Bitten (Once Bitten, Twice Shy #1)(99)

She tried to remember what Bastian had taught her about meditation. She willed herself to focus and visualize her inner wolf. But it wasn’t working. The painful throbbing of her back was just too distracting. And how could she possibly center her mind and thoughts when there was a giant wolf sitting atop of her, its razor-like teeth barred threateningly and its dark eyes gleaming with menace?

She didn’t feel calm or serene or anything like that. Instead, cold, icy fear ran through her veins. And as the extended claws of Cain’s uninjured paw came down at her prone form – no doubt aiming to slice her jugular – Katherine could do nothing but stare.

She thought of her parents – of despite how much she missed them, she wasn’t ready to be reunited with them quite yet. She thought of her sister. Of Abby. Even of Mallory and her gaggle of followers. Her new friends crossed her mind too. Melanie and Mack. And of course, her pack. Markus and Zane. Sophie and Caleb. And Bastian. It was him she thought of at the end.

But it wasn’t the end. Not yet.

Cain’s sharp claws were a hair’s breath away from connecting with her delicate throat when a blurry form plowed into Cain, knocking him clean off of her.

At first Katherine thought it was Bastian. That somehow he’d known she was in trouble and had come to play hero like he always did. But then the color of the other wolf’s coat registered – not black, but a glossy white. And Katherine knew that it was Sophie who’d saved her.

She must have seen her note and come to help with Mack.

Struggling to her knees and then her feet, the brunette took a second to search for Melanie, but it looked like her supposed friend had long since left the scene. Turning her attention to the battling werewolves, Katherine frantically hunted for something – some sort of weapon, like that rock she’d used earlier – to wield against Cain and help Sophie, but she came up empty.

She watched helplessly as the two wolves fought. Despite Cain’s superior size, they seemed fairly evenly matched as they snapped their teeth and slashed their claws at each other. She suspected the injury she’d inflicted on the head alpha’s paw perhaps had something to do with it.

Katherine became more and more desperate to help, however, as Cain slowly but surely gained the upper hand against Sophie. And then, with one powerful blow to her side, she was down, her furry body blending almost perfectly with the snow on the ground.

And she wasn’t getting up.

But instead of returning his attention to Katherine, Cain zeroed in on the fallen wolf who was struggling, but failing, to pull herself up from the ground. Probably broken ribs Katherine thought dazedly, her horror growing.

The small brunette was frozen where she stood, forced to watch as Cain approached the incapacitated Sophie. Bastian’s sister. Her sister.

And without another thought, Katherine was moving. She wouldn’t allow her pack mate to die – not without doing her damnedest to protect her.

The change.

It barely even registered to Katherine that it was happening.

One moment she was racing towards Cain on shaky legs and the next, she was a wolf, colliding with the alpha male and falling into the snow with him. Somehow, she managed to latch her teeth into the flesh of Cain’s ear, refusing to release the appendage even as the other wolf wailed and tried to buck her off of him.

When he crashed her body into the trunk of a tree, however, she was forced to let go. But not without taking a chunk of his ear with her. Ignoring his furious snarling, Katherine leapt at Cain again.

This time, though, he was ready for her. Cain easily threw her off of him. Katherine landed hard on her side, but wasn’t at all deterred. She went at him again. And again. Each time, though, he’d fling her to the ground before she could even really make contact. She was vaguely aware of Sophie’s pained whining in the background, knowing it was more out of fear for Katherine’s safety than her no doubt aching ribs.

Katherine was tired – her body bruised and exhausted – but as little good as it did her, she kept charging at Cain. At least she did until his tolerance for her persistent attacks came to an abrupt end and he pinned her to the ground.

Before Katherine could even appreciate the irony of the situation – being pinned down by the vile man yet again even after Sophie’s brave interference and her successful transformation into wolf form – sharp claws reigned down upon her. First, a brutal slash to her chest and then another to the left side of her face. Blood immediately gushed forth from the wounds, rivulets of red spilling into her eyes and distorting her vision.

Sophie’s panicked barking was loud in Katherine’s ears now, but nothing could permeate the blinding haze of pain that befell her.

And then, just as Cain’s sharp teeth were about to join his claws in his savage attack, his weight was abruptly shoved off of her. A familiar black snout was pressed to hers for just a moment before the wolf attached to it let loose an enraged howl and dashed out of view.

Bastian.

And another wolf – Caleb, she thought – she could see attending to Sophie.

They had come.

Katherine knew Bastian could defeat Cain – knew, too, that he and Caleb would save Sophie, who she could still hear whimpering softly from where shy lay some distance away.

Knowing this as she did, Katherine allowed herself to rest – to close her eyes before the darkness at the edges of her vision could conquer it completely.