Katherine moved fast, turning her head sideways at lightning speed. Blood immediately pooled into her mouth when she sank her incisors into the soft pads of Rip's already injured paw.
Rip's responding howl was practically obscene, but Katherine refused to release her grip on him even when he tried to violently shake her off. Knowing that it would probably be her only chance to best him, Katherine tugged him forward. He must have been lost to the pain because he hardly resisted, and with two more hard yanks, Katherine had somehow – miraculously – thrown him out of the arena.
And just like that, she’d won.
It took a moment for it to sink in, and as the adrenaline that had flooded her body slowly dissipated, the impressed howling of the crowd began to infiltrate her conscience. Numbly, she realized that many of the wolfish onlookers looked as shocked by the outcome of the match as she felt. As if pulled by some invisible force, her eyes looked up in search of Bastian’s.
She spotted him immediately, snarling ferociously at the crumpled form of Rip, but like he felt the weight of her gaze upon him, Bastian's eyes shifted to meet hers. His face softened immediately, his vicious snarl melting into a more relaxed expression as the wrath that had darkened his eyes fled.
Katherine was tempted to say that he looked down right proud of her.
Elation filled her at the thought. In fact, her wolf felt almost heady with pleasure. Before she could dwell on the feeling too much, however, Luther was there, escorting her from the arena and into the small group of competitors that still remained in the competition.
Katherine's attention was essentially shot after that. Still, she managed to yip with sincere excitement when Mack come out the winner of the next match. With his victory, there were only four recruits left competing in the Rites. And she and Mack were two of them.
A sense of dread caused he stomach to spasm, however, when Luther urged the other two wolves to move into the pit for the first match of the third round, and she was left standing alone with Mack.
It meant that when the first match was over, she'd have to fight him.
Glancing covertly in his direction, Katherine could see that her friend was tense, his wolfish face furrowed in what seemed to be a frown. He was undoubtedly as uncomfortable as she was at the prospect of genuinely fighting a friend no holds barred.
It was in that moment that Katherine knew what she had to do.
The battle before theirs was an intense one, ending with both wolves limping from the arena with blood dribbling from their mouths – Vincent leaving as the victor once again. As soon as the arena was cleared, Mack and Katherine were urged forward.
Katherine quickly stepped into the arena, but Mack's body language practically reeked of reluctance as he dragged himself to the pit’s center as well. He glanced at her in what she could only assume to be an apology before with much less hesitance than at the beginning of her last fight, Bastian howled.
Neither she nor Mack immediately attacked the other, circling each other carefully instead. Knowing instinctively that Mack wouldn't make the first move, Katherine pounced, springing forward at him in a half-hearted attempt to push him backwards.
He easily avoided her, but the attack hadn't goaded him into taking the offensive as she'd hoped. Realizing she'd have to do more than shove him to goad him into attacking her, Katherine came at him again, this time with her claws bared. She didn't hold back as she slashed at him, digging into an unprotected shoulder and drawing blood.
That did the trick.
Mack pounced at her, using his superior strength to knock her to the forest floor. She got up, determined to give the crowd a good show despite her ultimate intention of losing.
She put up a proper fight as he knocked her around, shoving her to the ground more than a few times. Despite his aggressive wallops, however, Mack refrained from using his teeth, and Katherine was grateful for the fact. One particularly brutal push, though, sent her tumbling backwards, and her side connected with a large, jagged rock half buried in the ground when she lost her balance and fell. It knocked the wind out of her, and as she struggled to catch her breath, Mack stood over her indecisively.
Katherine knew it was time, and rolling over onto her back, she bared her neck for him.
The audience of wolves who'd been intently watching their fight began to howl excitedly, and Katherine nuzzled her snout into Mack’s in a silent show of affection when he immediately helped her up.
Katherine trotted out of the arena, the pain in her side already fading as she joined Agnes, Jon, Leander and the other disqualified contestants. Despite having lost, she was incredibly pleased with herself.
Her pleasure only grew when Mack beat the only other werewolf left in the competition – Vincent Vale – after another intense, blood-drawing brawl. Her friend had won the entire tournament, and she'd like to think that her excited howling for him was the loudest.
Before she knew it, Luther was gathering all the recruits together for the second part of the Recruiting Rites – the actual ceremony.
She'd learned in school exactly what would happen. They'd be called into the arena one by one. Any alpha who wished to claim the recruit in the arena as his or her pack mate would enter soon after. From there, it was the recruit's choice. A recruit could choose one of the alphas querying for him or her or even approach an alpha who hadn't stepped into the pit.
If no alpha came forward for a recruit, then he or she could still pick an alpha to approach, but the alpha could outright reject the recruit. If an alpha was unsure about an approaching recruit, he or she also had the option to request the recruit complete some sort of task to prove his or her worth to the alpha before a decision was made.
Unlike the rest of her peers, Katherine had little reason to feel nervous for this part of the Rites. She didn't have to worry about whether or not any alphas would step forward for her or not – Bastian had made it perfectly clear that he would. She didn’t have to choose between the pack she’d grown up in and a pack she felt perhaps she better fit in with either.
