Chapter 18

"Dear step-mom, this is Catherine. Catherine, step-mom."

I flash her a bright smile. She extends her hand, and I happily shake it. One thing is for sure, she's beautiful, with a capital B. She's standing tall, long wavy dark hair that cascades to her lower back, and dark chocolate eyes that fit perfectly with her caramel complexion. Her hourglass figure is covered with a black pencil skirt, a pastel pink blouse and killer Louboutins.

I want to be like her when I grow up.

"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am," I say, my voice coming out tight.

Her perfectly tweezed eyebrows knit together, giving her a confused look. Her eyes quickly scan my body, followed by my hand being moved right under her nose. She takes a sniff of my scent, leaving me at a loss of words. Her eyes pop out, looking back at me. "You're a werecat."

I pull my hand back. A little too forceful for my liking, but it's justified.

What the actual fuck?

"How did you know just by smelling me?" I ask, internally freaking out. It's the kind of freaking out where I'm screaming, and Panthera is begging me to shut the hell up.

She laughs, and I'm surprised at how husky it sounds. "One of my proudest abilities. My nose can track down any species. Even if they hide it," she says, throwing me a wink.

Heat comes up to my face. I look down, shuffling from one foot to the other as my arms fold themselves on my chest. A tender sweet-scented hand lifts my chin, and my eyes stare at the woman's face. "Honey, no need to be shy about it. I'm pretty sure every werecat is in hiding for obvious reasons. Now, would you mind joining us for dinner?" she asks, a small smile lingering on her lips.

"We already ate, actually," Theo chimes in, putting his hands in the front of the sweats' pockets.

She raises a dark eyebrow at him. "Really? Those full-cut pizzas tell another story."

I glance up at Theo, catching his face shift from rosy to beet red. "We got distracted by homework, but that's our dinner," he says, almost stuttering.

His step-mom, which I still need to figure out her name, shakes her head and takes off her black heels, holding them in one hand. "I don't even want to try and figure out the real reason behind it. Make yourself at home, Catherine," she says, heading upstairs without another glance.

"Your step-mom seems nice," I say, sitting on his leather coffee-colored couch. His living room is a bit bigger than his kitchen.

He has different types of paintings hanging all around the walls, a mounted Tv a few inches away, and right under it, a dark wooden coffee table filled with books, and candles. There's a round beige silky carpet that covers the floor, and I let my bare feet feel it in between each toe.

He sighs, mirroring me. "I'm pretty sure it's because you're also a werecat."

"Speaking of werecats. It's been a while since our last run," I say, my eyes gleaming with anticipation. It's been a long time since I last shifted.

Theo laughs. "I would love to do that, but I don't think I can handle-"

I put a hand up. "Your eyes are glowing, and your tail just came out. I'm pretty sure you can handle it even with the fever you probably passed me with all that kissing we did." I stare into his now glowing green eyes.

He frowns, moving his hand behind him and gently grabs his striped tail. He groans, clearly frustrated. "I have the most selfish cat ever."

I chuckle. "Why is that?

"I could be bleeding out to death right now, but if he wants to run, trust me that he's gonna do it even if I'm dead," he replies, passing a hand through his messy waves.

I roll my eyes, pulling him into a quick kiss, ignoring the usual Blake reminder that's popping in my mind every time I touch Theo. I'm starting to wonder if Panthera has something to do with it.

With a shake of my head, I grab Theo's hand and drag him outside. It takes us a good ten minutes from his house to get inside the forest with Theo blabbing about how bored he was this week at home, and how much he wanted to see me.

Once inside, I hide behind a tree, strip off from my clothes, and shift in my panther form. I walk out and halt, admiring the striped black and orange tiger approaching me. He's huge. Almost double my size. I feel like a housecat compared to him.

We rub our bodies against each other, letting our felines mix our scents as a way to create a bond. Eventually, we run, and I give control to my cat. I'm pretty sure he does the same since he starts fastening his pace.

Panthera has a hard time catching up, but I can feel how happy she is for this moment. The felines spend the entire afternoon running around and hunting down small animals such as rabbits and even otters.

In the middle of our hunt, a loud, deep growl captures our attention. The rabbits flee away for it. We turn around, seeing the black wolf I used to run with looking really angry. Theo instantly gets protective, stepping in front of me, and throwing the wolf a warning roar. The wolf's dark eyes dart between Theo and me for a minute.

I observe the way the tiger in front of me is ready to fight him. His body is rigid, his head hanging low, and his tail standing still. Both he and the wolf are the same height. I'm speechless.

I'm really feeling like a housecat.

The wolf takes cautious steps toward us. Theo warns him with another roar while I, on the other hand, am pretty calm. I just know that the wolf won't pounce at him. Take it as a sixth sense.

