Becoming the Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 2)

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  Something had possessed her and Katey knew she wouldn’t win the battle. The wolf was winning and it was furious with her. Katey thought for a fleeting moment that it was going to kill her, devour her from the inside out. How foolish to think that she could have reasoned with a beast.

  With one more throaty growl, Katey was no longer in control of her own body. The wolf was. She retained her human form, but the spirit within her solely governed her mind.

  Dustin came rushing through the metal doors and over to the sofa.

  Startled by his sudden presence, Katey roared, jumped off the couch, and tackled the teacher to the ground. She snarled at Dustin, getting ready to lash out at his exposed neck with her bared canine fangs, now grown long and sharp. Dustin threw her off, launching her over his shoulder and sending her rolling across the concrete floor to the other side of the gym near the rolled-up mats.

  Katey sprung back up onto her hands and knees and growled at the two men, blood and saliva glistening on her lips. A new hunger burned inside of her, one for blood and flesh and she didn’t care whom she got it from.

  “Any ideas?” Logan asked as he kept his eyes trained on Katey.

  Dustin recovered to his feet and sighed, wishing it didn’t have to come to this. There would be no talking her down from this beastly high. He’d been here once before with Ben and physical force was their only option.

  They braced themselves for a fight. Their main goal was to get Katey fed, but just as important, they couldn’t let her out of this gym.

  He motioned to Logan for them to split up and circle around. They did, never turning their backs to Katey. They gave her a wide berth, but they knew if she wanted to, she could be on either of them in an instant. The wolf might have had control, but she was still young and didn’t know her own strength and speed. It could prove deadly, yet they could use her greenness to their advantage; she didn’t know how to fight as they did.

  Katey continued to snarl and tried to keep her eyes on both of them as they came around to either side of her, her head snapping in each direction with frenzied, wide-eyed gaze.

  “Hey! Wolf girl! Look over here!” Dustin shouted.

  Katey turned her body completely toward him and roared like the beast she had become. Logan pounced on Katey from behind and pinned her down onto her stomach. She struggled and tried to break free of his grasp, but he had her trapped in a tight bear hug with his legs forcing her own to keep still. Katey’s growl slowly turned into a whine with her cheek flattened against the cold concrete, admitting defeat against the dominant wolf.

  “Katey, just take it easy,” Logan whispered in her ear. His words were like a balm to her chaotic mind and Katey felt her true self drift back to the surface, but the wolf still lingered beneath, impatient and still foaming at the mouth with hunger.

  Ben ran in with his own lunch pail packed with juicy, raw meat. Katey squirmed a little as the aroma of the food came to her nostrils, but Logan tightened his grip on her and she only leered at Ben as he brought it closer and popped the lid off the container.

  Logan leaned his head against Katey’s temple and continued to whisper sweet endearments in her ear. “Everything’s going to be okay,” he told her. He knew if he said it enough, she would believe it too. It kept her calm and that’s all that mattered.

  “Did I miss the fun?” Ben asked as he came over and squatted down with the others.

  “Not yet. This is the fun part,” Dustin replied as he sat down and took the container of meat from Ben’s hand, settling himself in for the long grueling job ahead. He pinched out a bit of the ground beef and held it in front of Katey’s nose.

  She snorted and wiggled her head away from the meat, fighting the animal that was telling her to devour it with reckless abandon. She whimpered and bit her lips together, refusing the food.

  “Come on, you stubborn girl. Eat,” Dustin barked as he pushed the meat in her face. Katey’s lips curled back into a snarl, baring her teeth angrily.

  “Here, Dustin, let me try,” Logan said, still heavily laying his body upon her to keep her bound to the floor.

  His chest was completely pressed against her tense shoulder blades and his legs clamped over hers together. Now, he was thankful for the years of wrestling under his belt. It proved to come in handy for something other than prizefights.

