by A. Valentine
Her heart momentarily stopped beating.
Chapter Nine
Catie opened her mouth, closed it, opened it, and closed it again. Words could not form on her quaking lips. Luke bit his lip and sighed as he looked at the woman literally falling apart in front of him. He knew that this information was probably going to be the end of the beginning for them, but he didn’t want to live a lie.
“Catie…” Luke said and reached his large hand out to clutch Catie’s face. Without even thinking about it, Catie slapped Luke’s hand out of the way before he could touch her.
“What did you say?” Catie asked out of breath. Maybe she heard him wrong because there was no way that Luke just told her that he was a shapeshifter when she told him just the other day how much she detested them. “What did you say, Luke?” Catie asked again louder when Luke didn’t respond to her,
“I can change into a lion, Catie. I’m a shapeshifter.” Luke said elaborating. Catie looked at Luke then like he had lost his mind. Catie placed her hand to her head as emotions of sorrow and hate fought for dominance. “Please say something, Catherine.” Catie’s eyes went from left to right as she tried to process what Luke had said to her. This had to be a dream, this couldn’t be reality, but the throbbing pain from Catie’s incoming headache told Catie otherwise. In pure anger, Catie balled up her fist and threw it towards Luke’s perfectly chiseled face.
“I invite you into my house, I gave you my time and even slept with you and you’re telling me you’re one of those monsters?” Catie screamed in anger. She’d spent all this time agonizing about how Luke felt about her and marveling about how gorgeous and kind he was and he was the thing that she hated most.
“I am not a monster, Catie. I will never intentionally hurt you or anyone else.” Luke said and moved closer to Catie as she moved back.
“What did you do to me?” Catie shouted as tears started forming in her dark eyes. She always stood by what she believed in and the fact that Luke was standing there in her home made her a hypocrite. Catie was supposed to be exposing shapeshifters for the monsters that they are, not sleeping with them.
“Catie, I haven’t done anything to you. I’ve never hurt you or lied about my intentions. I know it’s real soon, but I care for you. I want to be with you, Catie. I’m only telling you this because I don’t want to start our relationship off with a lie.” Luke said and walked closer to her again. He wanted Catie to hear him out, not push him away.
“Don’t touch me! Get the fu…” Catie bit her lip and looked around quickly. She walked over to the still hot lobster tails and started throwing them at Luke. Anything that was in Catie’s reach was thrown at Luke. “I don’t like your kind! You’re a menace to society! You’re murderers!” Catie screamed as she hurled everything that was within arm’s reach at Luke. Being a lion, Luke dodged it without any problems, but it still hurt. It hurt to have the woman that he cared about react this way to him.
“Catie, please,” Luke called out as he grew tired of dodging. He’d take the blows if it’ll make Catie happy. Luke stood there and felt the still hot food connect with his body. Luke grimaced in pain, but he endured it. Catie’s arms were growing tired and her lungs hurt from all of the yelling that she did. Her tears refused to stop running down her face as she thought about her sister being brutally murdered by a shapeshifter. Though the shapeshifter that killed Abbey was a werewolf, it didn’t matter to Catie. All shifters were the same in her eyes.
“Why are you still here? Get out!”
“Catie, you said that we could talk. You’ve spent so much time making this food for us, and now it’s destroyed. Let me make it up to you. I’ll have something ordered here. Anything you want, money isn’t a problem. Just please hear me out, Catie. Please don’t push me away before I can properly talk to you.” Luke pleaded but Catie wasn’t hearing any of it. This was her house and if she wanted Luke to get out, he will.
“I’m calling the police,” Catie said dropping the fried okra on the ground and walking passed Luke to grab her phone. She didn’t want to touch him or even be in the same vicinity as him. Luke sucked his teeth. He didn’t care if Catie called the police on him, but he did care about Catie feeling safe and comfortable. He’d leave her for today so that she could think about everything that’s happened, but he’d be back for her.
