Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(64)

She instinctually fought it. Was hardly even aware of the movement going on around her – that the places where Markus, Zane, Sophie, and Caleb had once stood were now occupied by massive, four-legged creatures. Was hardly even aware that she was trembling violently and mewing softly in pain.

A large hand encircled the back of her neck and Katherine forced herself to look up and meet blue eyes set in an angular face. Bastian, some still logical part of her brain recognized.

And then he was pulling her close, ramming her face into his expansive chest and holding her there.

A moment later, he hauled her away again, but left his hand on her neck. Katherine dazedly realized that his mouth was moving. He was saying something – yelling something at her, but she couldn’t hear it over the rushing in her ears.

The pain got worse. She was vaguely aware of someone screaming. Was that awful sound coming from her?

Bastian pulled her forward again, crushing her small body to his larger form, but she somehow found the strength to yank herself away.

The man was fighting the moon’s pull, Katherine knew. The same way she was. And he was shaking – must have been hurting as much as she was.

She wanted him to give in – to change.

But somewhere in her, even as the pain nearly overwhelmed her, she knew.

He’d wait for her. Suffer along with her for as long as it took – for as long as she chose to drag it out.

So she did it. She gave into the infinite pain – felt something inside of her crack. And then, blackness engulfed her.

#

Katherine had no idea how much time had passed before she was jolted back to reality.

She just knew that when she was, the pain had all but disappeared. There was still some lingering discomfort along her spine and her muscles were sore, but for the most part, she felt good.

Different, but good.

Except that something kept nudging her side. And Katherine didn’t like it. She was trying to think – to feel what was different about this new her – before she opened her eyes.

She knew she’d changed – successfully transformed into a wolf – but it was more than that. It was odd. She had to slog through her thoughts, yet they were racing at the same time. She could literally feel the blood – the hormones – running through her body. She felt wild. Downright primitive.

If only whatever was nudging her would stop so she could concentrate!

Katherine snapped her eyes opened and a low growl she wouldn’t have even realized was coming from her if she couldn’t feel it reverberating in her throat broke free. She picked her new body up on shaky legs and turned to face whatever it was that insisted on annoying her.

It was him.

Her dream wolf. Bastian. She’d already seen him in this form twice already, after all. But it was different seeing him this way now that she was a wolf too.

He was much bigger than her – his black fur quite a bit darker than her chocolate brown. He was still handsome. She was still attracted to him. But in addition to that, she felt this strange urge to please him. To make him notice her – like her.

And that pissed Katherine off.

Before she could consider the intelligence of her actions, she found herself growling again – this time at Bastian. Her ears lowered threateningly against her head as she took an offensive stance.

He growled back, the loud rumbling coming from deep within his chest. He took a step towards her with a giant paw.

Katherine immediately stopped her snarling, instincts demanding that she submit to the larger wolf. She shrunk into herself, resting the majority of her weight onto her hind legs.

And wasn’t that weird.

As soon as Katherine took the more docile position, Bastian stopped his own growling. He began nudging her on her side again, using his head to do so. She realized quickly that he was urging her to try to walk.

Figuring that it was largely instinctual – much like the growling, apparently – she attempted to walk forward. Somehow, however, her feet – or paws, rather – got tangled and she wound up on the ground in an awkward heap of fury limbs. If wolves were able to laugh, Katherine suspected Bastian would have been right at that moment. His blues eyes were gleaming with amusement.

Katherine was only barely able to resist the urge to once again snarl at the large, black wolf. She was still a bit wary of how Bastian reacted the first time. There was a reason he was the alpha of the pack after all – the power practically rolled off him.

After a few more tries – and one more mishap that resulted in Katherine being sprawled out on the forest floor – she was successfully walking. And brimming with excitement over the achievement.

Now that she knew she could walk, Katherine wanted to run. She could feel the rush of adrenaline at the mere prospect of it. She didn’t even care where she was going to run – every direction seemed filled with possibilities. She just knew she wanted – needed – to do it.

When she tried to leave the clearing, however, the large form of Bastian stopped her. She yipped and attempted to get around him, but he blocked her again.

An indignation so strong filled Katherine that she couldn’t stop a low growl from escaping her. The emotions she felt as a wolf were so much stronger – so much more extreme – than what she felt as a human. And they came and went at the drop of a hat. A moment ago, she’d been all kinds of excited. And now she wanted to rip chunks of Bastian’s fur out with her teeth.