My father pats the chair next to him, and she walks around the table, sitting next to him. My father has been quietly observing, and I know he is burning to ask me questions. I can practically see the cogs turning in his head. I plate up the steaks and sausages, placing them on the table while Kat walks inside, returning with salad, plates, and bread.
“I was actually wanting to speak to you about something,” I tell my father, looking over at him as I sit down beside Sage.
“What’s that?” He asks, turning his attention to me.
“I wanted to see if you would come over to our home for a bit, I need help with some pack issues, and my new Beta could use some pointers on the shit he is supposed to do.”
“Not Beta blood?” he asks.
“No, Gamma, he struggles with all the responsibilities. He is used to being their friend and not their boss, they run all over him, forgetting he is now my Beta,” I explain, and he nods.
“Sure, I can head over tomorrow if you want. How long should I pack for?”
“However long you plan on staying, I need your help, so if I can steal you for a week or so that would be good. That is if Kat doesn’t need you,” I trail off, and he smiles like a kid on Christmas morning.
“Sounds good,” he beams, biting into his sausage sandwich.
Kat’s lips tug up into a smile. “I’m good. I have Mateo and Ezra to help with the kids,” Kat assures me, looking just as excited as our father at the idea.
Hopefully, he will be able to help with the rogue issue as well.
Sage
Lunch with Kat and her family is so nice that I don’t want to leave. It feels so good to have another female around, someone I can relate to.
Derrick, Andrei’s father, said he will come over tomorrow sometime to help Andrei with whatever Andrei asked him, and after that brief conversation, eventually, we have to leave.
Once we approach Andrei’s car, I climb in the passenger seat, and Andrei gets in the driver’s seat and starts up the car.
“Seat belt,” Andrei growls, making me realize I haven’t put it on.
I roll my eyes but clip it in place, and he reverses before turning the car around and drives down the long driveway. When we reach the end, instead of turning toward the highway, he turns, heading into town.
I look at him questionably, wondering what is going on in his mind and where he is planning to take me now. As much as I don’t want to leave Kat’s, I kind of miss home. Although for the most part, I address the place as Andrei’s house, slowly, it’s growing on me and as more days go by, I feel more at home there than I have ever felt anywhere else.
The town looks so small from afar, and oddly, even smaller as we drive through it. I look out of the window and furrow my brows, the town consists of werewolves only. Until today, I thought those who lived closer to civilization blend in with humans, so this is quite a surprise.
A few people on the streets nod to Andrei as he drives past. Even though he isn’t their Alpha, they still show him respect, and I’m pretty sure they do it out of the immense respect they have for Kat.
Andrei stays silent as he drives towards the edge of town, after a few minutes, he finally pulls up at what I first think has to be a park. It couldn’t be anything else, as I can clearly see picnic areas, rows of bench seats in random directions, and giant trees that create shade along the edges of the white fence that surrounds the place.
The lawns are well maintained, and I almost start admiring how calm and beautiful this place is, until I realize we are in a cemetery. Andrei parks the car under a tree and stares at the gravestones. Another moment of silence takes over until he releases a shaky, heavy breath.
“Andrei?” I look at him. “Are you okay?” I ask and reach over to grab his hand, just in case he needs support for whatever reason we have to be here.
“Yeah, I just haven’t been here since her funeral,” Andrei whispers. He doesn’t look at me, instead, he stares out at the cemetery. I have no idea why he brought me here, but it’s clear this drive is hard on him, but he wants to be here.
My gaze slowly turns toward where Andrei is looking, I can see a man in the distance, tending to some of the graves and cleaning them. He has to be the graveyard keeper.
Andrei squeezes my fingers, and slowly pulls his hand out of my grip then opens his car door, and gets out of the vehicle. He walks around the back of the car to the trunk and pops it open.
I climb out of the car to see what he is doing. He pulls a cardboard box out of the trunk, carefully places it on the ground, and shuts the trunk. Andrei bends down to pick the box up with one hand and reaches in his pocket to pull out a piece of folded paper. My eyes follow him as he opens the paper and reads it.
I already noticed earlier that each row of graves is marked with a number, they are impossible to miss. Even standing here, away from those numbers, gives me the creeps. They remind me of a countdown of the inevitable moment death can catch up with anyone.
Andrei startles me when he grabs my hand and tugs me along the rows. He keeps his eyes down, careful not to step on anyone’s grave, as he leads me deeper into the cemetery.
I know it’s not more than a minute or two until Andrei stops us both, but it feels like we have walked at least fifty miles.