  He twisted Katey’s hands around so he could grip her wrists with one hand while he took a pinch of the meat from Dustin’s fingers. While still straddling himself over her back, Logan held the meat just a few inches from her nose. He simply held the meat in front of her nose to tempt her instead of forcing it upon her. He knew the trick to this was patience.

  The irony smell of the blood and the familiar scent of meat lingered, taunting her rumbling stomach. Katey winced and tried not to give in. Logan slowly brought it closer to her mouth and she snapped.

  Katey struck at his hand, taking all the meat between her teeth, and snatching it away.

  Logan pulled his hand back quickly and cried out a little.

  “What?” Dustin asked.

  “She snipped my finger,” he said in astonishment.

  The two teachers chuckled.

  Katey chewed on the meat and felt peace wash over her once more. It was the best thing she had ever tasted. Better than the world’s best fries. Then the thought suddenly occurred to her that she might never be able to have fries again. That didn’t bother her as much as it would have ten minutes ago. The beast within was satisfied.

  She moaned in contentment at the awesome taste and rested her feverish forehead on the cool ground. Katey chewed to savor the flavor before swallowing. Every muscle in her body went slack.

  “Better?” Dustin asked, a playful tilt to his voice.

  “I’ll get the blood cleaned up,” Ben said with a sigh. “She can’t stay in school like this, Dustin. Someone could get hurt if she lapses like that again.”

  “I’ll take her home and get her exam on the way out,” Logan said as he took another pinch from the container in Dustin’s hand. “I’ll get mine, too, and stay there with her to make sure she keeps eating.”

  Dustin crouched down next to Katey. “Can you hear me in there?”

  Katey nodded.

  “You’re going to take all this food home with you and I want this container, your sandwiches, and the bowl from last night completely empty before we get home. Understood?”

  She nodded again.

  The teachers watched over the two as Logan hand fed her the meat until the humanity had returned to her eyes. He slowly slid off of Katey and she propped herself up on her forearms and rested for a moment with her head held in her hands. A mountain of tension had been released, similar to when she had cut that morning. Eating meat was, by far, easier than self-harm.

  “I’m sorry,” she managed to mutter.

  “It’s fine. You should have seen Ben the first time he refused to eat. Nearly killed me. What you just did was nothing.”

  Dustin handed Logan the container after taking a handful for himself and munched on it. Ben did the same as Logan handed her a little more. Both of the teachers made their way toward the exit, confident that Logan could handle her from there so they could return to their classes.

  From the way her facial muscles ached, Katey imagined she must have looked as grotesque as a gargoyle with a twisted, contorted expression of hate and rage. This was a hard lesson to learn, but Katey was sure she would never pass up another meal again.

  Katey was humiliated by the way she behaved, and though her stomach was full, it twisted into nervous knots, knowing that the others had watched her disgraceful episode. She crossed her arms on the floor to hide herself from them, wondering when would be an appropriate time to cry. Logan’s hand rubbed soothingly down her back, petting her as if she were a frightened animal.

  As if to answer her unspoken question, Logan said, “That was your loup-garou side. When it doesn’t get fed, it forces its way out to get the food it needs... You’re ju
st not used to this yet.”

  Logan took her arm and lifted her up off the floor. Her knees wobbled at first, but Logan had his arm around her to keep her standing and the other hand holding the container, still full with meat she had been ordered to eat. He gathered up the sandwiches as well and stuffed everything in his lunchbox before they walked out of the gym.

  Stepping into the sunshine, he pulled out the rag again and gently wiped up her mouth and chin, but the taste of blood remained in her mouth. She couldn’t stop herself from letting out her shrill whine once again, thinking of how much trouble she had caused them simply by being young and stupid.

  Perhaps the others could go about the rest of their day like it hadn’t happened, but Katey would never forget the way the wolf snarled and snapped at her fellow pack members. It was as if the wolf didn’t even know them or care about them like she did, but they seemed to understand that her wolf was not who she was. It was part of her, she was certain, but Katey couldn’t think of the wolf as an extension of herself. Not yet.

