BK 2 - Chapter 58 - Waking Kitty
"What do you mean?" Aiden asked Janel in question as she continued to stare at Kitty.
"She was a foster girl that lived with us when I was thirteen. My dad tried to rape me on her first night there. Her room was right across the hall from mine. She came out when she heard me screaming, which got my mom's attention. She took Kitty back into her room and got my dad off me. My parents didn't let me go to school the next day. I overheard my mom telling my dad he could have Kitty if he left me alone, and they didn't want me to tell her."
Janel stopped talking because she knew what had happened to Kitty the next night, but it wasn't her place to tell anyone. She had tears running down her face as she thought Kitty had shown no fear of turning her parents in for what they'd done to her. Janel had always admired her even though she didn't get to know her.
"What did your dad do to her?" Aiden asked through clenched teeth. He could already guess, but he wanted to hear it. Harley was growling inside of him as they held Kitty a little tighter.
"That's for Kitty to tell you. She and I have talked about this. She'll tell you when she's ready." Valerie walked over and put her arm around Janel. She didn't want her to feel pressured to say anything more.
"Valerie, can you and Janel go upstairs to my bedroom and get some clothes for Kitty? Then we can let the men back inside." Cat smiled as she went to sit next to a furious Aiden on the couch. Maggie went upstairs to check on Kayla and Theo.
"Sure, we'll be right back." When they had left, Cat turned toward her brother-in-law.
"You need to calm down. Terrible things happened to Kitty before she met you that she hadn't wanted to share. She has to deal with those things herself before she can talk about them with others. It doesn't mean she loves you any less because she isn't ready to open up to you." She put her hand on his and could feel the anger leaving him.
"Thank you. All I could see was red when Janel was talking. I won't pressure Kitty to tell me anything. Right now, I just want her to wake up. What if she doesn't? What am I going to do without her?" He bent down and kissed Kitty's cool forehead while his tears fell.
"Don't think like that. She'll wake up. You heard Maggie and Chuck. They both said she and Zola were doing well. We just have to be patient." Aiden had never been more thankful for his brother's mate than he was right now. She was the calm in the middle of the storm.
"Cat, promise me you and Trey will always stay close to Kitty and me. I don't know how we can get through the hard stuff without you." He smiled at her feeling much calmer than he did a few minutes ago.
"Of course, we'll always be close. We're family." She got up as Valerie, Janel and Maggie returned. Kitty and Valerie helped Aiden slip a t-shirt and shorts on Kitty. Aiden mindlinked Trey to tell him he and the others could come back.
Everyone stood or sat around, waiting for Kitty to wake up. Cat went upstairs to where Kayla and Theo were so she could feed the little cub while Roger ordered pizza for everyone as they waited.
After feeding Theo, Cat put him down for a nap and took Kayla downstairs so she could get something to eat. When Kayla saw Kitty lying on Aiden's lap, she looked worried as she picked up on the melancholy feel of the room. She looked toward Trey, sitting in a chair near the couch, and walked over to him. Without a word, she sat on his lap and put her head on his shoulder.
Trey stroked Kayla's head as she lay against him. He was surprised that she had wanted to sit with him over her parents or Cat, but he didn't say anything.
"She feels safe with you, Trey. I saw by the look on her face she knew something was wrong when we walked into the room. You're the monster catcher, and she knows you won't let any harm come to her." Cat mindlinked him when she saw the surprise on his face when Kayla had sat on his lap. She understood what the young girl was feeling. When something isn't feeling right, you find the person you think will protect you the most. To Kayla, that person is Trey, the monster catcher.
It had been almost four hours since Kitty had been shot when they heard her moan. Everyone held their breath as they waited to see if she would open her eyes. Aiden rubbed her face with the back of his hand.
Kitty felt a slight soreness in her shoulder, and her head was throbbing. She didn't want to open her eyes because she thought it might make her head explode. When she felt someone rubbing her cheek, she recognized the sparks and knew it was Aiden.
