Her Wolf

Chapter 9

The next afternoon Catherine woke up to the sound of her cell phone vibrating furiously off of her nightstand and she emitted a tired yawn. Her eyes were still blurry and swollen from crying herself to sleep. The last time Catherine remembered looking at the clock, it had just registered three in the morning and it was at that moment she knew sleep wouldn’t come easy.

Catherine’s features shifted painfully as her muscles screamed out in protest with her every movement. The events of last night hadn’t been something that only happened in a nightmare, it actually happened to her and now her body was reacting to the turmoil.

“Fifteen new messages?” Catherine said as she managed to pull her phone off of the table.

Jess had been calling and texting Catherine repeatedly since eight in the morning and as Catherine perused the messages, she realized just how worried Jess was. She wasn’t acting as an assistant wondering where her boss was, she was acting as a worried friend.

“Sorry, I’m not feeling very good today. I’m going back to sleep. Forward all of my calls to voicemail and hold all meetings and emails,” Catherine typed out her text and sent it back to Jess before she dropped her phone back to the table and closed her eyes.

The sound of rustling from Catherine’s kitchen caught her attention as soon as she laid back down and she jolted upwards, her eyes widened with fear. The idea that Alan had survived the fight last night crossed Catherine’s mind and she began to wonder if she had forgotten to lock her door. If he had found out where she lived, he could easily be there waiting to finish her off.

“Hello…?” Catherine called out hesitantly as she reached for her phone, ready to dial 911 in a flash.

“It’s just me,” the familiar sound of Ryan’s voice bellowed throughout the space and Catherine released a sigh of relief.

With everything that had happened the night before, she wasn’t sure she was ready to see Ryan. Though she was relieved it wasn’t an unknown intruder in her apartment, a part of her felt scared that Ryan was standing in her kitchen. Essentially, he had attacked her. Though she had no idea if he even remembered, or if she had gotten so caught up in the moment that she confused Alan for him.

Ryan’s footsteps resonated off of the walls as he made his way into Catherine’s bedroom with a tray of what looked to be breakfast. He cautiously sat down at the edge of her bed and set the tray on the floor beside them. He was there to take care of her.

The breakfast Ryan made consisted of a cup of coffee, a cup of tea, some oatmeal with fresh berries and some toast with jam.

“I figured you would need something to eat,” he said quietly, refusing to look in Catherine’s direction. “Though you’re probably not going to want anything too heavy.”

“Why are you here?” Catherine asked, ignoring the fact that he was even making an effort.

“I needed to make sure you were okay,” he replied, his eyes still not meeting hers. “Though I guess that’s probably a pretty stupid assumption.”

“You’re right, it is,” she said flatly. “Because I’m not okay. I’m stiff, I’m sore, I’m probably going to be traumatized for the rest of my life because of this. You… you almost killed me, Ryan.”

Ryan’s body stiffened as soon as Catherine’s words left her mouth. She wasn’t one that held back when she had something to say and while a part of her understood that it might not be what Ryan wanted to hear, it was the truth. And sometimes the truth hurt.

“I know,” Ryan whispered as he reluctantly turned his gaze to meet Catherine’s. “I’ll never be able to apologize enough for that. I wish I had the capability of controlling myself when I turn, but I don’t. But there’s something you should know.”

“And what’s that?”

“It wasn’t my control that stopped me last night,” Ryan admitted. “It was the way I feel for you. When I saw the fear and the hurt in your eyes, it triggered the humanity buried deep down inside of me and it pulled me forward. I was able to realize what I was doing and leave long enough for you to get away. It made me realize I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I hurt you.”

There was an awkward silence that filled the room as Catherine took the time to properly mull over Ryan’s words. She was in no way prepared to let go of everything that happened the night before, but she knew by the tone in Ryan’s voice he was telling the truth and she knew she could forgive him.

“So the reason you haven’t touched me in over three weeks isn’t because you’re no longer interested?” She asked carefully.

“What?” Ryan said in astonishment. “No, that wasn’t it at all. I should have talked to you about it beforehand, but I wanted to keep as much distance as possible. I didn’t want to put you in more danger with Alan. If he knew just how close we were getting, he would have found a way to hurt you before the stroke of the first full moon. I’ve wanted you every second out of every day.”

The smile that spread across Catherine’s face lit up the room and it caused Ryan to mirror her expression and elicit a solid laugh. Though Catherine was in pain, it became significantly less when Ryan admitted his feelings for her. It became everything she didn’t even know she wanted to hear.

“What about Alan?”

“Neither one of us will ever have to worry about him again,” Ryan replied as he eased in to stroke the apple of Catherine’s cheek. “I promise you that. Everything is going to work out and you’ll never have to experience something like what happened last night again.”

Catherine shifted her weight in order to envelope Ryan in a tight hug. His body was warm against hers and though his body looked tired and defeated, Catherine knew that on the much larger scale, they had both won.

“Do you promise?”

“Oh, baby, I promise.”

A small and mellifluous laugh escaped Catherine’s mouth as she pulled back and offered Ryan a perked brow. “Baby?”