Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(34)

As the others ate and chatted, Katherine silently observed them. They all seemed so content. Even Caleb, who Katherine noticed was picked on by Markus and Zane whenever they weren't targeting her, seemed happy. Bastian, perhaps, was the only melancholy one. He was a brooder, Katherine supposed. She knew that a lot of woman probably liked that about him. He was the embodiment of tall, dark, and mysterious after all. Not to mention handsome.

All of them were good-looking.

So good looking in fact that a rampant thought of how they could all still be single crossed Katherine's mind before she forced herself to remember that they were all insane.

But were they really?

Why would anyone make up the existence of werewolves? A whole society of them with leadership and rules and all of that?

Knowing that her thoughts were headed into dangerous territory, Katherine forced herself to concentrate on the television.

Two hours’ worth of I Love Lucy later, Katherine could barely keep her eyes open. She'd caught herself drifting off more than once, but forced her eyes to remain open and glued to the TV set. She just needed to wait for the others to fall asleep and then she could act upon her plan.

She wasn’t counting on Bastian rising from the mattress he was laying on and unceremoniously shutting off the television. He cut Lucy off midway through one of her infamous schemes.

"Oh, come on Bastian! Turn it back on. Lucille Ball is hot. So is that chick who plays Ethel."

Sophie scrunched up her nose at Markus's remark. "Um, ew. Don't you know that both of those women have been dead for years?”

Bastian didn't bothering commenting on Markus’s taste in women. He just gave the hazel-eyed man a pointed look. "No. We all need our rest."

It was clearly non-negotiable and the man begrudgingly agreed after shooting a glare in Katherine’s direction. Katherine stuck out her tongue at him as soon as he turned his head back around. Ass.

But she couldn't find it in her to be upset. The pack deciding to sleep was exactly what she wanted and needed to happen. She’d only have to wait until they were all out to take off.

They’d only crossed the border into Canada mere hours ago – with no border patrol in sight. Katherine had been paying attention to the roads Bastian had taken and was fairly confident she could find her way back into the states. She’d been thinking about it all day. She’d only have to drive a few hours after hitting the border to make it to Duluth, Minnesota. It was where her sister had settled down with her fiancé after attending college there. She could already see her sister’s startled, but happy face in her mind.

"I'm sleeping here," Markus gruffly announced, pulling Katherine out of her thoughts. He buried his head into the pillow of the bed he'd been lounging on.

Katherine's couldn't quite stop the corner of her lips from lifting into a smile of amusement when Bastian stood up and brusquely ripped the sheets off the man's form.

"What the hell?"

Bastian merely raised an eyebrow at the man's irritated expression. "Markus, Zane, you've got the floor." He ignored the immediate shouts of protest. "Sophie and Caleb, you've got this bed." Bastian turned his blue eyes on Katherine. "And you. You're with me."

Her amusement quickly faded.

In fact, she temporarily lost control of her motor functions and actually allowed her jaw to drop.

"I'd shut your mouth before you catch flies," she heard Markus scoff from somewhere to her right, but she didn't bother to acknowledge him.

"Wait," Katherine demanded, sitting up higher in her chair. She suddenly felt more awake. "What do you mean I'm with you?"

"It means, we'll both be sleeping here," Bastian informed her, gesturing towards the bed he'd been occupying all night.

"I'm not sharing a bed with you," Katherine immediately objected. She hadn't even wanted to sit on the same bed as the man. She was certainly not sleeping on one with him!

"Yes you are," he corrected her, completely disregarding what she’d said.

"Actually, no I'm not," she snappishly retorted.

"In case you haven’t noticed, you don’t exactly have a choice." Katherine ignored Zane much like she had Markus.

"Why? Why would you want that? To share a bed with me, I mean?" she demanded of the blue-eyed man, who was paying her no mind as he straightened up the bed he had demanded she share with him.

"Stop acting like you’re getting jipped, princess. Zane and I are stuck on the floor. We never get the floor," Markus grumbled. "Usually it’s Caleb who sleeps there when we travel."

A wave of irritation washed over her and Katherine couldn't stop herself from verbally attacking the man. "Don't you ever shut up?"

Markus’s eyes lit up in surprise for a moment before they darkened and he glowered at her. "I don't know. Don’t you ever stop being a bi-"

"Enough Markus. You too, Katherine," her heart skipped a beat at hearing Bastian say her name. It was only the second time she'd ever heard him say it.

Wait.

Why in the world did she know that?

"Now get over here."

Katherine had never met so many maddening people in her entire life. Did he seriously think that she’d just obey him? Really?