Drowning In Shallow Water

9

Ever felt stupid and regretted something you had said and done? I did. As sleep left my swollen eyes, I recalled what had happened the night before and just wished it was all a dream. It wasn't unfortunately, and I couldn't lock myself in my room all day.

My stomach growled loudly, reminding me that I hadn't had dinner last night. I gathered some courage and walked out of my room, still in my pajamas. I pretended to be unbothered when silence fell over the dining table and slipped into an empty seat. Martha was busy in the kitchen, as usual, and I had taken it upon myself to doodle on the table after bidding everyone good morning.

"Sleep well?" Martha asked me, pushing the bacon away from Luther and Anna after they kept getting more for themselves.

I nod. "Yeah."

"We'll be visiting Margot again today. Is that okay?" She said and I nodded again. "And we pushed back the day for you to go to school, to give you some time."

"May I please have more bacon?" Little Anna asked politely, with a wide smile that revealed two missing teeth.

Anna had been excited to have another girl staying with her. I had been tasked to tea parties and hairdos so many times, sometimes Kaden being dragged along. He made a very handsome dragon prince...

"That's enough for you Anna," Martha declined, barely glancing her daughter a glance.

Anna pouted. "That's not fair! Where's Kaden? He'd give me some bacon if he was here."

There was a tense moment over the table. Even though I was determined to ignore everyone, I had noticed that Andrew had his head behind the newspaper and that Danny's entire attention was on Brianna as he fed her. Those lovebirds were going to make me sick. Luther and Anna occasionally squabbled about something or the other. Martha would eat a little before leaving for the kitchen to bring more toast or hot coffee.

"Brianna and I will be heading out to town. We'll be back late," Danny said, his eyes fixed on Brianna.

I held myself from scoffing. Weren't we going to talk about last night? Was he going to ignore the fact that he was bossing me around? I put that out of my mind, giving some of my bacon to Anna. I had lost my appetite.

"Do you know where Kaden is? He's supposed to take me to school today," Anna lamented, distressed about her brother's whereabouts.

Kaden spoiled her way too much.

"Kaden is staying at the pack house for training," Andrew finally replied to the question. "He'll be training a lot so he has to stay there."

"When will he be back?" Luther asked between mouthfuls of scrambled eggs.

Andrew gave me a look. "When he has been trained enough."

Oh. That's what he meant. I'm not entirely sure but I think Kaden will be staying at the pack house because of me. Maybe it's because of that instinct thing Martha talked about. I cringed at the thought of me being his mate. What does that even mean? Danny said Brianna was his mate, did that hold some significance? Was I supposed to be all mushy with Kaden? I didn't think I was ready for any of that.

"Will you walk me to school, Nicole?" Anna asked, and I ignored how she got my name wrong since I would have to get used to that.

I looked to Martha and Andrew to check if that was okay. Martha nodded.

"Luther knows the way. He'll show you," Martha said, moving to get their bags.

I watched as Anna waved her parents goodbye before we began walking down the path, Luther leading the way. Anna wouldn't stop talking unless Luther called her out for lying. I had some fun with them until Anna let out an excited scream.