Saving Kat (5 page)

She rolled on her back and stared at the
ceiling. Mari had found her another pack to join, but Kat hadn’t
claimed a niche among them yet. Without her powers, she was lost,
disconnected. Everything felt alien, and it would only get worse
once the full moon arrived. This place wasn’t home. She hadn’t
brought much with her. Her witch supplies were still in her
workshop. She’d been tempted to bring her books, at least the
family grimoire, but in the end it would have been pointless. The
pack could give her library to her replacement. She had no use for
it anymore.

Someone knocked. She glanced at the door. It
could only be Daniel Greyborn, her new Alpha. She’d ignored him all
the other times he’s stopped by and had no intention of breaking
the habit now.

A heavy sigh managed to travel through the
thick wood. “I’m not going anywhere until I’ve seen you, Kat.”

She rolled out of bed, vertigo swept over
her, and she steadied herself on the wall. The spells hit
regularly, it was one of the reasons she hadn’t moved far from the
room. She also couldn’t bear to face her new life, not yet anyway.
She pulled the door open.

“What is it, Daniel?” She practically growled
at him. Thinking of him as Alpha felt wrong and not just because
she now had a life she didn’t want. She hadn’t been able to push
Adam out of her mind no matter how much she tried. Every time she
thought of him, a white-hot rage filled her and she hated it.

Daniel smiled patiently at her. “Don’t you
think it’s time you left your room?”

“Not particularly.” Her hand slipped as
another wave of dizziness hit her. She bounced against the wall
slightly.

He frowned, and worry flashed in his dark
eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

He started into her room but stopped when she
glared at him. “You’re a terrible liar.” Unwilling to listen, she
swung the door closed, but his foot stopped it from shutting in his
concerned face. “Kat, dizziness isn’t usual in people before they
turn. You should see the Pack doctor.”

Kat kicked his foot out of the way. “I said
I’m fine.” She closed the door again and fell back onto her bed.
She felt like death warmed up. The fact her mood constantly
switched to anger, an emotion she’d rarely felt when she’d been a
witch, hadn’t gone unnoticed. She glanced at the phone on the
bedside cabinet. It wouldn’t take much to call, Adam. She missed
hearing his voice.
Damn, I miss more than just his voice
.
She swallowed down the anger that swelled up, unwelcomed in the pit
of her stomach. It was easier to take it out on people she didn’t
know, but that left her feeling furious at herself for snapping at
innocents. Her mother had brought her up better than that.

***

Adam felt a wave of energy before Mari joined
him. Intensely aware of all his family, he could pinpoint the
location of each and every one of them with little effort. Except
Kat. She’d wandered beyond his range. Not knowing if she was all
right, kept him on edge. It had only been a few weeks since she
left, but he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. Her first
change would come with the full moon. Could she handle it on her
own? He should have been there to guide her through it, but she’d
probably try to rip out his throat the next time she saw him. He
might even let her.

“Adam?”

A feminine voice broke through his thoughts,
and he blinked a few times before he turned his attention to her.
“What is it, Mari?”

The woman in front of him was oddly silent.
She should have been happier. William was on the road to recovery.
It would take time and patience but the tea had worked its
magic.

“She needs your help.”

Adam frowned, “Who?”

The doctor took a deep breath. “Kat. I’ve
been in contact with her new Alpha. Her body is rejecting the
change.”

He frowned in disbelief. “That’s not
possible.”

She dug her hands into her pockets. “I’ve
never heard of it happening before either, but I have a theory, and
I need you to hear me out before you dismiss it.”

Since the day Kat left, he’d felt like he’d
been steadily losing his mind—not seeing her every day and knowing
he’d been the person who’d caused her to leave, tore his heart
open. It shouldn’t have been possible to punish himself anymore,
but Mari’s news did a pretty good job of it. “Tell me.”

“I think she’s your actual mate. I know you
had feelings for her before, but maybe it’s more than that. Maybe
saving Kat, changing her into a wolf, triggered the mating bond. It
would explain the dizziness and some of the other symptoms like
mood swings and fatigue.”

