Chapter 3 Kitty Kat
The other two wolves whimpered in the background. We watched them with crazed expressions on our faces and stood up high, puffing our chests out, with all the strength we could muster. The remaining rogues howled loudly and painfully and galloped off into the distance.
We lay back down on the ground for a moment, panting and covered in blood, the rogue’s blood, and mine. Indigo was trying to heal our injury, but it was quite significant, and it would take time. More time than we had. We were vulnerable out here on our own. So we painstakingly did our best to hobble our way back to White Pine.
We stopped to rest on multiple occasions. We were losing a lot of blood, and unsure how much longer we were going to last in this state. Indigo could sense that we weren’t too far off the White Pine pack perimeter, but we were so lightheaded, and our vision was now blurring. We were still too far away to mind-link our pack members.
We continued to hobble along to the best of our ability until we couldn’t move a step further, and we finally succumbed to the darkness.
I awoke to a shaking sensation. I opened my eyes to find Maxine looking at me with concern etched across her face.
“Kat, I could kill you. Why did you run off like that?” Max yelled at me while attacking me with her hands. “We’ve been searching everywhere for you!”
I registered the searing pain in my left leg. I gasped out loud, attempting to sit up.
“Lay back, don’t move!” Max called out impatiently to me, looking highly unimpressed.
“You have a nasty gash on your leg. Hold on while we move you to the stretcher,” Maxine instructed.
I lay back. I knew better than to argue with Max when she was in one of these moods. That and I was so weak and dizzy. I closed my eyes again and faded away into unconsciousness.
The next time I opened my eyes, I was in the pack hospital. I was attached to a bag of fluids, an intravenous line inserted in my hand, and a cuff on my arm. A nurse was hovering over me with a syringe in her hand. I didn’t even have time to ask what she was doing when she jabbed my arm with the syringe. I winced slightly, looking at her with confusion etched on my face.
“Relax, it’s just a tetanus shot. You were overdue,” she replied while moving on to her next task of checking my blood pressure.
Well, at least I will sleep easy tonight, knowing that I won’t die of tetanus today.
Sitting myself up in the hospital bed, I looked at the wall in search of a clock. There wasn’t a clock in this room. I did not know what time of the day or night it was, or how long I had been out. Although I was now feeling well-rested and somewhat energetic.
Hopefully, Indigo was healing my wound, and I could get out of this place as soon as possible. There was somewhere I needed to be. I needed to speak with Jake. I knew from the moment he had claimed his mate in front of everyone that it was it for us. But I just wanted to get some closure, not to mention get the official rejection over with. I was not looking forward to that at all. But I knew it needed to happen.
“We will be OK. It will hurt. But I will take as much of the pain away as possible,” Indigo courageously vowed.
“It’s OK, I can handle this. This was my foolish mistake, not yours, Indigo. You warned me more than once,” I said to my wolf counterpart.
“Everything happens for a reason, Katya,” Indigo offered.
A knock at the door distracted me from my pity party. “Come in,” I called out. I assumed my parents were here to scold me for my idiocracy, running out of pack territory like that, putting myself in danger, etc.
But it wasn’t my parents, nor was it Max. It was Jake, of all people. I gasped out loud, as I was not expecting to see him so soon.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he said with a grin on his face, winking at me, and waltzing in as if nothing had happened.
It was like he was pulling at my heartstrings. It was not okay to talk to me like that anymore, not when he had found his fated mate.
Not phased by my shocked expression, he kissed me on my forehead; I pulled away, as much as I could, being stuck in a hospital bed.
“What are you doing?” I asked, in frustration.
“Kissing my mate,” he replied with an air of smugness and arrogance about him.
He sat on my bed and positioned himself next to me. I moved over a little. Watching his actions and feeling a little annoyed at his nonchalance, I couldn’t help but get angry.
“You claimed your fated mate last night!” I shot back at him. “In front of the entire pack!”
“My fated mate, yes, but you are my chosen mate,” he replied, a hint of deviousness clear on his face.
“What!” I snapped back, feeling myself getting riled up, folding my arms in front of me, an unimpressed look on my face.
“Jake, it breaks my heart to say this, but just reject me already!” I blurted out, desperately trying to hold back my tears.
“Kitty Kat,” he called out in a condescending tone. It was surreal that something that I once considered cute now made me irritated.
“Don’t call me that, ever again!” I said, raising my voice, a rogue tear escaping from my eyes.
“Everything okay in here?” A nurse called out in concern upon entering the room.
“No, Jake was just leaving!” I demanded, looking away from the man I loved.
He grabbed my wrist to get my attention. I looked back at him and was startled to see he was no longer in control.
With a look of anger spreading across his face, I saw Brute’s presence as his eyes darkened. And just as quickly as that happened, Jake regained control again.
“We’re not finished here!” he threatened.
“Excuse me, Beta, but Katya needs her rest,” she said, bowing her head respectfully.
“I’ll be back later, Kitty Kat,” he promised, storming out of the room.
What in the hell was that? I wondered.
