Wolf Love Ch 02

Woah. You guys are so awesome! Lovin' the feedback! I was especially nervous about this considering I am a first time writer. I made the first chapter short and to the point so I could see how you guys felt. I'm going to try to go more in depth now since I've got such awesome comments. So in this chapter, you'll see more of Katrina's past.

Enjoy as always!

- Pink

P.S. there's no sex in this chapter, but in later chapters there will definitely be some steamy scenes and sex (;

Also I'm using apostrophes to show thoughts or telepathic thoughts.

ex. 'This human is crazy.' thought Charlotte.

February 10th, 2007

I had chosen to run away on the day before my 18th birthday. I don't really know why. I guess I sort of felt like I wanted to know I did something I should have done long ago before it became my right to do so.

So here it was. That special day once in a year where kids have cake and presents to celebrate making it through yet another year of existence. I had packed my bag and set it by the basement door, where I usually left for work from.

Work. The only reason my foster parents kept me. They needed the extra income. I did go to school, I was actually pretty smart. I could have graduated a year earlier if my "parents" had just listened to me. They had zero love for me, but I was ok with that, because I didn't love them either. They didn't abuse me, but they didn't talk to me or care about me unless I went to give them my salary. I knew their names, Fred and Lil. But I didn't even know if they remembered my name. Not like that mattered anymore, because I was leaving for good.

So I left. I didn't even turn back to look at the place I had called home. But it was never really my home, was it?

Soon I started to feel anger. Anger towards them and myself. Why had I let myself be treated like that for a whole year? And why was I just leaving? I should have left months ago.

I wish I could go back to Marie. I missed Marie so much; every time I thought about her it brought tears to my eyes. Marie, my first foster mother. She was everything a mother should be and more. She cared about me, loved me, and taught me how to be who I am today. But one day, after school, I came home and found Marie wasn't there. I waited for a day before I decided to call the police. They said that they would look for her, but in the meantime, I needed to go to another foster family. I fought hard. I didn't want to go anywhere until I knew what happened to Marie.

Marie had been killed they found out. Apparently a robber tried to rob our house, but Marie fought him. It was decided I was to be put into another foster home. I refused, so they forced me. Forced me into a new family who didn't love me, or care about me.

I quickly pushed those thoughts out of my head. They weren't going to help me accomplish anything. I guided my thoughts towards my plans, and thought about how much money I had.

I had been saving for this day, and had managed to scrap up a good thousand dollars. Fred was good at keeping track of my salaries to make sure I didn't cheat him of anything. But I occasionally got a raise, which Fred was unaware of. So I kept that extra money for myself.

While walking I considered my plans. I had thought to just get on the bus and head to the north end of Boston. There must be some jobs in that huge city, I thought. Merrimac was pretty close to the city so I didn't think it would take long. I found the bus stop and got on the bus. While on the bus I took out a newspaper I had gotten from a stall and looked for job openings. There were a bunch of waitress openings, and I decided to go for one of those.

I had never been a waitress, but I was a quick study. I thought about enrolling in school to get my high school diploma, but it wasn't going to be difficult to get. 'One less thing to worry about,' I thought. But now came the question of where to live.

Suddenly, I felt someone nudge my shoulder. I jumped. It was the bus driver.

"Miss, this is the last stop." He said gently, as if he knew how tense and scared I was.

"Th-thanks." I managed to stutter out. He smiled and moved out of the way, letting me get by. I scurried off the bus and he waved goodbye. I smiled at him, amazed at how kind a stranger had acted. My hopes were high. I was more than determined to get a job, find a place to stay, and get on in life.

Finding a job was harder than I thought. I had been looking for a good month and no one was willing to take me. I wasn't shocked, I didn't really have any experience and I was only 17 at the time.

I ran out of money quick too. So, I did what I had to. I stole. I was never proud of it, but it got me by.

One day on a whim I decided to try one more time for a waitress job. I found the address of one of the places I saw in the newspaper recently with a waitress job opening. It was a nice looking restaurant. I went in and walked up to the counter. A pretty blonde in a maroon dress smiled at me. I felt out of place in my torn jeans and sweatshirt. Fred and Lil only gave me necessities, like underwear, bra's, and a couple pairs of shirts and pants, and a sweatshirt. Other than that, everything was a luxury.

"Hi, I'm Katrina, here for the waitress job opening?" I said.

"Hi Katrina! I'm Maira. And I'm also the manager at this restaurant so I'll be doing your interview too. Why don't we go in the back and get your interview started?" the blonde said smiling.

I nodded, smiling too, and followed her in the back. She was gentle and caring, and just radiated happy. She also had the most peculiar purple eyes, unlike any color I have ever seen before.

