by Noelle Marie
She squeezed her eyes shut, willing for the howl to sound a second time. A handful of minutes passed, but Katherine didn’t hear it again. She smelt something, though. Smoke.
Katherine snapped open her eyes.
It was too overpowering a smell to be coming from the gentle swirl rising from the hut’s simmering fire pit. It was so strong, in fact, that when she took in a mouthful of air, she could taste it. Something, somewhere was burning.
Katherine’s head whipped in the direction of the door at the sudden sound of approaching footsteps. Whoever they belonged to was running.
“Serena!”
Relief and disappointment clashed within her when she saw who rushed through the door. Relief because it wasn’t Gerard. Disappointment because it wasn’t, well... the howl had sounded so familiar!
Confusion, and even a smidgeon of hope joined the brawl when Katherine saw that Serena, still nude from the shift, had a coat slung over one of her shoulders and a pair of moccasins in her hands. She threw them to the floor before running to Katherine, dropping to her knees and immediately beginning to work on the rope that bound her wrists.
“What’s going on?” Katherine demanded. “I thought I heard-”
“There’s no time. We’ve got to get you out of here.”
Serena loosened the knot enough so that Katherine could pull her hands free. Carefully avoiding the burn on her right palm, she massaged the sore skin that the coarse rope had been digging into for hours. Serena began undoing the rope tied around her ankles.
Katherine should have been jumping for joy at the sudden turn of events – she was getting her chance to escape, after all – but something held her back. An ominous feeling loomed over her, dampening any sense of glee. That howl. “Serena,” she said, addressing the other girl sharply and grabbing her by her shoulders, forcing her to focus. “What’s going on?” she repeated slowly.
Serena took a deep breath and tucked a strand of stray hair behind her ear. “It’s your mate,” she said softly. “Bastian.” His name sounded foreign on Serena’s tongue, but the admiration was plain in her voice as she said it. She didn’t know where Serena had heard it before. “He’s come for you.”
And there was that joy. More than joy. Exultation.
It had been him Katherine had heard howling.
Her jubilation was cut short, however, when Serena shoved the moccasins she’d come in with into her lap. Katherine frowned. “Well, I can hardly leave if he’s here. It makes way more sense to stay put and let him find me than to go traipsing out in the woods.”
Serena shook her head. “You have to leave. It’s absolute chaos outside, and the bedlam is only getting closer. Attacking immediately after the full moon was smart. It’s when we’re naturally at our weakest, and no one, not even Gerard, was expecting it. Everyone able is fighting, wolf or human form, it doesn’t matter. Someone’s hut started on fire in the confusion and the flames from it have already ignited two others. It just isn’t safe to stay here.”
Just as quickly as that joy had emerged, it came crashing down, shattering to pieces as the reality of the danger Bastian was in set in. The wolves of the western colony – or whatever they called themselves now – were vicious, none more so than Gerard. And although Katherine had never seen his wolf form, she knew judging by his human one, that he was almost certainly bigger and stronger than Bastian.
Serena shoved the coat she’d brought in with her at Katherine. It was the same coat Melanie had bought for her in Vanderhoof. She had thought they’d destroyed it, but obviously not. It must have been too useful to burn.
“No, Serena,” Katherine said, pushing the coat away, “I don’t care how dangerous it is. I must stay. How else is Bastian supposed to find me?”
Besides, she couldn’t just abandon him to whatever pandemonium was happening outside.
Serena stared, trying to communicate with her eyes the importance of her next words. “Katherine. You don’t understand. It’s not just the fighting or fire that’s dangerous. If Gerard gets to you before Bastian...” she trailed off, swallowing. “I know my cousin. If he thinks he can’t have you, he’ll make sure that no one else can either.”
He’d kill her.
Katherine knew it was true. She clenched her hands into fist in a desperate bid to stop them from shaking. “Come with me,” she blurted, not thinking twice about the offer.
Serena smiled, but there was a sadness to it that told Katherine what her answer would be before she even opened her mouth. She shook her head. “I can’t,” she whispered.
