Reprieval

CHAPTER 2 : My Part In This

A/N: Okay I may have written this months ago and forgot to post it. Oops. Don't hate me.

KANE

It's the beginning of my senior year. The first day. Fat drops of water hit the roof of my old truck and slide down the windshield. I sit in the parking lot, fingers drumming against the steering wheel. My eyes are heavy and bruised from a restless night plagued by nightmares. The shadows of which play in the back of my mind. I grip the staring wheel so tight my knuckles turn white and I can feel my claws digging into my palms. I inhale slowly, hold the breath then let it out. I don't like first days.

"Kane," the voice startles me. I yelp letting go of the steering wheel and accidently hit the horn, garnering the attention of two sophomore girls. They glare at me. I ignore them and turn to my right side. Standing by my car, half drenched, is a girl. She has bright red hair which clings to her face in wet tufts and gold colored eyes half hidden by her bangs.

"Kai," I say my eyes narrowing.

"It's raining," she yells.

"I've noticed," I yell back.

She rolls her eyes. "Stop being a smart Alec and let me in."

I raise a questioning brow. "What do you want?"

"Let me in and I'll tell you," she says. I'm curious so I push the passenger door open and she slips in.

"My God, it's cold out there," she says pulling strands of hair from her face.

"What do you want, Kai?" The words come out harsher than I intend. "I have class in ten," I amend.

She swipes away the water on her cheeks then continues, "I wanted to talk."

"Talk?" I furrow my brows. "And it couldn't wait until tonight?" I've been training with Kai every other day since she joined our pack a couple of months ago.

She nods. "I'm leaving," she says a moment later. "The pack. I'm leaving."

"What? Why?"

She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "I really appreciate everything your pack has done for me. Letting me in like that. And I know how this looks, me leaving like this but I don't think this is working for me. I thought that after... that after Davin I didn't want to be alone. That I shouldn't be alone. But I think I was wrong. Maybe I do need to be alone. For a little bit at least."

I'm silent for a moment then I ask, "Are you sure?"

She looks up at me then and nods. "It's for the better."

I'm not sure about that. But I don't tell her that. I nod as well. "You're welcome to come back to the pack whenever you feel you're ready. This doesn't have to be goodbye forever."

She smiles. "Thank you Kane." And then she leaves.

The rain continues for the rest of the day. It's a monotonous Monday. The back to school buzz nulled by the weather. I move through the halls, barely registering the other students, I keep replaying that conversation with Kai. I never knew Davin. He was Kai's boyfriend, he died during the war against the demons hordes. Kai hardly ever talks about him. The little I do know about him I heard from Marcus and his friends. From what he told me I can tell he was a good man and Kai truly loved him. I think I can kind of get what she's going through. Not understand, because you can't truly know that kind of pain until you've felt it. But I get that it must hurt. A lot.

I want to help but she doesn't want my help. Kai is the kind of person who will hold the weight of the world on her shoulders and never complain. The kind of person who doesn't understand that she doesn't have to do it alone. That there are others willing to help her lift. She's stubborn. It's a wolf trait. A toxic one. I wish she would just let me in.