Heart of the Wolf Ch. 05

Catie woke up early the next morning contemplating the dream that she had had last night. 'Was it really a dream? It felt different. Almost real?' she thought to herself, 'What is going on with me?' Maybe it had something to do with the ordeal that she had gone through. What if it was something more than that though? She decided that she needed to talk to someone about it. But who? People would probably think she was insane. Hell, after what had happened, she just might be. She chuckled softly at that last thought as she slowly sat up in bed. She uncovered herself and examined her leg. It actually didn't look as bad this morning. The bruises were still there, but they were fading slightly. She was also happy to find out that it wasn't as painful whenever she touched the bruised areas or when she bent her knee.

After giving herself a chance to wake up, she got up out of bed and straightened out her hospital gown. She needed to remember to ask for some normal clothes today. She slowly walked to the door, opened it, and went out into the quiet hallway. She didn't see or hear anybody, so she assumed that they were still sleeping. Today, she was much more confident in using her leg and although she was slow, it wasn't as painful as it had been. She took that as a good sign as she went down the hallway until she reached the main entrance. No one was out here either so she continued her slow trek towards the opposite hallway that led to the elevator. Once inside she pressed the button for the basement. The elevator ride down was quiet and this time she didn't trip over the ledge when she left. She continued her slow trek towards the hybrid ward, occasionally stopping to rest for a moment before continuing on. Once she reached the hybrid area, she opened the metal door and entered the holding area. She started on the right side of the room and started walking down the line of 10 pens reading off the information that was attached to them. Some of the pens didn't have anything information sheets attached to them. She assumed that they were empty and walked on. When she reached Bailey's pen, she stopped and read the information that was attached to her door.

Bailey (Kato x Mara): Hybrid bitch.
Siblings: Kara, Luka, Ash
Feeding schedule: Morning: Raw meats Evening: High protein kibbles and meat chunks
Scheduled owner: None.
Breeding schedule: None.

When she finished reading, she looked around the pen to see if she could find Bailey. She wasn't anywhere to be seen, so she kept going on towards some of the other pens. All of them seemed to be gone this morning. 'They are probably all outside enjoying the morning air,' Catie thought to herself as she continued walking towards her goal. When she reached the door to the hospital ward, she walked inside and up to Luka's cage. He was sitting up and looking at her today. He looked calmer and more alert than he had the day before. With her animal experience, she knew that that was a good sign.

"Good morning, Luka! You look much better today sweet boy!" she crooned at him. He perked up a little more and started to wag his tail some as well. She slowly sat down on the cold floor and opened up Luka's cage. She reached her hands inside and started petting his head. She then thought about the fact that he was probably hungry and needed to go outside. "Luka, stay here. I'm going to find you something to eat," she said as she shut the door and carefully stood up.

She walked around the hospital ward deciding to tour it and then find out where the food was kept at. The area that she was in was painted an off-white color. On the left side, were observation cages. They were all large sized cages since the hybrids were larger animals. On the right side, were oak cabinets hanging on the walls that contained all of the medications. Underneath them, was a granite counter top that ran the length of the cabinets. Under the countertops, were more cabinets that contained cleaning supplies and drawers that contained miscellaneous supplies like syringes, needles, etc. Inside one of the lower cabinets was a large metal safe that housed the control drugs. It was password locked with a keypad combination. She walked through a door that was at the back of the room and was lead into a hallway. On the right side, were larger runs for less confinement of the hybrids. On the left side, was the surgery room. It was shut by a metal door that had a window in the top to look into the room. She walked into the kennels to see if the food was in there. Against the wall was a large refrigerator and chest freezer. Inside the fridge, were packages of meat that were thawed or in the process of being thawed out. Each one was dated and was in order according to date. She grabbed the oldest piece out of the fridge and walked back towards Luka. When she reached him, she opened the door, set the meat into his cage and backed off. He made quick work of it and was finished eating in no time.

