Winter Wolf(54)

“OUT!” she yelled at the man who’d made her, yet had no right to claim the title ‘father’.

Bass was beside her a moment later. “Katalina, calm down,” he whispered.

But it was too late for that. She’d been bottling her rage, her sorrow, her confusion for too long and now it burst from her like a raging storm: savage and unrelenting.

“I said GET OUT!” Her eyes glanced at Arne, who lay unmoving in the snow. “What did you do?”

Jackson looked behind him. “Oh, he’ll be—” His words blew out of him, along with his breath. Katalina was shocked by how far he stumbled from her push, but it didn’t stop her attack. She screamed as she hit him. He fell back, hitting the porch with a thud, looking at her in complete shock.

“How dare you!” Jackson rumbled, his eyes flashing with anger.

His words only enraged her more. She went as if to leap onto him but found arms pinning her back.

“Katalina, no!” Bass’s words didn’t reach her. She could think of nothing but ripping Jackson to shreds. “Kat, please.” Bass trapped her against the wall.

Katalina felt the roll of pain signaling the change, her body shuddered.

“Kat, stop!” Jackson growled. She felt the power of the alpha in his voice, but she brushed it off, a scream converting to a snarl ripping from her throat.

“You can’t control me!” she spat, her body trembling. Not even caring what her grandmother thought—who still stood frozen against the wall—she couldn’t think beyond the red haze of anger.

“Kat, look at me!”

Katalina glanced at Bass, his voice strained, sweat covering his forehead. She stopped struggling immediately. She was hurting him, but it didn’t stop her wolf from wanting out, from wanting to sink teeth into Jackson. She shook her head, her hands, and her skin on fire. Her body felt too tight. This mask needed to come off; she needed to let her wolf out.

“Not now, Katalina,” he whispered to her.

“I…I can’t control it.” Her skin broke out in sweat, breathing became difficult; she was so close to changing, so close to revealing who she really was.

“Yes, you can. Look at me, Katalina. Look at me. Feel me.”

His voice was low and hypnotic. Staring into the endless depths of his starlit eyes, she relaxed. Where once had been anger, there was love; his feelings ran through her, breaking the hold of her wolf. She let out a shuddering breath, ready to face Jackson.

“You need to leave,” she said each word slowly.

Jackson’s eyes darted from Bass to her. “What have you done?” he yelled, stepping back inside the house. “I’ll kill you for this!” he directed at Bass.

Katalina was trembling again. She took a step toward Jackson. “I said LEAVE! Leave before you do even more damage!”

“I-I think you should do as she says… Or-or I’ll call the police,” her grandmother stammered, looking frightened.

Katalina was a tight ball of anger, ready to uncoil and spring at a second’s notice. She stared unblinking at Jackson, feeling the unease within him grow.

“You shouldn’t be able to do that. I’m your alpha,” Jackson said to Katalina in disbelief. Jackson was an alpha. His command should have stuck, but Katalina had never viewed Jackson this way.

“No. You. Are. Not!”

He looked at her a second longer before backing out the door. Katalina’s grandmother rushed to shut it but his arm blocked the way.

“Regardless of what you think of me, Katalina, we do need to talk. Whether you want to address our issues or not, it’s not safe here for you anymore.”

When Katalina didn’t answer, he removed his arm and vanished into the night.

They all stood in silence staring at nothing.

“Arne!” Katalina gasped, rushing for the door.

“Kat, he might still be out there. Shall we call the police?” Her grandmother looked as white as a sheet.

“He’s gone, Gram. Go sit down.”

She rushed toward her dog. “Arne,” she whispered, her hands lightly touching him.

“Is he breathing?”

Kat looked up over her shoulder. Bass stood protectively over her, his eyes darting one way and the next.

“Y-yes.”

“I can’t smell blood. Pick him up and take him inside.”

Katalina did as he said. He followed at her back, a constant watchful presence.

The moment her grandmother saw them, the questions started. “Katalina, who was that? What did he want? What does he mean ‘it’s not safe’? I don’t understand any of this… Why were you so mad, Kat? I I’ve never seen you that way.”

Katalina and Bass’s eyes locked.