I got the job. Eventually she asked about where I live, and I just couldn't answer that question.

"Why don't you come live with me?" she said with a kind smile.

I was shocked. How could this stranger just invite me in without a care?

" Aren't you afraid I'll like... kill you in your sleep or something?" I said.

She broke out laughing. Not just for a couple seconds, for minutes. Her laughter was contagious and I began laughing too. Maira just kept laughing and gave me a hug. I accepted the hug and a tear fell down my cheek. At that time, I knew I had just made a friend for life.

~~~

"Katrina, we're werewolves."

Yeah right they were werewolves.

"Right, because if you guys are werewolves, then my mother was a virgin."

The big guy whose name I didn't know started chuckling. I shot him a glare and he gave me an amused smiled. That was it. I decided enough was enough and that I was getting out of this mad house right now. I got up and headed towards the door. Charlotte gave Adam and Eva a look and they both left. I really could have cared less. I didn't make it two steps before Charlotte was in front of me.

"Katrina, please, you must listen to us." said Charlotte with a strong tone.

I don't even know why, but that order ticked me off. Who was SHE to tell me what to and what not to do?

"You can't tell me what to do Charlotte. Let me go." I said all the while glaring at her.

Charlotte looked frustrated not to mention angry and shocked as well. I think what bothered her is that I held her glare instead of submitting. Well that was too bad, because I had decided to make this as difficult as possible.

"I don't know how to deal with humans, Keith." she said to the big man. He chuckled, moved to her and held her hand saying, "None of us really do, love. It's been a long time since we've had an accident with a human." Okay, I was really done with all this nonsense of referring to me as human and werewolf crap.

I saw an opportunity and decided to make a run for it. I ran past Charlotte and Keith to the doors behind them and actually managed to turn the knob. But I felt someone else turning it too and on the other side was a smiling Adam. And in his hand was a syringe. Oh hell no. Now I went into full panic mode.

"Adam, stay back." I warned. I took one step back and hit Keith's hard body. He grabbed me and got me still so Adam could inject me with god knows what. My injured body was in pain because of all my struggling, but I wouldn't stop. I screamed and fought but Adam got me with the syringe. I remember seeing concern on Adam's face before falling to the blackness again.

~~~

I woke up to sunlight streaming down onto my face. I looked around and noticed I wasn't in the hospital room anymore. I nervously looked around and jumped out of bed. I was beginning to freak out again when Eva popped in.

"Good Morning Katrina! I heard you move around and thought I'd pop in to say hi." She said gently as she cautiously approached me.

'Great, now everyone thinks I'm so crazy that they have to be cautious around me. As if I'd ever hurt Eva. She's been nothing but nice to me.' I thought. I sat back on the bed and put my hands on my head. When was I going to get out of here...?

"Don't worry Katrina, Charlotte will explain everything. Why don't we go downstairs, eat some breakfast, and then go talk with Charlotte and Keith?"

I nodded and followed her down the hall. I was nervous. I didn't know what was going to happen. If they really were werewolves, would they kill me to keep their secret? Or would they force me to live here forever? I was so lost in my thoughts that I bumped into Eva's back. She turned around, looking at me curiously. I blushed and apologized, and berated myself for getting so lost in my thoughts. I looked around and realized we were in some sort of dining hall. There was no one there though except for a few people who were either prepping food or setting tables. The people who were there were staring at me, and sniffing the air. In return Eva gave them all a hard look, and to that they all bowed their heads. At this point I didn't really care what weird things were happening; the food was just calling my name. We walked over to one of the food stations.

"Take as much as you want Katrina." said Eva.

I was actually starving and filled my entire plate. We walked over to a table and dug in. I cleaned my plate in less than 10 minutes. I caught Eva staring at me.

"I was just really hungry..." I trailed off.

"It's like you're already one of us." Eva laughed.

I smiled back, but inside I wasn't feeling too good. When Eva said one of us, she meant werewolf.

Does that mean they would force me to become one? What if I didn't want to be one?

Eva saw that I had gone back to my own little thought world, and realized what she said had a bigger effect than she thought.

After breakfast, Eva led me to another room, which was more like a grand suite. It was simple, with wooden furniture, but beautifully decorated. It almost had a cabin-y feel to it, but more elegant. We went into what looked like an office, and Eva told me to sit down so I sat on a comfy looking chair near the fireplace. I was starting to get nervous again. I heard a door open and turned around to see Keith and Charlotte walking in. I saw Eva bow her head to them and walk out.

'Maybe Keith and Charlotte are the top dogs here,' I thought. I smiled to myself about how clever that was considering they were werewolves and saw Charlotte give me an amused look. I wiped the smile off my face.