"Good boy, Luka," she crooned at him as he licked the spot where the meat used to be. She opened the cage door and he slowly crawled out and stood up. He stretched and yawned before coming to sit beside Catie. "How do we get you outside?"

"That would be down at the end of the hallway passed the surgery suite," Catie jumped as the voice spoke and she turned around to see a woman standing behind her. She was smaller than Syd and had dark brown hair that matched her chocolate skin. "Thank you for taking care of my patient. I'm Zoey by the way. I'm the veterinarian that works for Kaine and takes care of the hybrids."

"I'm Catie. Nice to meet you," she said as she extended her hand and shook Zoey's.

"Likewise. Anyways, at the end of the hallway is a tunnel that goes up and outside. There's room enough for people to walk through it to. They're actually pretty neat if you haven't checked it out yet."

Catie nodded her head yes and started heading towards the door that lead to the hall. Luka immediately followed. At the end of the hallway, was a wooden door. She pushed it open and there was a sealed tunnel. She pushed the 'Open' button and watched the metal shutters move away from the tunnel. Luka happily walked into the tunnel with Catie slowly following him. Once outside, she noted that the area was fenced in and that there were also metal shutters on this end as well.

She waited for Luka to finish his business before they both walked down the tunnel together. At the bottom, she closed the doors. They walked back up to the hospital area with Luka staying very close to Catie. Once inside, she saw Zoey off to the right taking out some equipment. "Come here," she said to Luka. He slowly walked over to her and stood beside her as she examined him by herself. She checked him everywhere for any signs of remaining trauma. "I don't see anything that is wrong with him. He's probably a little sore, but he should be good to go back home. For now, would you help me move him into one of the bigger hybrid pens?"

Catie shook her head yes and walked toward the door that lead out into the hybrid area. She pushed it open and Zoey lead them to the pen to the left of Bailey. Zoey unlatched the door and Luka walked right inside. He immediately went and laid down on the bed in the center. He stretched a final time before he relaxed and went back to sleep.

"Thank you, Catie."

"No problem. I enjoy helping."

"I could definitely use the help sometimes. Especially, if we have puppies born again. The breeding pairs aren't together right now, but still. You could ask Kaine. I'm sure he wouldn't mind," she said as she smiled at Catie, "Also, you should ask him for some clothes as well. Unless of course, you like walking around in the hospital gown." Catie blushed bright red and just nodded her head. Zoey turned around and went to writing on some paperwork, so Catie took the opportunity to leave and find something to eat for herself.

As she stepped off of the elevator into the hallway, she saw Kaine walking towards her. He was wearing a white tank top that showed off every muscle on his chest and arms, blue jeans that hugged his legs, and was bare foot. She felt butterflies in her stomach and weakness at the sight of him. However, something urged her to go to him. Some internal presence gave her the confidence to move forward and gain his attention. 'What the fuck?' she thought as her body betrayed her fear and walked confidently towards him. He seemed to be chuckling at some inside joke as they came face to face with each other. She hadn't realized how tall he actually was until she had to look up in order to look at his face. He smiled at her and she held her breath and waited for him to speak.

"Good morning, Catie. Where did you go? I just about ordered everyone to tear this mansion apart looking for you," he said trying to hide the slight annoyance in his voice.

"I went down to visit Luka this morning. Sorry that I scared you," she said and lowered her head in shame. 'No!' she screamed mentally, 'What the fuck am I doing? Why do I feel shame? Oh god! I'm crazy!' She managed to fight whatever internal force was manipulating her and looked up defiantly at him. Kaine actually looked surprised some as she looked at his face this time, "I didn't know that I was your prisoner. Next time, could you put me in an orange jumpsuit so that I know?" Hot, white rage oozed from her as she ignored him and her stomach and went back towards her room.

