Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(66)

Bastian wasn’t gone long before he returned, three dead rabbits clamped between his powerful jaws.

As soon as Katherine spotted the blood-stained animals, her stomach began to rumble beseechingly. As hungry as she was, however, she still knew it wasn’t smart to encroach upon another wolf’s kill.

But then Bastian set the three rabbits down directly in front of her – clearly offering them to her – and Katherine didn’t hesitate. She devoured the first animal, tearing her sharp teeth into the small creature, fur and all. The second she took a little more time with, savoring the bloody, raw meat.

There was no sense of horror at what she was doing. These weren’t adorable little bunnies any longer. They were sustenance. Food. Plain and simple.

Still, Katherine’s hunger had been satisfied by the first two rabbits so she used her nose to push the third one back at Bastian, who had been watching her eat with rapt eyes.

Some things never change.

He didn’t take the rabbit though, and when Katherine once again refused to eat it, he offered it to Sophie, who was all too willing to scarf it down.

After eating, Katherine continued to play with the others. Soon, however, the meat settled in her stomach and she began feeling tired. Her movements slowed as her limbs grew heavy with fatigue.

Bastian must have sensed her exhaustion as soon after, he began leading the pack back in the direction of the clearing. It took a while to get there as they’d run north quite a ways, but Katherine managed to keep pace with the others.

As soon as they arrived at the clearing, however, she immediately picked a spot to rest in the tall grass, laying down and resting her face on her paws. Her eyelids began to droop immediately. She was so tired that she didn’t even mind when Bastian settled down next to her – even allowed her weary body to lean onto his a little as sleep threatened to overtake her. Katherine could vaguely feel him once again nuzzling her face with his own when sleep finally pulled her under.

#

Too soon, she was forced awake by a firm hand shaking her arm. “Katherine,” a voice whispered urgently.

Straining to open her eyes, Katherine could groggily make out Sophie’s face directly above her own. The blonde had more than a few leafs stuck in her hair and a streak of dried mud covering half her face. Katherine took in the rest of her in and realized that the usually put together girl was wearing a red t-shirt that hung off her frame and a pair of loose sweatpants.

“What?” Katherine mumbled incoherently, still half asleep.

“Come on,” Sophie urged, tugging on her arm again. Her bare arm. “We need to get you dressed before the others wake up.”

Her bare arm attached to her bare body.

She was stark naked!

That certainly woke Katherine up.

Trying not to panic, she reached down in an attempt to cover her exposed breasts. As she did so, she immediately noticed Bastian lying incredibly close to her.

The events of last night came back to her.

She had done it. Katherine had survived the change. She was a full-fledged werewolf now.

And she should have been relieved. Ecstatic, even.

But how could she possibly focus on that when Bastian, like Katherine, was completely in the buff? He was on his stomach so she couldn’t see anything too horribly inappropriate, but that didn’t stop her eyes from sweeping down his naked form – down the lightly tanned skin of his muscled back and lower.

When she realized what she was doing – ogling Bastian’s unconscious, naked body, and right in front of his sister even, Katherine’s face immediately reddened. She knew Sophie was getting a prime view of just how far reaching her blush really was.

Perhaps she wouldn’t have been quite so embarrassed if Bastian was just lying next to her.

But no. He also had his right arm thrown haphazardly over her hips.

“Katherine,” Sophie repeated herself. “You have to get up.”

Katherine wholeheartedly agreed. And she tried to get up. She really did. But when she moved, the arm around her waist tightened significantly.

Katherine was positive that if one could truly die of embarrassment, she would have done so at that moment. It would have been terribly ironic. Surviving the change only to die the next morning out of complete mortification.

She glanced up at Sophie with pleading eyes, begging the blonde to somehow get her out of this predicament. Muttering about what a pain her brother was, Sophie bent over and helped Katherine pry Bastian’s arm off of her.

And that hadn’t been humiliating at all.

The small brunette couldn’t bring herself to feel anything but thankful towards the blonde, however, when she fished some clothes out of a bag and handed them to her. She hadn’t even noticed that the girl had been wearing the backpack yesterday when they’d hiked through the woods.

But she supposed she’d had other, more pressing matters on her mind.

Katherine wasted no time pulling on the long-sleeved shirt and pair of sweats Sophie had given her. The shirt nearly hung down to her knees, but she hardly cared and quickly slipped into some sneakers that Sophie offered her as well.

She knew without a doubt that the clothes she’d been wearing last night – including her beloved leather jacket – had been shredded beyond repair.

As soon as Katherine was adequately dressed, Sophie surprised her by pulling her into a hug. She allowed it. Now that she wasn’t in danger of dying of embarrassment, Katherine allowed the relief – the joy at still being alive – to flow through her.