Page 22 of Save Me Enemy

Catherine’s a sweet woman, not a strong wolf by any means, but the best cook we’ve ever had. I remember when I was a kid everyone was certain she’d be the next Luna, and I remember the look on her face when Gabriel chose Evelyn instead. I was about five, but I’ll never forget the sorrow in Catherine’s eyes when she saw Evelyn's round belly months later. Somehow, Catherine went from being a potential Luna to serving the Luna day in and day out.

Her gray hair flies haphazardly out of her bonnet and I have to smile. For all she’s suffered, she’s never let it keep her down. Every time I visit this house I come to the kitchens first and she pours my whiskey and makes me something delicious. I could sit here for hours, telling her everything about everyone I’ve encountered. This will be the first time I tell her I’ve found my mate.

“I have news,” I say as she piles a plate with food for me. Eggs, bacon, toast, fried potatoes, and a mountain of sausage links.

“Oh?” She smiles, eyes crinkling at the corners.

“I found my mate.”

Catherine drops the plate of food she was holding and it shatters on the floor. Scraps the cat scampers out from under the table and snatches everything she can fit in her mouth before running away. I eye the cat curiously, wondering how she always seems to turn up where we least expect her. She turns and stares at me with bright green eyes before darting out of the room.

“Are you alright, Catherine?” I ask, stepping around the table to pick up the broken plate for her.

“Oh, y-yes, of course! I was just surprised!”

“Surprised?” I ask, brows knitting together in confusion. Why is she so shocked, did she think I’d be alone forever?

She sighs, wiping the back of her hand over her forehead and leans on the counter. “All you kids are growing up and moving away, first Ruby, and now you too? If you mated with Ruby, you both could have stayed here. I watched you both grow up and now like a blink of an eye, you're moving on.”

I rise to my feet slowly and put the broken shards of glass on the counter and wrap my arms around this sweet, grandmotherly woman.

“I’m not going anywhere, Catherine. I want you to meet her. You've been like a grandparent to me.” I grin at her. “If I could steal you from Evelyn to be the cook at my house, I’d do it.”

Catherine chuckles. “Don’t tempt me, son!” She lightly shoves me away, eyes glassy with unshed tears and cheeks pink with an embarrassed blush. “Tell me about her?”

“She’s amazing, Cat,” I say, leaning against the table as she busies herself with plating servings for everyone who's gathering in the dining areas as we speak. “I just met her and I’m already so… Well, so in love! I never thought I’d say those words. I always knew I’d do my duty for the pack but never expected anything like this, like her.”

“She sounds like a dream.” Catherine pours me a cup of coffee and moves around the kitchens with such fluidity, but I know she’s listening attentively.

“She is a dream, if only she wasn’t sick. I’m here to ask Evelyn to work with Rachel to heal her like they did on the battlefield. It has to work, right?”

“Is she the Dark Moon Alpha’s new sister?” Catherine asks, shoulder stiff as she polishes a glass with her back to me.

“How’d you know?”

“You should try and choose someone else, my boy…don’t put yourself through this heartache.”

“What?” I stand, facing her, trying not to show the anger that's rising inside me. “I didn’t choose her, Cat, fate did. She’s my mate.”

“You thought Ruby was your mate not long ago…”

“That's different!”

“Is it?” she asks.

I freeze. Is it? Is this different from my passion for Ruby? I swore Ruby and I were forever, and yet she’s with Chase. My only hope would be if the mark shows up… I pull the collar of my shirt open and look down, hoping beyond hope the mark is there; but there’s nothing. My chest is as clean and unmarked as the day I was born.

“I’ve loved and lost, Jackson. I’m just trying to protect you.”

“Protect him from what?”

I hunch my shoulders, why is Chase here? I look at him askance as he sits at the table and Cat serves him a plate loaded with bacon. She knows his preferences now too? Something about that makes me bristle.

“Protect him from heartbreak,” Catherine says, shaking her head sadly and pushing a cart of food to the dining area.

“Finding your mate is no heartbreak,” Chase muses quietly, chewing on his bacon as he watches me. He always watches me, studies me, it makes my skin crawl.

“She’s sick,” I say sharply, trying not to glare and failing. I can never like this man, not for anything.

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