“I have a contract with the government,” he continued with a deep sigh, “one that is both important and puts me in a bit of danger at times. It’s a pretty top-secret project and one that gives me many enemies. Sometimes, that has also put my assistants in danger if they know too much or get involved before they can handle the responsibility of it…” He trailed off and ran his fingers through his hair, a move Katrina knew meant he was feeling stressed.
"It's alright, I understand," she coaxed, not wanting him to get too anxious. She did worry about his health sometimes being under so much pressure and alone. It wasn't good for him. "You don't have to tell me everything if you don't want to. However, I assure you that whatever it is, I can handle it, and I am willing to help in whatever capacity you need."
She didn’t really have an option considering her financial situation, but she wasn’t going to say that. Besides, she was starting to feel slightly fond of him. After all, she had been lonely herself after the loss of her grandmother and here he was having dinner with her and offering to pay for her to go back to school.
“There is more I want to tell you.” The way he said it made Katrina look at Zachary, and their eyes met. She could feel a fire behind his look like he might be attracted.
There was an intensity that made the air in the room heavy on her shoulders, and for a moment, she wondered if he meant he was going to say something about his feelings for her; an attraction. Her cheeks got hot at the thought, and she sat as still as a statue, waiting for him to continue.
He suddenly cleared his throat and broke the eye contact along with the spell. Katrina looked down at her plate and started pushing the food around.
“I think I’d like for you to start getting really involved. In fact, I need you too. You’ve brought my attention to the fact that I certainly overwork myself and don’t take care of myself. And I want to tell you that I appreciate it, and I feel like maybe I can trust you.”
Katrina felt dumb for thinking he might have felt something for her; a successful and handsome man like him wanting a woman like her. But her curiosity was getting the better of her as far as his work.
"So, then, can I ask what it is you do for the government since it sounds like I might just find out anyway?" she asked, daring to look back up at him, letting her hair cover one eye shyly.
“I design a specific class of weapons for the government to help the military.” Katrina’s eyes went wide, and then she nodded. It was making a bit more sense now why people might leave the job or be in danger. She doubted now that the last person had gone missing due to any actions of Zachary’s.
Chapter Five
After her dinner with Zachary, Katrina lay awake in bed. The house had come to life, and so did Katrina’s own thoughts and worries.
The wind blew past the windows with a whistling as if some ghost was riding it to send messages to its loved ones. It didn’t help that there was little surrounding the house other than empty fields and lots of trees. Isolation in a big place made the imagination run wild sometimes.
Katrina was only surprised it hadn’t happened before, living in such a strange place, working for a man she hardly knew; one known as “The Beast” no less. Not that she believed a lot of the hype about him, but it just gave a person a chill when you added it all up.
She tossed and turned in the darkness of the night.
The mansion offered little light, especially in her part of the house. The grounds were lit up on the east and west sides, but she was facing south towards an endless line of trees. She couldn’t make out much of anything if she looked out her window and even less in her room unless she used the flashlight app on her cell phone.
Once in a while, her family plagued her at night, especially when things were quiet. When she had lived in the city, it was easier to be distracted. The normal street noises and things to keep her busy drowned out those things that pestered her brain. But now there was nothing to stop them.
The first thing she saw when she closed her eyes that night was the soft, caramel skin of her grandmother’s face. She used to touch it all the time when she was younger because it felt like a warm blanket to her, inviting her in. It was the only time she ever was able to show any affection, so maybe that was what got her about it.
But the skin in her dream was changing. It was turning thin and papery, wasting away each time she touched it until it turned to dust and began to crumble. Her grandmother’s form began to distort as pieces fell off like grains of sand onto the earth below. In her dream, Katrina cried and screamed.
In the back of her mind, Katrina knew it was a dream; a dream she had before at that. She’d had the dream a lot around the time her grandmother’s health began to fail. She knew she was going to lose the woman who was probably the most important person in her life, and she had no control over it. That was the scariest part; being helpless.
She had felt that same helplessness most of her childhood and had taken great strides not to feel that way as much as possible in adult life. But when it came to life itself, there was no control to be had.
Katrina woke up in a cold sweat, not wanting to go back to sleep, but she knew she needed to. She sipped on the glass of milk she kept beside her bed, just in case. She tried to lay back down, but her thoughts began racing uncontrollably about her parents, which were much like the mysterious ghosts whispering in the wind around her tonight.
There was a reason she had grown up mostly with her grandmother. Her parents had not been the best of people to be around. They weren’t married when they had her, and her father resented the fact that he felt trapped by this family he hadn’t expected. It turned into anger a lot of the time; yelling and throwing objects was a regular occurrence in her early life.
There had been a time when she was around three that her father had clipped her leg with a stone bowl he’d thrown in a rage. Katrina hardly remembered, but she still had the scar to prove it. That was when he’d packed his bags and left. It was better to leave and not be responsible than to be so angry that he harmed his own child, even by accident.
