Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(63)

Only Bastian and the others in the pack would be around to witness it.

After he’d made the announcement that they’d be traipsing out into the woods, Katherine learned from Zane that the rest of the werewolves of Haven Falls would be going to some monthly celebration called a moon gathering. According to Zane, moon gatherings took place every full moon and were basically how all the packs in the small community stayed connected to each other.

Katherine was glad she didn’t have to attend that at least. She doubted any of the other werewolves in Haven Falls would have wanted her there anyway. The distinct possibility of her dying would have put a bit of a damper on things.

Anyway, within an hour of Bastian notifying Katherine of his plans, they’d left. She found herself trailing slightly behind the rest of the pack as they trekked through the tall grass and avoided the low-hanging branches of the trees in the section of forest behind Bastian’s house. Only Caleb had slowed his pace enough to stay close to her. Bastian would glance back every so often to make sure they were still following the path that he and the others forged as they trudged on ahead of them.

It was just cold enough outside for Katherine to see her breath as it was expelled from her laboring lungs. She pulled her leather jacket a little more snugly around her torso, trying to ignore the way the cotton mittens Bastian had forced onto her hands before they’d left his house largely failed at keeping her fingers warm.

She couldn’t help but wish that she’d prepared herself more for this.

Not for the hiking or the frigid air. But for the distinct possibility of death.

Death.

It was too nice a word for something so inherently frightening. People were right to be afraid of it, Katherine thought. Had every reason to fear it. The pain associated with the act of dying itself. The unknown that came after it.

But even as she thought it, Katherine didn’t feel afraid. She felt almost removed from the situation.

Situation.

Katherine snorted.

Who called what may be imminent death a situation?

She did, apparently.

Probably because the thought if it – that she might very well die tonight, probably in less than an hour from now, in fact, when she felt perfectly fine – seemed absurd.

She couldn’t die. She was only sixteen.

And it was a Tuesday. For God’s sake, who died on a Tuesday?

At least she hadn’t been made to go to school earlier that morning. That’d have been torture.

Katherine was forcibly pulled from her increasingly irrational thoughts when she tripped over an overgrown tree root, nearly losing her balance and pulling Caleb down with her.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine,” Katherine managed to force out between her teeth. She wasn’t about to point out that the only reason she hadn’t been able to see and avoid the root was because it was starting to get dark outside – the gray color of the sky slowly turning a navy blue.

They resumed walking.

What couldn’t have been twenty minutes later, Bastian and the others had ground to a halt ahead of them. Katherine and Caleb quickly caught up. She could see that they had stopped at the edge of a clearing.

The clearing was small and the grass in it so tall that it nearly reached her knees, but the ground seemed stable enough, and it was the first time that Bastian had stopped since they’d began their impromptu hike. Katherine suspected that they’d reached their destination.

She was proven to be correct when he led their small group into the center of the clearing before turning to face them – turning to face her. “Now, we wait.”

So that’s what they did. They waited.

Katherine observed quietly as the blue of the sky darkened into a purple and then a near-black. She didn’t say anything when Caleb placed a hand on her shoulder or when Sophie grabbed her forearm and squeezed. She did nothing to acknowledge the others’ stares.

And then she saw it – the moon. The pale, bright orb was slowly rising in the eastern horizon. Caleb let go of her and Sophie released her arm, but everyone’s eyes remained on Katherine.

That was when she finally felt it. The fear. Within moments, she went from feeling detached to nearly being overwhelmed by such an intense fear that she nearly stopped breathing right then. She could feel her heart jackhammering in her chest, like it wanted to burst free. She knew if she reached her fingers up to the pulse point at her neck, she’d have tangible proof of it. Her racing heart. No amount of sarcasm, anger, or forced apathy could hide it.

She didn’t want to die.

Not even if it meant joining her parents in the afterlife.

If there even was one. Katherine didn’t know for sure. How could she? But she liked to believe there was a God and that there was something that came after life.

For the first time since this crazy situation had befallen her, Katherine contemplated praying.

Then the moon’s light filtered through the towering trees surrounding the clearing where she stood and Katherine could focus on little but the heat.

Her whole body warmed. At first, it was just her chest, but it expanded to the rest of her body. Her freezing fingers were suddenly burning.

Then, the pain.

It wasn’t so terrible right away – a small, but sharp twinge in her lower back. But like the heat, the pain soon spread. And intensified. Her entire body throbbed. Even her bones ached. And Katherine knew it was because they wanted to move around – shift within her.