“Why not? We’ll find you a coat and some shoes-”
“I said I can’t!” she interjected sharply.
Katherine stared in disbelief, gnashing her jaw as incredulity-fueled anger filled her. “Surely you don’t still feel a sense of loyalty to that bastard?”
Serena’s eyes flitted to the ground. “No,” she denied, “but I just can’t abandon my home, Katherine. It’s where I grew up and... and it’s the only place I have any memory of my parents,” she finished softly.
Tension fled Katherine’s shoulders as Serena revealed her real motive for staying behind. Her anger deflated, but that didn’t mean she agreed with the girl’s decision. She just didn’t have time to argue. “Ok. Ok, fine,” she said, slipping on the shoes and shoving her arms through the sleeves of the puffy coat Serena had brought her.
There was something nagging at Katherine, though, and she couldn’t leave without telling Serena what she’d learned. “Serena, your mom...”
“I know,” she said, interrupting Katherine before she could say anything further. Tears flooded Serena’s eyes, and she pressed her lips together, taking a moment to compose herself. She inhaled deeply through her nose. “When I was coming back from collecting firewood, I heard what Gerard said – th-that he killed my m-om.” Her voice broke on the last word. “I just didn’t know how to react. I was in shock, maybe, or even denial. I think I’ve been in that for years.” She buried her face in her hands. “I’m so sorry, Katherine.”
Katherine didn’t know what to say in face of such sincere anguish. “You came back for me, that’s all that matters,” she finally settled on. “Thank you.” Despite Serena turning a blind eye to all of Gerard’s wrong-doings, she really was grateful for the other girl. She’d still be tied up, stuck in Gerard’s bed, if it wasn’t for her.
Serena sniffled. “Don’t thank me,” she mumbled, lifting her head from her hands, and revealing tear tracks on her cheeks. “I should have gotten you out of here a long time ago.”
It was true. But when Katherine looked at Serena, she didn’t feel anger. Just pity and reluctant affection. She didn’t know how to tell Serena that, though, so she showcased her feelings the only way she knew how and pulled the melancholy girl into a hug. “Stay safe, Serena,” she muttered into her bony shoulder.
Serena tensed at the sudden movement, but her stiff muscles relaxed at Katherine’s words. She wrapped her arms around Katherine in return. “You too,” she whispered.
Unfortunately, Katherine didn’t have any more time to waste. She pulled herself from Serena’s embrace and headed for the door. She glanced once at the girl over her shoulder, then pulled back the animal skin flap and ducked out of the room she’d been held captive in for so long.
It was the first time Katherine had been outside since that man – Blake – had wandered into Gerard’s hut and set off the man’s temper. The layout of camp was precisely how Katherine remembered. Two or three dozen huts like Gerard’s were spread out across a massive, man-made clearing, a huge fire pit at its center. Unlike last time, the fire in the pit was a mere smolder. A much more impressive flame was climbing high into the sky in the northwest section of camp, where at least three huts had caught on fire. It was almost certain to spread further. Smoke was already thick in the air, overpowering enough to clog Katherine’s nostrils, but not quite dense enough to completely obscure her vision.
Because of this, she could see
the chaos Serena spoke off. Screams and snarls reached her ears as wolves and humans alike threw themselves into battle. The closest skirmish was less than fifty feet away from where she stood, and just like Serena had said, the bedlam was getting closer and closer to the center of camp. Katherine took heart that it was a strong indication the outside forces – Bastian and whoever made up his army of invaders – were winning.
She was sorely tempted to ignore Serena’s advice and stay. She ached to not only see Bastian, but to feel his arms around her. She was starved of his touch and wanted nothing more than to bury herself in his strong, capable embrace and never leave it.
Another shock of pain shot through Katherine’s belly – this one strong enough to make Katherine reflexively curl into herself. The baby.
She had to go.
Following gut instinct alone, Katherine headed east. She sprinted away from camp – well, as much as one could sprint with a pregnant belly – and disappeared into the line of trees there. She wasn’t running towards anything in particular, but she was running away from something – someone – and that was motivation enough to keep her moving. She pumped her arms as she leapt over overgrown roots peeking out through the snow and ducked under low-hanging tree branches.