The black beast sits down once he's close enough to us, and Theo visibly relaxes. We mimic his position and stare at him. I wish we could communicate with each other. I wonder if he's nice just because we are two and he's alone. I tilt my head to the side.

I think I have an idea.

I take control as I stand up and pick up the first branch my eyes catch on the ground; Tiny pieces of wood fall on my tongue as I walk in the middle between the two animals.

I write down a simple what in morse code.

It's an essential language to communicate between different species. Dad taught me about it when I finally coexisted with Panthera. If the wolf is high in rank, he should have learned it when he was a child, alongside the Moon Alphabet and Braille.

I look up at the wolf, finding his head tilted. He's trying to decipher what I've written. It takes him a minute, but he eventually figures it out. I drop the branch, and he picks it up, replying to me.

Run.

Wait, as in run from you, or with you?

I squint my eyes at him. I look behind, seeing his tail happily move side to side. Oh well, with you, it is.

I look at Theo and motion him to start running. In mere minutes, we're running side by side and not stopping until dark. I ignore the way the wolf's fur brushes against mine, leaving tingles all over my body. Panthera looks lost to say the least. It's the first time she's feeling something from another species.

The forest is quiet, with the faint chirping of birds and rustles of rabbits leaping away from us. Our paws step on twigs, leaves, and occasional puddles, dirtying us good.

A weird moment happened between the wolf and me when we decided to play prey and predator. He was the predator while Theo and I were the prey. We had less than five seconds to get as far away as possible from the wolf. He had to catch us before we jumped on his back. Since I'm a panther, this was easy because I just had to climb a tree and wait for him to pass by.

I didn't do that, though. Instead, I let the wolf catch me and watched the way his eyes were taking me in. Believe it or not, it reminded me of Blake. He charged at me, and we wrestled on the ground. He growled jokingly, as I gently bit his legs. He was fast and powerful, pinning me down effortlessly, and I lowered my ears, giving him the win.

He replaced his mouth with his nose on my neck. My back was facing him. I couldn't help but purr. Purr! He nuzzled my neck, and then licked my lowered ears, leaving me all giddy inside. I felt hot and bothered for his touch. Who the hell is he?

After that, Theo jumped on his back, and they rolled on the ground.

We played a few more times, until I stopped, and lied down, soon followed by the others.

I'm thirsty and tired. I already know my body is going to be sore tomorrow from the way my muscles are on fire.

Heavy breaths come out of Theo and I. The wolf's breaths are... normal. Who the hell is he?! He knows Morse code, and he's fit as fuck, so there's a chance he can be a Beta or Delta. Or even a warrior.

Eventually, we split ways. I shift back to my human form once I've found my clothes, and I'm near home.

The following day, reality comes crashing on my mind, reminding me of what happened between Blake and me. I told him that we aren't friends anymore.

I log into Valorant and unblock him. It's Friday and Trevor's birthday. There's a high chance that people are skipping school for it. My parents don't mind since I've always kept my grades up, so it's not a big deal for me.

I invite Blake for a game, and he rejects it instantly. I ignore the knot on my stomach and play on my own for a couple of hours. Panthera scoffs, calling me heartless and tries making me call him to patch things up.

I ignore her too.

I wonder if he's coming to the party. Well, he's definitely going since it's his Beta's birthday, but I can't stop that evil voice from the corner of my mind repeating Margot's name. I groan. Of course, she'll be there too, why wouldn't she?

With a sigh, I pick up my phone from the desk and call my girls.

"What's going on? You never call this early in the morning," is the first thing Taylor says when she picks up.

I laugh. "Well-"

"Why would you call now, you fucking idiot?!" Bella whines, joining the call. As you can see, she's an early bird as well.

"Good morning to you too, darling," Taylor says when an actual moan comes out of Bella.

What the- oh wait.

Oh.

Wow.

I chuckle. "Why would you answer when you're doing the nasty with Jessica? You're an idiot."

"I didn't think she would continue," she breathes out.

Taylor laughs at that. "Well, now we know that she licks it pretty good by the way you're reacting."

Bella rolls her espresso-colored eyes at this. "Call me later."

Just like that, she hangs-up on us.

I sigh in sync with Taylor, which turns into more chuckles.

"So," Taylor starts, "Why did you call?"

"Today's your boyfriend's birthday party, and I need your help. I'm talking about makeup, hair, outfit, everything. I need to turn heads tonight," I say, seeing her squeal and jump on her bed.

"I got you, girl. I'll be there by 6 pm," she says, hanging up.

I smirk, completely ignoring the guilty feeling that's surfacing over me.

Not today.