Katey crossed her arms over her skittering stomach, hoping her lustful thoughts would not take hold as they had the evening before.
Logan looked up and smiled, seeing that she was finally embracing her figure. He tried not to make his efforts to keep his mind on a leash visible to her or the others. He turned a bit and grabbed another bowl of his cereal and handed it to her.
“Good morning,” he said with a cheery upturn to his voice. Katey shyly wandered over to him and took the bowl from his hands to peer inside. It was the same thing he was eating.
“Don’t even think about not eating it,” he muttered, chomping down on a bit of his own breakfast.
“I wasn’t,” she said as she hoisted herself up to sit on the countertop. She learned her lesson the day before and at this point, she would try anything her pack members offered in order to find what type of meat she liked best.
“Darren thinks that the reason you crashed so hard yesterday in the gym was because of the pills. Normal hunger wouldn’t make you vomit blood like that. So, he’s given me strict orders to make sure you eat something before each period.”
“Why do I have to eat so much? Wouldn’t three meals do?” Katey asked, glancing up to him from her bowl.
“You seem to have a higher metabolism and get set off easily, like yesterday during training. So, we need to take every effort to make sure you don’t wolf-out in class on someone.”
Katey turned her eyes away as she remembered the evening before. “But, I wasn’t set off. I just let it happen.”
Logan froze and looked up to her in mid-chew. “What do you mean?” he asked with his mouth full.
“Darren was telling me about the whole ‘wolf spirit symbiosis’ thing and yesterday when we were wrestling, they wanted me to get rough, so I simply let it take over to help.”
His eyes narrowed and swallowed what was in his mouth. “That’s very dangerous, Katey. Don’t do that.”
Logan’s tone frightened her and she bowed her head in shame. “I didn’t think it would turn out the way it did though... I’m sorry.”
He sighed, feeling the tension in her, even at a distance. He set his bowl down, cautiously walked to her and placed a comforting hand just behind her ear, his fingers weaving into her hair. Katey lifted her eyes to meet his, the breath stolen from her lungs. “Promise me you won’t do that again?” he asked.
“I promise,” she said with a nod and tiny, unsure smile.
“Now you know what I was talking about when I said that I have to be on alert and aware of myself all the time. You let the wolf have a little sway and it will take advantage of it.”
Katey was suddenly fearful of what she now bore inside her. How could this curse ever become a blessing? Would it always be this way or was there any way for the two to work together? She sighed and let her gaze drop to his body. She quickly closed her eyes, hoping they weren’t red.
Logan dragged his thumb across the bottom of her jaw and without thinking, he began to gradually lean in, his eyes focused on her full and enticing lips.
“We’re heading out, guys,” Dustin called from the living room.
Logan dropped his hand and took a step back. That was the second time they had caught him in an intimate moment with Katey and if she didn’t have so much respect for them, she would have growled.
They turned just in time to see them walking toward the front door.
“Make sure Katey gets plenty to eat,” Darren warned from the foyer.
“Will do,” he replied as he turned to put his dish away in the sink.
Katey tried to push aside the hollow feeling of unsatisfied hunger for Logan’s touch as she continued eating, but found it hard to put out of her mind. Another thing she couldn’t ignore was the tight tickling feeling in the pit of her stomach as she stole more glances up to Logan’s glorious body and other worldly eyes.
Soon after, Logan went upstairs to get ready and Katey finished her breakfast. All that she had to do now was wait on Logan.
Willing away the fluttering sensations in her core, she wandered into the living room, and stepped up to the sliding glass door. It was still cracked from when Logan slammed it too hard. She let her fingertips glide over the edges, remembering the force of his anger when he charged out of the house that night. With a heavy heart, she opened the door to step outside.
She breathed in the morning air that mingled with the soft scent of pine from the forest beyond, nectar from the flowers in the garden, and dew that lingered on the blades of grass. Katey smiled and sat herself down in one of the rod iron patio chairs as she basked in the wonders of nature, so close and yet still out of reach.
Her love for Logan was getting far out of hand. She had never expected to feel so undeniably attracted to someone both spiritually and physically. Logan wasn’t just eye-candy or a plaything to admire. In her soul, she knew that she needed him and he needed her. This codependency had never been fully admitted, but Katey felt it her blood.
Logan’s words came back to her, drifting up from the past like a haunting reminder. Fate. What exactly was it and was Katey beginning to retract her previous misgivings on the topic? Before she met Logan, she knew there was a place for her. Now that she was sitting here on the back porch, a loup-garou and part of something greater than herself, she wondered if she had found that special place. What was best, she never had to leave Crestucky to find it.
But, how did Logan play into all of it? He invited her in, changed her, and found her in that dark place that no one else would have looked. But could they be lovers? He had already given her so much, but what could she possibly do to repay him for every bit of kindness and love that he had so liberally gifted her? What did she have to offer besides herself? And within what circumstances could she give herself to him without fear of reprisal from their pack?
Nature silenced her thoughts, beckoning her to relax and enjoy what the earth gave her instead of worrying about what she had to give in return.