Katherine hadn’t been running long before she got the sense that someone was following her. Paranoia buzzed under her skin, making her hyperaware of the sound of snapping branches, and the occasional whiff she caught of a familiar scent on the breeze. The suspicion that she was being tailed only made her move faster, however, and she ignored the sporadic spark of pain in her belly as she ran further and further from what used to be the western colony.
Katherine was just beginning to think that paranoia had gotten the best of her when a figure suddenly jumped out in front of her, forcing her to careen to a stop before they violently collided.
Katherine fought to catch her breath, resting her hands on her knees as she took in the person before her. “Melanie,” she managed to gasp out between desperate gasps for oxygen, “What are you doing?”
The girl stood in front of Katherine, her own heavy breathing evident in the puffs of condensed carbon dioxide that formed in the frigid air. She had a familiar hunting knife grasped in one of her hands. Even more concerning, it was covered in blood.
“I can’t let you leave, Katherine.”
The longer the words sat in the air between them – the longer that Katherine stared at the two-faced girl she’d thought was her friend once upon a time – the more anger began to accumulate in her gut until it had transformed into an uncontainable storm of swirling rage. The sheer nerve of her to stand between Katherine and escape. “Why the hell not?” she yelled. “You got what you wanted, didn’t you? You have Lukas. You have the precious pack that you were so desperate for. What do you care if I run away and you never have to see my face again? I thought you’d be the last person to object to that. Or do you really hate me that much?”
Melanie pursed her lips. “You overestimate your own importance.” She paused, casually adding, “Lukas did, too.”
A chill traveled down Katherine’s spine. She eyed the bloody knife in Melanie’s hand, slick and shining in the approaching dawn. “Where is he?” she demanded.
Melanie shrugged. “His usefulness ran out. He was killed in the fray – it’s quite the battle your dear Bastian is leading, by the way,” she added offhandedly. “He must really love you.” She sounded the definition of bitter. “Anyway, I thought I’d take advantage of the chaos to pay you a visit. I wanted to see you earlier, of course, but Gerard’s made it pretty clear that he doesn’t deal well with unexpected guests. Nor is he very good at sharing his things. I’m sure you can imagine my surprise to see you, not cooped up in his hut like I had assumed, but running wild into the woods.”
Katherine didn’t know what part of Melanie’s monologue to address first. “I thought Lukas was your mate,” she finally settled on. “You don’t sound all that upset at his passing.”
She held up the knife. “I never said who it was that killed him. Mate in name or not, Lukas was a means to an end for me, nothing more.”
Katherine was horrified.
The tiny uptick of the corner of her mouth was the only thing that gave away Melanie’s amusement. “And to think, you were concerned that he was using me.”
Katherine swallowed, forcing herself to ignore both the dig and the fact that Melanie had just all but admitted to killing her mate. “What “end” are you talking about?” she demanded instead.
Melanie’s eyes flitted down to her belly. “How’s the baby been?” she asked, the first hint of true sincerity in her voice. “Is he taking to the change of environment well?”
Katherine felt whiplash at the sudden turn of Melanie’s demeanor. “Why do you care...?” she began to ask, but trailed off as understanding dawned.
Something finally clicked in her brain.
Despite her obvious loathing, Melanie had shown Katherine a certain level of care throughout their entire road trip to the western colony. She constantly asked after her well-being. She made sure she was watered and fed.
Truthfully, she wasn’t concerned at all about Katherine’s comfort or well-being. How she was feeling. Whether she ate or not.
She just cared about the baby.
Everything suddenly made perfect sense. Melanie’s motives were startlingly clear. “You want my baby,” she murmured, horror-struck as her hand involuntarily went to her belly.
Melanie snorted. “About time you figured that out.”
“But... why?”