Kaine was stunned and stood stupefied as she left. 'Why is she so mad?' he thought to himself. Then he had seen it. A particular flash in her eyes as she betrayed herself and had started to submit to him. There was a wolf in there and she was starting to very slowly come to. This was very different from what happened to others of his kind. They knew their wolf from birth. They grew and learned together, but that's not what happened with this kind of wolf. This one was suppressed and stayed hidden from its human counterpart until it came into contact with other wolves and mated or until the human became pregnant by another human. Why had it started coming to the surface then? It wasn't mated or maybe it knew. That had to be the case. It knew who their mate was. He decided that he'd better go and try and calm her down. 'I better get her something to eat though,' he said chuckling as he walked into the kitchen.

Catie threw open the door to the hospital room that was hers and was startled to see Dr. Adams in there. "Sorry," she said as she closed the door and walked in.

"Take a seat, Catie," she said as she pointed to the chair nearest the wall. She did as instructed and waited for what was to come. Dr. Adams kneeled down in front of her and lifted the gown up towards her belly. She examined both of her legs, touching various points on each one. She manipulated and bent each leg trying to determine Catie's motion. Catie winced some, but not as much as before. Things seemed better today. "I'm impressed. You're healing well. There's obviously not a fracture or you wouldn't be up and moving around as much as you are. I don't see a point in putting a cast on, but I would like you to wear this knee brace for a week or two. Just remember to not overdo it on the movements." Catie nodded her head and couldn't help but smile. She was excited to hear that it wasn't broken and that she would be ok. "Also, I wanted to again thank you for everything you have done for Luka. He means a lot to me and I appreciate everything. Zoey has given you a lot of praise as well. I'll be taking him home later this afternoon, but don't worry, he'll be back soon."

"I should be thanking you. You've taken such good care of me through all of this."

"I think this is where I tell you that that is my job," both women burst out laughing because they knew that the other would say the same exact thing. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Catie watched her get up and walk towards some of the built in cabinets that were to the left of the bed and opened them up. "Kaine had Syd go into town and get you some clothes. He wanted me to show you these so you don't have to wear that hideous thing anymore."

Catie felt giddy as she got up and walked over to the cabinet. She hadn't had new clothes in a long time, so this was a treat. She'd have to thank Syd and Kaine along with apologize to him for being bitchy. She heard the door close and turned to see Dr. Adams gone. She sighed because she had wanted to ask her something, but that would have to wait. Instead she continued going through the clothes until she picked out an outfit. She put on a plain black t-shirt, blue jean shorts that were mid-thigh in length, and a matching set of light blue bra and panties. She hadn't had a new bra in so long that she felt very spoiled from just wearing it. She picked up the brand new brush that was in there as well and brushed out her shoulder-length hair.

After she was satisfied, she decided that she'd better go back out to the dining room and find Kaine. She reached for the doorknob and before she could grab it, it turned and opened up. Kaine stood before her and had brought breakfast. "I figured we could eat in here if that's ok?" he said as she stepped aside so he could walk in. He set the trays down on the bedside table and closed the door. "I see you found the clothes. I hope that you like them and that they fit. I have no idea what women like, so that's why I sent Syd out to shop for you. Maybe next time you can go with her if you want to."

"I'd like that. Thank you. You didn't have to do that," she said as she sat down in the chair by the wall again. He just nodded and pulled the other seat closer to her. Then he grabbed the bedside table and wheeled it over to them. She looked down at all of the food that he had brought in. One tray had pancakes, sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, and wheat toast. The other had some bananas, strawberry jam, butter, coffee, and utensils.

"I wasn't sure what you typically ate for breakfast, so I hope that this is ok."

She smiled at him, grabbed a plate and started piling food onto it. She happily ate most of everything he brought for them. He watched her face as she tried everything and then quickly ate it after determining that she liked it. After her plate was empty, she looked at the coffee and tried hard to not look disgusted at it. "Kaine, this may seem childish, but could I have chocolate milk. I hate coffee."

"Of course," he said chuckling. He quickly got up and walked out of the room. Can someone bring me some chocolate milk? A few seconds later, Jake walked up to him carrying a glass and a half gallon of chocolate milk.

"Thirsty? I didn't think milk was your style," Jake said laughing.

