by Noelle Marie
Katherine immediately stopped her snarling, instincts demanding that she submit to the larger wolf. She shrunk into herself, resting the majority of her weight onto her hind legs.
And wasn’t that weird.
As soon as Katherine took the more docile position, Bastian stopped his own growling. He began nudging her on her side again, using his head to do so. She realized quickly that he was urging her to try to walk.
Figuring that it was largely instinctual – much like the growling, apparently – she attempted to walk forward. Somehow, however, her feet – or paws, rather – got tangled and she wound up on the ground in an awkward heap of fury limbs. If wolves were able to laugh, Katherine suspected Bastian would have been right at that moment. His blues eyes were gleaming with amusement.
Katherine was only barely able to resist the urge to once again snarl at the large, black wolf. She was still a bit wary of how Bastian reacted the first time. There was a reason he was the alpha of the pack after all – the power practically rolled off him.
After a few more tries – and one more mishap that resulted in Katherine being sprawled out on the forest floor – she was successfully walking. And brimming with excitement over the achievement.
Now that she knew she could walk, Katherine wanted to run. She could feel the rush of adrenaline at the mere prospect of it. She didn’t even care where she was going to run – every direction seemed filled with possibilities. She just knew she wanted – needed – to do it.
When she tried to leave the clearing, however, the large form of Bastian stopped her. She yipped and attempted to get around him, but he blocked her again.
An indignation so strong filled Katherine that she couldn’t stop a low growl from escaping her. The emotions she felt as a wolf were so much stronger – so much more extreme – than what she felt as a human. And they came and went at the drop of a hat. A moment ago, she’d been all kinds of excited. And now she wanted to rip chunks of Bastian’s fur out with her teeth.
Without a second thought to the consequences of it, Katherine plowed right into the alpha wolf – not really sure if she was still trying to get past him or just engaging him in a fight.
Of course, as soon as she collided with him, Bastian used his superior strength to fling her off of him and a moment later, he pounced on her. It wasn’t much of a fight. Physically, Bastian was much stronger than Katherine and after only a brief tussle, had her restrained on her back. His large form loomed over her, and he bared all his teeth in a way she was sure he meant to be threatening.
But Katherine wasn’t nearly as intimidated as she should have been. Anger still coursed through her and as futile as it was, she snapped her own teeth at him.
His answering growl had nearly the same effect that his first one did. She wasn’t afraid, per say. But the need to obey Bastian – to submit to him – quickly overtook the remnants of anger she still felt.
It was like Katherine’s body knew just what to do. She went limp and pulled her head back as far as it could go while still keeping eye contact with him. She bared her neck for him.
Just like before, Bastian’s growling immediately ceased. Then, to Katherine shock, the giant wolf licked her. Swiped his long tongue from the base of her throat to the tip of her snout. And then, he nuzzled her, pressing his face hard against hers.
Katherine yelped and tried to push the giant, black wolf off her. He didn’t freely comply, however, and she found herself fighting with him once again. This time, though, their grappling was more playful. She wasn’t actively trying to bite him and he wasn’t using his full strength against her.
It was fun.
Not much later, however, a loud howl sounded through the night air, quickly overpowering the other noises of night life in the forest – small animals scurrying about in bushes and trees, the occasional bird calling out to its flock. Bastian nudged Katherine into a standing position before answering the howl with one of his own.
A few moments later, the others of the pack – her pack – raced into the clearing. She immediately recognized the furry white wolf that bounded up to her as Sophie. The other wolf that hesitantly approached her – his fur was darker than Sophie’s, a gray color – she instinctually knew was Caleb.
The other two – Markus and Zane – held back a little. The former was nearly as large as Bastian – his brown fur not unlike Katherine’s own, if not perhaps a bit lighter in color. Zane was slightly smaller – though still bigger than Sophie or Caleb – and his coloring was similar to Bastian’s.
