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

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  Katey took his hand without hesitation and set the rose aside.

  Martel led her to the dance floor, guiding her through the moving bodies with ease. They waited for the beat and began their graceful spin. With everyone gliding in perfect unison, it was like a fairytale dream to Katey.

  All around, skirts whirled and brushed by each other, but never collided. Everyone knew where everyone else was and each couple was in synch with their part in this grand display that required no rehearsal. The vampires, like loups-garous, were one with each other and it was in their unison that the magnificence of their race could be fully appreciated.

  Martel held Katey with perfect posture and she did her best to hold her own as they traveled across the dance floor. He spun her, dipped her sensuously, and led her in moves that even Katey had never learned. The smile on her face couldn’t be willed away and the building ecstasy within her shined through every graceful move.

  “You seem happy,” Martel stated, the corners of his eyes crinkling in a smile.

  Katey giggled. “You know what? I am.”

  “See, I told you it’s not so bad to be with me.”

  In that moment, Katey truly felt beautiful like Logan had been trying to convince her all along. The dress, the makeup, and her companion all made her feel like the belle of the ball, though there were plenty of other vampire ladies present that might have surpassed her in looks and refinement.

  So many sensations moved within her that she could feel it overflow within her soul and swell to unimaginable depths. Her blood raced with each turn and her spirit soared with the music. Katey couldn’t remember a time when she felt like this. Not even when she danced with Logan did she feel this free.

  Then, all of the sudden, Katey could contain her delight no longer. She lost control of herself. As Martel sent her into a final dip, Katey threw back her head and released a great, loud, animated howl.

  In that moment, time stood still as her wolf song must have echoed through the entire castle. Martel raised Katey up from the dip, brows furrowed and lips parted.

  She lowered her head as the final notes of her howl faded. Everyone in the ballroom grew deathly silent and motionless, all glowering at her with shock and contempt. Even the band had abruptly stopped their music on a sour note.

  Katey’s eyes darted around to all the glaring vampires and up to Martel who was backing away from her with a look of astonishment and utter heartbreak written in his eyes. It was then that she realized her own eyes were a bright, glowing loup-garou gold.

  She turned her frightened gaze to where Michael and Yaverik were sitting. Michael didn’t move but donned a wistful expression. Yaverik slowly rose to his feet, borderline furious as his face contorted with rage.

  With her heart pounding and chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath, she looked to Martel again and wordlessly pleaded for asylum. But, he would not give it.

  Then, the worst imaginable thing that could have happened next, did happen. Something that was almost worse than her own outburst.

  Every one of the loups-garous below her feet returned her howl and sent shudders through the ballroom. It was as if they were in the room with her and their power surged through her soul. It quickened her loup-garou blood and she could feel her inner wolf stir with a renewed vigor since the night she almost changed. She longed to be with her pack.

  It wasn’t hard to make her next decision.

  She ran.

  Katey bolted out of the ballroom doors at lightning speed, pushing stunned vampires out of her way. When she reached the stairs, she kicked the heels off, sending them flying across the marble floor. She ran as fast as she knew how, tears streaming down her face.

  Down the many halls, she sprinted with only the sound of her heavy pants and swishing skirt. She didn’t hear any footsteps in pursuit and was thankful, but it wouldn’t tempt her to slow down.

  She made her way to the dungeon doors. The loup-garou howl still rang in her ears as she took the lock in one hand and ripped it off with one quick tug. She didn’t want to be anywhere else but with her pack. No one else could comfort her at a time like this. She was probably bound to end up in a cage anyway after that episode and it would save the vampires the trouble of dragging her into the cell.

  Katey hurried into the dungeon, slammed the door shut behind her, and flew down the stairs so fast she didn’t even think her feet hit the stone.

  Every pair of golden eyes turned to her. Some charged forward, drawing dangerously close to the silver. Others continued to stay at a safe distance and watched it all unfold.

  “Katey! What happened?” Darren called out from his cell, stepping daringly close to the silver bars.

  She grabbed the bars and pressed her body against the metal that would not burn her, willing to get closer to her pack and pull on their bond for strength.

  “I’m sorry, Darren. I’m so sorry!” she sobbed. “I should have told them the truth. I’m so sorry!” Katey gripped the bars tightly between her trembling hands. She fell onto the damp floor, ruining the precious fabric of her dress as cold, filthy water seeped through to chill her skin.

  Darren had crouched down ready to console her in whatever way he could. Tears streamed down her powdered cheeks, leaving streaks of spoiled makeup.

  “Wait, just calm down. What happened? Why are you dressed like that?” Darren asked, his concerned eyes scanning over her odd attire.

  “Katey?” Logan’s choked voice called from amongst the pack inside the cell.

  Her head shot up to see him stepping forward, scrutinizing her appearance. Her guts knotted together knowing that he saw her like this, a girl who had allowed herself to step into a place she never belonged.

  She burst into more sobs. Nonetheless, he ran to Darren’s side and squatted down with him, still keeping a safe distance from the harmful silver. Katey reached out her hand beseechingly, hoping that he would take it despite everything he knew and didn’t know yet.