“You don’t have to do that, Catie.” Luke said sadly and shoved his hands in his pants’ pocket. “Thank you so much for cooking me dinner, I’m sure I would have loved it.” Turning on his heels, Luke exited the kitchen. “I’ll give you some time to think about things. Have a good night, sweetheart.” Luke made his way out of Catie’s house with a full heart. As Luke closed the door, Catie followed behind him and threw a skillet at the door.
“Don’t you ever come near me again you monster!” Luke was already out of the house, but Catie knew that he heard her. “Please forgive me Abbey,” Catie chocked out as soon as she heard Luke’s tires screeching down the road. Catie promised her sister, Abbey, after she died that Catie would do anything possible to bring shapeshifters down, but it appeared that she was brought down by one.
****
Monday morning Catie stormed into work and flew into her office like she was running from the law.
“Dang girl,” Tiffany said walking into Catie’s office before the still irate woman had enough time to slam the door. “Who drunk all the milk in your house?” Tiffany asked with a small laugh, but when Catie didn’t respond back, Tiffany frown. “Catherine… is everything alright?” Tiffany asked growing concerned. She had never seen Catie like this before and it was scaring her. Catie couldn’t think straight as she pulled several files from her file cabinets. She didn’t want to think of what happened to her last weekend, and she felt it would be pointless to tell Tiffany anyways. Catie wasn’t familiar with Lucas Curtis prior to their meeting and even though she could tell that he was wealthy, she didn’t know the man was a billionaire. Catie’s heart was aching from his betrayal, but she swore vengeance on him and all shapeshifters. She won’t allow another woman or man to go through what she’s going through.
“So much crap happened to me, Tiffany. I’ve learned that you can’t trust everyone because they look good. But I swear… that these monsters won’t have a chance to hurt anyone physically or mentally again.”
“Wait a minute, Catherine,” Tiffany said completely lost as to what Catie was talking about. “What are you talking about? Why are you so angry?” Catie heard Tiffany asking questions, but she couldn’t be bothered with answering them. Catie had too many things on her mind at the moment.
“Please Tiffany,” Catie said finally looking at the woman. “I’m working on a story and I don’t want to lose my train of thought. I’ll talk with you later.” Tiffany placed her hands on her hips in slight anger. She hated that Catie was keeping the goods from her, but it wasn’t like she could do anything about it.
“Okay Catherine. I’ll get back with you later.” Catie nodded her head and shut and locked the door behind Tiffany. She had work to do and she didn’t need any distractions.
****
“It’s rare that you come to the bar this early. Trouble in paradise?” Donna sarcastically asked. Luke disregarded Donna’s disrespectful question. The woman was walking on thin ice though, and Luke would punish Donna in due time, but now wasn’t the time to think about that.
“Round up everyone, we need to have a meeting. Anybody that’s not a part of the pride, kick them out.” Luke said and walked straight passed Donna and made his way to the conference room downstairs. It wasn’t really a conference room; it was more of a lion’s den because they very rarely had meetings in their human form. Donna looked after his retreating form and grinned. There was definitely something wrong with Luke, and she was positive that it had something to do with that human woman.
“Good, because Lucas Curtis is all mine.” Donna whispered and did as she was told by her alpha. She closed down the bar, rounded up the crew and transf
ormed into a lioness. When the pride got into their den, Luke was already in his lion form sitting high and poised. He didn’t waste any time getting straight to business.
“Brothers and sisters, we are in a grave predicament. I’ve found the one who I wish to mate with for the rest of my life, but unfortunately she isn’t a fan of shapeshifters.” The crowd of lions mumbled but stopped when Luke started speaking again. “Her name is Catherine Ziles. I’ve met and imprinted on her over a week ago. She told me that she hated our kind, but I kept my identity a secret from her until last night.” Luke shook his furry head as he recalled what a travesty that was.
“So what?” Donna asked since nobody else was taking the initiative. “Are you ordering us to kill her before she exposes us?” Even though the existence of shapeshifters weren’t a secret, they decided to keep their identities a secret. They definitely didn’t want their secret revealed after the incident with Luke killing someone last year. People knew a shapeshifter did it, but they didn’t know how and what animal they were. Like Catherine, there were groups out there dedicated to destroying shapeshifters for good, and they didn’t want to start a full out war with the humans.