As soon as Sophie reached Katherine and Bastian, she began barking in an animated fashion, her tail literally wagging as she gestured with her head in the direction of the forest that the pack had emerged from.
Bastian responded to the barking with a slight nod of his head. The expression on Sophie’s face – wolf or not – could only be described as a grin. Then, prodding Caleb with her shoulder as she turned around, she began to run back into the forest. Caleb, as well as Markus and Zane, quickly followed her. Bastian started head butting her side again and for a second, Katherine didn’t know what was going on.
And then she did.
Elation filled her. Bastian was allowing her to run with the pack.
Needing no further prompting, Katherine took off after the others. Her powerful limbs sprung her forward and she flew through the forest, avoiding trees expertly. She was fast.
She easily caught up to and outpaced the others. Only Bastian attempted to stay with her and even then, he was only a black blur she’d see in her peripheral vision every once in a while.
It was positively exhilarating. Dopamine raced through her veins. It was one of the most amazing feelings she’d ever experienced.
Katherine didn’t know how long she ran, only that quite a bit of time had passed before her body finally grew tired and she stopped. She was well ahead of the others when she finally gave into the urge to rest. As she collapsed onto the dew covered ground, however, she heard a bit of rustling coming from a leafy bush not ten feet to her right. She turn to look at the bush, wondering what it was that could have made that noise, when she spotted it.
A rabbit.
Ravenous hunger nearly consumed Katherine. And she hadn’t even been aware that she was hungry!
She immediately attempted to pounce on the small animal. As soon as her paws even got close to it, however, it took off, sprinting out of her reach and quickly disappearing into the surrounding forest.
Some hunter she was.
An annoyed growl emerged from her throat, only growing more vicious when she turned to see that Bastian and the others had caught up to her and had obviously seen her failure at hunting if the amusement shining from their eyes was anything to go by.
Apparently, growling was her go-to reaction to just about everything in this form.
Before Katherine could dwell on her embarrassment, however, Bastian raced off into the forest and Sophie quickly captured her attention by rubbing up against her side and engaging her in a play fight similar to the one she’d had with Bastian in the clearing.
It was as fun as it had been earlier. Maybe even more so since there wasn’t such a huge disparity in size between the two female wolves. And Sophie didn’t attempt to lick her either, which was a plus.
It was just as entertaining watching Markus and Zane spar. Markus won nearly every time. At least until Sophie entered the brawl and joined forces with Zane. Katherine was only all too happy to watch Markus get a beat down courtesy of her fellow pack members.
Bastian wasn’t gone long before he returned, three dead rabbits clamped between his powerful jaws.
As soon as Katherine spotted the blood-stained animals, her stomach began to rumble beseechingly. As hungry as she was, however, she still knew it wasn’t smart to encroach upon another wolf’s kill.
But then Bastian set the three rabbits down directly in front of her – clearly offering them to her – and Katherine didn’t hesitate. She devoured the first ani
mal, tearing her sharp teeth into the small creature, fur and all. The second she took a little more time with, savoring the bloody, raw meat.
There was no sense of horror at what she was doing. These weren’t adorable little bunnies any longer. They were sustenance. Food. Plain and simple.
Still, Katherine’s hunger had been satisfied by the first two rabbits so she used her nose to push the third one back at Bastian, who had been watching her eat with rapt eyes.
Some things never change.
He didn’t take the rabbit though, and when Katherine once again refused to eat it, he offered it to Sophie, who was all too willing to scarf it down.
After eating, Katherine continued to play with the others. Soon, however, the meat settled in her stomach and she began feeling tired. Her movements slowed as her limbs grew heavy with fatigue.
Bastian must have sensed her exhaustion as soon after, he began leading the pack back in the direction of the clearing. It took a while to get there as they’d run north quite a ways, but Katherine managed to keep pace with the others.