She knew without a single doubt whatsoever where she belonged.
She watched as recruits were pulled forward into the arena one by one in order of where they placed in the tournament, with the tawny wolf who'd lost at the very beginning of the Rites going first. He received a surprisingly large amount of offers as four alphas stepped into the ring, undoubtedly impressed by his fortitude despite his loss.
A handful more of her classmates chose their packs before Jon stepped into the arena. Her heart ached for him when no alpha followed. She breathed a sigh of relief, however, when the alpha he approached – the alpha of Leander’s pack – immediately accepted him. That alpha claimed Leander as well. Agnes received two offers when she stepped into the arena a few minutes later, but it didn’t take her more than a second to choose to stay with her original pack and its alpha, Gabriela Atkins.
Many wolves, it seemed, gravitated towards the packs they were raised in, including Rip Briggs and Tommy Phelps, who both chose to remain in the pack commanded by Rip’s father. Priscilla Wright, one of the few who’d actually chosen to change packs, had joined the Briggs pack as well, presumably to be with her boyfriend. Katherine tried not to roll her eyes at the idiotic decision.
Then, before she knew it, Katherine was being urged forward by Luther.
Firmly stomping down the last second nerves that threatened to rise, she stepped forward into the arena. They disappeared entirely a millisecond later when Bastian immediately stalked in after her, planting his powerful form directly in front of her. Before she could take a step towards him, however, Katherine was shocked when not one, but two more alpha wolves stepped into the ring.
Katherine’s eyes widened and she watched fretfully as Bastian’s ears twitched. He’d obviously heard the others step forward and his long, sinewy muscles visibly tensed. She realized it probably wasn't the smartest idea in the world to drop her gaze from his rapidly darkening one, but she couldn't h
elp but sate her curiosity.
It'd killed the cat, after all, not the wolf. Pun completely intended.
Glancing at the two wolves in her peripheral vision, she recognized them immediately. To Bastian's right, Gabriela Atkins had stepped forward, and Katherine was reluctantly flattered. To Bastian’s left, however, stood a much more nefarious wolf.
Rogue.
What was he playing at trying to recruit Katherine? Did his jealousy of Bastian truly run so deep that he'd attempt to lure whoever the man wanted in his pack to his side?
What in the hell made him think she'd consider joining him for a minute?
It occurred to Katherine immediately that he didn’t think that, and her muscles stiffened enough to rival Bastian’s when she realized that most likely, he was trying to spur Bastian into an unsavory outburst. Because if the head alpha acted out when no rules were being broken – over some girl, no less – he would undoubtedly lose some of the trust that the community had bestowed upon him. His reputable control would be questioned.
And judging by Bastian’s shaking form, Rogue’s scheme was going to work.
Katherine could never allow that to happen.
She leapt forward immediately, burrowing her snout into the crook of Bastian’s neck in an attempt to calm the war she knew was waging in his head. To Katherine’s relief, that singular action seemed to be enough, and she could feel the tension in the wolf’s stiff shoulders slowly drain as he leaned into her and returned her affectionate nuzzle. He inhaled deeply as he rubbed his nose into her soft fur and she knew he was taking in her unique scent and using it to ground himself.
Not even bothering to spare another glance at the snarling Rogue, they left the arena side by side.
Katherine’s pack mates swarmed her, Sophie tenderly nipping her ear while the boys – even Markus—bumped noses with her in congratulations. Bastian allowed the excited touches, but was prodding her back to his side moments later, and practically curling himself around her, he refused to let her leave it the remainder of the night. Nestled against his strong, warm body, Katherine could hardly bring herself to mind.
She watched contently as the last remaining recruits chose their packs. Pride nearly burst in her chest when Mack received more offers than anyone and a record seven alphas stepped forward to offer him a place amongst their packs. Truthfully, Katherine was secretly hoping Bastian might make a move to snatch him up, but knew in her heart that the man didn’t care to expand his pack while he still adjusting to his duties as head alpha. Even if he wasn’t busy with said duties, the man wasn’t much of a people person.
Mack ultimately chose to join the same pack that had taken in Jon and Leander. Katherine was ecstatic for her friends – glad that three of them would be together in the same pack. She knew that Agnes was happy with where she ended up as well.
As for her, well, truth be told Katherine had chosen her pack a long time ago.
CHAPTER FOUR
In the not so distant past, birthdays had meant very little to Katherine Mayes.
At least her own hadn't meant much anyway.
It was just the day that marked her another year older, nothing more and nothing less. And as ridiculous as it may sound, if it were up to her now, she simply wouldn't have a birthday.
Because birthdays meant underdone chocolate cake loaded with runny frosting made with love – the other ingredients were sketchy at best – by her dad. It meant a pile of presents pristinely wrapped in shiny paper and decorated with perfect, bouncy ringlets of ribbon by her mother. It meant a sincere hug from her usually distant older sister.
It meant family.
And her family – at least that family – no longer existed. Two were dead. And although her sister Samantha still lived, Katherine was unlikely to ever seen her again.
She didn't like the way such dark thoughts made her feel. It was almost like a lead weigh would settle over her lungs when she thought them, preventing her lungs from expanding the way they were meant to and refusing them the oxygen they desperately needed to function.
