Bitten

by Noelle Marie

  Maybe Markus would keep what had happened to himself and she could just tell Bastian that she’d fallen. Katherine couldn’t say why exactly she didn’t want him to know what had happened. Just that she didn’t.

  It occurred to her that really needed to learn how to fight. Maybe then, she wouldn’t find herself in situations like this one. Perhaps Bastian would teach her. She’d be able to lay guys like Rip flat on their backs with his tutelage she was sure.

  The small brunette was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of sharp rapping on the driver’s side window of the truck. She startled, but willed her racing heart to calm when she recognized Markus. He was pointing at the engaged lock. Katherine immediately reached over and let him into the vehicle.

  “For God’s sake,” he muttered when he spotted her bloody forehead. He pulled the shirt off his chest, ignoring Katherine’s involuntary blush as he pressed it against the wound. “Hold this there until the bleeding stops,” he ordered.

  Despite the slight sting it caused, Katherine obeyed.

  Markus started the truck, but didn’t touch the clutch to put it into drive. Instead, he just sat there – his bruised knuckles nearly turning white as the grip his fingers had around the steering wheel tightened. He spared her a glance, eying her disheveled appearance wearily. “Bastian’s going to kill me.”

  He seemed resigned.

  Great.

  Somehow Katherine knew that he wouldn’t be willing to keep what had happened a secret from Bastian.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  For all that Katherine worried about Bastian’s reaction to her bruised temple, she didn’t see the man at all that evening. Markus, too, disappeared soon after he’d dropped her off at the house. She was asleep by the time they’d finally returned, both with bloody, torn knuckles and Bastian, still harboring a lingering rage in his eyes.

  She’d foolishly deluded herself into believing that Markus really would keep quiet about Rip attacking her and that nothing would come of it.

  The very next morning, that delusion came crashing down around her.

  #

  “As leader of the council, I hereby call this meeting to order.”

  The head alpha of Haven Falls was the epitome of intimidating. Nearly as tall as Bastian and just as muscular, the middle-aged man’s very presence demanded respect.

  Cain, Katherine could vaguely recall was his name. He was Bastian’s uncle.

  His steely gray eyes roamed up and down the long, rectangular table that easily seated all fifteen of Haven Fall’s other alphas before landing on Katherine’s petite form. He smiled at her. “Hello.”

  Attempting a weak grin in response, she couldn’t help but wonder exactly how it was she’d managed to get herself into this situation.

  When Bastian had jostled her awake early that morning – only the faintest beams of yellow sunlight had been filtering in through the windows – demanding that she get dressed, she’d been more than a little confused. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she’d immediately asked to know why he was making her get up at such an ungodly hour.

  His answer had consisted of two simple words – “Council meeting.”

  Bastian largely ignored the barrage of questions that response had prompted from Katherine. He wouldn’t answer why she was being made to come to what she understood to be private meetings, but it was obvious by the worry lines etched across his brow and the downward slope of his mouth that for whatever reason she was being forced to go, he wasn’t happy about it.

  Less than an hour later, they’d arrived at a building located near the center of tiny Haven Falls. Katherine realized quickly that it was a pseudo city hall of sorts and where the meeting would be taking place.

  She’d then been led to a back room in the building where a large table served as the space’s center piece. Nearly a dozen other people – all alphas, Katherine immediately noticed – were already seated around said table.

  Katherine recognized a few of the alphas from their semi-regular appearance in her gym class. She also easily spotted the lone female alpha she knew to be the leader of Agnes’ pack. She was tall – pushing six feet – with long red hair and an attractive smattering of freckles across her nose.

  Unfortunately, Katherine saw them as well – Priscilla and Mrs. Wright. They stood behind one of the men sitting at the table, wearing matching smug smiles. Another non-alpha, a slightly plump woman with her arms crossed over her ample breasts, glowered at her from behind a different man.

  If Katherine hadn’t been feeling apprehensive before they’d arrived at the meeting, her nerves had certainly kicked in then. She was positively vexed that Bastian had refused to tell her what was going on.

  Some of her anger fled, however, when he immediately offered her what she knew had to have been his chair at the mahogany table. She was the only non-alpha offered a seat. The other females in the room – barring the redhead, of course – were made to stand slightly behind their respective alphas.

  Any good will she may have felt toward Bastian disappeared, however, as soon as Cain had stalked into the room, announcing the beginning of the meeting and addressing Katherine personally. Despite the smile stretched across the man’s face – nearly all of his teeth were showing – she already knew by the presence of Priscilla and Mrs. Wright that she was in some sort of trouble. And judging by the firm grip Bastian had on her chair from where he stood beside her, he knew it too.

  Unfortunately, he hadn’t deemed it necessary to inform her what exactly it was she was in trouble for before dragging her here. Jerk.

  It was then that Katherine first noticed the bruises on Bastian’s knuckles. Though they looked as if they were already half-healed, the light blue and yellow splotches still stood out starkly against the white of Bastian’s fingers as they held tightly to the rungs of her chair.

  The sight of the fading bruises caused Katherine’s stomach to churn and the anxiety brewing there to turn into outright trepidation.

