I finally understand, the only reason I'm here is because Nick is a selfish brat, he wants things to go his way, so he used the best excuse he had to bring me here. I shrug.
Well, even with this information nothing changes. I knew he was a selfish narcissist, and I can't get away from here on my own, at least not without proper preparations and that would take time so for the moment, I will relax. They already promised to tell my dad, for their own safety I hope they're not lying.
I finally noticed the loud laughter engulfing the kitchen, I look at the source and I see Dylan laughing loudly, I wonder why's he laughing. I'm curious but I don't want to talk to him, he's one of my kidnapers after all.
Let's just go from the kitchen, nothing good is going to come out of dealing with these crazy bastards. I walk towards Jos, sitting in the empty seat next to her and Lucas. "Jos" I say calmly, and she looks at me in surprise.
"Yes?" she says while smiling.
"Can we go somewhere quiet?" I ask. I honestly don't want to stay in such a loud room.
She gets up from her seat, Lucas following behind her as if he was a bodyguard. We walk out of the kitchen quietly, thankfully Nick's too busy dealing with Dylan's laughter, so we walk without anyone stopping us… well… Katherine's also following behind us but she's trying nothing, so I'll leave her alone.
I finally notice Jos's expression. She's looking at me with embarrassment and guilt. She opens her mouth to say something, but no words come out. Why is she like that? Does she have a stomachache?
"Do you have to go to the bathroom? There's nothing embarrassing about that, it's a normal physiological need, it means you're alive" I say. After all, you can only do such things when you're alive, when you die you only exist but can't do anything else.
She opens her eyes wide, the expression she had before completely disappearing and leaving shock behind. She hits my arm playfully and laughs "How the hell do you manage to get such weird conclusions!?" she says between laughers. Mmmmh… apparently my interpretation was wrong, but at least she looks happy now.
"If you weren't embarrassed because of that then why did you make that face?" I ask curiously.
"Allie…" her guilty face returns and gulps before she keeps talking "I'm sorry… I'm sorry I couldn't stop Nick… I… I know this must be scary but a really selfish part of me is glad you're here" she looks away from my face, avoiding my gaze "I'm glad our Luna is here… I'm sorry, deep down I didn't try hard enough because I wanted you here".
"I see" I say calmly, I'm not really angry at Jos, I wonder why. "It's alright Jos, I'm not angry at you but I'm not planning on staying here" I say honestly.
"Are you… going to escape?" Jos asks slowly.
"No" I reply "Nick will let me go in a week tops".
Lucas, Katherine, and Jos are looking at me as if I was crazy. I understand why though, this mate's deal seems to be a lifetime thing but that's for them, I'm not like them and I refuse to be the lover of someone as annoying.
"Alice… I don't think he's going to let you go… he wants you here" I hear Katherine say and I smile faintly, I know he will try to keep me here but if he's a good leader he will let me go or this place will become a carnage, a carnage I'm not willing to stop.
"I know" I reply casually. We envelop in comfortable silence, no one talked to me for a while, and I was really grateful for it.
We arrive at the elevator, and I see Katherine pushing the button for the fifth floor. They start talking again but this time we talk about random topics. Well, they talk and I listen.
We arrived at a blue wooden door and Katherine opens it happily. "Welcome to my apartment" she says sweetly, I can't help the small smile on my lips. She's alone, without her husband but she looks good, grounded. I can see the sadness in her eyes but she's making an effort to live. She's strong, I know she will be fine, but I wish she cried for a little longer.
We get inside the apartment and once again I'm surprised at the amount of money these people have, I thought it was going to be a room but it's a big apartment just like Katherine said, it has a living room and a kitchen and I can see other doors that I think are the bedrooms.
"Do you want coffee?" Katherine asks us and I nod. I'm more of a chocolate milk person but coffee is good as well.
Katherine leaves us, disappearing into the kitchen and leaving Lucas, Jos, and me alone. Lucas abruptly gets up "I'm going to help auntie Kat, I don't want to leave her alone for obvious reasons" he says while rubbing the back of his neck.
I knew Lucas was a nice person, he seems to care about the people around him. We're left alone and Jos turns to look at me.
"so… Allie" Jos says with a trembling voice.
Why is she so nervous? "Yes?" I ask curiously.
She breaths in and out, and leans forward making eye contact with me "I'm not human" her voice is firm, but I can see fear in her eyes.
"I know" I say keeping eye contact.
"You know?" she said now confuse "Did you just assume that I'm a werewolf since I'm here? we have many human mates in our pack! Didn't you think that was the case for me?" she says as if she was trying to understand why I was so calm.
"Jos, can they hear us?" I ask curiously, I suppose they have sharp hearing, but I want to make sure.
"At this distance?" she asks, and I nod "Normally yes, but this building is made to block our hearing, for privacy purposes" she explains but the shock never leaves her face.
"I knew about everyone here since the beginning, about you all not being humans, I can feel it. I know it with just a glance, but I didn't know about the werewolf thing, that's new. Please keep it a secret" I've never told this to anyone, not even my dad. I must admit, saying this out loud feels relieving.
I don't feel like telling her everything, but I trust Jos enough to tell her at least this. "You knew and still deciding to be friends with me?" she says with glossy eyes.
"Are you sad?" I ask confused.
"No, I'm touched" she says while smiling "thank you, Allie".
I look at her with a confused and tired face, I really don't understand why she's thanking me. She was civil with me, and we got along, that's it. There's no reason to thank me for being friends, we're both equally enjoying our relationship.
"I don't see a reason to thank me, but I'll accept it since I like being thank" I say. At this point of the day, I'm already tired and it's not even 1 p.m.
Katherine and Lucas come back, each of them holding two mugs. Lucas hands Jos one and Katherine hands me one. I drink the coffee happily. It's warm and yummy, I like it.
Katherine holds out her hand, extending her hand towards me "I'm Katherine, nice to meet you" she says with a kind smile.
'But I already know who you are?' I want to say that, but I hold my tongue. I shake her hand and reply to her greetings "I'm Alice, nice to meet you" and she flinches at my monotonic voice. I think she finally realized that's how I actually talk.
"I just want to know… did you know Sophie?" Katherine asks with a trembling voice.
"No" I reply sincerely, I really didn't know her, and I never met her, at least not the way she's asking me. I know her next question, she's going to ask me how I know about her or how I knew the song, among other things but I'm not in the mood to deal with this.
This is why it annoys me to deal with the living, this is why I dislike myself for sticking my nose in others' problems. I wish they could only accept the little good thing that happened and not ask but they always do.
I brace myself for the bombarding of uncomfortable questions I'm going to receive but they never come. "Do you want to watch movies here with me?" she asks instead.
I look at her startle, I was honestly expecting something completely different, but she only smiles at me. I smile faintly "I would love to, but I want to hide from Nick, I need to find a good hiding place" I explain myself.
"Well, you're in luck! There's no better hiding place than my room!" Jos says excitedly.