“Is that even possible?” A good Alpha trusted
and took on the opinions of the people around him, but he struggled
to wrap his head around the idea of his destined mate hating his
guts.

“It’s the only theory, Adam, but I fear if
you don’t help her with her first shift, it’s going to be her last.
Her body is going through a lot of changes. She’ll need the
stabilizing influence of her mate to get through it. If it doesn’t
kill her, it might still cause enough damage to her mind that
she’ll lose herself completely. Even if I’m wrong and she’s not
your mate, she needs a friend to help her through. You have the
added benefit of being the wolf who changed her. Maybe you can
help.”

Kat might have left the pack, but at the
thought of never seeing her again, of having saved her life only to
be the cause of her death, his stomach clench painfully. “Where is
she now?”

“I sent her to Daniel Greyborn.”

He frowned, “Why him?”

He t liked the guy, but the idea of Kat
turning to anyone else, galled him. Daniel had originally been a
part of the Black Paw Pack as an enforcer, until he noticed his
Alpha tendencies and decided to leave. He hadn’t wanted to fight or
challenge Adam, and since two Alphas couldn’t live in one pack
without wanting to tear the crap out of each other, Daniel left.
There was a history between the petite doctor and the leader of the
Grey Beard Pack, not that Mari had ever gone into detail about it.
They hadn’t known each other for long, but it had been Daniel who’d
brought her to the pack. He’d been the one to save her life after
she’d been attacked by a rogue.

“Because I trust that he’ll look after her,”
She answered simply. “Either way, it doesn’t matter where she is,
Adam. Both parts of her are fighting against each other. I think
she needs you to be the bridge between them.”

***

The dizziness had become worse. It hit every
time she opened her eyes. Kat got off the bed, careful to keep a
hand out in case she fell. A man calling himself Philip, had left a
plate of food for her. Kat hadn’t even bothered to open the door
for him. She felt horrible, completely alien in her own skin and
tired of taking it out on people she barely knew and didn’t deserve
it.

She picked up a roll of bread, taking a bite.
It tasted like cardboard and she spat it out. Daniel had been
right. Something was wrong with her. She’d spent her life
surrounded by a pack, never dreaming she’d become one of them.
Helping to ease the symptoms of the virus and its impact on the
body and mind had been a major part of her job. A special blend of
soothing herbs and the gentle guidance of the Alpha made that first
transition easier, but she’d never experienced anything like this
even among new shifters. The complete metamorphosis often drained a
person mentally and physically. Going into it weak and unsteady
could make the aftereffects even worse. Instinct and experience
told her that her first shift might be dangerous, if not
deadly.

She glanced over to the mirror that had been
in the room when she moved in and peered at a shadow of her former
self. Maybe Daniel was right and she needed to see the pack doctor,
at least let him have a look at her. It might have had something to
do with the fact she’d started as a witch and witches never became
wolves. Kat feared the part of her that connected her to the
Goddess was well and truly dead, killed by a beast she couldn’t see
and didn’t want.

Kat picked up a hair band and braided her
hair. It wouldn’t do any good if she turned up at the doctor’s
resembling someone who’d been dragged through a hedge backward.
Restless energy filled her body, making it hard for her to sit
still, and the vertigo was like a guest who didn’t know when to
leave. One way or another she’d shift tonight. The thought scared
the hell out of her. She didn’t want to face it with strangers. She
wanted the normalcy of her own pack. The bonds she’d created with
them. She closed her eyes…she wanted Adam. Anger still flared when
she thought of him. After weeks without his teasing and his easy
manner, she missed him more than she hated him.

She walked toward the main part of the
compound. Essentially the Grey Beard and the Black Paw were run
similarly. The only difference, the Grey Beards didn’t have a
witch. They lived close enough to town that if they needed
anything, all they had to do was jump in a car or shift and run the
rest of the way. Kat had learned all of that on her first night.
There were other rules concerning general pack life, of course, but
Daniel promised to tell her about them after her first shift.