  It occurred to her that maybe Bastian didn’t tell her what the impromptu meeting was about and why he was so insistent that she come along because she wasn’t the only one in some sort of trouble.

  What had Bastian done?

  The sound of Cain’s voice as he once again began to talk jerked Katherine out of her increasingly distressing thoughts. “Friends, I’m afraid I’ve called you here today because a rather… disconcerting matter has been brought to by attention. One of us – an alpha – has been accused of assaulting a young werewolf not a member of his pack.”

  Katherine knew, of course, even before she could feel the curious eyes wander over her form and fixate on the space above her right shoulder – the space where Bastian loomed over her – exactly who it was being accused.

  “As we all know,” the head alpha continued, “this is a serious breach of conduct. Before allowing the injured party to seek retribution, however, it is imperative that I – that we – hear exactly what took place – both sides of the story, if you will. Briggs, as it was you who made the accusation in name of your son, why don’t you take the floor?”

  Without further ado, Cain sat in his seat at the head of the table and the man that he addressed, behind whom the glaring woman Katherine didn’t recognize stood, pushed himself out of his chair.

  “With all due respect, Head Alpha, the story that you’ve alluded to is quite simple. Prince,” the man spit of Bastian’s last name like it was a curse, “unjustly attacked my son.”

  Murmurs broke out amongst the alphas, many of whom were sending doubtful looks Briggs’s way. The female alpha, however, was the only one who stood and challenged the man directly. “I know your son, Briggs. I find it hard to believe that if Bastian, indeed, did attack Rip, that it was completely unprovoked.”

  Katherine had already suspected it was Rip whom Bastian had went after, of course, but hearing her suspicions confirmed did nothing to relieve the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  Briggs’s lips curled, like
he found the very presence of the red-haired woman distasteful. All the same, he addressed her scarcely veiled accusation. “Rip is a remarkable and exceptionally charismatic young man and I don’t appreciate what you’re implying, Atkins. Nevertheless, I, too, was skeptical and questioned my son when he insisted that the attack was unprovoked. After all, I’ve never known Bastian to be particularly aggressive.”

  Katherine fought the near hysterical laughter that threatened to bubble up her throat. Not aggressive? Did this Briggs person not know Bastian at all?

  “But that was before it was brought to my attention that a girl was at the center of all this trouble.”

  The urge she had to laugh immediately dissipated.

  “These two women here – Juliana and Priscilla Wright, wife and daughter of Vance Wright – will corroborate my story. This little girl,” the man actually had the nerve to point at her from his place across the table, “has been infatuated my son ever since she’s been brought to Haven Falls. When Rip rejected her advances, what he thought was a harmless crush turned dangerous – more along the lines of an obsession, really. When he rejected her again yesterday, she got angry and got her alpha involved. We all know that Bastian has a weak spot for the girl – and she used that weakness against him, spinning lies, and causing him to attack my son!”

  Katherine was completely gobsmacked.

  She suspected she was doing a rather remarkable impression of a fish, her eyes large in their disbelief as her lips forming a surprised “o”, her jawing having dropped halfway through the man’s unbelievably erroneous account of what had happened between she and Rip.

  After a beat of silence, she recovered from her shock, sputtering as she tried to discredit Briggs’s completely fictional story.

  Before she could manage to force a single word out, however, Bastian was leaning over the table, swatting the man’s accusing finger out of her face as he erupted. “Your mongrel of a son deserved everything he got. He’s the one who doesn’t understand the word no. It was within my rights to kill him if I so chose!”

  Briggs’s face purpled. Before he could rebuff Bastian or Bastian could throw a fist – Katherine wouldn’t put it passed him at this point, both his hands were balled up where they lay on the table – Cain interjected. “Where is your boy, Briggs? Surely he should be here to tell his version of events – so we can better divulge the truth?”

  The woman whose eyes were still glaring daggers at Katherine, finally spoke up. “Rip can barely walk! Both his hands are broken, the fingers on his right hand totally crushed!”

  Bastian snarled at her, the sound originating from somewhere deep in his chest. “His hands wouldn’t be broken right now if he would’ve just kept them to himself in the first place. You should be thankful that they’re the worst of his injuries.”

  Briggs glared at the woman standing behind him. Katherine was certain now that she was the man’s wife – Rip’s mother. She reluctantly bowed her head. Briggs turned back around to face Bastian. “Rip’s injuries will put him out of commission for weeks. It’s recruiting season. That’s a devastating amount of time to be out of the game! Furthermore, we’ve been told by my pack’s healer that the damage done to his hands was so extensive that there’s a chance they won’t heal correctly.”

  “I, for one, can’t say that I’m surprised at this turn of events.”

  Katherine recognized the owner of the patronizing voice immediately. Rogue.

  How could she have missed him when she’d entered the room?

  The scruffy-looking man’s eyes were drilling into Bastian’s form. “I mean, what do you expect? Giving such a young and inexperienced alpha so many charges to care for? He was foolish to think he could bring yet another person into his pack. Bastian attacking that boy just proves that he has no control over himself, let alone that little girl by his side.”

  “Shut your mouth, you prick.”

