Shy (Once Bitten, Twice Shy, #2)

  But Katherine couldn’t possibly tell them that.

  If she did, they’d really think she was crazy, and instead of making her see a shrink, they’d be sending her off to some nuthouse. Sure, they’d call it a “hospital” or “institution”, but the padded white walls would be a dead giveaway to what it really was.

  Even if she transformed into a wolf in front of them and made them believe her, she’d be forcing them to uproot their lives and live indefinitely in Haven Falls. Just like all the other family members who knew that their parent, child, or sibling was a werewolf.

  Katherine couldn’t do that to them.

  She stayed locked in her room for well over an hour, sorting through the twisted knot of emotions that sat where her stomach was supposed to be. As she worried herself to near tears, the sky outside of her window darkened from a pleasant light blue to a near black. A few times, her father knocked on her door and attempted to engage her in conversation, but Katherine ignored him, not quite ready to face the consequences of her emotional outburst.

  Especially when despite it all, a small piece of her – the wolf, she knew – was still infuriated that they’d had the gall to try to control her. The wolf didn’t care that they were her parents and were perfectly within their rights to do just that – it still wanted to snarl and snap its sharp teeth at their attempt.

  She ran agitated hands through her hair, stopping in surprise when one of them brushed over something with a rough, flakey texture. She pulled it out of the tangled mess on her head. A leaf. She checked her scalp over carefully with her fingers and pulled out two more of the half-decayed things.

  She was astonished her parents hadn’t noticed them at the disastrous supper they’d shared, but was also immensely grateful. The foliage certainly would have been difficult to explain away.

  Finding the leaves had reminded Katherine that she was in desperate need of a shower. Gallivanting around a forest all night wasn’t exactly ideal for one’s hygiene after all. Deciding she had enough time to nab one before Bastian arrived, she quickly shucked off her clothes and entered her bathroom. She cranked on the shower’s faucet and waited for the water that erupted from the nozzle to warm. Right before she stepped into the spray, however, she remembered that she’d used up the last of her shampoo the morning before and had forgotten to replace it.

  Cursing, Katherine twisted the faucet and shut off the water. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it securely around her torso. Clutching the overlapping edges to her chest, she walked briskly to her sister’s old room – the one she was once again occupying – and knocked on the door. She wasn’t about to ask her mother if she could use her shampoo after nearly bringing the woman to tears not two hours earlier after all.

  When Sam didn’t answer the door, Katherine risked peeking inside. It was dark, quiet, and most importantly, empty. She took the opportunity to quickly duck into the small bathroom connected to her sister's room and snatch one of the many bottles of hair product decorating the shower's built-in shelves.

  She glanced at the bottle's label. She didn't know how the thick, purple concoction was going to go about making her hair smell like a sundrenched vineyard, but it was shampoo, which made it good enough for her.

  Katherine just about jumped out of her skin when she turned around and nearly bumped into Chad, her brother-in-law, who was suddenly looming in the bathroom's doorway.

  “Jesus, you scared me," she scolded, clutching the towel she was holding more tightly in her fist. "What are you doing in here?"

  She’d hardly seen the man at all since she’d returned to Middletown nearly a month ago. He was away from the house more often than not, and Sam had confided in her that while he liked to give her vague excuses about work, she knew for a fact that he spent most of his time frequenting the bars in town. He returned from “work” completely sloshed more often than not.

  Katherine felt awful for her sister, but couldn’t say that she'd missed Chad's presence at the house all that much. The man was an expert at making her uncomfortable.

  "I think the question is what are you doing in here?" he countered, plucking the bottle of shampoo from her hand.

  There was no way Katherine could miss the stench of whiskey as he leaned in close to her, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust. "And what are you doing with this, hm?" Chad continued, seemingly oblivious to her revulsion. "I don't think Sam would appreciate her little sister stealing her shampoo. It’s very expensive. I should know, the bitch spends half of my pay check on this stupid shit."

