Clear Lake

Chapter Thirteen

"It's me." I call through the door.

Kiara opens up, with a confused look, her hair in a messy bun and looking ready for bed.

"I see you went with pants," I say, nodding down at her fuzzy purple pajama pants. "Some might say it's a little much for nighttime wear, but do your own thing, I guess."

She smiles, tentatively.

"Anyway," I continue. "I need to talk to you."

With a resigned expression, she opens her door further to let me in.

While I kept my room simple and only added a few decor items, Kiara has been here long enough to truly make her room her own. She's painted the walls a light yellow color. Her bedspread is patterned with deep purples and blues. Drapes hang artfully from her four poster bed and rich, colorful pieces of art and decor are tastefully placed around the room.

"Your room is gorgeous." I gush, super impressed.

"Thank you." She replies, gesturing for us to sit in the little seating area.

Enough small talk. As soon as I sit down, I get right to business. "Okay. Enough is enough with all of this cryptic garbage that I can't understand. Why did you think I was trying to get you in trouble and what is the deal with Alex?" I finish and wait expectantly.

She looks at me nervously, like she still can't trust me. I huff impatiently.

Fine. I start again. "Look Kiara, he tried to get with me tonight, so if you want to hear that story, you need to tell me what you know."

Her eyes grow huge and she sighs deeply, leaning her head against the back of the couch. When she looks back at me, she looks tired.

"Alex recruited me here, right before I turned 18." She begins. I settle back to listen. "When I graduated high school, I was still 17, but I always knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to work in the school kitchens and..."

"What?! You always wanted to be a lunch lady?!" I tease, smiling at how cute that is.

She looks at me with a smirk, and continues. "Well, yes, but more than that. I want to start programs in the school that teach students how to grow their food, harvest it, and prepare it. It was something I was taught and really built my confidence." That makes me think of what training with Reg has done for me. She looks far off as she tells me. "But yes, I do want to be a lunch lady. My mom was a lunch lady at our school. She was the lunch lady that all the kids knew and loved, because she remembered everyone's names, their favorite food, and always had something nice to say."

I sit up straight. "Ms. Alisha?!"

She smiles warmly at me. "See?" She says.

I immediately sober up. "I'm so sorry." I tell her genuinely.

Ms. Alisha was killed a couple of months ago by rogues, while out for a run. I was so sad when I heard the news, because I knew she was such a sweet soul. Clearly, like her daughter. Like Iris. Genuinely good people. To the core. I see that. Kiara is truly her mother's daughter. Wanting to positively impact others.

Kiara's eyes look glassy with tears, then her face hardens. "Alex killed her." She says, with venom in her voice. Her face darkens and her eyes tinge with amber and I know her wolf is near the surface.

My throat fills with acid that I struggle to swallow back. I choke out, "She wasn't killed by rogues?"

"No." Kiara states firmly, with conviction. She continues. "Alex was visiting the school with the Alpha. I had just started working there. Two weeks in. He spotted me and, of course, I'm going to be polite to the Alpha's son. I gave him a small smile. He came over to me and he asked about my job there. I told him about everything I wanted to do at the school. I was so excited, because he seemed really into the ideas I was sharing." She pauses. "A week later, my mom told me that he called the school and told them I was being pulled to work in the pack house." She works her jaw back and forth, struggling to hold in her emotions. "My mom, the optimist she was, told me it would be a great chance to enhance my skills and promote my ideas for the school. So I went - not that I had much choice. I went in with a good attitude, like Mom encouraged me to have." Her eyes fill again with tears and anger. "That first night, Alex asked me to bring dessert to his office, after dinner."

She stands up and walks over to her window, folding her arms tight. Staring out at the forest.

"That night, he confirmed everything that my mom said. He told me that he wanted me to get all of my ideas together, and the following night, we would discuss them...more thoroughly." She shakes her head. "The following night." She pauses for so long, I think that she might be done with the conversation. "I tried to tell him, that I didn't want to. My mate was the only person allowed to touch me. He threatened to kill my mother. He told me not to worry - He said that we would, as he put it, 'toe the line.' We never mated, thank the goddess, but he touched me. I would lay frozen, imagining ways to kill him, as he...did whatever he wanted. Six months in and it started to not be enough for him. He told me to touch him, and I lost it. I spat in his face and left the room." She starts shaking. I worry that she is about to shift into her wolf, but then I hear a sob.

I hop up quickly and run over to her, pulling her to me. She cries into my shoulder for a few minutes, and I just rub her back. She lifts her face, shaking her head, determined to tell me everything. "I'd pulled away from her, while I was here. I had so much anger and fear inside of me, and I didn't want her to see it. I shouldn't have done that. I should have opened up to her. The next day, I got a call from one of her co-workers."

I barely understand her. Her voice is thick with grief, but she forces the words out. "They said they found her that morning. After I hung up, I went back to my room and there was a note on my bed. It said, 'Defy me again.' He gave me a week to mourn her, before starting again."

Tears run steadily down my cheeks. My wolf is whimpering in pain for her. What a monster.

She looks up at me, her face red and blotchy, full of despair and concern. "Did he touch you?"

My grief turns sharply to anger. "No." I say firmly. "And he won't touch you again." I promise. "If he asks you to bring him dessert again, tell me, because I have no trouble delivering." She looks confused. I've hidden my fighting skills from everyone, except for Reggie. Even Iris and Kristy don't know that side of me. I continue. "He tried to touch me, but I can be persuasive...so, basically, he won't attempt to touch me again." The satisfaction of his brief pain thrums through me once more, but this time is tainted with the fact that I wish I would have done more damage.

Kiara looks at me, worriedly. "Sarah, don't make him angry. He's dangerous. And evil." She shakes her head, her eyes still full of tears.

I look at her distressed expression, and shake my head. "I'll do my best." I tell her half-heartedly, knowing that I've already crossed that line.

I talk with Kiara for hours after that, before leaving to go to my room. In that short time, listening to how she wants to make a difference in others' lives, I think again about what I want. I wanted to stay in my comfort zone, doing what I enjoyed doing, for the benefit of myself. Being around Kiara is a wake up call about how I was trying to live my own life. All I've thought about is me, me, me, and I feel a little shame well up inside me.

As I lay in bed later, I think about everything else she told me. Alex punished her by killing her mom. Would Alex hurt Iris? She's a more prominent wolf than Ms. Alisha, and the news would be even bigger if something happened to her. Unease sits in my stomach, like sour milk. I set my alarm for 3:30AM. Which is two hours from now. Lovely.