Read Winter Wolf (A New Dawn Novel Book 1) Online
Authors: Rachel M Raithby
“They were just leaving, weren’t you? Sorry, I never caught your name?” Katalina replied with venom.
“We’re not leaving without you,” the enforcer demanded.
“She’s going nowhere with you,” Bass growled.
The enforcer let out a bitter laugh. “Are you going to stop us? You do realize there are three of us and one of you.”
Bass simply smiled.
“Katalina?” her grandmother’s voice came from inside the house.
The enforcer’s eyes darted toward the house and back.
“Do you really want to explain to your alpha how you exposed yourself to humans? I’m sure Katalina’s grandmother will have cops around the house when she realizes some savages want to take her granddaughter away. I’m happy to fight of course, if you feel the need.”
“This isn’t over!” he spat, before turning on his heel and disappearing over the fence.
“There you are,” her grandmother hollered into the garden. “I’ve been calling you. I’ve set up some leftovers for supper. Come inside.”
Katalina took a deep breath and slipped her hand into Bass’s. “Coming,” she called back, overly cheerful.
“Are you all right?” Bass whispered as they walked toward the back door.
“Never better.”
Later that day when the sun had set and everyone had gone to bed, Katalina lay awake, her mind going over the day. She shot upright in bed when the sound of her door opening disturbed her. She closed her hand around the baseball bat hidden under the covers.
“Urgh, Bass, you scared me,” she sighed, when his smiling face appeared.
“Katalina, if you’d have used your senses, you would have known it was me.” His eyes settled on the bat she still held. “Planning on knocking me out?” he joked.
“Oh…no, of course not, but, I’m not exactly feeling too safe right now.”
“Katalina,” he whispered coming to her side, “you are safe. I promise. I’ll never let anyone hurt you.”
“They could have taken me today, Bass,” she answered, sounding rattled.
“There was never a chance of that happening. I sensed them approach. I just couldn’t get away from your grandmother, but you handled yourself beautifully, Kat. You’re stronger than you think.”
“If you say so,” she muttered.
“I know so,” he replied, leaning in for a kiss.
Pulling back from his kiss, she asked, “What are you doing here anyway? You’ll be kicked out the house if you’re found.”
“Everyone’s asleep. Although, I think your aunt forced herself to stay awake for a while, thinking I’d be sneaking in.”
“Which you are,” Katalina smiled, feeling less afraid now he was with her.
He smiled cheekily. “I’ve come to steal you away.”
“What?” she frowned?
“Come run with me.”
“Running? It’s the middle of the night,” Katalina said, sounding skeptical.
“I know. The best time not to be seen.”
“You mean you want to go out and run around as wolves? What about Jackson’s men?”
“I’ll deal with them.”
“I don’t know, Bass. I’d rather just try to sleep.”
“Okay.” He kissed her lips. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
“You’re still going?”
“Yes, Kat, I’m not used to staying human for such a long period. If I do not allow my wolf freedom, he will become unsettled.”
“Oh…okay, be careful.”
He kissed her hungrily, cupping her face. “I will,” he breathed into her mouth, making her shudder.
He slipped out the window. Katalina lay on her side staring out the window, imagining Bass changing into his black wolf, blending into the night as if he were a part of it. Part of her longed to join him, but she pushed that part away, not wanting to acknowledge that her wolf was becoming as much a part of her as her human side. With a sigh, she turned over, roughly wrapping the covers around her shoulders and forced her eyes to stay shut.
She tossed and turned for a long time, feeling at war with herself, wanting to join Bass and worrying if he was safe. She wanted to sleep and pretend she was still the normal girl she’d been before she’d turned eighteen. Her last glance at the clock read two-thirty a.m. Bass had been gone for over an hour. She imagined the three enforcers tracking him down and attacking him. She almost climbed out of bed and went into the night looking for him.
“Urgh, stop it, Kat! Bass isn’t stupid. He’ll be fine. Now, go to sleep,” she muttered to herself, flopping back onto the mattress, punching the pillow as if it was at fault for her inability to fall asleep.
*****
Hands touched her. Her bed dipped from the weight of another…
Katalina reacted on instinct. Her wolf surged within her, forcing her into action. Her elbow connected with flesh as her hand gripped the intruder’s neck. The savage snarl that echoed around the room startled even Katalina.
Her eyes focused on the person she was pinning to the bed. “Bass?” Her eyes widened, her hand jumping back. “Oh, God, Bass, are you all right?” She jumped away from him; frightened her body might act on its own accord again. “I’m so sorry. I just…I’m not sure. I just acted, I guess.”
Bass sat up, rubbing his neck and laughed low. “Well, that will teach me to climb into your bed uninvited.”
