Chapter 38

Shemika slipped into Caturix’s clothes. She didn’t mind the oversized shirt that hung on her like a dress. In fact, she found it comforting. She’d never been petite or delicate, but his clothes made her feel that way. She cinched the drawstrings on his pants until they hugged her waist, but she still had to roll up the pant legs.

Getting dressed didn’t take long. Soon, she was cocooned in Caturix’s blanket, preserving his scent, and perched on the edge of her bed. She was waiting for Caturix to finish his shower. He needed to wash away ~her~ scent.

For some reason, he seemed furious. Absolutely livid. He’d recoiled from her with a look of intense rage, then he’d flung his clothes at her and stormed off. Every word he’d uttered since he’d pulled away from her had been sharp and cruel. She couldn’t figure out what she’d done to upset him.

After a while, longer than she’d expected Caturix to take, the water stopped running. She heard him moving around in the bathroom and it quickly became clear that the shower hadn’t improved his mood. The sounds of slamming cabinet doors and muttered curses reached her.

Soon, he emerged, a cloud of steam trailing behind him. He was dressed in dark denim jeans and a black long-sleeve shirt. His hair was wild and wet, sticking out in all directions. She liked the length and longed to run her fingers through it.

His eyes hardened when he saw her. They’d often softened, but now he was becoming distant.

So, that was it. She was certain he’d keep his promise and take her to town for a day, but when they returned to Rurik…she guessed he’d want to part ways. There was no other explanation for his cold, detached behavior.

Shemika lifted her chin defiantly. ~Then so be it~. She didn’t need him and if he wanted to part, she’d be perfectly fine. He didn’t have to be a jerk about it though. Shemika could at least be civil. She was a grown woman.

Caturix slipped his feet into black boots and moved to collect his duffel bag from beside the foot of her bed. It seemed as though he was deliberately avoiding her gaze. It thoroughly annoyed her.

“So you’ll stay in the blanket and I’ll carry you through Rurik until we exit the pack territory,” he said, his back to her. The insensitive oaf. “You can walk the rest of the way. Since your lycan senses are dimmed, I’ll be in charge of guiding us to town without entering any other territory.”

Oh, so he just thought she was useless. She said nothing but felt her good mood fading. She was trying to be happy and excited for her visit to town, but he was ruining it.

Caturix turned off her lights and moved to the window. He glanced back at her, and for a moment, she thought she saw a softening, but it was quickly replaced by a look of burning anger. He gestured for her to approach and opened his arms to lift her.

She hesitated for a moment, but the thought of losing her chance to visit the human town overpowered her disappointment at his cold responses. She moved from the bed and crossed the room to join him by the window. She placed her hand in his outstretched palm and ignored the rightness of the union.

Caturix wrapped the blanket more tightly around her head and lifted her easily into his arms. He balanced her in one arm before unlatching the window and slipping out into the darkness. He moved with an uncanny speed and silence, not a single leaf crunching beneath his feet.

He didn’t attempt to make conversation as they journeyed, just continued through the shadows, avoiding patrols, as though he’d done it many times before.

Shemika shivered as the night air whistled through the trees and pulled the blanket closer around her body. She buried her face in Caturix’s chest to keep her nose warm and noticed his arms tighten around her. ~Strange~.

He paused after a while and froze.

She leaned away from him to look at his face. His ears twitched, his pupils dilated, and his breathing stopped. Then he set her down with a finger to his lips and a tense look in his eyes.

She stumbled slightly as she found her footing and watched as he took off as fast as he could in a different direction. When he disappeared from view, she moved as quietly as she could to a fallen tree trunk. She sat behind it and hunkered down as the wind blew harder.

She’d thought the night was cold before. She’d been mistaken. She’d been wrapped up in Caturix’s blanket and enveloped by his warmth. Now she was exposed and chilled to the bone no matter how tight she pulled the blanket around her.

She tried to stay silent, but her teeth began chattering noisily and her hair whipped around her face. She tried to pull the strands out of her mouth and remain still but she couldn’t hear Caturix. She didn’t have the heightened abilities that a lycan should have.

Shemika rested her head against the rough bark of the fallen tree and let out a long sigh, watching as her icy breath danced in front of her, lit by the light of the moon. She waited a long time, but Caturix still didn’t return.

She let out another long sigh and looked up at the crescent in the sky and frowned. Many wolves, including her mother, believed the moon to really be Mother Luna. Whereas Shemika didn’t even really think Mother Luna existed. She’d never voiced the blasphemous opinion, but wholly believed it to be true.

“You couldn’t possibly exist,” she whispered into the night, half expecting to be struck down where she hid. After a few minutes, she continued, “If you existed, why was I born to Mileva?”

The night remained silent, save for the whistling of the wind.

“If you existed, why was I subjected to Dancescu like some plaything? Why are women both worshipped because we’re facing extinction, but also passed around like toys? Why must we hide in the woods? Why have I spent my entire life surrounded by other wolves but-but…lonely?” She breathed out the final word. What had she been expecting? An answer from a deity?

She sighed again and wondered where Caturix had gone off to. “Cat,” she called out in a sing-songy voice, hoping to bring him back to her. She waited a while before calling out to him again.

Finally, a twig snapped and Shemika grinned, expecting to see Cat. She stood from where she’d been hiding with a sweet smile that quickly faded.

“Oh, my—” Her cry was cut off as a hand clamped over her mouth, pressing her back against the trunk of a nearby tree. She was quickly covered by an immense weight, pinned against a tree, utterly breathless.