Beast Within (Loup-Garou Series Book 3)

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  Katey stopped dancing and tried to step away. “Listen, I need to go.”

  Drake’s hand clamped around her wrist. “Wait, I’m sorry if I upset you.”

  The last thing Katey wanted was to make a scene in front of these people. It shouldn’t have been awkward. This seemingly normal guy was dancing with her, but all the adjoining undercurrent of events and feelings that no one else could see made this into the huge deal that it was.

  Logan closed on them within seconds before Katey could give any subdued excuse for her reluctance.

  “Back off,” Logan growled, a threat behind his words as he glared at Drake.

  He let go of Katey, and she reflexively stood just behind Logan, letting him act on his protective instincts, but ready to tug on his arm as soon as he started to draw too much attention.

  Drake blinked and smiled in disbelief. “Listen, we were just talking.”

  “And now you’re done,” Logan bristled. “Move on.”

  His eyes darted between Logan and Katey, and then he slowly paced backward. Drake didn’t turn away until he was satisfied that Logan wouldn’t pounce on him, and then he slipped into the crowd.

  “That was unnecessary,” Katey mumbled, keeping her poker face so as not to attract more notice than what Logan had already acquired when he bowed up to Drake.

  Logan turned on her, blue eyes flecked with bits of gold, and she wondered if that was why Drake looked so intrigued before he finally walked away.

  “Calm down,” she whispered.

  Logan stepped closer. Katey could almost feel his anger hum in her bones. “I don’t mind you dancing with your grandfather or even Dustin. They’re harmless, but you shouldn’t have danced with him.”

  Katey’s eyes wandered to the other guests in the room, feeling their eyes on them. “Let’s take this outside,” she advised, straining to keep herself calm under the torrent of emotions and confusion.

  “Let’s take this home.”

  A sound of disapproval squeaked in the back of her throat. “Home? We just got here.”

  “Lily and Forrest aren’t here, and that’s who you came to see. We have no reason to be here.”

  He took her arm, none too gently, and pulled her toward the table where Michael and Dustin were pushing back their chairs to stand.

  Katey wrenched free, her skin rubbed raw by the force of her efforts. “I’m not leaving,” she said, her voice low and asserting. “I didn’t just come here to see them.”

  Logan’s nostrils flared, his brows pinching together between his eyes. “So, you wanted to come here and dance with men you don’t belong to.”

  As if the force of the accusation had physically struck her, Katey staggered back a step. Michael was by her side, his thick hands bracing her shoulders so she wouldn’t fall over. Dustin attended to Logan, pulling him toward the exit.

  Before Katey could recover, they were outside in the cold night air, and Michael was calling his driver on his cell phone. Out of sight from those inside the studio, Katey felt the freedom to turn to Logan, eyes blazing with indignation.

  “What did you mean by ‘dancing with men I don’t belong to’?”

  Matching her fury, Logan replied, “You have no right to dance with strange men.”

  “What? Are we in the sixteenth century all of the sudden?”

  Logan stalked closer, every muscle tensed. Dustin stood beside them with his hands held in such a way to keep them from charging at one another.

  “You’re my mate. No man has the privilege to touch you without my approval.”

  Katey rolled her eyes. “Logan, that’s not how this works.”

  “Look what happened when you danced with that vamp last month. I know you were attracted to him.”

  Blindsided by such an allegation, Katey had to pause. Yes, when she danced with Martel, she had felt a rush of unabridged joy that was completely unexplainable at the time. It might have been his powers of influence over her – the same force that made her stand still while he kissed her on the stairs – or it was purely a platonic joy for the thrill that dancing gave her.

  Where was Logan pulling this charge from? Had she smelled of arousal when she fled to the dungeon where they were being held, to escape the wrath of the vampires? She didn’t recall such emotions at the time, but it was difficult to sift through the confusion and fear in that moment.

  “I was not attracted to him, Logan. How could I be attracted to anyone besides you?”