Her mother had been devastated and never got over it, constantly seeking to replace him with even worse look-alikes.
When things got too tough for Katrina to handle she would call her grandmother or just walk to her house if they lived close by. By nine, she was living there permanently because her mother couldn’t stop fighting with her, and her father didn’t want to see her.
Katrina had grown up and learned that they were two flawed and embarrassed people who didn’t like being reminded of how badly they had screwed up. Unfortunately, Katrina happened to be that reminder.
She had sought relationships with them both when she was a teen, but she had soon stopped identifying herself as part of their families. She never seemed to fit in with the lives they led now, and it was hard to forgive and forget when they brought her onto the earth and then chose not to care for her properly.
So, she had moved on. But now that she was alone in the world again, her thoughts went to them more often than she liked to admit. She missed her mother’s laughter and her father’s soft eyes and musky scent. She always got over it eventually, but something about this time seemed different; probably because there was little to distract her.
She had tried to call her mother a few times after her grandmother had passed, but the conversations never turned out well. Her mother didn’t even come to the funeral, which made no sense. It embarrassed Katrina that they were related when things like that happened.
Fear shut down any new attempts to try to make contact with her father. He had walked out all those years ago for a reason, and attempts to meet him had never been to her satisfaction. But that craving for family, for a closeness to someone, was still there below the surface no matter how much she tried to push it down and weed it out.
With a sigh Katrina threw the covers off herself, giving up on the idea of sleep for the moment.
Instead, she decided to go and meet her
so called ghosts head on. She pulled on a light sweater to shield herself from the wind and tiptoed quietly down the stairs and to the door. The sides of the property were very open and had small gardens in them. Maybe if she walked around and got some fresh air, she’d come back to bed with a fresh perspective. If not, maybe the walk would tire her out enough to go back to a dreamless sleep.
As her feet touched the grass, a chill ran through her body. It wasn’t that cold, but the sound of the whipping wind sent a chill through her body. The whistling had turned to a full on howl. Or was that an animal? She hadn’t thought much about the wild animals that could easily be prowling the grounds. The only protection for the property was a bunch of hedges and a small fence that she doubted would hold anything out if it really wanted in.
Shaking her head free of the momentary paranoia, Katrina pressed on into one of the gardens, smelling the herbs that were growing around her feet. Their smell did bring a calming feeling and helped to clear her head a bit.
She looked up at the towering house, it did look a little creepier in the nighttime, she had to admit. She wondered what Zachary was doing up there all alone like herself. Was he sleeping, or was he tossing and turning too?
He was someone she could consider getting closer to and forming a bond with; she just didn’t know for sure if he wanted it too.
But nothing good in life ever came to anyone without hard work and a few risks.
Katrina smiled to herself and came back around the house, meaning to head back inside. The fresh air had served its purpose. There was something there with Zachary to be explored. She didn’t need her absent father or irresponsible mother to fill any voids.
She heard the howl again and then a low growl and knew that what she had heard earlier had not been the wind. The sound was closer than it had been before. Slowly, she dared to turn around.
In front of her stood a wolf. Katrina sucked in her breath. The brown and gray animal had its teeth bared as if ready to pounce. The animal looked straight at her as if calculating and then leaped, pinning her onto the hard ground.
Katrina was sure she was a goner. She didn’t even scream. But as she looked at her barking, drooling assailant head on, she noticed a familiar scar on its cheek. Could it be?
“Zachary?” she asked, breathless, her voice barely carried in the wisp of the wind. The wolf’s growls ceased, and he looked upon her with intelligent and beautiful dark eyes; the eyes of a man she had just begun to get to know. And she knew the answers now to why he was always alone.
Before she had time to assimilate the vision, the wolf ran off as quickly as it appeared, a short whimper falling behind it.
Chapter Six
The next morning, Katrina woke up feeling invigorated. It was a new day full of new things to discover, and she was full of questions for Zachary.
She was no teen romance fanatic, but she had to admit that meeting a real live werewolf was exciting. She had never seen or met one, even though they were “out” in society, and so she had pushed it to the back of her mind with many other things. If she didn’t see it, then it was like it didn’t exist. It didn’t matter. It had still been like fiction in her head until she had witnessed it. His scar had been the giveaway. There was no mistake; Zachary was a werewolf.
How long had he been trying to keep it a secret and still live a semi-normal life? Did he have any business associates that knew? Her head was full of so many wonderings that she had to sort through them and get a grip on what might be most appropriate.
After all, she didn’t know his history or how thrilled he would be that she knew about it. She doubted he would be ready to sip some tea at the breakfast table and tell her all about turning into a werewolf. He clearly wasn’t that type of guy anyway.