"Katrina, why do you insist on being so difficult?" said Charlotte who seemed exasperated.

I actually thought about that long and hard. Why was I being difficult? I mean, if they really were werewolves, chances are they weren't about to let me go back home to tell the entire human population. It would be so much easier if I just believed them. So I decided I would, but I was still going to need some proof.

All this time Charlotte and Keith were staring at me. I sighed, saying, "OK. Fine. I'll be less difficult if you can give me proof that you guys are actually werewolves."

Charlotte looked at Keith and nodded. She got up and started stripping.

"Woah. I was pretty sure I asked for proof that you're a werewolf not a strip tease." I said.

Charlotte simply continued stripping. I covered my face with my hands. What was going on...?

"Katrina, I promise that I won't hurt you OK? You have to trust me on this." I slowly opened one eye and nodded. Charlotte nodded back and I watched in amazement as her body began to transform.

Her limbs popped and her bones moved around under her skin. She fell onto all fours and the fur became visible on her skin. She was a medium, dark, chocolately brown wolf. I was staring with my mouth open. I had always believed that there were other things out there, but now seeing it with my own eyes; I thought I was going to pass out.

The wolf came over to me and I sat completely still. The wolf tilted her head, as if thinking. I was still afraid, 'But this is still Charlotte,' I thought to myself. I bravely moved my hand over to the wolf's head and gently patted it. Charlotte licked my hand and I laughed. The wolf retreated, shifted, and then Charlotte was there again.

"Well that was certainly proof..." I said slightly in disbelief. Keith laughed.

"Katrina, we have quite a bit to discuss. We understand you have a lot of questions, so we'll just start from the beginning." I nodded at Keith and he continued speaking. "You were attacked by a rogue wolf. A rogue wolf is a wolf that has either gone crazy, or decides to live a life without a pack. In your case, you were attacked by a crazy wolf. The crazy wolves lose all humanity and are creatures that make decisions off instinct. This should never have happened to you Katrina. I'm sorry this happened, and I should have taken care of this problem long ago." He said sullenly.

I remembered the attack and shuddered. For a second I did want to blame Keith, but one look at his face and you could tell he truly felt guilty. I smiled sadly at him.

"It's okay. I guess whatever happens happens for the best right?" I said.

Keith nodded and composed himself. He moved on, "We as werewolves have to protect our identity. And we can't let humans who discover us just go back into the population. Can you see where I'm going with this Katrina?"

I nodded solemnly. "I'm staying here aren't I?" a tear falling down my cheek. Keith nodded.

"Katrina, I know this is going to be hard for you, but we are going to try and make this as easy as possible. We want you to be happy here." said Charlotte.

"Well I would be much happier if you would just let me go home..." I mumbled.

"Katrina, you know we can't do that." Keith said.

Rationally thinking, I could see why they did what they did. Humans were loudmouths. If I were in Keith's position, I would probably make the same decision. But it didn't change the fact that I would rather go back home where I could continue my career and see Maira.

Maira. Shit. Would they let me see her at least once? Would she think I left her? Would she look for me?

I took a deep breath. I was going to make the best of this. I decided I was going to get along with Charlotte and Keith, and I was going to contact Maira somehow and tell her something, anything, but just something so she'd knows I'm okay.

~~~

'Should we tell her about finding her mate?' Charlotte asked Keith telepathically while watching Katrina think.

'I don't think so. She seems to be taking it relatively well and I don't want to push it by telling her about finding her a mate just yet. Let's leave her alone and give her some time to think everything over.' Keith replied,

'Alright. I'll tell one of the beta's to keep watch on her though. So we can make sure she doesn't do anything irrational, and also for her protection from all the excite males.' said Charlotte. Keith nodded to her. By that time, a beta was already in the room.

"Katrina." She looked up seemingly startled. "This is Dylan. He'll help accompany you wherever you go for now. If you need anything, ask him or me or Keith. Don't be afraid, Dylan will take you to your room and then you can stay there till lunch. Okay?" said Charlotte.

Katrina nodded and walked out if the room followed by Dylan.

Charlotte sighed. This was tougher than she remembered. It had been years since the Conway pack had to deal with humans.

"I know sweetheart. But I think we did a good job." Keith said while hugging her.

"I think we should give a call over to the Monroe pack. They are always dealing with humans since they live closer to the city. The alpha there could certainly help us be gentler and make the change easier for Katrina." Charlotte said thoughtfully.

"Agreed. I'll give a call over to the alpha Aaron soon. It's been a while since we have met. I sure do miss the guy." said Keith while holding Charlotte.

This human thing was giving him a major headache.