As soon as they arrived at the clearing, however, she immediately picked a spot to rest in the tall grass, laying down and resting her face on her paws. Her eyelids began to droop immediately. She was so tired that she didn’t even mind when Bastian settled down next to her – even allowed her weary body to lean onto his a little as sleep threatened to overtake her. Katherine could vaguely feel him once again nuzzling her face with his own when sleep finally pulled her under.
#
Too soon, she was forced awake by a firm hand shaking her arm. “Katherine,” a voice whispered urgently.
Straining to open her eyes, Katherine could groggily make out Sophie’s face directly above her own. The blonde had more than a few leafs stuck in her hair and a streak of dried mud covering half her face. Katherine took in the rest of her in and realized that the usually put together girl was wearing a red t-shirt that hung off her frame and a pair of loose sweatpants.
“What?” Katherine mumbled incoherently, still half asleep.
“Come on,” Sophie urged, tugging on her arm again. Her bare arm. “We need to get you dressed before the others wake up.”
Her bare arm attached to her bare body.
She was stark naked!
That certainly woke Katherine up.
Trying not to panic, she reached down in an attempt to cover her exposed breasts. As she did so, she immediately noticed Bastian lying incredibly close to her.
The events of last night came back to her.
She had done it. Katherine had survived the change. She was a full-fledged werewolf now.
And she should have been relieved. Ecstatic, even.
But how could she possibly focus on that when Bastian, like Katherine, was completely in the buff? He was on his stomach so she couldn’t see anything too horribly inappropriate, but that didn’t stop her eyes from sweeping down his naked form – down the lightly tanned skin of his muscled back and lower.
When she realized what she was doing – ogling Bastian’s unconscious, naked body, and right in front of his sister even, Katherine’s face immediately reddened. She knew Sophie was getting a prime view of just how far reaching her blush really was.
Perhaps she wouldn’t have been quite so embarrassed if Bastian was just lying next to her.
But no. He also had his right arm thrown haphazardly over her hips.
“Katherine,” Sophie repeated herself. “You have to get up.”
Katherine wholeheartedly agreed. And she tried to get up. She really did. But when she moved, the arm around her waist tightened significantly.
Katherine was positive that if one could truly die of embarrassment, she would have done so at that moment. It would have been terribly ironic. Surviving the change only to die the next morning out of complete mortification.
She glanced up at Sophie with pleading eyes, begging the blonde to somehow get her out of this predicament. Muttering about what a pain her brother was, Sophie bent over and helped Katherine pry Bastian’s arm off of her.
And that hadn’t been humiliating at all.
The small brunette couldn’t bring herself to feel anything but thankful towards the blonde, however, when she fished some clothes out of a bag and handed them to her. She hadn’t even noticed that the girl had been wearing the backpack yesterday when they’d hiked through the woods.
But she supposed she’d had other, more pressing matters on her mind.
Katherine wasted no time pulling on the long-sleeved shirt and pair of sweats Sophie had given her. The shirt nearly hung down to her knees, but she hardly cared and quickly slipped into some sneakers that Sophie offered her as well.
She knew without a doubt that the clothes she’d been wearing last night – including her beloved leather jacket – had been shredded beyond repair.
As soon as Katherine was adequately dressed, Sophie surprised her by pulling her into a hug. She allowed it. Now that she wasn’t in danger of dying of embarrassment, Katherine allowed the relief – the joy at still being alive – to flow through her.
Sophie eventually released her, but only to clasp her hand around the brunette’s elbow as soon as she had done so. “Come on, honey. There’s a stream not far from here where we can wash up a little.”
“Okay,” Katherine agreed and let the other girl pull her along.
After only a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the stream. The current was moving slowly, allowing Katherine to catch a glimpse of her reflection on the water’s surface.
Christ. And she thought Sophie had looked haggard.
Whereas the blonde had had a few leafs tangled in her hair, Katherine was pretty sure a whole tree had somehow managed to dislodge in her mahogany locks. Or at least a large branch of some sort.
It took Katherine a solid half hour to pick all the leafs – and sticks – out of her hair and wash her face clean of mud.
