Cold As Stone

Chapter 8

Katherine sighed as she sat on the bed. She had been alone for almost two days now. Of course Elias brought her food and let her wander the house but Sicily no longer came over and Elias was gone most of the day. She didn't know why but she missed being around his intimidating presence. She missed Sicily's sense of humor. She missed being around people in general.

She wondered if her parents and sister were looking for her yet. She had been gone for almost 4 days now, or at least that's what she thought it was. She wondered how Charity went about telling them her twin sister she was supposed to be watching just suddenly disappeared. Were they worried about her? Did they think she was dead now? Did Charity feel as bad as she did for the terrible way they had been treating each other the last two years? Was she ever--

"Hi," Katherine looked up startled and then glared at the stranger standing in the doorway.

"You pushed me out of the tree!" Katherine glared harder as she pointed at Zac who quickly returned her glare. He was just trying to be nice and was coming up here to offer her a walk outside. After all it had to be driving her nuts to be stuck in this quiet house all day but now he wasn't so sure that was a good idea.

"You bit me. And I didn't push you, you fell. There is a big difference Miss Katherine," he folded his arms over his chest and stared hard at the human.

She rolled her eyes and then turned her head to the side.

"Is there something I can help you with?" While she did her best not to say a word to Elias since the night he kicked Sicily out of the house. She had no beef with this new stranger. It actually felt nice to talk to somebody other than herself, even if he did push her out of the tree which resulted in her broken leg.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" He ignored the attitude she was giving him and waited for her reply. It looked like she was struggling with a reply before she quickly nodded her head a few times.

"Shoes then, and you have to promise not to bite me again." Zac joked, ignoring the dark look that Katherine had shot him. He watched in amusement as the small brunette limped around the room looking for a shoe for her unbroken foot. She really was a cute girl and it was a shame that his older brother wouldn't be able to accept her. Zac had a feeling she really would fit into the family nicely. Even the pack for that matter.

After a few more moments Katherine had her borrowed shoe on, a shoe she figured had come from Sicily, and a warm jacket. Wherever the boys had brought her was much colder than her school campus. The thought of the school campus made her frown. She was so close to being done with school and now she was positive she would never finish. Not that the thought really bothered her, she would much rather be outside or actually making a contribution to society, but it was still something she would never get to finish.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Zac mumbled as they walked out the front door and into the forest without a word passing between them. Zac was sure the girl was just as lonely has he had been the last few years.

After Elias had discovered that his mate was human and that he would never be able to be with her he changed leaving Zac without his fun and carefree older brother. Well as fun and as carefree as an Alpha could be. It had been two years since Elias ever really showed any positive emotion and Zac was worried about him but since Katherine had been here his older brother had loosened up slightly and that was giving Zac hope.

Maybe there was a way for the human to be apart of their lives without The Others' interfering with them and destroying their lives again... Maybe.

"I won't get to finish school, will I?" Zac looked down at the girl, who was actually two years older than him, and pursed his lips. The silent answer was enough for Katherine and she let out a sigh.

"I figured as much. It's okay. I was never really one for school anyways. I would rather be outside in nature or traveling the world or--"

"Doing something productive?" Zac cut in and Katherine looked up at him before nodding her head. Now a lot of people around Katherine were free spirited, like her sister Charity, but not in the way Katherine was. Katherine could feel it inside her that she was meant for more than a life of drinking and partying. There was more to it than that, there had to be.

"You remind me of my brother, he thought the exact same way you did before our mother died." Katherine faltered in her step and Zac paused to look at her. He knew that Elias was doing his best to keep her distance from the girl but he didn't think he was completely ignoring her. He could only imagine the torture it was for his older brother to have the only thing he really wanted in life so close to him yet so far away.

"I take it Elias isn't talking to you at all?" It was then Katherine's turn to purse her lips. She didn't know if she wanted Elias to be talking to her. Well she did, she actually wanted it more than anything else she had ever wanted in her entire life, but he was so cold towards her and she didn't know what to make of it. So instead of answering she just shook her head and looked down.

Zac didn't know if talking about his mother was a good or bad thing but he felt that Katherine deserved more than she was getting. The poor girl had been prisoner in his brother's home for nearly 5 days now without much contact. And he knew that even though she didn't understand the bond she was still feeling it too. So he began to speak,

"It happened when I was two so I can only piece together what happened from what I've been told but Elias was almost ten. He was really close with our mom so when she died it really shook him up. Our father is a wonderful man, he's very wise and sharp, but he doesn't really connect on an emotional level anymore." He paused. It was going to be harder explaining this to a human but he knew he had to do his best. If there was any chance Katherine could give Elias a shot it was going to be because of what Zac was telling her now. He knew Elias was never going to give the human the time of day on his own but maybe if he could convince her to try and open him up...

"Anyways one day my mom had Elias and Sicily in the backyard helping her rake up some leaves. My dad was at work and I was in my crib taking a nap. My mom wasn't paying attention and she was like you so it wasn't like she would have been able to sense them anyways--" he paused and bit his tongue before continuing, "out of nowhere these men came and took her away. But not before beating the hell out of Elias and Sicily. It caused a panic in our neighborhood and a couple of people were hurt really badly trying to stop the men from taking my mother but they did anyways."

"My dad tried for weeks to get her back and a lot of people in our pa-- neighborhood went after her but by the time they reached she was dead. They tortured her for weeks. It was hell on our family and it took years for my father to become a father to us again. My Aunt Anne and Uncle Richard took us in until Elias was old enough to get my father to snap out of it," Zac frowned. It was until Elias turned 16 actually that Hiram pulled himself together and started teaching Elias how to be an Alpha.

"T-that's terrible Zac. I'm so sorry," Katherine ignoring her shaking hand as she placed it on his back. While Katherine didn't think it was an excuse for Elias to be as cold as he was towards her it gave her a piece of the puzzle. She couldn't imagine having to go through that as a child and coming out of it a normal function person.

"It was a long time ago and we've healed ourselves as best as we could. The point in me telling you this was to not judge Elias. We've had a rough time without our mother but especially him and from what I've heard about her, you're almost a spitting image." Zac smiled softly at her and bumped her with his arm. She smiled back briefly but then looked down at the ground.

Why did it matter what Katherine thought of Elias? Sure for whatever reason she felt the most at home she had ever felt when she was with him. But that was nothing right? She was going to make it nothing.

Her ribs hardly hurt anymore and she was sure that at the right moment she could get away without anybody noticing. She was determined to get away from Elias.

She was also determined to ignore the part of her that was screaming at her to never think that way again. She wasn't going to play into the whole Stockholm Syndrome game. Katherine knew she was better than that and she knew when the moment was right she could get away, after all this was the most interaction she'd had in days.

Tonight. Tonight after she was sure Elias was asleep and she wouldn't be caught she would leave.

It was for the best her brain told her.

Her heart just wasn't so sure.