we would’ve found out something if he messed up.”
“Messed up, how?”
Mars shrugged. “My stepdad.”
“He messed up your stepdad?” she asked, confused.
“No. My stepdad was the one who Turned us. All three of us. Same night.”
“Holy…shit,” she whispered. She didn’t even know what else to say. That was the most awful piece of information he could’ve ever dropped on her. His stepdad? Someone who was supposed to protect him?
She swallowed hard. The waitress set an obscene amount of dumplings and spring rolls in front of them, but her appetite had gone away.
“Eat,” he murmured, gesturing. “You said you were hungry.”
“That was before you told me a family member Turned you,” she whispered, leaning forward so none of the humans who were being seated at tables around them would hear.
He shrugged. “It was a long time ago.” He said it so nonchalantly, but Ren was still absolutely choking on his admission.
Ren swallowed hard again and pulled a spring roll onto her appetizer plate. She spun it around in a slow circle, her mind racing as she imagined what it had been like for him.
“Ask and get it over with,” he said, his appetizer plate still empty. “I can’t watch you pick at your food. It’s not fun to eat alone.”
“Why did your stepdad Turn you?”
“He was trying to kill us. He wasn’t good at much. He did a shit-job at killing us and gave us all tigers instead.”
“And he was the Cat,” she whispered in horror. “Who tried to kill you and your brothers.”
Mars shrugged. “And then my mom defended him and stayed with him. Can we eat now?”
“Can I…” Ren swallowed another lump in her throat. “Can I have a minute to go to the restroom before we continue? I think I just need a second, and then I will come back and be way more fun.”
“Are you okay?”
“That’s sad, Mars. What happened to you isn’t okay.”
He was frowning like he didn’t understand. “But it was a long time ago.”
“And it’ll be a sad thing your whole life.
It doesn’t matter how many years pass, that should’ve never happened to you or your brothers.
I don’t even know them, but I’m mad for them.
I’m angry for you. I just need a second to wrap my head around it and I don’t want to do it here in front of you.
I can tell you want me to be instantly over the shock and catch up to you but my God, Mars.
Fuck your mom and fuck your stepdad too.
I hope they’re both dead. I hope it was slow and painful.
” Ren was getting worked up, and there was a growl rattling her throat now.
Her animal side was being so weird and vocal lately.
It didn’t make any damn sense. She stood and walked away, then doubled back and didn’t hesitate beside him as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and rested her cheek against the back of his head in an awkward side hug. “I’m sorry.”
He sat there frozen for a full ten seconds, and then said, “It was.”
“It was what?” she asked.
“Death was slow and painful for them both. Can I eat while you are gone?”
She huffed a relieved breath. Good. She was glad they weren’t still walking the earth, torturing him. “Sure. Eat it all.” She gave him one last squeeze and then forced herself not to look back at him as she made her way to the bathroom.
She was tough, and had been through a lot.
Everyone had a story. Everyone had been through trauma, but Mars’s story was different.
It was tragic. Even him saying he remembered himself the way he used to be, and it was different now.
Someone who was supposed to protect him had stolen that part of himself away.
He had killed Mars in a way. She couldn’t imagine the hurt Mars and his brothers went through watching their own mother defend the Cat who did this to them, and choose him.
She should’ve felt guilty for wishing death on Mars’s mom and stepdad, but she didn’t.
And she didn’t care what that said about her either.