Changing Fates: A Sons of Satrina Novel (The Sons of Satrina Book 3) (18 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Kelton felt like a stalker. He was stood cloaked in the shadows of the dawn, his eyes glued to the window like a peeping Tom. He couldn’t help it. He couldn’t stop himself. Now that he’d found her again, he couldn’t keep his eyes from her.

It wasn’t like she was actually doing anything of interest. She was simply sat in the pale lamp light, reading a book. But, that wasn’t the point. She didn’t have to be doing anything. She was there, in front of him. It was Kayleigh. His soul mate. Everything she did, even the slightest movement, was of interest to him.

Not being with her was killing him, but now there was a light at the end of the tunnel. He could see her and the memory of her was alive in his mind. The thought that he had driven her away with his deceit was breaking him. He hated how much he’d hurt her. All he wanted to do was storm into the house and wrap his arms tightly around her.

But, he couldn’t do that. He knew that he couldn’t. Kelton knew that she needed her space to come to terms with what had happened. He had to give that to her. His love for Kayleigh meant that he would do anything she asked of him. Within reason.

Kelton couldn’t stay away from her now that he knew where she was. It was like an invisible line that was drawing him to her. If only he could spend the rest of his life knowing that she was safe and being able to watch over her, he would. He wouldn’t be satisfied with the distance, but he would do it if that was what she wanted from him.

He couldn’t leave her alone. Not being with her was killing him. He knew that he would never be satisfied from just watching from afar. That was madness. They belonged together. They needed to be together and he would do everything in his power to get them back to the point where they were happy. That was what she deserved out of life. Happiness. She’d been through so much pain that this wasn’t fair and it killed him to know that he was the one that had put that sadness in her life again.

She may not know that he was there, but this was the love of his life and the woman that was carrying his unborn child.  There was no way that he would leave her unguarded now. Even if she remains oblivious, she would be protected.

Kelton’s phone vibrated in his pocket. Glancing briefly at the screen, he saw that things were still all good at the academy. He’d left Dixon and Verynai watching over things, not that he really gave a damn about any of that right now.  All he could focus on now was that he’d finally found Kayleigh, relishing in the sight of her.

Sucking in a deep breath, Kelton shrank further back into the shadows. The flash of his phone must have somehow caught Kayleigh’s attention. She was now peering out of the window, looking directly at the spot where he was standing. She couldn’t see him, he knew that, but he held his breath until her eyes returned to the pages of her book.

As much as he wanted to rush in there and lift her up into his arms and carry her back home where she belonged, he was terrified of what she would do when she saw him. What if she rejected him? What if his betrayal was too much for her to cope with? No amount of apologising was going to cut it. Kelton knew that. But, he didn’t know what to do to make this right.

If only he had the chance to explain to her what had happened to him. He might be able to make her understand. Not that it was excusable, for it wasn’t, but he hadn’t consciously meant for it to happen. He would never have betrayed her like that willingly. It wasn’t like he had been caught up in a moment of lust. He’d literally been caught up in a spell.

Kelton knew that he was going to have to speak to the girls when he got back to the academy. He was going to have to make more of an effort with them, but he had no idea how to go about it. How was he supposed to act like a father when he didn’t even know them? They were teenage girls who already knew their own minds and probably didn’t need or want his presence in their lives. Everything in his life was a mess and he had no idea how to mend any of it.

How was he supposed to act as a parent? He didn’t think that he would ever be a father. Of course the thought had crossed his mind over the years, especially when Kayleigh spoke about her children or when one of the other warriors became a father, but he didn’t see it as a reality.  Plus, he thought that when the time came, he and Kayleigh would work through it together. Now he had been sprung with two teenage daughters out of the blue, and Kayleigh was pregnant and not with him. None of it was working out how he had ever imagined in his head. It was all one great big mess.

It was killing him to think that he wouldn’t be part of his unborn child’s life. When Marion had let him in on the secret, the thought of being a father had shaken him to his very core. It was very different to how he was feeling about the girls. They were already people with fully formed personalities and no need for him. The baby that Kayleigh was carrying didn’t know the situation he or she was being born into.

