Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(37)

Caleb looked taken aback – and more than a little weary at the sudden outburst. "Why what?" he asked delicately.

"I don't know. Why everything?" Katherine licked her lips before asking the real question – the one that had been on her mind for days now. "Why'd he do it? Why… why did Bastian bite me?"

If Caleb had looked weary before, his hunched shoulders screamed that he was uncomfortable now. "That's something that he should explain to you."

Katherine was far from satisfied with that answer. "Just tell me," she insisted, the desperation she could hear in her own voice taking her by surprise. She sounded absolutely pathetic.

Caleb must have thought so too because she could practically see his resolve start to crack. He opened his mouth, hesitated, shut it, and then with a seemingly resigned sigh, opened it again. "Since you've been bitten have you noticed that your senses have been enhanced – made better? Especially your sense of smell?"

Katherine immediately nodded. "People have scents," she blurted.

"Yes," Caleb agreed before pursing his lips, seeming to consider his next words carefully. "People have scents and somehow, in his wolf form, Bastian sensed... well, he smelled you."

Katherine was affronted and couldn't have stopped the offended words from bursting pass her lips if she's wanted. "And what?" the angry brunette demanded. "I smelled so horrible that he couldn't stop himself from assaulting me?"

"No!" Caleb immediately denied. "I think that his wolf must have… liked it – recognized something in it that made him-"

"What? Attack me?" Katherine was adamant in her incredulity. "He liked my scent so much that he mauled me?"

Caleb seemed to sink into himself. "This is why he should be the one to explain this to you." He sighed. "I don't think he was attacking you."

Katherine's eyebrows shot up. "Then what?" she demanded, disbelief saturating her voice.

Caleb frowned, his eyes finally leaving her form as they drifted down to the floor.

In response to the man’s dejected posture, she could feel the hard ball of anger in her gut soften to something closer resembling shame. She sighed. "I'm sorry," she managed to bite out, "I never should have asked you to try to explain his actions."

Caleb glanced up at her. A slight frown was still tugging at the corner of his lips, but he looked grateful that she would no longer be interrogating him.

Still feeling guilty, Katherine offered him a small smile. She hoped it didn't look as forced as it felt because she thought that, deep down, she might actually like Caleb. He really did seem like a nice person and she could tell his kindness wasn't manufactured.

But she knew she couldn't afford to feel anything but animosity towards the people who had kidnapped her.

"I was bitten too."

Katherine almost didn't hear the soft spoken confession. But the words did reach her ears and Katherine couldn't withhold a small gasp.

What?

"Bastian attacked you too?" Katherine couldn’t even begin to name the strong, hard emotions she could feel boiling to the surface. Shock. Anger. Even jealousy, strangely enough.

The expression on Caleb’s face quickly assured her that she'd assumed wrongly, however, and the intense emotions disappeared as quickly as they had come, leaving Katherine feeling disoriented. She forced herself to concentrate on Caleb's voice.

"Truthfully, I don't know who bit me, but I do know that it wasn't Bastian. It happened over five years ago when he and the others were still in school. Whoever did bite me... he didn't stick around like Bastian did for you."

For a moment, Katherine forgot that she wasn't supposed to believe and was horrified. "Five years ago?" she asked faintly. "You couldn't have been more than what? Fourteen?"

"Thirteen," he correctly gently. The man's brown eyes met her green ones squarely. "I know it's hard to feel anything but anger and grief in your situation, but Bastian – he really did do the right thing by taking you. I know it doesn't feel like it, but you have all of us in your corner. Especially Bastian. I didn't have anybody."

For the briefest of moments, Katherine considered pointing out that she'd overheard them talking last night – that she knew they didn't want her. But something – tact, or maybe empathy for the man in front of her – made her keep it to herself. Instead, when she opened her mouth, an apology spilled out. “I’m sorry.”

Caleb waved the words off. "What happened to me wasn’t your fault. I've learned to accept it."

Katherine was suddenly struck by the absurdity of what they were discussing. "Accept being a werewolf?"

Caleb's half-smile faltered. "I didn't believe it either until I changed."

"Into a werewolf?" Katherine repeated. Her tone made her skepticism obvious.

"Yes," he insisted. His eyes begged her to believe him. "I had no one to help me through it. I don't want to scare you, but it was terrible. I was so frightened – terribly confused and in so much pain – I had no control over myself. I thought I was going mad and,” he paused, taking a deep breath, “Katherine, I almost killed someone."

The intensity of Caleb's words resonated within Katherine. The unassuming man in front of her – boy, really, he was only two years older than her – had almost killed somebody?