  He did, but it was a weak and unsure grip. The hunger must have been taking a harder toll on him. Dark circles hung under his eyes and after she took a quick look to the others, she knew they were all reaching their limit. Haggard and tired faces turned to her for an answer or some comfort that they would escape this terrible place soon.

  “They’re celebrating some winter solstice thing and tonight they were doing a gift giving thing. Martel gave me a rose and we were dancing and I was just getting so excited that it just came out. I feel so embarrassed for everything.”

  “Embarrassed that you howled and expressed who you really are?” His words came out in a growl. “Embarrassed that you’re one of us?”

  Logan’s words were like knives in her chest. His expression of pure anger and disappointment hurt even more.

  “No, not like that!” Katey implored, feeling more tears stinging at the corners of her eyes.

  “Well, that’s sure how it sounds,” Logan retorted, letting go of her hand and snarling bitterly.

  “No, it’s not like that!” she cried, reaching out to him as he slipped just past her fingertips. “I was in the middle of the room and everyone was staring and Martel looked so disgusted with me.”

  Fury radiated from his body and she had never felt such dominance hit her before. For once, she was glad that the silver separated them, but it didn’t keep her from needing his love and understanding.

  “Why does it matter what Martel thinks of you? Why should you care what any of them think of you?” Logan scolded. “I’ve always been telling you that it doesn’t matter how you look to other people. I thought you had listened before, but I guess I was wrong.”

  Katey bowed her head in shame. He was right and she knew it. He was completely right. She sat back and pulled up her knees against her chest. She wasn’t entirely embarrassed because of how they all gawked at her. She was embarrassed for allowing herself to get so far.

  How could she have allowed herself to be wooed by a vampire? How could she have allowed hersel
f to be distracted for one moment, a precious moment when she could have been working to free her new family? Instead, she let herself forget who she was and where she belonged.

  Knowing that Logan disapproved of her was the worst imaginable punishment she could have ever felt. Forget Darren, John, or even Michael. If Logan despised her, she had nothing, was nothing. It was like her heart had been ripped from her chest and trampled on, ground into the unforgiving stone and left to bleed out in agony.

  Logan slowly walked away from the bars and disappeared into the densely packed cell of other loups-garous who gave her shameful looks. They turned and walked away, no longer caring about the girl that they were depending on to save them. She had let them all down.

  Darren was the only one that didn’t leave her. Katey sobbed as the loneliness enveloped her soul. If the pack wouldn’t accept her, then who would? If she lost Logan, what else did she have left to live for?

  “Don’t mind Logan...” Darren said gently. “He’s been that way for a while now... It’s just the lack of food. He’ll be better once he’s eaten something.”

  Katey shook her head, droplets of tears dripping from her chin. “No, he’s totally right. I was so obsessed with putting on a good show for everyone, dressing up and acting right to hide what I was, but I should have just confessed it from the beginning. I should have been down here with you the whole time... He’s probably never going to forgive me and we’ll never be mated if we make it through this.”

  “Now, don’t go to extremes. Just give him time... There isn’t much between now and tomorrow night, but if we can find a way out of this, then there will be more time.”

  That reminded Katey of her conversation with Michael. She related the whole meeting in the library to Darren, everything including the prophecy but excluding the details of Michael’s daughter and granddaughter. Then she told him about how Michael agreed to help around sunrise by stealing the key and breaking everyone out.

  By now, John had made an appearance and squatted down beside his former pupil.

  “You did very good, Katey,” the elder alpha said. “I don’t know how much I’d trust this vamp, but it’s worth a shot.”

  “He knew I wasn’t human from the very moment I met him and he didn’t seem bothered at all by it. He didn’t even look surprised when I howled, but since everyone else was, that means he was keeping it a secret.”

  “He knew you were loup-garou?” Darren asked.

  “Well, not exactly. He said he knew I wasn’t human, but he couldn’t tell what I was. He said it was like I was a species all my own... Makes me feel worse that I’m not officially on one side or the other. I’d rather be all of something than a little of two different things.”

  The way she put it made her think of the prophecy and Michael’s granddaughter being born from a vampire and a loup-garou. Katey still wasn’t sure if she wanted to believe she was the one to bring peace. The way she felt right now, she wasn’t sure she could bring peace to herself, let alone two feuding races.

  Darren sighed. “Well, then maybe he can be trusted... But I’m not going to put all my eggs into one basket.”

  “Come through the bars before the vamps come down,” John urged. “We’ll keep you safe.”

  Katey began to pull and tug at her hair to let it all down when she heard something tumble out. It fell to the stone with a little metallic tinkling noise and she looked down to see a hairpin. She picked it up and began to wonder.

  She raised herself up onto her knees and began tinkering with the hairpin inside the lock. She had no clue how to crack open a lock with a hairpin, but it was worth a shot. Darren and John watched her with eagerness and slowly some others turned their eyes with hope to her efforts.

  Then they all heard it.

  A click.

  Katey froze. She gently released the hairpin from the lock and gave the bars a good tug.

  It opened.

  Who would have thought that having her hair up would have been such an advantage after all? It shouldn’t have been that easy.

  Suddenly, the dungeon door flew open and the odious stench of sulfur filled the cold air.