Katalina covered her face with her hands. “Bass, this is not funny. I just attacked you,” she mumbled through her fingers.
“It’s a little funny.”
Katalina flopped back with a sigh. “What were you doing, anyway?”
“Going to sleep.”
“What made you think you could just climb in bed with me?”
“Well, you are my mate. I’ve been out running for most the night. I just wanted to curl up next to you and sleep.”
Katalina wanted to be mad at him, but her heart melted at his words. She loved to see the soft, loving side of him, the part that needed her more than anything else. To the outside world, he was formal, polite. Only Katalina saw his funny, caring side.
She pulled the covers back. “Come on then.”
He was about to climb back under the covers when his head angled to the door. She heard it the second after he did; someone was walking toward her room. Their eyes met and then Bass was gone. Katalina pulled the covers up to her chin, closing her eyes just as her door opened. She kept still. Listening for the moment her aunt left. “Kat?” her aunt whispered from the doorway. She stood there a moment longer before closing the door again, and returning back to bed.
When the house fell silent, Katalina let out her breath and rolled over. Half-sitting up, she scanned her room for Bass; at first glance, she couldn’t see him, but then when she really looked, using her wolf senses, she could see him in the far corner of her room, hidden in shadows. He would be invisible to the human eye.
“Sometimes I think you become a shadow yourself,” she whispered as he stepped into the moonlight.
A smile lit his face, all charm with just the slightest touch of wickedness. “Now, where were we?”
She pulled the covers back again. “I think I was inviting you into my bed.” She looked up at him through long lashes, feeling suddenly shy.
His eyes softened, the wicked edge of his smile changing to warmth and love. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her flush against his body. “Good night, my beautiful Katalina,” he murmured against her bare shoulder, placing a soft kiss over her tingling skin.
Katalina closed her eyes and relaxed into his hold. Her mind and her soul released its tension as she became surrounded by his smell, his warmth, and his love. In his arms, nothing could touch her and everything was right in the world.
When Katalina woke, she lay for a few blissful seconds, allowing happiness to trickle through her. She smiled at Bass’s sleeping face so close to hers, at his legs tangled around her, his arms holding her so gently. In those few seconds, her life was perfect, but then the memories returned. She’d buried her parents yesterday. She’d been threatened by Jackson’s enforcers.
Trying to calm the growing tension within her, she sucked in a deep breath, and focused on Bass’s face. He looked so peaceful in sleep; he looked his age. She constantly had to remind herself he was only a year older than her. He always seemed so much older. The way he talked and the view he had on the world was one of an older person. She wondered if it was merely because he was a shifter, or maybe the way he’d been brought up.
He stirred in his sleep, a slight frown marring his perfect forehead. Katalina glanced at the clock; it was only six a.m. Bass had been asleep for only a few hours. She didn’t want to wake him yet. Gently slipping out of his hold, she threw on her robe and crept out of the room.
The house was silent, but as she walked into the living room, she saw she wasn’t the only person awake.
“Hey,” she said to her aunt, as she headed to the kitchen. “Drink?”
“Nope, still full.” She lifted her mug, not taking her eyes off the paperwork scattered around her.
Katalina made her cup of tea and then sat opposite her aunt.
“When are you heading home? Dillon must be missing you.”
Her aunt paused and smiled but still didn’t look at Katalina. “Yes, he does. Today I hope, if I can sort through all of this first.”
Katalina took a sip of her tea and then looked at the papers all over the table; bills, letters, words she didn’t understand.
“What is all this?”
“Nothing for you to worry about, Kat.”
“Aunt Susan?”
Her aunt sighed and put down the papers in her hands. “I’m afraid your parents weren’t very prepared.”
“What do you mean?”
“The life insurance they had doesn’t cover the mortgage. I suppose they didn’t plan on leaving so early. They’ve a small sum of savings that was for your college fund, but that’s it, Kat. Looking at all this, I can’t find any way out of selling the house.”
“What?” Katalina choked on the word. “But this is my home.”
“I know, Kat, but there is no other way. You’ll have to come live with me, or your grandma.”
Tears fill Katalina’s eyes. She gulped back the lump in her throat. “But all my memories are here. I’ve lost Mom and Dad. I can’t lose my memories too.”
“Oh, sweetie,”—her aunt stood and came around to Katalina, taking her into her arms“—“no one can ever take your memories away. Memories are how we live on. Your parents will never truly be gone because they’ll live on in you. In the way you act, the things you do, they’ll have influenced you. Your memories are locked up here, Kat,”—she pointed a finger to her head, “—“forever in your mind. It doesn’t matter where you live.”
Katalina nodded, scared to talk in case opening her mouth would set lose the tidal wave of tears inside of her.
“You two girls are up early,” her grandma said as she walked past them.
