Heart of the Wolf Ch. 04

"How does that work? Their ears aren't opened either."

He chuckled, "I'll explain that a different time. Come. Let's go find Luka." He wrapped his arm around her waist and lead her towards the back of the facility. Kaine opened the large, wooden door and Catie was filled with the sight of a full blown veterinary clinic.

"Wow," she said as she looked at all of the high tech equipment. As she looked around the room, she noticed the observation ward. Inside one of the cages was Luka. "Luka!" she said as she started hobbling as quickly as she could over to him. Kaine quickly grabbed ahold of her and helped her over to him. When they reached him, he helped her to sit on the ground and opened up the cage so she could reach inside. She noted that he was on fluids and that he looked to have broken some ribs. Otherwise, he seemed ok. She patted his head and felt at ease. "Luka," she crooned to him as she continued to pet him, "Thank you so much. You're such a good boy." She then turned her attention to Kaine, "He's going to be ok, right?"

"Yes. He'll be fine. He's much happier now that you're here."

"How do you know that?"

"I've been around him his whole life. It's just a guess though," he said as he shrugged his shoulders. She felt like he was lying to her, but she let it slide for now. She'd question him more about it later.

"Kaine, why is she down here?"

Catie immediately recognized Dr. Adams' voice from behind her. "She was asking to see Luka," he said as he moved out of the way to make room for her to sit beside Catie.

"I need to thank you, Catie," she started to say as she placed her handed on Luka's head, "I heard that you were the one with Luka after his surgery. Thank you for that! You don't know how much I appreciate that."

"No need to thank me. It was my pleasure."

"I wish Zoey would let him wake up. I hate seeing him sedated like this," she said as she wiped away a tear.

"Kaine help me up. Show me where the drugs are kept."

"I don't think that's....... Woah woah! Let me help you!" Kaine yelled as Catie attempted to get up on her own. He led her to the injectables and watched as she mixed a couple of them together into one syringe. He then helped her back to Luka and watched her inject them into his bicep. After a couple of minutes, Luka started to stir and slowly woke up.

"Easy baby. Easy," Trina said to him as he started moving around more. When he started growling and trying to get up, Catie threw her arms around his neck. "Luka, stop buddy. It's ok now. I'm ok," Catie said. He slowly calmed down. "You be good for them, Luka. Stay put and be a good boy." Kaine watched in shock as Luka calmed himself and laid back down on his blankets.

"You really have a way with him, huh?" Trina said.

"He hates being restrained. I found that talking to him works much better. That's why he hated Dr. Travis. He wanted him restrained or sedated. I did most of Luka's care because of that reason," she shuddered some at mentioning Dr. Travis' name. Kaine noticed this and wrapped his arms around her protectively. She subconsciously leaned into his embrace more and felt safer than she probably should've been in this strange man's arms.

"Catie, let's get you back up into your bed ok?" Kaine said as Catie yawned. "Good night, Doc." Kaine picked up Catie and carried her back to the hospital wing she was staying in. He gently laid her onto the bed and covered her with the blanket on the bed.

As he turned to walk out, she stopped him, "Kaine?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind staying with me and talking to me for a little bit?"

"Sure. What would you like to talk about?"

Now she was slightly embarrassed. She figured that he'd tell her no, but now he was actually staying here to talk to her. "Uhm.... Tell me about yourself."

He frowned some and thought about what to say, "I'm not very interesting. I'm an only child. My father passed away about 6 years ago and my mother was murdered when I was young. I guess you could say that my dad just died from a broken heart. I work mainly from here. I own many businesses around the city mostly restaurants or dance clubs. What about you?"

"I'm alone actually. I don't have any siblings that I know of. My mother was killed in a car accident. I tried to pull her out and ended up maimed myself. I occasionally abuse sleeping pills to help rid myself of the nightmare of losing her. My father left before I was born. Ever since mom died, I work every day to keep myself from dwelling on it. I find comfort in the animals that I take care of, so I don't mind the long hours."

"I'm sorry about your mom. How are you not taken?" he said as he stared at her enchanting green eyes, "You're so beautiful. How hasn't someone come and wooed you yet?"

Catie blushed, "I try hard not to attract anyone. It's easier that way. I don't have to worry about being hurt."

He shook his head in disbelief, "You can't be afraid like that."

'Who are you to judge me?' she said mentally and scowled at him. "Could I ask you something kind of crazy?" He nodded his head yes and she continued, "Earlier, I swore that I saw a pack of wolves running towards here. Is that common?"

Kaine chuckled some, "Yes, it is. Why don't you get some sleep, ok?"

"Ok. Goodnight, Kaine. Thank you."

"Goodnight, Cadence."

She watched as he left the room and listened for his footsteps until she couldn't hear them anymore. Once she couldn't hear him anymore, she finally closed her eyes and, for once, drifted into a restful sleep.

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Kaine would have to learn to be a little bit more careful while Catie was around. She had seen him and the pack running back. He couldn't help it though. When he looked up and saw her standing naked at the window, his wolf immediately took off towards her. Why the hell was that anyways?

He opened the door to his room, stripped off all of his clothes, and jumped into the middle of his bed. His thoughts were on the green-eyed beauty that was downstairs. His wolf whimpered and whined to go back to her and Kaine tried desperately to surpass the urge to do so. The wolf had been happy with the proclamation earlier about Catie being their guest. 'Mine,' was what kept playing in his mind. Suddenly, it hit Kaine like a ton of bricks. 'Fuck, she's our mate!!' The wolf howled in acknowledgement.

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Her dream was surreal tonight. She was in the forest running with the wolves that she had seen earlier today. 'How is this possible?' She saw the black wolf and she was running beside him. However, she felt different. She abruptly stopped running and looked down to see that she had paws instead of feet.

Before she could figure out what it meant her dream switched and she was chasing whatever was hidden inside her mind. 'Please come back to me,' she said to whatever was out there. After the first few minutes of nothing happening, she began to lose hope. She felt crazy and sat down, waiting for anything. Off in the distance though, she caught another glimpse of white. 'Wait!' she yelled and got up and started running towards it. She got to the place that it had been standing and nothing was there.

'What is going on?' she asked herself. She was utterly confused. She looked out towards the mental forest that her mind had created and again saw a flash of white. This time she sat down and just watched. Finally and very timidly, something came out from under the shadows of the trees. Catie was now staring at a pure, white wolf. 'Who are you?' It howled back to her and Catie was forcefully sent out of this dream into a dreamless state of sleep.