by Noelle Marie
Katherine ignored the man. “Melanie,” she implored one last time, convinced that the girl couldn’t have possibly known what she was dragging her friend into, “please.”
But as fretful as Melanie looked – tears in her eyes and hands shaking at her sides – she refused to meet the brunette’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Katherine,” she choked out.
Katherine’s pleading expression hardened. “Fine,” she spat, turning back to face Cain, her bottom lip trembling against her will. “So you killed Bastian’s parents. Why target me? I’m no one important.”
Cain’s eyes grew impossibly darker. “Haven’t you figured it out yet, Katherine? Don’t you get it? When I kill you and show Bastian your mangled body, he’ll suffer the same fate as his dear old dad.” He offered her one last grin. “Death.”
And then he pounced.
In mid-air, Cain’s form changed. Where there was once a man, there was a gray blur and then a wolf. The massive animal was coming right at her. Katherine was only half aware of Melanie’s strangled scream as she leapt out of the way. She moved just in time, but the beast’s claws managed to imbed themselves into the left sleeve of her coat, tearing into the leather and the fragile skin underneath it.
Ignoring the searing sting emanating from the gashes on her arm, Katherine ran. She racked her brain, hoping that an idea – some sort of strategy – would come to her, but nothing that Markus or Zane had taught her about fighting would be useful against a three hundred pound wolf.
She briefly thought about sprinting out onto the icy pond under the frozen falls, but knew it was much too cold outside for the ice to be brittle enough to break under the animal’s weight.
Instead, she headed for the forest that surrounding the small clearing, hoping she’d be able to find a spot to hide – maybe have time to climb one of the trees. She hadn’t made it more than twenty feet, however, before Cain was upon her. He sprang at her again and though she tried to spring out of the way, her quickness was no match for the wolf’s speed.
The beast slammed into her back, knocking her to the ground and pressed her body into the snow with one enormous paw. Gasping at how Cain’s claws dug into the fabric of her coat and the tense muscles of her back, Katherine forced herself to move. Grabbing a jagged rock that was just within reach of her right hand, she desperately jammed it into the paw that wasn’t digging into her.
Letting loose a pain-filled yelp, the wolf immediately shot off of her.
She’d only bought herself enough time to get to her knees, however, before Cain’s uninjured paw forced her back to the ground, this time flipping her onto her battered back.
For the briefest of moments, Katherine lost her ability to breathe. The sensation of her bloodied wounds making contact with the ice cold snow was like nothing she’d ever felt before. The pain was excruciating.
Even as the edges of her vision threatened to darken, however, Katherine knew what she had to do. She had to transform. Cain could easily kill her in her human form. If she couldn’t change into a wolf in the next ten seconds, she was going to die.
She tried to remember what Bastian had taught her about meditation. She willed herself to focus and visualize her inner wolf. But it wasn’t working. The painful throbbing of her back was just too distracting. And how could she possibly center her mind and thoughts when there was a giant wolf sitting atop of her, its razor-like teeth barred threateningly and its dark eyes gleaming with menace?
She didn’t feel calm or serene or anything like that. Instead, cold, icy fear ran through her veins. And as the extended claws of Cain’s uninjured paw came down at her prone form – no doubt aiming to slice her jugular – Katherine could do nothing but stare.
She thought of her parents – of despite how much she missed them, she wasn’t ready to be reunited with them quite yet. She thought of her sister. Of Abby. Even of Mallory and her gaggle of followers. Her new friends crossed her mind too. Melanie and Mack. And of course, her pack. Markus and Zane. Sophie and Caleb. And Bastian. It was him she thought of at the end.
But it wasn’t the end. Not yet.
Cain’s sharp claws were a hair’s breath away from connecting with her delicate throat when a blurry form plowed into Cain, knocking him clean off of her.
At first Katherine thought it was Bastian. That somehow he’d known she was in trouble and had come to play hero like he always did. But then the color of the other wolf’s coat registered – not black, but a glossy white. And Katherine knew that it was Sophie who’d saved her.