As he watched Kayleigh, Kelton tried to push aside thoughts of the life that he and Kayleigh had created together. Love for the woman sitting oblivious to his presence flooded his heart. That was all he wanted, her and the child she carried. He wanted to be a doting father. He wanted the family that they could be. He wanted to make Kayleigh happy.

Watching as she set down the book on a small coffee table and moved across the room to the window, Kayleigh paused for a moment before slowly pulling the curtains closed. It was almost as if she had sensed that he was out there, watching and waiting for the right time to come to her.

Kelton sighed. He knew that it was time to leave. If she was keeping to her old routine, he knew her well enough to know that she would be retiring to bed now. There was no point in him staying there and staring at an empty house. A sadness filled his heart at the thought of her being lost to him again.

Glancing to his left, he could see the leather clad man walking up the street. Patrick, his shifter friend, had come to take over watching the house while Kelton slept through the daylight hours. Not that he thought he’d be able to succumb to sleep any time soon, but if he wanted to come back to her tonight, he knew that he would have to try and rest.

Patrick was the only other person that Kelton had confided in so far, apart from the warriors who knew and were covering for his absence, and he had been happy to help out. Kelton knew that he was going to have to tell the others when he got back to the academy, but for now, it was only the two of them that knew of her exact whereabouts.

They exchanged no words as Kelton turned to walk away, however Patrick clammed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, lending him his strength.  Kelton nodded sadly before moving towards his car.

He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to stay as near to Kayleigh as possible.

Kelton was facing another lonely night away from the woman that he loved and if possible, the pain was even more intense now that he knew where she was, but couldn’t touch her.

Chapter Fifteen

Kelton was pacing around his office, waiting for the others to assemble. Master Warriors Dixon and Verynai were sat waiting patiently, watching him as he paced nervously. A knock came at the door and Professor Fieldman and Doctor Phillippe came into the room.

“Well, we’re all here. Are you going to tell us what’s going on?” Dixon said quietly, wondering what Kelton had brought them all in for.

Kelton stayed silent for a few moments, trying to get the words straight in his head. He had to get everything out in the open and he needed to tell them all the truth. He had to tell them it all. There was no getting out of it. Sure, he wasn’t going to go over everything that had happened with Cassandra, but they needed to know the truth.

Marion nodded at him encouragingly. She had an idea of what this was about and she’d been waiting for this. He had to let the other warriors know what was happening with the girls and obviously the time had come.

“This isn’t easy for me. You know that although I see you as my brothers, I keep my private life to myself. Now has come the time to share some personal things with you that affect the academy.”

Warriors Dixon and Verynai stayed silent. They knew that this must be serious if Kelton wanted to share private information with them. The professor and the doctor knew more of the situation and sat back, waiting for Kelton to continue.

“I should have told you about this before, but I didn’t want to believe it. It’s been difficult, but now that the tests have confirmed it, I need to inform you that the twins that have come into the academy, Rhian and Cala, are in fact my daughters.”

Verynai nearly fell off his chair. “What the hell? Are you serious, man?”

“This isn’t something I’d joke about.” Kelton replied sternly.

“Rhian and Cala?”

“Well, they are twins, dumbass.” Dixon rolled his eyes.

“But, how?” Dixon looked confused. He knew how solid Kayleigh and Kelton were and couldn’t see him betraying her like that. It was clear to anyone that had seen them together how happy they were and that they completed one another. It shocked him to learn that Kelton had strayed. That wasn’t what he had expected of him. Kelton was a man of worth.

“It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t ever go out planning to do it. You know what I feel for Kayleigh and I wouldn’t ever willingly do something like that to her.” Kelton may be a badass warrior, but he never hid his feelings for his woman. In his eyes, it was a sign of strength that he could love so fiercely and the rest of the warriors agreed.