  Katey heard her own voice soften under the realization that Logan wasn’t truly angry. He was terrified and insecure. He had been from the moment they left the house and as hard as he tried to hide it, the aura shined through with blaring colors. There was no such thing as a secret between them anymore. There were just unspoken confessions that would work their way out in due time.

  At that moment, Logan put up a defensive front against her, and those that stood on the sidewalk with them and Katey couldn’t comprehend why. Despite her words, Logan’s hardened expression wouldn’t budge.

  “Why wouldn’t you? You could have any man you want, and they would throw themselves at your feet.”

  Katey stepped forward, but Dustin pressed his hand against her shoulder to keep her at bay for her own protection. “But I don’t want just any man. I’ve only ever wanted you. Why can’t you understand that?”

  The low purr of the SUV sounded from down the street and made its way toward them.

  “What I can’t understand is why you allowed this guy to dance with you. Did he interest you in some way?”

  “Of course, not! Logan, please stop acting like this, it makes no sense!”

  Katey reached out to touch his cheek, hoping that some tender contact would pull him back from these worthless arguments. Instead, he swatted her hand away and moved to the curb, his back toward a parked sedan.

  His eyes glowed a golden hue in the darkness and Katey could hear the rumble of a growl in his chest. Dustin stepped between him and Katey. A current of dominance surged around the group as the van pulled up to an empty parking stall a few yards away. No one moved. Katey didn’t even breathe for fear that anything might upset the brittle balance.

  Then, she realized that she couldn’t be a spectator like this. If she was supposed to learn about conflict resolution and mediation, now was the perfect chance. Loups-garous and vampires alike at the council would be as ready and anxious to fight as Logan was.

  With careful precision, Katey moved around Dustin and stopped within arm’s length of Logan. Reaching within herself, she pulled out the words she would need to calm her mate.

  “No one will ever take me away from you, Logan. There’s no vamp or human on this earth that will have my undying love.”

  Logan watched her with his feral wolf eyes, fierce and uncontrollable. His breaths came out short and trembling as if she were trying to grasp any bit of logic and reason to bring him back from the brink. Katey had seen him this way before, on the day he changed her in that dark classroom. She hadn’t been afraid of him then either.

  As they locked gazes, Katey’s own anxiety ebbed away like a receding tide in the ocean of contradicting emotions all around that threatened to drown her. This calm came from within, and for a split second, Katey wondered if it was the spirit of Tanatia finally making her appearance.

  Katey reached out to touch Logan once more, but before she could, Dustin grabbed Logan’s arm.

  “Come on, kid. We need to get you home.”

  She opened her mouth to reprimand Dustin for his careless act, but Logan beat him to it in a more direct fashion than she would have liked.

  Faster than she could see, Logan had thrown a wide punch to Dustin’s jaw and drove him to the pavement. Michael pulled Katey away and ushered her toward the open car door. She wrestled against her grandfather and by the time she looked back to the scene, Logan had vanished.

  Dustin groaned and felt his jaw as a dribble of blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.

  “Wh
ere did he go?” Katey asked frantically, sniffing for any lingering scent of Logan on the wind.

  Dustin rose to his feet and staggered to the vehicle. The words that came out were slurred as if his tongue were inoperable.

  Michael inspected his slightly swollen face and shook his head. “It looks like he shattered your jaw.”

  Dustin rolled his eyes heavenward and pointed down Main Street toward the courthouse.

  “I’ll take care of Logan,” Michael said. “You two get back to the house.”

  Katey stood firm on the sidewalk. “I’ll go after him. It’s my fault he’s acting out.”

  Dustin cleared his throat and waved his hand as if to say that he didn’t like either of their plans.

  “We can’t all go together,” Michael offered. “Katey needs to get to safety, and you need to nurse that jaw until it heals.”

  “Safety?” Katey asked as Dustin was trying to shove her into the SUV.

  “Yes,” Michael replied. “I have a hunch about something, though I’m not certain yet. Just get back to the house. We will be along shortly.”

