Shy (Once Bitten, Twice Shy, #2)

  The man sighed in frustration, allowing his hands to drop to her shoulders and then to the small of her back, where he wrapped them around her once again, beckoning her closer. He couldn't seem to get enough of touching her, and truthfully, Katherine was enjoying the tactile show of affection, which was the only reason she allow it.

  "Claiming ceremonies are similar to wedding ceremonies, I suppose," Bastian explained, idly running his fingers up and down her spine. As embarrassing as it was, Katherine almost let out an honest to God purr at the sensation. "They take place after a mated pair have claimed each other. They’re presented as a couple in front of their pack – or the entire community in our case since I’m the head alpha – and there’s a celebration.”

  Feeling courageous, Katherine allowed her hands to do a little exploring of their own, tracing the dips she found in Bastian's muscle bound back with her fingers as she took in his words. "But exactly how is it that wolves claim their mates? You said something about,” she hesitated for a moment, “marking me?”

  "Yes," he murmured, a huskiness in his voice that Katherine was sure hadn't been there a moment ago. "When we make love for the first time, I'll want to mark you." She watched in fascination as Bastian’s Adam's apple bobbed. She was so was entranced by the action, in fact, that she somehow managed to stave off a blush as the words "make love" registered in her ears. "I'll bite you where everyone will be able to see the marks my teeth made as they sunk into your supple flesh." His knuckle brushed along the sensitive line of her neck. "Right here. Then they'll all know that you're mine." The last word came out in a nearly indiscernible growl.

  It took every last bit of Katherine's will power to lean away from Bastian’s touch instead of into it. "But I thought," she began, gasping when the man actually placed a chaste kiss where his knuckle had just been. Goosebumps erupted over her skin, and she fought to keep her wits about her. She took a deep breath, trying again. "I thought that you had already marked me before I started school. Or do you not remember peeing on me?" She tried to force irritation into her words as she brought up what she mentally referred to as “the fire hydrant incident”, but was so distracted by his sensual touching that she suspected she largely failed at it.

  Especially when he had the audacity to grin at her. "Yes," he confirmed, "I remember. But that was only to claim you as a member of the pack and to aid in warding off recruiters. This is entirely different. This will proclaim to all of Haven Falls and to any werewolf that ever crosses paths with you that you're completely mine – in every sense of the word."

  Katherine’s tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip. "And you'll be mine?"

  "Of course. I've always been yours." His lips pressed sweetly against her forehead. "Your sire, your alpha, your mate. Claiming each other will ensure that no one will ever doubt that."

  "So if we do this, we'll be together... forever?" she asked clumsily.

  Bastian nodded solemnly, his eyes not straying from hers for a moment. "I would never let you go."

  As enamored as Katherine was with Bastian, all this talk of ever, never, and forever was starting to make her nervous. Even under the spell that Bastian somehow seemed to be putting her under with his pretty words and soft touches, she could feel her belly twist with anxiety. After all, she was only seventeen – not yet considered an adult in many cultures.

  "I'm only seventeen!" Katherine blurted the realization as soon as it came to her. Even if most of the time she felt much older.

  "So?" Bastian murmured, peppering light kisses on the shell of her ear.

  Katherine batted him away. "So? So I don't think it's even legal for me to get married."

  That seemed to finally get Bastian’s attention. He snorted in amusement. "Good thing I didn't ask for your hand in marriage then."

  Katherine huffed in frustration. "Okay, fine. I don’t think I’m old enough to be claimed – or claim anyone – as a mate," she allowed. "Am I – are we – even old enough to pledge ourselves to each other this way?" After all, Bastian himself had only turned nineteen in March.

  "Seventeen is the age of majority for werewolves," he reminded her gently, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "so yes, we are old enough. Some mated pairs even choose to claim each other at a younger age with permission from the alpha of their pack."

  Katherine was caught off guard by that tidbit of information. "Really? I wonder what their parents think of that."

