Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(78)
Katherine fought the urge to smile. “Clearly.”
He grinned at her reaction, but too soon his mouth leveled into a straight line. “But that’s not the worst or most hurtful lie I’ve ever told.”
“No?”
“No,” he agreed.
When he didn’t elaborate, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Well?” she asked. “Are you going to tell me or not?”
For a moment, Bastian seemed uncomfortable and glanced away, but when his eyes met hers again, they were still the honest blue they’d been since he’d chased her out here. “One of the worst lies I’ve ever told is that I wished I’d never laid eyes on you.”
Katherine’s breath caught in her throat.
“It makes me a truly awful person because I know that my actions – biting you, taking you away from your home – have caused you so much pain. But I’m ashamed to say that despite it all, I’m glad – so very glad that you’re here with us – with me. And I’m terribly sorry that I feel that way.”
Katherine didn’t know what to say, but Bastian’s words… they made her feel warm all over. She was both elated and… uncomfortable. She cleared her throat. “Wow. What is that? Three apologies in one day. Must be a record for you.”
Bastian seemed disappointed at her flippant response to his declaration. Katherine nervously chewed the flesh on the inside of her cheek. “Well, I’ve lied to you too, if it makes you feel better,” she finally volunteered.
Bastian glanced at her curiously – hopefully, even. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah,” she admitted, forcing herself to keep her eyes locked on his. “That whole I don’t even like you thing? It wasn’t true.” For a moment she lost her nerve and looked down. When she peeked up again, she was glad she did. The smile on his face was glorious.
“Katherine?”
“Mm-hm?” she asked, slightly dazed.
“I like you too.”
Moments after his confession, he was hauling her from the mossy stump she’d perched herself on. She released a surprised squawk, but he just laughed and started heading in the direction she assumed was home.
“I can walk you know,” she pointed out indignantly.
Bastian grimaced. “Your feet,” he said.
Katherine glanced down – they were in rather bad shape. “Oh.”
They’d almost made it back to the house when Katherine was reminded of something she’d been meaning to ask the man. “Hey Bastian?”
“What is it?”
“Will you teach me how to fight?”
His response was not what Katherine expected – anger saturated his voice. “What? Why would you want to learn how to fight?”
Katherine frowned. “Well, I figured that the whole incident with Rip could have been avoided if I’d just known how.”
“No.” His voice was hard. Final.
Katherine was flabbergasted. She had thought for sure that he would agree to her idea. Especially if she brought up Rip. “No? But why? I need to learn. Even forgetting what happened with Rip, you never know when I might need to-”
“I said no, Katherine. It’s my duty to protect you – to protect all the members of my pack. You don’t need to learn anything.”
She tried once more. “But-”
“No.”
Knowing not to push Bastian – she certainly didn’t want to ruin their newfound truce – Katherine agreed to drop the subject.
#
Later that night, when Bastian had enclosed himself in his study, Katherine approached Markus, who was idly napping on the coach in the living room. “Markus?”
He cracked one hazel eye open, gazing at her questioningly. “Yeah?”
“Will you teach me how to fight?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Oomph.”
Katherine landed on her butt. Hard.
But that was okay. Really. The shooting pain stemming from her tail bone would complement perfectly the dull ache that encompassed her right knee and the small, but smarting finger-shaped bruises encircling both her wrists. She was fairly certain she’d managed to wrench her shoulder as well.
“You’re doing it wrong.”
If Katherine heard that one more time, she was going to rip the smug prick’s head off. And by smug prick, she meant Markus. Not for the first time, she questioned her decision of asking him to teach her how to fight.
“Maybe I wouldn’t keep doing it wrong if you’d stop throwing me to the floor every time I tried to do it right,” she grouched. Despite its fluffy appearance, the carpet in the living room was abysmal at softening the blows her body took as she was constantly tackled to the ground. “I’m hardly going to be able to flip you over my shoulder if I can’t even feel said shoulder.”
“Right. Because your opponent will be terribly apologetic if he accidentally hurts you while you’re sparring,” Markus drawled. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I knock you over? Here, let me help you up and make sure you’re okay before we continue to try to maul each other.”
Katherine gnashed her teeth together in an effort to stop from laying into the sarcastic man. After all, as much as she hated to admit it – and she truly did hate to admit it – Markus had a point. If she was in a real fight, she couldn’t expect whoever she was facing to go easy on her.