Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(26)

"I'll never forgive you." She didn't recognize her own voice, thick with tears as it was.

His eyes left hers as he looked away. "I know," he whispered.

Katherine, who was usually embarrassed by tears, couldn't stop them from falling.

"So you believe us then?" Markus asked callously, seemingly unaffected by her sorrow.

"What choice do I have?" Katherine knew her words were bitter, but she couldn't find it in her to care.

She curled herself up into a ball and using the blanket she had woken up with to hide her face, she sobbed. Though she was sure they could still hear her loud cries. Her parents. Brad. They were killed because of her.

No, because of him.

She didn't know how long she had been curled up when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but she immediately tensed. "If you need to talk," she heard Caleb's kind voice inform her, "I understand what you're going through."

And that was it.

Katherine whipped the blanket from her face, not caring that her cheeks were covered in tear tracks and her nose was red and running. "How could you possibly understand?" she shouted at him, ignoring the pang of guilt she felt as his face crumbled. "How in the hell could you know what I'm going through?"

She didn't wait for a response. She wrapped the blanket around herself once more as uncontrollable sobs wracked her body. Right then and there she made a vow to get away from these people. These people who had ruined her life.

And whether it was the anguish of losing her parents or just pure exhaustion, she slowly managed to cry herself to sleep.

If she hadn't, perhaps she would have heard Sophie turn on the radio.

"And this just in folks. It seems as if a small family living in Middletown, Iowa, was attacked in their own home yesterday evening. While Elaine and Benjamin Mayes were rushed to Hayfield Medical, it appears as if their teenage daughter, Katherine Mayes, is missing and has presumed to have been kidnapped by the home invaders. If anyone had any information on the girl's whereabouts, they are encouraged to contact the proper authorities. As for Brad Thompson, a teenage boy that was also in the home when the attack took place-"

Bastian quickly cranked the knob of the radio, stopping the reporter mid-sentence.

Four pairs of accusing eyes landed on him.

Oddly, it was Markus who spoke up. "I still don’t think you should have told her-"

"It was for her own good. Don't question it."

Caleb wasn’t so sure. "But Bastian-"

"Katherine's parents are dead. No one is to tell her otherwise."

Sophie glared. "Brother-"

"That's an order," Bastian interrupted, his voice stern and leaving no room for any arguing.

No one did.





CHAPTER SEVEN


The next time Katherine woke up, daylight was shining through the car window her cheek was pressed against and through her blurry vision she could make out the sign welcoming them to River Valley, Minnesota. Population 937.

The billboard was so similar to the one welcoming folks to Middletown that Katherine was almost able to convince herself that she’d never left. But she was seeing the sign through the window of an unfamiliar SUV. And after a subtle glance around the vehicle, could see she was surrounded by the same strange people from last night.

Any remaining hope that yesterday had just been some terrible nightmare immediately dissipated.

Katherine wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and pretend she'd never woken up – pretend that last night had never happened. So she did just that – closed her eyes. But her stomach gave her away with a very unladylike growl and though it seemed ridiculous to be concerned about something so trivial, she couldn't stop the involuntary blush from spreading across her cheeks and down her neck at the sound.

"Good. The princess is awake. Now can we finally stop for some grub?"

That was Markus, of course.

Katherine's insides clenched at the thought of food. Although her stomach was rumbling like she was starved, it was impossible for her to feel anything but nauseous with the grotesque picture of her father lying in his own blood permanently etched in her brain.

"I think I saw an advertisement for some sort of diner about a mile back."

As soon as Katherine heard Sophie's suggestion, she knew she had to intervene.

Ignoring the protests of her sore throat, she parted her dry lips and objected. "I'm not hungry."

Markus snorted. "Yeah? Well, according to your stomach, you are."

"I don't care," Katherine shot back – though she wasn't exactly sure what it was that she didn't care about. Being hungry. The crazy situation she had found herself in. Or just her life in general. What did it matter now that her parents... now that they... Oh God.

"Well, I don't much care whether you eat either your majesty, but we had to wait hours for you to wake up just so the rest of us could. So suck it up and take one for the team. Or pack rather." He sneered at her, an infuriating smirk plastered to his face.

Markus's words managed to pull Katherine from her quickly darkening thoughts. She didn't know if she had ever met such an aggravating person before. But she was grateful for the distraction. "I wouldn't have cared if you had stopped," she insisted.