  Again, Katey found herself where she didn’t want to be, and the car door closed on her. She pressed her face against the glass as the driver sped them away to the north and away from Logan.

  In one sense, she understood why he lashed out at Dustin. Logan had been like a wild animal, and Dustin’s rash action set him off. Any loup-garou would have behaved that way, just as Darren might have if she hadn’t been able to sooth the beast earlier that day.

  What she couldn’t understand was the sudden onset of his insecurity. Dancing with Drake hadn’t caused it, but it didn’t help. If anything, it pushed Logan over the edge to make him that volatile. What instigated it? Nothing had happened within the last few hours to make Logan question their entire relationship with such skepticism. He had been jealous before, but not so doggedly irrational even after she continually told him the truth of her love and devotion to him.

  What did Michael suspect? Did it have something to do with Logan, or with Drake? Did he also catch that Drake had no scent? If he did, then why didn’t he intervene sooner? Michael was older and wiser than any of them, having lived for over eight hundred years, and Katey trusted his instincts completely, but she would have wanted more information than her grandfather seemed willing to give.

  Whatever it was, she was determined to find out when both Michael and Logan safely returned home.

  If the chase proved anything to Michael, it was that he was no longer a young man and that he had grown too accustomed to civilized life. Werewolves were always drawn to the woods, while his kind stayed indoors where it was safe and comfortable.

  He stood in front of the cemetery gates to catch his breath, taking in the view of the graffitied sign that welcomed mourners and visitors alike. Miles away from Crestucky and well out of sight from human eyes, Logan had certainly picked a strange place to sulk.

  “Leave me be, old man,” Logan’s voice drifted on the whistling wind.

  Michael regained his strength and walked through the ajar gate, his footsteps barely making a sound on the crisp, untrodden grass. Even if Logan’s scent hadn’t led him to this remote graveyard, the trail of heightened emotions would have made his location known like a bright neon sign in the sky.

  Since he had come to Crestucky, he knew the werewolves were in a dire situation. Fear and tension loomed like a thunder cloud over the city, and especially over the house in which Katey found herself living. Although Michael would have much preferred that she come to live with him, he understood the mind of the werewolves and their need for camaraderie and familial ties. To take her away from her pack would be like slowly asphyxiating her. To take her from her lover would prove even more disastrous.

  From the moment he saw them together in the grand foyer of the castle, Michael knew their relationship was something special and hallowed. Yet, there was a queerness about their bond. Something unseen and probably undetected – even to them – was not quite right and Michael had racked his brain for weeks to figure it out.

  Seeing them quarrel made it all too clear. Logan was willing to love, but not willing to lose. He loved too strongly, too passionately, and although Katey loved him with just as much intensity, nothing was holding her back, except for Logan himself.

  With care, Michael approached the shaken wolf. Logan was crouched between two graves toward the back of the field. Every line of his body told Michael that he should not venture closer, but he did and stood within striking distance behind Logan.

  He took a deep breath and turned to admire the surrounding woods that shaded the edges of the cemetery from the silvery moonlight. After a few moments of waiting, more or less to prove to Logan that he could control himself under the urge to assault the intruder, Michael asked, “Do you come here when you’re upset?”

  “I come here to be alone,” he replied, a threat-laden in his words.

  Michael looked back at the dirt road he had sped down to get to the lonely cemetery. “It’s a good place to be alone. I’m sure there aren’t more than a dozen people in the world who would know this is here.”

  Logan looked over his shoulder, eyes still blazing gold and cutting through the night. “Many loups-garous know of this place.”

  Michael avoided looking into the eyes of the beast and continued to observe his surroundings, studying the trees and the way the crickets sang their night chorus. “And now one vampire is privy to its location. Surely, you didn’t think we would let you run off while hunters are around?”

