CHAPTER 66: CHAPTER 66 (FIRST KISS)

Chapter 66

Kaeleen’s POV

I walked into my home with a resigned sigh.

"Is everything alright?" Astrid asked me making me jump in shock because I had no idea she was right next to me or even in the living room.

"Yeah..." I started but then thought better of it. There was no need lying to her when I wasn’t really okay. Not after what I had just seen in Serena’s home. "No, not really." I told her.

"What’s the matter?" She asked me with genuine concern on her face.

I walked to a couch and sat on it rubbing my hands down my face.

"You know I told you I had to go somewhere first before heading into the office?" I asked her.

"Yes?"

"I went to see Serena."

That brought a smile to her face. "How is she? I did not see her at the welcome party. Rebecca said she had something to do."

But then as the realisation dawned on her, her smile dropped and she stared with a frown.

"Is Serena the reason why you are like this? Is something wrong with her?" She asked me.

Her voice was soft and it reminded me of how she had been out if sorts with all the card and attention she had received from the pack members. Funny thing is, she was doing the same thing right now. She hadn’t even gotten to know my sister’s well and she was genuinely worried that something might have happened to one of them. She was a fucking saint and it irked me that those who had hurt her did not realise just how kind she was.

"Yeah. Sometime ago, she convinced her mate to go to the hospital for a check up because he’d been having frequent headaches and behaving out of sorts. We discovered it was a tumour. She got the results the day of the welcome party. Hence why she left early that day." I told her.

"Oh my god." She said. "I really had no idea she was going through a lot."

"That’s the thing. Serena doesn’t like to depend on people. She doesn’t tell me or Rebecca what’s going on in her life. She keeps her cards close to her chest. It was something even my mother couldn’t stop but when she found Hunter, she began opening up. He convinced her to rely on people namely him because he is the only person she tells everything. And now the person that has always been her confidant is suffering from something that could take his life from her." I told her.

"The results...it’s cancerous?" She asked me with wide eyes.

I gave her a nod. "It has spread to some parts of his brain already. Serena is kicking herself for not pushing him to get to the hospital sooner. Hunter hates that he is the one making her feel this much hurt."

"What annoys me more isn’t the fact that this disease could kill him but the fact that Serena didn’t tell anyone. They’ve started chemotherapy already and I didn’t know. Hunter doesn’t even look like the same person I saw a while ago. And this hurts me also because he’s like a big brother. The calm guy that I could always run to. I..."

I have no idea when Astrid approached me. She wound her arms aroufme giving me a hug. I took in her scent and how her presence grounded me. Ever since my visit with Serena I’ve been out of sorts. I promised my mum I’d watch over my siblings. I may be the youngest but I wnated to be someone they could depend on.

Serena has always been like an extra mother to me. And I hated that she was going through something like this. I hated that she didn’t trust me enough to depend on me. To tell me when things were difficult for her and when she needed help. This wasn’t something she could fight alone. Hell, she didn’t even need to fight this alone. She had me and Rebecca and a pack full of thousands of people who would do anything for her because she was loved by them.

"We can’t give up yet." Astrid murmurs.

"There are people who fight this disease and Hunter is going to be one of them." She tells me.

"But what if..."

"Don’t let the what ifs rule you. You have to e string for your sister and if you are this way, how is she going to be able to depend on you? How is she going to be able to trust you? You need to be strong for not just her but yourself also. Hunter is like a brother to you right?" She asked as she released me.

I missed her embrace all too soon and I wanted to take her back into my arms. I just wanted to take in that sweet scent of hers that did things to my brain. I’ve had my fair share of women but no one had the type of effect that Astrid had on me. It was like she cursed me or something. And as much as I wanted to do more with her and to her, I knew I had to take it slow. Astrid wasn’t ready and besides, we were talking about something else. I could not let my desire for her cloud my thought process.

"He is." I told her, replying to her question.

"Then all the more reason why you need to be stronger." She said to me.

"How did you cope with the loss of your sister, before you found out she was alive?" I asked her.

She had told me her story of her and her sister and I couldn’t imagine losing any part of my family. Just the thought that there was a probability I could loose Hunter was sending me over the edge. But for her, she had lost her sister not once but twice now.

She gave me a sad smile. "I couldn’t do anything. I could t sleep, eat, read, play. Doing things I normally did felt too hard. I just couldn’t do it." She said to me.

"But you did."

"Not at first. At first, the only thing that kept me going was that we would find her but as time went in, I realised that that wasn’t the case and that I may have just killed my sister."

"You didn’t kill her." I argued.

"Maybe not directly but I was a cause. If I hadn’t convinced her to check out the forest with me, then she never would have gone missing. Everyday I woke up staring outside, wishing that she’d come back home. That I’ll hear her voice and tell me to get my ass up. And when I realised she wants coming back, I’d go into the forest to look for her. After much walking, I’d go home and cry silently because if my father heard me, he’d hit me because it was because of me. Later on, I took on her roles. I tried to fill in for her. Doing things she would normally do. Acting more like a lady. I stopped playing with my friends or rather they stopped playing with me because the adults claimed I was cursed. That I had killed my sister. They called me the bad influence." She said with a soft smile that broke my heart into a thousand pieces.

"But even that wasn’t enough because at the end of the day, I wasn’t my sister. I could t replace her and my father had been vocal about it. I couldn’t blame him though because as much as I argued it, it was my fault we went into the forest." She said to me.

"But..." I began but she interrupted me.

"But my story isn’t yours. You still have hope even though it’s miniscule. I know how scary the word cancer is. But there are also those who have survived. There are people with testimonies about their journey. Instead of wallowing in self pity and guilt and thinking about how much this affected your family, you should try to be strong. If you need strength, then I’ll lend you some of mine because it isn’t over until it’s over." She said with a smile plastered on her face.

It was a small smile but it was enough. Everything she said was fucking enough and I couldn’t appreciate her more. Maybe this was what I wanted after all. The strength to stay strong and bit give up hope. I starred into those brown orbs of hers that gave me hope. My eyes tracing every contour if her face. Every freckle and everything that screamed perfection to me. Her lips parted and I didn’t think. I could not even think because I was guided by impulse and perhaps Ryker who had been longing for this all along.

I closed the distance between us, my lips grazed hers softly at first. Just a little touch but that small sound she made, made me go further. My hands encircled her neck, bringing her closer as my tongue exited her luscious and warm mouth.