Shy (Once Bitten, Twice Shy, #2)

by Marie, Noelle

  "What?" she asked with an easy grin. "You're a woman now and I thought that some people around here could use a reminder."

  If possible, her face grew even hotter.

  "Let me see." Still slightly shocked by Sophie's blunt words, Katherine didn't quite react quickly enough when Zane pulled the box from her hands. Opening and reaching into the box without even really looking at what was inside of it, Zane pulled out a pair of lacey, aqua panties.

  "Oh my God," Katherine muttered, hiding her face behind her hands.

  He dropped the panties faster than a hot coal when he realized exactly what it was he was holding. She didn't know which of them was more mortified.

  "Crap, sorry, so sorry, I shouldn't have-"

  "It's okay," Katherine quickly cut off his rambling, snatching the box when he sheepishly handed it back to her. Sneaking a glance at Bastian, she noticed his nostrils were flared as he glared across the table at Zane.

  Katherine tried to comfort herself with the fact that the man at least hadn't pulled out the sheer top that Sophie had paired with the panties or God forbid, the crimson scrap of fabric she knew to be a thong and its matching push-up bra. She'd seen both sets of underwear before she'd had the good sense to close the box earlier.

  Clearly wanting to make up for his faux pas, Zane ignored Markus's snickering at what had just transpired and hurriedly handed over his own gift. She opened it to reveal a stack of bestselling mystery novels. Apparently Zane had traveled all the way to Fort Saskatchewan to buy them when he’d heard her mention in passing that they were her preferred reading material.

  After offering the man a quiet “thanks”, Katherine opened the gifts from her remaining pack mates in quick succession. She received a small sparring knife from Markus – he reminded her that she was "still utter crap" at fighting in her human form and promised he'd teach her how to use it – and a small box stuffed to the brim with homemade candies and sweets from Caleb.

  Bastian quietly informed her that she'd receive his gift later. She tried not to think too hard about what that might imply.

  Katherine and the pack whittled away the rest of the evening, staying up well past midnight playing a ruthless game of Monopoly, of which after many hours, Katherine was finally declared the winner.

  Of course, Markus, who'd claimed second, insisted that he had only let her win because it was her birthday.

  Katherine had just finished brushing her teeth and was in the process of pulling back the covers of their bed so that she could go to sleep when Bastian took her hand and gently reminded her that he'd yet to give her his gift.

  "Sit with me," he insisted, tugging her onto his lap with one hand as the other pulled a small jewelry box out of the top drawer of the night stand.

  Katherine's heart thumped painfully – nervously – against her ribs when she saw it. “Bastian-”

  Cutting her off by simply meeting her trepid gaze with an intense stare of his own, the man began to speak. "I didn't want to make you uncomfortable by giving this to you in front of the others, and it doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want it to, but there’s a ring in here." He stopped, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. "I love you. I've known that I love you for a long time now – longer than you probably think– and my hope is that by giving this to you, any doubts you may have about that – about me loving you – will disappear. This ring has been in my family for generations and every time you see it, I want you to be reminded of that simple fact that my love for you is eternal."

  Nearly trembling from the stark proclamation of his love for her – and relief that he wasn't doing anything crazy like proposing marriage – Katherine delicately took the closed box from his hand, opening it with her small fingers.

  She gaped at the ring inside as it was revealed to her. Golden loops encrusted with tiny jewels twisted around each other in a complicated pattern, held together at its center by an inordinately detailed face of a wolf. The wolf, made of pure gold, had sapphires for eyes and clasped within its teeth was a circular diamond as large as Katherine’s fingernail.

  Katherine was literally speechless.

  Bastian's arm tightened around her waist. "Do you like it? It’s been in the Prince family for as long as anyone can remember. My grandmother used to wear it when she was still alive.”

  It was too much. It was way too much. And yet, taking in Bastian’s hopeful expression, Katherine knew she could never reject the gift – any gift – from the man. “It’s beautiful,” she answered honestly. “Of course, I like it. I… I love it.”