“Why?” Melanie repeated incredulously. “Why do you think?” She shook her head like she was truly disappointed in Katherine’s inability to figure it out. “You’re right. I do want a pack, but not one that will turn on me at the drop of a hat. Not one that will abandon me whenever the mood strikes. I want someone who would never even think of leaving my side: a child. Since the odds of conceiving one on my own are so low, I figured why not seize the opportunity that fell into my lap when you suddenly got pregnant? Why not make what was yours... mine? The fact that I get to take such a tremendous gift away from the person who turned her back on me in the first place is just an added bonus.”
Katherine stared. Apparently, Bastian making the girl an outcast did way more damage to her mentally than Katherine could have ever imagined. Somehow Melanie’s mind had twisted things so that Katherine was the one who had wronged her – so that she was the reason for Melanie’s exile instead of the girl’s own actions.
Melanie pointed the hunting knife at her. It was the first time she had directly threatened Katherine with the weapon since cornering her. “The good news is if you come with me willingly, I won’t hurt you.”
Katherine struggled to calm her racing thoughts enough to form some sort of plan. She had to think of a way to get the knife away from Melanie. Until she could come up with something, though, Katherine knew she had to stall. “You won’t hurt me, anyway,” she pointed out, calling Melanie out on what she hoped was a bluff. “You would never risk harming the baby.”
Melanie’s mouth transformed into a twisted sort of smile. “That’s where you’re wrong. The baby is close enough to term to survive outside the womb now. I’ll slice you open if I have to.” She shrugged nonchalantly, like she hadn’t just threatened Katherine’s life. “Or you can come with me peacefully. It’s your choice, really.”
Katherine’s mind whirled as she desperately tried to think of a way out of her current situation that didn’t involve leaving with Melanie or getting cut open. “Where would you take me?” she asked, attempting to dually reason with the girl and buy time to think. “Whatever remains of the colony is burning as we speak.” A large cloud of smoke was visible in the distance, and Katherine hoped that no trees had caught on fire. “Even if we do go back, you know as well as I that you don’t stand a chance against the winner of the fight between Bastian and Gerard.”
It would be Bastian, of course. I
t had to be. Katherine refused to think otherwise.
“Lukas told me about a cluster of abandoned cabins a few more miles south. We’ll hide out there until you give birth,” Melanie replied, dismissing her “concerns”. “If you cooperate, I’ll even let you leave afterwards.”
Katherine pressed her lips together, thinking. “You’ll take the baby and just let me go back to Haven Falls? ...To Bastian?”
“I don’t care where or who you go to as long as you leave the baby behind with me.”
Katherine inhaled through her nose, holding the air in her lungs for a moment before the burn got to be too much. “Okay,” she agreed slowly, “okay, fine. I’ll go with you.” She lifted her hands in the air to indicate her surrender. “Just get that knife out of my face.”
Melanie snorted, but lowered the blade. She reached out for Katherine with her free hand. “Whatever, just come on.”
Katherine shuffled closer to the girl, and Melanie was inches away from grabbing onto the sleeve of her coat and dragging her the rest of the way, when Katherine put her half-cocked plan into motion and abruptly rushed her. Melanie staggered, but didn’t lose her balance when Katherine threw herself at her.
Katherine had hoped that the suddenness of the attack would loosen Melanie’s grip on the knife, but she didn’t drop it, so Katherine was forced to grapple with her for it. “Did you really think I’d just let you have my kid?” she demanded derisively, one hand wrapped around the wrist of the hand with the knife, the other attempting to pry Melanie’s thin fingers from the handle of the blade.
Melanie fought back, trying to maintain possession of the weapon while simultaneously shoving Katherine off her. “No,” she admitted with a grunt, trying and failing to jerk her hand – and the weapon in it – from Katherine’s grasp, “but I had hoped for your sake that you wouldn’t be so damn stupid!”
Melanie managed to push her away at the same time she shouted that last word, the force of the shove causing Katherine to trip over a log buried in the snow behind her. Even though she landed on her butt, pain ricocheted through her belly. The intensity of it distracted her for only a second, but it was enough time for Melanie to take advantage.