Chapter 253 - Sweet Little Kitten

A chill ran down Damien's spine as he got closer and closer towards the explosion site. His body felt numb while his heart got heavier by the second. He refused to believe that his Katherine would be gone just like that. However, the more he denied it, the more he got scared.

His footsteps began to slow down as he approached the car that was still burning several meters away from it. There was no way he could see inside it due to the flames and it was hot, too hot, to go near. It was pointless to do so no one could survive that blast whilst inside the car.

His eyes scanned the surroundings as he started to call for her name over and over, "Katherine!" 

The sound of hoarse coughing came from the left side of the long road. It was faint but Damien definitely heard it. His head snapped to the sound and he abruptly dashed towards it, calling her name again. "Katherine! Katherine, where are you?"

A slender hand was raised from a dark area that caught Damien's attention. He hastened his steps and as soon as he saw her lying on the ground trying to get up, the heaviness in his heart instantly disappeared. She was alive.

"Hey... you're okay…" he said, though it seemed more like he was convincing himself rather than reassuring her.

Damien gathered her in his arms, pulling her up while she pushed herself off the ground, wanting to stand. He helped her up until she was on her feet and without thinking twice, he wrapped his arms tightly around her body. "Thank God, thank God you're okay."

Katherine, who now had a pounding headache and whose entire body was sore, groaned and limply stood. She couldn't deny that it felt so good being in his arms again, and as much as she wanted to push herself away from him, her body seemed to do the opposite—she slightly leaned onto him. 'Just for a minute until I could stand on my own again,' she told herself.

He was extremely glad that she got out of the car before it blew up. He didn't know what he would do if she was truly gone. Apart from the thousands of questions that he had about her, he just couldn't imagine living if she died. Even if they couldn't be together anymore, as long as she was okay, he would be… okay.

"Queen! Oh, my Queen! You're alive!" Styles rushed towards the pair, wailing loudly as he ran.

Hearing voices and footsteps behind Damien, Katherine snapped out of her daze and cleared her throat, gently pulling away from his embrace. "I'm fine now," she said.

"Oh…" He stepped back, rubbing his hand on his nape sheepishly. "Right."

"Aw!" Katherine winced when Styles slammed his body when he dashed to hug her.

"You dimwit. You scared me!" Styles scolded her, his bear hug crushing her body.

Katherine softly chuckled seeing Styles worry about her. It wasn't the first time that she was almost at death's door as she had experienced dangerous missions back in Shadow as well. But it was nostalgic and touching for her to have her brother back just like old times.

"Ahem." Damien's loud throat clearing made Katherine and Styles jump, the two of them turning to see Damien who was now looking away.

Styles snickered and let go of Katherine, giving way to Falcon who gave her a loving stroke on her upper arm. "Good work, kid."

"Some first mission huh?" Styles said. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Bad landing but I'll be fine." Katherine twisted her waist from side to side, her bones cracking as she did. She rotated her ankles trying to make sure she didn't have any broken bones only to realize that she lost her shoes.

"What are we going to do with that?" Falcon jerked her thumb towards the car behind them.

"We can't do anything now. We need to go, popos gonna be here any minute." Styles started walking back towards the RV, urging the others to go with him.

The four of them hastily walked towards the vehicle, the black Aston Martin was still burning and emitting black smoke behind them.

"Can you walk?" Damien asked Katherine, casually putting his coat over her shoulders while he observed her feet. "You... don't have shoes." 

She glanced at him, surprised by the gesture but she didn't shrug him away. "Yeah, my feet are fine… I lost my shoes."

"Found them!" Styles picked up the pair of shoes from the ground and waved it at Katherine.

She smiled and nodded at him, seeing him wave the pair in the air. "Thanks, I think I'd like to walk barefooted for now." Her feet were fine but moving around in heels was uncomfortable, the sandy road felt so much better under her soles.

"Ugh." She whimpered as she took more steps forward.

"What's wrong?" Damien stopped her and examined her from head to foot, Styles and Falcon halted as well.

Katherine sensed a bruise forming on her left leg where her weapon strap was. She bent down and swept her skirt to the side, unstrapping it off her and inspecting the sore spot on her thigh. She rubbed the outer thigh where the knife was placed earlier — she must have landed and hit that part. 

Damien saw the knife and gun in her hand and he was surprised at himself for being unsurprised from what he was seeing. Witnessing everything from the past hour, he didn't think that there was something else that would surprise him anymore.

However, just seeing her casually hold the weapons in her hand was both strange and amazing for him. Clenching his jaw, he contemplated for a second before he did what he wanted to do.

"Ah!" Katherine yelped when she was suddenly lifted off the ground. Damien carried her bridal style like she weighed nothing and walked forward.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her eyes widened as she looked at him while hugging the weapons on her chest. "I can walk."

"You're hurt. Just let me carry you until we reach the van." His voice was cold and stern, not allowing any room for negotiation.

"But I'm really fine—"

"Mhmm." Damien ignored her words and walked past Styles and Falcon who watched them with small smiles on their faces.

Katherine could be as badass as she wanted to be but when she's with Damien, she was like a sweet little kitten.

Furrowing her brows, Katherine looked away and let out a long sigh. She chewed her bottom lip and awkwardly allowed herself to be carried by the man she was trying to escape from earlier.

She was supposed to stay away from him. Why was she now quietly in his arms, allowing him to do what he wanted? Katherine could only keep her thoughts to herself.