  The hunters might have been closer than they thought. With his guards stationed around Katey’s home and pack, Michael was certain they would be safe for the time being. There was one inkling niggling in the back of his thoughts that refused to be pushed aside. With a few phone calls, he would know if his hunch was correct.

  Until then, he had to find some way to get Logan back to the house so he could reconcile with Katey.

  Logan turned away and stood, his back muscles stretching under his shirt. They were equally matched in height, but Michael thought himself to be no match for Logan’s youth and brawn.

  “Was that the first time you ever struck Dustin?” Michael asked, feigning intrigue and admiration.

  “No,” Logan replied with a sigh. “It wasn’t, but it was the first time he didn’t deserve it.”

  Michael bit back a smile. “Then why did you do it? If Dustin wasn’t – “

  “I don’t know,” he snapped.

  “You don’t know who you wanted to harm, or know why you did it at all?”

  Logan slowly turned to face him, face seething with self-loathing and a burden that no man could lift. “I don’t know why I struck him. I was just so angry.”

  “At Katey?”

  He shook his head. “No, I could never…”

  Michael offered his ear to Logan, tilting his head and waiting for him to continue. “Never what? Never hate her? Never be angry with her? Back at the studio, you were furious with her. We could all see that. There’s no shame in admitting that you were jealous.”

  Logan shoved his hands into his pockets and averted his gaze. “I wasn’t jealous. How could I be jealous of someone coveting what is not rightfully mine?”

  Michael rocked back in his heels and nodded. “Now, we’re getting to it. Come, son. There’s no one out here to eavesdrop, and you can trust me.”

  The werewolf shot a glare at him. “How can I? Ever since you showed up, you’ve been telling Katey how important she is, how her parents were famous and practically royalty. She’ll realize she can having something better than me and it’s all your fault. If you never came, everything would have been just fine the way it was.”

  That was not true in the least. If Michael had never come, Katey would have never learned about her heritage and role in this grand design to bring the world back to a stable place. She wanted to know her parents and had wanted it from the very beginning before she even knew that she was the
chosen one. Any orphan on this earth yearned for the same truth – to know where they belong and who they were. Michael equipped Katey with that knowledge and probably earned her undying gratitude for it. None of the others even knew she was the daughter of Adam and Jane.

  “Has Katey told you this?” Michael asked. “Has she said the words ‘I don’t want you anymore’? Because, if I recall, she said quite the opposite just a short while ago.”

  Logan shook his head. “She was saying those things to avoid making a scene.”

  “No, I assure you that she was sincere. I am empathic, remember? Apart from the fear that you were going to hurt someone, Katey felt nothing but love for you.”

  “It must have been pity.”

  Michael’s face puckered in bemusement. “Why should she pity you? Why should she think you were not worthy of her love?”

  Logan looked away across the field of tombstones, but would not reply.

  With a sigh, Michael realized that he would have to learn the hard way. Using another of his vampirical abilities that were usually reserved for hunting or preying upon the weak, he reached into Logan’s mind and searched through his many memories.

  Without blinking an eye, he sifted through the hate, the despair and utter agony that epitomized Logan’s life. One tragedy after another, full of loss and death. The only bright, shining light was Katey herself. Did she know how much he needed her? How much he idolized her and worshiped her as his savior and angel of mercy?

  It took only seconds for Michael to know everything; how Logan had unwittingly murdered his parents, how he was unable to change at will, how diluted his werewolf blood truly was. All of it made him wonder more about his origins.

  In all of his years, Michael had never heard of a werewolf who obtained their condition from a second generation, such as Logan had inherited from Dustin. He might have been the only one to notice that morning at the castle, but Michael witnessed something extraordinary that left him scratching his head in regard to Logan.

  When Katey had died, Logan was inconsolable as he held her in his arms and tears ran in streams down his face. Michael had never heard a man weep in that way for over a century. Perhaps it was a trick of the light or a romantic illusion, but he was sure that he saw one of Logan’s tears fall into Katey’s gunshot wound. A few seconds later, Katey was gasping for breath.