  Katherine bristled. She could feel her face heating in anger. "Don't call my sister a bitch," she spat. "And I was only borrowing it. I doubt Sam would have noticed it was missing, let alone have actually cared that it was gone.”

  Chad snorted. “I call ‘em like I see ‘em,” he retorted. “And did you ever think that maybe I care? After all, it was my hard earned money that paid for this shit. Technically, it’s mine.”

  Katherine rolled her eyes. She wasn’t about to bother arguing with the drunken asshat. “Whatever,” she muttered, pushing past him. She’d just have to suck it up and ask her mom to lend her some of her shampoo.

  Chad, however, wasn’t quite ready to let her leave. This was made apparent when he sidestepped to block the only exit from the bathroom with his body. "Hey, I never said you couldn’t have it,” he protested. “Just do me a quick favor and it’s all yours."

  Katherine eyed the man suspiciously. “What favor?” she asked.

  She knew that she shouldn’t have taken the bait when he offered her a crude grin. “Just let me take a peek of what’s under that towel.”

  The tiny spike of fear that Katherine felt at his words was almost completely smothered by the white hot anger that they had also caused. If her cheeks had been warm before, they had to have been on fire now. She could feel the heat as it climbed all the way up to the tips of her ears.

  Then Chad’s laughter registered.

  “You should see the look on your face,” he hooted, slapping his hand on the side of his thigh as he expressed his mirth. The smell of alcohol once again hit her nose, and Katherine lost it. Using her free hand, she unceremoniously shoved the man out of her way. He obviously hadn’t been expecting the push and stumbled backwards. She attempted to make her getaway then, but Chad made the mistake of reaching for her arm and wrapping his fingers in an unyielding grip around her elbow. “Hey, don’t be like that, sweetheart.”

  But Katherine was no “sweetheart” and didn’t hesitate a second before pulling back her fist and slamming it unapologetically into Chad’s impertinent mouth. He immediately released her elbow.

  “You bitch!” he hollered at her, and she could see the crimson blood already gathering in the cracks between his teeth before he hid his mouth from her view, holding it tenderly with his hand.

  Satisfied that he was aptly distracted, Katherine wasted no time in fleeing the room. For the second time in as many hours, Katherine ran to her bedroom and slammed the door shut behind her.

  She didn’t even realize that she was trembling until it took her three tries to successfully turn the door’s lock.

  She took a minute to gather herself. Why did crap like this always have to happen to her? She silently prayed that Sam would tell their parents that she and Chad intended to divorce soon and then determinedly put the incident out of her mind. She highly doubted that Chad would be stupid enough to try to corner her again. If he did, she didn’t think she could be held responsible for her actions.

  Accepting the fact that she’d have to forego shampooing her hair – the jerk had still been holding the bottle of hair product when she’d bolted from the room – Katherine hurried to the bathroom and slipped into the shower anyway. She made an attempt to wash her long tresses with soap and then lingered under the warm spray, trying for once to just not think.

  When the water began to run cold, she finally cranked off the faucet. She patted her body dry before once again wrapping it snuggly in a t
owel. Then she wrung her hair of excess water before drying the unruly strands with another towel.

  She hadn’t realized just how much time had passed until she stepped out of her bathroom and was standing in front of a man wearing nothing but a towel for the second time that day. This time, though, the man was Bastian.

  Katherine froze.

  The warmth that settled in her belly as Bastian’s heated gaze took her in was entirely different from the embarrassment that had flooded her when Chad had seen her in such a vulnerable state. Still, she forced herself to move. “Sorry,” she mumbled, incredibly flustered as she blindly reached for her dresser and yanked open a random drawer. She grabbed the first piece of clothing her fingers touched and swiveled back into the bathroom. “Just give me a minute.”

  Katherine took a deep breath, attempting to compose herself. She looked down at the clothes she’d inadvertently snatched, however, and her attempt was thoroughly thwarted. Although she’d managed to grab some underwear, the pajama shirt she’d seized was probably the most beloved one she owned. It was a simple, oversized night shirt that fell down to mid-thigh. That was all fine and dandy except for the fact that she’d worn the shirt to bed so many times that the gray material it was made of was practically see through.

