~ CARA ~
At the curb just outside my dorm, I stood at the back of the SUV, the exhaust from the running car swirling around my knees, staring at Purrkins in the broken down pet carrier. He stared back at me, his body curled low and small, meowing his protest.
Rig stood right behind my shoulder because he'd been about to get my bag for me, and I moved so he couldn't reach it.
“I don't know what to do,” I blurted.
“I told you, Cara, I’ll take him. Just tell me what he needs and I’ll make it happen.”
I turned on him then, because it was so unfair that he kept pretending this was just… nothing. “He needs a bed, and food, and water, a litter-box, toys, flea-treatments an
~ RIG ~ I started the drive home like the car was on fire. Natalie wasn’t scared, she knew my wolf reflexes wouldn’t misjudge the road, but she cleared her throat about six blocks down the road. “You remember you have a little passenger in the back who’s probably already traumatized?” she asked quietly. For a split second I thought she meant herself and I was going to snap at her—but then the cat gave a tiny little meow. Fuck. I took my foot off the accelerator and let the car ease up to a more responsible speed. But I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. If I said anything to Natalie it wasn’t going to be pretty. I knew she wasn’t the reason the wolves hated humans. She wasn’t
~ RIG ~I swung by the 24-Hour big box store and cleaned out their pet section with everything Cara had listed, plus a few extras that Natalie suggested.By the time we reached the packhouse it was almost three in the morning, so I was surprised to see lights on in the living room, and even more surprised when I walked in the door and all my brothers were there, and awake.“What’s going on?” I asked them. Had something else happened? We’d been out of range for most of the night and I hadn’t linked when I’d gotten close enough. Had that been a mistake?Charlie and Jack were on the couch playing a video game, but they’d paused it the moment I walked in.Mack, dressed in nothing but paja
~ RIG ~The next morning when I woke, I rolled over and groaned. There was a warm pressure on my leg. But when I moved it lifted immediately and a light thud told me that the cat had obviously joined me on the bed, but wasn’t yet ready to meet.I sat up, but it must have run back into its cage, because it was nowhere to be seen, though the room stank of it.I’d gotten everything set out for it the night before, and spent an hour reading Google articles about how to settle a cat in, but nothing seemed to work. He hadn’t wanted to come out of the cage, and the one time I reached in, I paid for it with blood.So, I’d given up and gone to sleep, planning to figure it out today.I got dressed, then got down
~ CARA ~As the windows of the library began to turn dark, I sat back in my chair and sighed. I’d read the same paragraph five times and not a word of it was getting in.I was stuck behind the desk because I was the only staff member on—there was some big sports game this evening and everyone was going. Only the most diligent students were in the library this evening, and they didn’t need me.I’d barely slept, but was surprisingly alert. I’d hunted all night, driven forward into the shadowed trees, but clueless on what I was hunting. Every sound, every smell… it was like it called to my body. I couldn’t stop. But eventually the sun had risen and I’d returned to my room, tired and frustrated.When I woke just before lunch,
~ CARA ~“Cara—”His voice twanged in my stomach like a guitar string. I shoved the feeling down deep, denying it. “You are holding me hostage at my job, Rig. That’s not fair. It’s completely fucked.”He was quiet for a second. “I… I didn’t mean to do that.”“Leave. Now. Or I’m calling security.”The statement had echoes of that first time we met. I meant it even more now than I had then, and for some reason, that thought wanted to break my heart.There was a heavy sigh on the other side of the door, another light thump like he’d flattened a hand against the door.
~ RIG ~ The days following the party were some of the hardest, and most frustrating of my life. And the nights were some of the simplest pleasures I’d ever experienced. Whatever was happening to Cara, she was giving over to the change. She’d clearly stopped resisting—or maybe the urges had just become too strong for her. I wasn’t sure. All I knew was, every night I waited in the woods as Ralf, and every night she came out and we spent hours searching the woods. I kept the guys on call and nearby, ready to shift, in case we crossed paths with the Night Walker—because it became clear very early on that that was who she searched for so diligently. And that worked for me. It was a relief to hunt and watch over Cara at the same time. And it gave me a chance to watch her blossom.
~ RIG ~ I was in the kitchen staring into the fridge and considering a beer—maybe that would ease this relentless tugging in my chest—when the doorbell rang. Jack opened the door, and the wind that blew inside sent the hair on the back of my neck to attention again. Natalie. She’d been a lot more quiet since all of this began. A lot more like the old Natalie who could be authentic, and sweet, and funny as hell. But my neck still itched every time she was near. I knew we needed to keep up appearances—I’d told her to make sure we didn’t go more than a day without seeing each other. But it still rankled. This wasn’t the female I yearned for, and that was becoming harder and harder to hide. I grabbed a coke instead of the be
~ RIG ~After Natalie left I found myself just standing there for a while, trying to tease apart all the threads of danger that were currently trying to choke me and Cara. But I was distracted by a scuttling behind me.Beans, body low and parallel to the ground, with head stooped and ears flat was darting along the wall, every inch of his body fluid and quivering at the same time. He was shaking.“Whassup, Beans?” I asked him quietly, but he only tucked his butt and hurried to the carrier, poking his nose at the little gated door like he wanted to get in.“Hey, hey, let’s relax—” I took a step towards him, but he spat and whipped himself around the carrier, hunching behind it. But when I moved closer he gave a strange yeowl, then strea