And so she tried to avoid thinking of her deceased family altogether.
Her birthday, unfortunately, was a stark reminder of them.
It'd been nearly seven months since she'd been forced from her home in Middletown – seven months since her parents and her classmate, Brad, had been murdered – and still she skirted around the mere thought of them. As selfish as it was, most days she liked to pretend her life had started on the night of her first transformation and anything that had happened before that point in time was simply an odd sort of dream.
It was easier than one might think to live this way as very little of what occurred in Haven Falls had any correlation to the life Katherine had led before she'd been bitten. She no longer had parental figures she had to explain herself to, only Bastian, and while her pack mates were like siblings to her, they had very little in common with the girl she was truly related to by blood. Her days were filled with a flurry of activity as she went to school, bonded with her pack mates, and attempted to learn as much as she could about the small community of wolves she had found herself a member of.
With the completion of the Recruiting Rites – and with it, school – however, she was having a difficult time finding a significant distraction from the day that was slowly creeping nearer.
If only birthdays didn't exist at all.
But they did.
And when Katherine cracked open her eyes in the morning hours of the third of May – a mere three days after the Recruiting Rites had taken place – she was officially seventeen.
Instead of remaining buried under the covers and letting grief envelop her, however, Katherine forced herself to move. She dragged herself out of bed, quickly washing her face in the bathroom and throwing her hair into a sloppy bun at the base of her skull before heading to the kitchen in search of a distraction substantial enough to make her forget what day it was.
Her prayers were answered when she came upon Caleb digging through the cupboards, seemingly pulling out every spice or bit of seasoning they had stocked in the spacious cabinets.
"What are you doing?"
Pulling his head out of the cupboard it was immersed in, Caleb smiled at the small brunette. "Katherine! I was just going to come get you. Zane took down a massive moose last night and is butchering it as we speak, but I don't have enough salt and other spices to properly freeze the meat. I was hoping you'd be willing to walk into town with me and help me carry back some supplies."
She didn't have to be asked twice. "Yeah, of course." She glanced down at the over-sized, frayed pajama shirt she was still wearing. "Just let me change first."
"No problem. Take your time. I'll quick fry you up some eggs for breakfast."
"Thanks," Katherine called over her shoulder, hightailing it back to her bedroom and shucking the shirt off over her head. She quickly replaced it with a ruffled blouse. The leggings she'd slept in were fine, so only a minute had passed before she was heading back into the kitchen.
Her mouth watered as she watched Caleb expertly flip two fried eggs onto a plate he'd prepared for her. Toast popped out of the toaster. "Let me," she quickly asserted, grabbing the butter dish from him before he could do that for her as well.
As much as he seemed to enjoy it, Katherine was often uncomfortable at the way Caleb – as a passive omega – was always ready to serve her and the rest of the pack.
She was perfectly capable of buttering her own toast after all.
Digging into her eggs, she watched silently as Caleb began writing what she assumed to be a list of groceries they were in need of. She was just dipping the last of her toast into a pool of yellow yolk when he’d finished.
"Ready?" he asked.
Nodding her assertion, Katherine quickly put her dish in the sink before slipping on her shoes and following Caleb out the door.
As they traveled the dirt path into town, Katherine belatedly realized that Caleb was the only member of the pac
k she'd seen that morning. She knew he'd said that Zane was butchering the moose he'd downed, but where were the others?
Katherine voiced her question. "Where's Bastian this morning? And Markus and Sophie? I didn't see them at the house."
Caleb shrugged, not quite meeting her eyes as his hand came up to rub the back of his neck in what Katherine knew to be a nervous gesture of his. "Markus is helping Zane with the moose. I'm not sure where Bastian went, but I think Sophie's sleeping in.” He paused before hurriedly adding, “She likes to do that on occasion, you know."
Oo-kay. They were all valid excuses, Katherine supposed, but she couldn't help but find the quick – almost defensive – way in which Caleb had answered her question to be a bit bizarre.
And it was even stranger that Bastian had just up and left that morning without trying to wake her. He'd hardly let her out of his sight since the Rites. They still hadn't made up exactly, but they'd been a lot more civil to each other since the ceremony, and he'd taken to sleeping with her in their bed again.
Katherine narrowed her eyes at her companion. Something was up.
Before she could question him further, however, they'd arrived at the miniscule town of Haven Falls and Caleb was quickly dragging her to the string of shops and the farmers’ market that were located in the very center of it.
"Here, take this," he said, handing over a wad of cash. As he perused a stand of homemade herbs and spices, he sent her over to the fruit vendors to pick out a few of her favorites.
Katherine took her time, going through a whole barrel of apples as she search for a half dozen of the specimens that were both devoid of bruises and had a perfect red sheen. Maybe Caleb would teach her how to bake a pie with them if she asked.
Katherine also filled a small bag with strawberries and plucked up a ripe cantaloupe. She and Caleb were really the only members of the pack who cared for fruit, and the latter wasn't picky, so she knew no one would mind her selections.
Shy (Once Bitten, Twice Shy, #2) Page 4