Katalina’s aunt pulled away from Katalina and sat back in her seat. “Trying to get the rest of this paperwork sorted for you before I leave this afternoon.”
“And you, Kat?” her grandma asked.
Katalina took a deep breath before answering, “Couldn’t sleep.”
“Well, might as well wake up Sebastian. We can all have breakfast together.” grandma started to walk out of the kitchen.
Katalina jumped from her chair, knocking it to the floor. “I’ll get him, Gram,” she called, running after her.
“Don’t be silly, dear. I’ll knock first.”
Katalina’s heart hammered in her chest and she felt slightly woozy, her mind rattled searched for some explanation, as to why he wasn’t in his bed, but hers. She came up empty, all she could do was stand by looking stupid, waiting for the arguments to come.
Her grandmother knocked on his door. “Sebastian dear, I’m making breakfast,” she said through the door.
There was no answer.
Oh, God…oh, God…oh, God!
She knocked again.
“He must be asleep, Gram. Leave him.”
Her grandma turned and looked at her. “Katalina, what has gotten into you?”
“Just leave him!”
The door opened and Bass stepped out, dressed. “Did someone say breakfast?”
Katalina nearly collapsed to the floor in relief.
As they followed her grandma back toward the kitchen, Bass leaned toward Katalina speaking in a voice so low only she could hear, “Shifter hearing, remember?”
The morning had gone by in a blur. Katalina’s aunt had finished all she needed and given Katalina’s grandmother instructions. She was packing her things into her car while Katalina stood by the window staring outside. She wasn’t really watching her aunt, but staring off into the world, not taking anything in. The sky was filled with angry clouds in the distance. They were growing by the minute. A wind had picked up, whipping her aunt’s auburn hair around in the air as she loaded her last suitcase.
Katalina thought the weather matched her mood. Her growing anger toward the universe and the fate she’d been given grew by the day. She knew it was only a matter of time until she reached her limit. Katalina wasn’t sure what she’d do when she was pushed to breaking point. She was no longer sure who she was anymore; a shifter and yet she didn’t really feel like one at all. Yes, she was gifted with new senses and strengths but they didn’t feel like a part of her. She wasn’t natural in her skin like Bass. She couldn’t hear with the ears of a wolf without thinking; she wasn’t fearless and brave.
Katalina felt like a stranger in her own skin, an imposter. She wasn’t special. She was as ordinary as they came. She’d never been popular or the smartest in school. She’d just been Kat; the adopted kid with the strange hair. She’d give anything to turn back the clock and be that girl again, to have her parents and to feel safe, but she’d been living a borrowed life. It had never really been hers. She’d always been different, always deep down been a shifter. The problem was she was still the strange kid in this new world. She still didn’t belong. She was a shifter and yet she wasn’t. She still felt like she was living a borrowed life.
“It’s going to be okay, Katalina.”
Katalina turned into Bass’s embrace. She buried her head into his chest and breathed in the wild scent of him.
“How do you know?” she whispered.
“Because I do. Do you trust me?”
Tilting her head up, she looked into his eyes. They were strong and fearless. “Yes,” she answered.
“Then trust that everything will work out. That you’ll end up where you're supposed to be, and one day, you’ll be happy again. I still remember my mom, you know. I remember her smile and the way she used to tuck me into bed every night. I miss her every day. The part of my heart where she belonged will always be empty. The pain of her absence will always be there, but with time, I’ve learnt to live with my loss, to find the good in my life and hang onto it with all I’ve got. One day, it will get better. You just need to find the good to hang onto, to get you through.”
Katalina tightened her hold and buried her head back into his chest.
Find the good to hang onto.
She was hanging on and she never planned to let go.
Her aunt cleared her throat from behind them. Reluctantly, Katalina pulled back but she didn’t let go of her grip on Bass’s hand. “Are you going now?” she asked her aunt.
“Yes, looks like a storm’s coming in. I’d like to be on the road before it hits.”
“Be careful.”
Her aunt held out her arms for a hug and Katalina felt like a little girl again as she went into them.
“I will, Kat. I’ll see you soon, okay,” she murmured into Katalina’s hair.
Katalina pulled back from the hug. “Tell Dillon I said hello.”
Aunt Susan nodded at Katalina before her eyes rested on Bass across the room. “It was nice to meet you, Bass. You be careful with this one’s heart. It’s been battered enough.”
“I will,” Bass replied, unfazed.
Katalina watched as her aunt walked out the door, her grandmother following behind, and a shiver of dread roll down her spine. She wasn’t quite sure what brought on the feeling, but then her wolf pushed against her skin, reminding her of who she now was. Her aunt was just going home. She’d see her again, but with each brush of fur, Katalina couldn’t help thinking she didn’t belong in this world anymore, no matter how hard she clung onto it.