  I love you.

  But that part remained unsaid.

  Bastian gingerly took the ring out of its box, revealing that it had been looped through a golden necklace chain. She allowed him to slip it over her head. “I thought you might prefer to wear it around your neck. That way you never have to take it off – not even when you transform.”

  It was a thoughtful gesture as a ring worn around her finger would immediately break if she shifted into her wolf form with it on.

  “Thank you,” she murmured softly, still entranced by how much the small piece of jewelry sparkled, but she forced herself to drag her eyes away from it to meet Bastian’s expectant gaze. Somehow, his blue eyes were shining even brighter than the sapphires encrusted in the ring.

  "You're welcome," he replied just as quietly, running his large hands up and down her bare arms before allowing one of them to reach up and carefully cup the back of her neck. Eying her lips, he leaned forward, stopping only a hair’s breath away from connecting his mouth with hers. "I know how… tense things have been between us lately, but may I kiss you?"

  Ignoring the way a heated blush crept up her cheeks, Katherine answered him. "You can always kiss me."

  A small grin tugged at the corners of his mouth at that response, and his lips lingers over hers for only a moment longer before he pressed them firmly to her eager mouth. Lips and tongues sensually explored each other for a long while before he finally pulled away. Mouth tingling, Katherine was satisfied to let the kiss be simply that – a kiss.

  And despite how much she'd dreaded the arrival of this day – her birthday – and the painful memories that it had forced her to acknowledge, when she went to bed that night encased in Bastian's strong arms, she felt like the most loved and cherished girl in the world.

  Unfortunately, that feeling would not last for long.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  "Is it true?"

  Somehow Katherine was able to force the words out in a steady voice, which was quite the feat considering the fact that her hands were trembling. She'd attempted to stop the slight movement by clasping them together in front of her as tightly as she could, but even that had not totally suppressed the tremors.

  Her very insides were quivering.

  The shaking had started and hadn't stopped since she'd been awaken in the middle of the night not a handful of hours earlier by the sound of muted voices arguing angrily in the hallway outside of her room.

  "You have to tell her."

  "I don't have to do a damn thing."

  Since then, the words she'd overheard had been repeating themselves in an endless loop inside of her head.

  Katherine sleepily became aware of the sound of hushed voices floating in and out of her consciousness. Cracking open tired eyes, she quickly became cognizant of the fact that while Bastian's side of the bed was still warm – the man’s natural scent still potent in the air – it was mysteriously absent of the man himself.

  Her curiosity was immediately piqued.

  Cloaked in darkness, she crept noiselessly to the closed bedroom door, pressing her ear carefully to the smooth wood and shamelessly eavesdropping on the muted voices she could hear on the other side of it.

  "She deserves to know."

  "Do I need to remind you of just exactly who the alpha of this pack is? Because I'd be all too happy to do so."

  She recognized immediately the owners of the two voices – Markus and B
astian – though judging by their tones, neither sounded particularly pleased with the other. She didn't know who the "she" they were speaking of was, but that, too, quickly became clear.

  "Go ahead if it'll make you feel better, but we both know that no amount of smashing your fist into my face will erase the memory of Katherine's tear stained one from your head."

  The "she" they were talking about was her.

  Markus spared Katherine a glance between bicep curls. He didn't seem particularly perturbed that she'd burst into his room with nary a knock and hadn’t bothered to put the metal bar that had massive circular weights attached to either end down. "Is what true?" he grunted, lifting the bar to his stumbled covered chin once more. "You're going to have to be a bit more specific, princess. Mind reading isn't exactly my forte. Fighting, hell yeah. Handling knives, sure. But mind reading? Not even I’m that good."

  "It's for her own good."

  "Maybe right away it was. But now I think we both know that only one person benefits from keeping her in the dark... and it sure as hell isn't her."

