Kill Or Be Killed

Chapter Forty-Five

Scale Number: 1

The inside of the truck was filled with a thick silence that was almost physically enough to slice with one of the knives skillfully hidden in her jacket lining. One of the first modifications she had to make to the clothes she'd bought or stolen from thrift stores, in the time she'd been effectively evading the Table's work dogs. All of which had been related to her safety or comfort due to her rapidly growing belly. Something she had her head wrapped around protectively, ready to protect him or her from everyone, her own Pretekter included. No one would take her baby away from her, not even Kalayavan. She cast a sideways glance at the Relevent in question, sitting next to her in the center aisle of the fully packed SUV.

His own blue glaze already locked on her swollen abdomen, but his face was free of any emotion. Making it impossible to tell what he was thinking, let alone if those thoughts were good or bad. Was he reconsidering taking her to the Elders? Because that's where he was taking her, right? Or was he just looking forward to training another generation of killers? Locked in this underground evil dungeon place, where she assumed they were going. If they really had wanted her dead, they would have done it already. Or so she thought.

"You're like, totally huge." Cat was taken aback by the voice behind her, and when she didn't respond to him, he added, "You do know that, don't you?"

Cat had to shift her weight before she was able to get a better look in the very back row of the vehicle. The man wasn't as dark as Rex, but it was close, and he was watching her with a far stranger interest. Not that he was paying any attention to the glares he was not getting from the other Relevents in the truck. Her own brows coming together, wondering if she'd just misheard his comment.

Although, judging from the way the other two were looking at him, and even the glances he was getting through the rear view mirror from Halrim and the driver, she hadn't misheard anything. "Excuse me?" She asked anyway, as she knew their secrets weren't public knowledge.

"Your stomach," he clarified this time, reaching over the back of her seat to point. Not that Kal let it linger there for more than a minute, snapping the man's wrist in an uncomfortable looking position. Making him retreat and simply nod down as if she could have forgotten the thing was attached to her. "The women in our..." he hesitated, looking for the right lie, "...family have never grown to such a size while bringing children to term. The size would get in the way of their jobs, which is more important anyway." His brows jerked up, fixating on her face with his dark eyes once more, "Are you special or something?"

Her eyes darted to Kalayavan for some kind of sign of what she was supposed to say in a situation like his. Again falling under the category of what to and what not to walk about. Only he was tilting his head, looking at her with the same look of curiosity. Like she was about to spill her guts right there in front of all these strangers, one she knew worked for the bad guys of her story. It made her wonder if it had anything to do with her being a Kanfedant; and if it did, why didn't they all seem to know anything about it like Hunter had?

"I don't think so,' she finally answered, lifting a single shoulder in ignorance, to convince the other four in the truck that she had no more answers than they did. Well at least four of the five were, as only one person there could see right through her. "Maybe it's twins or something."

The blunt Relevent behind her scoffed in an extremely dismissive way, "That's not possible."

"Why not? People have twins all the time," she faltered when she actually thought about it, they weren't people.

"Our family doesn't mother twins," Kalayavan explained in a calm tone, only confusing her more.

"Ever?" His wording is a little particular, this time it was her brows that shot up, "Wait, don't you mean, your family doesn't father twins?" It was kind of an obvious distinction, a mother always had the child, it was the man who was fathering a particular child or children.