She stretched her legs out, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes to listen. Birds were twittering in the distance, small critters scurried through bushes and above all of it, she could heard the soft trickling of the garden fountain. Katey likened it to paradise.
She felt something familiar pulling her to go out and run with no destination in mind. It was the same tug on her spirit that she had felt on her first night as a loup-garou. It wanted her to just run and be a part of the wild. The urge was undeniable, accompanied by a complete lack of contentment for just sitting and experiencing the wonderful peace of nature.
Katey could tell it was the wolf pulling, but she resisted. She could hear it weave lies to her already, tempting her. Just for a little while, not too long. You can be back before it was time to leave. Just one run, please?
Logan came downstairs and it didn’t take him long to find where Katey had wandered off to. She was outside, looking as if she were taking a nap in one of the patio chairs. As he stepped out to join her, the aura of complete peace and serenity floated around the porch like a heady perfume.
The longer he stood watching her, the more he realized that she was completely oblivious to his presence. She let out a soft, pleasant sigh and he wondered what she could have possibly been thinking to invoke such a calm.
“Katey?” he asked.
She jerked and looked up at him with a golden stare. His smile faded at the sight of her eyes, but grew easier when they began to fade back to their stunning emerald.
“Were you just fighting it?”
Her lips parted a bit in shock. “How did you know?”
“Your eyes.”
She groaned and held her forehead. How could she walk in normal society when she was having such a hard time keeping a rein on her wolf? Perhaps if she had one of the teachers forge a medical waiver, she could make some excuse that her eyes had become too sensitive to cope with the florescent lights and she could be allowed to wear dark sunglasses so no one would see her eyes if they happened to
shift gold suddenly. “I swear nothing was going to happen.”
“It’s fine to be tempted and not sin. Just make sure you don’t sin.”
Katey had to laugh at his analogy, knowing she was just thinking about the concept of sin and temptation pertaining to him, not the forest. She stood up and took another look out over the garden.
Logan glanced at it, too, and even after laying his eyes on the scene for the millionth time, it was still superb. Even a more experienced loup-garou such as himself, had to resist the call of the wolf. “Felt the pull?”
She turned to him and tilted her head curiously. “Yeah. Can you?”
Logan stepped aside to let her inside. “We all do when we stay out here too long.”
Katey smiled and filed back into the living room. Realizing that the others had struggled with the same thing made her feel better about her own challenges. Perhaps what they had said before was true. She wasn’t alone in this fight and she took courage in that.
“Are you ready?” he asked, beginning to walk toward the front door after grabbing his keys and bag. Katey followed close behind with her own bag out to his bike.
They both mounted and Katey eagerly wrapped her arms around Logan. But, as she tightened her embrace, she heard a sickening crack and Logan let out a grunt. She quickly recoiled her arms to her chest and froze, expecting a violent outburst.
“Not so tight. You just broke a rib,” Logan groaned, holding his throbbing side.
Katey began to whine. “I’m so sorry!” she cried, covering her mouth with her hands, perfectly mortified that she had used so much force and hardly knew it. She didn’t even think she was squeezing that hard. Unexpectedly, she heard Logan chuckle through the pain.
“It’s alright, just don’t hang on so tight, okay?” he asked, stretching his frame a bit as the broken bone healed itself, and then leaning back down to start the engine. Katey carefully reached out and took hold again, but this time only lacing her fingers together and keeping her arms hanging loosely around him.
7
Katey was surprised at how well she was able to cope with school on her second day. Yes, it was intolerably loud and she could smell the sweaty socks in the gym from across the campus, but it was nothing compared to the day before. Like a faithful dog, Logan stayed by Katey’s side along the way to all their classes together.
As before, other students gawked and whispered, and Katey could hear every word. Their gossip ranged from her new appearance to how she and Logan were practically inseparable. She didn’t give a rip about what they thought anymore. Their opinions didn’t matter near as much as they used to. There would have been a time when she blushed at a single sideways look, but not anymore. The only opinion that mattered to her was of the loup-garou that had stolen her heart.
During first period, Logan had completely amazed her by slipping his hand in hers under their desk. Katey’s body was filled with thrill upon thrill as she felt his skin pressed so intimately against hers. Even under the scrutiny of the alpha, Logan still displayed his affection for her. It was the simplest of ways, but she didn’t care.
However, despite his tenderness, Logan still made sure that she ate a few strips of beef jerky between classes to keep her strength up and hunger down. As a result, Katey hardly felt a stirring from the wolf within her. At least now they knew how to efficiently curb the hunger to avoid a public disaster.
While walking from Dustin’s classroom to Ben’s fourth period, Logan once more held her hand and interlocked their fingers. They were walking so close together that hardly anyone would have noticed, but Katey was all too aware of the warmth that radiated from him like the first rays of the morning sun that pierced through the cold dawn.
Katey was thrown from her cloud in the sky as her cellphone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and checked the text message notification.