Expecting to have some kind of run-in with Zachary, she made sure not to head downstairs in her pajamas. It was bad enough he had seen her in his wolf form looking like a zombie. She wasn't going to allow for that impression again now that he could see her with human eyes. She slipped on a long orange dress and brushed through her hair a few times before heading down, feeling hopeful about what she would find.
The place was strangely quiet. In fact, none of the other staff was anywhere in sight. She looked around in the dining room and found no food, but there was a check sitting at her usual seat. She picked it up and saw an outrageous number on it; the kind of number a person could live on for years to come. The craziest part was that it had her name on it.
What was going on, and where was Zachary?
When she turned around, holding the check out in front of her like it was a stinky piece of trash, she almost ran smack dab into Zachary. He was quiet, and his eyes looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep. This time, she knew the reason behind it, though.
“You scared me,” she told him, grabbing her chest. “What is this all about?” she asked holding out the check to him.
“It’s a check for you, Katrina. It’s your ticket out of here.” Zachary’s dark eyes burned into her as he said the words.
Katrina looked at him in confusion. There was none of the usual feelings in his voice. He seemed really stressed, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.
“What are you talking about, Zachary?”
“You don’t have to pretend that it doesn’t bother you, Katrina. You don’t work here anymore. All of that money is yours. All you have to do is walk out that door and never speak of what you learned while you were here.”
Katrina was beginning to understand, and she had to force her jaw closed, which was hanging open in shock. She put her hands on her hips and stood her ground, letting him know she was not happy with his line of thinking.
“I am not going anywhere, Zachary. You are not just my boss; you have become my friend. I don’t care what you think of yourself or what you think I should feel about what I know.”
She waited for a response but she could see that Zachary was just as set in his line of thinking as she was in hers.
“The cat’s out of the bag, and I don’t care. In fact, I find it fascinating. I was coming down here ready to ask a million questions and feeling like a weight was lifted off of this relationship, whatever it is because the truth was finally out there in the open. There’s nothing to hide or tip toe around anymore.”
She paused and shifted her weight. “Now, if you want to fire me out of your own embarrassment, fine. But I am not going to take your ridiculous hush money or let you think for a second I’m the kind of person to look down on you for what you are.”
Katrina took a deep breath and passed the check over to him, shaking it at him until he took it back.
He looked at it in confusion. He looked down at the check in his hand then back at Katrina.
“But aren’t you frightened of me? I’m a monster.”
Katrina’s expression softened, and she approached him, getting as close as she could without crossing too many boundaries, even though her insides were daring her to do so.
Now that she realized what he was, she was even more attracted to him. It was like there was this unspoken power in the air around him even though he looked so exhausted.
“I can tell that you think that, but I don’t see any reason to be afraid of you. You’re not dangerous. If you were dangerous then you would have hurt me last night…but you didn’t,” she told him softly. “You’re just different.”
It looked like it might have been the first time anyone had even planted such a thought in his mind. She could tell almost instantly that there was a story to what he had become, and it was definitely the reason he kept himself in isolation.
“Are you sure?” he finally asked, his eyes shining in a new light as he looked up at her.
The intensity of the connection between them was too great. If he didn’t make a move, she was going to. But she didn’t have to.
Zachary reached out with his hand and entangled it in her hair, pulling her face to his with his fist. She melted into his, allowing him to pull her c
lose to his body with his other hand.
The kiss felt so right like she had been waiting for that kiss her whole life. It felt like it had been written down in a history book meant just for her, and she could see stars all around her when she closed her eyes.
His warm breath had a scent she couldn’t describe as she tasted him, letting her tongue slip into his mouth and his into hers. It was heavenly. Their bodies fit together perfectly like puzzle pieces, and she was sure she had chosen that job for a reason. She was meant to meet this amazing man; more than a man.
She pulled away and didn’t know how long the kiss had lasted. It felt like forever and yet not long enough. Katrina touched her lips, and she could still feel him there. She had to be sure it was real.
“I’m sorry,” Zachary said, his eyes wide with shock at what he had just done. “I just keep screwing up.”
Katrina laughed nervously.
“You didn’t screw up,” she admitted. “I told you that I wasn’t afraid of you, Zachary,” she whispered, reaching out for his hand. “I admire you, and what you are, it fascinates me. I have so many questions.” Her whole body was full of electricity. She felt like she could run a marathon, but she knew she had work to do. “But I know it must be a sensitive subject to you.”
Zachary nodded. “I have not been this way most of my life. It is a more recent development, and I’ve had a hard time coping. Look, I have a lot of meetings and things going on today; important ones, but I want to talk to you about this. I let my staff off for the day to deal with this revelation.” He pointed between the two of them, and they both laughed at the double meaning behind his words. “Why don’t you go out and get some breakfast and then we’ll both get to work. Then, tonight, I would like to take the time to talk about things and have a real dinner; just the two of us with you not as my assistant. I think maybe I’ll order something nice or even do the cooking myself.”
Claimed by Two Navy Shifters Page 20