She must have seen her note and come to help with Mack.
Struggling to her knees and then her feet, the brunette took a second to search for Melanie, but it looked like her supposed friend had long since left the scene. Turning her attention to the battling werewolves, Katherine frantically hunted for something – some sort of weapon, like that rock she’d used earlier – to wield against Cain and help Sophie, but she came up empty.
She watched helplessly as the two wolves fought. Despite Cain’s superior size, they seemed fairly evenly matched as they snapped their teeth and slashed their claws at each other. She suspected the injury she’d inflicted on the head alpha’s paw perhaps had something to do with it.
Katherine became more and more desperate to help, however, as Cain slowly but surely gained the upper hand against Sophie. And then, with one powerful blow to her side, she was down, her furry body blending almost perfectly with the snow on the ground.
And she wasn’t getting up.
But instead of returning his attention to Katherine, Cain zeroed in on the fallen wolf who was struggling, but failing, to pull herself up from the ground. Probably broken ribs Katherine thought dazedly, her horror growing.
The small brunette was frozen where she stood, forced to watch as Cain approached the incapacitated Sophie. Bastian’s sister. Her sister.
And without another thought, Katherine was moving. She wouldn’t allow her pack mate to die – not without doing her damnedest to protect her.
The change.
It barely even registered to Katherine that it was happening.
One moment she was racing towards Cain on shaky legs and the next, she was a wolf, colliding with the alpha male and falling into the snow with him. Somehow, she managed to latch her teeth into the flesh of Cain’s ear, refusing to release the appendage even as the other wolf wailed and tried to buck her off of him.
When he crashed her body into the trunk of a tree, however, she was forced to let go. But not without taking a chunk of his ear with her. Ignoring his furious snarling, Katherine leapt at Cain again.
This time, though, he was ready for her. Cain easily threw her off of him. Katherine landed hard on her side, but wasn’t at all deterred. She went at him again. And again. Each time, though, he’d fling her to the ground before she could even really make contact. She was vaguely aware of Sophie’s pained whining in the background, knowing it was more out of fear for Katherine’s safety than her no doubt aching ribs.
Katherine was tired – her body bruised and exhausted – but as little good as it did her, she kept charging at Cain. At least she did until his tolerance for her persistent attacks came to an abrupt end and he pinned her to the ground.
Before Katherine could even appreciate the irony of the situation – being pinned down by the vile man yet again even after Sophie’s brave interference and her successful transformation into wolf form – sharp claws reigned down upon her. First, a brutal slash to her chest and then another to the left side of her face. Blood immediately gushed forth from the wounds, rivulets of red spilling into her eyes and distorting her vision.
Sophie’s panicked barking was loud in Katherine’s ears now, but nothing could permeate the blinding haze of pain that befell her.
And then, just as Cain’s sharp teeth were about to join his claws in his savage attack, his weight was abruptly shoved off of her. A familiar black snout was pressed to hers for just a moment before the wolf attached to it let loose an e
nraged howl and dashed out of view.
Bastian.
And another wolf – Caleb, she thought – she could see attending to Sophie.
They had come.
Katherine knew Bastian could defeat Cain – knew, too, that he and Caleb would save Sophie, who she could still hear whimpering softly from where shy lay some distance away.
Knowing this as she did, Katherine allowed herself to rest – to close her eyes before the darkness at the edges of her vision could conquer it completely.
As she lost consciousness, she was unaware of her furry body turning back into that of a young woman’s. She was unaware of the sight she made – crimson blood soaking into the pure white snow beneath her – and of the fear and panic that such a sight would inflict upon those around her.
CHAPTER TWENTY
For an indiscernible amount of time, Katherine was trapped in a hazy sort of oblivion that allowed only small flashes of consciousness to break through.
A redhead loomed over her – the ends of the woman’s flame-like hair gently tickling her face as firm hands applied pressure to her aching chest. A feminine voice – familiar, but only just – demanded furiously that someone leave the room before his temper caused him to do even more damage to her medicine stores.