Beth, who was absent that day from first period, was asking if Katey was available after school to hang out with her and Lily since they hadn’t seen each other in so long. She beamed and typed out a hasty affirmative.
“Who was that?” Logan asked, respecting her privacy by not leaning over to check the screen himself.
“Just Beth. She was asking about...” Katey paused to consider her words. A chance to see her friends was just the thing she needed to boost her spirits. Logan and the guys were great company, but she couldn’t help but admit to herself that she missed her old friends, human or not. But, would Logan think it wise to socialize with humans so soon? School was one thing, but going over to Lily or Beth’s house without a loup-garou chaperone might have been another matter entirely. Would Darren condone it?
She didn’t have to think on it too much to know their answer.
“She just asked how I was because she hadn’t seen me in a while.”
Logan nodded as they continued walking. “And you assured her that you were all right?”
Katey needed to divert the conversation somehow. Lying to Logan once was bad enough, but to keep it up would have been unbearable. “You know, you’re spoiling me.”
Logan enquiringly looked down to her. “What?” Katey squeezed his hand and grinned. “Oh, is it bothering you?” he asked.
“No, not at all,” Katey replied with a shake of her head, letting her hair tumble over her shoulders a bit.
Logan beamed as they slipped into Ben’s classroom.
Ben was working at his computer and the assignments for the day were already passed out on their desks. School had become a breeze for Katey. Even in English class, she’d been able to complete the class assignment as well as the overload of homework in practically no time at all. Her brain was working at a whirlwind speed and Katey inwardly remarked that she could get used to feeling so smart.
Logan and Katey finished the work in half the time it took everyone else and when Logan was finished, he laid his head down and began to doze off in front of her. Katey followed suit shortly after, but kept her eyes fixed on Logan’s back, watching it rise and fall with each breath.
After half an hour of daydreaming, Katey saw Logan’s head shoot up and eyes glare toward the door. She followed his gaze, wondering what could possibly be wrong. He had rarely looked so guarded before, his muscles bunched under his skin with a restrained tension. Apart from the day he changed her, she had never seen him behave in such a wolf-like manner, eyeing the door as if the prey would walk through at any moment.
A moment later, the door opened and Erik walked through. Katey hadn’t seen him since that afternoon at the ballroom dancing studio. With him came the overpowering stench of the body spray he showered himself in. If she thought it was strong before, it almost made her choke now.
What surprised her most was when Erik stood deathly still under Logan’s sneer and returned it with the same intensity. Katey expected Erik to give her a quick perverted look over for even a little while, but the two boys were solely fixed on each other.
The classroom was suffocated in an agitating mix of hatred and fury that pelted from the two of them, setting Katey’s teeth on edge. No one else noticed what had just transpired, and what seemed to last hours, was over within mere seconds.
Erik turned away and walked up to Ben’s desk, holding the half-finished assignment that Katey and Logan had already completed. He must have had Ben in another class.
Ben seemed to act like Erik didn’t even exist for a few seconds as he stared at his computer screen. He finally turned and they whispered back and forth about the assignment, all the while with Logan glaring a hole straight through Erik. It was the kind of scowl that would have been accompanied by a threatening growl if he could have risked it.
Erik walked to the door and gave one last evil glower toward Logan before exiting. Logan waited a long silent moment and then lowered his head back down to his arms. The flood of emotions in the air began to ebb away and she could breathe once more.
The bell rang and Logan stiffly stood up to wait for Katey. His whole demeanor seemed more un
yielding than before, as if he were still on high alert for any danger. They walked out to her locker so she could exchange binders and she dared to ask the question that was weighing upon her mind.
“What was with that?” she asked Logan, who seemed to be searching the halls. Most likely searching for any sign of Erik.
“With what?”
“The way you were looking at Erik when he walked into the classroom.”
At the mention of Erik’s name, Katey saw the muscle in his jaw jump and stiffen. She had hit a nerve.
“You have the displeasure of knowing him?” Logan inquired with a mean grimace as if Erik were standing right there with them.
“Yeah. He’s been hitting on me all year... It’s kind of annoying,” Katey said, watching Logan’s face turn more and more livid. She half expected to see a glimmer of loup-garou gold in his eyes and regretted saying anything about it. She closed her locker and they began their walk toward the lunchroom.
“Stay away from him,” Logan ordered, his voice deep and low.
“I do my best to already, but why?” Katey didn’t want to push, but she needed answers.
“Just stay away from him. He’s no good.”
“Well, I knew that. He’s an egotistical playboy. But, why do you hate him?” She walked a little ahead of him so that maybe she could meet his gaze, but he kept his stare carefully trained on the path ahead, leading her through the crowd.
“Can we talk about something else?” Logan finally asked.
Katey sighed in defeat and shrugged. “I’d really rather not, but I’ll talk about whatever you want to talk about.”
Logan fell silent, still brooding over their conversation.
In an attempt to console him, she slipped her hand inside his. He exhaled deeply, dispelling the negative emotions with it and returned the hold with a weak crooked smile.
Becoming the Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 2) Page 10