  What would her parents think?

  The singular thought sent a river of ice water rushing through her veins. The fog that had descended upon her as she stood passively in Bastian's arms, shrouded in his comforting scent and allowing him to touch her as if she was his lover, abruptly lifted.

  She pried possessive hands off of her, taking a step back and crossing her arms in front of her bare chest in an admittedly half-hearted attempt to hide her body from Bastian's gaze.

  He had the nerve to look hurt by her actions.

  But Katherine could hardly concern herself with that. She was too preoccupied worrying over her very sanity.

  What in the hell was wrong with her? Was she really considering Bastian's proposal? Pledging herself to a man who'd not only boldly lied to her, but had then preceded to allow the farce to go on for months?

  It was born out of the desire to protect her, she now knew, but that didn't make it okay.

  And how could she even for a second think about allowing herself to be claimed by him when it would undoubtedly call for her to leave Middletown for Haven Falls? Leave her parents for Bastian?

  She wasn't a fool. She knew that's what it would come down to. Bastian would insist that she go home with him. Perhaps he wouldn't press the issue now, but it was only a matter a time. Sometime before the next full moon she was sure.

  What was she supposed to say to her parents? "Sorry, mom, dad, I know you just got me back after months of fruitless searching, but I'm leaving. You remember that Bastian character I told you about? Well, he showed up and proclaimed his undying love for me, so we're getting hitched and I'm moving back to Canada. Oh, and by the way, I probably should have mentioned this before, but Bastian and I are werewolves so it probably wouldn't be a good idea for you to visit. Like, ever. Thanks for understanding!"

  They'd have her locked in a padded cell before she'd even be able to finish talking.

  But Katherine would never dream of doing the alternative and just leave without an explanation. She couldn't just disappear into the night and cause them even more pain and heartache than she already had. It was unfathomable.

  But so is living without Bastian, a voice whispered in the back of her mind. So is living without the rest of your pack.

  Her head began to pound as the warring thoughts battled each other. Before the sudden headache could escalate, however, she forced herself to concentrate on a more pressing matter.

  The early morning sun was beginning to creep up into the sky, spectacular hues of yellows and oranges shining through thick branches and highlighting the dewy grass. The presence of the sun meant her parents would soon be up, and they’d undoubtedly worry if they found her missing from her bed.

  "I have to go," Katherine muttered, taking another step away from the man still watching her intently. "I don't want my parents to find me gone and assume the worse."

  Apparently not quite ready to let her go, Bastian reached forward and gently grasped her wrist, his long fingers overlapping as they easily wrapped around the entire thing. "You never said if you would let me claim you as my mate.”

  Katherine couldn't quite meet his eyes, settling on a simple, but telling, "I know."

  He sighed in obvious disappointment, but freed her wrist. "Can you at least put the ring I gave you back on where it belongs around your neck?"

  The part of her still hurting from the lie he'd told her desired to deny him the request out of spite, but an even larger part of her longed to do exactly as he asked. "Okay," she agreed.

  He nodded, at least temporarily mollified. "Stay here," he ordered her. "I'll go get your clothes. They're in the bag you left in that rickety house, right?"

  She'd long ago figured out that he'd been watching her and so wasn't surprised that he knew where she’d left her clothes. "Yeah," she confirmed, and before she could blink, Bastian had transformed into his wolf form and was bounding away.

  It only took a few minutes for him to return with her backpack as well as a pair of pants and shirt he'd apparently brought for himself. She didn't know where he'd grabbed them from and didn't bother to ask either. They both dressed in silence.

  She was rising from lacing up her shoes when Bastian grabbed her from behind, startling her as he swiftly wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to him so tightly that her back was molded to his front. "You have no idea how difficult this is for me," he admitted softly, burying his face into her hair. "Every cell in my body is screaming at me to take you and run. But I know that's not what you want. I know I have to let you go, at least for now, and it's killing me."

