Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(50)
“It doesn’t matter what they ask. You can’t answer their questions. We need to keep to ourselves as much as possible today.”
“Why?” Not that she was complaining.
“Remember Bastian explaining how the council meeting today is about you?”
How could she forget? “Yeah.”
“Well,” Sophie explained, twirling a piece of her long hair around her index finger, “he and the other alphas are deciding what to do with you and until they came to a conclusion today, Bastian wants to shield you from the rest of the community. I had to practically beg him to take you out and only managed to convince him because you were in need of so many supplies.”
They were deciding what to do with her? That sounded ominous.
“Anyway,” Sophie continued, “the council members are the only ones who know of your existence so far, so it’s best we keep as low a profile as possible while we’re out. Just ignore the looks I’m sure you’re going to get and I’ll deflect any questions that come our way, okay?”
Katherine took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Okay,” she agreed before allowing Sophie to drag her into The Closet.
The rest of the morning and afternoon passed in a blur of cotton, lace, and chiffon. After spending over two hours trying on clothes in The Closet – the shop sure had a lot of merchandise for such a tiny establishment – Sophie dragged her to another shop clear across town called Vintage Underground.
Here, the blonde convinced her to buy what Katherine had to admit was a phenomenal leather jacket. She also manipulated her into buying a little black thing – Sophie insisted it was a dress – with way too many frills and a complete lack of fabric in the back.
The conversation had went a little something like this:
“Oh! How about this? Every girl needs a little black dress. You never know when a special occasion will come up.”
“I don’t know. Isn’t it a little, well, skimpy?”
“Yeah. Bastian would hate it.”
“…I’ll try it on.”
Apparently, Sophie knew just what to say to get those around her to do what she pleased.
After they were finished there, the sun was high in the sky and they’d stopped to eat at a restaurant – creatively named The Bistro. Katherine supposed it didn’t really matter what it was called though because according to Sophie, it was the only eatery in town.
Once they’d finished scarfing down their lunches – Katherine had ordered a steak and it had been pink, juicy, and delicious – Sophie had quickly shown her the locations of the butcher shop and what she’d referred to as the grocery store, though it was more of a farmers’ market than anything.
Finally, they’d stopped at an apothecary where Katherine purchased some locally brewed shampoo and conditioner, some soap, a package of razors, and deodorant.
She’d never been so happy to see a roll-on.
Of course, the shopping spree wasn’t a completely fun experience. Both shopkeepers and the apothecary owner had stared at her without shame, only forcing their eyes to leave her form after catching sight of Sophie’s responding glare. The waiter at The Bistro had been even worse, but Katherine couldn’t find it in herself to be too upset with the dark-haired young man who had looked to be about her age. He’d flushed and seemed embarrassed when Sophie had called him out on his aberrant gawking.
Despite the stares and her general aversion to shopping, however, Katherine discovered that she rather enjoyed Sophie’s company and it was with reluctance that she returned to Bastian’s house with the blonde late that afternoon.
She figured her lack of enthusiasm had a lot to do with having to once again deal with the temperamental owner of said house.
For all her foot-dragging, though, she didn’t see Bastian until supper and the man didn’t even deign to speak to her until she and Caleb had begun clearing away the remains of supper – scalloped potatoes and ham, which had contained more ham than potato.
“We need to talk.”
Katherine forced herself to look up from the stack of dirty plates in her arms and meet the man’s eyes. “About what?” she demanded.
His eyebrows rose in response to her abrasiveness. What did he expect? For her to fall all over herself for the mere opportunity to speak with him?
Maybe when hell froze over.
“I think it’d be better if we discussed that alone. Follow me. You can leave those dishes for Caleb.”
Rolling her eyes at the blatant order, Katherine allowed the brown-eyed man to take the plates from her. She ignored a sneering Markus and followed Bastian out of the dining room. He led her down the hallway to a sturdy door opposite Bastian’s bedroom. Opening the door, he gestured for her to enter. Despite her reservations, she did.
Katherine couldn’t help but be impressed by the room he’d led her to. Books were overflowing from shelves that nearly reached the ceiling and the lights of an extravagant glass ceiling fixture reflected on gleaming hardwood floors. A worn, plush-looking chair pushed into a corner of the room looked immensely comfortable and inviting.
She suspected that she’d been led to Bastian’s study.
Her observations of the room were cut short, however, by the sound of the door clicking shut behind her. Bastian stalked past her before sitting atop a cherry wood desk that served as the center piece of the room. Wordlessly, he invited her to have a seat on a chair opposite the desk.