Then unconsciousness would beckoned her and nothing.
Another woman – blonde this time – fondly caressed her cheek, quietly assuring Katherine that everything would be okay. The small brunette nearly believed her.
And then more nothingness.
A man sat beside her, his weight causing the bed she was laying on to dip. She couldn’t find the strength to pry open her eyes, but she recognized his grizzly voice as he informed her that if she didn’t wake up soon he was liable to kick her in her “little, worry-inducing derrière” when she finally did.
His threat, of course, was soon followed by the unyielding grasp of lethargy and nothingness.
Large arms encircled Katherine, tucking her safely into the heat of the warm, hard body that lay next to her. She took comfort in the soft swoosh of steady breathing that caused her bangs to flicker back and forth against her sweaty forehead.
And then nothing.
She could only break through to awareness for mere seconds before being tugged steadfastly back into unconsciousness.
Until now.
Katherine knew as soon as she was able to crack open her eyes that this time was different. She felt lucid as she took in her surroundings. Taking note that the bed she was laying on and the heavy quilt that covered her from the chest down were her own, she took a moment to admire the crackling blaze in the fireplace before turning her attention to the man who was standing – or rather, sitting – guard by her bed. Although the book he was reading did a stellar job of hiding his face, she easily recognized the ashy blond head of hair visible above the impressive tome. Caleb.
But why was he here? And why did her body – especially the left side of her chest and the entirety of her back hurt so much?
It took a long moment for her memories to completely return to her, but when they did, she felt her blood freeze in her veins.
Cain.
Melanie had dragged her out into the woods, claiming that she needed her help with a hurt Mack. But it had all been a trick – a set up – so that Cain could get her alone. Convinced that she and Bastian were mates, he’d planned to kill her and lord her mutilated body over Bastian – cause his demise the same way he’d caused his own brother’s.
Oh God.
Brom and Margaret – Bastian’s parents. Katherine had to tell him what Cain had told her.
She made an uncoordinated grab for Caleb’s arm, managing to latch onto the man’s wrist. He visibly startled, dropping the book he was reading in obvious alarm. He gapped at her for what had to have been close to a full minute before he was able to regain his bearings. “Holy crap,” he muttered. And then louder. “Holy crap! Katherine! You’re awake! How are you feeling? Does it hurt anywhere?”
Katherine tried to pull herself up, using her grip on Caleb’s arm to bear her weight.
“No, no,” Caleb insisted frantically, standing up and gently forcing her to lie back down against the plethora of pillows on her bed. “You have to rest. You’ve been so sick.”
“Bastian,” she managed to croak, her voice raspy from disuse, “I have to talk to him.”
Caleb’s eyes widened. “Bastian. Of course! He’ll want to know that you’re up. I’ll get him right away.”
The man practically sprinted from the room.
Ignoring Caleb’s order to stay put in her bed, Katherine hooked her fingers around one of the knobs of her headboard and used it as a tool to help herself sit up. Despite her back’s painful protesting, she was able to get her feet to touch the floor before becoming distracted by shouting from somewhere outside her bedroom, followed by the sound of thundering footsteps in the hallway.
Katherine glanced at the door Caleb had left open when he’d run from her room. And there he was. Bastian.
He was a mess.
His hair looked as if a tornado had landed in the black locks and left behind a wild mane of curls capable only of standing up on end. The dark circles under his eyes seemed almost sinister against the pale alabaster of his skin. And his cheekbones. Katherine knew she couldn’t have been out that terribly long, but she could have sworn that they were sharper – more prominent – than she remembered, which could only be the direct result of weight loss.
He truly looked the worst Katherine had ever seen him. He was still unbelievably handsome, of course, but he appeared so ragged and worn down – so frayed at his seams. The man was examining Katherine just as closely as she was him – his eyes zealously roving her form – and the brunette wondered vaguely how awful she must have looked if Bastian looked like this.