  She didn't want to have to leave him either, not really, and the words were out of her mouth before she knew she even intended to speak them. "Come see me tonight in my room. You can sneak in through the window."

  She could physically feel his coiled muscles relax against her back at her suggestion. "Thank you," he murmured, placing one last kiss in hair before releasing her. "I love you."

  Katherine froze. "I..." she tried weakly, but the words wouldn't come. "I really have to go." She grabbed her backpack from where it sat on the grassy ground and slung it over her shoulder before risking a peek at the man.

  A dissatisfied frown was pulling at Bastian's lips, but he nodded. "Until tonight," he bid her farewell.

  "Until tonight," Katherine agreed.

  It took every ounce of her fortitude to walk away from him. She looked back only once – when a soulful, yearning howl pierced the air – but she could see nothing but trees. He was already gone.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  "Tonight" had come before Katherine knew it.

  After she’d left Bastian in the woods, she had hightailed it back to her parents' house, managing to somehow scale the metal gutters and haul herself back in through the same window she'd recklessly leapt from hours earlier. She'd taken a moment to examine her room and make sure it hadn't been disturbed and another to dig the ring Bastian had given her out of her nightstand drawer and slip the chain it was attached to over her head before collapsing onto her bed – physically exhausted from her transformation into a wolf and mentally drained from Bastian’s revelations.

  No sooner had her head hit the pillow than she was drifting off into a deep, reinvigorating sleep that her body and mind both desperately needed.

  Katherine was so profoundly under the Sandman’s spell, in fact, that she slept right through breakfast and lunch, having dazedly shushed and shooed her father away when he’d attempted to wake her for said meals. Elaine had outright refused to allow her daughter to doze through supper, however, and had practically dragged Katherine down the stairs and into the dining room to make sure she ate something that day.

  Katherine was able to shake off the last remnants of sleep when the divine smell of braised pork hit her nose, and she quickly devoured three helpings of the succulent meat. While eating certainly wasn’t a chore, fielding her parents’ concerned questions as she stuffed herself was another matter entirely.

  "Are you feeling okay, Katherine?"

  "Did you have trouble sleeping last night? You've been out of it all day."

  "Has your head been hurting you at all?"

  There were only so many times Katherine could assure them that she was fine before annoyance began to tickle the back of her mind and she got prickly.

  “I still think you should consider seeing a doctor, honey.”

  Katherine tensed at her mother’s suggestion, a forkful of pork halfway to her mouth. By “doctor”, of course, she meant a psychiatrist. A shrink. She’d been pestering her to see one ever since the lab work had come back from the hospital. The blood draw results had returned with an unusually high white blood cell count, which Dr. Morgan had attributed to the so called fever she’d been running at the time – she had no idea that it was Katherine’s normal temperature, of course. The MRI scan they’d performed on her head, however, had revealed that her brain appeared perfectly normal.

  It’d been a relief for Katherine who’d been worried that being part wolf would have somehow changed the chemistry of her brain in a way that was detectable by the scanner.

  Unfortunately, the news didn’t relieve her parents. In fact, it only seemed to cause them more concern. Mostly because Dr. Morgan had suggested over the phone that the memory loss Katherine was experiencing was likely psychological in nature, a “defense mechanism” of the brain as she’d described it to them.

  Of course, what the doctor didn’t know was that in reality, there was no memory loss. Her mother didn’t know this either.

  She just thought Katherine was traumatized.

  “I don’t need to see a shrink, mom,” she objected tersely. Logically, she knew her parents’ concern was justified, brought on by a lie she’d told them straight to their faces, but unfortunately, that didn’t make her irritation with them any less real. It was compounded by the absurd fear that if she was forced to see a psychiatrist, he or she would somehow immediately sniff out the fact that she was full of crap.

  “There’s no shame in seeing a psychiatrist, Katherine. I know you don’t want to, but I think it’s a good idea. You never know, he may even be able to help you recover some of your lost memories.”