When she was finished, she and Sophie headed back to the clearing. “Hopefully the guys are awake and actually dressed by now,” the blonde commented idly. She smirked in Katherine’s direction. “Sorry you had to see that, by the way,” she teased.
Katherine scrunched her nose, making sure to act properly traumatized by it all. But she couldn’t exactly say she was sorry that she’d seen Bastian in his birthday suit.
It turned out that the men were awake and properly clothed when the two girls returned to the clearing. Katherine accepted a shy hug from Caleb and even a one armed squeeze from Zane when he spotted her. Markus, of course, didn’t move to touch her, but she was more than okay with that. She took the fact that he didn’t immediately begin insulting her when she entered the clearing as his way of telling her that he was glad she was okay.
It was Bastian’s response to seeing her that surprised Katherine the most. For someone who’d spent half of his time avoiding her the past two weeks, he nearly crushed her in a bone-crushing embrace when he saw her. He held her in his arms for a solid minute. When Bastian finally pulled away, he kept his hands wrapped around her biceps.
His eyes roamed over her form and Katherine suspected he was searching for any visible injuries. Not that he could see much. She was practically drowning in the oversized clothes Sophie had given her. Eventually his roving eyes met hers and blue bore into green.
“You’re okay,” he muttered, tightening his grip on her arms for a second before finally letting them go. He rubbed the back of his neck with one of his hands. “I’m… glad.”
For perhaps the first time ever, Katherine smiled at Bastian.
“Me too,” she said, truly meaning it. “Me too.”
And for once in her life – at least, the wreck her life had become since that fateful night on Miller Road – things were looking up.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The immense relief – the pure joy and elation – that Katherine felt regarding surviving the change lasted for all of a day. If she thought her life would miraculously improve after sh
e’d made it through her first full moon, well, she was wrong.
Horribly, dreadfully, irrevocably wrong.
In fact, it was as if changing into a werewolf – if only for one night – had somehow messed with her head and caused her hormones to go completely haywire.
She was still the same person. She could still look in the mirror and see little Katherine Mayes staring back at her. And yet…
It was like she had no control of herself.
Not two days after she’d survived the change, she’d burst into tears when Bastian had returned from an impromptu trip to Haven Falls baring a brand new leather jacket – an exact replica of the one she’d inadvertently torn to shreds during her transformation. To Katherine’s utter mortification, her eyes had wetted, the oncoming tears sticking to her eyelashes and clumping the fine hairs together as she frantically tried to blink them away, as soon as the man handed her the jacket. He’d also given her a pair of fleece white mittens and a matching hat with large flaps for her ears.
She’d barely managed to croak out a soft “thank you” before retreating to her room where the waterworks had really started. She knew her reaction to his thoughtfulness had undoubtedly bewildered Bastian, but she really couldn’t help it.
It had just been such a nice thing to do. And Bastian was hardly synonymous with the word nice.
Even if she did find herself drawn in again and again by the earthiness that seemed to define his natural scent, by the lone dimple the appeared on his right cheek whenever he tried to suppress a smile, by the intensity of his dark blue eyes…
Occasionally, Katherine would even catch herself thinking of the firm muscles of his back – picturing the expanse of sculpted, tanned skin as she allowed her mind to wander back to how it’d felt to wake up next to him on the hard, forest ground.
Despite the draw she felt towards him, however, he still infuriated her most of the time. Quite often, she’d have to resist the urge to punch him.
Same with Markus.
That, though, Katherine could boast she had finally done.
It had happened the morning after Bastian had given her the leather jacket. Markus, who’d been in the same room as Katherine when she’d received it the night before, poked fun at her tearful response over breakfast. She couldn’t even remember exactly what it was he had said – though she seriously doubted it was as offensive as some of the comments he’d made in the past. She just knew that her newly volatile temper had flared and before she’d even made the conscious decision to do it, she’d hauled off and slugged the man right in his impertinent mouth.