Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(23)

Her panicked shrill and hurried movements immediately caught the attention of the rest of the passengers. Her eyes shot from face to face and she quickly realized that as the voices had indicated, there were five other people in the spacious vehicle. Like Caleb, they all looked young. She could feel their eyes on her as well – pinning her into place.

She immediately recognized the driver as her eyes connected with the intense blue of his.

"Who are you?" she demanded, addressing her entire unwanted audience, but keeping her eyes locked on the familiar stranger's.

When she didn't receive an immediate response, her agitation only grew stronger, brought on no doubt by a deeper emotion – fear.

"Who are you?" she asked louder, clutching the blanket that had been covering her closer to her chest. "Why have you taken me? What do you want?"

The muscular, brown-haired man sitting in the seat in front of her snorted and she immediately recognized him as Markus when he opened up his mouth. "Cut the dramatics, princess."

Princess.

Images of the disgusting men from the gas station hit her full force. She remembered their grotesque appearances. What they had wanted to do to her. Being slammed against her car – no wonder her head hurt so much – and the man arriving to help her.

Katherine kept her gaze fixated on the driver, who seemed torn between watching her and the road in front of him. "Have you been following me?" she demanded, unsure whether she should be angry or frightened. Or even... flattered. She immediately shot that thought down, deeming it ridiculous.

But the man didn't even deign to respond. Markus, however, snorted at the question. "That's one way of putting it."

Katherine struggled to wet her suddenly dry lips. "Are… are you with those men? The ones that attacked my house?" Visions of blood and a dismantled dining room table momentarily obstructed her vision. Her stomach lurched.

"No," the driver immediately spat defensively, turning hard blue eyes on her in obvious anger.

The only other female in the vehicle turned her own glare loose on the man before turning around from the passenger seat to offer Katherine a more sympathetic gaze. "We're not here to hurt you, honey."

Katherine was taken aback by how Amazonian the woman appeared. She didn't even acknowledge Markus’s next comment. “Speak for yourself, Sophie."

Katherine hadn't gotten a good look at her until now and even sitting, she could tell the long-haired blonde – this Sophie – was tall. And her solid body, though obviously feminine, spoke of strength and athleticism. If her eyes weren't radiating warmth, Katherine would probably have been more afraid of her than the four men in the vehicle.

She knew how vicious females could be after all.

While Blue Eyes, Markus, the other nameless male, and even Caleb – who was noticeable scrawnier than the others, but a far cry from puny – had powerful bodies, Katherine was far more impressed by this woman.

What was with these people? Why were they all so strong and... good looking? Being in their presence was making her feel small and truthfully, down-right pathetic.

Still, she wasn't one to let others intimidate her – at least, not let them know that they did. "I'm only going to ask you once more," she bit out steadily. "Who are you?"

The question hung in the air. Katherine could vaguely feel the painful sting radiating from her palms as she fisted her hands and dug her nails into the skin there, waiting tensely for a response.

She watched as Blue Eyes made eye contact with Caleb, the man she was stuck sharing the back seat with. Katherine realized bemusedly that the smell of vanilla was radiating off of him. She forced her own eyes to turn away from blue and meet brown. The man took a breath before exhaling out, "We're your pack."

Caleb seemed to want to put his hand on her shoulder as he announced this, but kept it cautiously by his side when his first attempt led to her flinching away from him. Katherine was sure that her turbulent emotions must be playing out across her face.

First, bewilderment. "My what?"

But, of course, Markus had no patience for her utter confusion. "We're your pack," he spoke slowly as if talking to a small child. "Your unwilling and resentful pack, but your pack nonetheless."

That hardly helped ease the confusion. "Pack?"

Finally, the nameless dark-haired, dark-eyed man spoke up. "Werewolf pack."

Katherine's racing thoughts stilled.

"That’s not funny," she managed to choke out.

"It wasn’t meant to be," was the man's calm response.

And then came the denial. "Right," Katherine managed, stressing the disbelief in her voice. "You're werewolves."

"No. We're werewolves."

And then she could feel the beginning of panic build up in the pit of her stomach. Because even though it was so ridiculous... it also made so much sense. It was the same absurd idea that had been plaguing her for the past week. Ever since that gigantic wolf had seen fit to take a bite of her ankle.

Suddenly, Katherine found she couldn't talk around the lump that had formed in her throat.

Markus had no such problem and spoke up, a definite sense of mocking present in his voice. "Been experiencing any weird changes lately? Changes you can’t explain?"

And of course she had. The warmer body temperature. The improved speed. The sudden skill in cheerleading. The way she had been devouring meat. The damn dreams.