  Katherine’s fork clattered loudly as it hit her empty plate. “He?” she demanded. Her mother had never assigned a gender to the psychiatrist she insisted she see before now.

  Elaine sighed, clearly recognizing that she’d been caught. “Yes, he. As in Dr. Fitzgerald. He’s highly respected in his field and has an office in Des Moines. He was recommended to me by Dr. Morgan. I’ve scheduled an appointment for you next week.”

  Katherine stared. “So what? That’s it? It doesn’t matter what I want?” When her mother didn’t respond, she turned to her father. “Dad?”

  He shrugged helplessly. “I think your mother’s right, Kit. This will be good for you.”

  Katherine ran her suddenly shaking hands through her hair. Although in Haven Falls she was considered an adult, in Middletown her parents were her guardians and could essentially force her to do as they pleased. An anger that she knew to be irrational began to build in her belly, and she furiously tried to stomp it down.

  “We need to talk about school, too, Katherine. You missed an entire year of it. Unless you want to repeat your junior year, we’re going to have to enroll you in summer school.”

  But she’d just finished school!

  “I’m not going to summer school,” Katherine argued, not an ounce of compliance in her voice. “And I’d like to see you try to make me see this shrink in Des Moines.”

  “Katherine!” her mother exclaimed, clearly shocked at the brazen show of rebellion. She recovered quickly, however. “I’ve had enough of your attitude, young lady. I can understand the fact that you’ve gotten used to doing whatever you want whenever you want while living with this Bastian person, but you’re back home now. Your father and I are your parents and we are in charge here, not you. You listen to us, not the other way around.”

  A fierce tremor swept through her and before she could stop herself, Katherine had sprung up and flung out her right arm, swiftly sweeping it across the table and forcing ceramic plates and glassware violently off of the wooden surface. They crashed to the floor in a flurry of noise, and both her parents jumped up in surprise. “I don’t have to listen to anyone!” she rebuffed her mother harshly. “Not to anyone but B-,” she almost named her alpha, but was able to stop herself in time, “Not to anyone but myself!” she finished instead.

  But the sound of Bastian’s name resounding in her head – the fact that she’d almost said it out loud and had named him as her preferred caretaker over her parents – was enough to bring her senses trickling back to her. She took in the mess she’d made – the broken plates and shattered glass littering the floor – and embarrassed remorse flooded her.

  She forced herself to look up into her parents’ shocked faces. Her mother’s eyes were bright with unshed tears. Her father, on the other hand, looked furious – a red, splotchy blush slowly making its way up his face. His hands came at her – not to hit, but to restrain. The feel of them firmly grabbing her shoulders, however, was enough to spark her fading anger. Because as gentle as his fingers were around her clavicles, she did not want to be touched.

  For a horrifying second Katherine thought she’d lash out at him with her fists. She managed to control herself, however, and instead jerked violently away from his restraining hands. They dropped uselessly to his sides. “Don’t touch me,” she snapped at him.

  “Calm down, Katherine, right now,” he ordered in response.

  But Katherine wasn’t calm – her heart was practically pulsating out of her chest – and it was all she could do not to growl at her own parents. Part of her wanted to apologize to them for her outburst and clean up the mess she’d made, but the part in control at the moment – it felt suspiciously like the wolf – only managed to bite out a quick “Leave me alone!” before she bolted from the room and rushed up the stairs, taking the carpeted steps two at a time until she reached her bedroom door. She locked it behind her, bringing her still trembling hands up to her chest.

  What in the hell was wrong with her?

  Katherine contemplated the question as her heartbeat gradually slowed to its normal pace.

  One second she was somewhat irritated with her parents and the next she was shouting and shucking dishes off the table in a fit of rage. Both emotions she knew were only cheap disguises for another buried underneath the both of them – guilt. Guilt for having lied to them weeks ago when she’d returned. For continuing to lie to them every day. She didn’t have amnesia. She was a frickin’ werewolf!

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