Chapter 148 Memories That Won't Stay Buried

Chapter 148 Memories That Won't Stay Buried
KAOL -

They'd walked the village for most of the day. When the walk began, he’d been frustrated, unwilling to leave his mother and even less willing to grow any closer to Mysty than necessary.
She's not Mysty anymore, Kaol. He'd been telling himself that all day. She was Mystal now. Eysa's personal guard.
His eyes flicked to hers as they walked back towards the house, and her shoulders had finally relaxed, and a small smile lifted the edges of her mouth.
If he were honest with himself, he had to admit that he'd enjoyed the day, and her company. He didn't want to go back just yet.
Ever since he'd come back to the village, he'd been inside that house with his mother.
He'd come back to collect her, but she'd refused to go back with him. Claiming that she wouldn't leave the house.
The memory of their conversation that first night slid through his mind.
"Your Pa built this house, and ya built that beautiful greenhouse out back. I’ll not be leavin it." Her tone was absolute, but he had to keep trying. He hated leaving her here alone.
"But there's an even bigger one in the capitol, ma."
"And that's just fine, but I'll not be leavin. Besides, I'd just be gettin in the way."
And so, he'd spent the last two months trying to convince his mother that the house wasn't as important as staying together.
Thunder echoed off the mountains that sat against the village and pulled him back to the present.
Both he and Mystal looked up at the clouds that were dark and angry and making their way towards the village.
"I need to check on Jax. I don't want him cold tonight, and I need to refill his food sack, anyway." She turned to him, her dark brown eyes shimmering with flecks of gold. "I'll meet you back at the house?"
Kaol nodded but didn't say anything, he couldn't yet. He wasn't sure how to feel with her around.
He looked down at his arm where her fingers had touched it. There was still a warmth of electricity sizzling through him.
He sat with the feeling as he walked back home, but by the time he'd made his way into the greenhouse, absurdity came over him.
This is ridiculous.
She wasn't here to get to know him or to catch up. Eysa had sent her and while she may not have told him what it was she was here for, he knew her being here meant he had to go back soon.
And whatever emotions or realizations he had here couldn't follow him to the capitol.
He was trimming back one of the vines when he saw her walking towards the feed house, probably on her way to get more hay.
Her hair was twisted into tight curls, but was still long enough for the wind to catch. As she moved, she lifted her arm and picked at an old scar there, and just like that, his mind went back to the past.
She'd done the same thing as she lay in his bed as a child, healing from the attack.
Warmth blossomed somewhere deep, and his wolf lifted its head.
Kaol exhaled loudly.
He didn't want familiar, or warmth, or confusing memories that needed to stay buried. He wished that he'd never remembered who she was, because he liked not being attached to anything or anyone.
He had his mother, his career, and a friendship with his Luna and Alpha that he'd only ever dreamed of before.
Yet... Mysty was familiar. In a way that he could never escape.
A deeper memory slid through his mind then. Of her hiding behind one of the traveling marchant's stalls as she picked at the same scar. Her eyes would occasionally slide hungrily over the food in the stall as she licked her lips, but she never stole anything.
He knew. Because he originally started watching her, just so he could catch her in the act.
Instead, days went by, and she'd just wait, and if someone else stole something, she'd chase them down and bring the food back to the merchant.
She never asked for payment or food. She'd just go back to walking the stall fronts, as if the traveling merchants were her duty and she would make sure they were safe.
It was an unusually cold day in the memory, and he'd thought about helping her. Maybe bringing her food. But what would a boy say to a girl like her?
Mysty was the only other kid around who looked like him, but that wasn't what held him back. She was beautiful. She had bright eyes that blazed with strength and a smile that stuck with him for years. He couldn't force himself to talk to her.
A sharp pain pulled him back to the greenhouse. A thorn from the blackberry had sunk deep into his thumb, and he sucked on it to soothe the itch.
Back then, his emotions weren't easy to get over either.
One day she'd been there, and the next, she was just gone. And she didn't come back.
After she'd disappeared when the guards took her, the crush had stayed. He'd asked his father about her for years. He even went to the castle once and asked there, but no one knew anything about a girl sent to the capitol, and he'd gotten into trouble for going without permission.
After that, he didn't push it anymore, but her absence stuck with him.
He pulled his thumb from his mouth and moved over to the strawberries, thinking to pick some for his mother, but his mind went back to Mysty.
She was back now and alive, and one of his Luna's closest people.
What was he going to do with that knowledge? What was he going to tell Eysa? He couldn't work with Mysty without remembering who she was.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, and he turned to look through the glass, wanting to see how close the storm was to hitting, but his eyes didn't make it there.
They landed on Mysty as she made her way back to the stables, a large block of hay in her arms.
She was different from back then, but also the same. She moved differently than everyone else around her. There was strength, not just beauty, in her eyes now. She had none of the thinness he remembered. Time had turned her into something stronger, fuller, and more womanly. There were no thin bones or dark rings under her eyes. No uncertainty in the way she moved. Just controlled grace.
Suddenly, her head turned toward the greenhouse, and her eyes met his gaze. Caught staring, he quickly slid behind one of the large plants, his heart pounding heavy in his chest.
What am I gonna do?
The question left him with a sour taste in his mouth as his pulse beat hard against his skin.
His eyes lifted to the angry clouds that had finally made it over the village. He had until the storm passed. After that, there would be no avoiding it.