  29

  Katey knew a vampire had just entered the dungeon. She looked to Darren, eyes wide with fear. She slowly shut the cell door without a sound and casually dropped the hairpin on the floor in front of him.

  Darren’s eyes followed the pin falling to the stone and nodded in understanding.

  The vamp rushed down the stairs, his shoes beating against the stone as he went. A communal growl erupted from the loups-garous as the enemy approached.

  “There’s the little she-wolf!” Yaverik’s voice boomed. Katey spun around and glared at him with fierce, golden eyes. “You’re coming with me, young lady.”

  He marched forward, grabbed Katey by her arm, digging his sharp nails into her flesh. She cried out in pain, and then heard the dull thud of flesh against metal from behind her, followed by a sizzling noise.

  “Let her go, you blood sucking piece of trash!”

  Katey looked back to see Logan snarling out more nasty insults, his hands firmly wrapped around the silver bars with wisps of smoke seeping from his grasp. Katey could smell his flesh slowly burning and blood dripped from his hands and wrists. His gold eyes blazed with fury as his face distorted into a beastly scowl, ignoring the pain.

  “Logan, let go of the bars! You’re not helping!” Darren scolded as he tried to pull Logan away from the silver but his strength seemed to return as his future mate was dragged away from him, and he would not release.

  All the other loups-garous that were strong enough exploded in a thunderous roar against Yaverik. The deafening noise made the very rock and stones of the dungeon tremble and crack under the force of their temper.

  Tears welled in Katey’s eyes as Yaverik blatantly ignored the prisoners, hauling her up the stone steps, causing her dress to tear along the hem. Just as they were about to exit, Katey saw Logan finally let go of the bars and his bloody, mangled hands.

  The other loups-garous followed suit and the wolves in the two locked cells rammed themselves against the bars, burning their shoulders and arms in their attempt to escape. The wolves in the first cell turned their ire upon Logan as his arms ran with blood. Darren and John bellowed a warning at them to stay back as the hunger glowed in their eyes. It had been hours since they had eaten and fresh, weakened meat had been presented to them in the form of a love-crazed loup-garou.

  Pandemonium ensued and the growls of the loups-garous didn’t cease once Yaverik slammed the door shut. Katey could hear them, even as she was pulled down the hall.

  Katey took gulping breaths of air as she thought of what the loups-garous would do to Logan. Rational thought told her that since they have a way of escape, the alphas would take charge and the loups-garous would wait for the perfect opportunity to escape.

  “Where are you taking me?” Katey asked, stumbling over the dress and her feet as he yanked her down corridors, taking turn after winding turn.

  “Back to your room. Out of respect for Martel, I won’t have you stay in the basement, but that doesn’t mean you won’t suffer their fate.”

  “You’re going to hunt me down like the rest of them?”

  Yaverik gave an ominous chuckle and shook his head. “No, I have something much better in store for you.”

  “Yaverik! What in heaven’s name are you doing?” Michael appeared in front of them, his glare searing with indignation.

  Katey turned to the man that might have been her grandfather and gave him a beseeching look. If anyone could save her from the vampire’s wrath, it was him.

  “I’m going to lock her away in her room until after the solstice. Then I’m going to have our scientists take a look at her. I have no idea how she got past our noses and how a female could be a beast in the first place, but I intend to find out.”

  They had arrived at her room and Yaverik fumbled with his keys to find the right one. Katey tugged against h
is hold, but he was just as strong as she was and would sooner pop her shoulder out of place trying to get away.

  “This is insanity! The girl has done nothing wrong!” Michael cried, taking her other arm to try and pull her away from Yaverik.

  “She is a werewolf and living. That’s plenty wrong!” Yaverik hissed at Michael as he threw open her bedroom door and tossed Katey in like she was a piece of trash to be thrown away. She crumbled to the floor with a cry and glanced up just in time to see Yaverik’s hateful sneer. The door was slammed shut and Katey could hear the key turn to lock it tight.

  Yaverik turned and marched down the hall away from Katey’s chamber. Michael followed closely behind, still incredulous as to what had just unfolded in the past hour. He witnessed something he had never thought he’d see in his lifetime. Discovering that Katey was a loup-garou gave him more joy than any man should have been allowed but her flight and Yaverik’s obstinacy tainted such joy.

  “Mark my words, Yaverik, this is not going to end well for any of us.”

  “If you fear the council punishing us, don’t be. I already have their permission for tomorrow night.”

  Michael’s lips parted with disbelief. “How could the council have agreed to this heinous act?”

  Yaverik laughed. “You know as well as I do that the council is just as blindly patriotic for our kind as any of us. Having some more dogs put down is a welcome request to them.”

  The older vampire shook his head. “I can’t let you go through this!” he yelled. “I don’t care what the council says.”

  Yaverik stopped and turned to his old mentor with a glare. “You’re alone in your beliefs, old man. No one is siding with you on this.”

  Michael jammed a finger behind him, toward his daughter’s old bed chamber where Katey was locked away. “But at least have mercy on the girl. Let her go back and grieve with the other women who will lose their loved ones. Let her go home.”