Even before she started the run, Kendra knew that Killian was eventually going to catch up. He wasn’t the best horseman in all of Dronis for nothing, after all.
Granted, she wasn’t so bad herself, and Nightshade was a dear most of the time.
That attitude was reserved exclusively for her though, and he was just plain rude and mean to everyone else, yet he did allow other people to ride him,
But Killian and his horse, Ethereal’s relationship was just— for lack of a better word— otherworldly. The two understood each other, so much so that sometimes, the Alpha didn’t even need to issue commands, the white mare could just sense what he wanted.
Oh, and she only allowed Killian to ride her.
With Killian rapidly closing the distance between them, Kendra found herself pushing Nightshade more than she usually did, but the horse wasn’t complaining though. They crossed Silver Crest in less than an hour, entering the thick forest that would lead them into Quirkshire… and that was when the clouds began to form.
It surprised the Beta how fast it was suddenly about to rain, for their part of the Axon barely received rain, and with everything going on in her life, she couldn’t help but try to read the divine into it. Who knew? Maybe some goddess of the rain somewhere wanted to sabotage her plans, but she was very much determined to see it through.
Kendra knew she had to seek shelter for herself and her horse in that moment, but she so desperately wanted to outrun Killian that she pushed those thoughts aside, forcing her horse on and on.
Streaks of lighting, soft rumbles of thunder, but Kendra still moved on, undeterred, pushing her horse on even though she noticed he was becoming increasingly agitated.
She therefore wasn’t so surprised when one very loud rumble of thunder set the poor beast off, causing him to rear backwards, neighing loudly. It took a lot of effort and expertise to get her to still hold on, and with a smart backflip, she managed to land on the ground in perfect condition, much worried about her horse now as she tried to calm him down, “Easy boy, easy… I’m so sorry,” She apologised, feeling guilty. The rain had been so unexpected, but she should have stopped and found shelter earlier,
At least her horse wouldn’t have become so agitated.
From a distance, she could hear sounds of a horse approaching, the sound letting her know that Killian had finally caught up with her. She groaned in anger. Things wouldn’t have gotten to this point if it hadn’t been for him.
“What’s going on?” She heard him say in concern as Ethereal slowed down to a trot, neighing loudly, probably at the sight of Nightshade looking so frightened.
The she-wolf ignored him, not wanting to say something harsh that she’d regret later. Yes, she was that pissed. For a while, she thought that her silence would just get him to drop it, but she had forgotten that he was still the same Killian, the same person who was just as stubborn as her if not even more.
“Kendra?”
Okay, now she couldn’t hold back anymore, she had officially lost it.
“WHAT?” She lashed out, “Why is it that you always have to find a way to ruin things for me, huh? I’m tired. Fucking tired of having you in my life, butting in, trying to help when all you do is just make things worse.”
The Alpha was silent for a long time, and for a brief moment, Kendra felt a pang of guilt course through her. “That’s what you think of me?” He said finally, voice low and emotionless. “Wow. At least, I know how you really feel about me now. To think that a part of me thought that renouncing the pack was a bad idea, because I had this notion that you were going to come around eventually, but all along, all you saw me as was some kind of hindrance.”
There was a last dramatic rumble of thunder that seemed to have chosen the perfect time to bellow… almost as though it had witnessed the breaking of hearts and wanted to voice out its condolences, but that rumble of thunder someway somehow unleashed the pent up rain finally. It started as a light drizzle, getting heavier by the minute, so much so that even though the Alpha desperately wanted to be as far away from his Beta as possible, he knew that they needed to find shelter first.
He didn’t say a word, he just left her standing there as he walked through the rain trying to find them a place to stay and wait out the incoming storm, but she went after him, wise enough to keep silent and just try to guess what he wanted to do.
Thankfully he soon found a place, a small shed that could keep their horses out of the rain and a small shack that they could squeeze into until the storm passed and at a good time too, for no sooner had they secured the horses than the rain began to pour in torrents raining down their heads so heavily that by the time they made it into the shack, they were both drenched.
At that point, Killian had managed to get his anger and hurt under control… or maybe he hadn’t, and he just wanted to see his best friend alright, for he found himself saying, “You’ll need to get out of your clothes and into something warmer,” But the stubborn she-wolf brushed his concerns aside, “I’ll be fine,” She said to him, and then unable to control her annoyance, she said, “Had it not been for you, I’d have probably been in Quirkshire by now.”
She was still upset, because she had a whole itinerary planned out, and Killian knew just how much she hated being off schedule.
But what the fuck had he even been thinking?
She tried to ask herself for the umpteenth time.
Because, the whole quest had been to get away from him and clear her head without the pull from the mate link getting in the way, and she had told him all of this. He had been fine with it, understanding where she had been coming from, and then now, boom…
He wanted to go with her on her adventure.
To make things worse, he had renounced the pack!
The entire day, Kendra had felt weird, but she couldn’t place a finger on what exactly had been wrong. Now, it all made sense.
Everything was starting to make sense now.
How Rhea had kept her company all day, and then later on Artemis… how Rhea had advised her against going to check on her garden, giving her the lame excuse that sometimes plants needed a day away from their tenders…
It all made sense.
The whole revelation made her even more upset, but she did her best to quell the anger,
Cos it wasn’t going to do her any good.
She had to spend the entire night in a tight shack cooped up with him, and if she didn’t get her irritation under control, it was going to consume her,
And so she had decided…
She was going to give him the silent treatment, both for her sake and his.
Searching through the pocket of her breeches, she reached for a candle and matches, praying to whoever cared to listen that the match would light up, even though it was slightly wet.
It did, six tries later,
And then there was light.
With light in the shack now, Killian reached for his riding shirt and tugged it of his body, revealing sinewy abs and biceps, causing the poor female to almost drool in appreciation.
She knew she had promised to give him the silent treatment and all that, but she had to break it, lord knows if not for anything at all, for her sanity.
“W-what are you doing?”
Killian shot her a pointed look, “What does it look like? I don’t want to catch a cold,” He told her, inwardly rejoicing at the fact that she wasn’t as unaffected by him as she claimed to be.
“Well, you should wear something else then, though I don’t even know why you want to do anything about it anyway, it’s not as if we werewolves catch colds easily,” She rebutted, but he only shrugged, “Prevention is better than cure, Princess.”
“Don’t call me that,” She lashed out again, even though she had promised herself that she wouldn’t. It wasn’t exactly her fault, his semi-naked state, and his annoyingly handsome face were what was causing all of this.
She watched him playfully raise his arms in surrender, the actions causing his biceps to flex a little bit, “As you wish, my lady.” He muttered with a small smirk.
Kendra closed her eyes and swallowed deeply.
It was going to be a very long night.