  But she wasn’t about to go out there in nothing but a towel again and practically admit how nervous he’d made her by digging through her dresser for something else to wear. So she sucked it up and slipped the shirt on. She also took a comb from the countertop under the mirror and ran its teeth through her damp hair a couple of times in an attempt to tame it. She must have been in there for too long, however, because just as she was finishing up, she heard a hesitant knock on the door. “Are you okay?”

  Bastian’s timbre caused another flash of warmth to shoot through her, brightening her pale cheeks. “I’m fine,” Katherine forced out and was proud that the words didn’t sound the least bit strangled.

  Running the comb through her hair one last time, she gathered up every last bit of her courage and opened the door. Strategically crossing her arms over her chest, Katherine hurried over to the bed, where she sat and immediately covered her bare legs with a blanket.

  Bastian’s eyes shone with poorly concealed amusement, and Katherine fought the urge to blush. “It’s ridiculous how endearingly cute you are,” he commented idly.

  Katherine scowled, smoothing the blanket over her lap. “I’m not cute, I’m fierce,” she protested.

  Bastian nodded amiably. “That too,” he agreed, the barest hint of a smile on his lips. They fell back into a solemn, straight line, however, when he caught sight of the golden ring glinting from where it hung around her neck. He took two long strides forward and fell to his knees before her. The disparity between their heights was so great that even then, she still had to look up slightly to meet his eyes. He reached forward, gently clasping the piece of jewelry between his fingers. “You’re wearing my ring.”

  “I said that I would,” she reminded him gently.

  “I know, but I wasn’t sure...” he trailed off. “Thank you,” he finally said in a gruff voice, releasing the bejeweled ring, but not moving from where he continued to kneel before her, seemingly perfectly content to gaze into Katherine’s eyes until kingdom come.

  She could only take the intensity of his stare for so long, however, before she looked away. “I almost chucked it into a corn field,” she admitted, the words tumbling from her mouth before she could think better of them. “I was so mad at you. I’m still so mad at you.”

  Bastian stiffened slightly at the confession. “I know,” he admittedly softly. He tucked a piece of wayward hair behind her ear with gentle fingers. “Even if I apologized to you every day for the rest of my life, it still wouldn’t be enough to express the magnitude of my regret.”

  To Katherine’s horror, she recognized the slight sting in her eyes as tears threatening to escape. Hadn’t she cried enough in front of this man last night? She furiously batted them back. “It hurt so much,” she croaked out. “When you told me that my parents were dead, I couldn’t even bare to think of them for months afterwards. I was so afraid that I would break down. The realization that you’d lied… that you had been purposefully deceiving me since the moment we met, leaving me to grieve over people who were actually alive… well, that almost hurt more than when I thought that my parents were dead.”

  The words came out disjointed and choppy, and Katherine failed to keep the traitorous tears at bay. Bastian hastily brushed them away with calloused thumbs. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured softly, his eyes imploring her to believe him. “Please don’t cry. Tell me what I can do to make you feel better. I’d do anything to take your hurt away.”

  Katherine didn’t know how to tell him that the only thing that seemed to ease her heartache was him. Despite the fact that he’d been the one to inflict the emotional wound, he was the only one who could mend it. His very presence soothed her more than anyone else’s ever could.

  The only way Katherine knew how to express this was by pulling the man into a tight embrace, so that was exactly what she did. She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and pulled him forward, burrowing her head under his chin as she sought comfort only he could give.

  Bastian appeased her immediately, one arm wrapping itself securely around her waist and the other burying itself in her hair. He held her close as she cried. “I’m sorry,” he repeated himself, pressing his lips to the crown of her head as tears poured forth from her eyes. “I’d do anything for you, Katherine, just tell me what you want.” He hesitated briefly before adding, “We can even stay here in Middletown. No one can know what we are, but I’ll find a way to make it work if that’s what you really want.”