“So, what? You were drunk?” Verynai scoffed, royally pissed off at what he was hearing. In his mind, when you find your soul mate like Kelton had, you put her on a pedestal and treat your woman like a princess. There was no way he would ever condone cheating and his estimation of Kelton had gone way down.

“No. I was somehow spelled by their mother. I didn’t even know what happening until it had been done.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s true. Their mother is a powerful witch and I didn’t even know what had happened until it was over.”

The room fell silent. Verynai regretted his remark, but this simple sentence made more sense. That wasn’t something Kelton would have done willingly. It was easy to see how much he had been hurting since Kayleigh had left. He was her world. Verynai felt bad that he had doubted his brother and knew he shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. If there was one man he trusted, it was Kelton.

“I apologise.” Verynai said softly, a tone not often used by him.

Kelton nodded, understanding his reaction. “I didn’t even know about the twins until that moment they received the mark and came to the academy. Their mother dropped the bombshell on me that night, and Kayleigh overheard. She left me before I could even explain myself. Not that I think it would have made much of a difference. I betrayed her trust by not telling her the truth in the first place, anyway.”

“If you told her, she would hopefully understand. She’s a reasonable woman.” Verynai said. He held Kayleigh in high esteem, knowing all that she did for Kelton and the academy.

Marion sat forward in her chair. “Kelton, you know that if you had the chance to explain to her what went on, she would have heard you out. She may not like it, but she would have understood a little better.”

Kelton heaved in a deep breath. “That brings me to my next point. I’ve found her.”

The room exploded into questions and Kelton held up a hand to quieten them. “I only found her earlier tonight. That’s why I’m bringing you in here now.”

“Where is she?”

“How did you find her?”

“How did she look?”

“Did you speak to her?”

Kelton shook his head and perched on the edge of his desk. “I can only answer one question at a time. My head’s already banging and I don’t need you all shouting at me.” The stress was settling heavily on his shoulders and a headache of monstrous proportions that had come on from the moment he’d heard the news.

Marion sat forward. “How did she look? Did she appear well?” Obviously, her first thought was how her friend was coping with the pregnancy.

“She did look well.” Kelton smiled, looking down at the ground, getting lost in the memory of her sitting alone in that house. She indeed did look well, but so alone. All Kelton had wanted to do was gather her up in his arms and make everything better, but he couldn’t do that.

“Why the hell are you here? Why aren’t you there? Talking to her and getting her to come home?” Verynai demanded. He saw life in black and whites. The right thing was for Kelton to get Kayleigh and make their relationship right. He didn’t see anything else. “Get off your ass and go and get your woman.” He knew he sounded like a caveman, but they were meant to be together and he couldn’t understand why Kelton was here and not with Kayleigh.

“I can’t. It’s not as easy as that.”

“Sure it is. Talk to her.”

“Verynai, don’t push this.”

“Well, someone needs to push you.”

“Verynai! Give me a break. It’s not that simple. She’s pregnant.”

The room fell quiet once more.

“Shit, man. When you fuck up, you do a proper job of it, don’t you?”

Kelton shook his head. “I told you it isn’t simple. You know me. You know that there’s nothing more that I want than to have her back here where she’s safe and cared for, but I can’t go barrelling in there. I don’t want to scare her away. I’ve only just found her. I don’t want to chase her off again.”

Verynai nodded reluctantly. It was a delicate situation, but he still thought he should be out there, getting her back.

“I’ve had Patrick watching over her place for the daylight hours, but I do plan on going back there tonight. The reason I’ve called you all in here tonight is to let you know that I’m going to be out of commission for a few days.”

“What are you planning on doing?”

“I’m not sure. I’m going to wing it. Going in with a plan isn’t going to work. This is Kayleigh. It’s not something I can plan for.”

“You’re going to get her back?”

“I hope so.” Kelton felt sick at the thought of her rejecting him, but he had to try. It was killing him to be away from her and he would do anything he could to get her back. “I’m going to try at least. So, either way, I’m not going to be around to oversee the trainees or pick up my shifts on the streets. I’ve gotta do this.”

The four of them nodded.