“Silence!” Luke roared and everyone in the room shivered in fear. It was rare that the alpha got angry, and Donna would be lying if she said that she wasn’t afraid of the power in Luke’s voice. “She is my mate! I will make things right and I’ll do my very best to keep her from exposing the truth. Just in case I fail and I’m too late, be on the guard. I know humans will come for me because there’s no telling what story she’ll tell. None of you get anywhere near Catherine until I make things right,” Luke looked around the room and his golden eyes landed on Donna’s golden eyes. “Especially you.”
“Humph, you don’t have to worry about me, boss.” Donna turned around and transformed back into a human. Her exposed back was to the front of the room as she stood in the nude without a care in the world. “If that’s all, I’ll take my leave.” Donna knew that she was breaking so many rules and that she was being disrespectful, but she couldn’t help it. Lions and lionesses were possessive and she’d be damned if she allowed a human to take Luke from her.
Donna located her clothes and slowly pulled them back on. She reached into her pocket and dialed the number of a shapeshifter that owed her a favor or two. The phone only rung twice before it was answered by a slightly surprised voice.
“Donna? This is a surprise.” The voice said. Donna skipped over the pleasantries and told the man exactly what was on her mind.
“There’s a human news reporter by the name of Catherine Ziles…. Get rid of her for me.”
Chapter Ten
For the next two days, Catie compiled all types of stories together from the past and the present about shapeshifters to get humans thinking about their futures. Catie wasn’t able to get too much recent stuff, but Catie knew if she reported on several deadly events that involved shapeshifters, she’d definitely gain a following. After much though, Catie decided to report on shapeshifters in front of the home where she lived with her mom, and little sister. The home that Abbey was murdered in.
“There,” Catie said and printed out what she had wrote up. She hated that her stories aren’t from recent events, but the fact that she’d be speaking from experience should be adequate enough. She’d also add Alexa’s account and she might even throw in what happened between Luke and her, but she wouldn’t say that it was her though, at least not the Luke situation. “Luke…” Catie murmured and looked at her phone. Just a few short days ago Catie was agonizing about the fact that the incredibly sexy Lucas Curtis wasn’t calling her. Catie kept thinking about how good it felt when he was inside of her. Catie couldn’t get it out of her mind that she was falling fast for him. Now when she thought about Luke, all she felt was disgust.
Catie reproof read her story and faxed it over to Tiffany for further editing before giving it to the teleprompter technician.
“Luke was using me all of this time,” Catie spat out in anger. She couldn’t believe that she didn’t listen to her gut feeling. Her every being was screaming that something was wrong with Luke, but her hormones kept telling her it was all in her head. Catie sighed. Catie wanted to hate Luke with all of her being, and even though she disliked him at the moment, she couldn’t bring herself to completely hate the man. Catie kept thinking about the chemistry the two of them had.
Catie closed her eyes then and she could almost smell the scent of Luke’s cologne. He’s called her several times a day since he told Catie his secret, and Catie didn’t answer the phone once. Catie could still see the hurt look in Luke’s eyes and she couldn’t help but to feel regretful for the way that she treated him.
“Stop thinking like that, Catherine,” Catie said to herself and shook her head. “It’s Luke’s fault for lying.” No matter what Catie did, she could not stop thinking of the man. Even though she wanted to expose him for the monster that he was, she also wanted to see him to hear what Luke had to say. “No… it’s better that I found out about this now versus if we had already gotten together,” Catie needed some fresh air, the longer that she stayed in her office, the more she thought unpleasant thoughts. Grabbing her purse and phone, Catie walked outside.
The sky was dark, almost like it was about to storm, so Catie wasn’t surprised that there weren’t many people walking around on the street. She’d have to make her break quick because she honestly didn’t feel like getting rained on. Catie made her way to a bench that led to a mini forest that people loved to jog through.
