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The pair galloped through across the open wilderness as if their very lives depended on it. To be quite honest, they did.
Katana wasn’t sure if Ashley would come back as him or as a werewolf, but she wasn’t prepared to wait around and find out. She’d bought her and Jacques between twenty and thirty minutes. All that mattered was what they did with those minutes.
She’d arranged with Tobias to meet at the top of Galloway Forest Park. His family owned some land around Dalcairney so landing his chopper there posed no issues.
When Jacques realised they were heading towards the north-eastern area of the park, he slowed their pace to a walk and questioned Katana.
“Where are we going?”
“To meet Tobias. We’re not far away.”
“Yes, but where?”
“Near Dalcairney Falls.”
Jacques froze. His right front paw was still in mid-air, waiting to meet the ground with his next step. “You...no...” he shook his head “...I’m not going there. No.”
Katana frowned. “What? Why?”
“Because it’s not a nice place.”
“You’ve been there?”
“I was born there.”
Katana gasped. “What? But...but I thought you were caught as a pup somewhere near Nottingham?”
Jacques barked with laughter. “Ha! After everything you’ve learned this week, are you really still hanging onto the notion that anything you know is true?”
“But...well, you’ve never told me any different.”
“Well, now I am. Dalcairney is where I was born, and I am not going back there.”
“Why not?”
“Because that’s where I was taken from, Katana. Ok? I don’t want the bad memories. I don’t need the bad memories.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“No.”
“Jacques, please. I’m trying to be a good friend here. Talk to me. Let me in. Please?”
“If you want to be a good friend then worry about being the person I know you to be.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That you don’t pimp yourself out like a hooker and marry some Council idiot to try and make yourself feel better. People die every day, all day, Katana. There’s nothing you can do about it.”
“But these ones I can do something about. I can help them.”
“Really? What exactly are you going to do to help those lab experiments and an unstoppable virus?”
Katana opened her mouth to reply, but no words came to mind. He had a point. What exactly was she going to do? What exactly was she expecting Tobias to do?
“I don’t know,” she said, tears welling in her eyes at just the frustration of it all. “But what I do know is I at least have to try, Jacques. If I don’t try to do something then I’m just as bad as my father.” She sighed and dismounted. “Look, I don’t know what happened to you. I’m sure you’ll tell me when you’re ready, but whatever you went through, don’t you want to stop others from having to suffer the same fate?”
Jacques closed his eyes and growled in frustration. “To a degree, yes. But past a certain point, K, I’m feeling nothing but total selfishness. I’ve suffered long enough at the hands of your family and I want out.”
“Will you stop saying that, please?”
“What?”
“’Your family’. It’s like you’re personally accusing me of doing this to you.”
“Are they your family?”
“Yes, you know they are.”
“Then I’m well within my rights to use that phrase. It’s a fact. How you perceive what I say is entirely your issue, not mine.”
Katana narrowed her eyes at him, surprised at how much hatred was filling her heart towards her closest friend. “It’s times like now where I wish I’d partnered with Dylan or Calhoun instead. You’re being a pompous arsehole, Jacques.”
Jacques glared back at her. His dark eyes glazed over with a dull, empty stare and the heckles on his back raised. “You’re being a bitch just for the sake of it. You know what—if you think a wimp like Dylan or Calhoun is a better match for you, then you go right on ahead and partner up with them. Leave everything as it is and follow your father blindly into oblivion.”
“You know who’s the wimp?” Katana leaned forwards and stabbed her index finger through the air at him. “You. You’re being the wimp because you don’t want to go back home and stir up old memories. Well, boo-hoo. Grow a pair and for the sake of the damn world, Jacques, put others first instead of yourself.”
“Instead of myself? Are you kidding me? What part of my miserable life makes me put myself first?” He closed the gap between them both and snarled at her. “What part of being your servant puts myself first? What part of being jabbed with needles, cut open like a frog, and left alone in the dark hour after hour for years on end puts myself first? You think I like being like this? I hate it. Every second of every day, I hate my life. Not even being with you is enough of a reward for being stuck like this. Don’t you get it? I have no free choice in my life. I can’t even eat what I want to eat because I’m stuck like this. Don’t you think I’m sick of eating birds and rabbits whilst watching you eat juicy burgers and delicious rice dishes? Don’t you think I’d like to stretch my legs, my human legs, and have a shower or go on a rollercoaster? Or even just have the ability to tell someone I love them without being laughed at because I’m stuck as a wolf?”
Katana had no words. Her mouth was open, but nothing computed in her brain to usher words past her lips. Guilt and sympathy tangled together inside her. She stepped backwards until she found her back against Altair’s solid body.
“Ok,” she finally said. She mounted Altair and glanced down at Jacques. “If you don’t want to go there, then don’t.”
With that, Katana pushed Altair on, not even bothering to look back at Jacques.