  The resounding boom of a body being slammed into the wall had Katherine quickly backing away from the door. After the brief sound of a scuffle, however, silence reigned – broken only by the sound of both men’s heavy breathing – and she felt safe to once again creep closer.

  After a lengthy pause, Bastian finally spoke, and Katherine's ears had to strain to hear his words as they materialized. "She'll hate me."

  Katherine frowned, confident that that could never be true. She eyed the door handle, debating on whether she should reveal herself and assure the man of just that. Her curiosity had only grown as she’d listened in on their conversation, however, and Katherine's hands ultimately remained at her sides.

  "Maybe, maybe not. But I know for damn sure you'll hate yourself if you never tell her. Just think about it, that’s all I’m saying."

  A lengthy pause ensued before Bastian finally responded. "Alright.”

  That seemed to satisfy Markus, and she heard the sound of heavy footsteps fading into softer ones as he walked away. Katherine scurried back to bed, determined not to be caught eavesdropping. She dove under the heavy covers, willing her galloping heart to slow.

  Katherine focused on keeping her breathing steady as she heard Bastian enter the room and approach the bed before the mattress dipped with his considerable weight. She feigned sleep as she felt his strong arms wrap around her waist and the tip of his nose poke into the back of her head as he buried his face into her hair.

  It took longer than she might have expected for his tense muscles to relax, but she knew he was on the edge of consciousness when he pressed a soft kiss to the back of her neck and whispered the words near her ear. The words that would change everything.

  "Forgive me, Katherine. They're alive. Your parents… they’re alive."

  "Are my parents alive?"

  That caught Markus's attention. He fumbled with the heavy weight in his hands, nearly dropping the bar when the question shot out of her mouth. "Damn it," he swore, continuing to mutter obscenities to himself as he struggled to place the weighted bar back where it belonged. Once he managed it, he whipped around to face her. "Where did you hear that?"

  It wasn't a denial.

  She swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise up her throat. "I asked you if it was true."

  It'd taken Katherine the rest of the night and half of the morning to work up the nerve to confront Markus. She'd stayed in bed for nearly a half hour after Bastian's whispered confession, incapable of moving her frozen limbs as the shock of hearing those words had rendered her brain basically useless.

  Eventually she'd managed to slip out of the man's warm embrace and sneak silently into the bathroom. She'd stayed locked in there for hours, alternately staring at her pale as a sheet pallor in the huge mirror above the sink and kneeling over the toilet as the urge to vomit surfaced over and over again. Despite her gagging, however, nothing ever came up.

  As the shock wore off, bursts of other emotions threatened to overwhelm her fragile mental state. She was terrified that she'd misheard Bastian and almost equally fearful that she hadn't. Unbridled joy fought with stinging betrayal. Katherine wasn't sure if her heart had shattered or was being put back together again.

  How could Bastian have kept this from her?

  Her body couldn't handle the intense cocktail of volatile emotions clashing together within her and as a result, she shook. Her entire being trembled from the inside out.

  As the hours passed and the sun began to rise in the sky, Bastian had knocked on the bathroom door, calling her name. “Katherine?”

  Not even close to being ready to face the man, she'd ignored him, quickly reaching for the tub’s faucet and wrenching on the water. Just as she'd hoped, Bastian had assumed that she was preparing a bath for herself and hadn't heard him over the running water. So he’d left.

  Waiting another hour after that to ensure that he was truly gone – at least nowhere near the bathroom – Katherine had finally managed to gather up what remained of her courage and hurriedly left the bathroom and bedroom said bathroom was attached to. She’d rushed up the stairs to Markus's room, intent on confronting the man who, presently, was refusing to look at her.

  "Well?" she demanded as firmly as she could when he didn't respond to her question.

  Sighing loudly in overdone exasperation, he ran both of his agitated hands through his hair. Finally, his hazel eyes found her green ones. "Yes, okay," he blurted. "It's true. Your parents are alive. But listen to me..."