“Ahh...” Catie sighed in relief when she sat down and cool wind blew cool air in her face. It felt nice out, the complete opposite of how she felt on the inside. Catie tried her best to keep Luke out of her thoughts so she pulled out her phone and played Candy Crush. She couldn’t help it. No matter how busy Catie’s life got, she always had time for Candy Crush. Catie played on her phone for twenty minutes before she felt refreshed. “I’ll be able to focus now.” Catie stood up then, smoothed out her black cashmere skirt and collected her belongings.
“Grr.” Catie paused when she heard a noise behind her.
“Is that a dog?” Catie asked herself and looked over her shoulder. Whatever that growling noise was, she couldn’t see it. Catie sped up her movements then and started walking quickly away from the forest.
“Grr..!” Catie heard the growling noise again, but this time she took off running. The animal that was growling at her was definitely big. When Catie thought that she had gotten a good distance away from the angry animal, she heard hard and quick running behind her. Against her better judgement, Catie looked over her shoulder to see what it was.
“Oh my god!” Catie screamed in horror when she saw an oversized wolf chasing after her. She only saw wolves around the area when she went to the zoo, but she was sure that they didn’t get this big. Is this a shapeshifter?! Catie thought to herself.
“Come here girl,” the creature growled and hearing the creature’s voice confirmed what Catie already knew. The wolf was a shapeshifter and it was apparent that the creature was after her life. Catie tried to scream for help, but she couldn’t find her voice. She was literally so scared that she couldn’t scream. This was definitely the worst day of her life. Catie felt as if she was slowing down, and even though her lungs burned she knew that she was still running as fast as she could. The problem wasn’t that she was running too slowly, the problem was she couldn’t outrun a wolf.
“Ah,” Catie groaned when the creature jumped on top off her and pinned her down. She was lying on her back and she was staring into the green eyes of the snarling wolf.
“It’s nothing personal, Catherine Ziles, but you’ve made an enemy with the wrong one,” the wolf said and snarled at Catie again. She was surprised that the wolf knew her by name, she knew that she was a news reporter, but a lot of people today didn’t watch the news often. And what the wolf said surprised her. So… this isn’t just a random attack?! The wolf growled, cocked
its head to the side, and aimed it towards Catie’s throat. She closed her eyes quickly because she knew this was the end for her.
“Ah!” Catie yelped when she heard a loud hiss and felt the weight of the wolf’s body forcibly taken from her. Catie opened her eyes and was greeted by a large lion on top of the wolf biting into its neck. Catie stared at the scene in front of her in horror. The lion hissed and growled loudly and the wolf whimpered in pain. The wolf stood no chance. The lion didn’t look at Catie, but she could see the color of its eyes as she looked on in horror. Even with the lion’s face bloody and gory with the wolf’s insides, she knew that this was another shapeshifter, and she knew right away the animal that saved her.
“Luke?” Catie whispered as everything around her went black.
****
Catie awoken when she felt something cold and wet press against her forehead. Catie opened her eyes to darkness, but she couldn’t help but see the glow of golden eyes.
“How are you feeling, Catie?” Luke asked as he wiped Catie’s face with a damp wash cloth. Catie was confused to where she was and why Luke was there, but she suddenly remembered getting attacked by a wolf when she was taking a break from work. Catie jumped up quickly once all of the memories came back to her.
“Calm down, Catie. You’re safe, nobody is going to hurt you.” Luke said and gently touched her shoulder.
“What the… did you call that monster on me? You have a grudge that bad that you try to get me killed?” Catie shouted as she remembered seeing Luke as a lion rip through the wolf’s neck. She felt sick to her stomach.
“Of course not, Catherine.” Luke said with anger apparent in his voice. “I care about you. I would never hurt you or allow anyone else to hurt you. If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have gotten that fool off of you. Plus, I would have killed you myself!” Luke yelled. It hurt him that Catie honestly thought he was capable of hurting her. Catie grimaced at the look in Luke’s eyes and brought her hands to her face. She couldn’t believe that happened to her. She felt cold all over her body when she thought she was going to be killed by that monster. Was that the way Abbey felt when she was killed?