*"Are you awake?"* Zola sounded distant, but she could hear her.
*"Yes, what happened to us?"* The last thing she remembered was running through the forest.
*"We were shot by those men following you and Aiden."*
*"What? Are Aiden and Harley okay?"* She asked in a panic.
*"Are you ready to open your eyes and see for yourself?"* Kitty noticed that Zola sounded closer.
*"Yes."*
Kitty slowly opened her eyes, afraid it would be bright wherever she was. When her eyes adjusted, she realized she was looking up at Aiden, and he had tears running down his face. Her heart hurt seeing him cry for her.
"Why are you crying?" She asked him with a scratchy voice.
"I thought I'd lost you." He kissed her forehead, and she snuggled closer to him.
"You're not getting rid of me yet, lion man," Kitty said softly.
"Why did she call him a lion?" She heard a child's voice ask. That's when she turned her head and saw how many people were there.
"Welcome back, Kitty. How are you feeling?" Cat came over and kneeled on the floor, so they were face to face.
"I feel pretty good, actually. Zola said we got shot." Kitty sat up with Cat and Aiden's help. Aiden didn't let her go any further than his lap.
"Who is Zola?" Kitty looked at Trey and saw Kayla sitting on his lap with a confused look.
"Do you remember when we told you that some people are special and can be human and animals?" Maggie asked her daughter with a smile. Kayla looked at her, confused.
"Yes, but no one here is an animal. They look human to me." Kayla answered her.
"We're werelions," Trey said as he let Atlas purr so Kayla could hear him. She put her ear against him and listened while everyone watched.
"What? Is that why you catch monsters because you have a lion?" She asked in awe.
"Well, my lion does like to catch monsters." Everyone laughed as Atlas purred louder in agreement.
"So everyone here is a lion except my parents and me?" Kayla was disappointed. She wanted to be an animal too.
"We're not lions, little one," Thatcher said quietly. "I'm a vampire, and Janel is a human, but she'll be a vampire soon."
"Does that mean one day I could be an animal or a vampire or something else?" Kayla asked excitedly, and everyone laughed.
"It's always possible. We never know who we're going to fall in love with." Cat walked over to sit next to Trey and Kayla.
Kitty was taking it all in with a smile. After being shot, she surprisingly felt fine. She looked around at the people there, and her eyes fell on Janel. She looked familiar, but she didn't know why. The blonde girl looked nervous, with Kitty staring at her.
"Do I know her?" She asked Aiden thinking maybe she had some amnesia or something.
"That's Janel. She's the mate of Thatcher, the vampire who was watching Cat. She said she knew you when you were in foster care." Aiden looked at Kitty to see if she remembered her without him having to say anymore. He didn't want to think about what Janel's dad had done to her.
Kitty remembered who Janel was now. She was the foster girl she had seen being raped. She knew Aiden wouldn't let her up, so she waved Janel over. She walked over with Thatcher by her side.
"I remember you, Janel. I'm so sorry I didn't do anything to stop what the foster dad was doing to you. I convinced myself that what I saw wasn't what happened." Kitty felt tears running down her cheeks when she thought of that night.
"That man was my biological father, and my mom made him stop after you saw him. I'm sorry I didn't keep him from you. They wouldn't let me out of my room because they didn't want me to warn you. I'm so sorry." Janel fell to her knees, crying while Thatcher tried to comfort her.
Kitty was speechless. She had thought the blonde girl she saw that night was another foster child. Why would a parent do that to their daughter? She couldn't sit there while Janel sobbed. She got off Aiden's lap and knelt before putting her arms around Janel.
"Please don't cry for me. You didn't have to go back there, did you?" Kitty asked as they both cried.
"No, I was sent to live with my grandmother in Sacramento. I never had to see my parents again. You saved me from him. He wouldn't have stopped if you hadn't come out of your room that night. You were so strong, and I have never forgotten what you did for me." Both girls were sobbing now, and everyone who felt their heartache was crying with them.
"Janel, he may have been the first to do that to me, but he wasn't the last."