"It's for Catie," was all he said as he grabbed them and walked back into her room. "Here you go." He quickly poured some for her and handed it to her. She smiled like a child on her birthday and readily took the glass and drank it.

"Thank you! That was delicious!" she said as she sat back in her chair from being very full. He nodded his head in acknowledgement and sat down beside her. "Kaine?"

He looked up at her, "Yeah?"

"Could you show me around more? I'd like to go outside if that's ok?"

"Sure. Let me go grab some shoes. I'll be right back," he said as he smiled, got up and walked out of the room.

She watched him walk out and thoroughly enjoyed seeing his ass in those jeans. She'd have to remember that for the future. She got up and grabbed the brand new pair of Nike's that were in the cabinet and slipped those on. She also fastened her knee brace on as well. Once she was finished, she left the room and walked out into the main entrance and waited for Kaine to come back. She found a chair along one of the walls and took a seat. Everyone was out and about now and she watched the different people moving about. Catie found herself staring at the painting on the ceiling again. She was intrigued by it, so much so, that she didn't notice the group of boys that came up to her.

"What are you looking at?" her head snapped back down and saw three teenage-looking males staring down at her.

"I was just admiring the painting that was all. Can I help you?"

"No. We were just curious as to what you were doing," the middle boy was the one that had spoke to her the first time. He was the tallest. He had reddish-brown hair and green eyes. The other two boys looked like twins. They were the same height, had the same muddy brown hair, and the same brown eyes. "We don't often get outsiders here, so we were intrigued. What's your name?"

"I'm Cadence. Catie for short."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Thomas," said the middle one. "This is Felix and this is Flynn. They are twins," Thomas pointed to each boy respectively. She nodded her head to each of them and tried not to show fear at how close they were to her. They seemed to sense her growing fear and closed in more. Thomas offered Catie his hand and she took it as he pulled her up. He kept ahold of it while staring straight into her eyes. "Like I said, not many outsiders are brought here. There must be something special about you." As he spoke, the other two enclosed on her more and boxed her in between all of them. Each one grabbed ahold of her waist and held onto her.

Catie's fear spiked higher, but inside she felt something stirring again. Her fear was replaced again with rage and before she could think, she sprang forward and knocked Thomas to the ground. She was straddling him with her hands around his neck and squeezing hard. His arms came up and grabbed onto hers and tried to pull her away to no avail. The other two went to grab onto her arms, but as soon as they touched her and she looked up at each of them, they backed away. She looked back down at Thomas and thought that she could very easily kill this boy. 'No! Wait! What am I doing?' she yelled at herself mentally, but she couldn't stop. This wasn't her.

She heard someone walk up and stand in front of her. The person then kneeled down in front of her, grabbed ahold of her chin, and lifted her face up. She was now looking into Kaine's eyes. "Catie, stop this now." She immediately let go of Thomas' neck. She felt power and anger raging from Kaine. "Get up." She again moved off of him and backed up to the wall. She didn't move from that spot. She looked around and noticed that all movement had stopped and that everyone was watching.

Kaine helped Thomas to his feet. He had faint purple marks starting around his neck. The twins walked up to him and stayed nearby. "Do not let me catch you harassing her again."

"Yes, sir," they said in unison before sulking off.

Kaine then turned to her, "Let's go." Immediately, she left her spot on the wall and followed him. He lead her out the front doors and started walking back behind the mansion towards the woods. They walked silently for about 10 minutes until they reached the edge of the forest. He then suddenly turned towards her and she came to a screeching halt. "What in the hell was that all about?" he said frowning at her.

"I... Kaine, I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? You just tackled a 21 year old man to the ground. How do you not know?"

"For your information, the little bastards had trapped me and were touching me. I have a problem with being touched by strange men," she stopped because she swore that she heard him growl. He looked back into her eyes and she continued on, "It wasn't me. I didn't do that. I tried to stop, but I couldn't." She was close to crying. She felt stupid trying to explain herself to him. She couldn't think of a logical explanation as to what had just happened in there. He probably thought that she was insane now.