  But she wasn't. Listening, that is. The words, once again spoken out loud, burned themselves into her brain. Your parents are alive.

  She bolted from the room.

  "Katherine!" Markus shouted after her, hurriedly jumping to his feet and taking chase. He followed her down the stairs, catching her at the bottom by roughly grabbing her upper arm and yanking her down the last step. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Look, I can imagine how this looks to you, but you can't just run away without giving Bastian a chance to explain."

  She smacked him on the arm he was using to restrain her with her free hand. "Let me go! I don't need to listen to a damn word you have to say, and if he even dares to try and justify this, I'll pop him one straight in his dirty, lying mouth!"

  "Jesus, calm down, would you?” Markus hissed as he marched her to her room. Katherine purposely dragged her feet, attempting to yank herself free as he forcefully hauled her down the hallway. He deposited her into what she'd come to think of as her room, but had just been revealed to be more of a gilded cage than anything.

  "Stay here," he ordered, slamming the door shut behind him.

  Katherine knew instinctively that he was going to get Bastian.

  She didn't waste any time. As soon as the door had closed, she raced towards it. Jiggling its handle, however, quickly proved to be useless. Although the door didn't have a lock, it was obvious that Markus had hastily pressed something – probably a chair – up under the knob to keep her from escaping.

  But that wasn't about to stop Katherine. Nothing could now that she knew the truth.

  Your parents are alive.

  Abandoning her attempts at opening the door, Katherine turned her attention to the large bay window on the opposite side of the room. When she tried to lift the glass window open, however, it immediately became clear that it was jammed.

  Katherine thought fast and throwing caution to the wind, she yanked free one of the small wooden drawers of the night stand. Lifting it high above her head, she threw it at the reflective glass with all her might.

  Crash.

  The window immediately shattered.

  Having known the loud noise would swiftly gain the attention of anyone still in the house before she'd even broken it, Katherine rapidly punched out the large, jagged pieces of glass that stuck stubbornly to the bottom of the window's frame, and then ignoring the slight sting the remaining shards caused as they bit int
o her palms, she pulled herself up over the window's ledge and leapt to her freedom.

  She'd like to have said she landed gracefully on the grass – it was only a four foot drop, after all – but adrenaline caused her to stumble as her feet meet the hard, uneven ground. Picking herself up, she raced to the SUV parked innocently in front of the house. Saying a quick prayer that the keys were inside of it, Katherine wrenched open the driver's side door.

  Her prayers were answered.

  Spotting the glinting keys in the ignition, Katherine gave the situation no further thought and leaping in the SUV, brought the vehicle to life. She shifted it into drive, gunned the gas, and ignoring the tiny prickle of guilt buried beneath the heaps of fury ruling her actions, Katherine drove away.

  * * *

  SUV parked haphazardly along the side of the highway several miles outside of Duluth, Minnesota, Katherine had long ago came to the realization that she’d made a mistake.

  She should have thought her actions through much more thoroughly.

  Because while she didn’t regret leaving Haven Falls even the slightest bit, she did regret how recklessly she’d done it. Without any kind of money whatsoever to fill the mammoth vehicle's gas tank.

  It hadn't taken long for her to realize that she'd left not only without any money to fund her sudden trip, but also without the fake passport that Bastian had had made for her months earlier. Through sheer luck, she'd somehow managed to remember how to navigate the private, gravel road that went straight through a bit of unpatrolled border between Canada and the United States and so hadn't needed the ID, but the lack of monetary funds was a different matter entirely.

  She'd managed to dig out a dozen rusty quarters buried beneath the pile of expired car insurance cards and maps in the glove compartment, and she’d used them to buy a cheap pair of flip-flops for her bare feet and a slice of pizza for her growling stomach at a convenience store a couple of hours earlier.

  While the shoes were fine, the pizza had been a poor decision. It’d tasted more like greased cardboard with a bit of cheese on top than actual food.