She reached a corner when she heard the Alpha
and another man talking. For a second she pushed past the waves of
pain. She knew that voice. When she peeked around the corner, her
heart twisted at the sight of him. His face remained turned away,
but she’d seen that broad back plenty of times as he sauntered out
of her shop. Her head swam and her pulse raced out of control at
the sight of him. She stomped down the urge to run to him, to bury
her face in the warmth of his neck and breathe his scent deep. She
wanted that as much as she needed air. A strange entity prowled in
her head, pushing to be free, and the image of Adam’s inner animal
flashed through her head. Reining in the impulses, human as well as
animalistic, she turned back the way she’d come. Her wolf howled in
annoyance, recognizing her true Alpha and demanding to go to him.
An internal battle raged inside of her, leaving Kat weak and
breathless.

What’s he doing here?

I don’t care. Go to him
.

No, she growled at herself. The first sign of
going nuts, talking to yourself, but that was really the least of
her problems.

“Adam, it’s been too long.”

Adam reached out and shook Daniel’s hand.
There was no mistaking the sincerity in the other man’s words or
the strength in his grip.

“What brings you to this side of the
mountain?”

“Mari told me about Kat. I thought I’d come
and see if I could help. How’s she doing?”

The other Alpha gave him a worried smile.
“Has she always been so…?”

“Stubborn? Yeah, but I’ve always liked that
about her.”

Daniel moved away, leaving Adam to follow as
he walked deeper into the compound. “None of us have any clue as to
what’s wrong with her, but somehow her body is rejecting the
change. Mari told me her theory. Have you come to see if it’s
true?”

“I’m not so sure how I can help, but I’m
going to try. Unless she takes off the minute she knows I’m here.
I’m not her favorite person these days.”

“She misses you.”

Hope blossomed in his chest but he kept his
questions to himself. They might have been friends a lifetime ago,
but he had no intention of showing weakness to a rival Alpha. There
had been a time when he wanted Daniel as his beta, but in the end
he’d offered the role to William. Daniel had left the pack and
started his own.

Adam was impressed. He’d taken a good look as
he’d approached the compound. His old friend had borrowed the
farming idea from the Black Paw Pack, obviously a lot harder
without an Earth witch. Then again, they were a lot closer to a
town. They just had to work harder to pretend to be like everyone
else.

“Kat, can you let us in, please?” Daniel
knocked on the door to a small cabin, but when he opened the door
to an empty room, Adam’s fears were proven true. The wolf inside of
him, so close to the full moon, howled in frustration. To be so
close to seeing her, then to be robbed of it…he needed to claim
what was his, his mate. They belonged together. He’d never be
complete without her.

He kept a tight lid on his reaction but the
urge to shift, to track her down, nearly overran reason. “Where
would she have gone?”

***

Pain ripped through her as she stumbled over
a tree stump. Hadn’t he screwed her life up enough? Did he really
have to come and see her at her lowest, as well? She tried to stay
on her feet, but as every stab of agony hit her, she fought to keep
standing. Before he’d noticed her, she’d run for the mountains,
stopping only when she found a cave to hide in. She collapsed and
curled up on herself. He couldn’t see her like this. If only he’d
stayed with the pack, forgotten about her, he would have remembered
her as strong.

“Kat?”

Her soul called out for him. “Go away,
Adam.”

She could hear him getting closer. The heavy
footsteps were probably deliberate, so he didn’t startle her.
Suddenly he dropped to his knees beside her, and she snarled at
him. The movement caused pain to rip through her and she
gasped.

“Let me help you.”

She held tightly to her anger even as it
slowly dissolved with the sound of his voice. “Leave me alone,
please. Haven’t you done enough? You have to see me like this as
well?”

“Damn it, Kat. You could die.”

She rolled onto her back, blinking tears
away. He sounded frustrated, angry, and powerless. Like the night
that he’d come to her and told her about William. She missed him so
much, even when she hated him.