  That caught Katherine’s attention and she pulled away from the man just enough so that she could look into his eyes and gauge the truth. “Really?” she sniffled pitifully.

  He nodded solemnly.

  “What about the pack?” she asked, voice still slightly wobbly. “I seriously doubt that they want to live here.”

  “They love you,” Bastian contested. “And they’re loyal enough to me to stay if I asked them.”

  Katherine wiped the tears still clinging stubbornly to her eyes away with the palms of her hands. “But what about your duties as head alpha?”

  “I left Luther in charge of the council before I left. I’m sure he can manage the job just fine if I choose not to return. Nothing is as important to me as you are.”

  The fact that he was willing to sacrifice everything he’d ever known just because he thought that it was what she wanted awed Katherine to the point that tears were once again threatening to spill down her cheeks. This time, though, she managed to contain them.

  “I could never ask you to do that,” she said, shaking her head. “You wouldn’t be happy here. The pack wouldn’t be happy here.”

  “Of course, I’d be happy here,” Bastian immediately protested. “You make me happy. If that’s what you truly want – to stay here in Middletown – then nothing could ever keep me away.”

  No matter what he said, Katherine knew that it would be incredibly selfish to ask that of him. And besides… “I don’t know what I want,” she confessed in a whisper so soft that even her ears almost couldn’t pick up the words.

  Bastian’s expression remained carefully neutral, but there was no way she could miss the hopeful glint that suddenly shone in his eyes. “You want to go back to Haven Falls?” His tone was only cautiously optimistic, but Katherine could practically see the cogs of his brain turning as he undoubtedly thought of the many ways he could snatch her from her bedroom and spirit her away that very instant.

  “I don’t know,” Katherine repeated, hoping to stop such thoughts in their tracks. She wasn’t going anywhere yet. “I love my family, but… I don’t know if I belong here anymore. Since returning, my life has just evolved into one convoluted lie. I couldn’t exactly tell my parents that I was a werewolf when I showed
up on their doorstep so I made up some elaborate story about having amnesia. It was all over the news,” she added blandly, still having trouble believing that that had happened. “Now they want me to see a psychiatrist. And apparently go to summer school even though I’ve already graduated from the only school that matters. Everything is just a big mess,” she admitted, shoulders drooping dejectedly.

  “Katherine-”

  “Worse than all of that, though,” Katherine interrupted the man before she lost her nerve, “is that I’m afraid I’ll wind up hurting them. My family. I almost did tonight.”

  Bastian frowned. “What do you mean?” he asked, gently rubbing the small of her back.

  “At supper tonight, my mom was talking about the psychiatrist she wants me to see and she brought up summer school. I was irritated with her. But then she said something about her being in charge of me, and I was more than just mad… I lost it. I yelled at her and shoved the dishes off the table. I… I almost lashed out at my dad when he tried to touch me. I just barely managed to stop myself from hitting him. I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she confessed in a rush of shame-filled words.

  “Hey,” Bastian soothed, his hand now patting her hair as she once again hid her face in his shirt, this time though, in embarrassment instead of a quest for comfort. “That’s not your fault,” he assured her softly. “You know that the moon’s cycle affects our moods, and that we can be especially emotional and even volatile both before and after the full moon. You can’t beat yourself up about something that’s entirely natural.”

  It was true. Passionate outbursts and acts of violence were completely normal and even expected of the werewolves who resided in Haven Falls.

  “I know,” she admitted, gently disentangling herself from the man’s embrace. “But that means that it’ll happen again… and that I probably will end up hurting them eventually.”

  “Maybe,” Bastian cautiously agreed. “But if you truly want to stay here, we’ll figure something out. And if you do decide you want to go back to Haven Falls, well, we’ll find a way for you to stay in contact with your family. I can’t let you own a cell phone – it’s too much of a security breach – but maybe I could drive you out to Fort Saskatchewan or another nearby city once every few weeks so that you could call them from a payphone there. And we could visit whenever you want.”