“We’ve got your back. Call us if you need us.” Verynai offered.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Jainey Fieldman asked, desperate to do anything to take the look of pain from Kelton’s face. Marion nodded in agreement. She couldn’t believe the news that Kayleigh had been found. All she wanted was for her friend to come back and make sure she was alright.

Kelton shook his head sadly. “This is something I need to do myself. Only I can mend the mess I’ve made.”

“We’re all here to help, if and when you need it. Remember that.”

“I know. I appreciate that and I’m sure Kayleigh knows that as well.”

“But you’re not on your own with this. You both have friends that want to be there for you.” Jainey said.

“I know and I really appreciate that. I do. But, first I need to sort us out as a couple. Obviously, Kayleigh will know that she can turn to you all, but at the moment, she’s all turned in on herself, building a protective shell. I’m the only one who can break through that.”

“Do you think you can?”

“I can only hope.”

“So, what’s the plan? You going back over there now? Or tonight?”

“Tonight. I need to let her try and get some rest. She’s pregnant with my child. The last thing she needs is to lose sleep at a time like this. Patrick’s going to watch over her today and I’m going back tonight. I just hope that I can talk some sense into her and make her believe me.”

“If anyone can do it, you can, Kelton.” Marion said firmly. “You belong together.”

Kelton felt a sudden lump of emotion in his throat and nodded stiffly. He didn’t want to break in front of them. It was bad enough that he had to share this private information with them, they didn’t need to see that, too.

“We’ll leave you to it, Kelton. You need to get your rest as well.” Marion said, nodding to the others to move out.

“Thank you all.” He knew that he wouldn’t be able to get any rest, but he needed some time to himself to get his head together before he came face to face with Kayleigh.

“You’ll get her back. I know you will.” Verynai said quietly, punching Kelton lightly on the shoulder before he swiftly left the room, waiting outside the door for Dixon.

“What do you want us to do about the girls?” Dixon asked.

“Rhian and Cala?”

“Who else?”

“I’m not sure yet. It’s all a bit of a shock.”

“You need to do something about them.”

Kelton sighed. “What do you mean?”

“Well, they don’t exactly seem set for this kind of life. I don’t mean to get into your personal business, so what you do with them is your business, but from a teacher’s point of view, we’re struggling. You’ve seen for yourself that Rhian flatly refuses to join in with training and as Verynai had reported to you on numerous occasions that Cala is trying but struggling. What are we supposed to do with them?” Warrior Dixon hated to throw this at Kelton at this time, but they did need to know what to do with the twins. They couldn’t just leave it. Cala was running herself ragged trying to keep up with the rest of them and he knew that the only thing would be to set their own training plan, but did they had the man power for one-on-one training? It was a problem.

Shaking his head, Kelton said, “I’ve no idea what’s happening with them to be honest with you. The warrior mark is present but it doesn’t seem to hold the same kind of urge that it does for everyone else. They don’t have the ability or the need to train like the others. Thinking purely from a warrior point of view, I wouldn’t push them any further than they can physically go. I don’t see the point.”

“Yeah, I was thinking the same. I’ll talk to Verynai and we’ll try and work out an alternative training programme for Cala. As I said, she does want to try to do her best so I don’t think we should take this away from her.”

“I think that’s the best idea.”

“We may need to arrange for some personal training. Would you be alright with that?” He had to ask Master Warrior Kelton’s permission before taking up this training scheme and taking one of the other warriors off their training schedule to do this.

“But, Rhian? I’m sorry but we’re going to have to leave that one with you.” Dixon slapped Kelton on the back in a friendly man-gesture before leaving the room, the doctor and professor trailing after him, leaving Kelton alone to his thoughts.

How was he going to talk to Kayleigh? What was he going to do? Just go steaming in there, throw her over his shoulder and drag her home like a caveman? That wasn’t going to work. Kayleigh didn’t respond to actions like that very well. He had to tread carefully.

This was going to be the most important night of his life and it would decide his entire future. Kayleigh held his heart in her hands. Their future was in her hands.

The thought of that scared the life out of him.