  “Come on now, stop whining. Everything’s okay now.” Logan put his hand under her chin and lifted her head up for their eyes to meet. A small tear trickled down her cheek and he gently stroked it away with his thumb.

  Somehow, gazing into his eyes, so full of warm affection and sympathy for her struggles, Katey believed him. She would get the hang of being loup-garou one day. It might not have been that day or the next, but someday.

  Until then, Katey knew she had to listen to them. If they told her to eat, she would eat even if she weren’t hungry. It would be a hard habit to break, but she knew she couldn’t be irresponsible like that anymore. Ben was right. Someone could have gotten hurt. What if it was Lily or Beth? Or another teacher? Or, heaven forbid, if she hurt Logan? She’d never be able to forgive herself.

  5

  “Now, I want you to lay here and take it easy,” Logan instructed Katey as she made her way to one of the sofas. As soon as they arrived back at the house, Logan consolidated the meat from the container and the sandwiches into the bowl from the night before that was still brimming with deer, squirrel, and rabbit meat. “Keep eating. Darren said to have the exams finished by tonight. I’m going to be in the kitchen if you need me.”

  Katey slowly lowered herself to the sofa to lie on her side, her body still sore and strained from her episode. She fingered the edge of the meat bowl and then reached inside to take a small handful. The meat felt slimy in her fingers and she shuddered. How could something so disturbing be so good for her?

  She raised her eyes and watched Logan pull out the two exam packets, leaving one on a small end table by the arm of the sofa and taking the other into the breakfast nook for him to work on. She thought she could almost hear his stomach rumble as he snatched up the untouched sandwich that remained in his lunchbox. Katey rolled over and sighed, staring up at the ceiling as she slid pinches of the meat between her lips, chewing slowly.

  “Did you ever get like that?” she asked.

  Logan paused, the lead of his pencil just a little above the paper of his exam. “What do you think yesterday was?”

  “No, I mean when you first changed.”

  He was silent for a moment, remembering the days he had spent wandering in the woods with no food and refusing to eat anything but berries. The insatiable hunger had frightened him into preferring starvation as opposed to debasing himself. In the end, the berries weren’t enough to curb the hunger. “Yeah, I did the same thing,” he said softly, almost regretfully, and then took a huge bite out of his meat sandwich.

  Katey felt herself smile a bit. “Then I don’t feel so bad.”

  Logan exhaled deeply and began filling in his answers. “I’m sure everyone has done it at some point just to test their limits.”

  “I didn’t do it for that.”

  He stopped again and looked up toward the living room. He couldn’t see her face, but could sense her uneasiness about confessing what she felt. “Then why?”

  Katey’s face wrinkled with painful disdain. “I couldn’t stand the idea that I’d resorted to eating raw meat like an animal.”

  Logan didn’t know whether to take comfort in the fact that they were alike in so many ways, or to feel another pang of remorse for what he had done to her. “News flash. You are an animal now. Half of you, anyway.”

  “I’m figuring that out now.” Katey took a moment to feel the entity inside her. It was dormant, quiet, and sleeping. She remembered how it felt to have it rear its ugly head in the throes of hunger and rage.

  “Is it ever going to get easier?” she asked.

  Logan’s pencil stopped again and he leaned back in his chair. “You just need to stay on top of the eating thing. Make sure that you eat more than enough at each meal. If you ever start feeling that dizziness again, that’s a sign you need to eat and you better listen to it.” He couldn’t count the times that it had happened to himself. And every time, it terrified him beyond words could say. There were periods where he pushed his limits, but he never wanted to feel that hungry, that sense of total loss of his humanity. The day before, when his heart had run away without his sense, was the first time he had broken through the glass ceiling of his control.

  Katey rolled over onto her stomach and looked toward the kitchen, feeling the unrest building in her core, shared by both herself and Logan. “Are we okay?” she suddenly asked.

  He peered curiously in her direction. “What do you mean?”