  It was the first time Katherine had spoken since the meeting had started and the words flew out of her mouth before she’d even thought them. When the eyes of everyone in the room turned toward her and she felt Bastian’s weighty gaze on the back of her neck, , she immediately wished she could take them back.

  Rogue grinned at Katherine, seemingly amused by her brief outburst, before turning his attention back to Bastian. “Tell you what, I’ll take her off your hands for you.”

  For a brief moment, time stood still. Then, with an almighty roar, Bastian dove across the table.

  Katherine immediately leaped from her chair. Others, too, moved out of the man’s way. Bastian ended up sprawled halfway across the table, one of his hands with an unyielding grip around the collar of Rogue’s shirt.

  Not knowing what else to do, and more than a little aware that Bastian’s sudden exhibition of violence was not helping their case, Katherine quickly snatched up Bastian’s free hand, squeezing it as hard as she could and attempting – though mostly failing – to pull him away from Rogue.

  “Order!” Cain demanded over the ruckus that had erupted in the meeting room.

  Katherine’s grip on Bastian’s hand remained unwavering. Even as her fingers tugged on his calloused palm, however, she knew that she’d never be able to move him – not unless he allowed himself to be moved.

  “Let him go,” Katherine begged in a near whisper. “You’ll only get us into more trouble if you don’t.”

  Bastian glanced at her, his blue eyes dark with anger. After a moment, however, he seemed to regain control of himself, letting go of Rogue’s collar with reluctance and straightening up so that the table no longer had to hold his weight.

  Katherine let out a sigh of relief, but didn’t let go of his hand.

  Just in case he decided to take another dive across the table, of course.

  Neither sat in the now empty chair between them.

  After allowing everyone in the room a moment to compose themselves, Cain surprised Katherine by once again addressing her directly. “And what do you have to say about Rogue’s suggestion, girl? Do you find Bastian to be an acceptable alpha?”

  His question hung in the air – everyone once again turning to face Katherine as they waited for her response. She could feel Bastian as he tensed beside her, the grip his fingers had on hers becoming almost painful, but she didn’t withdraw her hand. She took a deep breath and answered Cain with complete honesty.

  “Without Bastian, I’d be dead.”

  Cain nodded once, in acceptance of her answer, but kept his eyes intent on her face as he continued to question her. “And what’s all this about Bastian attacking one of your classmates? Were his actions justified?”

  “Why are you asking her?” Briggs quickly demanded.

  “As if the girl would actually tell the truth,” Briggs’s wife muttered in disbelief.

  Cain held a hand up, demanding silence and their protests immediately ceased. “Well?” he asked her.

  Katherine licked her lips, having no problem implicating Rip. “Yes, it was justified. Rip cornered me at school. Whatever Bastian did to him – it was only to protect me.”

  Cain gazed into her eyes for a good while, no doubt searching them for deception. “Very well,” he announced shortly. “Briggs,” he turned to the man in question, “I’m afraid that you have no proof Bastian was acting in anything other than defense of his pack when he went after your son. As such, there will be no retribution for his actions.”

  Katherine’s shoulders sagged in relief, but she wasn’t immune to the smoldering glares sent her way by the Briggs and Wright families. She was just thankful that they didn’t dispute the head alpha’s quick decision. She really didn’t want to have to explain exactly why it was that Rip had cornered her at school – that he was the one with the demented crush.

  Before she could completely relax, however, Cain continued speaking – and what he had to say this time was not what Katherine wanted to hear.

  “Bastian,” he addressed the dark-haired man. “I’m afraid, however, that you�
�ve proven Rogue’s point about your lack of control valid when you launched yourself at him just now. Perhaps he’s also correct in implying that you have too many charges to care for. I wouldn’t protest if-”

  He hadn’t even finished his sentence when Rogue, clasping the edges of the table with both his hands and leading into Bastian’s space, spoke. “I issue an alpha challenge. You and me, Bastian. Next full moon. For the girl.”

  What in the world was an alpha challenge? And she had better not be the girl he was referring to… though realistically, who else could it be?

  Bastian’s eyes narrowed, his mouth transforming into a hard line. “I don’t think-”

  “As I was saying,” Cain interrupted, sending both men disapproving frowns, “I wouldn’t protest if someone else wished to take Katherine on.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Bastian protested, taking the words straight from Katherine’s mouth and turning his baleful glare onto the head alpha – his uncle. The man remained unmoved.

  “Fine!” Bastian spat before getting into Rogue’s face, enunciating his words thoroughly. “If you want a fight, you’ve got a fight. But I assure you that you will not win.”

  “So mote it be,” Cain announced, a shrewd smile taking shape on his lips. “All you here are witnesses. An alpha fight between Bastian and Rogue will take place at the next moon gathering. The winner secures Katherine as a member of his pack.”

  Wait. What?

  Katherine tried desperately to keep the panic she could feel rising in her gut from showing on her face.

  “Is that all then?” Bastian demanded of Cain, not bothering to disguise his rude tone. “Are we dismissed?”

  The head alpha didn’t seem impressed with Bastian’s lack of respect. Nonetheless, he nodded. “Meeting adjourned.”