Chapter Text
"Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change" – Tony Robbins
The pain was excruciating, if compared with the loss of her parents or Jeremiah, well… this was something entirely different, deeper and worst, not regarding her soul but her body. She had suffered some serious injures before, broke some bones and she may or may not had been shot, Alex would say it was just a scratch but Kara knew better, still… nothing could be compared to this, and if this was the day that she would finally be reunited with her parents…well that didn't sound so bad anymore.
Some hours before…
"Kara! Are you ready? We need to leave now if we want to make it before dinner!" – he yelled while putting the last suitcase inside his truck.
"Yeah… yeah… I'm coming… just checking we got everything we need" – the blonde answered giving one last look before closing the front door.
"Honey I'm sure it's fine, everything is going to be fine, you're going to meet my family not the queen of England, we have everything we need for one weekend" – Mike said taking one of Kara's hands in his own while the other took the wheel.
"I know… I know, and so you know, is totally valid for me to be nervous, I'm going to meet the family you almost never talk about" – the blonde stated while adjusting her glasses, the truck slowly moving towards their destination.
They had been dating for a year now, and after some convincing from Kara, Mike had finally agreed to a family reunion, the blonde was nervous but excited at the same time. Everything was going great for the first time in her entire life: her career as photographer was taking off, she had her own apartment and a year ago, she had met the love of her life... sure the first months were rough but they pull it through and now they were as happy as a couple could be, at least she couldn't find anything wrong, not that she was trying though.
A couple of hours later they arrived to their destination, the house could be seen from afar, a big mansion surrounded by trees and a big font in the front. Kara was speechless, she knew Mike came from a wealthy family but this was insane, if she was nervous before, now… well she was trying very hard not to run away.
Mike parked the truck and while Kara was getting out, the front door opened and 3 men stepped outside. A tall and strong built black man came first taking Mike and giving him a warm hug, a minute later the 2 remaining men joined them.
Kara learned that the first man was Jon, Mike's foster father and the last two were his siblings Winn and Querl or Brainy, weird name but the blonde didn't want to pry. The house was absolutely amazing, the decoration kind of medieval and her bedroom was bigger than her entire apartment. The vibes emanating from the mansion were weird and disturbing but Kara attributed it to decoration and the deafening silence.
Mike's family was welcoming and helpful, Winn had navigated her through the mansion while Jon,Mike and Brainy prepared something to eat. They were talking comfortably and having dinner when a noise was heard from outside, Jon and Mike exchanging a knowing look. Kara was sure that the noise was followed by a scream, a human scream according to her hearing, she took Mike's hand in hers squeezing it.
"What was that?" – the blonde asked her eyes focused on the window; it was dark outside so she couldn't see beyond the first line of trees that circled the house.
"I'm sure is nothing, probably some animal, I'm going to take a look with Jon ok? Just stay here with Winn, I'm sure he has hundreds of tales from when we were children he's dying to tell you, right Winn?" – he was already on his feet eyeing a very distracted Winn- "Right Winn?" – he insisted raising his voice while poking him on his ribs.
"Ouc… I mean yeah yeah of course, you two go out there while Kara and I stay here telling stories, I love stories, wha… what about you Kara?" – he stuttered, a nervous smile in his face.
"Oh! Yes of course, my mom used to tell me one every night before bed, I could share some with you, she was an excellent story teller and the ones she told me were pretty incredible, you'll see" – Kara answered politely while adjusting once again her glasses, an habit she had whenever she was feeling anxious.
She could tell something was wrong, Jon and Mike had left almost an hour ago, Winn was becoming more and more jumpy giving glances to the door every 2 or 3 minutes. After her boyfriend left, she heard another scream, this one being definitely human. The confirmation to her feelings came some minutes later, when the front door was suddenly opened and a bloodied creature entered the house.
Kara froze beside the table the creature now standing tall in front of her giving her a wild look, out of the corner of her eyes she could see Winn slowly approaching from behind this creature which she believed to be some kind of wolf, a big, giant, intimidating wolf. The short man was giving her signals for her to stay still, but apparently her body as per usual was not cooperating, because unintentionally, she lost her balance taking one step towards this massive wolf. She knew she was screwed when the brown beast took a step back and tackled her, her rib cage being crushed by its weight.
She couldn't tell how many minutes had passed since the attack before 3 silhouettes were removing the wolf from her, her lungs filling with air once again. Her vision was blurry, her arms were covered by severe cuts which were bleeding profusely and she was sure some of her ribs were broken. She could tell someone was calling her name, a man's voice, was that Mike? No, this voice was deeper, Jon… yeah Jon was calling her, she tried to answered but her eyelids felt heavy, she heard her name once more and then everything went black.
One year later...
Exactly one year after the incident Kara was having her first photographic exposition, she would meet Nia (her best and only friend) in the morning for a run through the park, then have lunch with Brainy, probably being push by Mike to make sure she was doing fine in the big city, and lastly she would pick up her sister Alex from the airport, the latter being away for almost 4 months for a "secret assignment" according to her.
Her nerves were all over the place, sure she was confident about her job, but still… this was her first exposition and tonight she was alone, no one to tell her that everything was going to be fine. Things with Mike didn't go as planned, not remotely, at first she felt like crap but conforming the time passed she was positive that their breakup was for the best, as Alex would say she needed someone to be by her side every step of the way instead of someone who would lead her way in the direction they wanted.
So, she decided to go for a run which always did the trick to calm her. She was in the park, the bright full moon displayed in the sky illuminated her path. While she was running, she heard a woman screaming a few feet away, she looked around and without thinking it twice she took all of her clothes off and started running again. Her skin felt hot and rigid, her bones changing their form, her body ache, but this ache she was familiar to, suddenly she wasn't standing in her two legs anymore, she was faster, stronger… her focus in the screams. A strong smell overwhelmed her, strong yet nice, she came to an abrupt stop when her eyes caught the owner of the screams, one black wolf stood near her ready to attack. She run as fast as she could charging against the beast and before the black wolf could recover Kara was in front of him growling, her teeth showing and size intimidating, the latter acknowledging his disadvantage, run away through the tree line.
Kara turned around to look for the woman she had save, she needed to make sure she was fine, without a scratch in her. The woman was still there, completely frozen, her deep green…beautiful, sparkly eyes watching her with amusement. When their eyes met for the first time, time itself seemed to come to a stop, the only thing Kara could hear was this woman lovely heartbeat. They stay there for what felt forever, but reality hit the blonde when she heard voices approaching them, she gave one last look to the woman, turned around a left… but as she did, she was sure the beautiful brunette had extended her hand and whispered "Wait…", with a voice which made her quiver. She was once again screwed…