  She didn’t know how to explain why she asked that question. When he hugged her that morning, Katey thought they were finally in the clear, free of the previous night’s drama. But he had turned cold again with the appearance of this dominant attitude toward teaching her. All she could read off of him was a solid determination and the brick wall he had built between them. “You were so upset last night, I thought we weren’t okay... I mean, that you didn’t want... Are you just done with me now?” she asked, growing flustered by her lack of articulation.

  Logan stood up from the dinette table and leaned against the doorframe separating the living room and kitchen. He couldn’t help but see her as beautiful, even as a loup-garou and a hot mess as a result of the episode. The way her slightly tangled hair fell around her face, her eyes glimmering brightly, still a little red with restrained tears. He couldn’t help but love her. Didn’t she see that?

  “Done with you? You talk like you’re just something to throw away.”

  Katey looked away sheepishly. “That’s just how it seemed... Like you didn’t want to have anything to do with me anymore.”

  “I’ll never do that to you.” Logan was beginning to realize just what Dustin meant about how she could mistake his bottling up as hatred toward her and he remembered the words she had spoken in confidence to Darren that morning. She was afraid of losing him just as much as he was afraid of losing her. “I was unreasonably upset last night. I figured you would have hated me for what I did.”

  Katey sat up and wildly shook her head. “No! I could never be mad at you. I wanted this. How could I be mad at you for that?”

  Logan found hope in her confession and caught himself in a soft smile. “I don’t know, I just thought you would be because I pressured you into it.”

  “I wasn’t pressured. I wanted this.” She felt as if she couldn’t say that enough. Yes, the decision was pushed on her out of nowhere after everyone had assured her to take her time, but in her heart, she knew this was right. Despite the drama and the rocky start, Katey now knew that being loup-garou was what she needed. The two locked gazes and mirrored each other’s subtle smile. “But, we’re better now?”

  Logan gave her a comforting nod. “Yeah, we’re fine.”

  Joy and relief bloomed in her chest. She didn’t want to be on bad terms with him for much longer. The whirlwind of emotional whiplash was more than enough. Logan turned back into the kitchen and continued his exam while Katey reached over to the end table to take up her own, a bit of peace settled over her hear
t. The air was finally clear and she could breathe once more.

  Hours later, Katey was fast asleep with a full and contented stomach.

  Dustin entered the living room from the damaged sliding glass door and glanced from the completed test to the empty meat bowl just beside the couch and grinned. At least he knew he could do this without freaking her out too much.

  He raised his fingers to his lips and let out a piercing whistle. Katey screamed and sat up with a start, covering her ears and wincing in agony from the harsh assault on her senses. Wild eyes turned to Dustin in disbelief that he would try to wake her in such an obscene manner.

  “Time for your first training session, Katey Kat!” he yelled loud enough for her to hear through the momentary deafness that the whistle had caused.

  Katey stared after Dustin as he walked back out the glass doors with a smug expression. As much as she didn’t like the rude wake-up call, it didn’t surprise her that Dustin would choose such a method.

  After calming her thundering heart, she stood up and followed him outside. All the teachers and Logan were standing near the gazebo, watching her walk through the garden toward them. She noticed that they were no longer wearing their formal school attire, but were dressed in dirty torn jeans and t-shirts that were tight across their muscular chests and abs, much like what they wore to the paintball trip last Sunday. How that day seemed so long ago, back when she was human and couldn’t keep up.

  “Feeling better?” Darren asked. She nodded. “You know better now that you need to eat, right?”

  Katey stole a glance to Logan. “Yes, sir.” The words she spoke surprised her. She had never addressed anyone with that much respect before. None of her numerous foster families could ever instill her with manners or esteem for authority.

  “Okay, so your first lesson about food is done, but now we need to make sure you can function with your new strength and agility.” Darren laid his heavy hand upon her shoulder and pointed across the open field behind their house, toward the tree line that was well over one hundred yards away. “I want you to run from here to that very far oak tree over there as fast as you can, but don’t go past the tree.”