Then he seemed to realize that she was sitting up.
“What are you doing?” Bastian demanded sharply, a definite note of panic in his voice as he rushed towards her. “You’re supposed to be resting. Didn’t Caleb tell you that?”
Despite the harshness of his tone, Bastian’s hands were gentle as he pushed her back down onto the bed – rearranging her body so that her head was once again lying on soft pillows and she was covered to her chin in thick covers.
A bit irritated at being manhandled – even if he was being incredibly tender with her – Katherine yanked her quilt off once more.
“Katherine!”
“I’ll rest as soon as I talk to you! It’s about your parents and it’s important.”
Bastian’s eyes softened. “I already know.”
Katherine furrowed her brow. “I really don’t think you do,” she insisted. “Cain told me… well, he said that…” she trailed off, desperately searching her mind for a considerate way to tell him that his uncle had essentially murdered his mom and dad.
“He told you that he was responsible for my parents’ deaths, I know,” Bastian finished for her, shocking Katherine into momentary silence. “Your friend Melanie came forward,” he explained, his blue irises darkening. “She even confessed to the part she played in Cain’s plot. She’ll pay for what she did to you, Katherine. I can promise you that.”
Katherine bit her bottom lip, surprised at how worried that statement made her for the girl even after everything Melanie had done. “Bastian, I don’t know how fair that is,” she said, the words spilling from her mouth before she could think twice about it. “It was obvious to me – even as everything was happening – that she didn’t know what Cain’s true plans were when she agreed to drag me out into the woods.”
Katherine eyed Bastian nervously as his face turned an angry fuchsia.
“I don’t care,” he barked. “How can you defend her after she used your friendship with her to manipulate you? Whether she knew what Cain truly intended or not, her actions almost got you killed. She needs to be punished.”
“You’re right,” Katherine quickly agreed, seeing how upset the man
was getting. “But her punishment has to fit her crime. Melanie just wanted to be recruited into a decent pack. Despite how questionable her decision to get involved with Cain was, I really don’t think she intended for me to get hurt. So punish her as you deem fit, but just… don’t hurt her, okay?”
The way Bastian’s hands curled into fists at his sides made his displeasure at the notion of going easy on Melanie clear. And if it didn’t, the way the vein on the side of his forehead bulged and his jaw muscles tensed certainly got the message across. Katherine thought for sure that he was about to deny her request – yell at her for even suggesting it – but he didn’t. Instead, his bottom lip began to tremble and she watched in alarm as he abruptly fell to his knees, burying his face into the quilt that sat crumpled on her lap.
Katherine was flabbergasted. “Bastian?” she asked nervously.
“You just don’t get it!” he exploded, revealing his face, tears in his eyes as he stared her down. “I almost lost you!”
The small brunette floundered for something to say, shocked by the usually stoic man’s emotional outburst. “I didn’t know you cared so much,” she finally said. “I mean, you’ve been avoiding me since… well, since that kiss we shared… what? A week ago?”
“That was three weeks ago,” Bastian muttered weakly.
Three weeks ago! But that would mean… “I’ve been unconscious for the past two weeks?”
Bastian nodded numbly. “Nearly – today would’ve been the twelfth day. You lost a lot of blood and somehow managed to catch pneumonia – the first case Haven Falls has seen of it in twenty years.”
Katherine wet her dry lips. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“And Sophie? Is she okay?”
Bastian mustered up a halfhearted smile. “She’s fine, thanks to you. She did suffer two fractured ribs, but they’ve healed nicely. She said it would’ve been much worse if you hadn’t intervened – transformed and engaged Cain the way you did.”
“She saved me first,” Katherine insisted. “She protected me as best as she could until you and Caleb got there. I couldn’t have just left her for dead against that brute.” She sank her teeth into her bottom lip as it occurred to her that she still hadn’t asked after the man. “Speaking of Cain, is he… did you… I mean, what happened to him?”